HON. N. C. ALFORD.
Mardos Collection
HON. N. C. ALFORD.
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 339
ON. N. C. ALFORD, a pioneer of '59 and a member from Larimer County of the first legislature of Colorado, was born in South Hope, Knox County, Me., November 29, 1834, the son of Nathaniel and Deborah (Cushman) Alford. His mother, who was born in Warren, Me., was a daughter of Nathaniel Cushman, and a descendant of Robert Cushman, one of the passengers on the "Mayflower." She died in South Hope, and of her nine children four are living, our subject being next to the oldest; one of the sons was a lieutenant in the Eighth Maine Infantry during the Civil war, and now resides in Waterloo, Iowa. The father of this family was a farmer at South Hope, and a son of a native of Massachusetts, who removed to Maine. After the death of his first wife he married again, and at the time of his death he was eighty years of age.
At the age of seventeen our subject began an apprenticeship to the carpenter and joiner's trade, which he completed. In 1855 he settled in Rockford, Ill., where he engaged in contracting for a number of years. In March, 1859, he went to St. Joseph, Mo., where he and four others outfitted with an ox-train and followed the Platte route to Denver. In the fall he went with a company of sixty on a prospecting tour in Middle Park and the Gunnison country. While there the food gave out and it was impossible to secure anything to eat, except berries. Game was scarce and besides Indians lurked around and rendered hunting a dangerous pastime. For a week he had nothing but berries to eat. Finally, in South Park, they met a freight wagon en route from a mine to Canon City for flour, and there secured enough to satisfy their hunger for a few days. After a hard trip of two months he reached Idaho Springs. The party was successful in finding gold at Breckenridge and fifteen miles below Leadville, at Kelly's bar.
In the fall of 1859 Mr. Alford returned to St. Joe, where he wintered ox-teams and in the spring of 1860 he drove them across the plains, via the Platte. For two years he engaged in freighting, making two trips each year. He then went to Oregon and spent the winter of 1862-63 there. In the spring, upon the Boise City gold excitement, he went to that place, where he engaged in mining, and also carried on market gardening. Indians were troublesome there, but were effectually driven out through the efforts of the miners and settlers. In 1866 he returned to Maine, but the next year came back to Colorado, overland, and went on to Cheyenne, where he manufactured the first brick in Wyoming and sold it to the government, for the erection of Fort Russell. He also built the first brick store in Cheyenne, a building used as a drug store. In the spring of 1868 he went to the Elizabethtown mines in New Mexico, where for three mouths he engaged in freighting, and bought a drove of cattle (one thousand head), which he wintered on the Arkansas and drove to Nevada and sold in 1869. Going east again he bought a herd of horses in Ottawa, Ill., and one hundred and fifty head of brood mares, which he shipped to Cheyenne, thence drove to Rock Creek, Boulder County. In 1872 he moved into Larimer County and put his cattle on the range in the mountains; also brought his horses up to Rabbit Creek, thirty miles northwest of Fort Collins, where he had his ranch for nine years, meantime building fifteen miles of fencing, and having a range fifteen miles long and three miles wide. He brought the first full-blooded Norman horses ever in Colorado and shipped the first train load of horses into the state, and the first the Union Pacific ever hauled as freight. The company treated him in a princely manner and ran an extra train for him, directly following the regular passenger train.
In 1877 Mr. Alford started a cattle ranch in Wyoming, with Messrs. Emerson, Baker and Kennedy. In 1881 he sold out his interest in the business and settled in Fort Collins, where he has since engaged in farming, irrigating and the stock business. At the time of the building of the Larimer County ditch he was president of the company, in which he is still interested. He is also interested in the Sky Line ditch. He owns one section of land on Box Elder, an eighty-acre tract, and one of one hundred and sixty acres that are irrigated, and one hundred and sixty acres northeast of LaPorte. He feeds four or five hundred head of cattle and a large number of sheep. On the incorporation of the Poudre Valley Bank as a state institution he became a director, in which capacity he has since served. Since 1881 his home has been in Fort Collins.
