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public works. He is a member of all the Masonic bodies except the Thirty-third. He joined the commandery in 1890 and the following year joined the Shriners.
ILVIN LOUSTANO, a retired cattleman residing in Denver, has been identified with the history of Colorado since the spring of 1861, and has therefore been a witness of the growth and development of the state, to which his personal efforts contributed not a little. Seven times he made the long and perilous journey between Leavenworth and the Rockies, his first trip being made by mule to Topeka, then to Fort Dodge and Pueblo and up the Arkansas to Terry Hall. Subsequent trips were made via the Platte River with mule and cattle trains. The most important of these trips was in 1862, when he and a comrade brought a wagon and six yoke of oxen and a herd of sixty-three cattle with them to Colorado, making the journey in forty-eight days.
Of his immediate family Mr. Loustano is the sole representative in America. He was born in the department of Bospernia, near Pau, France, where also occurred the birth of his parents, Joseph and Julia (Daje) Loustano. His father was a merchant and his maternal grandfather, John Peter Daje, a farmer there. Mr. Lonstano was one of seven children. At the age of seventeen, in 1853, he left Bordeaux on an English sailing vessel and after a voyage of sixty-three days arrived in New Orleans. He spent five years in the south and in 1858 located in Leavenworth, Kan. Three years later he came to South Park, Colo., where he followed freighting, and also engaged in mining and prospecting.
About 1866 he began in the cattle business, locating a ranch fifteen miles east of Denver, in Arapahoe County, on Cold Creek, but later removing farther east to Beaver Creek in the same county. He purchased cattle from the ranges south and became a large dealer, continuing successfully in the business until 1888, when he was obliged by ill health to discontinue. He then came to Denver, where he now resides. He is a member of the Colorado Cattle Growers' Association and at one time was a director in it. He is also a member of the Chamber of Commerce. He was married in Denver to Mrs. Celestine A. (Riche) Cotton, who was born in France. They became the parents of two sons: Andrew J., who died April 2, 1898, and Silvin Riche, who resides in Denver. Dr. Lonstano was educated at the Longfellow school and the Denver high school; he also attended the University of Colorado, graduating in the medical department May 29, 1895; he was selected house physician at St. Luke's Hospital for one year, after which he located at No. 1517 Stout street. He was one of the most promising young physicians of his class and was honored and esteemed by all who knew him for his many sterling qualities of head and heart. After leaving the hospital he was assistant to Dr. W. B. Craig, of Denver, until his health failed. He gave great promise of excelling in his chosen profession, in which he had a high and noble aspiration.
INFIELD S. GARDNER. The machine shop of which Mr. Gardner is the proprietor is situated at No. 1434 Blake street, Denver, and is operated by steam power. While he has been in this place for comparatively a short period (having come here in May, 1897,) he has already built up a fair business in general job work and has become known as an expert machinist and manufacturer.
During the Revolution a member of the Gardner family came from Scotland to America as a soldier in the British army. After the war closed he settled in Virginia, but later removed to Ohio. His son, John, who was born in the Old Dominion, accompanied the family to Muskingum County, Ohio, and later settled in Morrow County, the same state, where he engaged in farming. He had a son, Washington, who is a native of Morrow County and still resides there, having engaged in farming, milling and lumbering. During the war he was a soldier in the Twenty-sixth Ohio Infantry, and he is now a Grand Army man. He married Mary Wiseman, who was born and reared on a farm on Sandusky Plains.
Of the four living children of Washington Gardner, Winfield S. is the oldest. He was born near Mount Gilead, Morrow County, Ohio, November 2, 1851, and in boyhood attended the Westfield public school. He had a love for machinery and many of his leisure hours in boyhood were spent around the sawmill, which he soon
526
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. learned to run. At the age of seventeen he was apprenticed to John Cooper & Co., of Mount Vernon, with whom he remained for four years, learning the machinist's trade. Afterward he did journeyman work in different places, but soon returned to the employ of Cooper & Co. While there he married Miss Mary Click, who was born in Morrow County.
