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NAME
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BIOGRAPHY
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| DAVIDSON,
James J. |
It
is of old Pennsylvania stock that the subject of this memoir comes, his
parents, George W. and Nancy Davidson, being natives of that state and belonging
to families long resident on its prolific soil. the elder Davidsons farmed
in their native state and in Ohio, Missouri and Illinois, the latter being
their final home. The father served on the Union side in the Civil war,
going in as a private and being mustered out as a captain. He made a good
record and, although in many important engagements, he escaped unhurt. He
was also successful in farming. He ardently supported the Republican party
in politics, and both he and his wife were Methodists. They had a family
of nine children, Maria, John, George, Joseph, Hiram, James J., William,
Nancy and Katharine. Joseph and Geroge are dead. James J. was born in Trumbull
county, Ohio, on June 30, 1831. He attended the common schools and early
in life took his place in the ranks of the world's workers so as not to
be a charge on his parents or others. He remained on the home farm in Illinois
until 1847, then started on a trip to California with an ox team, but on
reaching Utah he abandoned the journey temporarily and accepted employment
in caring for stock. In 1849 he completed his trip to the golden State and
after arriving below Auburn on the American river, he located some placer
mines which proved to be rich and very profitable. the failure of his health
obliged him to seek a milder climate and he went in 1850 to southern California,
locating in San Bernardino county and afterward moving to Los Angeles county.
There he gave attention to ranching and raising stock and also engaged somewhat
in teaming. He remained until 1875, then disposed all his California interests
and moved to Wyoming, locating on Snake river, taking a squatter's right
to a good tract of land which he improved and lived on until 1880, then
sold at a good profit. During that year he changed his residence to Colorado,
making his home with his son George, who owns one of the best ranches of
its size in Routt county, productive in grain, hay and vegetables and is
furnished with good buildings and other improvements, containing a wide
grazing range for the cattle which are produced in numbers, and well watered
for purposes of irrigation. When the son located here the nearest settler
was Mr. Perkins, on Snake river, sixteen miles distant. Mr. Davidson is
a Republican in political conviction and action and a serviceable worker
for the success of his party. He was married on September 4, 1851, to Miss
Lydia Shepherd, a native of Clay county, Missouri, the daughter of Samuel
and Charity Shepherd, who were born in Vermont, and who, after living in
a number of places, finally located in California, where they ended their
lives. The father was a soldier in the war of 1812, a wheelwright by trade
and in later years of his life a farmer. He died on October, 1877, having
survived his wife just six months. Their only living child is Mrs. Davidson.
She and her husband have had fourteen children, but six of whom are living:
Viola, wife of Lycurgus Colbert; George W.; Winifred, wife of William Ham;
Ethel, wife Price Sims; Andrew and Carl. The ranch in which Mr. Davidson
is interested is managed by his son George W., who married on February 17,
1883, to Miss Emma Lamb, a native of Iowa. The son, like the father, is
a Republican. |
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DEAKINS,
William R.
|
To
be born and reared on a farm and received a limited education at the district
schools is the common lot of millions of men in this country wherein the
agricultural interests so largely prevail; and to follow the industry to
which they are bred and stick to it through life is also the lot of millions.
And in this class of people is to be found our best, most progressive and
most self-reliant citizenship in all sections of the country. This has been
the lot of William R. Deakins, of near Pagoda, Routt county, one of the
enterprising and representative cattle and ranch men of his section who,
although for from the place of his nativity and amid far different surroundings
form those of his youth and early manhood, is still engaged in the paternal
occupation of farming with such modifications of conditions and circumstances
as the difference of location makes necessary. He was born in Buchanan county,
Missouri, on April 17, 1865, the son of Henry and Sarah C. Deakins, the
former a native of eastern Tennessee and the latter of Missouri. The father
was a successful farmer, a Democrat in politics and a man of influence in
the neighborhood of his home. Of the seven children of whom they were the
parents two died in infancy and William R., Henry T., Sarah J., Charles
M. and John W. are now living. The father died on October 17, 1882, and
the mother now makes her home in eastern Kansas. Their son William remained
at home and assisted his parents until he reached the age of twenty-two,
then in June, 1887, he became a resident of this state and pre-empted a
portion of the ranch on which he has since resided and which he has increased
to three hundred and sixty acres. He has one hundred and twenty-five acres
under cultivation and producing good annual crops of hay and grain. He also
raises large numbers of cattle and finds the industry agreeable and profitable
as an occupation. Mr. Deakins was one of the first settlers on Williams
fork and he is accounted one of the most progressive citizens of the region.
