ABNER LOOMIS
Mardos Collection
ABNER LOOMIS
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 329
office immediately after his election. He removed to Fairfield, the county-seat, where he resided for some years. At the expiration of his term, in 1872, he was re-elected, this time by an overwhelming majority, and served until 1876, when he refused further nomination: During that year the circuit judge appointed him master in chancery of Wayne County, and by appointment every two years he served until 1886. In 1885 President Cleveland appointed him postmaster of Fairfield, but the next year he resigned that office, as well as the position of master in chancery.
In the spring of 1887 he came to Denver, where he became connected with the postoffice department and was appointed the first superintendent of carriers. On the appointment of John Cochrane as postmaster he resigned, though solicited to remain in his position. During his term as superintendent he organized the carrier system and perfected its management. After serving as bookkeeper for A. C. Harris for a year he was appointed a sanitary inspector in the health department of Denver. While Dr. Steele was health commissioner he created the office of lieutenant of sanitary inspectors and organized the corps. On Dr. Lemen becoming health commissioner, Colonel Handley was appointed superintendent of the health department and had full charge of the sanitary affairs of the city. He was retained in the same position by Dr. Munn. In September, 1896, he resigned to become supreme secretary of the Fraternal Union.
In Carmi Colonel Handley married Miss Clarinda Hoffman, who was born in Virginia and died in Fairfield, Ill., in March, 1873. She had two children, only one of whom is living, Bessie S., wife of William Nelson, of Portland, Ore. The colonel's second marriage took place in Fairfield, Ill., April 27, 1874; and united him with Miss Sallie N. McCall, of Kentucky, by whom he has a son, Lawrence R.
While in Illinois Colonel Handley was made a Mason, and he still has his membership in the lodge at Carmi, in which he was an officer, and also held official position in the Royal Arch Chapter there. In the council at Fairfield he was Thrice Illustrious Master, and he also belonged to Commandery No. 14, K. T., of Olney, Ill. At one time he was connected with the Odd Fellows. He is a member of Reno Post No. 39, G. A. R., of Denver, in which he was commander for two terms. He was quartermaster general in the department of Colorado and Wyoming for two terms, with the rank of colonel. He is also connected with the Union Veterans' Legion. During his residence in Illinois, he was frequently a delegate to local and state conventions, and also served as delegate to the national convention at St. Louis, where Samuel Tilden was nominated for president. In Illinois he was a well-known man of affairs and a leading politician of his locality. He is a member of Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church.
BNER LOOMIS, president of the Poudre Valley Bank of Fort Collins, is one of the pioneers of Colorado who have achieved financial success through attention to business and determination of will. He was born in Chautauqua County, N. Y., December 17, 1829, and was next to the youngest among twelve children, all but one of whom attained maturity and eight are still living. His father, William, a native of York state and a member of an old eastern family, settled in Ohio in 1834 and from there in 1840 went to Iowa, locating near Fairfield, Jefferson County, where he engaged in farming until his death at sixty-six years. His wife, who was Sylvia Morton, was born in New York and died in Birmingham, Iowa.
In the public schools of Iowa the subject of this article obtained a fair education. He learned gunsmithing in Iowa. In 1850, with a company from the vicinity of Birmingham, Iowa, he went to California, going via the Platte with horsetrain, through South Pass, via Fort Hall, down the Humboldt, and arriving in Sacramento after five months of travel. For four years he engaged in mining on the Trinity River, after which he turned his attention to buying and selling cattle, having his ranch on Belle Creek. In 1859 he returned to Iowa, via Panama and New York City. It was then the time of the Pike's Peak gold excitement, and he fell a victim to the prevailing fever. In April, 1860, he again started across the plains, this time going from Kansas City by stage to Denver, where he met Antoine Janise, a Frenchman from Cache la Poudre, who had been here from twelve years of age. He told Mr. Loomis that he had found gold in the sands of the Cache la Poudre and its tributaries, and induced him to come here. June 27, 1860, he
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. arrived at the stream, where he prospected for a month, finding gold in small quantities, but not enough to pay for the expense of mining. However, he decided that money might be made here in other ways than mining, and determined to engage in the stock business. With this object in view, he bought the ranch at Pleasant Valley that is now owned by Captain Post. Returning to Omaha, he bought a supply of provisions, etc, and returned via ox-train. In the spring of 1861 he dug the first ditch ever dug on the Cache la Poudre (now known as Pleasant Valley ditch) and by the aid of irrigation raised a small crop. In the fall of 1861 he planted a sack of black walnuts, brought from the vicinity of Omaha, and it is probable that this was the introduction of the black walnut into Colorado. The trees are still growing and have been transplanted to different parts of the county. In 1862 he raised some potatoes and a fair crop of wheat. He continued with increasing success until 1867, when he sold the place, and, settling in Spring Canon, established a cattle ranch, buying Shorthorns which he crossed with Spanish cows. In 1871 he sold that place and settled in the new town of Fort Collins. In the spring of 1872 he moved his cattle on Horse Creek, north of Cheyenne, where he had a ranch, and later took them to Sabile, Wyo., then above Fort Casper, on the North Platte, in Wyoming, where he kept them several years, finally selling to Swan Brothers. His next venture was to start a ranch further north, not far from Sundance, where the Indians were very troublesome. There he put in ten thousand head of cattle, with Charles Andrews as his partner in the business. After some years he sold the ranch to the 101 Cattle Company, of which Colonel Babbitt was manager. From that time he continued stockdealing and feeding in Fort Collins, making a special feature of sheep feeding. He has owned three different farms here, and now has a place adjoining Fort Collins, from which he has platted eighty acres as an addition to the city. His comfortable home stands on Remington street.
