GEORGE RITTMAYER.
Mardos Collection
GEORGE RITTMAYER.
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In Iowa Dr. Kelly married Miss Minerva G. Dowd, who was born in Ohio, and accompanied her father, Alexander Dowd, to Iowa, settling upon a farm. She died June 14, 1890, at the age of fifty-two years, leaving two sons: John Perry and George, the latter a commission merchant of Denver. The family home is one of the most comfortable and substantial residences in Golden and the grounds indicate the careful supervision of the owner. A man of public and progressive spirit, Dr. Kelly has always been willing to assist in the upbuilding of the town and has erected several good houses here.
EORGE RITTMAYER. In each community will be found someone who is not satisfied to travel in a beaten track, simply because it is expected, but who wishes to try new methods, introduce new ideas, and make some advancement in the customary manner of doing business. Such a person is a blessing to a neighborhood, as he acts as an educator to many who would plod along in the old way if someone did not have the courage to set them an example. Colorado is noted, among other things, for its immense ranges, and the number of cattle within its borders. These cattle, however, are mostly shipped out of the state and sold to eastern markets, yielding their owners a neat sum, to be sure, still far short of what they should, and it started one man to thinking how he could increase the profit and save the waste entailed. To this end he built a large creamery, fitting it up in the most complete manner, putting in steam and all the improved machinery, including a separator for taking the cream from the milk; and he has practically demonstrated the correctness of his views; that he could make a handsome profit from his cattle, yet in a more agreeable way, to him, than of shipping them off. This man was George Rittmayer, of Arapahoe County.
He was born near Bamberg, Germany, January 8, 1863, and is a son of Andrew and Anne (Leipold) Rittmayer, natives of the same place. His father came to America in 1872, and settled on a farm in Arapahoe County, Colo. He now lives in retirement on his large ranch not far from the home of our subject. He married Anne Leipold, by whom he had five children, as follows: William J., at home; Adam, who conducts a grocery store in Denver; John P., who is conductor on the street car line; Barbara A., wife of Frank Walter; and George.
George Rittmayer was nine years old when his parents landed in this country, and it was here that he received his education. At the age of twenty-five he started out for himself, and three years later he purchased his present property of three hundred and twenty acres. This place is conducted with the most complete system, and is kept in perfect order. He has a large dairy of forty cows, whose milk is taken to the creamery on his ranch, and run through the separator; the cream is made up in choice butter, which finds a ready sale, while skim milk is utilized in raising a great number of hogs and young calves.
In 1891 Mr. Rittmayer married Miss Anna K Lachner, a native of the same place, and a daughter of a large grist mill owner and farmer, who died about fourteen years ago, leaving three sons and one daughter. To Mr. and Mrs. Rittmayer have been born two daughters, Leona M. and Barbara G. The family are identified with the Catholic Church. Mr. Rittmayer is liberal in politics. He has served on the school board and as judge of elections, and is a very popular man in his community.
REDERICK R. BAKER, mayor of Fort Collins, and a resident of Larimer County since 1873, is of English birth, the son of Richard Baker, a farmer, who brought his family to America in 1852, and settled in Ohio, near Elyria, where he has since engaged in farming, making a special feature of the stock business. His specialty has been the raising of thoroughbred Shorthorns. He is an expert judge of all thoroughbred cattle, and serves as such at the great fairs. He served on the Ohio state board of agriculture for many years, and also as president of the board. While his life has been prolonged through eighty active and busy years, he is still hale and robust. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Gaudern, was born in England and died in Ohio in 1892, at the age of seventy-eight. Of their seven children only two are living. Lizzie C. Baker lives with her father in Ohio. Three died in Colorado, two being on a visit here at the time of their deaths.
