Almost every clime and tongue on the face of the globe has contributed to the growth and development of this country, all in fact except the benighted savages of several parts of the world which are still under the dominion of absolute barbarism. Edward Henry, a prosperous and enterprising stock-grower and farmer of Mesa county, living seven miles northwest of Grand Junction, is a contribution from Persia, where he was born in 1843. He is the son of Frederick and Eliza Henry, of that country, who were occupied there in tilling the soil. In 1851 they emigrated to the United States and settled at Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where the father was engaged in farming until his death, in 1891, at the age of seventy-two. Their offspring numbered eight, of who Edward was the third. He was eight years old when he accompanied his parents to this country and became a resident of Wisconsin. He remained in that state until he was thirteen, beginning to earn his own living when he was eleven by working in the copper mines and continuing this occupation for two years. At the beginning of the Civil war he enlisted in the Union army as a member of Company I, Thirty-seventh Illinois Infantry, and in that command he served five years and three months. After the close of the war he was employed as a sailor on the great lakes for five years. In 1874 he went to Alaska in search of gold and was successful in his effort, remaining in that country three years and finding a goodly store of the precious metal. From Alaska he went to California and for three years in that state was occupied in raising sheep. He then came to this state and settled on a ranch nine miles east of Grand Junction. On this property he lived and prospered for a period of twenty years. At the end of that time he moved to where he now lives and has since made his home. In 1883 he was united in marriage with Miss Eliza E. Bussall, and they have four children Dollie M., Laura El., Fred and Eddie. Mr. Henry is a Republican in politics and is earnestly devoted to the interests of his adopted land.
Source: Bowen, A. W. Progressive Men of Western Colorado. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., Publishers. 1905.