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was mustered out November 1, 1864. He was commissioned captain of his company in the spring of that year. While in the army he had considerable experience in hospital work as well.
When he resumed the ordinary avocations of life Dr. Smith went to Cincinnati, where he was employed in merchandising for a couple of years. He had studied music in his college days and in 1866 was offered a position as professor of the art in Monmouth College, Monmouth, Ill. At the expiration of the school year he returned to Cincinnati and engaged in the drug business, at the same time continuing medical studies and practicing a little. Then selling out the drug store he became interested in the lumber business, selling the same on commission, and was thus employed until 1874. He received a flattering offer from a Salina (Colo.) company which was then building a mill for the treatment of ore, to be their assayer, and this brought him to this county first. The concern failed in time and the doctor began practicing his profession. In 1878 he located in Spring Dale, and two years later he came to Longmont, which has since been his home. He has made a specialty of rheumatism, skin diseases and children's ailments, and has conducted a general practice. He is president of the Longmont Ore Reduction Company, which is erecting a new mill for the treatment of gold and silver by chemical process (a patented method), thus separating the precious metals from alloys within a few hours.
The doctor is past grand in the Odd Fellows' society; belongs to Longmont Lodge No. 23, A. F. & A. M., and for two successive years was commander of McPherson Post No. 6, G. A. R. His marriage to Miss Mary Schuessler was solemnized in Clermont County, Ohio, in 1855, and their three living children are: Mrs. Bessie Wilcox, of Cripple Creek; Lowell S., a printer of Boulder; and Charles B., a merchant in Oskaloosa, Kan. Mrs. Smith was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is a daughter of John Jacob Schuessler, a native of Wurtemberg, Germany.
The Smith family to which our subject belongs settled in Massachusetts about 1650, upon their arrival from England. The great-grandfather and the grandfather of the doctor were both born in Massachusetts, and the latter, Moses Smith, was a hero of the Revolutionary war. His son, Moses, Jr., father of the doctor, was a native of Franklin County, Mass. He lived in New York state for a year after his marriage, and in 1837 settled in Oberlin, Ohio. In 1839 he went to Mount Vernon, Ohio, and from 1847 until his death in 1879, his home was in Delaware, Ohio. He was born in 1804 and was an expert machinist and manufacturer of machinery. His eldest brother, Rev. Lowell Smith, went as a missionary to the Sandwich Islands in 1832. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Sarah Taylor. She was born in New York state and died in Ohio when forty-five years of age. Of her five children who lived to maturity but three now survive. One of her sons, Elam, an orderly sergeant of the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Ohio, was killed at the battle of New Hope Church, dying before his commission as lieutenant reached him. Russell Frederick, another son, was first lieutenant of the doctor's company, Company E, Fifty-ninth Ohio, and died in Cincinnati in 1881.
OHN
J. RYAN, a pioneer of '60 and one of the prominent residents of
Larimer County, was born in Roscrea, County Tipperary, Ireland,
and is a son of John and Ann (Meagher) Ryan, natives of the same
county as himself. His paternal grandfather, Cornelius Ryan, was
an agriculturist in County Tipperary, where he died. Some time
during the '40s, John Ryan brought his family to America and
settled near St. Louis, Mo., where he engaged in farming.
Afterward he joined his oldest sons in Chicago, Ill., where he
died at the age of about sixty years. By his first marriage he had
four children, two of whom are living, Cornelius and Patrick, who
are eighty and seventy-five years of age respectively, and who are
living in Chicago. Of the second marriage our subject is the sole
survivor.
Born in May, 1837, Mr. Ryan was a mere child when the family emigrated to this country. He attended the public schools of St. Louis and the commercial college established by Jonathan Jones, who was the first to embark in the commercial plan of instruction. While studying nights, he devoted the days to a clerkship in a commission house, where his employer was kind and gave him many opportunities for study. In 1856 he went to Davenport, Iowa, as bookkeeper for a St. Louis gentleman, who embarked in the
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lumber business there. While in Davenport, he was married, in October, 1859, to Miss Palegia J. Leonard, daughter of Harvey Leonard, who was born in Indiana of an old eastern family. He was a pioneer of Scott County, Iowa, where he was a brick manufacturer, builder and contractor, and owned a part of the present site of Davenport. For over twenty years he was sheriff of Scott County, to which office he was elected, on the Democratic ticket, during the war, over an unusually large Republican majority. For a time he served as mayor of Davenport. At the time of his death he was seventy-eight years of age.
