THOMAS G. MAYFIELD.
Mardos Collection
THOMAS G. MAYFIELD.
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 891
superior schools of that place. During the World's Fair Mr. Thomas took his wife and eldest daughter to Chicago, less as a sight-seeing expedition than for what the daughter would learn, and it is his expectation to take one of his daughters to Paris in 1900. He is a Quaker, but lost his birthright by joining the army during the Civil war. An intelligent, agreeable and hospitable man, he is esteemed and respected wherever known.
AVID W. ERVIN, a pioneer of '60 now residing in Weld County, seven miles southeast of Longmont, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., July 27, 1833, a son of William and Sarah (Christman) Ervin. He was one of thirteen children, seven of whom are still living. His father, a native of Lincolnshire, England, came to America at twelve years of age, in company with a sister, Mrs. Repass, with whom he remained in Philadelphia until he was grown to manhood. After his marriage he settled in a home of his own in Philadelphia, where he remained for some years, but in 1840 he removed to Washington, Northtumberland County, and bought a piece of timbered land, which his sons cleared and improved. During a large part of his active life he followed the trade of a farrier, in which he was an expert. His death occurred in Northumberland County in 1862, when he was fifty-seven years of age.
At twenty-one years of age the subject of this sketch went to Illinois to visit a relative. While there the son of the relative returned home and persuaded our subject to go to Iowa. While in that state he assisted in carrying the chain to lay out the town of Waterloo. Having a few dollars of his own, he invested in a livery stable, beginning in business with six horses, and increasing until he had twenty-five horses and fifteen buggies at the end of two years; besides this he owned a farm of one hundred and sixty acres and some town lots. On disposing of his livery stable he turned his attention to other enterprises, remaining in Waterloo until 1860. When a call was made for volunteers at the opening of the Civil war he enlisted for one hundred days, in the Twenty-first Iowa Infantry. At the expiration of his time he was discharged in Sedalia, Mo.
Immediately after being discharged Mr. Ervin bought a team of mules, and with four other men, started for Colorado. He arrived in Denver on Independence day of 1860. Here he was offered some lots on the east side of Blake street for his mules and outfit, but refused the offer. During the summer he worked for Rodney Curtis near Denver, helping to dig potatoes. In the fall, with his mules, he hauled the potatoes to Buckskin Joe and there fell a victim to the mining fever, which sooner or later has seized every "tenderfoot" from the east. During the winter he traded his outfit for claim No. 6, of the Phillips lead, where he worked until May of the following year. Finally abandoning his claim, he went to Central via California Gulch and Fairplay, and for a time worked by the day. Later, when the Grinnell Central Gold Mining Company was formed, he was made foreman of the mine at $6 a day, and afterward was advanced to be general superintendent, for which he received $7 a day.
In Nevada City, in 1866, Mr. Ervin married Miss Elizabeth Hochstrasser, daughter of Peter Hochstrasser, of South County, Ontario, Canada. About the same time he came to this valley and rented land on Boulder Creek, in Weld County. In 1870 he took up a claim of one hundred and sixty acres, where he now lives, this being a tract adjoining the one he had rented. He is interested in all matters pertaining to the welfare of his county and is especially active in educational affairs, having for twenty-seven years served as secretary of the school board in district No. 1. Fraternally he is connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and Select Knights. He and his wife are the parents of the following-named children: Mary E., wife of William Vandaford Lafayette; Sarah, who married Joseph Milener, of Canada; William, of Golden, Colo.; Francis, deceased; and Ernest, at home.
DWARD NAIRN GARBUTT, deceased, was a pioneer of Colorado and a highly respected resident of Fort Collins. He was born near Rochester, Monroe County, N. Y., July 20, 1844. His father, Volney John Garbutt, was born in Wheatland, near Rochester, N. Y., and was a son of John Garbutt, a native of Northumberland, England, and one of three brothers who came to this country with their father, Zachariah. The family settled in the town of Wheatland and a station was established
38
892
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. near their home that is still known as Garbutt. In addition to cultivating land they engaged in operating a mill. Our subject fell heir not only to a watch that was owned by Zachariah Gurbutt, but also to the name of Zachariah's wife, who was a Miss Nairn, of Scotland.
