Mesa County

John B. Mann, of Grand Junction, the efficient and accommodating clerk of Mesa county, came into being in the midst of our Civil war, having been born in 1863, in Fremont county, Iowa, the son of Archibald and Drucilla Ann (Williamson) Mann, natives of Virginia. The father while yet in his childhood moved with his parents to Indiana where he was reared and educated, attending the public schools and also the college of Greencastle. He remained at home, occupied in the work on the paternal farm until 1859, when he located a place of his own in Iowa, and there …

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Having served his country faithfully in the Civil war, and borne since the memorable contest the marks of its burdens, and having devoted to the pursuits of peace the same spirit of courage and determination he showed in the presence of the enemy and the presence of death in war. Albert D. Mahany, one of the prominent and successful ranchmen and stockgrowers of Mesa county, living half a mile north of Fruita, has won a substantial estate out of hard conditions and is comfortably fixed in a worldly way as well as firmly established in the regard and good will …

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Many men of great intellectual promise and fine abilities turn naturally and eagerly to the cultivation of the soil as a choice occupation, and devoting to it the forces of their minds and the researches of their studies, making a gratifying success of their industry and find peace and contentment as well as prosperity in their labors. It was so with Nelson L. Linnell, of Mesa county, who has developed a fine fruit farm two miles east of Fruita. He is a native of Sweden, born at Gronby on December 7, 1851. His parents, Lars Martinson and Karin (Nelson) Linell, …

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Peter Lefever, the popular and well-known boniface at Plateau City, Mesa county, is a native of Bruges, Belgium, born in 1857, and the son of John and Mary (Moore) Lefever, also natives of Bruges, Belgium. They were well-to-do farmers in that country, frugal and thrifty people of modest and unostentatious lives, but worthy of all regard for their uprightness and fidelity to duty. At good old ages they passed away, both dying in 1894, the mother aged seventy-two and the father eighty-seven. Their son Peter remained at their home at Bruges until he was twenty years of age, assisting on …

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The interesting subject of this brief review, whose productive life of nearly a third of a century in this state has been of considerable service in developing and building up the section of it in which he lives, is a Canadian by nativity, born in the province of Quebec in 1837. He is a son of M.A. and Julianna (Giroux) Laurent, who were both born in Quebec and lived there until a few years ago, when they came to this state and have since made their home with their son. Mr. Laurent remained in his native land until he had …

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A native of Ireland and the son of an Irish father and a Scotch mother, John Larkin, of Mesa county, Colorado, living two miles south of Debeque, possesses the more admirable characteristics of both races, the versatility and resourcefulness of the Irish, and the keenness of perception and sturdy industry and frugality of the Scotch, and has made them tell in his American career to his own advantage and the substantial gain of the places in which he has lived. He was born on the Emerald Isle in 1829 and is the son of John and Eliza (McCitric) Larkin, the …

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During the last twenty years the interesting subject of this sketch has been a resident of Fruita, Mesa county, this state, and he has seen all the growth and development of this section from a barren waste to its present advanced state of fruitfulness and prosperity. He was born on January 1, 1831, in Putnam county, New York, and is the son of George and Esther (Drake) Lane, who were also natives of Putnam county. His father was a farmer for a time, but passed the later years of his life in the milling and grain business, moving to Niagara …

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A pioneer of Grand valley, who left his native heath in youth and came alone to the United States with almost no capital but his energy, his determined persistence, and his never failing faith in himself, Matthew Lane, living three miles north of Fruita, Mesa county, has had a checkered and interesting career, full of toil and varying fortune. He is a native of county Cork, Ireland, born in 1856, and the son of John and Mary (Neill) Lane, also native in that county, where the father died in 1873 and the mother in January, 1904, at the age of …

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One of the prominent and successful contractors and builders of Mesa county, with headquarters at Fruita, and as well a leading ranchman and stock-grower. Frank F. Knowles has risen to his present consequence and high place in public esteem through his own unaided efforts, having been substantially the architect of his own fortune and his own main reliance in building it. He is a native of Waldo county, Maine, born on March 23, 1856, and the son of Robert S. and Grace A. (Philbrook) Knowles, both born and reared in Maine, where their families lived for generations. In youth and …

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Coming to Colorado in 1861, when he was but thirteen years old, and living in the state continuously since then, James O Kinney, of Mesa County, a prosperous and successful mining man and fruit-grower living one mile and a half east of Grand Junction, has had abundant opportunities to aid in the development and progress of the state, and he has used them to its advantage and his own. He was born on September 9, 1848, at New London, Canada, while his parents were on a visit there. They were Calvin and Phoebe M. (Starr) Kinney, the former a native …

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