ISAAC P. VAN WORMER.
Mardos Collection
ISAAC P. VAN WORMER.
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 455
SAAC P. VAN WORMER. Fourteen miles south of Denver, on Plum Creek, is a stock ranch of thirteen hundred acres, bearing excellent improvements in fencing and buildings, and stocked with cattle and various breeds of horses. This property was purchased by Mr. Van Wormer in 1871, and with another tract (leased) of equal size has since been used for the pasturage of stock. It is said that Mr. Van Wormer is the oldest man in the cattle business in Colorado, and certainly it may also be said that he is one of the most successful, for his financial standing is the highest and his check is honored for any amount he desires. He resides at No. 11 South Sherman street, Denver, which property he owns, as well as other real estate. He built and later sold the Van Wormer block, and has erected many houses on the hill and also south of Cherry Creek.
On the Mohawk River, near Fonda, Montgomery County, N. Y., Mr. Van Wormer was born April 15, 1833. He is of Dutch descent, his great-grandparents having come to this country from Holland. His father, Frederick D., the son of a farmer, was reared in Montgomery County and was educated for an attorney, but never entered the profession, working during most of his life as a boatman on the Erie Canal. He died in Montgomery County. His wife, Ann, was a daughter of James Cooley, a soldier in the war of 1812. She was born in Montgomery County and died there at eighty-two years of age. Her family comprised eight children, namely: Henry E., who died in New York City; Thomas R., now in Michigan; Isaac P.; Antoinette, who remains in the vicinity of the old home; James H., who was a soldier in the war and now resides in Bradford, Pa.; Jane A., who lives near Syracuse, N. Y.; Chester, who served in the Civil war and now makes his home in Michigan; and Elizabeth, deceased.
During three months of the year our subject when a boy attended the common schools and the remainder of the time was devoted to farm work, having begun to work out on farms when he was only a child of seven. Later he worked on the canal, then on a stage line, and in the spring of 1855 went to Michigan, where he drove a stage between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo for a time. During the same year he went to LaFayette, Ind., where he worked out by the month. In 1857 he located in Leavenworth, Kan., where he worked as a carpenter for a short time, and then entered a pre-emption claim near Carbondale, in southern Kansas, but the attempt to farm the place profitably proved a failure and he came to Colorado, making the trip with ox-teams along the Santa Fe trail. He camped out on Clear Creek and for a month prospected. The country was full of fortune seekers, for it was the slimmer of 1859 and thousands of men had been attracted to the state by the recent discovery of gold.
Returning to Kansas in the fall of 1859, Mr. Van Wormer settled up his business affairs there and in 1860 came back to Colorado, making the trip with a horse train. He engaged in trading and made his home in Denver, but in 1862 turned his attention to the cattle business, buying cattle from Missouri and Iowa and bringing them to Colorado. At the same time he located a ranch on Running Creek near the line of Arapahoe and Douglas County. When the Hungate family were murdered by the Arapahoe Indians in 1864, he left that place and afterward carried on the cattle business in different localities, but finally located at Sampson Gulch, in Arapahoe County, and from there in 1871 removed his cattle to his present ranch. He was among the very first who allowed the cattle to roam over the open prairies and he was also one of the first who branded cattle, his first brand being the letter V, but this was changed to Van when the legislature passed the law requiring all cattle to be branded. During the early days he allowed his cattle to occupy a range on the Republican River, while the home ranch was kept for the pasturage of horses exclusively.
At Denver. in June, 1867, Mr. Van Wormer married Cora Wright, who was born in Washington County, N. Y., the daughter of Charles S. Wright, a native of Vermont. Her grandfather, Judge Wright, of New York, married a daughter of Capt. Nathaniel Seeley, who served in the Revolution. For some years Charles S. Wright engaged in the manufacture of lime in New York, where he had large kilns. He married Abbie Dickinson, who was born in Washington County, N. Y., of Scotch descent, and died in Kansas. They were the parents of eleven children, of whom four daughters and two sons are now living. One of the sons, P. D. Wright, was a soldier in a New York regiment during the war, and
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. a nephew, Capt. George Robinson, also bore an honorable part in quelling the Rebellion. Mr. and Mrs. Van Wormer have six children: Mrs. Lillian M. Pierce, of Denver; Mrs. Ruth M. Miller, of Denver; Laura B.; Frank W.; Ethel B. and May C.
Mr. Van Wormer has been a stockholder in the Denver Consolidated Tramway Company, the Littleton Milling Company and other corporations. For one term he was commissioner of Douglas County, but refused re-election. He is a member of the Association of Colorado Pioneers. In the chamber of commerce and the board of trade he is a charter member. He was one of the first members of the Colorado Cattle Growers' Association, to which he still belongs. In politics he is a Republican. The transformation wrought in this country since he came here is wonderful and surpassed even the fondest hopes of his pioneer days, but he may justly feel that he has been one of the factors in contributing to the progress of city and state and has contributed his share to the development of the material resources of both.
