GEORGE C. SWADLEY.
Mardos Collection
GEORGE C. SWADLEY.
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 861
gaged in raising cattle and carried on a dairy business, as well as general farm pursuits.
Selling that place in 1882, Mr. Thornton bought a farm east of Berthoud and moving there, he engaged in general agricultural pursuits for fifteen years. He still owns the place and superintends its cultivation, but it is occupied by a tenant, while he has made his home in Berthoud since 1897. His landed possessions aggregate twelve hundred and eighty acres, comprising some of the best farming land in the county. This property he has accumulated by his unaided efforts, as he had nothing at the time he came to Berthoud, and was dependent upon his own exertions for whatever of success he might hope to attain.
In politics Mr. Thornton is a Prohibitionist. On that ticket he was nominated for county commissioner in 1891. and with the endorsement of the Populists and Democrats he was elected for a term of three years. He has also served as a member of the city board of councilmen. During 1893 he was manager of the Berthoud roller mills. In the work of irrigating the land in this county he has been an important factor. He was one of the promoters of the Mary Ann reservoir; and for seven years was superintendent of the company, also serving as a member of the board of directors. Fraternally he is connected with Berthond Lodge No. 83, A. F. & A. M. In 1877 he was united in marriage with Miss Jessie Scoville, who had been a successful teacher in York state and also engaged in teaching for a few years after coming to Colorado. They are the parents of three children: Clarence, Theresa and Bruce.
EORGE C. SWADLEY. Among the companies that started across the plains in 1859 was one composed of fifteen men, who made the long and tedious journey in a train of four wagons, three of which were drawn by ten yoke of oxen, while the remaining one was drawn by a mule team. While en route for Colorado the men stopped for one week and enjoyed a buffalo hunt, thus laying in a large supply of meat, besides having the unusual sport of hunting buffalo. After six weeks from the time they started, the wagons came to a halt in Boulder. It was then about the 1st of July. The men left the wagons in Boulder and with packs on their backs started for the mountains. After a tour of inspection of a week, they learned of a toll road leading up into the mountains, and three of the party decided to take that road. One of these men was Mr. Swadley. They took up a claim, which he and one man left for the third partner to hold and to clear of the timber, while they returned to town to get their wagon and supplies. On their return to the claim, they found their partner had sold out their rights and had decamped for parts unknown. This was somewhat discouraging, but they were hardy, vigorous and determined, and did not allow themselves to become disheartened. Going to the diggings, they located claims that paid $20 a day, but as winter was coming on, they thought it best to look for something else to do. They came to Arvada and that winter found them mining below the town.
In the spring of the following year Mr. Swadley turned his attention to a very different line of work. After a short time in the mountains, he came back to the valley and planted a crop of onions, which he found to be a profitable investment. During the winter, he and two others hired a man to go to Mexico for onion seed. After three months the man returned, bringing four pounds of seed, the cost of which was $60 per pound (counting the expense of the trip), but some of the seed was disposed of at $16 per ounce. The following summer others planted their seed and harvested a crop that sold at from fifteen to twenty-five cents a pound. Mr. Swadley sold all the marketable onions; the scullions or unsalable ones he left in the ground and harvested them in the spring of the following year, selling the crop for $1,000. In the fall of 1860 he removed to his present farm, which he had taken up under the Land Claim Club in May, 1860. Here he put in his first crop in the spring of 1861, and his success was especially encouraging, because his was the first farm in Colorado that was farmed on upland.
Continuing his experiments as an agriculturist, Mr. Swadley began to raise wheat in 1863, and that year he harvested as high as fifty-three bushels to the acre, for which he found a market at $7.50 per bushel. During all this time he lived in a cabin that had been the stopping place of Horace Greeley when that illustrious statesman visited Denver: He had bought the house in that city and from there removed it to his
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. place, making it his home until he had the means to build a better house. In 1865 he erected a substantial frame residence, which stood as a mark of his increased prosperity. He also added to his property from time to time until he became the owner of four hundred acres, the amount of his present possessions, and in 1894 he built a palatial brick residence, where he now lives, surrounded by every comfort.
Such a life proves that a man who has grit and energy can succeed in Colorado. Certainly these two attributes are prominent qualities in the character of Mr. Swadley. Perhaps they are his by training, but doubtless they are to some extent inherited from his grandfathers, who were men of dauntless bravery. His paternal grandfather was one of the men who drove the Indians across the Ohio River at Guyandot, when the river ran blood, the other grandfather was a soldier in the war of 1812 and died while in active service.
