Mardos Collection
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has been passed. Their five children are, James, Isaac, Uri, Sarah and Mary. The maternal grandfather, Isaac Wallis, was born in Wiltshire, England, and removed from there to Ontario, Canada, where he engaged in farming.
Reared upon a farm, at the age of nineteen our subject was apprenticed to the carpenter's trade. He continued in or near St. Thomas until 1883, when he came to Denver. Here, after working at his trade in the employ of others for one year, in the fall of 1884 he began contracting and building. Later he was foreman in the stair shop of McPhee & McGinnity, remaining in their employ until 1895, when he resigned his position and started in contracting, as a member of the firm of Norton & Reynolds.
In political matters Mr. Norton is in sympathy with the principles of the People's party. In religion he is identified with the Baptist Church, and fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In Denver he married Miss Agnes MacKinzie, who was born in Boston. They are the parents of three children, Thomas, Joseph (deceased, aged three years,) and Corinne. Mrs. Agnes MacKinzie is of Scotch descent. Her parents, Thomas and Agnes, came from Scotland before they were married. The MacKinzie family descends from one of the oldest clans in the lowlands, near Glasgow, and is related to the old McGregor clan made famous by Sir Walter Scott in his "Rob Roy."
AMES A. RUNDELL, formerly mayor of Ward, Boulder County, and now a successful merchant of the town, has resided in Colorado since 1888. He was born in Platteville, Grant County, Wis., in 1858, a son of H. P. and Elizabeth (Eudey) Rundell, natives of England. He was next to the oldest of nine children, all but one of whom are still living, and six are in Colorado. His father, who resided in Platteville for a time, removed from there to Iowa County, where he carried on a farm. He is now living retired in Platteville.
In the public schools of Iowa County our subject acquired a fair education. In 1883 he went to South Dakota and engaged in farming near Yankton, where he remained for three years. He did not, however, feel satisfied with prospects there, and so in 1886 came to Colorado, but after a short time went to Iowa and for eighteen months lived near Corning. In 1888 he came permanently to Colorado and settled in Boulder, where he operated the creamery for four years, and then engaged in bookkeeping. In January, 1894, he came to Ward, and opened a store, which he stocked with dry goods, groceries, clothing, hardware and household utensils. At first he conducted the store alone, but in 1897 admitted his brother and another gentleman as partners, and the firm title became Rundell Brothers & Wylam. In addition to his business interests he owns a part interest in the Binford stamp mill, but leases it. In connection with the mill there is a small tract of land, owned by the company and laid out as the Humbolt addition. He also owns real estate in Boulder, Denver and Ward.
Politically Mr. Rundell is a Republican. In 1897-98 he served as mayor of Ward and in 1895-97 he was treasurer of the town. He was made a Mason in Instruction Lodge No. 275, in Corning, Iowa, and is a charter member of Audubon Lodge in Ward. In the Odd Fellows' Order he is connected with Ward Lodge No. 22, and is also a member of the encampment here. He is an excellent business man, keen, persevering and capable, and the financial success he has already attained is justly merited by his perseverance and determination.
ILLIAM SCOTT LEE. Since the early history of our country, when one of the name took an active part in colonial politics and became a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Lee family has been prominent and influential. The New England branch were Congregationalists, regular attendants at church and very strict in their observance of the Sabbath. The great-grandfather of the subject of this article took part in the Revolutionary war. His son, Nehemiah Lee, moved from Connecticut to Peacham, Vt., and engaged in farming upon an extensive scale. He married Lavinia, a half-sister of ex-Governor Chauncey F. Cleveland, of Connecticut, one of the members of the constitutional convention. In their old age they removed to Maine, where they remained with a son until they passed away, at more than eighty years of age.
Of their sons Harvey was born at Peacham, where he spent the larger part of his life, dying
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. there at forty-three years of age. He was not strong physically, but attended to his father's business affairs and did as much as his strength permitted. His wife, Laura Steele Smith, was a daughter of Ebenezer Smith, of Cabot, Vt., a man of powerful physique, six feet and four inches in height, noted for his strength and powers of endurance, and noted also for his intellectual vigor and great will power. His father was a soldier in the French and Indian wars. On her mother's side Mrs. Laura Lee was a descendant of the old Steele family that took a prominent part in the history of Vermont. She died in Royalton, Vt., at seventy-one years of age. In religion she was an active, earnest member of the Congregational Church. She had only two children, Mrs. Ellen Lee Stearns, of Royalton, Vt., and William Scott Lee, of this sketch, the former was for many years principal of a well-known academy at Royalton, and was prominent in educational and Christian work in that locality. Though of a very delicate physique and frail health, she has accomplished a great work and has fitted many young men for college.
