Mardos Collection
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 569
Balfe has held every office in the local branch, and is now third vice-president of the organization, having been elected to the position by the convention at Nashville, Tenn., in 1897. He expects to attend the convention at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1898. In the local branch of the Ancient Order of Hibernians he has been president, and he is also a member of the Irish Progressive Society and the Foresters of America. He is well known as an all-around athlete. November 8, 1892, he won the state championship by throwing a sixteen-pound hammer, and he has since held the championship. He has won medals from the Denver Wheel and Denver Athletic Clubs. For four years he played with the Denver Athletic Club foot ball team, principally as center rush, but now plays with the foot ball team of the Denver Wheel Club. He is a member of the Church of Annunciation. In politics a Republican, he has frequently served as a delegate to county and state conventions, and has taken a warm interest in the success of the party.
OSE PIERRE ADAMS. The first experience of Mr. Adams in the west was during the civil war, when he was but a boy. He was then living in Missouri, but affairs in that state were exciting and residence there undesirable; so in 1863 he went to St. Joe by railroad and there took the stage to Leavenworth, where he hired as a driver of a six-yoke ox-team over the government trail to Santa Fe. However, they soon had an unfortunate encounter with the Indians. At Larned, Kan., while the men were in camp and the cattle were grazing on the plains, a band of Comanche Indians attacked the party. The first volley by the whites killed seven Indians and enraged the others so that they continued fighting all afternoon, killing the wagon master, and finally leaving with the oxen. The following day government troops from the Larned post rescued Mr. Adams and the other members of the party.
During the years that have since elapsed Mr. Adams has had many other thrilling experiences, in all of which he has borne himself valiantly. He is fond of Colorado, and is especially interested in the welfare of Denver, where he is engaged in business as a commission merchant. He also owns a ranch at Corona, sixty miles east of Denver, on the Kiowa Creek, where he is engaged in raising cattle and horses. While in Douglas County he served as county commissioner for two terms of three years each, and each year he was re-elected chairman. In 1875 he was elected sheriff of the county (which was Republican) on the Democratic ticket, by a fair majority, although there were two other candidates. While he was in office he was instrumental in securing the erection of the courthouse at Castle Rock, one of the prettiest public buildings in the state, for the erection of which $20,000 bonds were voted, but it was necessary to float only $14,000 of the amount.
Near Brunswick, Mo., Mr. Adams was born May 31, 1848. His grandfather, Jose Pierre Adams, was born in Scotland, emigrated to America in early manhood, married in Virginia and was there employed as a chemist. While testing a variety of herb he was accidentally poisoned and soon died. He was then forty-five years of age. He had two sons, George P. and Alexander Washington, and three daughters. The first-named son was born in Jefferson County, Va., where be engaged in farming until 1827, and then removed to Chariton County, Mo., settling upon a tract of prairie land that had been set aside for the war of 1812 land grants. One of these he bought and subsequently sold, after which he was permitted to pre-empt another one hundred and sixty acres, paying twelve and one-half cents per acre, and was also given permission to take another tract of similar size. He improved all the land and devoted it principally to the stock business, buying adjacent property, until he finally owned a section. While there he served as justice of the peace. In 1886 he came to Colorado and afterward lived retired until his death, at eighty-one years.
The mother of our subject, who was Cynthia Lane, was born in Kentucky and died in Missouri in 1861. Her father, John Lane, removed from Kentucky to Chariton County, Mo., where he died. She was the mother of four sons and four daughters, all still living. James Casper is a cattleman in Douglas County, Colo.; A. W. is a stock commission merchant in Kansas City; and John W. is a farmer, living near Marceline, Chariton County, Mo.
After his encounter with the Indians at Larned, our subject secured employment as driver of a
570
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. train of six mules up the Arkansas River to Fort Lyons, Pueblo and Denver, which city he first saw in July, 1863. For six months he was employed as a stage driver from Julesburg to Fort Morgan, and afterward for eighteen months engaged in freighting. He then went to Nebraska City, where he attended school a few months, and next spent a year on the home farm. During this time he married Susan M. Pugh, daughter of Alexander Pugh, who removed in early days from Louden County, Va., to Missouri.
Coming to Colorado again in 1869, Mr. Adams embarked in the cattle business in Douglas (now Elbert) County, where he started a ranch. In 1873 he removed to a ranch on Plum Creek in Douglas County, where he began to deal in cattle, in addition to raising them. For fourteen years he was a member of the firm of Adams & Green at Castle Rock. In 1893 he removed to Denver, where he resides at No. 43 Sherman avenue and has his place of business in the Exchange building. While in Douglas County he was active in securing the removal of the county seat from Frenchtown to Castle Rock. He has been active in the Democratic party and has been a member of the state central committee and a delegate to state conventions. He and his wife have three daughters: Mrs. Alice Hazleton, of Philadelphia, Pa.; Mary and Edna. He is still a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen at Castle Rock, in which he was formerly an official.