In the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia Mr. Swadley was born September 26, 1837, a son of William and Margaret (Pence) Swadley. He was one of eight children, of whom besides himself five are living: Elizabeth, widow of James Kinkead, of Highland County, Va.; Mary, Mrs. George Beveridge, of Pocahontas County, W. Va.; Lydia, wife of Frank Gum, living in Highland County, Va;; John L., a farmer of Bath County, Va.; and Hannah, who married Mark Simmons and lives in Highland County. The father of this family was born in the Old Dominion in 1809 and in youth was apprenticed to the tanner's trade in Lancaster, Pa. Later he embarked in business for himself, starting a tannery in Rockingham County, Va., and for twenty years engaging in business there and in Highland County. His last years were spent in retirement from active labors. His wife, who was born in 1811, is now eighty-seven years of age and resides on the old Virginia homestead.
At the age of fifteen our subject went to Bridgewater, Rockingham County, where he remained three years as an apprentice to the carpenter's trade. From there he went to Cedar County, Iowa, in 1856, and began in business as a carpenter. In the winter months, when there was little work at the trade, he attended school. Cedar County was then sparsely inhabited and the surrounding country was new. The Rock Island Railroad had been completed to Iowa City, which was farther west than any other railroad had been built. When the panic came in 1859 business was dull and he was therefore the more eager to join the gold seekers in their journey across the plains.
In 1866 Mr. Swadley married Mary E. Pollock, of Missouri, whose father, John Pollock, came to Colorado from Holt County, Mo., in 1863. She died October 2!, 1896, and is survived by four of her five children. Clara, the eldest, is her father's housekeeper and affectionately ministers to his comfort. William Robert married Josephine Bright, and is engaged in cultivating a part of the home farm. John Ira was born November 27, 1870, and died May 1, 1871. The two youngest of the family are daughters, Laura and Sarah, both accomplished and popular young ladies.
Politically Mr. Swadley is an ardent Democrat. In 1883 he was elected county commissioner on the Democratic ticket and served for one term. The county is strongly Republican, but when he was his party's candidate for representative in the state legislature, he was defeated by only about thirty votes. He is a man of public spirit, desirous to secure the advancement of his town and county, and interested in every measure that promises to promote the welfare of his fellow citizens.
He is an honored son of Pennsylvania, born in Jefferson County, May 10, 1860, while his parents, Lorenzo N. and Elmira (Gardner) Briggs, were natives of New York and Pennsylvania respectively. The father was a merchant for many
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 863
years and also a dealer in lumber in Elk County, Pa. All of his five children are yet living. During his boyhood and youth our subject obtained a good practical knowledge of business affairs in his father's store and also acquired a fair literary education in the common schools.
Leaving home at the age of twenty years, Mr. Briggs came to Evans, Colo., where he was variously employed for a time, but finally accepted a position as clerk in the store of H. C. Sherman, with whom he remained a number of years. For. six years he was a member of the firm carrying on business under the style of the Union Mercantile Company, and then purchased the store, which he conducted alone for several years. In 1889 he was appointed postmaster under President Harrison and acceptably served in that office until 1894, but still continued his interest in the mercantile business. In the spring of 1898 he formed his present partnership with Mr. McAfee, and as dealers in general merchandise, produce and all kinds of farming implements, wagons, carriages and supplies, are conducting a large and profitable business. They do an especially large business in farm machinery, and handle the Osborn binders, mowers and reapers, employing George T. Parks, who is an expert machinist, to attend to the putting up of the machinery. They also handle Studebaker's wagons and carriages, and besides their commodious store they have a large warehouse. In connection with his real-estate interests in Evans, Mr. Briggs owns city property in Denver; is interested in mining in various places; owns a fine farm in the Platte Valley, in the Big Bend country, which he rents; is president of the Evans Mill and Elevator Company, which he assisted in organizing; and is director of the Buckers Ditch Company.
On the 3d of January, 1889, Mr. Briggs was united in marriage with Miss Isabelle Parks, a native of Randolph County, Ill., and a daughter of James G. Parks, of Washington, Kan., and to them have been born four children: Ethel L.; Mary E., known. as Mira; Eula A., known as Agnes; and James Glen.
Until recently Mr. Briggs supported the Republican party, but is now known as a silver Republican. He takes quite an active and prominent part in public affairs, and in 1889 was elected mayor of Evans, and so capably and satisfactorily did he fill that office that he has been four times re-elected. Socially he belongs to Prosperity Lodge No. 109, 1.O. O. F., of which he is vice-grand, and he is a charter member of Camp No. 194, W. O. W. and is council commander. Being a fine shot he finds his chief source of recreation and delight in hunting, and is the owner of a number of excellent guns. Success in life is not measured by the heights which one may chance to occupy, but by the distance between the starting point and the altitude he has reached; and as Mr. Briggs started out a poor boy he has gained a most brilliant success, a just reward of meritorious, honorable effort, which commands the respect and admiration of all.
UDGE PETER M. HOUSEL, as one of the oldest pioneers of Boulder County, is justly entitled to representation in the history of her early settlers and prominent citizens. No one is held in higher esteem in, this section, and few, if any, of the founders of the county's prosperity have been more aggressive in works of improvement and progress than he has been. His influence has ever been exerted for the benefit and well-being of his fellows, and the detailed history of his life is a history of innumerable kindly deeds and aid extended toward those in need of his assistance.