He took up his land in its state of natural wildness without improvements
of any kind. The soil was still virgin to the plow and its wild growth was
profitless to the husbandman. From this condition he has by his industry
and energy redeemed his place and made it a comfortable and attractive home,
bountiful with the fruits of cultivated life and smiling with the evidences
of thrift and taste. Fraternally Mr. Deakins is a master Mason and politically
an enthusiastic Democrat. In the public affairs of his community and county
he takes a serviceable part, cheerfully bearing his share of the burdens
and modesty giving his share of the counsel needed for their proper management
and the proper development of the best interests of the people. On all sides
he is considered a wise, upright and useful citizen, worthy of the cordial
regard in which he is generally held throughout the community. |
| DUNSTAN,
Richard J. |
This
valued and extensively useful citizen of Colorado, who is a younger brother
of Thomas Dustan, and was for many years his active partner in various productive
enterprises (see sketch of Thomas elsewhere in this work). Was born in Australia
on May 29, 1863, and accompanied his parents to this country in 1872. The
family lived in Kansas for a number of years, and the parents died in that
state. Richard remained at home with them until 1878, then came to Colorado
and located at Denver, where he entered into partnership with his brother
Thomas, as has been noted. They were engaged in railroad contract work until
1885, when they separated and Richard conducted a hotel for two years. In
1887 he moved to the Williams Fork country, in Routt county, and squatted
on a claim which he pre-empted after the survey was made. He has since purchased
one hundred and thirty acres additional and now has a good ranch of two
hundred and ninety acres, of which one hundred acres produce excellent crops
of hay, grain, vegetables and small fruits. His chief resources is his cattle
industry and he has an extensive range of good grazing ground. The improvements
on the place were made by himself, and their character and the general condition
of the place show him to be a man of good judgment, enterprise and skill.
From 1886 to 1892 he was associated with his brother Thomas in the ranching
and stock industry, but since the latter year they have conducted separate
industries in these lines. Richard has been very successful in his undertakings,
has risen to prominence in the community and has a commanding influence
in the councils of the Republican party, of which he is a devoted member.
On May 29, 1884, he was united in marriage with Mrs. Josephine (Ferris)
Hauck, a native of Oswego, New York, and a daughter of Norman F. and Harriett
(Simons) Ferris, the former a native of Canada and the latter of New York
state. They first settled in the state of New York, having been married
in Canada, and afterward moved to Illinois, and in 1859 to Wisconsin. where
they ended their days, the father dying in 1889 and the mother in 1892.
The father was a sailor on many seas and the mother reared the family. Their
offspring numbered eleven, five of whom died in infancy or early life. The
six living are Elizabeth, Josephine, Charles, Julia, Mary and Lucias. By
her former marriage Mrs. Dunstan had two children, Mary and John W., the
daughter having died in infancy. From her marriage with Mr. Dunstan there
are also two Augusta M. and Thomas H. The latter was the first white boy
born on the Williamsfork. Augusta M. was one of the particularly bright
pupils at the Grand Avenue high school in St. Louis, Missouri. She there
pursued a special course in Latin and science, and made a high reputation
as an essayist, six of her productions being placed on exhibition at the
St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. The subjects were "People We Meet"
"History Note Books," "Greek Gymnastics," "Private
Life of the Greeks," "French Examination Papers," and "Geometry
Exercises." As a Colorado product she is highly honored in the state
for her scholastic attainments and literary ability. |
|
DUNSTAN,
Thomas
|
Thomas
Dunstan, of near Pagoda, Routt county, who is considered one of the most
substantial and successful ranchers and stock men in his portion of the
state, is a native of Australia, born on November 21, 1847. His parents
also were born in that country and emigrated to the United States in 1872,
locating in Kansas where they passed the remainder of their lives in profitable
farming. The father died in 1886 and the mother in 1901. They had three
children, Mrs. George Jeniver, Richard J. and Thomas, all of whom are living.