For a time Mr. Gardner worked in Dennison, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, and later was with Warder, Bushnell & Glessner in Springfield, the same state. After holding the position of toolmaker with the latter firm for ten years he went to Delaware, Ohio, where he carried on a machine shop for two years, but then sold and returned to Springfield. In a short time he went west to Nevada and took charge of the machinery in a mining camp at Austin. Later he was with the Central Pacific Railroad Company in their shops at Sacramento, and then was with the Union Iron Works in San Francisco. His first connection with Denver was in 1887, when he came here to work at his trade, but after several years he went to Butte City, Mont., where he was employed by the Western Iron Works Company and the Anaconda Mining Company. Next he spent a short time in Denver, but soon went to Arizona to take charge of the works of William Church of Denver, at Morenci. Eighteen months were spent there, since which time he has been in Denver. He is a member of the Machinists and Engineers' Union and fraternally is identified with the Improved Order of Red Men, having served as past sachem of his tribe in Ohio. He and his wife are the parents of an only son, John, a member of the high school class of 1898, graduating June 10.
ENRY CHARPIOT, who is engaged in business as a costumer at No. 1516 Lawrence Street, Denver, was born in Bort, department of Doubs, France, and is a son of Pierre Charpiot, Reference to the family history is made in the sketch of Henry C. Charpiot, elsewhere in this volume. He was reared in Lyons and Strasburg, and attended a boarding school in the latter town. In 1854 he accompanied his father to America and settled in Baltimore, but after a short time went to Chicago, and later worked on his father's farm near Davenport, Iowa. From there he proceeded to St. Louis and entered the quartermaster's department of the United States' government, serving under General Clarey the most of the time until 1864.
During that year Mr. Charpiot came west to Virginia City, Mont., and after a short time went to Memphis, Tenn., where he worked in the quartermaster's department until the close of the war. Next he came to Denver and carried on a liquor business, but soon went to Fort Casper, Nev., as a sutler, and on his return to Colorado secured employment in a restaurant at Central City, remaining there for eighteen months. Thence he came to Denver, later moved to Cheyenne, where he remained for two years, and then worked in Promontory, Utah, for a short time, being there at the time the last spike was driven in the railroad track connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific. After a short time in Atlantic City, Omaha and Kansas City, he went to San Francisco, Cal., and from there to Santa Rosa, finally returning to Denver, where he was employed by his brother. As an assistant to his sister, Mrs. Underhill, he started in his present business, of which he has been the proprietor since 1889 and which is the largest business of its kind in the city. His trade is not limited to Denver, but extends throughout Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah and Dakota. He was married in St. Joseph, Mo., to Miss Mary Coffey, who was born in Maryland.
HARLES BYRON NICHOLS, M. D., professor of clinical midwifery in Gross Medical College, Denver, and formerly for years an officer in the United States navy, was born in Enfield, N. H., of English descent. The family was represented among the earliest settlers of the Massachusetts colony and subsequent generations resided in that state. Stephen Nichols, who was born near Boston, removed to Unity, Sullivan County, N. H., where he was extensively engaged in the stock business. He was a deacon in the Friends' Church and died in the Quaker faith when eighty-seven years of age.
Humphrey, son of Stephen, was born in Unity, N. H., and was a pioneer gold and silversmith, establishing the first factory in the country at Claremont, N. H., for the manufacture of silver spoons by the die process, his own invention. In 1850, impelled by rumors of the great gold mines
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 527
in California, he went to the Pacific coast, via Panama. On the way his three companions, Messrs. Clough, Johnson and Currier, were seized with a fever prevalent in Panama; he nursed them until they died and afterward buried their remains, then continued his journey alone. On reaching San Francisco he entered the United States mint as a government official. While in that city he became a sergeant of the vigilance committee and executed some of the most desperate criminals of that state.