In all the enterprises tending to the development of Monroe County each generation took an active part. John Garbutt carried books from Albany to his home and started the first library in Monroe County. He built a two-story house at Garbutt and engaged in the hotel business, besides operating his farm. Later he built plaster and flour mills also constructed to the Genesee River a railroad of plank, drawn by horses, over which he hauled his produce to the market, and from there he floated the flour down the river in flatboats. He continued his shipments in this way until the canal was built. During the war of 1812 he served as a captain. For a time he was a member of the state legislature of New York. His death occurred in Monroe County when he was seventy-six years of age.
Volney John Garbutt engaged in farming in Monroe County. He located in the town of Greece, three miles from the Genesee River and Lake Ontario. There he engaged in farming until his death at sixty-nine years. His wife, Lucy Howard Bennett, was born in the Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, and died in New York at forty-six years of age. Her father, Frederick Bennett, was born in Massachusetts, but at the age of two years was taken by his parents to the Wyoming Valley and was there during the Wyoming massacre. Afterward they returned to Massachusetts, but when the fear of Indians no longer existed they once more settled in Pennsylvania. He removed to the Genesee Valley in New York and engaged in the lumber business in Monroe County, where he died at eighty-seven years; his wife passed away when eighty-four.
The family of which our subject was second consisted of eight children that attained years of maturity. H. Irving is an attorney in Fort Collins, having come here from New York; during the Civil war he enlisted in the Thirteenth New York Infantry, and at the first battle of Bull Run was taken prisoner, remaining in Libby Prison for eleven months. Volney, who was in the New York Light Artillery, died soon after the close of the war in the oil regions of Pennsylvania. Jane F. died in 1872. Zachariah is an attorney at Boyne City, Mich., and Cameron W. a stockman at Sheridan, Wyo. The youngest child, Nettie, married Rowland Herring, of New York, subsequently moved to Colorado, and died at La Porte, this state.
The boyhood years of our subject were spent in the town of Greece. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and Fortieth New York Infantry, being mustered into service at Rochester September 21. He was ordered to Harper's Ferry, from there to Fredericksburg, took part in the battle of Gettysburg, and the day after the battle was over fell ill with typhoid fever. For weeks he lay at death's door in the hospital. Finally, however, he became strong enough to return home, and was discharged September 21, 1863, on account of disability. After becoming well enough to resume his studies he entered Lima Seminary, in Livingston County, N. Y., and for a time both taught and studied. After graduating he settled in Greenville, Mich., where he bought a farm and remained one year.
In 1867 Mr. Garbntt came to Colorado, making the journey by rail to Fort Riley, Kan., where he secured work as driver of ox-teams across the plains at $25 per month. The route lay along the Smoky Hill road, where water was so scarce that twice he went for twenty-four hours without any. Arriving at Denver July 23, he heartily enjoyed the sight of the town after so many days on the hot and dusty road. A day after reaching Denver he left, coming by stage to Fort Collins, where he had a cousin, Fred Wallace. At that time there were only about six houses in the town, and there was little to invite or attract the settler. He went on to LaPorte, then a rather lively little place, and there he and his cousin engaged in farming until 1874, when the grasshoppers destroyed his crop and he decided to quit. While there he was secretary of a school district that covered forty square miles. In September, 1875, he was elected county superintendent of schools and served for two months over two terms. During that time he reorganized the schools and the school districts of the county. In the fall of 1879 he was elected county treasurer on the Republican ticket, and in January, 1880, took the oath of office. The next year he was re-elected, also in 1883, serving until
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 893
January 1886. For several years he was deputy district clerk, and for five years served as deputy county clerk under Scott, Montgomery and DuBois. These several positions he filled in connection with his treasuryship. In 1886 he bought the abstract books and continued in charge of them for some time, bringing abstracts up to date; however, the work was too confining for him. He became seriously ill and went to Denver for treatment, but blood poison fever resulting from the treatment set in and threatened his life. While ill he sold the abstract books. During much of the time when he was in office he carried on a store at LaPorte, which he owned from 1877 to 1893 and then sold. For many years, at different periods, he served as postmaster at Laporte. On selling his store he took in exchange one hundred and eighty-seven acres south of Fort Collins, which he rented.