The subject of thus sketch was born in North-
1090
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. ampton, England, in 1844, and was educated and grew to manhood in northern Ohio. In 1863 he enlisted in the Union Light Guard, Seventh Independent Troop Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, famous as the Black Horse Cavalry, that served as escort to President Lincoln. He, with one hundred and three men composing the company, was raised by Governor Todd for special service, but enlisted as regular three-year volunteers, at Columbus, Ohio, and engaged in duty at Washington, D. C., carrying dispatches of great importance to and from the president and the war department and the army during the excitement of the great Civil war. For a time he did duty for Colonel Baker, chief detective of the war department. He participated in the grand review and in September, 1865, was mustered out of service, and holds today an honorable discharge. He cherishes many pleasant remembrances of Abraham Lincoln, whom he became well acquainted with, and considers him not only the greatest of statesmen, but the simplest and kindest man he ever knew. After his discharge from the army he engaged in farming in Ohio until 1873, when he came to Colorado and took up a homestead on the bank of the Cache la Poudre River, one-half mile southeast of Fort Collins. This farm, consisting of one hundred and twenty-five acres, he still owns, which proved to be a valuable and productive piece of property.
In 1876 Mr. Baker returned to Ohio and married Elenora S. Jackson, of Amherst. In January of the next year they commenced house-keeping upon his homestead. One child was born, Edward R., at present a student in the State Agricultural College. From 1890 to 1893 Mr. Baker served as county commissioner of Larimer County. At that time he moved to Fort Collins. With twenty-four others he was associated in building up the Larimer County Fair Association that gave to the county the best fairs in the state. He has for twelve years been a director of the First National Bank of Fort Collins. Politically he is a Republican and always takes an active part in work for his party. For twenty years he has been a trustee of the Presbyterian Church and is now president of the board. During the building of the church edifice he was active in the work and generous in his contributions to the building fund. He was a charter member of George H. Thomas Post No. 7, G. A. R., and has served as an aide on the staff of the department commander. In the organization of the Colorado Development Company he took an active part, and is now its president and manager, the company being engaged in buying land and water rights and carrying on large farms. In 1895 he was elected mayor of Fort Collins on the anti-license ticket, and in 1897 was re-elected, which office he now holds. Mr. Baker is connected with a good many other enterprises, and is one of the busy men of Fort Collins.
The mother of our subject is still living and makes her home with our subject. She has another son, William A., who is postmaster at Iredell, Tex.
The education acquired by our subject was such as the public schools of Philadelphia afforded. At seventeen he started out for himself. Coming to Colorado, he spent a short time in Manitou, and from there went on a ranch on the divide. In 1874 he started in the hunting business with T. S. Harper, and continued in that way for eight years, after which he came to River Bend and established a store. Later he purchased his present general mercantile business and his store building.
In politics Mr. McIlhenny has never allied himself with either of the prominent political parties, but preserves an independent attitude, voting for
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the man or the measures that he believes will best promote the welfare of the people. He has been nominated for clerk and treasurer of the county. In August, 1881, he married Mary M. Hudson, daughter of Rev. A. J. M. Hudson, pastor of an Episcopal Church in Baraboo, Wis. The five children of Mr. and Mrs. McIlhenny are: Katharine, Theodore, Harold, Norman and Stanley.
HARLES W. McFADDEN, who is engaged in farming on Ralston Creek, Jefferson County, was born in Lee County, Iowa, October 25, 1846, being a son of Charles W. and Sarah (Murphy) McFadden. He was one of twelve children, four of whom are still living: Rachael, wife of Benjamin Hall, a farmer in Belmont County, Ohio; Jesse, who is engaged in farming and fruit-raising in Yolo County, Cal.; Henrietta, widow of Jerry Twiggs; and Charles W.
The father of this family, who was born and reared in Ohio, learned the trade of a millwright, which he followed during his entire life. About 1844 he moved to Lee County, Iowa, and settled in Keokuk, when that now flourishing city had only seven houses. He was not spared to reap financial success in his new home, for two years later his life was brought to a close. Seven days after his death his son and namesake was born. The widowed mother attained the age of eighty years and during the latter part of her life traveled extensively; she died in Pueblo, Colo., in 1892.
At the age of seventeen our subject started out in the world for himself. He arrived in Colorado June 25, 1863, with only thirty cents in his pocket. Soon he secured work as a farm laborer, working on a farm until fall, when he drove a team to the Missouri River for supplies. Returning in the spring of the following year, he once more began to work on a farm. August 22, 1864, he enlisted in the Third Colorado Cavalry, for service against the Indians, who were committing many depredations. The regiment pursued the Indians down the Platte River and had a few skirmishes with them, finally succeeding in bringing them to bay, when the memorable battle of Sand Creek was fought, with eight hundred Indians killed, and only twenty-eight killed and twelve wounded among the white men. Returning to Denver, the cavalry was mustered out of service January 1, 1865.