Having spent two years in the far west, Mr. Nichols returned to Boston via the isthmus, and began the manufacture of rolled silver and the various kinds of silver work. Four years later ill health obliged him to retire from business. He was an invalid for three years, when he died, at the age of forty-one. His wife, who was Matilda Jones, a native of Enfield, N. H., and deceased in 1893, was a daughter of Capt. John Jones, who was born in Massachusetts, and prior to the Revolution rode from there to New Hampshire. The house that he built in Enfield is still standing, a relic of days gone by, and there may also be seen, near the house, a large willow tree, twenty-two feet in circumference, that he planted when a little switch. He enlisted in the Revolution and was captain of a company that served during the war. His father was also a soldier in the colonial army. The family was related to John Paul Jones, who was captain of a brig during the Revolution.
At the time of his father's death, Dr. Nichols was eleven years of age. Afterward he attended the Enfield high school and Kimball Union College at Menden, N. H. When sixteen years of age, in 1864, he passed an examination in New York City and was admitted to the engineering department of the United States navy, being appointed assistant engineer. He was of a more youthful age than most of his fellow-lieutenants, but was large and powerful in physique, with the appearance of one much older than he actually was. During the battle at Fort Fisher he was wounded by a shell in the left temple and was reported dead, but fortunately the wound was less serious than first supposed. He was given leave of absence until September, 1865, when he was ordered upon the United States steamer "Shenandoah," which made a three years' cruise around the world. He was at Rio Janeiro at the time of the birth of the emperor's (Don Pedro) granddaughter and took part in the imposing celebrations in honor thereof. He was at Cape Town at the time the Duke of Edinburgh was there, then sailed to the Isle of France, Arabia and India. While in India the officers were entertained by the governor-general and other high officials, and given trips inland, also visiting the Himalaya Mountains. While in Calcutta he was seized with the cholera. The day he fell ill seven of his comrades died of the same disease, and all that saved his life was the fact that the ship went out to sea that day.
With the commodore and eleven other officers, Dr. Nichols went to Bangkok, Siam, as the guest of the king, and remained there for two weeks, during which time he saw the present king, then a little boy, and had the honor of trotting him on his knee. While at Saigon there was a mutiny on board ship, but it was finally quelled. He then went to Hong Kong, China, and afterward spent four months in Yokahoma, Japan, meantime exploring the whole island. In Japan he was made a Mason, joining Yokahoma Lodge No. 1092, A. F. & A. M. Afterward the ship coasted around the island, during which time he visited the Albino colony some miles inland, also the "missing link" fifty miles from the shore, and the famous rock at Nagasaki. On returning to Yokahoma the ship took part in the opening of the port of Osacka, and for one week the officers were guests of the emperor of Japan. During that time Admiral Bell and eleven men perished in a storm, and theirs were the first funerals of any foreigners at the port.
From Shanghai, China, the ship sailed to the coast of Corea, in search of a captain and his wife who had been wrecked and afterward murdered by the natives. When two miles up the river the natives began to fire upon the vessel, and the order was given to retreat, fearing that otherwise international trouble might be brought on. Various Chinese ports were visited, then the ship sailed to Java and from there to Cape Town. Within four hundred miles of Cape Agullus a fearful storm arose and for three days the ship lay helplessly in the wake of the wind. When the sea subsided they went on to Cape Town, and from there to St. Helena, and the doctor has some souvenirs he gathered there. While at Cape Town
528
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. the officers of the ship were entertained by the Duke of Edinburgh, attached to H. M. S. "Galatea," the Duke also presenting Dr. Nichols with his photograph. On returning to Boston he was honorably discharged, in 1869.
While upon the high seas he had studied medicine under the preceptorship of the ship surgeon, and he now entered the medical department of Dartmouth College, from which he graduated in 1871 with the degree of M. D. He began professional practice in Franklin, N. H., but after three years went to Boston, where he made a specialty of surgery. His wife's health failing, after three years in Boston he went back to Franklin, N. H., and spent eight years there. In 1888 he settled in Sacramento, Cal., where he practiced his profession. From there, in March, 1896, he came to Denver, where he made a specialty of surgery. In 1896 he was lecturer on clinical midwifery in Gross Medical College, and the following year was made professor of the same. He has his office in the Denison building.