Politically Mr. Garbutt was a silver Republican. While he held many offices he perhaps refused as many as he accepted. Fraternally he was connected with Collins Lodge No. 19, A. F. & A. M., of which he was master for five years; Cache la Poudre Chapter No. 11, R. A. M., and DeMolay Commander, No. 13, K. T. September 16, 1880, in Greenville, Mich., he married Miss Libbie O. Holmden, who was born in that place. Her father, George Holmden, was a native of England, and on coming to this country settled in Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Garbutt had two children, namely: Stuart Bennett, who was born July 24, 1880, and will graduate from the Agricultural College in 1900; and Edna Elizabeth, who was born November 22, 1885. They also took into their family a sister's child, Edward Irving Herring Garbutt.
Mr. Garbutt's death occurred October 25, 1898, at his residence in Fort Collins. He was buried with Masonic honors.
OHN MONTGOMERY, one of the most successful farmers of Weld County, owns a finely improved homestead, one and one-quarter miles west of Eaton, on township 7, range 66 He settled here in 1887, buying one hundred and sixty acres of fine land, all of which is under cultivation. The improvements have been made under his personal supervision, and include a well two hundred and thirty feet deep, with excellent soft water, which a windmill connects with the house. The barn, which is the finest for miles around, is of brick, 4OX50 feet in dimensions, and with ceilings seventeen feet high. The residence is also of brick and thoroughly modern in its appointments.
Mr. Montgomery was born in Ireland in November, 1832, a son of George and Eliza (Drennm) Montgomery, who emigrated to Canada in 1835, settling in Melbourne, Richmond County, Quebec, and there the father died May 6, 1838. Our subject was educated in district schools in Melbourne, but his opportunities for attending school were limited, as he was obliged to assist in the farm work while still quite young. Of the five children he was next to the youngest. He assisted his older brother in cultivating the home place until the brother became of age, after which our subject cultivated it alone. In 1887 he sold the place and came to Colorado, settling on the farm where he has since resided. His youngest son, Christopher L., superintends the cultivation of the land, and is a young man of intelligence and ability. However, Mr. Montgomery is not content when idle, and usually finds something to occupy his time and thought in managing the estate and in suggesting improvements. In political views he is a stanch silver advocate. In religion he has always adhered to the Episcopalian faith, but as that denomination has no church near here, he attends the Congregational Church at Eaton.
December 22, 1857, in Durham, Canada, Mr. Montgomery married Mary Ann, daughter of William Lyster, a resident of that place. She was an estimable lady, and her death, October 6, 1894, was a heavy loss to her family. There were four sons and four daughters born of their union, namely: Eliza A., who married Albert E. English, of La Grange, Colo.; Frederick William, living at Holly, Colo.; George A., who owns one hundred and sixty acres adjoining his father's place, and is now road superintendent of this section; Mary Esther, who married James Smillie, of Richmond, Canada; Albert E., who is engaged in farming west of his father's place; Julia Matilda, who married James G. Milne, a farmer living near Lucerne; Christopher C, who operates the homestead; and Charlotte Matilda, who died at eleven years of age.
Mr. Montgomery owns two water rights in the
894
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. Larimer and Weld reservoir, and two in the Larimer and Weld ditch. He also has a private reservoir of nine acres, which he finds of inestimable value, it furnishing him with plenty of water whenever needed. It has been his custom to have the water run in at night, and thus he has a full supply in the daytime. In the well-remembered suit against the English company for the control of the water company, he was very active in upholding the interests of the farmers and strong in advocating the transfer of the control to them, as per contract. At the end of seven years of litigation they were finally successful, and the control passed into the hands of those who held the three hundred and sixty-six and one-half original rights, instead of being held by B. H. Eaton, who proposed to divide the water among five hundred, a larger number than the ditch could supply. Although the suit was finally decided in the farmers' favor, they were kept out of possession of the water until January of the following year, 1898. Mr. Montgomery is a member of the Northern Colorado Produce Exchange of Greeley. Besides his other interests he is a feeder of sheep for the Chicago market, and annually buys about one thousand for this purpose.