Thomas, the youngest, received a common-school education and was well prepared
for the business of life and future usefulness on the paternal homestead.
He came to this country with his parents in 1872 and lived with them in
Kansas until 1878. He then moved to Colorado and, locating in Denver, farmed
with varied success for a few years. After following other occupations for
a time, he furnished teams under contract for grading the ground for the
station of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad in that city, excavated
the ground for the round- house of the same road and graded for the city
water works. In these works he was in partnership with his brother Richard.
They also shipped to Pueblo and there they continued the same line of operations.
One of the profitable contracts they had and completed was straightening
the railroad between Pueblo and Salida. Thomas was afterward employed in
the shops of the Denver & Rio Grande at Denver as a machinist's helper.
In 1886 he secured by pre-emption a portion of his present ranch, and to
the original tract he has added forty acres by subsequent purchase. He has
brought eighty acres of this land to an advanced state of productiveness
in hay and grain, and the rest is excellent grazing ground for his cattle
which he raises in large numbers. From 1886 to 1892 his brother Richard
was an active partner in the ranching and cattle industry, but since the
year last named Thomas has conducted the business alone. Mr. Dunstan is
a zealous Republican in political faith and is prominent and influential
in his party as he is progressive and successful in his business. He is
popular throughout his neighborhood with all classes of people, and is given
up to be one of the leading and representative citizens in his portion of
the county. Although not a native of this country he is warmly attached
to its institutions and thoroughly devoted to the welfare of its people.
His residence in various parts of it has made him familiar with its features
and the interests of its different sections, and this enables him to take
a broad and liberal view of its needs and see with a broad mind and true
public-spirit, and those who know him well value him for his genuine patriotism,
his extensive general information, his tolerance of differences of opinion
and his strong devotion to truth in every form without regard to sectional
prejudices. |
| EGRY,
Charles F. |
One
of the leading, most enterprising and most successful ranch and cattle men
of Williams fork country, where he owns a large ranch in advance state of
cultivation and with good improvements on it which he has made himself,
converting a barren wilderness into one of the best ranches and most attractive
homes in the section Charles F. Egry, of Pyramid, Routt county, is now enjoying
the fruits of his useful and unremitting labors and is comfortable in an
estate which he has won from obdurate conditions and through many trials
by his own persevering industry and energy. He is a native of the great
state of Ohio, born at Hamilton, Butler county, on November 25, 1867. In
early youth after short and irregular attendance at the district school,
he began to bear the burden of life for himself. He learned the trade of
plumbing and gas fitting and wrought at it ten years in his native state.
In 1888 he came to Colorado and located on his present ranch and here he
has since conducted a general ranching, and cattle industry of large proportions
and commensurate profits. In 1896 the post office of Pyramid was established
at his home and he has ever since been the postmaster. He belongs to the
Masonic order. On October 12, 1893, he united in marriage with Miss Rose
E. Johnson, a native of Colorado, daughter of Anton L. and Annie (Abbel)
Johnson and sister of Louis J. and Albert T. Johnson, sketches of whom appear
elsewhere in this work, which see for biographical notes of the parents.
Mrs. Egry prior to her marriage was a teacher in the public schools at Craig.