In the spring of 1865 Mr. McFadden rented eighty acres of land on Ralston Creek and this he purchased two years later; then, ten years afterward, bought an adjoining eighty acres, so that his present estate comprises a quarter-section of land. On Thanksgiving day of 1871 he married Margaret Mallon; of Golden, a native of Genesee, N. Y. They became the parents of four children, three of whom are now living, namely: Katie, a graduate of St. Mary's Academy in Denver and now a teacher in the Boulder schools; Charles W., a graduate from Ralston high school and Denver Business College; and Blanche, a bright child of eight years. Mr. McFadden is a friend to education and at various times has served as a member of the school board. In 1884 and again in 1890 he was elected county assessor on the Republican ticket, serving the two terms with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the people. Fraternally he is connected with Major Anderson Post No. 88, G. A. R.
UNCAN E. HARRISON. In 1883 Mr. Harrison opened a drug store on Washington avenue, Golden, and here he has since carried on business, occupying a part of his two-story block of three business places. He carries in stock a full assortment of drugs and medicines, with an accompaniment of toilet articles and notions. He is a pioneer of '59, having been attracted to the state by rumors of the discovery of gold. On the 18th of March he left McGregor, Iowa, with a mule train, and journeyed via Council Bluffs and Omaha, up the Platte to Fort Laramie. At the latter place he learned that the illustrious statesman, Horace Greeley, was across the river, and so he crossed over to see him. An opportunity arose for a conversation and he asked the advice of one whom he believed was so well fitted, by experience and observation, to give it. Mr. Greeley had been in Colorado and advised him to come here, for he believed prosperity awaited the industrious settler. Encouraged by this advice, he pushed his way on to the west. He spent a short time at Lake Gulch, where he opened the first gulch claim, picking the dirt up with a shovel, placing it in a wooden wheelbarrow and wheeling it about three hundred yards to the lake, where he washed the metal out with a handrocker. In this work he was reasonably success-
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. ful. December 12, 1859, he arrived in Golden, where, though he did not entirely abandon mining, he gave his attention principally to contracting and building until he started in the drug business. He is a registered pharmacist and has been quite successful in the business.
John Harrison, father of our subject, was born in London, England, and when a young man enlisted in the British army. He was sent with his regiment to Canada, where he was paymaster sergeant until his retirement from the service. He then settled upon a farm in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, where he died at the age of fifty years.
He married Annie McIntosh, who was born in Edinboro, Scotland, and came to America with her father, Duncan McIntosh, settling in Cornwall, Ontario. She died in Canada at the age of eighty-six. Her family of fourteen children all attained mature years and all but one are still living, our subject being next to the youngest of the number. He was born in Cornwall in 1829, and received a common-school education. At the age of fifteen he went from Canada to Potsdam, N. Y., where he served an apprenticeship of three years to the trade of carpenter and joiner. He then went to Ogdensburg, N. Y., where he was employed as pattern-maker in a pattern shop. From there he went to Canada, then to Indiana, and finally, in 1856, located at McGregor, Iowa, where he assisted in the erection of many buildings. He remained in that place until he came to Colorado.
At the old Cataract House, in Niagara Falls, N. Y., August 30, 1854, Mr. Harrison married Miss Mary M. Miles, who was born in Addison County, Vt., the daughter of R. C. Miles, who removed west and settled in Michigan City, Ind. She is a lady of estimable character and a consistent member of the Episcopal Church. The union was blessed by the birth of five sons, namely: George R., deceased; Edward E., a miner at Eureka, Utah; Harry M., who is a brick-mason in Pittsburg, Pa.; John R., deceased; and Louis B., who is mining in Durango, Colo.
