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discovery of this mine that was the making of Eldora, and since 1892 Mr. Morrison has also brought into notice the Virginia, Bimetallic, St. Elmo and Anaconda, all of Eldora district, and all of great promise.
In Monroe, Iowa, Mr. Morrison married Miss Virginia M. Adams, a native of that place and a graduate of the high school there. Her father, Aaron Adams, who was postmaster of Monroe, for twenty years, died in Boulder, May 2, 1896.
RANKLIN
T. CALEY, of Littleton, has been interested in mining for some
years and at one time owned a share in the Robinson mine, but
disposed of this to good advantage, and now has valuable interests
in the Dillon, Santa Rita and Portland mines in the Cripple Creek
district. In 1890 he established his home in Denver, but after
five years removed to a farm of six hundred and eighteen acres,
two and one-half miles southwest of Littleton, where he has since
resided. He has increased the size of his estate by the purchase
of one hundred and sixty acres and has made of his place one of
the finest homesteads in the vicinity of Littleton.
The father of our subject, Robert, was a son of Michael Caley, a banker in the Isle of Man. Robert was born in Port Erin, Ireland, as was also his wife, Catherine (Gallon) Caley. For a time he followed the shoemaker's trade, which he learned in his youth. Later he engaged in the hat business in Ohio, but after his removal to Racine, Wis., he opened a shoe store, which he carried on for some time. In 1866 he removed to Missouri and for about nine years made his home in Reedville, following the shoemaker's trade. From there he came to Colorado and, being in poor health, he did not engage in business, but made his home with his children. The last two years of his life were spent in Arizona, where he died in August, 1884.
Franklin P. Caley was born in Racine, Wis., May 13, 1844. When a lad of sixteen he enlisted in the Twenty-second Wisconsin Infantry, but being a minor his parents took him out of the army. Two years later he enlisted in Company D, Thirty-ninth Wisconsin Infantry, and served for nine months. He was stationed in Memphis when Forrest attacked the Union forces. His young and restless spirit sought adventure and he started west. In his perilous journey across the plains he had many miraculous escapes from the savage Indian foe. He went to Leavenworth and on the 20th of May, 1866, he hired out to Phillips & Freeland as a teamster, for $50 for the trip. There were twenty-two in the party, eleven Confederates and eleven Federal soldiers. They had fourteen six-mule teams, and every man went armed to the teeth. All went well until when within fifty miles of Julesburg. There one of the men was accidentally shot through the hips, and Mr. Caley volunteered to take the wounded man to Julesburg. They were two days and two nights on the road. The caravan continued to Fort Laramie, where the men were halted by United States soldiers and their wagonmaster was sworn in as captain. On noon of the next day they were attacked by Indians, of whom they killed four. Three days later Mr. Caley loaded eleven buckshot into a Springfield rifle and had an opportunity to fire it at five Indians, of whom he mortally wounded two. They established a reputation as fighters among the Indian tribes of the northwest, and had continual skirmishing until they reached Virginia City, Mont.
From that place Mr. Caley rode on horseback five hundred miles to Silver City, Idaho, where he mined for three years, clearing about $4,000. Via the Isthmus of Panama he returned to Rochester, Racine County, Wis. There he married in 1869. Later, removing to Sullivan, Mo., he bought two thousand acres and cleared a portion of the tract. After two years he left the farm and secured work as a carpenter in the Scotia iron works in Crawford County, Mo., also engaged in hauling ore and contracting. For a time he was prosperous, but finally lost heavily. In January, 1873, he came to Denver, and soon after began mining at Alma, also contracting for the sinking of shafts, etc., later kept a hotel. In September of that year his family joined him at Alma. In the spring of 1874 he leased a mine, the Security, which he operated for many years. Shortly afterward he leased the Centennial, which he operated successfully for six months. For a time he had his family in Colorado Springs, but in the spring of 1875 he returned to Alma, where he hauled ore. Ill health forced his wife to return to Wisconsin. He took his two teams and hauled coke and lead and silver bullion over the Western pass during the winter, and in the spring went to
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Leadville, where he manufactured brick, but at a loss. Next he cut and hauled cordwood near Leadville. In the fall, with W. H. Yankee, he started a transfer hauling ore company, hauling from the Robinson mine to Leadville. In January, 1877, he bought a one-fourth interest in the Robinson mine for $6,500, and in one year cleared $50,000 and sold his interest. He next bought a one-sixth interest ($5,000) in the Hibernia mine, from which he cleared $50,000. Meantime he engaged extensively in the butcher business, and packed frozen beef. Next he invested $35,000 in mules and wagons as a freighting outfit, which he operated from Weston and Buena Vista to Leadville. This was a profitable venture, but his next was unfortunate, that of contracting on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad in New Mexico. He moved his outfit from New Mexico to Colorado and sold it at Marshall Pass.