In the Egry household six children have been born and are living, Anna C.,
Fred L., Helena M., Mary E., William L. and Albert C. Mr. Egry's father
was Frederick Egry, a native of Germany, who came to America at the age
of twelve years and learned the printer's trade. The mother, whose maiden
name was Caroline Quoff, was born in Ohio, and, with her husband, settled
at Hamilton, Ohio, where they ended their days, the mother dying in 1873
and the father on February 18, 1903. He was the editor and owner of the
Hamilton Telegraph for many years and later carried on a profitable insurance
business. In politics he was an ardent Democrat and taking an active part
in municipal affairs at Hamilton, was elected councilman and mayor of the
city several times. Fraternally he was connected with the Masons, Odd Fellows
and the Untied Workmen. Of four children born in the family three are living
William L., Alois E. and Charles F. Successful in business, prominent in
social life, influential in local affairs and generally highly respected,
Mr. Egry is easily one of the leading citizens of the county and fully deserves
the regard and good will of his fellow men which he so largely enjoys. |
| FINLEY,
Rowland W. |
The
settlement and growth of Routt county, which began scarcely more than twenty
years ago, has been rapid and in many respects surprising in volume and
vigor, and as well in the productiveness of its forces. But the features
of the case, however conspicuous and striking, are in large measure easily
explained. The county has been generously blessed by nature in the fertility
of the soil and its adaptability to certain lines of industry, and when
the fullness of time had come it was occupied by an unusually fertile, enterprising
and capable class of people. They came from many sections of our own country
and many portions of other lands, and they have assimilated harmoniously
and blended their merits into a civilization at once progressive and conservative,
combining potency and flexibility in a marked degree, and thus preparing
to meet all requirements and conquer all difficulties. That great hive of
industry and varied wealth of production, the state of Pennsylvania, contributed
its quota to the army of occupation and conquest, and in that quota the
subject of this sketch is entitled to honorable mention, although he is
a late comer. He has at least well maintained the reputation and standard
of the earlier arrivals, and met with proper spirit the demands of his day
as they did those of their day. He brought to the performance of his duties
here not only a good scholastic education, but a wisdom ripened by a fund
of general information and an experience gathered in varied occupations
in a number of different places under circumstances of great diversity.
Mr. Finley was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 1, 1851. His
parents were James and Catherine (O'Neal) Finley, the former a Pennsylvanian
by nativity and the latter born in Vermont. The father was a prominent merchant
and miller. In the early part of his career, in company with two other merchants,
he went to Europe to purchase silks and other fine dress goods for his trade,
and while they were returning with their purchases on board, the ship was
wrecked. The goods and the other merchants were lost, and the elder Finley
was one of the very few of the passengers rescued. He continued his mercantile
operations many years, rose to prominence in business circles and in politics
as a Whig, had a high social standing, and occupied an elevated post in
the councils of the Presbyterian church, to which he and his wife belonged.
He died in February, 1858, and his widow in October, 1900. Four of their
seven children living, John B., Byron S., Rowland W., and Florence E.. The
son, Rowland W., received a good district school and college education,
a part of which he paid for out of his own earnings, which began to accumulate
at an early age of his life. When he was thirteen he left his native state
and come west to Iowa, arriving at Ottumwa with but fifty cents in money
and no settled occupation in prospect. He made his way into Marion county,
that state, and there secured employment as a farm hand, which was very
welcome although the wages were small. In due time he became a farmer on
his own account, remaining in Iowa until 1878, when he moved to Kansas.
During the twenty years of his life in that state he farmed, raised stock,
conducted mills and became prominent in local politics on the Democratic
side, serving as county commissioner, county clerk and as a member of the
board of regents of the state Agricultural College. In 1890 he built the
City Rolling Mills at Goodland, and had also an interest in the Colby Mills
there. These he helped to conduct with vigor and success until the financial
crash of 1893, which, together with successive droughts, occasioned severe
losses. Mr. Finley, however, continued milling until the spring of 1897.