The parents of the judge were William and Julia (Johnson) Housel, natives of Northumberland and Union Counties, Pa., respectively. The father was a son of John Housel, a farmer near Milton, Pa., and an extensive land-owner. He was of German extraction, his ancestors having been numbered among the earliest settlers of the Keystone state, and of the Reformed Church in religious creed. The judge's father was a watchmaker, silversmith and jeweler by trade, and made the old-fashioned, tall "grandfather's" clocks still common throughout Pennsylvania. He passed his last days on a farm near Lewisburg, Pa., dying there at the age of sixty years. His wife, Julia, was a grand-daughter of Captain Christopher Johnson, of English descent, and a native of New Jersey, where he lived until the war of the Revolution, when he enlisted and rose to the rank of captain. Subsequently he moved to Union County, Pa., where he carried on a farm until well along in years. Both he and his
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. wife lived to attain their eighty-fourth year. They were adherents of the Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Julia Housel was summoned to her reward when she had reached the threescore and ten years spoken of by the Psalmist as the usual duration of life. She was the mother of two sons and three daughters, of whom but three now survive.
Judge Housel was born November 2, 1823, in Northumberland County, Pa., and grew to manhood in the neighborhood of Milton. He attended the old fashioned subscription schools and the academy in Lewisburg, Pa. Then, having mastered the trade of his father he practiced the calling in Bellefontaine for a few years. In 1852 he came as far west as Davenport, Iowa, the journey in those days being no small undertaking. He went as far as Erie, Pa., by railroad, thence to Girard, Pa., by stage, from there to Cleveland, Ohio, by rail; and on to Cincinnati in the same fashion; then by boat down the Ohio and up the Mississippi. For seven years he made his home in Davenport, his time being employed at his trade. The western fever then being at its height, he decided to make a trip to Pike's Peak, and fitting out with ox-teams he left Newton, Iowa, in 1859. He came by way of Omaha, and Port Laramie, and encountered a vast number of discouraged travelers, who told him stories of the difficulties of the road and the small inducements they had found to stay in the west. Reaching Laramie, Wyo., Mr. Housel had the good fortune to hear Horace Greeley give a lecture and sound advice to the effect that seekers of a home and better prospects than they had hitherto enjoyed, should locate in Colorado, instead of continuing their trip to far-distant California. He concluded to follow the famous mail's counsel, and came to Boulder by way of the present city of Cheyenne. Arriving in this county July 12, 1859, he went to Gold Hill, and engaged in mining on Horsefall Lode, one of the best-known mines in the county. He bought it of the discoverer, operated it for some years and then leased the property. Upon the organization of Colorado Territory in 1862 he was elected the first county judge of Boulder County and, entering at once upon his duties after the election, served for two terms to the entire satisfaction of all concerned.
In the fall of 1865 the judge returned to Iowa on a visit, and when he came back to this county built a flour-mill at the junction of the North and South Boulder Rivers, having brought the burrs and machinery from Chicago, and from Nevada, Iowa, by team. This mill was the first one of any consequence in the county, and after running it for several years he disposed of it. At that time he owned a farm near Valmont, improved it with irrigating ditches, etc., and finally sold the place. He located and constructed the Marshallville ditch, one of the best in the county, and is still a stockholder in the company. In 1876 he went to Bear Gulch in the Black Hills, and made enough gold from his mining to pay for another farm. Returning, he purchased a homestead about five miles east of Boulder, and still owns this place, winch he has greatly improved. He also spent four or five years in mining in the leading camp at Bonanza. In 1898 he retired from active live, and is making his home in Boulder. For forty years he has been a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church. When the first Republican sub-committee met in Iowa City he was a member of the body and has continued loyal in his adherence to the principles of the party ever since, though he takes issue with it on the silver question. In his early manhood he was a member of the Sons of Temperance and has long been connected with the Odd Fellows' society.
The wife of his youth was a Miss Sarah Nesbit prior to their marriage. She was born in Pennsylvania and died a year and a-half after their marriage. Later, Miss Eliza Stuart, of the same state, became his bride, and for thirty-eight years, or until her death, was his companion and helpmate. Her father, Col. Andrew Stuart, was a hero of the war of 1812 and was a very prominent politician in Pennsylvania, serving in both the upper and lower house of delegates. He traced his lineage to the famous Stuart line in Scotland. The four children born to the judge and wife Eliza are living and as follows: Edgar Stuart, of Boulder, a fruit grower and lumber manufacturer; Mrs. Julia Bentley, of this city; William C., a journalist of Boston, Mass.; and James, who is a mining engineer, now in Cripple Creek, Colo. William C., a linguist of great ability, is a graduate of the University of Colorado and of the University of Michigan. Going abroad, he then took a post-graduate course in Leipsic, Germany, and in Geneva, Switzerland.
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