In Hanover, N. H., Dr. Nichols married a daughter of John Mattocks, late of Chicago, and a descendant of Gov. John Mattocks, of Vermont. She died in Franklin, leaving a son, William Mattocks, who is now engaged in business in New York City. After the doctor arrived in Denver he was married to Miss Linnie, daughter of the late John Shy, of Byers, Colo. Like his father and grandfather, Dr. Nichols is a Democrat. He is identified with the New Hampshire, Colorado State, and Denver and Arapahoe County Medical Societies. Fraternally he is high in the ranks of the Masons. He is connected with the lodge and chapter at Franklin, the commandery at Concord, consistory at Nashua, and member of El Jebel Temple, Mystic Shrine, of Denver. He is past supreme representative of the Knights of Pythias and is brigadier-general of the Uniform Rank. While in Franklin he was commander of the Grand Army post there and an aide on the department staff.
RANK. B. MULVIHILL. The Carr House, Stables and Corral, of which Mr. Mulvihill is one of the proprietors, are located on the corner of Fifteenth and Wynkoop streets, Denver. The corral, which was one of the first started in the city, was known originally as the Monmouth corral, and has always been run in connection with the Carr House. The present proprietors have maintained the business in the excellent condition in which it was left by their father. They deal extensively in high-grade draft, work and carriage horses, which they buy in the east for shipment to Denver.
Comparatively few of the men now engaged in business in Denver were born in Colorado, but this distinction belongs to the Mulvihill brothers, who were born in Longmont, Colo. The father, John, a native of Canada, born near Quebec, in 1839, accompanied his parents to Malone, N. Y., in boyhood, and after their death he went to Oshkosh, Wis., where he worked in the lumber region. In 1861 he crossed the plains with oxen, bringing groceries to Denver, and for three years afterward he continued in the freighting business with ox trains. Meantime he pre-empted a claim near Longmont, where he engaged in the stock business and in raising hay for feed and sale, hauling to Gilpin County until the introduction of the railroad. In 1866 he bought an interest in the hotel, livery and feed business with S. H. Carr, in Denver, and removed to this city in 1875, retaining his farm, however. In the meanwhile Mr. Peck had bought Mr. Carr's interest, and on coming to Denver Mr. Mulvihill bought out Mr. Peck, continuing the business alone. He died in Denver in January, 1890, aged fifty-four. His wife, Cynthia A. (Clough) Mulvihill, was born near Marietta, Ohio, and died in Denver in 1888. In 1861 she crossed the plains with an ox-team, settling in Jefferson County, where her father, Hiram Clough, became keeper of the toll gate and inn at Golden, Colo. Of her four children three are living, Frank B., Arthur H. and Walter J., all of Denver.
The primary education of our subject was obtained in the Denver public schools, and later he was a student in the California State Normal School, in San Jose, from which he graduated in 1887. On his return to Denver he entered business with his father, and on the latter's death continued the business at the hotel and stables. He and his brothers are also the owners of the old homestead ranch of one hundred and sixty acres in Longmont. Politically he favors Democratic principles, but is not active in politics. In fraternal relations he is a member of Denver
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Lodge No. 5, A. F. & A. M. He has one child, Lela, born to his union with Miss Ella Wilbur, a native of Wisconsin, and daughter of Thomas Wilbur, who resided in Denver for some years before his death.
OHN M. SIMPSON. One of the well-known business concerns of Denver is the Colorado Planing Mill Company, manufacturers of sash, doors, stairs, mantels, buffets, bookcases, bank, store and office fixtures, and other house and office finishing articles of a similar nature. The mill stands at Tenth and Water streets and is operated by steam power. The company is composed of four members, James and Alexander Silver, William W. Ewen and John M. Simpson, the last-named being superintendent of the mill and the principal factor in securing its present success. A man of energy and indomitable will, he pushes forward to a successful consummation every measure in which he is interested.