ARSHALL M. NAY, one of the old and respected citizens of Morrison, Jefferson County, has been engaged in business in this place for the past seventeen years, during which period he has won the good will and high regard of his fellow-citizens by his honesty, square dealing and unfailing courtesy. His market is one of the best in the county and is always well equipped with a fine variety of meats, fresh and salted. His long experience in the business gives him certain knowledge of the demands of the trade, which he seeks to meet at all times. In all public matters affecting the general welfare he is an actively interested participant and can always be safely counted upon to endorse all progressive movements accruing to the good of the community. The educational cause finds no more devoted friend than he, and for twelve years he was a member of the school board, and for a period was secretary of that honorable body. Fraternally he holds membership with Morrison Lodge No. 82, I. O. O. F., and politically he sides with the Fusion party.
Born in Logan County, Ill., March 4, 1850, Mr. Nay is in the prime of manhood. He is one in a family which originally included eight children, but whose numbers have diminished to five. He has four brothers living, namely: Lafayette, George, Horace F. and Samuel G. Their parents were: L. H. and Sally D. (Maston) Nay, both of whom were long since summoned to their reward. The father, a native of Rochester, N. Y., born in 1812, moved to Ohio in his early manhood and spent several years in Loraine and Medina Counties, his time being devoted to farming. Later he settled in Illinois and carried on a farm in Logan County for a few years. Thence he went to Iowa and to Missouri, but after some years of experience in agricultural pursuits in Henry and Lafayette Counties he concluded to return to Illinois. Three years elapsed and he went back to Missouri, this time taking up his residence in Holt County, where his death occurred in 1865. During the Civil war he was a strong Union man, which fact made it a little unpleasant for him at times among some of his Missouri neighbors. For many years he was engaged, more or less, in the real-estate business, and on some of his farms he was extensively occupied in raising fine livestock. A man of broad education and intellect, he was greatly interested in the cause of education, and for two or three terms he taught school successfully.
At the time of his father's death our subject was but half way through his teens, and the property, which would otherwise have been then divided among the children, had to remain intact until he had arrived at his majority. His mother had died when the lad was but five or six years old. The brothers continued to live on the old homestead, which comprised some five hundred acres, up to 1871. M. M. Nay, by that time a practical farmer, carried on his share of the property for five years longer and then removed to Kansas, where he took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres. This land he tilled and improved for about a year, after which he embarked in the lumber business, also dealing in farming implements and stock. In September, 1881, he disposed of all his business interests and came to Colorado, reserving his farm, however, which he sold about a year later at advantageous terms. Two weeks or so spent in Denver and then Mr. Nay came direct to Morrison, of which he had heard that it was a live and growing town. he soon after established a meat
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 457
market and began dealing in stock, which enterprises he follows up to the present time.
The marriage of Mr. Nay and Miss Emma J. Warner, of Holt County, Mo., occurred March 17, 1872. Four children came to bless their hearthstone, but one is deceased. Ida V. is the wife of Earl D. McGill, a successful medical practitioner of Yuma, Colo. George W. is in partnership with his father in the meat and stock business. His wife, formerly Miss Anna I. Strickland, was a successful teacher in the schools of this county for six years. Samuel W., a graduate of the Colorado State University at Boulder, is now engaged in teaching in this county.
OEL B. KING. The press, which forms a potential and indispensable factor in advanced civilization, is but the mouthpiece of men of education, men who possess broad and progressive minds and devote their whole energy and influence toward promoting the interests of their country and the locality in which they reside. Men who do not possess these essential qualifications are but short-lived in the journalistic realms, as the number of newspaper failures throughout the country will testify. The press of Elbert County is ably represented by the gentleman named above, who through the medium of the Elbert County Tribune and the Eastonville World has labored zealously to elevate the moral and intellectual standard of the people and to enlighten the community upon events transpiring on every section of the globe. His editorials are always substantial and well written, while the local columns of his publications are filled with fresh and crisp items of interest. However, the field of journalism has not claimed his entire attention, for he is the proprietor of a large general merchandise store in Elbert, the town of his residence.
