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for himself; establishing a shop on Fifteenth, between Wynkoop and Wewatta streets. About five years later he removed to his present location, No. 1333 Thirteenth street, where he is engaged in making wagons and carriages and also in doing general blacksmith work. Politically he is a silver Republican, favoring protecting of home industries and a new adjustment of the currency question. He is a member of the Turn Verein and holds office as past sachem of Colorow Tribe No. 10, I. O. R. M., which he has represented in the Grand Lodge.
The marriage of Mr. Schaefer took place in Denver in 1890, his wife being Miss Pauline Ludolf, who was born in Macon, Mo., but came from there to Denver with her father, Joseph Ludolf. They are the parents of one child now living, a son, Charles Peter Schaefer.
AVALIER GUISEPPE CUNEO, M. D., is Knight of the following Italian orders: La Carona d'Italia and Santi Maurizio e Lazzaro; is also consul of Italy for Utah and Colorado, a practicing physician of Denver, and a man of wide travel and cosmopolitan culture. The position which he occupies as representative of the Italian government is one of importance and responsibility. February 24, 1895, he was appointed by the Italian government acting counsel for thirteen states and territories, viz.: Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, North and South Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico, Indian Territory, Oklahoma, Utah, Idaho and Arizona. The following year President Cleveland appointed him counsel at Denver for Utah and Colorado, by reason of the royal patent, signed by His Majesty, King Umberto the First, May 7, 1896.
In the town of Alpepiana St. Stefano d' Aveto, state of Genoa, Italy, Dr. Cuneo was born September 2, 1856, the descendant of a family whose history is traced back six hundred years in Genoa, to the days of the existence of the Genoese republic. It has furnished many men prominent in business and the professions. One of the name was a major under the illustrious Napoleon and was made a prisoner. Another, J. B. Cuneo, was a wealthy business man of Montevideo and during the nine years' war he assisted Garibaldi with the money that secured the freedom of the Argentine Republic.
The doctor's father, Joseph Cuneo, was a land owner and agriculturist in Genoa, where he died in 1888, at the age of seventy-eight. He married Anna Maria Ertola, who was born in Ertola St. Stefano d'Aveto, the town being named in honor of the family, who had been identified with its history for centuries. Some of the name are now in almost every foreign country. Mrs. Cuneo died in 1882, leaving eight children, namely: John, who was educated in the United States and now lives in Albuquerque, N. M.; George A., a business man of Denver; Joseph, of this sketch; Louis, a manufacturer in St. Louis; Mary, Mrs. A. G. Ghio, of St. Louis; Emelia, Mrs. James Ghio, also of St. Louis; Beatrice, wife of J. Turre, of Denver; and Julia, Mrs. J. Paretti, of Italy.
The education of our subject was acquired in the University of Pavia, and the Royal University of Naples, from which latter he graduated in the medical and surgical department in 1887. After graduation he became surgeon on ocean steamers that plyed the waters of the Mediterranean along the northern coast of Africa and southern coast of Europe. He was also on steamers that visited India, China, Japan, Australia and South America; and later was on the Anchor line in trips from the Mediterranean to North American seaports, being on the ocean for four years altogether. During his voyages he often was in great danger of shipwreck. His ship encountered one of the dreaded monsoons of East India; at another time a heavy fog rendered the ship's course uncertain and death seemed imminent when at the entrance to the port of Iquique, Chile, and again, twelve days later, at the entrance to the Strait of Magellan.
On account of his father's death, Dr. Cuneo resigned as ocean surgeon and became administrator of the estate. He came to Denver in December, 1889, attracted hither by the genial climate which so much resembles that of Italy. In January of the next year he opened an office at No. 1449 Larimer street, but in 1893 removed to the Pioneer building, Fifteenth and Larimer streets, where he has since carried on a general practice. For a time he was a member of the staff of St. Anthony's Hospital, but pressure of other duties caused his resignation. He is medi-
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. cal examiner and an officer in Union Lodge No. 61, A. O. U. W. and is honorary president for the Italian government, of the Italian-Spanish-American Columbian Protective Federation for Colorado. He is also a member of the Denver and Arapahoe County Medical Societies. Three months after his appointment as acting consul, the Italian Massacre at Walsenburg, Colo., occurred, March 12, 1895, and the complications ensuing therefrom he settled in a manner satisfactory both to this and the Italian governments, doing this by going down to the seat of the massacre at the risk of his own life. He also settled the Ute and Ulay trouble, caused by the nonpayment of wages due the Italian workmen in the Ute and Ulay mining district. On account of his services at the time of the massacre he was knighted by King Umberto a member of the order "Crown of Italy," dated Rome, December 30, 1895, No. 54, 210, which gives him the title of Cavalier Guiseppe Cuneo. In recognition of his services in securing the release from life sentences in the state penitentiary at Canon City, Colo., of five countrymen who were wrongfully convicted for murder and had served six years, he was again knighted by King Umberto of Italy, February 20, 1898, No. 25,567, Santi Maurizio e Lazzaro. His countrymen appreciating the efforts he makes in their behalf, have at different times presented him with a number of medals, of the finest workmanship and material, in recognition of his services in their interests.