At that time he came to Colorado to live and located in Routt county. Until
1900 he lived on the ranch located by Hulett & Torrence in the early
days, and on which still stands the first log cabin built in this part of
the country. This ranch he bought and still owns. In 1900 he purchased the
ranch on which he now lives, which adjoins the other one, the two comprising
two hundred and sixty acres, of which two hundred are under cultivation.
Hay and cattle are his principal products, but he also raises good crops
of the other farm products grown generally in the region. In the fraternal
and political life of the county he has taken an active and prominent part,
being a Knight-Templar Mason, and having served as county commissioner since
1902. He was married on December 24, 1874, to Miss Laura E. White, a native
of Licking county, Ohio, the daughter of William W. and Levina (Hewitt)
White, the father born in Richland county, Ohio, and the mother in Washington
county, Pennsylvania. They were farmers and members of the Baptist church.
Politically the father was a Republican. He died on October 29, 1891, and
the mother is now living in Cass county, Iowa, where they settled a number
of years ago. They had eleven children, of whom nine are living, Daniel,
Mrs. Finley, Robert E., Lincoln, Alice, Margaret, George T., Emma E., and
John H. in the Finley household five children have been born. Lavina M.
died on May 9, 1879, while James W., William P., Robert B. and Mrs. Catharine
Woolley are living. |
|
FORKNER,
Thomas A.
|
The
Civil war in this country, which left the states that seceded from the Union
crippled in all their industries, poor in finances and awfully prostrated
in their civil institutions, was yet not an unmixed evil, since those conditions
impelled many of their best and brightest men to seek new homes in the still
undeveloped West, and thus open new sources of wealth to the country and
of opportunity to individual men and women. And this tide of migration toward
the setting sun, where there were untrodden fields and vast rewards for
enterprise, was not stayed until succeeding generations followed the first
and filled up in some measure the mighty domain then awaiting occupation
and development. Thomas A. Forkner, of near Craig, Routt county, one of
the enterprising and successful ranch and cattle men of that neighborhood,
was among the men thus indicated, who although born South in the midst of
the war, grew to man's estate before its trial of horror was wholly overgrown
by the beneficent products of a later time. His life began in Monroe county,
Tennessee, on June 17, 1863, and he is the son of Thomas and Julia A. (McGuire)
Forkner, of that state, where the father has throughout his mature life
been a prominent planter and manufacturer of tobacco, this being the principal
crop raised on his plantation. He supports the Republican party in politics
and belongs to the Masonic order in fraternal circles. The mother died in
her native state on May 2, 1898. They had seven children, six of whom are
living, John, Lawrence, Stephen, James, Nancy and Thomas A. The last named
received only a common- school education, and worked on the paternal homestead
until he reached the age of twenty-one years. He then engaged in farming
for himself, and continued to be so occupied in his native state until 1891,
when he came to Colorado and for a time after his arrival here he worked
as a hired hand on ranches. He was desirous, however, of conducting a business
for himself, and to this end he leased a ranch and began raising cattle.
In 1898 he bought the one he now owns and farms, which was one of the six
taken up in 1883, the first ones occupied in the neighborhood of Craig.
He has one hundred and sixty acres and from the time of settling on the
land he has been making improvements and increasing his arable acreage until
he now has a comfortable and well-equipped home, with one hundred acres
under good cultivation, yielding abundant supplies of hay, grain and vegetables.
He also raises cattle in numbers and considerable quantities of small fruits.
In the ranching and stock industries he is prominent and successful, in
the public life of the country he is influential and helpful, and in fraternal
circles he has an appreciated membership in the Masonic order and its adjunct,
the order of the Eastern Star, and also in the Woodmen of the World. Politically
he is an earnest and active Republican. On December 28, 1887, he was united
in marriage with Miss Mary E. Norvell, a native of Tennessee. They have
three bright and interesting children, Bessie M., Rosie M. and Clifton E. |
| GREEN
Robert H. |
Born and
reared on the frontier, and making his preparation for the battle of life
amid its incidents of thrilling interest, wherein often every day was
fraught with danger, all time was laden with toil, and the lot of man
one of hardship and privation, Robert H. Green grew to manhood in an environment
well adapted to produce courage and self-reliance in spirit, strength
and suppleness of body, and self knowledge of the most valuable kind.
