Mesa County

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 … Read more

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 … Read more

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 … Read more

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 … Read more

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 … Read more

One of the early settlers of Mesa county in the neighborhood of Fruita, and one of its most enterprising and progressive citizens, Frank D. Kiefer has the respect and esteem of all classes of its people and is universally recognized as a leading man in this section and a representative of the best citizenship of the state, he was born on August 20, 1863, in Franklin county, Indiana, and is the son of Dominic and Caroline (Wheat) Kiefer, natives of Germany. The father was reared in his native land and came to the United States at the age of twenty-one. … Read more

Not among those whom poverty restrains, but rather of the number whom untoward obstruction stimulates, the late William Kenney, of Plateau City, in Mesa county, whose untimely death on February 19, 1900, at the early age of thirty-eight, when all his powers were in full maturity and his aspirations were working out a career of benefit to his fellow men while advancing his own fortunes in the sane and healthful atmosphere of utilitarian service, was universally lamented and left a void in industrial and commercial circles as well as in the influence of good citizenship in his community which it … Read more

From his youth, Daniel Kenney, one of the leading ranch and cattle men of Mesa County, has been connected with the stock industry of the West, and in his career has well illustrated the truth that singleness of purpose and constancy of effort are winning factors in the battle of life. He is a native of the section of country in which he now lives, born at Holden, Millard County, Utah, on April 18, 1872, and the son of John and Phoebe (Alden) Kenney. He was reared in the place of his nativity to the age of seventeen, and educated … Read more

Prominent and successful as a fruit-grower on a small farm located one mile and a half north of Grand Junction, which is as far renowned for the quality of its output as for the quantity, W. A. Kennedy has contributed by his industry and skill much to the comfort and enjoyment of the people of his section has added a new commodity to the marketable produce of its soil. He was born at Rockford in Blount county, Tennessee, in the year 1854, the son of A. A. and Sarah E. (Martin) Kennedy, also natives of that state. They moved from … Read more

John Kendall, of Parker basin, Mesa county, was born at Detroit, Michigan, and is the son of John and Martha (Dickinson) Kendall, natives of Scotland who brought to this country the characteristic shrewdness, persistence and industry of their race, and on the soil of the new state in which they settled won success in their chosen line of action and general public esteem among the people surrounding them. The remainder of their lives was passed in Michigan, the father dying in 1864, and the mother in 1884, at the age of forty-three. Almost from childhood their son John took care … Read more