EORGE J. CHARPIOT, a mechanic and safe expert residing in Denver, was born in Belleville, St. Clair County, Ill., in the year 1864, and is a member of a family whose history appears in the sketch of his cousin, H. C. Charpiot. His father, George, was born in Paris, a son of Pierre Charpiot, who was the inventor of the plating of tin. On coming to America, George Charpiot set-tied in Dubuque, Iowa, and from there went to St. Louis, the home of his sister, Mrs. Underhill. For a time he operated a coal mine near Belleville, whence he removed to Virginia City, Mont., and engaged in the wholesale liquor business. With ox-teams he removed to Salt Lake, secreting a large quantity of gold dust inside the collars used in harnessing the oxen. In 1859 he came to Denver, where he started a restaurant on Blake street, continuing in the business for some years. He was a fine cook, having served an apprenticeship to the occupation at Delmonico's. About 1891 he removed to San Diego, Cal., where he now owns and resides on a lemon ranch.
The grandfather of our subject, Pierre Charpiot, was born in France, where his father, Pierre, Sr., was a schoolmaster and at one time mayor of the city of Barth. The family is of the old French-Huguenot stock. Pierre, Jr., who was an expert machinist, held a position as foreman in Lalance, one of the largest manufactories of France. He invented tin-plating by dipping and saved the labor of over forty men a day. Afterward he went to Lyons, France, where he engaged in manufacturing, but competition was so great that he decided to come to America, hoping to meet with greater success here. In 1854 he settled in Baltimore, but after a short time went west to Chicago, where he started the first French hotel on La Salle street. After operating this for many years he removed to Iowa and settled on a farm near Davenport, where he died at the age of sixty-eight. He married Clemence, a daughter of David Bauceer, who was a wealthy farmer of Barth. She died in Chicago, and of her seven children five are living. Charles died in Chicago and Louis in Virginia City, Nev. Frederick is a wealthy retired business man of Denver; George, father of our subject, was the third of the sons; Eugenia is married and lives in Denver; Jacques lives in Iowa; and Henry is in Denver.
The mother of our subject was Celestine Huot, a native of France. Her father, Victor Huot, settled in Davenport, Iowa, where he engaged as a contractor and builder, and as a manufacturer of sash, doors and blinds, which business is now carried on by his sons. Mrs. Celestine Charpiot died when a young woman, and left three children: Engenia, Mrs. Jones, of Denver; Charles, who is with the Armour Packing Company in Kansas City, Mo.; and George J. Afterward the father married Mrs. Margaret Pratt, widow of Charles Pratt, who was at one time a millionaire resident of St. Louis.
Upon the death of his mother our subject was taken into the home of his uncle, Victor Huot, at Davenport, Iowa, where he remained until sixteen years of age. He then served an apprenticeship to the machinist's trade in Indianapolis,
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 517
Ind., and after three years, in 1882, he came to Denver, where he completed his trade with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company. Four years later he went back to Indianapolis, where he was foreman in a machine shop for two years. When the firm sold out, he returned to Denver to take charge of his father's property. He was employed here as a safe expert, and is now one of two experts in that line in Denver. In 1897 he opened a shop at No. 1610 Glenarm street, where he is engaged in the manufacture and repair of bicycles and safes. As safe expert he has traveled through all parts of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah.
Politically Mr. Charpiot is a Republican. He is a member of the Rambler Wheel Club and the Wheelmen's Association. Fraternally he is connected with Harmony Lodge No. 6, A. F. & A. M., and the Knights of Pythias, while in religion he is connected with the Twenty-third Avenue Presbyterian Church. He was married in Indiana to Miss Anna Huzey, who was born there, the daughter of a physician.