Shortly after his marriage Mr. Ryan came to Colorado, having settled up the business of the firm he was with in Davenport and which had failed. With five others he went to Kansas City and outfitted with ox-train and a year's supplies, crossing on the Santa Fe trail to the Arkansas River, thence up to the present site of Pueblo, and from there to Denver, where he arrived after a trip of five weeks. He went on to Central City and bought a gulch claim, where he engaged in mining. One of the men with him, a Mr. Spencer of Davenport, was an expert miner, having been in California during the gold excitement there. However, he was unfortunate in his mining enterprises, and left the claim, coming down on the Big Thompson, where he hoped he might earn enough money to enable him to return to civilization. He and Mr. Spencer took up a claim in June, 1860, adjoining the present town site of Loveland on the south, which land he still owns. Mr. Spencer returned to Iowa in the fall, but Mr. Ryan concluded to remain, and with the help of a German he put up over fifty tons of hay, which he hauled, with four yoke of cattle, to Golden Gate. He had bought from a Mr. Tucker of Golden, two teams and a wagon, contracting to pay for the same on the sale of the hay. This he did, and also purchased provisions for himself. In the spring he sold the balance of the hay for $30 per ton and from that time to this he has never known the want of a dollar.
Going to Fort Hallock, Wyo., with W. C. Stover in 1861, Mr. Ryan assisted in building that fort. In 1863 he and eleven others began a small ditch, known as the Big Thompson Irrigation and Manufacturing Company's ditch, which is owned to-day by practically the same men as those who started it. He was one of the directors and incorporators of the company. Prior to that he kept a stage station on the Big Thompson, on the overland stage line, but sold out after a year. In 1863 he returned to Iowa, with a mule team and a light spring wagon, and in the same vehicle brought his family back to Colorado, where they settled in a small log house.
A Missourian, driving cattle overland to California, stopped on the Buckhorn during the winter. In the spring the cattle began to die, and, fearing he would lose them all, he advertised them for sale. Mr. Ryan bought seventy-five or eighty head and in that way embarked in the cattle business. When his boys became old enough to assist him, he gave them an interest in the business, as Ryan & Sons. Meantime he bought more land, now owning some of the finest farms in the county. At one time he owned a large ranch thirteen miles west of Loveland, but this property he sold. He brought four carloads of Shorthorn cattle from Kansas and for some time made a specialty of raising this breed, but in 1894 he retired from the cattle business and moved his family to a fine residence that he had purchased in Fort Collins. Since the organization of the Bank of Loveland he has been its vice-president and a director. His five children are named as follows: John Harvey, in Salt Lake City; George Leonard, in Idaho; Charles, who was assistant chemist in the State Agricultural College at Fort Collins and will graduate from the University of Michigan in 1899; William L., who was educated in the Colorado State Agricultural College; and Hattie, who graduated from St. Mary's Academy in Denver, married W. J. Galligan, a merchant of Loveland, where they reside.
During the early days, prior to the organization of the county, law was administered by a Claim Club, of which Mr. Ryan was one of the organizers in 1860 and later its secretary, Robert Hereford being president, and J. M. Sherwood judge. A short but stringent code of laws was enacted by the club, which meted out justice throughout the Cache la Poudre and Big Thompson Valleys. Those who lived under it declare that never was more exact justice meted out than under this organization of settlers. An instance of this may he given from Mr. Ryan's own experience, At one time he went to Central City
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with a load of hay and, stopping to visit friends in the town, was gone longer than actually necessary. A neighbor, noticing his long absence, sent word to a relative in Boulder, inviting him to jump the claim. The knowledge of this occupation, which was of course contrary to their laws, reached the members of the association, and several of them at once called on the jumper and warned him to desist and leave the country. The association commanded the respect of all, and even those who were unruly elsewhere here tried to keep within the bounds of the law. All disputes were referred to the association judge, and dissatisfied parties could appeal to the president, whose decision was final. When the county was organized Mr. Ryan was appointed one of the first commissioners and assisted in perfecting the organization. For one term he was mayor of Loveland. For years he was a member of the school board, during which time he assisted in building the first school house. In early days he was the Democratic nominee for the territorial legislature, but the district being Republican, he was defeated, although he received the votes of both Democrats and Republicans in his own county. . In 1877 he was appointed a trustee of the Colorado State Agricultural College by Governor Routt, an appointment that was afterward renewed by Governors Pitkin, Cooper and Adams (the latter in 1897). He is by many years the oldest member of the board of trustees, of which for two years he officiated as president. He has been a member of the Colorado Cattle Growers' Association. For many years he was a member of the Democratic state central committee. He has served as delegate to every state convention but one since the state was organized, and in 1888 was alternate to the Democratic National convention, which he attended. The Association of Colorado Pioneers numbers him among its active members.