After a visit to Wisconsin, accompanied by his family, Mr. Caley returned to Colorado with two other gentlemen and began in the cattle business on Rock Creek, Wyo. In two and one-half years he cleared $24,000. He then bought a ranch of six hundred and eighteen acres near Littletown, and here engaged in dairying until 1884, but the business involved him in a debt of $25,000. To pay this debt, he was obliged to work hard at mining for many years. When the snow was two feet deep, in 1892, he went to Cripple Creek, with forty cows and opened a dairy, shipping the feed from Denver. In this he was very successful. He sold his interest to his partner, John L. Binner, and in the fall of 1892 leased the Black Diamond mine, adjoining the Portland. For two years he worked it, with poor encouragement for success. About that time W. S. Stratton bought an interest in the mine for $10,000 and three days later they began to ship ore. He also secured a bond and lease on one-third interest in the Portland for $50,000 and a lease and bond for the Bobtail mine for $100,000, the same now constituting a part of the Portland group of mines.
Mr. Caley received in shares $25,000, which he sold for $50,000 and realized over $150,000 on his work. His mining interests now aggregate nearly a quarter million dollars in value.
January 19, 1868, Mr. Caley married Grace, daughter of George and Mary (Ormiston) Caley. Her father, who was a native of Scotland, came to this country at eighteen years of age and engaged in farming at Dover, Wis. In 1849 he went overland to California. One of his party was killed en route and he experienced many hardships, finally returning richer in little save experience. His remaining years were spent on his farm in Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Caley are the parents of five children now living, one daughter, Alma, having died at thirteen years. Franklin R. is mentioned elsewhere; Minnie is the wife of John L. Binner, a farmer; William is a student in the law department of the University of Michigan and is also a well-known foot ball player; Daril and Edwin are students in the State University at Boulder. Fraternally Mr. Caley is connected with the Knight Templar Masons, and is a member of the Mount of the Holy Cross Commandery. Politically he was reared in the Republican faith, but is now a Populist. His ranch of six hundred and eighteen acres is called the Pride of the Valley.
RTHUR
H. WHITE is engaged in stock-raising and a general ranching
business in Douglas County, his homestead being two miles
northwest of Sedalia. A native of England, he was born in
Somersetshire, June 4, 1856, a son of Isaac and Jane (Hewitt)
White. He was about fifteen years of age when his father died and
from that time he became self-supporting. For the active duties of
life he had been prepared by a thorough education in public
schools. When about eighteen years of age he came to America,
landing in New York in the fall of 1876, and came to Colorado,
where he had acquaintances. Here he worked by the day or month for
some years.
December 27, 1883, Mr. White married Miss Alice S. Manhart, daughter of Christian and Sarah (Barny) Manhart. Reference to the history of her family appears in the sketch of Mr. Manhart, upon another page. Before his marriage Mr. White took up a claim in Jefferson County, where he made his home for several years, meantime improving the land and placing it under cultivation. On selling that place, he moved to his present property in Douglas County, where he has three hundred and sixty acres in his home place, and is also the owner of four hundred and forty acres near Sedalia.
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Mr. and Mrs. White are the parents of four children. The eldest, Charles C., died at the age of seven years and is buried in Bear Canon Cemetery; Sarah Jane, the oldest of the living children, was born on this farm June 21, 1889; William Arthur, January 23, 1893; and Gertrude Florence, January 6, 1898. Mr. White's first presidential ballot was cast for James Garfield in 1880 and from that time to this he has been firm in his allegiance to Republican principles. Fraternally he is connected with Sedalia Camp, Woodmen of the World, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen at Castle Rock. He is not identified with any denomination, but inclines to the Episcopalian faith, in which he was reared.
HOMAS
RICHARDS has been engaged in general merchandising in Erie, Weld
County, for the past eighteen years and has won an enviable
reputation for square dealing, courtesy and fairness to all his
patrons. No one of our business men is more enterprising and
public-spirited, more loyal to the welfare of his fellows than he,
and all measures reaching out towards progress and improvement are
certain to find favor in his eyes. He is a member of Erie Lodge
No. 46, I. O. O. F., and is captain of the staff of Rose of Sharon
Lodge NO. 29, Daughters of Rebekah. He also holds membership with
Perseverance Camp No. 139, Woodmen of the World. For ten years he
was the secretary of the school board, at present is town
treasurer, and in September, 1898, was appointed postmaster by
President McKinley.