AMUEL, J. McAFEE, junior member of the well-known firm of Briggs & McAfee, general merchants of Evans, Weld County, is an enterprising, wide-awake business man, who has been identified with the interests of this state throughout the greater part of his life. He was born in Washington County, Ill., in 1862, and is a son of John and Margery (Stevenson) McAfee. The father was a native of Ireland, but when a lad of eight years was brought to this country by his parents, who located in Philadelphia, where the grandfather was one of the first to engage in the manufacture of brick, following that occupation there until his death. In the Quaker City John McAfee grew to manhood, but in the early '40s, when twenty-five years of age, he went to Chicago, which at that time contained less than three thousand inhabitants. There he engaged in farming for a time, and later followed the same pursuit in connection with brick making in Washington County, Ill., until 1870, when he came to Evans, Colo., as a member of the St. Louis and Western Colony, with which he was identified during the remainder of his life. He made the first brick in this part of the country, and engaged extensively in its manufacture for several years. He spent two summers at Canon City, as superintendent of the state brick yard under convict labor, but passed his last years quietly on a farm three miles south of Evans, where he departed this life in 1889, at the age of seventy-six years. His wife had previously been called to her final rest, dying in Evans, in 1886, aged seventy-two years. Only three of their ten children are now living, namely: Alice, wife of Judge Edward V. Higgins, of Lehigh, Utah; Samuel J., the subject of this sketch; and John J., a resident of Salt Lake City.
Samuel J. McAfee was only nine years old when he came with the family to Evans, Colo., and at that place he acquired his education in the public schools. At the age of fifteen he started out to learn the carpenter's trade, but gave it up after following it for a few weeks and entered the printing office of the Evans Journal as an apprentice, remaining there one year. The following three years he was employed as a general printer in the office of the Hotel Reporter, owned by John C. Kennedy, and remained in Denver for six years, working on different papers. Returning to Evans in 1884, he purchased the Evans Journal in company with Thomas M. Todd, but a year later the firm became Cheely & McAfee, and as such the business was conducted for the following year. They then sold the paper and Mr. McAfee went to Syracuse, Kan., as manager of the Syracuse Sentinel for about twenty-three months. In 1889 we again find him in Denver, where he was engaged in newspaper work for a short time, and on leaving that city he went to Castle Rock, where he had charge of the Castle Rock Journal for seven months. In 1890 he returned to Evans and established the Evans Courier, a weekly journal, whose first issue appeared May 24, 1890. On the 1st of February, 1895, he sold the paper and the same day bought the mercantile stock of George C. Briggs, and was engaged in general merchandising alone until November 1, 1897. On the first of the following February, in partnership with Mr. Briggs, under the firm name of Briggs & McAfee, he again embarked in business. They carry a large and well-selected stock of general merchandise, farming machinery and implements, and by fair and honorable dealing they
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 895
have secured a liberal share of the public patronage. While engaged in newspaper work, Mr. McAfee invented a mailing machine, which he is still manufacturing in connection with Lorin C. Vanderlip, and he is also interested in the Evans Milling and Elevator Company.
In 1883 Mr. McAfee was united in marriage with Miss Sallie M. Bovard, a native of Indiana, and a daughter of George Bovard. To them have been born the following-named children: Harry, Elizabeth, Montgomery, George and Blair. He is an honored member of Prosperity Lodge No. 109, I. O. O. F., of which he is past grand, and also belongs to Evans Camp, Woodmen of the World. Politically he an ardent Democrat and takes quite an active and influential part in local affairs, attending all the county conventions of his party. He was elected trustee of the town of Evans in 1890, and three years later was elected mayor. The reins of city government were never in more capable hands, for he is a progressive mail, pre-eminently public-spirited, and all that pertains to the public welfare receives his hearty endorsement. He has also served as town clerk many years, was police judge and justice of the peace for a time, and was postmaster of Evans during President Cleveland's second term. His official duties have always been most ably discharged, and both his public and private life are alike above reproach.
HARLES TOWNSEND WYGANT, proprietor and principal stockholder of the Charles T. Wygant Carriage Company, has resided in Denver since 1888. For three years after coming here he followed the trade of sign writer and painter, and then bought out Emmons & Smith, of the Novelty Carriage Works Company, and carried on the business at No. 2956 Arapahoe street. In 1892 he removed to Nos. 2816-18 Larimer street, but soon the business outgrew the capacity of the building, and in 1897 he removed to more commodious quarters at Nos. 2924-32 Larimer, where he has a two-story structure, with a frontage of fifty feet and a depth of sixty feet. About the time of the removal the name of the firm was changed to its present title. He carries on a large business in the manufacture and repair of carriages and wagons. On the first floor he has his blacksmith and woodwork department, while on the second floor are the painting; trimming and storage departments. The concern is conducted on strictly business principles, for which reason it has had a steady prosperity.