ILLIAM
MITCHELL, sheriff of Gilpin County, entered upon the responsible
duties of his office in January, 1898, and is making a good record
for the faithful manner in which he performs his work as a public
servant. He was nominated on the Republican ticket for the same
office in 1895, and though not then elected his friends rallied
strongly to his aid in the campaign of 1897, when his name again
came up for the position. At various times he has done effective
service on the county and state committees of his party, and is
recognized to be a man of influence and high standing in political
circles. Well and favorably known throughout this county, he has
been a resident of Central City for the past twenty-six years, and
has been actively associated with its upbuilding and general
advancement. Among the fraternities he is connected with the
Knights of Pythias and the Sons of St. George.
William Mitchell is one of ten children whose parents were Thomas and Honor (Williams) Mitchell, natives of County Cornwall, England. The mother is still living on the old homestead, but the father died some years ago, at the age of seventy-three years. He was a blacksmith by occupation and carried on a profitable business, owning his shop and necessary appliances. His father, John Mitchell, was a farmer of the same locality. All but one of the brothers and sisters of our subject reached maturity, and are still living. Four of the sons are in the United States. Thomas and John are residents of California and Henry is in Colorado:
After he had completed his education in the public schools William Mitchell learned the blacksmith's trade of his father, serving a regular apprenticeship. At the expiration of this period the young man sailed for America, leaving Liverpool and going direct to New York. The first year of his residence in the United States Mr. Mitchell was employed in the car shops of the Lehigh Valley Railroad at Lehighton, Carbon County, Pa. Thence he proceeded to Utah and the west and was variously occupied up to the fall of 1872, when he landed in Central City. Here he turned his attention to mining operations, with more or less success from the start. He has developed the Robert Emmett mine, the Warwick and the Bobtail and is now connected with the Bast Nodaway Mining Company, which is operating the mine of that name, it having been partially developed previously by Mr. Mitchell. The Robert Emmett he sold at a good price, after having placed it in fine condition. By application and industry he has amassed a comfortable fortune and at the same time has adhered strictly to correct methods of doing business, and deserves the respect which is accorded hum by all who know him.
The marriage of Mr. Mitchell and Miss Eliza-
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beth Jane Stephens was celebrated in Central City in 1874. Mrs. Mitchell was born in England and came to Colorado with her father, who located here in 1870 and died in 1873. Six children grace the union of Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell. Thomas Henry, the eldest, is interested in mining and is associated with his father. The other members of the little household are named in the order of their birth as follows: Annie, William, Maude, Jane and Flora.
ON.
ALLISON H. DEFRANCE, judge of the first
district of Colorado, was born in Mercer County, Pa., August 5,
1835, and is of French descent, his ancestors being represented
among the early settlers of the Keystone state. His
great-grandfather, who founded the family in this country, bore a
valiant part in the French and English wars in the middle of the
eighteenth century. His son, James, inherited his father's
courage, which fact was shown by his honorable participation in
the Revolution; by occupation a farmer, he settled in Crawford
County and improved a homestead there.
Allison DeFrance, the judge's father, was born in Pennsylvania and was one of three brothers who served in the war of 1812. About 1824 he settled in the forest of Mercer County, where he cut down timber, grubbed the land and improved a valuable farm. There he continued to reside until his death at seventy-two years. He married Martha Montgomery, a native of Mercer County, where she died at the age of seventy-nine. In religious belief she was a seceder. Her father, James Montgomery, was of Scotch descent, also a seceder, and, like others of that class, possessed strong convictions and the courage to maintain them in spite of opposition. During the war of 1812 he was colonel of a regiment and later he represented his district in the state legislature.
The family of Allison and Martha DeFrance consisted of five sons and six daughters who attained mature years, of whom the following survive: Mrs. Eliza Sears, of Santa Cruz, Cal.; James Montgomery, an attorney of Kirksville, Mo., now in his seventy-second year; John Bootie, who occupies the old homestead in Mercer County; William, of Golden; Allison H.; and Archibald M., who is in Oregon. Our subject was reared on a farm until fifteen years of age. He attended the public schools and a private school in Meadville. At the age of sixteen he taught school for one winter, and then spent a year in Alleghany College, at Meadville, after which he attended Westminster College at New Wilmington, Pa., where he was a student about two years. He then returned to Meadville and continued a student of Alleghany College until 1857. Meantime he began the study of law at home and after completing his literary education he continued his law course under William M. Stevenson.
When the Pike's Peak excitement commenced Mr. DeFrance started for the west. On his way to Colorado he stopped to visit a brother, James M., in Milan, Mo., and the latter persuaded him to remain and complete his law studies. This he did, staying in Milan from August, 1859, to April 1, 1861, and meantime receiving admission to the bar. With the intention of carrying out his original plan he went to St. Joseph, Mo., expecting to cross the plains by coach; but at the hotel a man called him by name, and turning, he found an old friend from Pennsylvania on his way to Colorado, with an ox-team. The friend invited Mr. DeFrance to join him, and the two came along the Platte, reaching Denver June 6, 1861, after a trip of forty days. Our subject went to Delaware Flats, seven miles from Breckenridge, where he practiced his profession under the mining laws. His brother, James M., came to Colorado in 1862, and settled on Ralston Creek, in Jefferson County, and in the winter of 1862-63 they opened a law office in Denver; but in the spring he decided to embark in the dairy business; he hired twenty milch cows from his brother, which he took to Fairplay. He carried on business there during the summer, and while there was nominated for the legislature against Jacob Stansell (Republican), but the Democrats being in the minority, he was defeated, though by only a small number of votes. In the fall of 1863 he located twelve miles north of Colorado City, but in the spring of 1864 he settled on Ralston Creek, Jefferson County, remaining there until he removed to Golden in November, 1868.