John B. Richards, the father of our subject, was a native of Wales, and a weaver by trade. In early manhood he sailed for America. Settling in Pomeroy, Ohio, he worked in the coal mines of the locality until 1866, when he removed to Missouri. From that time until his death in 1876 he lived upon a farm about five miles distant from New Cambria, Macon County, on Brush Creek. His first wife bore the maiden name of Helen Davis, and to them three daughters were born. Mary, the eldest, was the wife of John Roberts and two children survive them, Katie and William, living in Brooklyn, N. Y.; Margaret is the wife of E. A. Edwards, of New Cambria; and Anna, of Pomeroy, Ohio, is the widow of George Cole. The second marriage of John B. Richards was with Mrs. Mary (Phillips) Evans, widow of Thomas Evans. She, too, was a native of Wales, and was the mother of four children at the time of her marriage to Mr. Richards. Three of her sons by the first union survive, namely: Rev. John T., of Arvonia, Kan.; David T., of Huntsville, Mo.; and Daniel T., who lives on the old Richards homestead near New Cambria, Mo. Her daughter, Sarah, married David Jones, of New Cambria, Mo.; two children survive: Thomas A., who is a member of the Seventh Infantry, U. S. A., and took part in the battle of Santiago; and Mamie, who is the wife of John Shuttleworth, of Erie.
The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Richards was blessed with five children, as follows: Thomas; Samuel R., a mine operator at Breckeridge, Colo.; Ellen, wife of John S. Morgan, of Erie, Colo.; Elizabeth, Mrs. Edmund Scholes, of Lafayette, Colo.; and Charlotte, Mrs. James L. Wilson, of Erie, Colo. A sister of John B. Richards came to the United States from Wales and settled in Jackson County, Ohio. She was the wife of John S. Davis, a farmer of this county; both are deceased.
Thomas Richards, of this sketch, was born in Pomeroy, Ohio, October 1, 1852. He grew up under the parental roof and acquired but a limited education, as he preferred to work in the mines to attending school when he was a boy. At twelve years of age he was regularly employed in the Pomeroy coal mines, but, when the family removed to Missouri, the youth turned his energies in the direction of agriculture. Thus he passed the years between 1866 and 1874, with the exception of a few months at his old business of mining. With about $70 in his pocket, the young man started for Colorado in the year 1874, and proceeding to Coal Creek, he worked until the following April in the mines there. Thence, going to Rosita, he found employment in the old Pocahontas silver mine for another year or two. In the summer of the year that saw Colorado admitted to the Union he came to Erie and began to work in the coal mines here. Four years later he established a store here, but for a few months longer kept up his mining operations as well. Since August, 1881, he has given his time to his business affairs and has succeeded in building up
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a prosperous trade. He is also manager of the Erie Review. His franchise he uses on behalf of the Republican party.
In the year 1877 Mr. Richards married Elizabeth Thomas, who was born in Illinois. Of their six children, three were called from them by the angel of death, Arthur A., Samuel A. and Mary. The eldest son, John P., is a member of Company F, First Colorado Volunteer Infantry, enlisted for service in the war with Spain. Ella and DeWitt, the younger children, are at home with their parents.
OHN
C. JENKINS, mayor of Central City, was elected on the Democratic
ticket in 1896, was reelected the next year and the year
following, and consequently is now entering upon his third term.
Previously he was a director of the local schools for three years
and at all times he has labored diligently on behalf of the public
welfare. Beginning his business career at the foot of the ladder
he has steadily progressed in influence and fortune and has won a
splendid name for square-dealing and uprightness in all his
transactions.
Mr. Jenkins was born in Dodgeville, Wis., February 13, 1864, and is one of the four sons of David and Anna (Owen) Jenkins. The father was born in Glamorganshire, Wales, near the town of Swansea. When he was a young man he came to the United States, and for some time was engaged in working in lead mines in northwestern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. In 1864 he came to Colorado across the plains in an ox-team, being accompanied by his wife and three little boys. The family took up their abode in Central City, while the father turned his attention to prospecting and mining in the vicinity. He developed the Comstock mine, now one of the large producers. In 1884 he was accidentally killed by the falling of some rocks while he was at his accustomed occupation. His wife, who was born in the northern part of Wales, died in 1887. Their son Evan departed this life when he was in his twenty-eighth year, in Central City. Richard A., the eldest son, and William O., the youngest of the family, are residents of this town, the latter being connected with the First National Batik.
As he was an infant when brought to this state, our subject has always been closely associated with the development and progress of Colorado since his first recollection. His education was gained in the public schools of Central City, and when he was about fifteen he commenced clerking in a grocery here. He remained in that position for two years and then was employed on Main street. In 1886 he entered into partnership with D. J. McKay and David Henderson and bought out C. W. Ladd, of this city. The new firm, organized under the style of Jenkins, McKay & Co., has continued as such ever since. Their location is on Low street, where they have a fine, large store with a frontage of seventy-five feet. Three stories are occupied, the basement for storage, etc., the first floor for retail trade and the second for a tinshop and general stock. A very extensive stock of hardware is carried, and a full line of roofing materials, plumbing and gas-fitting supplies, etc. Not having sufficient room in this building the firm also occupies two warehouses on Spring street, adjacent to the Gulf Railroad. Year by year the sales of the concern have increased, and their shipments of mining machinery, mill supplies, etc., have been on an ascending scale in quantity. Mr. Jenkins has brought to bear upon his business enterprises rare good judgment, and to him, in large measure, the success of the company is attributable. He is a stockholder in the First National Bank of this city, and he also holds stock in the Gilpin Mill at Blackhawk and is interested in mining operations.
