Denver County, History of Colorado, BIOS: WHITFORD, Greeley W. (published 1918)
***********************************************************************
USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any
format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons.
Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain
the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative
of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof
of this consent.  The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb 
Archives to store the file permanently for free access.
***********************************************************************
File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman
http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00015.html#0003643
September 5, 1999
***********************************************************************

"History of Colorado", edited by Wilbur Fisk Stone, published by The S. J. 
Clarke Publishing Co. (1918)  Vol. II

p. 116, 118-119
photo p. 117

HON. GREELEY W. WHITFORD.

	Hon. Greeley W. Whitford, whose judicial service and active 
practice as a member of the bar places him in the front rank among 
eminent lawyers and jurists of Denver, was born in Rockville, Parke 
county, Indiana, June 5, 1856. His father, John W. Whitford, was a 
native of the state of New York and was descended from an old Rhode 
Island family of English lineage that was founded in America by Pasco 
Whitford, who came to the United States in 1680 and settled in Rhode 
Island. The great-grandfather, George Whitford, was born in that state 
during its colonial days and served in the American army as a soldier 
of the Revolutionary war, valiantly fighting for the cause of 
independence. John W. Whitford was accorded liberal educational 
advantages, completing a course by graduation from the Indiana Asbury 
University, now the De Pauw University, under the Rev. Bishop Simpson, 
D. D. He took up the profession of teaching in early life and afterward 
prepared for the bar and was admitted under the laws of that state. He 
held the degree of Bachelor and Master of Arts. He met with an 
accidental death at Rockville, Indiana, in 1858, when but thirty-eight 
years of age. He was the first republican candidate for congress in his 
district and was a recognized leader in political as well as 
professional circles. A man of brilliant mental attainments, he was 
broad minded and progressive and became a natural leader of public 
thought and opinion in the community in which he lived. In early 
manhood he wedded Jane Harlan, a sister of Senator James Harlan of Iowa 
and distantly related to Justice Harlan of the United States supreme 
court. Her brother, James Harlan, was the first republican senator of 
Iowa and was a very prominent and influential resident of that state 
prior to the Civil war. His prominence is indicated in the fact that 
Iowa chose him as one of her most distinguished sons, placing his 
statue in the hall of fame in the capitol at Washington. He was a warm 
personal friend of Abraham Lincoln and was made secretary of the 
interior during President Lincoln's second administration. In fact his 
appointment was the last made by the martyr president. He continued to 
serve for one year under President Johnson, at the end of which time he 
resigned and returned to Iowa. Later he was reelected to the senate, in 
which he served for three terms. The family name of Harlan figures most 
conspicuously and honorably upon the pages of American history. The 
family was founded in the new world by George Harlan, who came from 
Ireland and took up his abode on American soil during the early part of 
the seventeenth century, establishing his home in Pennsylvania. Thus in 
both paternal and maternal lines Mr. Whitford comes of ancestry of 
which he has every reason to be proud. His mother, surviving her 
husband for many years, passed away in Loveland, Colorado, in 1889, at 
the age of sixty-six. By her marriage she had become the mother of five 
children, four sons and a daughter.