In 1867 he was elected prosecuting attorney for the county, without opposition, and held the position for a year, which was the limit of a tern, at that time. In 1868 he opened an office in Golden, where he has since carried on professional practice. In the fall of 1869 he was elected to
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represent his county in the territorial legislature and was a member of the session of 1870. In 1871 he was elected a member of the territorial council and served in the council of 1872. Upon the admission of Colorado as a state he was elected on the Democratic ticket to the first state senate, and on the deciding of the length of term by lot he drew the four-year term. He was a member of the session of 1877, at which time the general statutes were adopted. In 1880 he was re-elected, and served until 1884, in the first, second, third and fourth general assemblies. Governor Adams appointed him one of the supreme court commissioners in December, 1887, and he served until April 3, 1889, when his term expired. In the fall of 1888 he was the Democratic nominee for judge of the first district, but was defeated with the rest of the ticket. He was again nominated in 1894, as the candidate of the Populists and Democrats, and this time was elected by a large majority. He took the oath of office in January, 1895, to serve until 1901, as judge of the district, embracing Jefferson, Gilpin, Clear Creek and Grand Counties. He has been a member of the state Democratic central committee and in many ways has promoted the progress of his party. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Honor.
In Golden, Judge DeFrance married Lucretia C. Howell, who was born in Carroll County, Ill. They are the parents of four children now living: Hugh H., who is studying law; Allison H., Jr., Cora and Vera.
ENRY
W. SPANGLER, attorney and counselor-at-law, of Denver, was born in
Heidlersburg, Adams County, Pa., March 20, 1858, and was the
eldest of the three children of Jacob R. and Sarah A. (Bender)
Spangler, both natives of Adams County. He had a sister, Alverda
Minerva, who died in Pennsylvania at twenty years of age, and a
brother, Jacob Benson Spangler, M. D., who graduated from
Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia, and is now a practicing
physician of Mechanicsburg, Pa. The family is of remote German
ancestry, but has long been represented in the Keystone state. The
maternal grandfather of our subject was formerly a farmer of Adams
County, and the town of Bendersville was named in his honor. The
father, who is now about seventy years of age, resides in
Greencastle, Franklin County, Pa.
When the subject of this sketch was a child of twelve years, the family removed to Franklin County, and there he was a pupil first in a school taught in an old log building, built after a primitive mode of construction. Later he attended the G. Fred Zeigler Academy at Greencastle for two years, and then entered the preparatory department of Dickinson College at Carlisle, Pa. At the age of twenty-two he entered the collegiate department, from which he graduated four years later, with the degree of A. B. While in that institution he took an active part in the organization of the Phi Delta Theta, which society has grown to be the strongest in the college, and of which he is still a member.
Accepting the chair of mathematics and Latin in the academy at Greencastle, Mr. Spangler actively entered upon his work as an instructor. His evenings were devoted to the reading of law under Hon. Lewis E. McConmas, of Hagerstown, Md., which town was only a few miles from his father's home. At the age of twenty-nine he was admitted to the bar, the two previous years having been devoted exclusively to law study. About that time his alma mater conferred upon him the degree of A. M. He was admitted to practice before the supreme court of Maryland, but decided not to remain in that state, as the west presented better opportunities to a young man. He went to Eldorado, Butler County, Kan., where he opened a law office and built up a good business in law, loans and real estate. Unfortunately, after he had made large investments in town property and had laid out in town lots what was known as Spangler's addition, a depreciation in the value of property caused the loss of all he had invested.
In the spring of 1889 Mr. Spangler came to Denver and began the practice of law. On the 9th of May, a few days after his arrival, he married Libbie E. Schlosser, who was born in Chambersburg, Pa., and accompanied her parents to Denver during the year that Mr. Spangler settled in Eldorado. Their family consists of four living children: William Earl, Henry Roy, Ruth and Helen Elizabeth, and they lost one child in infancy. They are members of Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, in which denomination Mrs. Spangler's father was a minister.