Politically a Democrat, Mr. Harrison was elected on that ticket a member of the first board of county commissioners of Jefferson County and served for three years. He is a member of the Association of Colorado Pioneers, the Jefferson County Pioneer Society and Masonic Veteran Association, Pacific coast. Fraternally he is connected with Golden Lodge No. 1, in which he has twice been an officer. He is a man of public spirit, interested in whatever is calculated to promote the welfare of his fellow-men. In business he is quick, keen and discriminating, and by membership in the State Pharmaceutical Association and in other ways he keeps posted on matters touching his chosen occupation. He and his family occupy a pleasant home, situated on the hill across from the School of Mines, and many of his leisure hours are devoted to the care of his grounds.
AMUEL I. LORAH, well known to everyone in Central City, Gilpin County, is one of the pioneers of the place, as he came herein 1860 and from that time to the present has been closely connected with its interests. In 1895 he was appointed by the commissioners of this county to fill the vacancy in the county treasuryship, owing to the death of Mr. French. He completed the term satisfactorily and has since acted as deputy treasurer. At various times in the past he was a candidate for county offices and for the state legislature, but the Democrats, whose nominee he was, were then in a large minority. From 1871 to 1879 he was city clerk of Central City, and in 1891 was elected mayor and served as such for a year. He is a member of the Gilpin County Pioneer Society and has been president of the same three times, and is also identified with the Association of Colorado Pioneers.
The Lorah family is of German extraction. The great-grandfather of our subject lived and died in Pennsylvania. He was a Revolutionary war patriot, and his son, John, grandfather of the gentleman whose name heads this sketch, was a hero of the war of 1812. He also took part in some of the Indian wars. This John Lorah, who was born in Berks County, Pa., removed to Wayne County, Ohio, about 1814 or 1815 and settled upon a farm. He died in Wooster, Ohio, when about seventy-six years old.
Hon. Samuel L. Lorah, father of our subject, was born in Berks County, Pa., in 1809. He was about five years old when he went to Ohio with the family, and, considering his limited advantages in an educational way and in other ways as well, his success in life was truly remarkable. Until 1838 he carried on a tannery
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at Fredericksburg, Ohio, and was then appointed clerk of the court of common pleas, a position he retained for fifteen years. When the probate court was established in Ohio he was the first probate judge elected for his own, Wayne County, and well did he meet the responsibilities of the office during the next three years. In 1855 he located in Cass County, Iowa, and engaged in farming near Atlantic. He was a member of the Iowa legislature from Cass County for one term; was county judge of Cass County two terms, and in 1858, though defeated, was a candidate for the office of state treasurer. He was prominent as a Knight Templar Mason, and when he died, in 1886, was buried with all the honors of the rite. His wife, who had died in Iowa in 1879, was Rachel, daughter of John and Jane (Carson) Wilson, of Scotch and Irish descent and Presbyterians in faith. John Wilson was born in Pennsylvania and was an early settler and farmer of Wayne County, Ohio. Mrs. Rachel Lorah was born in what was then Beaver County, Pa., in 1813. By her marriage she became the mother of seven children, all of whom are living. They include Mrs. Jane Oathoudt, of Cass County, Iowa; Mrs. Ellen Ankeny, of Des Moines, Iowa; Mrs. Emeline Howard and Mrs. Lavinia Ballard, of Cass County; John, of the same county; and Emmett, of Fort Collins, Colo.