In Central City Mr. Jenkins married Miss Kate McLeod, who was born and reared in this place. They have two sons and a daughter, John, Robert and Catherine. Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins are members of the Episcopal Church, and are held in high esteem by a large circle of friends.
IRAM T. LAMEY, general agent for the British American and Western Assurance Company, has his office in the Railroad building, Denver. He was born in Venango County, Pa., August ii, 1856, and is a son of John Lamey. He represents the fifth generation in line of descent from a native of Baden, Germany, who emigrated to America in 1750 and established the family in this country. His great-grandfather, John, was born in 1760, his grandfather in 1798, and his father in 1827. The
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latter is still living on the farm where he settled in 1835, when it was one hundred and fifty miles from the settled part of the country.
Primarily educated in the common schools, at the age of sixteen our subject entered college. After completing his collegiate course in 1876 he went to Europe, where he spent two years in travel, visiting all the important cities of the continent. On his return to America he entered the newspaper business in Missouri, but soon found he was not fitted for that line of work and gave it up. He then moved to Nevada, in the same state. In 1881 he began to travel for an insurance company as a special agent, and in 1883 accepted a position with the firm he has since represented. At first he was their special agent in the western and southern states, but in 1891 he came to Denver and opened a branch office, of which he has since been in charge, having under him six special agents, seven hundred local agents and all the territory from the Missouri River to the coast. He is a man of keen business ability, with a faculty for the special line in which he has for some years so successfully engaged.
At Nevada, Mo., in 1880, Mr. Lamey married Miss M. F. Wright, of that city. He was reared in the Democratic faith, but has never actively identified himself with public affairs nor taken a prominent part in politics. While in Nevada he was made a Mason, joining the blue lodge there, and at this writing he is connected with the Oriental Lodge and Nevada Chapter No. 6, R.A.M.
ACOB
ARMSTRONG is an extensive stock-raiser and the owner of one of the
finest ranches in Larimer County. He is a breeder of standard
horses and is also one of the largest dairymen in this vicinity.
Old Hadley place, upon which he lives, comprises one hundred and
sixty acres, beautifully situated on the Cache la Poudre. Mr.
Armstrong is of Scotch-Irish descent and was born in Dixon, Ill.,
February 13, 1851, the son of Jacob and Mary (Coyne) Armstrong.
His father, a native of Coxsackie, N. Y., was orphaned at an early
age. He was reared on a farm near his birthplace, whence some time
in the '40s he removed to Dixon, Lee County, Ill., and embarked in
the real-estate and loan business. In 1874 he came to Colorado and
for six months was interested with W. B. Miner in sheep-raising,
locating on a ranch for that purpose. However, the work did not
prove congenial and the partnership was dissolved. Going next to
Fort Collins he engaged in the real-estate and loan business until
his death, in 1888, when seventy-three years of age. His wife,
Mary, died at the same age as himself. They had three children,
Jacob and two daughters, now living in Dixon.
Our subject was the third of the children. He received the advantages of a good education. He completed the scientific course in the Jesuit College, St. Louis. For a short time he was employed as bookkeeper. In 1874 he came to Colorado and bought the Green Lake ranch, four miles northeast of Fort Collins. There he embarked in sheep-raising. He went to the vicinity of Whitewater, Wis., and bought some merino ewes with which to stock his farm; these he shipped to Cheyenne and from there drove them to his ranch. In March, 1878, in a severe snow storm, he lost some three thousand of his herd that were caught out on the range. Two years later he sold his sheep and began to raise horses, having from one hundred to two hundred and fifty head on his place. He handled nothing but high-grade horses, and had a standard-bred stallion at the head of the herd. His place became headquarters for good horses. In 1893 he sold out the business and again engaged in feeding lambs, raising cattle and carrying on general farming. At one time he was an extensive land owner, having some fourteen hundred acres, but he has sold much of the land, retaining besides the home place of one hundred and sixty acres, two other farms near here. He cultivates two farms and has a large cattle range in the northern part of the county. His dairy is one of the best in the locality. Fifteen acres of his farm are planted to apple, plum and cherry trees, and he also raises small fruits in abundance. In addition he engages in gardening on a large scale, and during 1898 had four acres in onions.