His opportunities for education were found mainly in the rugged school
of experience, and his knowledge of men in boyhood an youth was gained
almost wholly from contact with the hardy resourceful pioneers. He was
born on a farm near Springfield, Missouri, on March 27, 1855, and even
in his boyhood had contact with the stirring activities of our progressive
colonization which found expression in his section in the border wars
over the question of slavery. He remained with his parents until he reached
the age of twenty, bearing a cheerful and serviceable part in the labors
of the farm, and in 1875 set out for himself in a new country, as they
had done in their early lives. Coming to Colorado then, he passed a year
in various occupations at Denver. In 1876 he rented a ranch on Plumb creek,
and during the next five years he himself devoted to its improvement and
cultivation. In 1881 he returned to Missouri, but not finding conditions
to his liking, and making no financial headway by his really vigorous
efforts, he once more became a resident of Colorado, leasing a ranch in
Douglas county on which he lived until 1885. He then moved to Routt county
and took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres eight miles east
of Craig, which he sold after improving it. In 1894 he purchased another,
a part of which is his present home. His purchase was a quarter-section,
but he has sold all except forty acres, enough to suitably employ his
energies in the ranching and cattle business which he conducts on it,
raising good crops of hay, grain and vegetables, and numbers of high grade
cattle, the latter being his main source of revenue. He has taken an active
part in the public local affairs of his county and grown to prominence
and influence among its people. Earnestly supporting the Republican party
in political matters, he is regarded by the members of the organization
as wise in counsel and vigorous and serviceable in action, and has been
chosen by them to official station of prominence and responsibility. He
was elected county commissioner in 1900 and for many years has served
as a justice of the peace, and also as school director. He was married
on February 11, 1875, to Miss Eleanora Hays, who was born in Missouri.
Of their seven children a daughter named Laura died in infancy, and Irwin
E., Wesley, Willis, Robert, Eleanora and Alice are living. Mr. Green is
the son of Louis and Nancy Green, natives of Tennessee and early emigrants
to Missouri. In early life the father was a farmer, but he is now engaged
in the Christian ministry in the Baptist church. The mother died in 1898.
Nine children were born to them, of whom are living, Frank, James, Benjamin,
William, Ida and Robert H.
|
| HAMILTON,
Riley S. |
Riley S.
Hamilton, a prominent, progressive and highly respected citizen of Routt
county, who is extensively engaged in the stock industry in the neighborhood
of Hamilton, was born in Carroll county, Ohio, on February 1, 1862, and
is the son of Henry S. and Mary A. (Slates) Hamilton, natives of Ohio,
who moved to DeKalb county, Missouri, in 1869, and there engaged in farming,
an occupation which they are still following, with their home near Maysville,
that state. The father was a shoemaker in Ohio, but with a longing for
agricultural pursuits, he determined to devote himself to them and found
his choice wise and his enterprise profitable. His death occurred there
June 18, 1904. Their offspring numbered nine. One died in infancy and
Riley S., Thomas H., Hannah (Mrs. William H. Miller), Fred E., Edward,
Elizabeth, and James and William, twins are living. Riley, the first born
on the children who are living, grew to manhood on the home farm in Missouri
and was educated at the common schools with rather meager opportunities.
He remained at home assisting his parents on the farm until he reached
the age of nineteen, then, in 1881, came to Colorado and located at Breckenridge.