Born in Chatham, N. B., Canada, the subject of this sketch is a son of John and Abigail Mary (Dickson) Simpson, natives respectively of Scotland and New Brunswick. He is next to the youngest of four children, the eldest of whom, William, is represented on another page, and in his sketch will be found the family history. John M. received a public-school education, and at the age of sixteen was apprenticed to the carriagemaker's trade, at which he served for four years. Afterward he worked as a journeyman until 1879, when he left his native place and came to Denver, securing employment here at the carpenter's trade. He also worked at Leadville, Blackhawk and Buena Vista. In 1883 he entered the employ of the Hallack Lumber Company, with which he remained until 1889, as a carpenter. He remained with the concern under its new title of Hallack-Sayre-Newton Lumber Company, and was foreman of the mill for five years.
Finally resigning his connections with the company he started in business for himself, and for six months ran a planing mill on Seventh and Platte streets. He then formed the Colorado Planing Mill Company, associated with the gentleman already named. His attention is given closely to his business. He has little time for public affairs, but manages, nevertheless, to keep himself posted concerning the affairs of importance before the nation to-day. In former years he advocated Republican principles, but the change in the issues before the people caused a change in his affiliations and he is now a Democrat. As a citizen he supports all measures for the benefit of Denver, of the future of which he has a most hopeful opinion, believing that at no distant day, under favorable circumstances, it will rank with the greatest of our cities in commerce, finance and population. He was married in Colorado Springs to Miss Catherine Flieger, who was born in Canada and is a daughter of Archibald Flieger, for years the owner of a sawmill there. One child blesses their union, a daughter, Ethel Jane. Mr. Simpson keeps in remembrance his Scotch descent and takes an active interest in the Caledonian Club, of which he is a member.
During the residence of his parents in Springfield, Ill., our subject was born, March 15, 1857. He attended the public schools of that city and gained a fair education. At the age of fifteen he became an apprentice to the trade of a carriagemaker and faithfully served for three years. On the expiration of his time he began to work in
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. Springfield, but one year later went to Auburn, Ill., and in six months went south, visiting Memphis, New Orleans, Mobile and other points in that section of the country. On his return to Springfield he spent a year in that city and its immediate vicinity.
The year 1878 witnessed the arrival of Mr. Kruse in Denver, where he has since made his home. In work at his trade he was employed here and in other parts of this state, as well as in Utah and elsewhere. Beginning independently for himself, he opened the shop of which he has since been the proprietor and founded the business that has grown to large proportions. From 1893 to 1896 he was also engaged in prospecting and placer mining in Boulder County. He has been, president of the Carriage Makers' Union and is now treasurer of the organization. He is also treasurer of Washington Camp No. 15, P. O. S. of A. Politically he is a stanch advocate of the Democratic party and a double standard of currency, holding the belief that national prosperity can never be wholly conserved until silver is raised to its proper position as a medium of exchange.
Mr. Kruse was married May 25, 1898, in Springfield, Ill., to Miss Dora Grospitz, a native of that city.
LLIS E. GOODALE. In the spring of 1897 Denver had a multiplicity of tickets in the field. In the fifth ward the name of Mr. Goodale had been placed on the ticket for alderman by the silver Republicans and Democrats, and in the election that followed he was successful by a majority of more than two hundred, this being the largest majority ever given in the ward. The circumstance is more noteworthy owing to the fact that he was the only man elected on the two tickets who was not also the candidate on the taxpayers' ticket. Since becoming a member of the board he has been stanch in his advocacy of progressive measures and firm in the support of plans for the benefit of his constituents in the fifth ward.
The business connections of Mr. Goodale are with the Colorado Iron Works Company, in which he is the timekeeper and a stockholder. He was born in Barry, Pike County, Ill., August 4, 1853, the son of Jackson and Maria (Stokes) Goodale, natives respectively of New York State and Lebanon, Ohio. His father, who came to Illinois in young manhood, followed the blacksmith's trade there. In 1849 he started to California, crossing the plains with an ox team and enduring all the hardships of that journey in the early days. While on the way the party was attacked by Indians and some were killed and others captured. Only a few reached their destination in safety, and Mr. Goodale was one of these. He followed his trade for a time in New Mexico, but in 1852 returned to Illinois, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1894, at the age of seventy-four. Twice married, he had one son by his first wife. By his second wife, who died in 1888, he had seven sons, of whom five are living, Ellis E. being third in order of birth and the only one of the sons in Colorado.