The birth of Samuel I. Lorah occurred in Fredericksburg, Wayne County, Ohio, January 20, 1834. He supplemented his public school education by two years of study in Jefferson College, and then, returning home, worked on the farm with his father. In 1856 he went to St. Louis, where he obtained a position as bookkeeper in the Darby & Barksdale Bank. In the fall of 1858 he returned to Iowa and was at home until the spring of 1860. May 7 of that year he set out for Colorado in the ox-train, overland style, across the plains, up the Platte River from Omaha. Arriving in this state June 10, he proceeded through Boulder and Gold Hill to Central City, reaching here June 28, 1860. The next day he crossed the mountain to Idaho Springs, and for the six weeks following engaged in mining on Grass Valley Bar. Accidentally breaking a leg by the caving in of a mine, he came back to Central City as soon as possible, and in October became a clerk in the postoffice. Four months later he was given a place as deputy postmaster under Sam S. Curtis, in Denver. There he continued to serve three years, or until January, 1864. Then for seven or eight months he was bookkeeper in a private bank in Central City. He resigned in order to join the campaign against the Indians, who were proving very troublesome in northern Colorado. Having been mustered into Company B (Capt. Hal Sayr), Third Colorado Cavalry, he was immediately promoted from the ranks to be sergeant-major of the regiment. At the end of three weeks he was appointed adjutant with the rank of first Lieutenant by Gov. John Evans, and served under Col. O. L. Shoup, now United States senator from Idaho Subsequent to the battle of Sand Creek the regiment was mustered out in January, 1865. Mr. Lorah came back to Central City and for two years was a clerk in the office of the county clerk and recorder. Since that he has held positions in the First National Bank and with J. B. Chaffee & Co.; from 1886 to 1890 he served as receiver of public moneys for the United States land office of Central City, and has spent considerable time and money in mining enterprises. At one time he was the owner of the Saratoga, which was one of the best-paying mines in the county. He erected eight buildings in this city, blasting the material out of the solid rock.
The first marriage of Mr. Lorah was celebrated in Rochester, N. Y., the lady of his choice being Mrs. Olive (Paton) Gorslin, a native of Allegany County, N. Y. She died in this city November 4, 1890. Bela I. Lorah, the eldest child of this union, graduated from the State School of Mines and was engaged in the assay office in Central City. He met his untimely death in the Gumry Hotel disaster, August 19, 1895. Mrs. Olive L. Stark, of Denver, is the only living child of Mr. Lorah's first marriage. His present wife was formerly Mrs. Agnes O'Neil Manahan, of Faribault, Minn.
March 29, 1865, Mr. Lorah was made a Mason in Central Lodge No. 6, A. F. & A. M., and the same year was elected secretary. He served in that office until 1890, and again, in 1897, was reelected to the same position and occupies it today. In July, 1866, he was made a member of Central City Chapter No. 1, R. A. M. Elected secretary of the chapter in 1868, he continued to serve them up to 1890, and has done so again for the past year. In February, 1871, Mr. Lorah
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. became a Knight templar, connected with Central City Commandery No. 2, and since December of that year has been recorder of the same. He is a charter member of Ellsworth Post No. 20, G. A. R., has been adjutant and quartermaster, and has been all aide on the staff of the department commander at different times. Politically he has been very active in the Democratic party, working in the county and state committees. Many terms has he been on the school board, both in early days and later, and was serving on it at the time that the high school was built. For years he has been a vestryman in the Episcopal Church.
Frank L. Montgomery was but a boy of four years when his parents migrated west and settled in Oshkosh, Winnebago County, Wis. There his father carried on carriage-making, which trade he had learned in New Hampshire. Our subject was reared to manhood in Oshkosh and spent a number of years working on a farm, his father having settled on a farm on account of his poor health. The mother of our subject died when Frank L. was eight years of age. He remained under the parental roof until he attained the age of eighteen years, during which time he attended the public schools of that vicinity. In January, 1865, he enlisted in Company C, Forty-sixth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, for one year and was mustered out of the service in October, 1865. His regiment was not in any battle, but was engaged in guarding railroads and doing garrison duty in the state of Alabama.
After our subject received his honorable discharge he returned to his home in Wisconsin, and March 1, 1866, he departed for Denver, Colo., arriving there the 15th of the following month. After working on a ranch a short time he began freighting between Denver and Pueblo and Salt Lake City. He discontinued that business in 1872, and took up a claim of eighty acres of land; later he took up another eighty and then one hundred and sixty acres, the most of which is prairie land. He has since increased his estate to six hundred and forty acres. He has made many improvements since taking up his first claim, and his farm ranks among the foremost in this community. He is popular with his fellow-citizens and commands the respect of a host of acquaintances.
November 7, 1872, Mr. Montgomery and Miss Elizabeth Ellen O'Neil, of Arapahoe County, were united in the bonds of matrimony. She is a native of Missouri and a daughter of J. C. and Agnes (Evans) O'Neil. To this happy union six children have been born. Mary Agnes is the wife of Joseph Young and they are the parents of two children; Frank L. is a farmer by occupation; Charles G. is employed on a ranch; Nellie is the wife of W. C. Schroer, of Arapahoe County, Colo., and one child has been born to them, William H.; Edgar and Lillie, the two youngest, are at home.
