Hinsdale County CO Archives Biographies.....Sweet, Charles Latham March 2, 1856 - ?
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Judy Crook jlcrook@rof.net February 22, 2006, 3:01 pm

Author: Progressive Men of Western Colorado

     This interesting subject of biographical mention, whose life from youth has
been devoted to mercantile pursuits and who has risen by steady and merited
progress to a position of leadership in his chosen line of activity, being now
considered one of the most prominent and successful merchants of western
Colorado, acquired his masterful knowledge of his business in an extensive and
varied career in a number of different places and amid populations of widely
differing characteristics.  He was born on March 2, 1856, at Brooklyn, Windham
county, Connecticut, and is the son of Robert L. and Electa S. (Gardner) Sweet,
both belonging to old New England families, the former a native of Connecticut
and the latter of Rhode Island.  The parents passed the greater part of their
lives in Connecticut, the mother dying there in 1892 and the father in 1900.  He
was a stanch Republican from the foundation of the party to his death, and in
business was a contractor and builder.  The family comprised ten children, four
of whom are living, George, a resident of Plainfield, Connecticut, John H., of
Lake City, Colorado, Mrs. Joseph Michaels, also of Lake City, and Charles L.  In
the frequent visits of death to the household, six were taken away:  James H.,
who died in 1901; William A., who laid his life on the altar of his country in
one of the terrible battles of the Civil war; and Adelaide, Anna, Thomas and
Daniel, who died at home.  Charles L. received his elementary education in the
public schools at Plainfield in his native state, and afterward attended the
academy here, securing some higher scholastic and a general business training. 
He remained with his parents until he reached his sixteenth year, then boldly
took up the burden of life for himself, going to Hartford, Connecticut, where he
remained twelve years employed in different mercantile houses.  In the latter
part of 1885 and the early part of 1886 he was a salesman in the commercial
house of Tibbets & Garland, and had an interest in the business.  He next came
west to Cheyenne, Wyoming, and served as a salesman in a store there until the
spring of 1887, when he moved to Denver in this state, and after a period of
valued service in the commission house of P.L. Buckfinger, became a salesman for
the wholesale grocery establishment of Williams & Wood, of Denver, whom he
represented as a traveling salesman in western Colorado until 1892.  In that
year he located at Lake City, where he formed a partnership with Mr. Whinnery
under the style of Whinnery & Sweet, and carried on a general merchandising
business in this connection until 1895.  The partnership was then dissolved
harmoniously, and he united with Charles Walker in another, and they engaged in
the same business at another location.  Four years later this partnership was
dissolved, and since that time Mr. Sweet has been conducting an establishment of
his own.  In this he carries a full line of general merchandise, comprising
groceries, hardware, queensware, mining supplies and fresh meats.  His stock is
one of the most complete and his store one of the most convenient and best
managed in Lake City and a large extent of the surrounding country, and has an
excellent reputation for the strict integrity, enterprise and accommodating
spirit with which it is conducted.  Mr. Sweet is also interested in mining
properties and has a number of promising claims.  In his civic and political
activity he is especially interested in the cause of public education.  In
politics he is an unwavering Republican.  While his business has always had his
care and most earnest attention has always been given to his own and the general
welfare of the county and its people, he has not neglected a proper cultivation
of his musical talent, and has become an accomplished performer on the violin,
an instrument which is the hope of the amateur because he doesn’t know its
possibilities, and the despair of the master because he does.  On all matters
concerning this instrument and the music that can be invoked from it he is an
acknowledged authority, and with the devotion of a genuine enthusiast, he has
got together a valuable collection of violins, all of which are of the first
order of excellence, and some are renowned in their history and of great value,
one, which is one hundred and thirty years old, being easily worth five hundred
dollars.  On December 21, 1888, he united in marriage with Miss Belle McGookin,
a native of Scotland.  They had four children, of whom Electa and Emma died and
Elsie S. and Emory W. are living.  Their mother died on May 21, 1903, and on
July 2, 1904, the father married a second wife, Mrs. Jessie (Kirker) Sleeper, a
native of Ohio reared at Lake City, Colorado.  She is the daughter of Thomas H.
and Mary (Simpson) Kirker, who came to Colorado and located at Lake City among
its early settlers.  There the mother is now living, the father having died in
1899.  He was an ardent Republican politically and a miner and prospector in
business.  His church affiliation was with the Presbyterians, with whom the
mother still affiliates.  Four of their children are living, Thomas, Coleman,
Mrs. Sweet and Mrs. George S. Mott.  The second Mrs. Sweet had, prior to her
marriage, a wide and high reputation as a successful school teacher.  She taught
many years at Lake City, and was highly esteemed for her success with children,
especially in preparing them for public exhibitions of histrionic skill, and her
good influence in molding their characters and manners.  

Additional Comments:
From Progressive Men of Western Colorado.  Chicago:  A.W. Bowen & Co., 1905

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