In Fort Collins Mr. Armstrong married Miss Varah A. Buss, a native of Booneville, N. Y., daughter of George E. and Frances Amelia (Butts) Buss, and grandfather (sic) of Fortinatus and Elizabeth (Goddard) Buss. Her grandfather was of a pioneer New England family and died when her father was thirteen years of age. The latter, a native of Massachusetts, learned the trade of
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builder and contractor, removed to New York state and worked in a chair factory until the war. In 1861 he enlisted in the Fourteenth New York Infantry as a private, but was soon made sergeant. He re-enlisted in the Twenty-first New York Cavalry, of which he was a second lieutenant, and later a first lieutenant. He was mustered out in Denver, in June, 1866, with a captain's commission. Returning home at once he brought his wife and only child across the plains to Colorado. He improved a farm of four hundred and forty acres, where he resided until he retired to Fort Collins. He is connected with the Grand Army of the Republic. His wife was the daughter of Thomas Bradford Butts, a lumber manufacturer of Rome, N. Y. His mother, Sarah Bradford, was a member of the family to which belonged Governor Bradford, the first governor of Massachusetts. Thomas Bradford Butts married Alzina Bedora Otis, whose ancestors settled in Massachusetts before the Revolutionary war, and whose uncle, Judge Butts, wrote the "Maiden's Reply to the Gypsy's Warning." The mother died at the age of forty-eight years.
Mrs. Armstrong was eight years of age when her parents came to Colorado. She attended school held in a building made of logs. She was twelve when the first schoolhouse was built. In order to secure children enough to organize a district the latter was laid out eight miles long and four miles wide, and, fortunately, she lived near the center of the district. Before she started to school her mother heard her lessons every day, but it was difficult to do so satisfactorily, as leisure moments were few. Sometimes the book was placed on the bench beside the mother's washtub or ironing-board. The same difficulty arose as to learning the lessons. For four years the crops were raised without a fence, and it was her duty to keep the stock away from the growing crops, so her study was often carried on in the open field. The country at that time was infested with Indians. Horses were corraled every night so that the red men could not steal them. During the winter of 1866-67 her father was away for a week and a band of Arapahoe Indians camped within a mile of them. The chief of the tribe had been reared by a white man in St. Louis, but had rejoined his tribe. When she came here Fort Collins was but a hamlet. While the family were crossing the plains, when about three hundred miles from Nebraska City, an Indian of the Pawnee tribe wanted to buy her, offering to trade a pony for her. From the age of sixteen she has shown a talent for literary work and is now a lady of marked intelligence and ability. Though she has always been a busy woman she has found time to keep up her writing, which is of a high character, as is proved by the appearance of articles from her pen in such magazines as The Ladies' Home Journal, where no article is printed that does not possess superior merit. She has written much for local and state papers. Her story, "Why the White Farm Failed," which appeared Easter, 1893, elicited much favorable comment. She has also composed a number of poems.
At the age of nineteen Miss Buss became the wife of Mr. Armstrong. They have four children: Laura, who is attending the State Agricultural College at Fort Collins and will graduate in 1900; Lucy Isabelle, George J. and Clarence Melville. Mrs. Armstrong is a supporter of the silver standard. She served for one term of three years as president of the school board in district No. 11, but declined re-election. Several years ago she started an apiary and became so interested in the work that for a time her literary work was neglected, but she now gives attention to both. Her apiary she has found a source of both pleasure and profit.
Politically Mr. Armstrong is a Democrat. He was made a Mason in Collins Lodge No. 19, A F. & A. M., is identified with the Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows and the Encampment. His has been a life filled with adventure and in some of them he has had narrow escapes. In May, 1874, before coming to this state, he was attending a Baptist meeting at Dixon, Ill. The congregation was on the east side of Rock River, which was spanned by a Truesdale patent bridge, considered unsafe, as the frost had broken some of the stringers. About one thousand people stood on the bridge when the stringers broke and the crowd were precipitated into the stream. Fifty people were drowned. Mr. Armstrong, who was near the center of the bridge, went down with the rest, but being a good swimmer he dived and made for a pier, which he succeeded in reaching. He then rescued six drowning persons (two girls at one time) and assisted in bringing two dead bodies to shore, after which, becoming exhausted,
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he was obliged to return home. Four years later, when hunting sheep on one of his ranches, he was bitten by a rattlesnake on the first joint of the forefinger. He had no remedy, not even a string, so he at once began to suck the blood and bite the finger to stop the circulation. He did this until he reached the wagon, when he took a hatchet and cut the finger off at the second joint; a heroic measure, but the finger bled freely and did not swell; so he saved his life. His is not a nature to shun danger of any kind; and when only a boy of twelve he made several efforts to enlist as a drummer boy in Illinois regiments, but they refused to accept him.