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Reared a Republican, Mr. Spangler advocated the principles of that party for some time, but he is now a stanch Populist. For one year he served as police magistrate, and for three years he held the office of town attorney for Harman, Arapahoe County, later, for a similar period, holding the position of attorney for Globeville. He has represented both the Republican and People's parties as delegate to state and county conventions, and has taken a warm interest in public affairs. Fraternally he is a member of Camp No. 1, Woodmen of the World, which is one of the largest camps in the west.
AVID
C. BEAMAN, attorney and counselor-at-law, is also secretary for
the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, one of the most important
industries of Colorado and the west. At the time he became
connected with this company it was comparatively small in
capitalization, but already it had begun to reach out for the
acquisition of coal lands and afterward, by the absorption of
other coal companies, its influence was greatly increased. In 1892
consolidation was effected with the Colorado Coal and Iron Company
and the name was changed from the Colorado Fuel Company to its
present title. The combined capital is $13,000,000, and each month
from $100,000 to $120,000 is paid out in wages to the employes,
numbering from five to seven thousand. The company owns
twenty-three coal mines in Colorado, having about seventy thousand
acres of coal and iron land in Colorado, besides eight thousand
acres of coal land in Wyoming that is not yet opened. They own
substantially all the anthracite coal in Colorado and in fact,
west of the Alleghanies, except a little in Arkansas and New
Mexico. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1897, the gross
earnings were $5,061,734.27, which was a decrease from the
preceding year of a half million dollars, but the year 1898 has
shown a vast increase over 1897. The coal produced for the year
ending June 30, 1897, was 2,056,000 tons; coke, 262,000 tons; iron
ore, 20,000 tons; and iron and steel, 105,000 tons, which was some
decrease over the previous year. For operating expenses and
management $4,250,000 was paid out, nearly all of which was
expended in Colorado. As a home industry, therefore, the company
has exerted a large influence and accomplished much for the
developing of the resources of the state and the furnishing of
steady employment to hundreds of men. The steel plant at Pueblo
has been recently remodeled with electric appliances, at a cost of
over half a million.
The officers of the company are as follows: J. C. Osgood, president; Henry R. Wolcott, first vice-president; J. A. Kebler, second vice-president and general manager; John L. Jerome, treasurer; A. C. Cass, third vice-president and general sales agent; D, C. Beaman, general attorney and secretary; S. I. Heyn, assistant secretary. The general offices are in the Boston building, Denver, where about sixty men are employed. The board of directors consists of John O. Moore, Henry W. Cannon, B. Thalmann, and George H. Prentiss, all of New York; C. D. Simpson, of Scranton, Pa.; A. C. Cass, J. C. Osgood, Henry R. Wolcott, Dennis Sullivan, W. H. James, C. H. Toll, John L. Jerome and J. A. Kebler, of Denver.
Mr. Beaman was born in Lawrence County, Ohio, November 22, 1838, the son of Rev. Gamaliel C. and Amelia (Crichton) Beaman. His father, who was a native of Massachusetts, was a son of David Beaman, a selectman of his town; in youth he was given excellent educational advantages and prepared for college at Amherst Academy, later graduating from Union College, in Schenectady, N. Y., and in 1831 completing the theological course at Andover. His first charge was in Piketon, Pike County, Ohio, and from there he went to Burlington, Lawrence County, Ohio, where he served as pastor of the church and also as principal of the academy. In 1846 he removed to Montrose, Lee County, Iowa, and one of the most vivid recollections in our subject's mind is of the burning of the Mormon Temple just across the Mississippi River, at Nauvoo, Ill., which took place two years after they settled in Iowa. At different points in Lee County the father continued to make his home until 1874, and then settled in Croton. He died at the age of seventy-six years.
At the time of removing to Iowa our subject was less than eight years of age. His education was obtained in the public schools, Denmark Academy and Oberlin College, two years being spent in the preparatory department of the latter institution. On returning to Iowa he entered the railroad business as station agent at Croton for the
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Des Moines Valley Railroad, and continued with the same company until 1861, when he enlisted in the United States service; however, before his company was mustered in, he entered the revenue service of the United States, winch was connected with the railroad service. His company took part in two engagements before he entered the revenue service. He and General Belknap were standing side by side when they heard the first shot of a rebel cannon in the battle of Athens, Mo., and Mr. Beaman afterward secured the ball, which he preserves as a memento of the Rebellion.
Upon leaving the railroad and revenue service, Mr. Beaman entered the mercantile business, which he carried on for a few years. During that time he began the study of law and in 1869 he was admitted to the bar in Van Buren County, Iowa, where he was then living. He carried on legal practice in the same place for five years and then moved to the county seat, Keosauqua, where he formed a partnership with Joseph C. Knapp, who was a member of the committee appointed by the church to try Henry Ward Beecher, on account of the Tilton affair; the committee, however, reported that there were no charges against the famous preacher except vague newspaper rumors and hence the trial never came off.