	Greeley W. Whitford, who was the fourth in order of birth, 
pursued his education in the common schools of Indiana to the age of 
fourteen years, when the family removed to Mount Pleasant. Iowa, where 
he completed his studies in the Iowa Wesleyan University, of which his 
uncle, Senator Harlan, had served as president until his election to 
the United States senate. He worked his way entirely through the 
university. As a boy of twelve years he started out to provide for his 
own support and was apprenticed to the printing trade, which he 
followed in young manhood for a period of five years. He also took up 
the profession of teaching. After completing his studies in the 
university he entered the law office of the firm of Ambler & Ambler at 
Mount Pleasant and afterward continued his reading with the firm of 
Kinkaid & Whitford of Mount Pleasant, the junior partner being his 
elder brother. He completed his studies in 1882 and then successfully 
passed the required examination for admission to the bar. He practiced 
in Iowa for several months and then removed to Whatcom, now Bellingham, 
Washington, where he devoted his attention to the general practice of 
law until 1887. In that year he removed to Denver, where he arrived on 
the 4th of July. He was practically a stranger in the city, although a 
brother, Clay B. Whitford, and his sister, Mrs. Mary Harlan Leedham, 
were living at Loveland. He entered into partnership with his brother 
for the practice of law under the firm style of Whitford & Whitford, an 
association that was maintained for two years. He then became the third 
partner in the firm of Rogers, Shafroth & Whitford and was thus 
connected for two years, at the end of which time he withdrew and 
entered into partnership relations with Frederick A. Williams under the 
firm style of Williams & Whitford. In 1894 he was elected district 
attorney and served almost the entire term when he resigned to become 
United States attorney. It was in 1897, when Mr. Whitford was appointed 
to the office of United States attorney by President McKinley and he 
filled that position most acceptably for a term of four years. He then 
resumed the private practice of law in connection with his brother and 
Henry E. May, under the firm style of Whitford, Whitford & May. Two 
years later, however, he withdrew from the firm and resumed practice 
independently. In 1895 and 1896 because of his experience as district 
attorney and United States attorney he was called upon to assist in the 
investigation of ballot box stuffing and other corrupt political 
practices and filled the position of assistant district attorney and 
ten years later, or in 1906, he was elected to the office of district 
judge and served upon the bench for a term of six years. His course was 
marked by a masterly grasp of every problem presented for solution and 
by notable devotion to duty. He is systematic and methodical in habit, 
sober and discreet in judgment, calm in temper, diligent in research, 
and these qualities enabled him to take high rank among those who have 
served on the district bench of the state. His decisions show a 
thorough mastery of the questions involved, a rare simplicity of style 
and an admirable terseness and clearness in the statement of the 
principles upon which the opinions rest. During his connection with the 
bench he figured most prominently in connection with a number of 
Colorado's historic labor troubles, and as a result of his rulings, 
which were sustained by the higher courts, he prevented much bloodshed 
and disorder which would have followed had he not carried out the law 
as provided in the statutes. Some of his decisions which at the time 
were thought to. be unfavorable to the workingmen have since proven the 
wisdom of his course and have received strong endorsement from the 
public as well as from the members of the bar. He stood firmly for what 
he believed to be right and his course often caused him to be the 
victim of indignities. He was even threatened with impeachment by labor 
leaders and their followers, who held indignation meetings and marched 
en masse around the capitol, seeking public support and comfort from 
the citizens. Undaunted by this course and by the threats which were 
aimed at him, Judge Whitford stood true to his honest convictions, 
never faltering in his allegiance to his oath of office nor to the high 
standards of the profession which has ever been regarded as the 
conservator of public rights and liberty. He is a valued member of both 
the Denver Bar Association and the Colorado State Bar Association.

	On the 4th of June, 1890, Judge Whitford was married to Miss Ida 
Spaulding, a native of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and a daughter of the Rev. 
W. J. Spaulding, a graduate of De Pauw University, Indiana, and a noted 
clergyman of Iowa. Her mother bore the maiden name of Martha Berry. The 
Spaulding family was founded In Massachusetts in pioneer times and the 
Berry family was influential in Indiana at an early day. Dr. Lucian W. 
Berry being at one time president of Asbury, now De Pauw, University of 
Indiana. He was a noted preacher and was the grandfather of Mrs. 
Whitford.  To Judge and Mrs. Whitford have been born three children: 
Lieutenant Kent S. Whitford. who was born at Mount Pleasant. Iowa. and 
is now in the artillery at Camp Jackson, South Carolina; Ruth Edna, who 
is a graduate of the Denver University and a teacher in the high school 
at Raton, New Mexico; and Helen Jane, who was born in Denver, was 
graduated in May, 1918, from the University of Denver and is at home.

	In politics Judge Whitford has always been a stalwart republican 
and has been an active worker in support of the political principles in 
which he believes and also of progressive civic interests, yet he has 
never allowed political opinions to in any way bias his professional 
activity. He belongs to Union Lodge, No. 7, A. F. & A. M., and has also 
taken the degrees of chapter and commandery. His religious faith is 
indicated by his membership in the Warren Memorial Methodist church. Of 
those who have sat upon the bench or have filled the office of district 
attorney, the record of none has been more faultless in honor, fearless 
in conduct or stainless in reputation.