OSEPH
SAUTER, a substantial farmer of the vicinity of Berthoud, Weld
County, is a native of Germany, and is a most worthy citizen of
his adopted country. He is public-spirited, taking great interest
in the progress and improvement of the county, and is always ready
to do his full share for the good of the community. He is a
self-made man, and not only has he struggled along in the battle
of life without assistance from anyone, but has even helped others
very materially from time to time. A man of the strictest honesty,
industrious, economical and just, he enjoys the respect of all who
know him and is entitled to credit for the position he has made
for himself.
Born in the province of Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1842, our subject is a son of Ignatius Sauter of that country. His five brothers and sisters are all in America now, and one by one were aided by him to make the trip and to get a start in the new world. He sent for them as soon as he was in a position to be of service to them, and has generously come to their rescue many a time when they were in need.
When he was twenty-five years old Joseph Sauter decided to come to the United States to make his fortune. He had received a good general education in the fatherland, and was qualified to earn his livelihood in various fields of enterprise, but he believed that there were wider opportunities for him abroad. The first five years after he landed in America he worked on a farm in Westchester County, N. Y., and thence went to St. Joseph, Mo. He bought a tract of forty acres in Buchanan County, Mo., and, as he prospered, added to his original farm other property until he had one hundred acres. In 1883 he sold out and came to Colorado. Here he invested in a quarter-section of land, only twenty acres of the place having been broken or ever under cultivation. There was no house nor improvements upon the farm, and thus he has been obliged to begin at the beginning and work his way upward. Of late he has given much of his time to the raising of live stock, principally hogs. By good management he has succeeded, even beyond his own expectations. In the different ditch companies of this section he holds stock, and he is also represented in the Berthoud Mill and Elevator Company. Three miles distant from his home place he owns another quarter-section of land. In politics he is affiliated with the Democratic party.
Mr. Sauter's wife was born in Indiana and her father was a native of Germany. Their children are: Joseph (now a resident of Nebraska), John, Antoine, Frederick, Frank, Anna, Lizzie, Rosie and Katie. The family are Catholic in religious faith.
HOMAS
W. O'DONNELL, attorney-at-law, of Denver, was born in Longmont,
this state, November 12, 1874, and is a son of Thomas and Johanna
O'Donnell. His father, who has devoted his active life to
ranching, is now living near Longmont, where he is engaged in
general farm pursuits and in raising horses. The boyhood days of
the son were spent on this place assisting in its cultivation, and
in attendance upon the public schools. At the age of fifteen he
became a student in the Jesuit College in Denver, where he
continued for five years and then graduated, with the degree of A.
B., as a member of the class of 1894. He had taken the studies of
the regular classical course, having as a boy determined to become
a lawyer and, with this purpose in view, he desired to lay a solid
foundation for professional work.
The study of law he carried on in the office of Hon. I. N. Stevens, and in 1896 he was admitted to practice at the bar, since which time he has carried on professional work with considerable success. He is a young man of keen discernment, with a faculty of reading human nature and understanding the motives that control human action. When a boy he was initiated into
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the Democratic party, but in the campaign of 1896 he supported William McKinley for president. He favors the silver cause, believing that no true prosperity can come to the nation until the debased metal is restored to its true standard. Frequently he has been chosen as delegate to county conventions. in 1896 he was a delegate to the state convention of the national silver party, and during the same year he served as a delegate to the convention of that party in St. Louis, where his services were effective in formulating the principles of that party.
Fraternally Mr. O'Donnell is connected with the Modern Woodmen of the World, though he became a member of the organization less for its social benefits than for its insurance. He adheres to the faith of the Catholic Church, in which belief he was reared, It may safely be predicted of him that future years will enhance his success and increase his material prosperity, and whatever of public or professional honors may come to him, without doubt they will but deepen the esteem in which he is held, and the regard that comes to him deservedly as the result of his uprightness and perseverance.
A.
BANNING, a farmer of Weld County, was for many years actively
engaged in the construction of railroads, taking and executing
contracts on sections of the same. He proved to he thoroughly
efficient and reliable, true to the smallest detail of his
business agreements, and thus won the regard of those who employed
him. He also had actual experience during a period of some five
years in the building of ditches in various parts of Colorado.
Thus his life was very active and somewhat unsettled until within
the past few years, as he necessarily traveled a great deal, and
might be at one end of the country or the other, according to his
business. Four years ago he bought his present ranch, a fine place
of three hundred and twenty acres, located on section 25, township
3, range 67. Since that time he has devoted himself to general
farming and stockraising and is making a success of his
operations. He deals extensively in Shorthorn and graded cattle
and keeps some fine specimens of Cleveland Bay horses and
Poland-China and Berkshire hogs, which he raises for the Denver
markets.
The birth of J. A. Banning occurred in Wheeling, W. Va., in 1836. The first twelve years of his life were passed in that city, and then with his parents, John and Mary (Anderson) Banning, he removed to Burlington, Iowa. There he finished his education in the public schools and later went to the Mount Pleasant high school, which at that time had a high reputation. When he had attained his majority he went to Nebraska and for the following four years engaged in freighting across the plains from Nebraska City to Salt Lake, his associates in the enterprise being Messrs. Russell and Waddell.