At the time of his fathers death our subject was eleven years of age. His educational advantages were very meagre. He went on a farm and worked by the month for one summer, then entered a cabinet shop, where he worked for a time. August 22, 1866, at the age of fourteen years (he having been born December 11, 1851), he left his native place in Orange County, Vt., and went to Chester, the same state, where he clerked for five years, and a part of the time he studied during his leisure hours and recited at the academy during two years of that time. From there he went to Greenfield, Mass., where at nineteen years of age he became the head clerk in a drygoods store. After five years in that position he became salesman for the John Russell Cutlery Company, of Turner's Falls, near Greenfield, and traveled for them among the jobbers in the eastern and middle states. He remained for five years in that position, after which he embarked in the wholesale and retail hardware business in Albany, N. Y., being a member of the firm of Ackerman & Lee. His particular work was the financial management of the business. However, he suffered severely in a railroad wreck and his physicians advised him to come west. By slow stages he traveled to Colorado, reaching Denver in the spring of 1883. The following year, after having regained to some extent his former health, he embarked in the real-estate business, and from the start met with success. Through his large acquaintance in the east and the high esteem he was held in, he was enabled to secure extensive business as financial agent for eastern concerns and loaned out eastern money on Colorado securities.
In politics Mr. Lee has always favored Republican principles. In 1884 he aided in organizing the committee of One Hundred (of which he was the first secretary), which helped to purify the political atmosphere of Denver and vicinity. In the fall of 1886 he was the Republican nominee for county commissioner, and was no doubt elected by a fair majority, but was counted out. The following year he became the Republican candidate for mayor and was elected by a large majority. He served one term of two years and then declined renomination, turning his attention again strictly to his business. In 1896 he was nominated for secretary of state, but declined on account of business reasons. His party, however, desiring his influence on the ticket, nominated him for lieutenant-governor, and he and the remainder of the candidates carried the central part of the state, but were defeated by the large Democratic vote in the southern part of the state.
In 1895 the New England Society was organized in Colorado and Mr. Lee was elected the first president. He was succeeded by Rev. Dr. Slocum, of the Colorado College at Colorado Springs. During his administration as mayor, Denver enjoyed a wave of unusual prosperity. He assisted in electing Senator Wolcott and was instrumental in strengthening his party in the state. In the course of his public life he has won the esteem of even his political enemies, who respect him for his honorable character and enterprising disposition. For years he has been a trustee in the Plymouth Congregational Church. He is a member of the Denver Club and the Masonic fraternity. In April, 1882, in Philadelphia, he married Miss Sallie Moore Hesser, daughter of J. Hesser, a well-known lumberman of northern Michigan. They have two daughters, Gertrude L. and Ellen C.
The success which has attended Mr. Lee's business efforts proves that he possesses qualities
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of a high order. When a boy he had few advantages. When his father died his mother was left very poor, but was too proud to ask assistance from his wealthy relatives, and so mother and children struggled along until finally they were above want. The schooling that he obtained he paid for by shoveling snow and doing other work. Reared among the economical, and sometimes penurious, farmers of New England, he learned lessons of economy and frugality which are essential as the groundwork for a successful career. In that way he gained an appreciation for the broader life he subsequently entered.
HRISTOPHER C. GIRD, a retired stockraiser and real-estate dealer, whose home is at No. 2418 Lincoln avenue, Denver, was born in Belmont County, Ohio, September 3, 1836, and is a son of James and Jane (Moore) Gird. His father, who was born in Westmoreland County, Pa., removed from there to Ohio and followed the trade of a carpenter in Belmont, Guernsey, Noble and Washington Counties, moving from place to place as an opportunity for work was offered. The family were poor and the son was therefore early obliged to assist his father. During three months of the year he attended school, and in spite of limited advantages he acquired a fair education. When sixteen years of age he began to learn the carpenter's trade with his father, with whom he worked until he was twenty-one. He then went to Tennessee and spent one winter near Memphis, taking contracts and following his trade.
Going to Leavenworth, Kan., in 1856, Mr. Gird secured work at his trade there, remaining in that city until the spring of 1860. Meantime he participated in the border warfare and was with the forces of the free state movement during many of their thrilling experiences of those perilous days. From Leavenworth he came to Denver, where he arrived June 5, 1860, having driven across the plains with a company of forty-two, in an ox train, and consuming forty-two days upon the road. Denver he found to be a town of tents and wagons mostly; however, people were coming in every day and there was an abundance of work for a carpenter. For one year he followed his trade, after which he carried on freighting between the Missouri River and Denver for two years and later was similarly employed in the mountains and from Denver to Cherry Creek pineries.
In 1863 Mr. Gird took up a claim on Cherry Creek, about fifteen miles south of Denver, and there he put up a number of necessary buildings and made other improvements. About one year after he established his home there, and while he was temporarily in Denver, May 19, 1864, occurred the greatest flood Denver has ever known. The creek overflowed its banks and all of his buildings were washed away, necessitating considerable expense in replacing them. In the fall of 1869 he married Sarah Ramsey, who was born in Beaver County, Pa., a daughter of James and Jane Ramsey, and from Pennsylvania came west to Colorado, where she was employed as a teacher at Cherry Creek until her marriage. In 1880 he removed from the ranch to Denver, where he has now no business cares except those connected with the management of his property interests.