From 1874, when he formed a partnership with Mr. Knapp, Mr. Beaman had an important and lucrative practice and also bore a prominent part in public affairs. At one time he was the Republican nominee for the legislature, but was defeated. In 1882 he moved to Ottumwa, Iowa, where he formed a partnership with E. H. Stiles and remained there until 1887. While in Keosauqua and Ottumwa he was attorney for the Burlington and Rock Island Railroads, which constituted his principal practice. In 1887 became to Colorado and accepted the position of general attorney for the Colorado Fuel Company, since merged into the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, in which he is a stockholder.
At Athens, Mo., December 31, 1860, Mr. Beaman married Luella A. Smith, who was born in Kentucky, a daughter of Dalzell and Mary A. (Thome) Smith, and a relative of Professor Thome, of Cleveland Ohio. They are the parents of four children. The eldest, James L., who was born in Independent (now Selma) Van Buren County, Iowa, is a printer by trade, and at this writing holds the office of sheriff of Pueblo County, Colo. He is married and has three children. George C., who is also married, is chief clerk in the company's coal mines at Picton, Huerfano County, this state. The only daughter, Mrs. Alice M. Harper, is the mother of two children and lives in Ottumwa, Iowa. The youngest son, Arthur D., who is married and has one child, is mine clerk at Walsenburg, Huerfano County, for the company of which his father is secretary. The sons are capable business men and in politics, like their father, support the silver cause, being firm in their allegiance to the movement for the restoration of silver to its proper standard.
ILLIAM
ALTON BURR, M. D., came to Denver November 2, 1882, and has since
engaged in the general practice of medicine here. In the ranks of
the homeopathists he has been prominent and influential. He
assisted in the organization of the Denver Homeopathic Medical
Club, of which he served as president, and he has also held the
office of vice-president of the Colorado State Homeopathic Medical
Society. When the advisability of establishing a college for
instruction in homeopathy was being discussed, he enthusiastically
favored such a step and made the motion for organization. He has
since been deeply interested in the growth of the college, in
which he is now professor of theory and practice. An editor of the
Denver Journal of Homeopathy, he remained on the staff of
the paper when its name was changed to the Critique. In
Livingston County, N. Y., Dr. Burr was born June 15, 1840, the son
of Lyman K and Fannie (Kelsey) Burr. The family name was
originally Burres, but the present spelling has been in use for
generations. The family originated in England, whence three
brothers came at different times to America, Benjamin becoming the
progenitor of the Hartford branch, John of the Fairfield branch,
while Rev. Jonathan Burr founded the branch in Dorchester. From
Benjamin the ancestral line is traced through Samuel, Jonathan,
Nathaniel, Samuel and John, to Lyman E. Burr. The last-named was
born in Haddam, Conn., and in 1837 moved to Genesee County, N. Y.,
where he improved a tract of land. He was a man of influence and
was popular among his fellow-citizens. In 1843 he moved to McHenry
County, Ill., where he
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died in 1849, aged forty-six years. Prior to his removal from Connecticut he represented his district in the state legislature. In 1824 he married Fannie Kelsey, who died in McHenry County, Ill., in 1859, aged fifty-seven years. Of their eleven children all but two reached mature years.
After gaining a common-school education in McHenry County, the subject of this sketch entered Cornell College at Mount Vernon, Iowa, his brother-in-law, Rev. S. M. Fellows, being president of the institution at the time. During the war, while in college, he and a number of other students enlisted in Company D, Forty-fourth Iowa Infantry, serving until the close of the Rebellion. He then returned at once to his studies, and continued in college until his graduation from the classical course in 1867. On the completion of his literary course he began the study of medicine in the Michigan State University at Ann Arbor, but after one year there he entered the Hahnemann Medical College, from which he graduated in 1869. Immediately afterward he opened an office in Lincoln, Neb,, where he became known as a competent physician and surgeon. While in that city, in 1872, he was elected lay delegate to the general conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, N. Y. For several years he was county coroner. In 1874 he came to Colorado and located in Georgetown, being county coroner during four of his eight years there. From Georgetown he removed to Denver in 1882. He is an active member of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, of Denver, and for several years has served upon its official board. During his residence in Lincoln he married Florence A., daughter of Philetus Peck, of that city, and who, like himself, is a Methodist in religious belief.
RWIN
L. REGENNITTER, LL. B., district attorney for the first district
of Colorado, is the youngest attorney to hold that office in the
state, and is a graduate of the law department of the University
of Colorado. He was born in Davenport, Iowa, May 17, 1870, the son
of Diederich and Lena (Hoeck) Regennitter. His grandfather,
Gerhardt Regennitter, emigrated to America from Prussia and
settled in Davenport, Iowa, in 1854, there engaging in mercantile
business until his death, at more than seventy years of age.