Here for a few months he worked in the mines for wages, then moved to
South Park and found employment until winter on a ranch. During the winter
he was employed in hauling lumber at Last Resort, after which he leased
a ranch in the vicinity of Fort Collins which he farmed two years. In
July, 1885, he became a resident of Routt county, and in May following
took up a pre-emption and a timber claim, the two amounting to three hundred
and twenty acres. These he has added to until he now owns five hundred
and twenty acres, two hundred of which he has under productive cultivation.
His principal industry is raising cattle, however, and this he conducts
on an extensive scale. His was the first ranch located on Moore Rapids
creek, and when he settled there the whole section was wild and unbroken,
without roads, bridges or other conveniences of a public nature. He gave
himself with ardor and energy to the improvement and cultivation of his
property, and found steady and increasing rewards for his labor. Soon
other settlers located in the neighborhood and the rapid progress and
development of the region followed. As a pioneer there Mr. Hamilton was
an important factor in building up the country and the village which grew
up near him was named in his honor. He is a very broad-minded and enterprising
man, with a keen desire for all improvements involving the general welfare
of the community, and takes an active and serviceable interest in every
phase of its public life. In fraternal relations he is a Freemason, and
in political matters is independent. On April 16, 1892, he united in marriage
with Miss Clara Duse, a native of Kendall county, Illinois, and the daughter
of William and Sophronia (Watkins) Duse, the former born in Germany and
the latter in the state of New York. They settled in Missouri at an early
day and located near Maysville, where they are still living and are successfully
engaged in farming. Both are members of the Methodist church. The father
is a Republican in politics. Seven of the eight children of Mr. and Mrs.
Duse are living, Hattie, Mary J., William A., Herbert M. and Henry M.
(twins), Edward and Clara E. A daughter named Tina died on May 30, 1902.
Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton are the parents of two children, Earl L. and William
Henry.
|
| HARRIS,
John L. |
It is interesting
in the career of any man to have settled in a new country when in its
wild condition, abounding in the untamed products to which it has been
given up for centuries, when the primeval forest still shelters the soil
from the sunshine, when wild beasts and yet more savage men are its only
forms of animal life, and its spreading prairies are verdant with only
the unprofitable vegetation or untamed grasses and gay with only the wild
flowers indigenous to the uncultivated soil, and live to see it blooming
and fruitful with all the products of cultivated life and abounding in
all the blessed concomitants of civilization, even if he have no extensive
part in bringing about the change. Such a man is a connecting link between
the active, stirring and often soul harrowing present, and the easy, listless,
fruitless, and seemingly inanimate past. But when it can be added that
he has contributed substantially and essentially to effecting the change
both in directing the forces that have wrought it and in swelling their
volume, the subject becomes one of striking and thrilling eventfulness.
Such a subject is he who now engages attention in the person of John L.
Harris, of Routt county, whose attractive and highly improved ranch of
two hundred and forty acres of tillable land is a pleasure to the eye,
and whose large and well managed cattle business gives agreeable food
for thought to the mind. Mr. Harris is a native of Monroe county, Tennessee,
born on April 7, 1862, and the son of George W. and Mary E. Harris, also
natives of Tennessee, where the mother died on February 8, 1896, and the
father is still living. The latter has been all his life a successful
farmer, a man of public-spirit, and a citizen ardently devoted to the
welfare of his country, and especially to that of his own country and
state, finding that welfare best provided for, according to his convictions,
in the principles and methods of government of the Republican party, which
he has loyally supported from his early manhood. Ten children born to
this couple are living, Sallie C., wife of William W. Adair, whose story
is told elsewhere in this volume; John L., the immediate subject of this
writing; James; William; George; Martha, wife of John Carpenter; Rebecca,
wife of Joseph Carpenter; Tennie, wife of Louis Myers; Mrs. William Dehart
and Mrs. James Stillion. John L. had youth the usual experience of country
boys of his class and locality, attending the country schools when he
could and at other times assisting in work on the farm. He remained at
home until he was twenty-one years old, then started in life for himself,
working on farms, teaching school and clerking in stores in his native
state until 1886. He then went to Texas and remained there one year and
in 1887 he came to Colorado and located a ranch at Cross mountain, at
the same time engaging with the Lily Park Cattle Company as a range rider
and ranch hand, remaining with this company for five years. In 1891 he
quit its service, sold is ranch at a good profit, and left for Wyoming,
where he passed nearly a year working in the cattle industry and at other
occupations. In 1892 he returned to this state, selecting Steamboat Springs
as his home, and there he went into mercantile business with William W.