Actively identified with the Republican party, Mr. Gird has been elected upon that ticket to a number of responsible positions. In the fall of 1869 he was chosen to represent the counties of Arapahoe and Douglas in the state legislature, where he served as a member of the printing and stock committees. Again, in 1878, he was elected to represent Arapahoe County in the lower house, where he served on the stock committee and had charge of the general legislation of the live-stock interests. From 1885 to 1888 he served as commissioner for Arapahoe County, and during two years and nine months of that time he was chairman of the board. The following resolutions, which were printed, framed and presented to him, show the respect in which he was held by the other board members:
"STATE OF COLORADO, ARAPAHOE COUNTY. "At a meeting of the board of county commissioners of Arapahoe County, held on the ninth day of January, A, D. 1888, the following resolution was unanimously adopted:
"The term of Christopher C. Gird, a member of this board and for nearly three years past its chairman, being about to expire, his associate members deeming it proper that a record should be made of our appreciation of his worth as an officer and a citizen, do hereby unanimously
"Resolve, That in the retirement of Mr. Gird
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. from the board of county commissioners, this county loses an able, zealous and conscientious public officer. As chairman of this board and superintendent of the poor, he has always been firm, impartial and discerning, and ever watchful of the interests of the county, and with the purest of motives he has been a model commissioner. As a man we commend him for his worth and we speak but the truth in saying that the county is deeply indebted to him for the faithfulness and efficiency with which he has discharged the trust reposed in him. In going from us he takes with him our best wishes for his success and welfare and he leaves only the kindliest of memories."
"Attested by JOSEPH H. SMITH, County Clerk."
From the spring of 1893 to 1898 Mr. Gird was auditor of Denver. Frequently he has represented his party in state and county conventions. During the campaign of 1896 he cast his influence and vote in behalf of the silver Republican cause. He was reared in the Methodist faith, but did not unite with the church until he came to Denver, when he became a member of the Trinity Church. Since then he has served the congregation as a steward. He has filled the chairs in Union Lodge No, 7, A. F. & A. M., and is a thirty-second degree Mason. Three children were born of this marriage, but all have passed away: Elbert Grant at the age of eleven, James Hayes at five years, and May when four months old.
EWIS B. AMES, who has for thirty years owned and occupied a farm near Littleton, was born in Canton, St. Lawrence County, N. Y., May 7, 1826. His father, Barnabas Ames, was a native of Vermont, born in 1787, and when still a boy moved to St. Lawrence County, N. Y., of which he was a pioneer. He assisted in opening up some of the oldest roads in the county, and grubbed and improved land from which he developed a good farm. He was a man of retiring disposition, and would never accept public office, though he took an interest in politics and aided his friends who were candidates for township or county positions. His death occurred in 1881.
The common schools of St. Lawrence County furnished our subject with fair educational privileges, which were further enhanced by a course in the academy at Canton. After leaving school for a few years he devoted his summers to farm work and his winter months to teaching school. In 1847 he went to Michigan and for four years was employed in the office of the recorder of Hillsdale County at the county-seat, Hillsdale. In the spring of 1847 he visited Chicago for the first time, seeing the delegates to the Rivers and Harbor convention, among whom was General Cass, of Michigan. He found but two brick houses on the present site of the metropolis of the middle states.
Returning to St. Lawrence County in 1851, Mr. Ames remained there for four years, and in 1855 went to Decorah, Iowa, where he opened a shoe store in company with R. Willson, embarking in business for himself. He spent five years in that place and was fairly successful, but when the discovery of gold in Colorado drew thousands of men westward, he decided to try his fortune in the mountains. June 8, 1860, he arrived at Denver and for five years he devoted his attention principally to mining near Blackhawk. Believing, however, that the earth would give a greater reward to the agriculturist than to the miner, he decided to engage in farming, and in 1867 bought his present homestead of one hundred and twenty acres, upon which he settled the following year. During the years that have followed, he has placed a number of substantial buildings on the property, has provided it with substantial fencing and the other improvements that so materially add to the value of a farm. During the year that he settled here, he was chosen justice of the peace, in which capacity he continued to serve until about 1882. In fraternal relations he is identified with Weston Lodge No. 22, A. F. & A. M.
January 31, 1866, occurred the marriage of Mr. Ames to Miss Laura H. Larawa, an estimable lady, devoted to the welfare of her family and accommodating as a neighbor. She was a consistent Christian and an active member of the Episcopal Church. Her death, which occurred July 27, 1897, was a deep bereavement to her husband, who was thus left alone, their two children having died. The younger son, Harry H., died February 22, 1880, aged three years and six months; Milo C. was born December 13, 1870,
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