RANK O. BLAKE, president of the Bermudez-Blake Contracting Company and vice-president of the Pacific Asphalt Company, is the pioneer in American asphalt paving, having been the first to meet with success in its use. A careful student of chemistry, through his experiments in the mixture of ingredients he was enabled to devise the combination that resulted in the successful laying of American asphalt. He was the discoverer of a large deposit of asphalt in Santa Barbara County, Cal., which he found after a thorough search of several years through the state, and which, with its twenty-nine hundred and forty-five acres of deposit, his company now controls.
The Blake lineage is traced back several centuries, one of its members, of whom our subject is a direct descendant, being Admiral James Blake, of the English navy. Freelove and Richard Blake, twins, emigrated from Ireland to Litchfield, Conn., where Freelove followed the trade of carpenter and builder. During the Revolution both enlisted in the colonial service in Company F, Ninth Regiment of Connecticut Volunteers, raised on the Lexington alarm. His son, Henry, a native of Litchfield and in boyhood a soldier in the Revolution, served as an officer in the American army during the war of 1812. Much of his life was spent in New York, where he engaged in contracting and building. He married Isabella Barnes, of New York, who was of Revolutionary stock. When advanced in life he joined his children in Peru, Ind., and there died at sixty-seven years.
Col. Orris Blake, son of Henry and father of Frank O., was born in the town of Clay, Onondaga County, N. Y., and in boyhood was a towboy on the Erie Canal. When fifteen he went to Peru, Ind., where he became a merchant tailor. There he married Miss Sarah A. Todd, an estimable lady, who was born in Indiana, of Scotch descent. Her father, David Todd, was born in a fort in the frontier of West Virginia and was reared in Kentucky, removing from there to Parke County, Ind., of which he was one of the earliest settlers. Afterward he removed to Peru, Miami County, where he gained a livelihood by following the blacksmith's trade, but devoted much of his time to the gratuitous preaching of the Gospel, traveling on horseback through parts of Indiana and Illinois in order to meet appointments for preaching. He was ordained to the ministry of the Presbyterian Church and his self-sacrificing efforts to promote the spiritual welfare of others were rewarded in the good he did and the lives he uplifted. He was a brother of ex-Governor Todd, of Kentucky, whose daughter became the wife of Abraham Lincoln.
Receiving a contract from the government to make pants for soldiers in the army, our subject's father devoted his evenings to cutting the material, which his wife would sew the next day. This gave him an opportunity to study law, which he did under judge Biddle, of Logansport, Ind., and he was admitted to the bar. For two terms he was prosecuting attorney for his district. At the opening of the war he went into service as captain of Company I, Thirty-ninth Indiana Infantry. Later he organized the Twelfth Indiana
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 571
Cavalry, of which he was major and afterward brevet-colonel. He was a staff officer under Gen. Alexander McDowell McCook. When the war closed he resumed the practice of law in Indiana, but his health was injured by service in the army and, knowing a change would be beneficial, in 1871 he came to Denver, where he carried on legal practice. On retiring from the profession he removed to Boulder, where he died in 1885, aged fifty-six years, his death resulting from paralysis brought on by exposure in the army. Politically he was a Republican and fraternally a Royal Arch Mason. His widow makes her home with a daughter, Mrs. Isabella Crane, in Cincinnati. A son, James E., resides in Covington, Ky., while the youngest child, Mrs. Daisy Conner, lives in El Paso, Tex.
Born in Wabash, Ind., September 2, 1857, our subject was three years of age when the family removed to Peru, Ind., and there he attended the public schools. In 1874 he came to Denver and the following year began prospecting and mining in Boulder County, where he located the Little Daisy and also became interested in the Doss mine. From 1878 to 1881 he studied law with his father, and after being admitted to the bar he practiced with his father. In 1883 he became interested in the abstract title business, which he later bought and carried on until 1887. During the latter year he started an abstract and real-estate office in Durango, Colo., but in 1890 located in Denver, where he became a contractor for asphalt pavements. Soon afterward he organized the Blake Asphalt Company, which was incorporated with himself as general manager. February 15, 1898, the concern was consolidated with the Bermudez Asphalt Company, of Detroit, Mich., as the Bermudez-Blake Contracting Company, Mr. Blake being president and general manager. He had the contract for East Larimer street from Nineteenth street to Downing avenue. At first his contracts were confined to Denver but the business now extends all over the United States.
In Boulder, in 1880, Mr. Blake married Miss Fannie Hoskinson, who was born in Xenia, Ill,, and received her education in Rollo, Mo. Her grandfather was of Revolutionary stock and was an early settler in Muskingum County, Ohio, having gone there from Virginia. After the war her father, Gamaliel Hoskinson, removed from Zanesville, Ohio, to Illinois, and thence to Rollo, Mo., where he engaged in merchandising for some years. During the war he was captain of Company I, Fortieth Illinois Infantry, which served under General Sherman. Afterward he became a Grand Army member. When advanced in years he removed to Boulder, Cola, and became a mine operator. His death occurred at the home of Mr. Blake in Denver in 1894. Mr. and Mrs. Blake have four children: Frederick C., Frank O., Jr., Harold and Isabelle.