EORGE N. BILLINGS is one of the old settlers of Colorado, having started westward at the time of the discovery of gold in Pike's Peak. However, he stopped in Belvidere, Ill., during the winter of 1859-60 and in the early spring assisted in fitting out an expedition there, the proprietors being John Q. A. Rawlins and James McNesser. He crossed the Mississippi at Clinton and the Missouri at Council Bluffs, after which he followed the course of the Platte River westward. In July, 1860, he arrived in Denver, where he was appointed deputy sheriff under Andrew Snyder. But four weeks in the position was sufficient for him and he resigned. He then clerked for some months for Hewett & Bueford, after which he took the contract for building a mill for Lou Morris in Empire City, it being the first stamp mill in that place. From there he went to Central City, after which he came to Denver as a clerk in the postoffice under Postmaster Samuel Curtis. In 1863 Governor Evans appointed him as ensign of the governor's guard in the Colorado militia, and he was also commissioned by Governor Gilpin as first lieutenant of the First Regiment of Colorado Infantry, but was unable to leave the postoffice, as the postmaster had accepted the commission of major. In 1869 he resigned his position in the office and embarked in the planing mill business, which he now conducts at No. 1824 Blake street.
Mr. Billings was born in Apalachin, Tioga County, N. Y., August 18, 1836. His great-grandfather Billings was a drummer in the Revolution and his grandfather, Charles Billings, was a soldier in the war of 1812. The latter removed from Massachusetts to the Black River country in early days and later settled upon a farm in western New York. The father of our subject, Clinton Billings, was born in Great Barrington, Mass., and engaged in lumbering on the Susquehanna River. The lumber was rafted down the Susquehanna to Columbia and Green's Dam, and some, eighty to ninety feet long, were floated down to Baltimore. He owned two mills in Apalachin and remained there until his death in 1874.
The mother of our subject, Anna Goodsell, was born in Connecticut October 29, 1813. She was a daughter of Lloyd Goodsell, a native of Connecticut and a soldier in the war of 1812, who resided for some time in Wyalusing, Bradford County, Pa., but afterward settled in Apalachin, N. Y. She is still living and is now eighty-five years of age. Her family consisted of two daughters, both still living, and four sons, of whom George N. is the sole survivor. He was educated in the Apalachin public school and the Owego Academy. From boyhood he was interested in lumbering and by the age of sixteen he had become a practical sawyer. He assisted his father until 1853, when he removed to Belvidere, Boone County, Ill., and from there went to Chicago as a clerk. Since 1860, as already stated, he has resided in Denver, and his planing mill is the oldest in the city. It was built by him and is constructed of brick, and operated by steam power. He does all kinds of trimming, joining, finishing and planing, and has carried on a profitable business in his line. From 1862 to 1870 he was in partnership with T. W. Moffat, a nephew of D. A. Moffat, conducting a planing mill where his mill now stands.
Politically a Republican, Mr. Billings served as alderman from the third ward for one term and in 1866 was assessor. Fraternally he is connected with Union Lodge No. 7, A. F. & A. M., Denver Chapter No. 2, R. A. M., Colorado Commandery
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. No. 1, K. T., the Consistory of Denver, and El Jebel Temple, N. M. S. In Denver he married Miss Gertrude E. Jenks, who was born in Ohio, being the daughter of a physician there. They are the parents of three children: Marcia L.., who graduated from the high school of Denver and is now the wife of Benjamin Thomas, of Central City, this state; Anna, who completed her education in Whitney, Canada, and is now the wife of Prof. C. H. Thurber, dean of the theological department of the university of Chicago; and Wirt J., who was educated in Owego (N. Y.) Academy, and is now with his father in business.
OBERT LEVY, M. D., professor of physiology and laryngology in Gross Medical College, is also secretary of the faculty and the board of trustees. Many of his professional articles have been published for distribution among the profession, among them being the following: "Inoperable Sarcoma of the Nose," reprinted from the New York Medical Journal; "Treatment of Laryngeal Phthisis," from the Medical and Surgical Reporter; "Pharyngeal Tuberculosis" from the Denver Medical Times; "Medical Education," president's address delivered before the Colorado State Medical Society June 17, 1897; "The Treatment of Laryngeal Tuberculosis," with a report of cases, reprinted from the New York Medical Journal; "Fatal Hemorrhage from the Nose and Pharynx from Unusual Cause," read before the Colorado State Medical Society in June, 1896; "Exaggerated Arytenoid Movement, Anchylosis of the Crico, Arytenoid Articulation," reprinted from Annals of Ophthalmology and Otology, in October, 1896; and "Direct Autoscopy; Kirstein," reprinted from Gross Medical College Bulletin.