Adair, the connection lasting until 1897, when he severed it and bought
the ranch which he now occupies. This comprises two hundred and forty
acres, and on it he made all the improvements it contains and brought
to cultivation the whole body of its land. Here also he has built up a
lage and profitable cattle business, giving close and constant attention
to its needs and studying all its features and details with the eye of
an observant master. To such an extent has he made this study effective
that he is regarded on authority on all questions touching the industry
from its start to its end. He is a Democrat in politics and as such takes
an earnest and serviceable part in the councils and campaigns of his party,
at the same time devoting an enlightened intelligence and fruitful energy
to the best interests of his community and county without regard to party
considerations.
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| HERON,
Alexander |
Of sturdy
Scotch ancestry on his mother's side and of as sturdy English on father's,
Alexander Heron, of near Pagoda, Routt county, combines in himself the
best traits of both races and has brought to the furtherance of his interests
in this country the vigor, enterprise and breadth of view which he inherited
from both parents. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 30, 1868,
and is the son of Peter and Katharine (McDonald) Heron, the former a native
of England and the latter of Scotland. The father was a baker and worked
at his trade for more than thirty years. He then turned his attention
to farming and was successful in the venture. He was a Catholic and the
mother belonged to the Free Church of Scotland. The latter died on October
13, 1871, and the former on October 4, 1884. Eight of their ten children
are living, Alexander, George, James, Edith, Anna, Emily, Mary and Isabella.
Alexander, the fifth born of those living, had few and scant educational
privileges. In 1885, at the age of seventeen, leaving the scenes and associations
of home, he braved the heaving ocean with high hopes for the land of promise
on this side of the water, where there was abundance of opportunity for
thrift and enterprise and ample rewards for worth and industry. Arriving
in Colorado, he located on Blue river, where he found profitable employment
as a ranch hand. After passing a year in this work he went to Dodge City,
Kansas, in search of more genial occupation, but not finding the country
there to his taste, he returned to Colorado and found his way to the prolific
region which borders Williams fork in Routt county. In the meantime, however,
he had resumed ranch work at Rocky Ford and Colorado Springs, where he
remained until 1888. On Williams fork he pre-empted a ranch which he still
owns and on which he has expended his labor to good advantage. Until 1898
he was in partnership with his brother George in this enterprise, but
since then he has owned and managed the ranch alone, the partnership being
dissolved harmoniously. The ranch now comprises four hundred and eighty
acres and two hundred and fifty acres are good arable land now under advanced
cultivation and yielding abundant harvest of the crops peculiar to the
region. Cattle-raising is the chief industry and this is carried on extensively
and profitably. But grain is raised in large quantities, especially wheat
for which the land on this ranch is said to be the best on the fork. With
characteristic enterprise and commendable faith in his knowledge on the
subject, Mr. Heron introduced the Angora goat into this section, and the
results of the undertaking have justified his prescience and highest hopes.
He owns a fine flock of the goats and finds them a source of considerable
revenue. In political relations Mr. Heron is a Republican. He was married
on December 14, 1899, to Miss Jessie Cameron, a native of Ingham county,
Michigan, where her parents, John and Agnes (Wasson) Cameron, natives
of Ireland, settled when they arrived in this country, and where they
made their final home. They were prosperous farmers, and the father supported
the Democratic party in American politics. He died in Michigan in 1874
and is widow in 1880. Mr. and Mrs. Heron have a host of friends in their
community and are always named among the best citizens of the neighborhood.
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