Politically Mr. Montgomery is a strong Republican and his first vote was cast for Hayes in 1876. For two terms he has served as county commissioner, has been chairman of the board, and it was during this term that the county courthouse was erected; he was again offered the chairmanship, but declined. He is a member of Castle Rock Lodge No. 27, A. O. U. W., and J. G. Blunt Post No. 6, G. A. R.
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selectmen was enabled to further numerous works of public improvement. For several terms he also was city clerk. In his political opinion he is a stalwart Republican and favors the silver side of the monetary question. From his boyhood his fondness and aptness for scientific matters has been marked, and in 1862 he graduated from the scientific department of Harvard College with the degree of Bachelor of Science. He holds membership with the Harvard Alumni Association and with the Harvard Club, of Denver.
The Marsh family is of sterling old New England stock; sturdy, industrious, striving always to do full duty towards God and man, and adhering always to the stern old Puritanical faith expressed, in later days, in the Congregational creed. The first of the name in America sailed from England to Connecticut in colonial days and afterward lived in that state and in Massachusetts for generations. The great-grandfather of our subject was a veteran of the Revolutionary war. Grandfather Joshua Marsh was born in Montague, Franklin County, Mass., engaged in farming there and died in the same locality.
Dexter Marsh, father of George E. Marsh, was a remarkable man. According to a history of him, given in Appleton's Encyclopedia, he was a humble tiller of the soil, but in that very soil he made discoveries which have been of untold value to the scientific world. Always of a deeply studious bent, he saw the wonders of nature with a keenly interested, alert mind, and became celebrated for his researches in the field of geology. He was the discoverer of the fossil footprints in the old Connecticut Valley sandstone in 1830, and made a wonderfully valuable collection of the same. At the time of his death, in 1832, his collection, then the largest in the world it is believed, was divided between the Boston Society of Natural History and Amherst College. For years he was ä member of the United States Scientific Society. His wife, Eunice M., was a daughter of Jacob Everett, of Vermont. She was born in Halifax, Mass., and was related to Edward Everett. She is now a resident of Greenfield, Mass., and is eighty-three years of age. Her grandfather, Dr. Everett, was a surgeon in the colonial army during the Revolutionary war. Frank, elder son of Dexter Marsh and wife, was a member of the Ninth Illinois Cavalry during the Civil war, and now lives in Lexington, Neb. Belle, a daughter, makes her home in New York City; and Emma, youngest of the family, lives in Greenfield, Mass.
George E. Marsh was born in Greenfield, Mass., in 1840. His education was obtained in the public and high schools of that place, after completing whose curriculum he entered Harvard University. Immediately after graduating and being awarded his degree, in 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company A, Fifty-second Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, being mustered in at Greenfield. He went on the Banks expedition, relieving Butler at the siege of Port Hudson. At the end of a year he was mustered out of the service at Greenfield. From that time until July, 1866, he was assistant civil engineer on the Troy & Greenfleld Railroad, now the Hoosac Tunnel Line, and on the New London Northern. Having imbibed a strong desire to see Colorado, Mr. Marsh came west in the summer of 1866 and spent a few months in Idaho Springs. The following spring found him in Georgetown and fairly established as a surveyor, civil engineer and mining expert. He has been kept busily engaged in these kindred lines of employment during all the intervening years up to the present time. In 1868 he became a charter member of the first Grand Army post in Georgetown, and is now connected with Thornburg Post No. 2. He has been commander of the post several times and has frequently been an aide on the staff of the deputy commander.
In 1876 Mr. Marsh married Fanny E. Crosby, of Washington, D. C., daughter of Capt. F. W. Crosby. They have one son, George, Jr., now a student in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, of Boston.