Of Canadian birth, Dr. Levy was born in Hamilton, Ontario, May 30, 1864, and is the son of Mandel and Rebecca (Eisner) Levy, natives respectively of Germany and Vienna, Austria. The latter has three brothers who are physicians, and her father, Dr. Leopold Elsner, was also a practitioner of note in Austria. In 1843 he came to America with the illustrious Louis Kossuth, with whom he had participated in the Hungarian rebellion. He settled in New York and practiced in Utica and Syracuse for many years. Mandel Levy was an early settler of Hamilton, Ontario, where he engaged in the mercantile business, but from there he removed to Milwaukee, Wis., and continued in business. He now resides at Iron Mountain, Mich., retired from active labors. Of his five children Robert is the eldest and the only one in Colorado. He was two years old when the family removed to Milwaukee and he received his education in the public and high schools of that city. In 1879 he came to Colorado and took a special course in the University of Denver. In 1880 he entered Princeton College, but after a short time he left and took up the study of medicine at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, graduating in 1884, with the degree of M. D. While in college he made a specialty of diseases of the throat and nose.
Returning to Colorado, Dr. Levy engaged in general practice in Denver for five years, when he limited his attention to the practice of laryngology. In the foundation of Gross Medical College he was actively interested, and as soon as it was established he became a member of the faculty and board of trustees. Three years later he was chosen secretary of both bodies, and has since served in that capacity, besides having been instructor in the college from its organization. He has his office in the California building.
In Denver Dr. Levy married Miss Rebecca Goldsmith, of Philadelphia, by whom he has a daughter, Leona. He has been very prominent in the medical fraternity of the city and state. He assisted in the organization of the Denver and Arapahoe County Medical Society, of which he was afterward elected president. In 1896-97 he was president of the Colorado State Medical Society, before which he delivered an address, on the expiration of his term, that is said to have been one of the most thoughtful ever presented before that body. In it occurred a graphic comparison between the specialist and the generalist. "The relation of the specialist to general practitioner should be one of concerted action, each taking advantage of the other's experience and assistance. There is no need of fear that either the general practitioner or the specialist will be driven from the field. Each has his prominent place in the profession, and this place will be strengthened by each becoming broader in his views. The generalist is often too narrow, as is the specialist; they are both as often at fault; but the fact that each class is a necessity assures us that the position of both will be
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so clearly defined and maintained that only good will result. The specialist alone will be able to make the rapid strides forward which point the way. He will be the teacher of the future, and his students will be practitioners of such thorough knowledge as will best fit them for the struggle which their life's work entails. They will be like the experienced master of the ship who is, of course, most competent to command, so long as his voyage lies in the open sea; but when he approaches a strange harbor on a danger shore and feels the full weight of responsibility that a valuable cargo and precious lives impose, will certainly take on a pilot who is especially familiar with the channel and its peculiar perils.'"
Dr. Levy assisted in the organization of the Denver Pathological Society and was its president for a time. He is an honorary member of the Pueblo County Medical Society, a member of the American Public Health Association, and fellow of the American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society. In the Colorado Dental School he is professor of physiology and he is also a member of the Dental Club. In addition to his other positions, he is laryngologist to Arapahoe County, St. Luke's and St. Anthony's hospitals, in Denver. Politically he is a Republican and takes an interest in public affairs, keeping himself posted concerning all the questions before the people to-day, which he believes to be the duty of every public-spirited, patriotic citizen.
NTON SCHINDELHOLZ. The life of a stockman is seldom one of continued, uninterrupted success. There are times of reverses, when losses come thick and fast, when markets are poor, prices low and results unsatisfactory. In spite of these discouraging features, the man who has the courage to endure and the determination to overcome misfortune invariably attains a fair degree of prosperity. Such has been the experience of Mr. Schindelholz, who came to Colorado during the Pike's Peak excitement of 1860 and has since been identified with the history of the state. He is one of the oldest cattle men of Colorado and still superintends his ranch in Elbert County. About 1887 he started a ranch in New Mexico on the Mora River, in San Miguel and Mora Counties, where he owns twenty-one thousand acres, all under fence. His property is known as the Cherry Valley ranch or the Peter Rosar pasture, and he has T. O. K. as his brand.
