Garfield County

A native of Pennsylvania and a son of Irish parents, Joseph T. McBirney exemplified in his career the versatility and adaptability of his nationality, and the lessons of industry and thrift taught in the great state of his birth. His life began in 1866, and he is the son of Hugh and Elizabeth (Telford) McBirney, who were born, reared and married in Ireland and came to the United States, settling in Pennsylvania, where they remained until 1891, when they followed their son Joe to Colorado. Here the mother died in 1898, aged over seventy years, and the father is now … Read more

A self made man in the true sense of the term, since he began the battle of life in his own interest at the age of ten years and has since continued it with success and increasing prosperity through the unaided force of his own capacity and resourcefulness, meeting every emergency with a spirit of undoubting courage and self-reliance, Joseph Luxen, of Rifle, Garfield county, this state, is entitled to the position of substance and consequence he occupies among the people around him, and the satisfaction he must enjoy as the architect of his own fortune. And knowing, too, the … Read more

Eli C. Loshbaugh came into being near Dayton, Ohio, on September 15, 1854, but before he had knowledge of that rich and prosperous agricultural and manufacturing region, his parents, John and Sarah (Hartman) Loshbaugh moved, within the year of his birth, to Texas, where they remained two years and a half. They then changed to Iowa, and made their home in that state nine years, after which they took up their residence in Kansas, and there they remained until death ended their labors, the father dying in 1869, and the mother on July 14, 1894. He was a native of … Read more

Spending the earlier years of his life in the Green mountains of Vermont and his later ones in the more rugged and ambitious ones of Colorado, and reared on a farm in the one state and now conducting one in the other, a casual observer would conclude that there has been but little change in the surroundings and pursuits of Wilbert E. Lewis, an enterprising and prosperous ranchman of Garfield county, located eight miles northeast of Carbondale. But while there is similarity in both surroundings and occupation, the conditions in detail are widely different. In his native state the unit … Read more

Mr. Lee, who is one of Colorado’s most active and prominent promoters, conducts a ranch of two hundred and forty acres located eight miles west of Rifle, and also is proprietor of the Glenwood Hotel, is a native of Dresden, Muskingum county, Ohio, where he was born on September 9, 1856, and is the son of John N. and Eliza (Rittenhouse) Lee, the father born in West Virginia near Harper’s Ferry and the mother in Ohio, but both descended from Virginia families. The parents located in Ohio in early life and remained there to the end of their days. They … Read more

Born at Philifstad, in the province of Wermland, Sweden, and reared and educated in that country, where he remained until he was twenty-one, learning his trade as a mason there and engaging in a number of useful occupations, in which he acquired a general knowledge of business and habits of fruitful industry, Charles P. Larson, of Garfield county, came to this country in his early manhood well prepared for the duties of the strenuous life in which he was to take part, and since his arrival he has been active and serviceable in developing and building up the sections in … Read more

Young as Colorado is in the world’s history, she is yet old enough to have produced a generation or two of good men of brain and brawn and women of force of character and resolute endurance through whom her interests have been well cared for and her resources have been materially developed, or who have at least greatly aided in the mighty work. Of these is Charles Henry Larson, of the vicinity of Newcastle, Garfield county, who was born in the state, educated at her public schools, reared to habits of industry on her prolific soil and acquired his first … Read more

John J. Langstaff, of Rifle, Garfield county, an extensive and prosperous stock man, was born on February 14, 1855, in Grant county, Wisconsin, and was reared and educated there, attending the district schools during the winter months for a few years. At the age of twelve he took up the burden of life for himself and from that time until the present he has made his own way in the world successfully. Being obliged to work hard for a livelihood and depend wholly on himself in the effort, he learned self-reliance and acquired a good knowledge of his own capacities … Read more

Starting in life for himself at the age of twenty, and since then residing where he now lives on Garfield creek, in the county of the same name in Colorado, Lucius Lake, whose well improved and skillfully cultivated ranch is near Newcastle, is thoroughly identified with the interests of the section in which he has cast his lot and to whose development and advancement he has essentially contributed. He was born in 1868 in Illinois, and is the son of Roderick and Anna (O’Neil) Lake, the former a native of New York and the latter of Vermont. Soon after their … Read more

George W. King, of near Basalt, Garfield county, was born on January 11, 1854, at Huntsville, Alabama, and grew to maturity there with his young life overshadowed by the momentous issues of the Civil war. He is the son of Joseph and Sarah J. (Johnson) King, who remained in Alabama until 1885, then moved to Arkansas, and later on to Texas. The father was a physician and farmer, and met with fair success in both lines of usefulness. He was an active Democrat in politics and a Freemason and an Odd Fellow in fraternal relations. Both he and his wife … Read more