In Maine, January 14, 1872, Mr. Alford married Miss Annie E. Hobbs, who was born in Hope, that state. She was a daughter of Josiah and
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. Sarah (Brown) Hobbs, natives respectively of Hope and Belfast, Me., the former a farmer, who died at sixty-nine years, and the latter deceased in 1872, at sixty-nine years. Mr. Hobbs served for twenty-five years as justice of the peace and was also town clerk for some time. In religion he was a Universalist. His father, Micah, was born in Massachusetts, but moved to Maine, where he carried on farm pursuits. The father of Mrs. Hobbs was John Brown, of Maine, who died in middle life. Mrs. Alford was next to the youngest of nine children that attained maturity, four of whom are now living. Two of her brothers died in California. She is the mother of four children: Fred, a graduate of the Agricultural College in 1896 and now assistant in the chemical laboratory of that institution; Lore, at home; Abbie, who is a student in the Agricultural College; and Anna, at home.
Politically a silver Republican, Mr. Alford takes an active interest in public affairs. In 1876 he was elected to represent Larimer County in the general assembly, where he served as chairman of the engrossing committee and the committee on appropriations, and as a member of various committees. Through his efforts was passed what was known as "Alford's Pumpkin Bill," providing the first appropriation for the building of the Agricultural College. While he was a member of the legislature he assisted in securing the election of Senators Chaffee and Teller. In 1878 he was solicited to become a candidate for the state senate, but declined to accept the candidacy. For one term he served as a councilman. He was made a Mason while in Maine, but is now demitted. Like other pioneers, he is actively connected with the Association of Colorado Pioneers. He is not identified with any denomination, but contributes to the Unity Church, of which his wife is an active member. She is also a silver Republican.
AJ. SCOTT J. ANTHONY. When rumors of the discovery of gold in Pike's Peak were carried eastward, Major Anthony, then in Leavenworth, determined to come to Colorado. In the spring of 1860 he outfitted eight wagons with ox-teams and started for California Gulch (now Leadville), arriving in Denver March 8, and, reaching California Gulch the following May, he with his partner, Frank Palmer, at once started a general store, and they also engaged in prospecting in the mountains. The firm was known as Anthony & Palmer. In the fall they sold out the goods and returned to Leavenworth, whence, in March, 1861, our subject again started for the west, with eight wagons drawn by mule-trains, himself journeying, as before, by coach. He resumed business at the old place and also prospected. In August, 1861, while crossing the mountains between Green and Grand Rivers, his pack mule carrying the provissions (sic) slipped and fell to the bottom, leaving his party of five destitute of provisions. He journeyed back to California Gulch, and on arriving there, for the first time heard of war between the north and south. Awaiting him he found clippings from a Leavenworth newspaper stating that a colonel's commission awaited him, should he wish to return to Kansas. At the same time he found a captain's commission from Governor Gilpin of Colorado. His first impulse was to return to Leavenworth, raise a regiment and march to the seat of war, for he believed the war would not last more than a month. However, several of the men in California Gulch urged him to remain and raise a company, which he agreed to do, providing Lieut. George Buell, who had been in the regular army, would become the first lieutenant of his company, the captain having the power to appoint his under officers at that time. Mr. Buell consented, so ninety-two men enlisted, forming Company E, First Colorado Infantry, which in the autumn of 1862 were mounted and called the First Colorado Cavalry, he becoming the major.