ON. ALEX. D. JAMESON. Since coming to Colorado in 1870, Judge Jameson has been chosen to serve in a number of positions of responsibility and trust, and in every office of which he has been the incumbent every duty has been faithfully and efficiently discharged. For three years he was deputy clerk and recorder of Jefferson County, after which he served as justice of the peace for one year, at the same time carrying on the study of law. In 1875 he was the Democratic nominee for probate
1096
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. judge, and receiving the election, served for a term of two years. Under the new and ratified constitutional convention, the office became that of county judge, to which he was elected in 1880, serving from January, 188i, until January, 1884. Afterward, failing health made it advisable for him to relinquish his professional work and engage in another occupation, and he therefore began merchandising, as a member of the firm of Jameson & Koenig, which partnership was dissolved two years later. In 1887 he was appointed clerk and cashier of the state penitentiary, which position he held under two wardens, resigning in 1891. On his return to Golden he engaged in the abstract title business for a short time, but soon sold out. The year of his return to this city he was appointed deputy district attorney, which position he still holds, having served under four consecutive district attorneys. For two years he represented his ward upon the board of aldermen of Golden, but at the expiration of his term refused to serve further, though elected a second time to the position. He is a leading Democrat and a member of the county central committee of the party.
The Jameson (for in that way the name was originally spelled) family originated in the north of Ireland, and from there three brothers came to America, all of whom settled in New Hampshire. One of then, Thomas, our subject's grandfather, was a soldier in the Revolution and the war of 1812. He removed to western New York and settled in Erie County, where it is supposed his son, Alexander D., Sr., was born. The latter, with an older brother, Archibald, accompanied his father to the front as a soldier in the war of 1812. In 1849 he moved to Iowa and located three miles north of Andrew, in Richland Township, Jackson County, where by purchase of government and other land, he acquired the title to four hundred acres. His death occurred on his farm there at the age of fifty years. His wife, Helen, was born near Buffalo, N. Y., the daughter of Dr. William Warriner, who was born in Vermont, and engaged in medical practice in New York. During the war of 1812 he served as a surgeon, and his death occurred about that time. He married a daughter of Captain Bemis, an officer in the Revolution, who was shot in the leg while in a battle, and died from the effects of the injury received. Mrs. Jameson died in Iowa at the age of sixty-seven. Of her five children three are living, our subject being the youngest. The oldest child, W. H., served in the war as a member of the Second Iowa Cavalry, and now resides in Marshalltown, Iowa.
Near Buffalo, Erie County, N. Y., the subject of this sketch was born December 31, 1847. He was reared in Jackson County, Iowa. At the age of fifteen he ran away from home and enlisted in Company H, Fifth Iowa Cavalry, which was mustered into service at Davenport and sent south. In the spring of 1864 he took part in the famous march through Georgia, participating in the battles of Resaca, Dallas, Snake Creek, Kenesaw Mountain, Marietta, Lovejoy Station and the siege of Atlanta, then back to Nashville under General Thomas, and taking part in the battles of Columbia, Duck Creek, Franklin, Nashville, the second battle of Franklin and the engagement at Pulaski. The winter of 1864-65 was spent in camp in Alabama. In the spring of 1865 he took part in the Wilson raid front Decatur, Ala., to Selma, Ala., and Macon, Ga., looking for Jefferson Davis. Later he did reconstruction duty at Atlanta. He was mustered out at Nashville August it, 1865, and honorably discharged at Clinton, Iowa. During all his period of service he was neither wounded nor captured. He was the youngest member of the regiment and one of the youngest soldiers in the army. He is a member of T. H. Dodd Post No. 3, G. A. R., of which he is past commander.
After returning from the war he attended Bailey Commercial College at Dubuque, where he graduated. He then accompanied the family to Audubon County, settling near Atlantic. A year later, in 1870, he came to Colorado and has since made Golden his home. Here he married Sarah A. Thornton, a native of England, and by her he has five children: Helen Grace, a graduate of the Colorado State Normal School at Greeley, and a teacher in the high school of Golden; Gertrude B., a graduate of the high school here; Blanche, Alexander Thornton and Catherine S. Mrs. Jameson for many years has been a member of the Presbyterian Church. Fraternally Mr. Jameson is connected with the Knights of Pythias and the Patriotic Order Sons of America. For several terms he served as secretary of the school board, during which time he was in charge of the building of the North school building.
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