Mr. Wygant was born in Meadville, Pa., April 20, 1849, the son of John P. and Sarah Boyle) Wygant, natives of Orange County, N. Y. His mother was a daughter of Prof. Charles Boyle, at one time an instructor in a New York college, but afterward a farmer near Meadville, where he died. John P. Wygant was the grandson of Jonathan Wygant, a Revolutionary patriot, and the son of Jonathan Wygant, jr., who was among the first of the New York settlers on the Holland land grant near Meadville. When he went there the Indians were numerous and troublesome, and the white settlers were obliged often to take up arms in defense of their families and possessions.
When a boy John P. Wygant accompanied his parents to Pennsylvania, where he assisted in clearing a farm and later carried on a livery business in Meadville, also was proprietor of a livery stable. During the war he bought horses for the government, and also for the New York and Philadelphia markets. His purchases of fine horses and subsequent trades frequently took him from home, and from one of these trips he never returned. It was supposed that he was murdered for his money, of which he frequently carried large sums. His widow continues to make her home in Meadville, but only one of their four children remains there. The younger son, William K, is an importer of crockery in Jackson, Mich., and a sister, Emma, lives in Flushing, that state; while the younger sister, Mrs. Ida Hewitt, remains in Meadville.
The eldest of the family was the subject of this sketch. He attended the public and high schools of Meadville, and Bryant & Stratton's Business College, from which he graduated. For a time he carried on a book and stationery business in his native town, after which he became traveling salesman for a New York house, his territory comprising the western part of Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and western New York. In 1869 he learned carriage painting, and at the same time engaged in the manufacture of carriages in Meadville. Six years later, in 1875, he began in the wholesale and retail shoe business in Meadville, and carried on business in that line for
896
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. some years, removing in 1881 to Escanaba, Mich., where he engaged in the carriage and wagon business. At the same time he was proprietor of the opera house and skating rink, and also served as deputy sheriff. He remained there until his removal to Denver. Meantime, in that city, in 1882, he married Mary E. Harrington, who was born in Welland, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of James Harrington, now of Denver. They have two children, Harry and Jeanie. Mr. Wygant is the oldest member of the order of Knights of Pythias in Denver, he having joined a lodge in Meadville in 1870. Politically he is a Republican.
Mr. Wygant is a descendant of German Lutheran stock, in which is apparent the result of many generations of honest lives. The original progenitor of the family in America was Michael, son of Rev. George Herman Weigand, Lutheran minister at Niederschule, in the Rhine Palatinate. Michael Weigand was born in 1656. Before he was fairly out of his teens he entered the army, afterward serving through several disastrous campaigns in defense of his native land. On leaving the army he became a husbandman, married, and settled at Osthofen, near the city of Worms. There his children, Anna, Maria, Tobias and George, were born, and there he and his good wife, Anna Catherena, hoped by industry and wise management to rear their offspring creditably, and with a competency honestly acquired, to spend their declining years in peace, But in this worthy ambition they were destined to cruel disappointment, for their rooftree had been planted in a land to which peace was an utter stranger.
In the counties intersected by, or lying near the Rhine, it would be difficult to find any castles or fortresses whose battered bastions do not betray the vestiges of hostility, any towns which are not built on the ashes of their former edifices, and any plains which have not been drenched with blood. During the long reign of Louis XIV, which began in 1651, and did not end until 1715, this unfortunate country, which had for centuries previous seemed devoted to carnage and conflagration, experienced anew the horrors of devastation. In 1706 an invading army of Louis with fire and sword swept over and laid waste hundreds of the most productive farms, and not a few villages adjacent to Worms. Michael Weigand, alter beholding the incendiary flames devour the home which had sheltered his wife and little ones, and witnessing the wanton destruction or confiscation of every vestige of the accumulation of years of toil, resolved to quit forever the land of his birth and seek a new home in America.
In this undertaking he was joined by his pastor, Rev. Joshua D. Kockerthal, and eight other families, that, like his own, had been despoiled by the cruel invaders. This little band fled to England, which they reached in utter destitution. There they appealed to Queen Anne, frankly stating their lamentable condition, and petitioning for transportation to and a grant of land in America. The good queen, after receipt of a favorable report from the Lord Commissioner of Trade and Plantations, to whom their appeal had been referred, granted their request, and in addition gave them an allowance from her private purse. The grant of lands given then embraced what is now the city of Newburgh. The Weigand family received title to the two hundred and fifty acres lying between Renwick and Washington streets, and running from the river to the western limits of the city. The historic Washington's headquarters building lies within the limits of the Weigand farm. A portion of that famous old stone structure was built by the sons of Michael Weigand, who is supposed to have died there about the year 1725.