During the early years of Mr. Schindelholz' life in Colorado the Indians were very troublesome and hostile, and frequently drove off the cattle of the ranchmen, thus causing constant trouble. More than once he was brought into personal encounter with them and more than once he suffered from their depredations. It was he who found the Hungate family on Running Creek, when they were attacked and killed by the Indians in 1864. As he was passing near he noticed the smoke, and approaching nearer saw the Cheyenne Indians escaping, after having scalped the wife and children about three hundred yards from the house. Mr. Hungate, who had also seen the smoke, had hastened toward his house, but the Indians pursued him three miles down the creek and shot him, being too intent in their pursuit of him to notice the other white man near by.
Mr. Schindelholz was born in Canton Luzerne, Switzerland, December 25, 1832, a member of an old family there. His grandfather, a native of the same canton, was a sugar and cheese manufacturer, and died at ninety-two years of age. The father, Anton, was in the dairy and stock business in that canton, where he died in 1844, at forty-four years. His wife, who was born in the same place, bore the maiden name of Barbara Portmann, and died at the age of sixty. Of their twelve children, seven attained maturity and four are living, two sons in America and two daughters in Switzerland. Anton, who was next to the youngest of these, was eleven years old when his father died, and afterward he worked for an uncle on a farm, receiving $5 for every six months of labor. After a year, however, he sought employment elsewhere. At the age of twenty-one he went to Alsace, France, where he was engaged in the dairy business for a time. In 1856 he left Havre on the sailing vessel "Ruessel," which reached New York City after a voyage of thirty-seven days. A stranger in a stange (sic) land and with but little money, his condition was forlorn, but his courage never wavered. He had enough money to buy a ticket to Chicago, which city he reached in October, 1856, with $3 in his pocket. The day after his arrival in Chicago he went to Evans, where he secured work in
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. chopping. In the spring of the following year he secured employment in a stone quarry near Joliet, where he spent the summer.
The fall of 1857 found him in Leavenworth, Kan., where he was engaged in burning lime for a year, and later was employed in a dairy. Soon after the Pike's Peak gold excitement began to attract men to Colorado he and a partner, Mr. Albus, started hither, with an ox-team wagon and plenty of "grub." When within two hundred miles of Denver one of the oxen died, but they hired a party who had two yoke, and finally reached Denver, June 10, 1860, where they sold their outfit and bought two yoke of oxen, then proceeded to the Blue River. They engaged in prospecting and mining for a time, and in the fall Mr. Schindelholz took a load of hides back to Leavenworth, returning to Colorado in 1861 with two yoke of oxen. He reached Denver in twenty-seven days, but found that his partner, having become lonesome, had returned east and the claim was jumped. He soon formed a partnership with N. Myer and bought a ranch on the Blue River. In 1862, having saved about $500, he came to Denver, bought twenty-one cows, and started a dairy in partnership with Alexander Rooney, locating the dairy between Bear Creek and Golden. The partnership was dissolved in 1865, and his share was $5,000, but he loaned it to his partner for thirty days and lost it all, which left him with nothing.
Going up on Cherry Creek, he bought one hundred head of yearling steers and one hundred head of beef cattle, the latter of which he at once sold, receiving more than enough to pay for the beef and the steers. The latter he took to his ranch in Elbert County. He continued buying and selling. Later he moved his ranch to Cheyenne County, Kan., on the south branch of the Republican, which property he subsequently sold to George John Benkelman. He owns a large number of cattle in Elbert County, Colo., where he also owns over one thousand acres of land and has a lease on many hundred acres of land on which he pastures a large herd of cattle. His cattle he sells largely in the east, taking train loads at one time to the market. In 1879 he built on the corner of Thirtieth and Lawrence streets, in Denver, where he also owns other residence and business property. Since the organization of the Colorado Cattle Growers' Association he has been one of its members. In politics he is a Republican. His marriage, which took place in Elbert County, united him with Miss Mary Dietemann, a native of Alsace, France. Four children were born of their union, but all died when young. His niece, Miss Maria Lumena Dietemann, presides over his Denver home. Miss Dietemann was brought to America by her uncle when a little girl and shared with him in the hardships and privations of frontier life.
