Mesa County

Benjamin F. Kiefer, of Mesa county, who resides at Fruita and has been in partnership in business with his brother Frank Kiefer, a sketch of whom will be found elsewhere in this work, was born in Franklin county, Indiana, on May 10, 1858, and is the son of Dominic and Caroline (Witt) Kiefer, whose history is set out more at length in the sketch of their son Frank. Benjamin was reared in his native county, and received his education in the district and parochial schools near his home. He remained on the homestead until he was twenty-two, then went to … Read more

The sturdy yeomanry of Wales have for centuries been among the productive toilers in any line of work that engages the attention of men, and have shown capacity to adapt themselves to all conditions and circumstances and turn even adverse fate to their advantage. They are limited in their native land to small areas and few occupations, but wherever they locate amid the more expansive realms and larger opportunities of the United States they are ready for every call to duty and can use their chances well and wisely both for their own substantial good and that of the section … Read more

Among the contributors to the growth and development of the United States, which number in their list every clime and tongue of the world that is not wholly given up to barbarism, and some even of them, scarcely any country has given more generously than Sweden, whose thrifty and industrious me and women have settled in all parts of the country where there was prospect of good returns for honest effort, and have aided in every kind of industrial and commercial enterprise, whatever the conditions, only asking opportunity to work and enjoy the fruits of their labors. Of the number … Read more

Having come to Colorado and located in Mesa county in 1887, and since then having devoted all his energies and time with the exception of the first year to the fruit interests of the section. Lester C. Johnson, living two miles and a half northeast of Fruita, has been a substantial contributor to the development and improvement of his neighborhood and the expansion of its wealth of production and opportunity, he was born in Knox county, Illinois, on May 29, 1864, the son of Daniel H. and Julia A. (Jones) Johnson, both also natives of that state. In the spring … Read more

John H. Jensen, of Mesa, Colorado, who, in partnership with his brother Lee, owns and operates the only grain-threshing outfit in this par of the state, is a product of the farther West, having been born in Utah in 1877, and after living in that state nearly seven years, became a resident of Colorado, where he was educated and married and his devoted his energies to the development and improvement of the county, aiding in its growth, helping to multiply and expand its agricultural and commercial wealth, increase its population and bring its resources to fruitfulness and the knowledge of … Read more

After years of useful industry in various lines and different places, Charles T. Jenkins, of Mesa county, settled down to the occupation of the old patriarchs, and has since been successfully conducting and developing his valuable and productive ranch on the George mesa, in Plateau valley. He was born in 1852, in Fulton county, Illinois, and is the son of Joseph N. and Melinda (Ellis) Jenkins. The father was born at Washington D.C., and came to Fulton county, Illinois, in 1832, where he was married to Miss Ellis. Some years later he moved to Kansas, and after a residence of … Read more

One of the young and enterprising fruit-growers of Mesa county, where he has been a resident for about twelve years, Lester E. Jaynes is an active and helpful factor in promoting the growth and development of his section of the county, and is regarded as one of its best and most useful citizens. He was born in Will County, Illinois, on December 1, 1871, and is the son of Ezra E. and Mary (Klingler) Jaynes, of Grand Junction, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. Mr. Jaynes grew to the age of twenty-one and received a district-school education … Read more

Prominent in the fruit industry of Mesa county, and in business and political circles, Chester E. Jaynes, whose fine fruit farm is located one mile and a half north of Grand Junction, is one of the best esteemed citizens of his portion of the county, and exemplifies in his daily life the best attributes of Colorado citizenship and business enterprise. He was born at Joliet, Illinois, on August 31, 1874, and is the son of Ezra E. and Mary A. (Klingler) Jaynes, natives, respectively, of Vermont and Pennsylvania, and now living at Grand Junction. Mr. Jaynes grew to the age … Read more

Laurence Hynes, of the Grand valley, one of the prosperous and enterprising fruit-growers of Mesa county, whose productive little fruit ranch of seven acres is located two miles east of Grand Junction, has had a career full of storm and incident in several counties, and although now quietly pursuing one of the fruitful vocations of peaceful industry, has lost none of his interest in public affairs and none of his disposition to stir up and concentrate public sentiment in behalf of the best interests of his community when the circumstances seem to demand such an effort. He is a native … Read more

This enterprising and progressive fruit-grower and ranchman of Mesa county, living two miles and a half north of Grand Junction, belongs to a family in which the martial spirit is high when occasion demands, and the devotion to pursuits of productive industry is equally strong when “Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front.” His grandfather, his father, two of his brothers and several of his uncles were gallant soldiers for the Union in the Civil war, one of the brothers dying of exposure on account of Hood’s raid in Tennessee, where he was buried. The grandfather enlisted at the age … Read more