Diederich Regennitter was born at Wesel on the Rhine, in Prussia,
and was seven years of age at the time the family emigrated to the
United States. He was educated in the public schools of Davenport,
where he still makes his home. For many years he has been a
commercial traveler. During the war he served in an Iowa regiment.
His wife, who was born near Kiel, Holstein, is a daughter of the
late Heinrich Hoeck, who settled in Davenport in 1853. By her
marriage four children were born, namely: Franklin H., of Chicago,
Ill.; Erwin L.; A. Estella and C. Josephine, both of
Davenport.
It is doubtless due to his inheritance from his Holland-Dutch ancestors that the subject of this sketch possesses the force of will and perseverance that acknowledge no obstacle. He graduated from a commercial college in Davenport, and then became a clerk in a wholesale house in Des Moines, where he remained for two years. Afterward he traveled for the house in Iowa and Illinois. Returning to Davenport after eighteen months on the road, he engaged in mercantile business for himself. In the fall of 1892, having decided to take up the profession of the law, he entered the law office of Alfred Claussen, and studied under him until the next June, when he came to Denver. That fall he entered the law school of the University of Colorado in Boulder, from which he graduated in June, 1895, with the degree of LL. B. He was always at the head of his classes, and was class president the senior year. He was admitted to the bar of Colorado, March 13, 1895, three months before graduation. After leaving college he located in Idaho Springs and opened a law office, where he has since been engaged in the general practice of law, and has acquired a very lucrative and desirable business. In 1897 he was nominated for district attorney on the Democratic ticket and was endorsed by the Populists. The first district embraces Clear Creek, Gilpin, Jefferson and Grand Counties, and his majority in his home county was sweeping, three to one, eleven hundred and twenty-six majority, which was sufficient to overcome the opposition of the other counties and give him a majority of three hundred in the district. He took his office in January, 1898, for three years. He gives his entire attention to the practice of the law.
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In 1896 Mr. Regennitter carried to the supreme court of the state a case in which more general interest has since been manifested than in any case winch has appeared on the docket of that court for many years. It is the case of Wilkins vs. Abell. He is trying to have the higher court reverse the judgment entered by the court below by attempting to show that a statute which, by implication, gives a lien on the estate of the lessor to a person working for a lessee - for wages due him by the lessee - should not be so construed. Many such liens were enforced under this statute prior to the filing of the first brief in this case by Mr. Regennitter, but since that time five out of the thirteen district judges in the state have held the law to be as contended for by him.
In Idaho Springs, in 1896, Mr. Regennitter married Miss Annie P. Houghton, daughter of Henry L. Houghton, a merchant of Portland, Me., where she was born. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a most exemplary lady. She departed this life in October, 1898, Mr. Regennitter is a Democrat in politics. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and keeps in touch with the university from which he graduated, being a member of the Alumni and of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity of that institution.
AMES
MONROE WALKER, M. D., came to Colorado from Illinois in 1873 and
opened an office near the corner of Larimer and Fifteenth streets,
Denver, where he began in the practice of the medical profession.
Later, for fifteen years, he had his office on Stout and
Seventeenth streets, while at this writing he is located at No.
1265 Broadway. Upon his arrival he identified himself with the
Homeopathic fraternity, who recognize in him a valuable addition
to their ranks. For a time he officiated as president of the
Colorado State Homeopathic Medical Society, in which he is an
active worker; and he has also been president of the Colorado
State Board of Medical Examiners, and is identified with the
American Institute of Homeopathy.
Dr. Walker was born in Covington, Va., September 29, 1847, and is a descendant of one of the F. F. V's. George Walker was born in Pennsylvania, of German parentage, and removed from that state to Virginia, where he settled upon a plantation. His son, Daniel, was born in Botetourt County, that state, March 14, 1793, and selected agriculture as his life work, following it through his entire active life. He was united in marriage in 1815 with Catherine Myers, of Virginia, who attained the advanced age of ninety, while he died at the age of eighty-nine, near Charleston, W. Va. It is a remarkable fact that all their twelve children are living at this date (1898), the youngest being seventy years of age.
One of the six sons was Alfred, father of Dr. Walker. He was born in Botetourt County, Va., in May, 1824, and in 1849 removed to Greenfield, Ill., where he has since resided. By occupation he is a farmer. At times he has been called upon to officiate as a local minister in the Methodist Church, of which denomination he has long been a member. Politically he has been a Republican since the organization of the party. His honored and useful life has brought him the esteem and confidence of all who know him. He married Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Dew, a native of North Carolina. She died at the age of thirty-six, leaving only one child that reached mature years.