In 1860 Mr. Banning came to
Colorado, and locating in Lincoln City, embarked in mining
operations. He owned an interest in mines No. 40 and 41, in the
Lincoln district, and remained there until 1864. At that time he
went to Golden City and helped develop some coal mines during the
next two years, as a member of the firm of Wheeler & Banning.
In 1866 he went to Omaha and took the contract of building a
section of the Union Pacific Railroad, and completed his contract
in November, 1867. In the spring of the next year he was awarded
the contract for the line of railroad between Cheyenne and Denver,
a portion of the Denver & Pacific Railroad, and this too he
carried out with promptness, completing it in 1869. The following
year he started on a contract for the construction of the Kansas
Pacific Railroad between Sheridan and Denver, and brought it to a
successful termination in 1871. His next enterprise was to become
one of the incorporators of the Denver & Rio Grande road from
Denver to Pueblo, Colo. Having sold his stock in the company he
took the contract for the work of building the road and completed
it in 1872. The year 1873 was marked by his work on the old
Julesburg, now the Omaha Short Line. Here he finished his contract
for one hundred mites of the road in 1874. For the succeeding five
years he was employed in making irrigating canals all over the
west. Some of the largest of these were the Eaton, Arapahoe,
Welch, and the Banning and Beasley ditches. For several years he
owned a half-interest in the last-named ditch, which he helped to
incorporate, and was president of the same for years. In 1896 he
built a private ditch, which receives water from the Platte River.
During the years 1881, 1882 and 1883 he graded and constructed a
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tion of railroad on the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific lines. Fraternally he is an official member of Golden Chapter No. 5, R. A. M., and belongs to Golden Lodge No. 1, A. F. & A. M.
In 1860 the marriage of Mr. Banning and Miss Susan Tompkinson, of Burlington, Iowa, took place at the home of the bride's parents, Henry and Ann Tompkinson. Two sons and three daughters have graced the home of Mr. and Mrs. Banning, namely: Morgan, John William, Leonora, Belle and Susan. Leonora is the wife of Henry Johnson; Belle married Charles Greene; and Susan is the wife of Edward Shannon, of Omaha.
BRAHAM
ASHBAUGH, M. D., of Central City, came to Gilpin County in 1879
and has since attained a high position as a skillful physician.
For many years he held the office of county physician and also
acted as surgeon for the Union Pacific Railroad at this point. He
has been most successful in building up a lucrative practice,
although he gives medical attention alike to the poor and the
rich, and he is among the busiest professional men in the county.
Besides his practice he has other interests, particularly mining,
and owns and operates the Lombard group of mines, which he
discovered and developed and which are seven miles from Central
City.
Dr. Ashbaugh was born in Aledo, Mercer County, Ill., August 27, 1852, and is a son of John and Catherine (Artz) Ashbaugh. His father was a son of John Ashbaugh, Sr., a farmer of Marion County, Ohio, where the former was born and reared. However, in an early day he removed to Mercer County, Ill., and settled upon a farm near Aledo. In 1868 he removed to Vernon County, Mo., and embarked in farming near Moundville. His death occurred in Central City in 1882, when he was fifty-two years of age. His wife was born in Virginia, whither her father emigrated from Germany; later he moved to Ohio, and then to Illinois, where he died. She is living on the old homestead in Missouri. Of her thirteen children nine are living; three of the sons served in an Illinois regiment during the Civil war and one was wounded.
In the schools of Illinois and Missouri the subject of this sketch received his education. For two years he was employed in the Vernon County nursery, after which he began the study of medicine. In the fall of 1875 he entered Rush Medical College of Chicago, and after two years of study, graduated with the degree of M. D. He at once began the practice of his profession in Reynolds, Rock Island County, Ill., where he remained two years. In 1879 he came to Central City, where he has a large patronage, extending throughout the entire county. He is identified with the Colorado State Medical Society, the American Medical Association, and is treasurer of the United States board of pension examiners for this district, including Gilpin, Clear Creek, Jefferson, Park and Grand Counties. The board meets in Idaho Springs and was established about 1893, when he was appointed to the office of treasurer.
In Rock Island County, Ill., Dr. Ashbaugh married Miss Sarah, daughter of Joseph Asquith, who came to Illinois from England. Two children, Guy and Roy, comprise their family.