When fourteen years of age our subject began to clerk in a mercantile store. In 1880 he came to Colorado, where he was employed as salesman by Welsh & Co., of Boulder, for nine months. When the firm established a store in Denver he came here with them, remaining with the concern for five years in all, being in charge of the silk department. He then went to Butte City, Mont., where he was interested in merchandising, but in less than a year he returned to Denver. In 1887 he became timekeeper for the Colorado Iron Works Company, and still holds this position. He was married in Denver to Miss Carrie Feuerstein, who was born in this city. She is a daughter of Henry Feuerstein, a business man of Aspen, and a descendant of German ancestry. Mr. Goodale is connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen in Barry, Ill., and the Fraternal Union of Denver.
DWIN S. KASSLER, who is engaged in the loan and investment business at No. 814 Cooper building, Denver, was born in this city in 1866. His father, George W., was born in New York state, the descendant of German ancestors who have resided in America for two hundred years or more. At the age of thirteen he left home and began to earn his own livelihood, at first clerking in a grocery at Canajoharie, the town where he was born. From there he went to Cooperstown, where he was a clerk in the postoffice for about three years. From there he
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went to Omaha, where he worked in a bank for several years. In 1860 he settled in Denver, where he engaged in the book and stationery business. About 1872 he entered the First National Bank as assistant cashier and later was made cashier, remaining in that position until 1881, when he retired. At Clinton, N. Y., May 31, 1865, he was united in marriage with Maria T. Stebbins, and they came at once to Denver, making the latter part of the trip by coach. Politically he was a Democrat and on his party ticket was elected to various official positions. He died July 20, 1890, leaving two sons, Edwin S. and Charles M., the latter a clerk in the First National Bank of Denver.
In 1886 Mr. Kassler graduated from the Denver high school. Immediately afterward he became a clerk in the First National Bank, remaining in that capacity for three years, when he resigned to enter his present business. He is a man of excellent business qualifications, keen, shrewd and energetic, and has already gained unusual success for one of his age. He was married in Denver to Miss Olivia Denhani Cooper, daughter of the well-known ex-governor and financier. They have two children, Ruth and Edwin S., Jr. In politics Mr. Kassler gives his support to the Republican party, but has never identified himself closely with public affairs. He was reared in the faith of the Episcopal church and inclines toward its doctrines. Since 1886 he has been a member of the Denver Athletic Club.
EORGE H. ADAMS. One of the most remarkable instances of the adaptation of Colorado the cattle industry may be found in the business career of Mr. Adams, who is prominent among the citizens of Denver. Embarking in business as a stock-raiser in 1869, he then bought the two first thoroughbred Shorthorn bulls ever in the San Luis Valley. He has been a pioneer in the introduction of Herefords, to which exclusively his ranch has been stocked since 1878, and he has paid as much as $2200 for a bull and as high as $1500 for a two-year-old heifer of that breed. The Adams Hereford ranch covers more than four townships of land, embraces twelve and one-half miles and in extent comprises one hundred thousand acres, watered by eleven streams and lakes, and bordering on the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo Range. The entire tract is fenced in pastures with eighty miles of substantial fencing, while one hundred and forty miles of ditches furnish water for the irrigation of hay and the range. The herd consists of four thousand head of pure-bred and high-grade Hereford cattle. From the ranch, cattle are sold and shipped to Old Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Oregon, Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, Idaho, Kansas and Nebraska for breeding purposes.
Mr. Adams was born in Milwaukee, Wis., the only child of George and Agnes J. (Lace) Adams, natives of Rochester and New York City respectively. His father removed to Milwaukee in 1836 and engaged in the mercantile business there until his death. His widow, who still resides there, was a daughter of John Lace, who was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, and settled in New York City, where he owned a mercantile store. Our subject was educated in the schools of Milwaukee. In January, 1863, when only seventeen years of age, he enlisted as a private in Company A, Thirty-ninth Wisconsin Infantry, for one hundred days, but continued in the service, in the Army of the Cumberland, until September, 1863, when he was honorably discharged as corporal. Again, soon afterward, he enlisted as a private in Company F, Forty-seventh Wisconsin infantry, and served as first sergeant and sergeant-major until September, 1865, when he was honorably discharged at Nashville.