In early days a company was organized for protection from the Indians. He was a member of this organization and was considered one of the best trailers in that entire section, being able to track an Indian as fast as his horse could run. In 1864 he made one trip to Virginia City, Mont., freighting with a bull-team. In 1861 he had made a trip with an ox-team to the Missouri River, and in the spring of the next year made his third trip to the Missouri, while in the fall he again crossed the plains, with mule-team and spring wagon. During that trip he was married, in Bethany, Mo., to Jane Isabelle Allen, who was born in Missouri and died at Excelsior Springs, that state, in October, 1893. She left five children: Leonidas, a graduate of the State Agricultural College and now engaged in the stock business near Fort Collins; Lelia, a graduate of the State Agricultural College, and now the wife of P. H. Robinson, of Fort Collins; Guy, a merchant in Fort Collins; Effie, wife of Charles Dwyre, of Fort Collins; and Jasper. All the children have been given excellent educational advantages in the college in this city. The present wife of Mr. Loomis was Mrs. Melinda Maxwell, who was born and reared in Independence, Mo., and came to Colorado in 1873. She is a member of the Christian Church and a lady of estimable character.
Politically a Democrat, Mr. Loomis was county commissioner for twelve years and for a number of years served as chairman of the board. His nomination to this office came unsought by him, but though he did not seek the position, he filled it with the greatest efficiency. While in the office he superintended the making of bridges and roads for the county. He has frequently served as a member of the city council, and while in that position assisted in the building of the water works. While ranging in Wyoming he was identified with the Wyoming Cattle Growers' Association. Before leaving Iowa he was made a Mason, and after coming to Fort Collins he became a charter member of the blue lodge here.
The history of the Poudre Valley Bank shows that an institution that has at its head men of business sagacity and judgment will attain success. This bank is the outgrowth of the private banking house of Stover & Sheldon, that began in business here in November, 1878. In 1882 Abner Loomis and Charles B. Andrews purchased an interest in the concern. In 1877 the bank bought the stock owned by Mr. Andrews. In February, 1893, the bank was incorporated as a state institution, and a capital paid in of $100,000. The president is Abner Loomis; vice-president, James B. Arthur; cashier, Charles H. Sheldon; assistant cashier, Verner Wolfe, These men, together with C. B. Andrews, W. C. Stover, N. C.
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 331
Alford and James Andrews, form the board of directors. The banking rooms are located at the corner of Linden and Walnut streets, in a large three-story brick building owned by Mr. Loomis. Here they have improved fire proof and burglar proof vaults, so arranged as to afford perfect security to the contents. Under its wise and conservative managers, the bank is doing a large and safe business, and has attained a place among the solid financial institutions of the county.
ON. RICHARD H. WHITELEY, SR., was born in the north of Ireland December 22, 1830. In 1836 he was brought to America, first settling in Charleston, S. C., and thence going to Augusta, Ga., where he attended school until 1839. He was then apprenticed to learn the trade of a cotton and woolen manufacturer at Belleville, near Augusta, where he remained until 1848, and from that date until 1860 was engaged in the same business at other places. His last work in that line was the erection of a cotton and woolen factory at Bainbridge, Ga.
During his last years in business Mr. Whiteley had been studying law, and in the spring of 1860 he was admitted to the bar. He continued in active practice until the opening of the Civil war. In 1861 he took an active part in the issue of secession, and both through the press and on the stump opposed secession, both as a right and as a remedy. Entering the Confederate army when war was declared, he was with the western army and surrendered as major of infantry under Gen. Joseph B. Johnston at Durham Station, N. C., in 1865. When the question of reconstruction was brought up he favored the policy of congress and opposed the action of President Johnson, maintaining that the first duty of southerners was to unconditionally accept the results of the war.
In 1867 Mr. Whiteley was elected to the state constitutional convention, and was a member of its judiciary committee. In 1868 he was nominated by the Republicans of the second district of Georgia for the fortieth congress and was elected by a large majority, but was defrauded by a false count. In the fall of 1868 he was appointed solicitor-general of the southwestern circuit, a position resembling that of district attorney in the north. He served in that capacity until elected to the forty-first congress. In February, 1870, he was elected United States senator by the general assembly of Georgia, but on a contest before the senate the election was declared to be illegal. During the same year he was elected to the forty-first and forty-second congresses by the Republicans of the second district, and served during both sessions. In 1870 he established the Bainbridge Sun, a Republican newspaper, and edited it until it was destroyed by political incendiaries during the congressional canvas of 1872. He was a delegate to the national Republican convention held in Philadelphia in 1872, and during the same year was again elected to congress, and again succeeded in defeating an attempt to count him out. In 1874 and 1876 he was elected to congress by large majorities, but both times was defrauded by false counts.