Politically a Republican, Dr. Ashbangh has always refused to accept office; on one occasion, against his expressed wishes, he was elected mayor, but refused to qualify for the office. He was made a Mason in Pre-emption, Ill., and is past officer in Nevada Lodge No. 4, A. F. & A. M. For five years he has served as high priest of Central City Chapter No. 1, R. A. M., and refused to accept the office of eminent commander of the Central City Commandery No. 2, in which he is generalissimo. He is also identified with El Jebel Temple, N. M. S., of Denver. He is medical examiner for the Knights of Pythias, with which he is connected as a member, and is also examiner for the majority of the insurance companies represented here.
DGAR
A. KEELER. The excellent street railway system of Denver is the
subject of frequent comment on the part of visitors to the city.
To the efforts of Mr. Keeler, as much as to those of any other
resident, is this satisfactory result due. From the organization
of the Denver Tramway Company he was connected with that
enterprise, and remained with it under its later name of the
Denver Consolidated Tramway Company, until January, 1898, when he
sold out. When the tramway was started it was a cable line
extending from the postoffice to Dakota
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avenue on Fifteenth street and South Broadway. Reports from other cities indicated that electricity could be used as a motive power, at no greater cost and with more satisfactory results. He was chosen to go to Boston and Providence for the purpose of investigating the electric system in operation in those cities. This he did, and upon hearing his report the directors decided to construct electric roads with trolley lines overhead, it being found that underground construction was less satisfactory than the other. He superintended the construction of the first electric line, and afterward the company constructed similar lines on other streets.
Mr. Keeler was born in Union, Broome County N. Y., June 4, 1843. He traces his ancestory to Ralph Keeler, who was born in England in 1613, learned the carpenter's trade in his native land and in 1639 located in Hartford, Conn., originating the family in this country. From him were descended Samuel (1st), Samuel (2nd), Matthew, Thomas and Lewis, the last-named our subject's grandfather, who was born in Litchfield, Conn., August 14, 1768, and married Elizabeth Wheeler. With his family he migrated to Broome County, N. Y., and built the first hotel in Binghamton, but later became a farmer and lumberman of Union. Of his six children, William H., the third in order of birth, was born in Litchfield, Conn., June 8, 1804, and accompanied his parents to Broome County. There he engaged in the lumber and mercantile business. Upon the completion of the Shenango Canal from Binghamton to Troy, he bought canal boats and engaged in the canal business, shipping from Buffalo to New York via Troy. He was first a Whig, later a Republican, and in fraternal relations a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His death occurred November 1, 1868,
In Litchfield, Conn., in 1833, William H. Keeler married Janett Wheeler, who was born in Sharon, that state, and died in Union, N. Y. April 20, 1880, at the age of sixty-nine years. In religious belief she was a Presbyterian. Her father, Hon. Hiram Wheeler, was a large farmer of Sharon and represented his district in the legislature for several terms. In her family there were two daughters and one son, the latter, the youngest and the only one living. He was educated in the public schools and the Homer Academy, Cortland County, N. Y. In 1864 he went to Illinois and embarked in the mercantile business in Ottawa, LaSalle County, but in 1867 sold out and went back to Binghamton. For seven years he was traveling salesman for a wholesale dry-goods and notion house in Binghamton, his territory lying in New York and Pennsylvania. In 1874 he embarked in the lumber business in Binghamton, and later carried on a wholesale trade in pork, seeds, wool and lumber, under the firm name of Conklin & Keeler. Having a wide acquaintance through that section of country, he soon worked up a large and profitable business. The lumber that he manufactured was rafted down the Susquehanna and sold to the Erie Railroad and over that road he shipped the first tan bark ever shipped by rail.
In Union, N. Y., Mr. Keeler married Miss Diantha A. Cafferty, daughter of William Cafferty, once a pilot on the river, but later a farmer and lumberman. They became the parents of two children. Their daughter, Clara M., was married, December 22, 1887, to Alexander C. Fergusson, who was born in Scotland and was the son of William H. Fergusson, a brother of Alexander and John Fergusson, wholesale druggists of Philadelphia. Mr. Fergusson was educated in Philadelphia and was a bookkeeper in the First National Bank of Denver when he died, August 15, 1888. He was a faithful Christian, a member of Central Presbyterian Church of Denver, and was active in Sunday-school work. His wife, daughter of our subject, was educated in the Denver high school and Denver University, from the latter of which she graduated. She died of heart failure, without sickness, November 22, 1895, leaving a daughter, Helen Keeler Fergusson, who was born December 22, 1888.
The only son of Mr. Keeler is Walter B., who graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan in 1893 and is now a clerk in the district court of Arapahoe County. He married Miss Mabel M. Baliss, of Ann Arbor, Mich. They have one son, Edgar P. Keeler, born October 22, 1895. In 1891 Mr. Keeler came to Colorado, hoping that a change of climate might benefit his wife's health. She recovered her strength rapidly and was in good health for a number of years, but died in 1892.
In 1885 Mr. Keeler bought an interest in the Montezunma Cattle Company, of which he was a director and later the general manager, but finally