Mr. Blake was made a Mason in Columbia Lodge No. 45, A. F. & A. M, at Boulder, and is now a member of Temple Lodge No. 5, in Denver. He joined the Royal Arch Chapter in Durango and is now identified with Denver Chapter No. 2, also Colorado Commandery No. 1, K. T., Colorado Consistory, thirty-second degree, and El Jebel Temple, N. M. S. When General McCook was commander of the Colorado Commandery of Loyal Legion he became connected with it, and still retains his membership. In politics he favors Republican principles.
UMAN MOODY BOGUE, president of the Bogue Lead Company, at No. 1810 Blake street, Denver, was born in Chicago, Ill,, January 17, 1858, and is a son of Oswell A. and Mary (Moody) Bogue. His father, who is a descendant of Scotch ancestry and a native of New York State, has spent his entire active life in Chicago, where he formerly carried on a real-estate business, but is now interested in the manufacture of railroad gates.
When a boy the subject of this sketch attended the public schools of Chicago. He carried on the studies of the Hyde Park high school until within one year of graduation, when he left in order to begin work. At the age of fifteen he secured employment in a drug store, where he obtained a fair knowledge of the drug business, and after a time he entered the Chicago College of Pharmacy, carrying on his studies there. For seven years he engaged in the drug business as a prescription pharmacist, but finally his health failed and, hoping that a change of climate would prove beneficial, he came to Denver when twenty-two years of age. Here he has since resided.
In the organization of the Davis-Creswell Manufacturing Company Mr. Bogue took an active part, and he became secretary and treasurer of
572
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. the concern, with which he was identified for twelve years. On severing his connection with that company he organized the Bogue Lead Company and became its president, which position he has since filled. The firm have a large plant on Blake street, where they manufacture the crude metals into lead pipe, etc.
The marriage of Mr. Bogue took place in Denver February 28, 1888, and united him with Miss Helen T. Creswell, who was born in Chicago, a daughter of Joseph and Clara Creswell, now of Denver. They are the parents of two children, Genevieve and Joseph, both of whom were born in Denver. Mr. Bogue was reared in the Republican faith and has always adhered to the principles of that party, but does not take an active part in public affairs, preferring to concentrate his attention upon business matters. Frequently he has been asked to accept positions of responsibility within the gift of his fellow-citizens, but all nominations he has invariably declined. In religion he is connected with the Congregational Church. In 1889 he was made a Mason, uniting with Union Lodge No. 7, A. F. & A. M., and he has since become identified with the Commandery and the Mystic Shrine.
HARLES H. SISLER. The Rio Grande shops in Denver have been declared by competent judges to be among the most perfect in operation and management of any in the entire country, a result that is due almost wholly to the judgment of the company in employing men of superior ability. Mr. Sisler entered the company's employ in 1885, immediately after coming to Denver, and for a time was occupied as machinist, later was given charge of the round house, and in 1893 was promoted to his present position, that of foreman of the machine shop, which is large, thoroughly equipped, and turns out almost everything in the line of railroad work.
The birth of Mr. Sisler occurred in Morgantown, now in West Virginia, but at that time a part of the Old Dominion. He is of Revolutionary stock, the descendant of ancestors who came to this country from Germany and settled in Pennsylvania, where they participated in the Indian fights of early days. In religion they were Lutherans. The grandfather of our subject, George Sisler, was born in Maryland, where his father had made settlement from Pennsylvania. After his marriage he removed to Virginia and settled on a farm near Morgantown. His son, Lorenzo, was born near what is now Oakland, Md., and after his father's death continued to operate the farm of two hundred and eighty acres, lying near Morgantown. He still resides upon the place, which is finely improved, and devoted to the raising of stock and general farm products. During the Civil war he was an officer in the Federal arm, and several of his relatives also took part in the war, some of them losing their lives in the service.
Our subject's mother was Mary, daughter of William Robinson, who was a farmer in West Virginia. The Robinson family came to America from Scotland, settling in Virginia in the seventeenth century, and participating in the Indian wars and the Revolution. Mrs. Sisler is still living and is now sixty-six years of age. Of her seven children six are living, Charles H. being the eldest of the family. When he was a mere child, his father enlisted in the army and he succeeded to the management of the farm. There were so many bands of Confederates in the country that he drove the cattle and horses into the mountains, by which means he was enabled to keep them in safety. On his father's return he resumed his school studies, and later took a course in the state university at Morgantown, completing the junior year. Afterward he taught school and took the regular course in Duft's Commercial College in Pittsburg, from which he graduated. Soon afterward he became an apprentice to the machinist's trade, at which he served for five years in Lima, Ohio. He became a practical machinist and engine maker, with a thorough knowledge of every department of his trade.
Entering the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Mr. Sisler worked for them in Altoona, Pa., and later was foreman of erection at Ft. Wayne, Ind. For a short time he also ran a locomotive engine. In 1882 he went to Topeka, Kan., where he had charge of the men in the Santa Fe shops, remaining there until his removal to Denver. He is an expert machinist, thoroughly familiar with the work, and while his position is one of great responsibility, he has filled it successfully and to the satisfaction of the company. He is a Republican, a member of the
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