The descendants of this early settler have ever shown themselves, by word and deed, loyal and patriotic Americans. Both of his sons, Tobias and John, who were aged respectively seven and five years when, on the 23d of June, 1708, they reached these shores, became members of the first military company organized in the precinct of Newburgh in colonial times. At the breaking out of the war with the mother country, their sons, without an exception, promptly ranged themselves on the side of the colonies, and unhesitatingly signed the Revolutionary Roll of Association, while four of their number, together with John, Jr., grandson of Tobias, took up arms in defense of the sacred cause they had espoused. In the war of 1812 the family was honorably represented, and in the war for the preservation of the Union, not a few of its members died on the field of battle.
About 1745 Tobias, son of Michael, who had
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 897
grown up with the settlement, and for two decades had held a prominent place in its social, religious and public affairs, during which he had served as a trustee of the Glebe, and an officer 0f the little Lutheran Church his father had helped to build in the wilderness, sold out his interest in the original Queen Anne grant, and removed to a more extensive tract of land of which he had become the owner, and which was located near the present village of Highland Mills, some fourteen miles distant. A number of his descendants may still be found in that locality, where the name is spelled Weygant.
OBERT BOYD, who is not only one of then oldest pioneers of Colorado, but also enjoys the distinction of being the first farmer in the Poudre Valley, resides on sections 34, 35 and 36, township 6, range 66, Weld County. He was born in Pittsfield, Mass., in 1838, and was a son of Andrew Boyd, who emigrated from Scotland to the United States and died in Pittsfield in 1845. At that time our subject was only seven years of age. Afterward the family removed to a tract of land in New York state, which had been previously bought by the father, and here the boy grew to man's estate, meantime attending common schools and an academy.
Leaving the farm in 1857, Mr. Boyd went to Leavenworth, Kan., and for two years worked for Reed & Lawrence, land agents. In the winter of 1858-59 he returned home and resumed his studies. In 1859, at the time of the Pike's Peak excitement, he started with a party for Colorado, taking the Smoky Hill route, and arriving in Denver May 22. During the summer he prospected and mined at Blackhawk. In the fall he went back to Kansas on account of sickness, but in February of the next year he again came to Colorado, accompanying Joseph Howe. After reaching Mountain City he and Lewis A. Rice opened a butcher shop there and for two years irried on that business, also had a milk route. In 1860 he took out a squatter's claim on the litte River and put in a crop; but in May of the following year a band of Indians camped on the land and destroyed the crops. Abandoning the claim, he took up a squatter's claim of one hundred and sixty acres in the Cache la Poudre Valley, associated with Graham Scott, Lewis Rice and George Hunt, each of whom had a quarter-section of land. After he had remained with them for a few years, in 1865 he bought out the interests of Rice and Scott. In 1860 he built a sod house, and twenty-five years later he rebuilt.
From an early day Mr. Boyd has been interested in irrigation. In 1861 he assisted in building the Boyd and Freeman ditch, which was the first one in the entire country and was a private ditch. In 1865 he engaged in freighting for the government from the Missouri River to Denver, and afterward he had the contract for hauling ties for the Union Pacific Railroad, also the contract for grading four miles of the Cheyenne & Denver road, from LaSalle to Platteville. From 1863 to 1870 in addition to running his farm, he engaged in freighting across the plains. In 1866 he had a road ranch on Meadow Creek, along the Wells, Fargo & Co. route to Salt Lake, and another at Barrel Springs in Wyoming. He is the owner of eight hundred and twenty acres of fine land, all under irrigation; also has four sections at Big Springs as pasture for stock, of which he has two hundred head of cattle and one hundred of horses. From 1878 to 1885 he carried on a lumber business, owning a sawmill at the foothills. While he engages in farming and stock-raising on a large scale, being one of the largest agriculturists in his section of the county, he nevertheless finds time for raising vegetables, and in 1897 shipped fifty carloads of cabbages, besides large quantities of onions and potatoes. In politics he is a Republican.