Severe criticisms were made concerning Governor Gilpin's dilatoriness in sending the regiment to the seat of war, but subsequent developments proved he had reason for his action. Governor Marshall, his predecessor in office, was an ardent southerner, and after he left the office, Governor Gilpin found some letters which revealed a plan of the Confederates to raise a large command, march up the Rio Grande, taking the forts along the way to Fort Union, N. M., and, from thereto Colorado, which they would cut off from all communication with the east. General Sibley raised a large command of Texas rangers, comprising about eight regiments, telling them Colorado was settled largely by people from
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 341
Georgia and the Federals and Confederates were about equally divided; upon cutting off communication, it would be the plan to organize a government out of the area from Texas to British Columbia and ask foreign countries for recognition. General Sibley started north, and proceeded on his march. Lieutenant-Colonel Canby, with a small command, was unable to cheek his advance until joined by the First Colorado Regiment.
The first Colorado were rugged and strong, men who marched fifty-two miles the last day, in their race for Fort Union, a thing that was never done before and has never been done since. They reached Fort Union before the enemy, and there they were re-armed and equipped. Three days later they marched out and defeated the enemy at La Glorietta, though Sibley had four times as many men as they. Major Anthony captured the mountain rebel Captain West.
The Union forces pursued the enemy to Albuquerque, where a battle was fought, and there were subsequent skirmishes at Val Verda, Fort Craig and Socorro, from which place the Confederates were chased back into Texas, and the troops were ordered to Fort Craig to await orders.
On the return of the regiment to Fort Lyon, our subject was commissioned major of the First Colorado Cavalry and was put in command of the district of Arkansas, extending from Bents old fort to Fort Larned for two and one-half years. Indians were exceedingly troublesome and scarcely a week passed without a skirmish with them. He ardently longed to go east and assist in work at the seat of war, but the constant outbreaks of the Indians rendered the presence of a cool, clear-headed man absolutely necessary, so he was obliged to remain and guard the country. He was then mustered out January 22, 1865, and returned to Denver. The exposure of his army life left him in poor health and he has never fully recovered. In army circles he was recognized as a brave and efficient officer, a good disciplinarian and ever ready for a fight.
Major Anthony is a New Yorker by birth, and was born in Cayuga County, January 22, 1830. He is a descendant of a Quaker family that settled in Newport, R. I., in early days; later one branch went to North Adams, another to Providence, and a third to Philadelphia. His father, Elam, who was born in Newport, engaged in farming and business pursuits, and about 1817 moved to Union Springs, N. Y., where he married. He and his wife had a happy married life of sixty-two and one-half years before death came to part them, she dying at eighty-nine and he at ninety-one. She was Nancy Hunt, a native of Mount Morris, N. Y., and a daughter of Humphrey Hunt, who, with two sons, served in the Revolution, and a younger son served in the Mexican war. Humphrey Hunt was a brother-in-law of Colonel Moore, an officer in the Revolution.
The family of which Major Anthony was a member consisted of six sons and six daughters, nine of whom attained maturity: Mrs. Mary Hare, of Hillsboro, Ore.; Charles, who was in a New York regiment during the war and now resides in San Diego, Cal.; Mrs. Cynthia Hamilton, of Portland, Ore.; Scott J.; Mrs. Curry, now of Union Springs, N. Y.; Mrs. Margaret Birdsell, who died in Buffalo; Mrs. Howell, who died in Union Springs; Emmett, whose death occurred in San Francisco in 1892; and Webster, who died in Denver in June, 1896. The last-named was a man of prominence, being a speaker of the lower house of the legislature, a member of the state senate and for some time grand master of the grand lodge of Colorado.
In 1838 our subject accompanied the family to Ellicottville, N. Y., where he remained until he was twenty-one. In 1851 he passed through Chicago, then a mudhole on the banks of the lake, and without one single feature to favorably impress a stranger. He went up the lake to Portage, Wis., where he took a flatboat for Prairie du Chien, and from there went on a steamer to St. Paul, remaining there and at St. Anthony just one year and one day. From there he traveled by stage to Galena and Elgin, then back to Chicago, and from there returned to Ellicottville. On the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, in the spring of 1855, he determined to go to Kansas, so again started westward. He traveled up the river from St. Louis to Kansas City, where he caught his first real glimpse of frontier life. Lines of steamers four deep were anchored on the levee, and near by were at least thirty ox-trains and twelve mule teams, destined to every point in the west. Each ox-train was composed of thirty-one wagons and six yoke of
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. cattle to each wagon, while a mule train consisted of eight wagons, with four pairs of mules to each wagon.