ILLIAM H. McKELVEY is the senior member of the firm of McKelvey & Moncrieff, plumbers, located at No. 1109 Eighteenth street, Denver. He was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., and is a son of Charles McKelvey, a native of Ireland, who came to America with his parents and settled in Brooklyn. At an early age he entered upon business pursuits and for many years he was the head of a wholesale and retail grocery in Brooklyn. When advanced in years he retired from active labors and spent his closing days in the enjoyment of the competency he had acquired by honest effort, His death occurred in 1890, when he was seventy-eight years of age. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Dutton, both natives of England, but afterwards residents of Brooklyn, where Mr. Dutton engaged in the mercantile business. Mrs. McKelvey still resides in that city. She was the mother of four sons and four daughters, of whom all but one are living.
The next to the oldest of the sons in the family is the subject of our sketch. He was a pupil in the grammar and high schools, but at the age of fourteen his studies ceased and he began in the world for himself. He was apprenticed to Armstrong & Blacklin, plumbers, of Brooklyn, with whom he remained altogether twelve years. In the fall of 1881 he came to Denver, where he secured employment at his trade, but after four years in the employ of others he determined to embark in business for himself. Forming a partnership with another plumber, under the firm name of Reynolds & McKelvey, he opened a shop at No. 1831 Arapahoe street. A year later Mr. Reynolds died and Mr. McKelvey continued the business alone. In 1895 he removed to his present quarters, and took Mr. Moncrieff into partnership. He has had a number of important
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contracts for plumbing, among them the Y. M. C. A. Building, Leonard, Montgomery and Hartwig blocks and numerous residences and terraces.
He is a member of the Master Plumbers' Association and takes a warm interest in everything connected with his occupation. Politically he believes in the policy adopted by the Republican party.
UGENE C. DAWSON came to Denver in 1890 for the purpose of developing a mechanical patent applied to electric lights for adjusting the height, and this patent he manufactured until the contract was taken, on royalty, by Flint & Lomax, of this city. For a time he was in partnership with the American Motor & Dynamo Company in the manufacture of motors and dynamos, and since the firm went out of business he has been engaged as an electrical engineer, at No. 1407 Lawrence street. He is a man of inventive genius and while in the jewelry business he invented a vertical stem winder, now in use by the Elgin Watch Company. In his shop he makes and repairs electrical instruments, repairs bicycles, manufactures Vim saddles and rewinds dynamos and motors.
The Dawson family came from England and settled at Cambridge, Md., its first representative being William, our subject's great-grandfather, who for some time lived at a place called Dawson's Hazard, an old Quaker settlement. The father of our subject, Thomas, son of Greenbury Dawson, was born in Kent County, Del., and removed from there to Templeville, Queen Anne's County, Md. (where our subject was born); later he returned, however, to Kent County and there died, from the effects of sunstroke, at the age of thirty-eight. His wife, Hester, daughter of Daniel Greene, was born in Kent County and died there in 1864. Her father, who was a farmer in Kent County, was a son-in-law of John Simmons, a soldier of the Revolution. Thomas Dawson and his wife were the parents of five children, of whom a son and daughter are now living. Our subject, who was the fourth in order of birth, was reared in Kent County, and at the age of eighteen began an apprenticeship of three years to the jewelers' trade in the city of Philadelphia. From there he went to Wilmington, Del., where he worked at his trade for eight years, being in business for himself during five years of that time. While there he began the study of electricity.
Coming to Colorado in 1885, Mr. Dawson spent five years in Greeley, where he engaged in the jewelry business and at the same time perfected his invention of the Dawson light. Politically he is a Republican. He is a member of Industry Lodge, A. O. U. W., in Wilmington, Del.; also formerly held membership in Eden Lodge No. 34, I. O. O. F., and the Knights of the Golden Eagle. He is connected with Lodge No. 65, K. of P., in Denver, is past chancellor of Greeley Lodge No. 31, K. of P., and represented his lodge as its delegate in the grand lodge. In Masonry he belongs to Temple Lodge of Wilmington, in which he was an officer; is a demitted member of Wilmington Chapter of the Royal Arch Degree, and belongs to St. John's Commandery No. 1, and Consistory No. 13, of Wilmington.