Returning to Milwaukee, Mr. Adams became money receiving clerk for the United States Express Company, which, in 1867, sent him to Kansas as messenger between Kansas City and Fort Ellsworth, the terminus of the Kansas Pacific. In the spring of 1868 he returned to Milwaukee, where he was superintendent of the Goodrich Express Company until 1869, when he resigned to come to Colorado. The trip to the west he made via Cheyenne to Denver and from this city went to California Gulch (now Leadville), where he engaged in prospecting for two months, but in December went to the San Luis Valley. A pioneer in that section, he entered one hundred and sixty acres on Rio Alto Creek and embarked in the stock business. In 1871 he entered the employ of a cattle company as foreman on Baca Grant No. 4, and later became proprietor. In 1878 he brought to his place eighty full-bred Hereford bulls and has since devoted
532
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. his attention to the raising of pure-bred and high-grade Herefords. He has been a director in the American Hereford Association, is a member of the Colorado Cattle Growers' and National Stock Breeders' Associations, and, under appointment by Governor Pitkin, served for eight years as a member of the State Cattle Inspection and Roundup Boards. In April, 1895, Governor Mclntire appointed him president of the board of trustees of the State Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, to serve for six years.
In Wisconsin, August 27, 1878, Mr. Adams married Miss Addie J. Bertschy, of Appleton, a graduate of the university at that place. They have one child, Florence P. In politics Mr. Adams supports the silver branch of the Republican party. He has frequently been delegate to conventions, has served as a member of the state Republican committee, and while in Saguache County held the office of county clerk for one term and was also justice of the peace and sheriff of the county. By service upon the school board he advanced the educational interests of his community. Shortly after his return front the army he became identified with Post No. 9, Wisconsin G. A. R., as one of its charter members. Fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
There have been so many successful cattlemen in Colorado that it may not be considered a more than ordinary statement to speak of Mr. Adams as one of the most successful, as he is also one of the most extensive. But when we consider that he came to the state with comparatively little capital and with no experience in the cattle business, his present position is remarkable. By dint of industry, executive ability and determination, he has risen to rank among the foremost cattle breeders of the state and may appropriately be termed the "Hereford king" of the west.
The Robertsons are a Scotch family. Andrew Robertson, a native of Scotland, was a soldier in the English army during and after the Crimean war, in the campaigns of which he bore an active part. He was promoted from the ranks and made a recruiting officer. While serving in the army his death occurred. He had a son, Peter D., who was born in Lanarkshire, and has spent the principal part of his life in Glasgow, of which he was assessor for more than fifteen years; now, however, he is living retired. He married Mary Biggar, daughter of John Biggar, who engaged in the cattle business in Scotland for some years. She died in May, 1896, in Glasgow.
Of eleven children comprising the family all but two are living, and of these John B. was third in order of birth and is the only one in America. He was reared in his native city, Glasgow, where he attended the schools until seventeen years of age. Afterward he served an apprenticeship to the machinists' and draughtsman's trade, and also clerked for a short time. In 1881 he took passage for New York and from that city came west to Colorado, where for two years he was employed on a large ranch near Livermore, Larimer County. For six years he was employed on ex-Governor Routt's ranch at Pleasant Valley. In 1889 he came to Denver and became an employe of the Dunn & Blass Leather Company, for whom he was traveling salesman and bookkeeper. On the incorporation of the company, with J. P. Dunn as president, he became a stockholder in the concern and was elected its secretary and treasurer. His interest in the company he sold in January, 1896, and started in the business with which he is now identified.
Busy with his business affairs, Mr. Robertson has never taken an active part in politics nor identified himself closely with public affairs. However, while residing in Larimer County he served as treasurer of his school district, No. 7. He is a member of the Caledonian Club, a social organization composed of Scotchmen and the sons of Scotchmen. He is secretary and treasurer of the Denver Cricket Club, which he helped to organize, and is one of its best players, having mastered the game thoroughly in his native country. He has been twice married, his first wife having
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