Mr. King is a son of Dr. J. E. and Emaline (Barnes) King, and was born in DeWitt County, Ill., July 22, 1849. He was partially reared upon a farm and attended the public schools of Clinton, Ill.; this training was supplemented by a course in the Wesleyan University at Bloomington, Ill., which he entered at the age of fifteen years. One year later he moved with his father to Fairfield, Iowa, where he became apprenticed to the printers' trade, receiving the paltry sum of $50 per annum for his services. He made rapid strides in his profession and worked as a journeyman but a few months, when, at the age of nineteen years, he established the Moulton Independent, at Moulton, Iowa, and although it was his first attempt in his own behalf he displayed unusual judgment and ability. Five years later he moved to Bloomfield, Iowa, where he founded the Odd Fellows' Banner, a weekly paper devoted to the interest of Odd Fellowship. He worked up a circulation of eight thousand copies, at that time the largest weekly circulation in the state, and continued successfully for a period of four years, when he met with financial reverses and removed to Pratt County, Kan., where for two years he conducted the Pratt County Press. He then continued west to Colorado and established the Huerfano Herald at La Veta, Huerfano County, his removal to that section being mainly because of poor health. His enterprises prospered and he remained there until 1884, when he realized the excellent opportunities offered for a publication in Elbert County, and immediately thereafter located at Elbert, and established the Elbert County Tribune, which was successful from the start and is now a paper of influence in that community. In 1888 he started the Eastonville World, which has also had a prosperous career and is one of the thriving weeklies of the county. In 1885 he also embarked in the general merchandise business in Elbert; beginning in a small way he gradually increased his stock as his business justified, and at the present time he has a large, well-stocked store, which is patronized by the leading citizens. He owns considerable real estate, including Scott's addition to Elbert. He is a man of good character, a pleasant and genial companion, and occupies a high position in the estimation of his fellow-citizens.
August 29, 1871, at Ellsworth, Kan., Mr. King married Miss Eva Davis, a native of Illinois, and their happy union resulted in the following issue: Edward M., who died in Elbert at the age of twenty-one years; Prank M., whose death occurred in childhood; Happy, who died in childhood; Welby, who died at Elbert, aged two years; Keo, the wife of F. N. LaVell; Emma, who is at home with her parents; Eva and Jo, daughters, aged respectively twelve and ten years. Our subject has always voted the Republican ticket, casting his first vote for General
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. Grant in 1872. Although not an aspirant for office, he accepted the appointment as postmaster of Elbert under the Harrison administration, and served for three years, when he handed in his resignation. He is equally as prominent in fraternal as in business circles, being an active member of Union Lodge No. 7, A. F. & A. M., of Denver; Knights of Pythias, of Eastonville; and of the Elbert Lodge, I. O. O. F., of which he has filled all of the chairs and taken the grands lodge degree. He became a member of the latter order at Bloomfield, Iowa, in 1871, and has been active in the work of that body since.
James A. Mauldin received a common-school education and was reared to agricultural pursuits, which he made his life's vocation. His father was in a helpless condition, and as his two older brothers were away, one being in the west and the other in the Civil war, our subject being the eldest son at home, the support of the family fell upon his shoulders; in 1862 his father died, and our subject migrated west. With his mule team he drove to Nashville, Tenn., from which place he took the boat for St. Louis, Mo., where he stopped off with his elder brother for a short time. In company with his mother and three younger sisters he again started on his journey west, and in the year 1867 he settled on his present property. He had but one mule when he started in farming, and that one was unbroken. The land which he had taken up was rich and fertile, and by his perseverance and untiring energy, coupled with the practice of economy, he succeeded in saving enough money, with which to purchase more land, and is now one of the largest land owners in that vicinity. In addition to farming, he is also engaged in stockraising, in which he is remarkably successful. He is well known throughout his community, and enjoys the respect and good will of a large circle of acquaintances.
Mr. Mauldin has twice been united in marriage. In 1877 he married Caroline McCurry, a native of Missouri, whose acquaintance he made in Colorado; she died in December, 1890. February 25, 1892, he married Frances E. Tee, a native of Cambridge, Ill., at Geneseo, Ill. Three children have blessed this union, as follows: James F., William B, and Charles W. Politically our subject has always been an ardent supporter of the Democratic party, and cast his first vote for Tilden in 1876. He has been a candidate for county commissioner five times, and has been elected thrice. He has also been delegated to various conventions.
LIVER EVANS came to Colorado on a tour of inspection in 1860. In the spring of 1871 he brought his family to the state and purchased his present place from a brother who had taken it up as a claim. The property then consisted of one hundred and sixty acres and has been increased by the purchase of an eighty-acre tract, making the present size two hundred and forty acres. The place is situated two miles west of Arvada, in Jefferson County, where the fertile soil affords the farmer an opportunity to engage in farming successfully.
In Beaver County, Pa., Mr. Evans was born September 17, 1827, being a son of Noah and Mary Ann (Black) Evans. He was one of eleven children, seven of whom are still living, namely: Oliver, Hiram, North, Ephraim C., Eli L.; Margaret, wife of Walter Fenton; and Elmira, who married George Thornsburg. His grandparents, Eli and Elizabeth (Davis) Evans, removed to Beaver Falls, Beaver County, from Chester County, Pa., in 1806, and there the grandfather built a mill and did a large milling business. In the early days he bought a settlers' right from a man who had taken up a claim of some three hundred acres, but after thirty years of litigation, he lost the property, which is now worth $1,000 an acre. Noah Evans was born in Chester County,
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