The Matthews family was identified with the early history of Virginia. Caleb, son of Tedie Matthews and father of our subject, was born in Mississippi County, Mo., where he was reared on a farm. At the age of twenty-one he enlisted for service in the Mexican war. At the time of the Civil war he was engaged in farming, but was lured from home and murdered by guerrillas in 1863. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Labemma Slaton, was born in Missouri, where her father, Thomas, was a farmer for many years; later, however, he was a distiller in Middle Tennessee. After the death of Caleb Matthews, his widow became the wife of John Naron and in 1866 removed to Clay County, Mo., settling near Liberty, but after a time went to Iron Mountain
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. in Iron County, Mo., and from there to Crystal City, in the same state, where Mrs. Naron died. Afterward Mr. Naron went to Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo., where his death occurred. He and his wife were the parents of six children.
The only child of his mother's first marriage, Edward Matthews was born near Charleston, Mississippi County, Mo. At the age of twelve he began to work for farmers and was thus employed for six years. He became an apprentice to A. L. Edson in St. Louis, with whom he remained four years, meantime learning the trade of a carriage blacksmith. On the expiration of his time he began to work as a journeyman in St. Louis. Going to Booneville, Mo., in 1886, he worked at his trade for two years, and then, in 1888, came to Denver, where he was in the employ of others for eighteen months, and afterward opened a shop of his own. He is a man of considerable mechanical genius and invented and patented the Matthews and Brooks fifth wheel, which has been placed on the market. Fraternally he is connected with Denver Lodge No. 5, A. F. & A. M., Lodge No. 92, I.O.O. F., the Woodmen of the World and the Junior Order United American Mechanics, being treasurer of the Woodmen organization.
In St. Louis Mr. Matthews married Miss Helen Porter, who was born in Tell City, Perry County, Ind., but removed from there to St. Louis, where her father, F. A. Porter, was connected with a printing office. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Matthews are named Roy and Jessie Matthews.
AVID D. SEERIE. The finest buildings in Denver have been erected under contract by the firm of Geddis & Seerie, who have established a reputation second to no firm in their line. The junior partner, to whose efficiency and talent not a little of the success is due, is still a young man, having been born in 1862; but he combines the enterprise of youth with the wise judgment usually found only in older men. In 1885 he began in business with his present partner, establishing the company that has since built up an immense trade in stone. Their most important contract, perhaps, was that for the building of the state capitol, which was awarded to them after the original contractor had been displaced by the state board of capitol commissioners. The result of their work is seen in the magnificent and imposing structure that is said by all visitors to be one of the finest capitols in the entire country. At the time the capitol was building, the firm also had the contract for the completion of the Brown-Palace Hotel, a beautiful building constructed of Arizona brown stone, and by competent judges declared to be without a peer from Chicago to San Francisco, both as to the luxuriousness of its appointments and the harmony of interior effects.
Scotch by birth and by a long line of ancestry, Mr. Seerie was born in Vale-Strathmore, Forfarshire, March 11, 1862, and received a good education in the schools near his home. Under the training of an uncle he learned the trade of a stone-cutter and the more difficult calculations of cubical sections, etc. In 1880 he crossed the Atlantic and from New York came direct to Denver, where he secured work with Hayes & Cain, contractors. He continued in their employ until the Geddis & Seerie Stone Company was formed. Among the contracts he has had may be mentioned those for the railroad building on Larimer street, the People's National Bank, Grace and Trinity Methodist Episcopal Churches, the latter being one of the finest churches owned by the denomination in the United States; many of the elegant stone residences on the hill: Wyoming University, Laramie City, and the high school at Rawlins.
A list of the buildings for which the firm has been given contracts is sufficient to show the high position they occupy in business circles and the confidence which people place in their ability and integrity. Their work is built to stand the wear and tear of years. It is not of a temporary nature, but permanent, and will be seen here, strong and substantial, for generations yet to come, proving a more lasting monument to their faithful performance of pledges than the majority of people will be granted.
Mr. Seerie was married December 8, 1887, in Denver, to Miss Maggie A. Price, daughter of David H. and Elizabeth (Tudar) Price, natives of Wales and descendants of ancient families, as the Tudar name indicates.
Politically Mr. Seerie is a Democrat and has taken a keen interest in local and national affairs. In June, 1897, he was appointed by Gov. Alva Adams to the office of member of the board of
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