Squire, John Frank; 1905 Bio, Eagle County, Colorado http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/eagle/bios/squirejf.txt --------------------------------------- Donated April 2001 Transcribed by Judy Crook from the book: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Published 1905, A.W. Bowen & Co., Chicago, Ill. --------------------------------------- John Frank Squire Not until recently did the United States do anything in the way of colonizing in foreign lands, and the work done by our government in this line in the last few years came to it as the fortune of war. Our policy until it became necessary to vindicate our national honor, avenge our martyred dead of the battleship "Maine," and redeem Cuba and the Philippines from the tyranny of Spain, was to develop the wide domain and boundless wealth of our land by offering inducements to all the world to come and live among us, through liberal homestead and naturalization laws, before which all should be equal, and enjoy freedom from governmental oppression of every form. And in consequence of this policy we have seen the steady progress of civilization westward from the Atlantic seaboard, over the Alleghenies [sic], through the rich alluvial sloping in either direction from the Father of Waters, across the stupendous Rocky mountains and on to the shores of the Pacific, until we have well nigh realized that three-quarters of a century ago was hopefully prophesied for our far future: "As the sun rises on a Sabbath morning, the anthem of praise will begin with the hosts on the coast of the Atlantic, be taken up by ten thousand times ten thousand in the valley of the Mississippi, and continued by the thousands of thousands on the Pacific slope." Nature gave us a boundless empire, and our hospitality and opportunity for all mankind has magnificently developed it. In the march of progress the subject of this review has been one of the valiant soldiers of the mighty army, and in the contest with nature he has borne his part as such. His life began at St. Louis, Missouri, on January 18, 1853, and he is the son of John and Mary J. (Cassell) Squire, the former a native of the state of New York and the latter of Missouri. The father was a wholesale merchant of bar iron and did well in the trade. He was a man of prominence in the city of his merchandising and highly respected by its people. His political affiliation was with the Republican party, but he seldom took an active part in partisan contests. He died in 1862 and his wife in 1875. Their son John F. is their only surviving child. He obtained a good education in the public schools at Pittsfield, Illinois, and at the Episcopal College of Palmyra, Missouri. After completing his course he turned his attention to the drug trade and learned the business from its foundation by close attention to its every phase and detail, following it five years in his native city. In August, 1876, he came to Colorado without capital, and locating at Golden, served one year as ticket agent in the office of the Colorado Central Railroad. The next three years he passed as deputy county clerk there, two years as an appointee of a Democratic clerk, although he was a Republican. In 1881 the excitement over the rich discoveries of gold at the mountain of the Holy Cross, in Gold Park, led him thither, and for a year he was bookkeeper for the transportation company at that place. In 1882 he moved to Redcliff, and in the fall of 1883 he was elected the first county clerk and recorder of Eagle county as the candidate of the Republican party. At the end of his tenure of this office, which lasted six years, he engaged in mining on Battle mountain, working for others and leasing properties for himself, and also served as manager of the Ben Butler mines owned by F.A. Reynolds near Canon City. In March, 1890, he closed out his interests in Eagle county and went prospecting in British Columbia, but without success. Returning to this county, he put in one year as assistant paymaster for the Anaconda Mining Company, at Butte, Montana, then nearly two as bookkeeper for Doll Brothers in the Gypsum valley, Colorado. In 1902 he was appointed deputy treasurer of Fremont county, this state, and served two years. At the end of that time he became register of the United States land office at Glenwood Springs, and this office he is still holding. In his wanderings through the Rocky mountain region and Canada he suffered many hardships and reverses, but on the whole his success has been very good, and he is one of the substantial citizens of the section. His interest in the numerous fraternal orders is shown by his active and zealous membership in two of the most prominent of them, the order of Elks and that of Freemasonry, in the latter of which he is of the Royal Arch degree. On December 6, 1876, he united in marriage with Miss Emily W. Scanland, a native of Pittsfield, Illinois, who died in 1903, leaving one child, James E. Mr. Squire is a man of high character, great energy and unusual ability. In all the relations of public and private life he has exemplified the commanding attributes of the best American citizenship, and is well worthy of the elevated place he occupies in public estimation. =================================================== Contributed for use by the USGenWeb Archive Project (http://www.usgenweb.org) and by the COGenWeb Archive Project 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. 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