The marriage of Mr. Boyd, in 1870, united him with Miss Agnes M. White, of York state, a daughter of Andrew P. White, who was for eleven years a government official in Washington, D. C., and for a number of years was superintendent of schools of Ellington, N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. Boyd have five children: Robert, Jr., Aurelia, Charles, Jennie and Elizabeth. The family attend the Congregational Church, of which Mrs. Boyd is an active member.
The large success Mr. Boyd has obtained is due to his determination of will and force of character. He started with no capital, left New York, in fact, with only $1 in his possession, yet he has been able, in spite of many hardships and obstacles, to achieve a success not always gained by men who start under advantageous
898
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. circumstances. In the early years of his residence here he had many thrilling experiences, and the student of history, gleaning material for future work, might with profit converse with him for hours. It seems strange, when we review his long life on the plains, that during all that time he never saw a living hostile Indian. Once, in 1864, when crossing the plains with a gristmill, he saw some dead Indians and white men, who had fallen in a skirmish, but the living Indians whom he has seen have always showed themselves to be friendly and anxious to preserve peace. During the Indian troubles at the time of the Civil war he was in his saddle night and day, and rode alone and unprotected, through unsettled parts of the country, yet he was always permitted to go unmolested on his way. His life has been an eventful one, and he deserves the comforts that surround him now, as he approaches the twilight of his useful existence.
ARTIN W. BARB, of Longmont, is a splendid type of well-preserved manhood, and demonstrates, in a remarkable degree, the success that may be attained by pluck and energy. He was the first contractor, and first brick manufacturer of the place, and many of the best buildings are monuments of his industry. He was born in Trumbell County, Ohio, in 1824, the son of Jacob and Naomi (Cox) Barb. His great-grandfather was of German descent and served in the Revolutionary war. His grandfather, William Barb, was a native of New Jersey, but moved to Virginia at an early day and was engaged in farming in Shenandoah County. From there he took his family to Ohio, conveying his goods by team over the Allegheny Mountains, his wife making the trip on horseback. He was well-to-do for those days and one of the foremost men of the times. He settled in Trumbull County in 1805 and was among the pioneers. The Indians were his neighbors and as he made it a rule to treat them well, they thought highly of him and made him no trouble. The land upon which he settled was a dense forest, and to him fell the work of clearing it and placing it in a state of cultivation. He bought farms adjoining his own for each of his children. He was a member of the German Reformed Church. He died at the age of seventy years, after an honorable, upright life.
Jacob Barb, the father of our subject, was born in Virginia in 1798, but spent the greater part of his life in Ohio. The early years were spent in improving the land given him by his father, near Bristol, but in 1836 he sold this property and bought land at Mesopotamia, from which he cleared the timber, and was engaged in its cultivation at the time of his death, in 1868. He married Naomi Cox, a native of Ohio. She was a daughter of John Cox, formerly of Pennsylvania, but later a resident of Trumbull County, Ohio. He died at the advanced age of eighty years. Mr. and Mrs. Barb were members of the Universalist Church. She died at the age of seventy-six years, leaving a family of six children, three sons and three daughters. The sons only are living at this time. Martin W., the oldest of the family, resides at Longmont, Colo.; J. Ransom is a retired farmer of Crookslon, Minn.; and Gabriel P., the youngest of the family, served through the late war in an Ohio regiment and now resides in the vicinity of the old home.
Martin W. Barb was reared in Ohio, and educated in the district schools. He afterwards attended a select school for two terms, and learned the carpenter's trade while still a boy. The lumber was hewn from the timber and used in construction. He built many large barns and mills, and at the age of twenty-one began contracting and building, besides superintending the cultivation of his farm at Mesopotamia. In 1856 he moved to Wisconsin and located in Prescott, where he did contracting and building. He remained there seventeen years, and became closely identified with the interests of the village; was a member of the board of trustees, of which he was president, and was also assessor. In 1873 he came to Longmont, and was the first contractor to locate here. He has followed that business ever since, and in 1876, seeing the need of a brick yard, he started one, and manufactured the first brick made in Longmont. Most of the large buildings in the city were erected by him and bear evidence of his skill as a workman. The Central and Bryant schools, the Presbyterian Church, Emerson and Buckingham Bank (the first brick building erected in the city), Imperial Hotel, Dickens block, Masonic Temple, Union block, Odd Fellows' hall and other buildings are lasting testimonials to his ability. He has built and improved a number of residences for himself
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