In March, 1877, being fully satisfied that there was no hope of a change of policy in the south, he determined to remove to Colorado, for whose admission as a state he had voted in congress. He came to Boulder and engaged in the practice of his profession until his death, in 1886. Fraternally he was a Knight Templar Mason. His wife was Margaret B. Devine, who was born in Ireland, and now resides in Boulder. She was a daughter of Rev. Archibald Devine, a minister in the Church of England, and for years a resident of Georgia. Of her ten children two sons and two daughters are now living. One son, Montford, is a merchant in Boulder, and another, Richard H., Jr., is a prominent lawyer of this city. Charles, who was employed in the treasury department, died in Washington.
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. the same time one of the most active. In the seventh assembly he introduced a general railroad bill to regulate tariff charges, but was in the minority and the bill failed to become a law. He introduced and was instrumental in securing the passage of the Australian ballot law. In the eighth assembly he was chairman of the judiciary committee. At the expiration of his term in 1892 he was not a candidate for re-election, but resumed the active practice of his profession. In addition to his private practice he is attorney for the National State and Boulder National Banks and is attorney for numerous other companies.
The youngest son of Maj. Richard Henry and Margaret E. (Devine) Whiteley, the subject of this sketch was born in Bainbridge, Ga., July 14, 1861. He received his education in private schools until coming to Boulder in 1878, when he entered the University of Colorado, graduating with the first class in 1882. The degree of A. B. was conferred upon him at graduation, and four years later he received the degree of A. M. He is a member of the Delta Tau Delta, a Greek letter society. In 1882 he entered the Harvard law department, from which he graduated three years later. He at once began the practice of his profession in Boulder. He is recognized as one of the leading and influential Republicans of the state. Fraternally he is connected with Boulder Lodge No. 45, A. F. & A. M., in which he is a past master; the chapter, commandery and consistory, and El Jebel Temple, N. M. S., of Denver.
In Boulder occurred the marriage of Mr. Whiteley to Miss Ella Tyler, who was born in Gilpin County, Colo., and received her education in the University of Colorado, graduating in 1885. One child, Richard Tyler, blesses the union. Mrs. Whiteley is the daughter of Capt. C. M. Tyler, who was a captain of troops during the Indian troubles and was one of the pioneers of Gilpin County, his life being intimately associated with the early days of that county.
RANK JONES is known far and wide as one of the enterprising ranchmen and cattlemen of Larimer County. He is considered an authority on cattle and in 1897 was appointed by the governor to serve as "round-up" commissioner for northern Colorado. He is a member of the executive committee of the Colorado Cattle Growers' Association, and in January, 1898, was sent as a delegate to the National Stock Growers' Association, to which organization he belongs. He is also a charter member of the Larimer County Stock Growers' Protective Association. Under C. H. Bond he has acted in the office of deputy sheriff, and on the school board he has been one of the most zealous members, for years acting in the various capacities of president, secretary and treasurer.
The parents of our subject were Johnson and Ellen (Coulter) Jones, natives of Crab Orchard, Ky., and North Carolina, respectively. The father settled on a farm near Macon City, Mo., about 1840, and since then the city has grown until it covers a portion of the old homestead. In 1883 he came to Colorado, and was accidentally killed at Fort Collins. His father, James Jones, was an early settler in Crab Orchard, Ky., to which point he had gone from his native state, Maryland. Grandfather James Coulter was a pioneer farmer of Jacksonville, Mo., whither he went about 1833. He held official positions in both the war of 1812 and the Mexican war, enlisting in the first-mentioned from North Carolina. He died in Missouri at the extreme age of ninety-eight years. Our subject's mother died in Missouri over a score of years ago. Of her four children the eldest, Sarah, Mrs. Pullin, died in Fort Collins, and Bettie died in Missouri. Mortimer M. is a farmer near Fort Collins.
The birth of Frank Jones occurred August 26, 1858, in Macon City, Mo. He was reared on the farm and attended the local schools. In 1880 he went to Fort Laramie, Wyo., and engaged in driving a stage for the Sidney and Deadwood stage line from Cheyenne to Deadwood. In 1882 he embarked in the cattle business at Fort Collins and the following year he drove two herds from Missouri and brought others here from Texas and Arkansas. In 1886 he purchased the property he now lives upon and manages, in Livermore Park. It is one of the oldest ranches on the old overland stage line, and is known as Stonewall Station. In the place there are twelve hundred and eighty acres situated in one body, and the many improvements, such as fences ditches, etc., have all been made by our subject. Springs and ditches provide abundance of water
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