The mingled medley caused by the braying of the mules, the lowing of the cattle and the shouting of the men was confusing to the "tenderfoot." He gazed around him in amazement. While he stood watching everything with curiosity, a Missouri freighter asked him where he came from, and on receiving his reply, said, "Yes, you are one of those -- Abolitionists and the quicker you get out of here, the better for you." He settled in Leavenworth and engaged in merchandising as a member of the firm of Bailey, Anthony & Co., and a year later was elected county clerk and recorder. He drew the laws prescribing the forms for the recording of deeds, which are still in use in Kansas and Colorado. At the second election in the city he saw the necessity for organization for the enforcement of laws. People coming across the river from Missouri harassed the Abolitionists and became very troublesome. He, with twenty-six others, organized the Leavenworth Rangers and equipped themselves with good horses and sharp rifles, the latter of which he soon found to be much feared by the border ruffians across the river. At the next elections held in Kansas a large crowd of Missourians came over early in the morning, intending to take charge of the election, but he saw them, then gathered his men on the bottom and came to the esplanade, riding forward in a circuit and shouting to them that an election would be held that day for Kansas people only and anyone not a resident who attempted to vote would be taken in hand. He so frightened the men that they stampeded for home. One of his souvenirs is a photograph album containing pictures of early residents of Kansas, among them an original photograph of John Brown, given him personally and probably the only one of the kind in existence.
From Kansas Major Anthony came to Colorado, in time to participate in the stirring events of war times here. On the close of the Rebellion he went to the mountains, but when the survey of the Union Pacific was begun he piloted the surveyors in their expeditions and also piloted the surveyors of the Northern Pacific through to Helena, doing the preliminary surveying. He was then a sub-contractor and civil engineer on the Union Pacific. When the Deadwood excitement broke out, he went there and took up a large claim, but found it was not as reported, and returned to Denver. In 1877 he embarked in the real-estate business upon a large scale and has continued in it ever since. He was so familiar with the city that he knew the location and value of every lot. He laid out additions, only one of which, however, bears his name. With his brother he built blocks on, the corner of Curtis and Fifteenth, and Champa and Fifteenth, and he still owns the old Wilcox block at Nos. 1629-35 Curtis. In the organization of the Denver Tramway Company he was actively interested and for years was a director. Still in the real-estate business, he is located in room 5, No. 1631 Curtis street. It has been his experience that when he took charge of his business affairs they returned profits, but when he entrusted them to others, he invariably lost money. He is a lover of flowers and for his own pleasure has a moneyed interest in a floral establishment. During the summer months his home at No. 1280 Logan street is bright with flowers, in the cultivation of which he passes many pleasant hours.
At the time that his brother was county clerk, Major Anthony organized Anthony's Abstract Company, the formation of which was not revealed for a time. Later it was consolidated with another concern under the title of Anthony, Laudon & Curry. Even after the major retired from the company, his name was still continued in the firm. Like all other fifty-niners, he is a member of the Colorado Association of Pioneers; while it is true he did not reach Denver until the spring of 1860, yet from the fact that he started on his westward journey in 1859, he is entitled to a place among the men who came to the state in that most eventful year. He is a life member of the Masons, affiliates with the Sons of the Revolution and the Loyal Legion, and is connected with Lincoln Post, G. A. R.
The first marriage of Major Anthony united him with Lucy Stebbins, of Atchison, who died three months after they were married. His second wife was Frances Brown, who was born and educated in Utica, N. Y., but at the time of her marriage was living in Denver. She was a daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Brown, natives of Bath, England, but during most of
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