After completing an academic education, the subject of this sketch began to teach school and during the two years that he followed that occupation he devoted his leisure hours to the study of medicine, under the preceptorship of Dr. David Jones, of Girard, Ill. Later he entered the St. Louis College of Homeopathic Physicians and Surgeons, from which he graduated in 1871. On the completion of his medical studies he opened an office in Winchester, Scott County, Ill., and there he remained for three years, until he removed to Denver. In that city, April 25, 1872, he married Caroline Moses, daughter of Hon. John Moses, who was judge of the county court for some time and at one time a banker in Winchester. For years he was an active figure in the politics of Illinois. From Winchester he removed to Chicago, where he resided until his death in 1898. Few citizens of Illinois were better informed than he regarding the history of the state, and his extensive information on this subject he compiled and published in a history of Chicago and Illinois. As secretary of the State Historical Society he also assisted in the gathering of data that will be of priceless value to future generations. Dr. and Mrs. Walker have two children: James F. and Stanley Moses.
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Though not active in public affairs, Dr. Walker has decided opinions on political questions and is a stanch Republican. When he was a mere lad the Civil war broke out and his sympathies were on the side of the Union. In September, 1864, be enlisted in the army as a member of Company E, Twenty-eighth Illinois Infantry, and participated, among other engagements, in the siege of Mobile, being honorably discharged at the close of the war.
ACOB
H. ROBESON, mayor of Georgetown, and superintendent of the Dives
Pelican mine, is the son of a Colorado pioneer and descends from
Scotch ancestry. His great-grandfather, Solomon Robeson, a native
of Scotland, settled in Virginia, where he bought a plantation,
but removed to Ohio in an early day and settled in Knox County.
His son, Joseph, was born in Rockingham County, Va., and engaged
in farming in Knox County, Ohio, where he died at seventy-nine
years of age. Next in line of descent was Solomon, a native of
Mount Vernon, Knox County, and the son of Joseph and Sarah K
(Roof) Robeson, the latter a native of Pennsylvania, of German
descent. He was one of a family of seven sons and four daughters,
all of whom but two sons are still living, he being the fifth.
Three of the sons took part in the Civil war as members of an Ohio
regiment.
In 1856 Solomon Robeson removed to Astoria, Ill., where he engaged in farming. In 1859 he crossed the plains via ox-train from Fort Leavenworth over the Smoky Hill route to Denver, where he arrived May 15, 1859. On the way he met discouraged people returning, believing that nothing but starvation awaited a prospector in Colorado. While they were in Denver, resting from their long journey, news came of the discovery of gold at Gregory's camp. Mr. Robeson hastened to Central City, where he engaged in prospecting and mining. Returning east in the spring of 1860 he came to Colorado a second time, and resumed prospecting at Central City. In the fall of 1860 he again went back, remaining until the spring of 1862, when he came with his brother and others, and went over the range from Gunnison, where he engaged in gulch mining. He went from there to Blackhawk, where he worked for a time. March 14, 1863, he started for Montana, driving twelve mules, and engaging in gulch mining on his arrival at the gold diggings. While there he discovered Colorado Gulch. When fall came he returned to Illinois, where he spent the winter, and in the spring again came to the mountains, his brother Thomas, who was in charge of the mines, having died during his absence.
After having remained in Gilpin County until 1867, Mr. Robeson located in Georgetown, where he has since made his home. Among the mines he discovered are the Ruby Lode, Great Western, Charter Oak, Fisk, Illinois, Central, Louisa, Rosa, Robbie, Horace, Morrison, Crystal, etc., some of which have been good producers.
While in Illinois he was made a Mason, and now holds membership in Georgetown Lodge No. 48, A. F. & A. M. He is also connected with the Clear Creek County Pioneers' Society and the Association of Colorado Pioneers. In religion he is a Universalist, and politically advocates Democratic doctrines. He crossed the plains nine times by team, before the days of railroads, and was fortunate in that his party was never attacked by Indians, although the savages were hostile and murdered many emigrants during those early days.
In New Castle, Ohio, Mr. Robeson married Miss Louisa Zimmerman, who was born in Coshocton County, Ohio, and was a daughter of David and Rebecca (Giffin) Zimmerman; her father, who was a member of a Pennsylvania family, was a hotel keeper in Mount Vernon for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Robeson had three children, namely: David, who is inside superintendent of the Pelican mine; Sarah Ellen and Jacob H.
Jacob H. Robeson was born in Fulton County, near Astoria, Ill., August 15, 1861. In 1871, he came with the family to Colorado, where he was a pupil in a private school until the public school was established in 1874. In 1879 he graduated from the high school, and afterward turned his attention to mining, working with his father until 1887, when he was made superintendent of the Mayflower mine in Idaho Springs. Two years later he resigned the position and accepted the superintendency of Dives Pelican mine at Silver Plume, which includes twenty-two claims. Recently the 7:30 property, with sixty-five patented claims, has been added to it. The underground workings extend over twenty miles, being the largest of any mine in Colorado. Constant em-
