Pueblo County CO Archives Biographies.....Mattes, Edward C. 1856 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 January 4, 2009, 11:42 pm

Author: Wilbur Fiske Stone (1918)

EDWARD C. MATTES.

    Edward C. Mattes is vice president and treasurer of the Pueblo Automobile
Company and one of the enterprising, alert and energetic business men of that
city. An eminent American statesman has said that the strongest forces in
American life are the men who have been reared in the east and who have sought
the opportunities of the west for the exercise of their dominant qualities. Here
they are largely untrammeled by convention or circumstance and the natural
resources of the country furnish an excellent chance for adaptability and
initiative. The place which Edward C. Mattes has made in commercial circles of
Pueblo is indeed a creditable one and his native state has reason to be proud of
his record. He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on the 28th of June, 1856,
his parents being Charles F. and Lydia (Piatt) Mattes. The father was for many
years actively engaged in business in Scranton, where he continued to make his
home until called to his final rest. There he reared his family, numbering four
sons and three daughters, and both he and his wife have now passed away.

    Their fourth child was Edward C. Mattes of this review, who supplemented his
public school education by a course in a private school. He was then living in a
county where the steel industry was a predominant factor in business life and
engaged in steel and iron work. Thus he was engaged until his removal to the
west in 1882, at which time he made his way to Pueblo. He entered business
circles in this section of the country as an employe of the Santa Fe Railroad
Company, with which he was for seven years identified as a representative of the
train service department. Then from 1889 until 1894 he was engaged in the real
estate and insurance business and later he was for several years in charge of
extensive mining properties. The next change in his business career brought him
to the Pueblo Automobile Company, of which he is now the vice president and
treasurer, but he was not at once chosen for the official position. He at first
had charge of the office and later became financially interested in the business
and was elected the second executive officer. This is probably the largest
business of the kind in the west. The company handles the Cadillac and Dodge
Brothers passenger and commercial cars and also the Reo and Federal trucks. They
have an extensive plant with large floor space and something of the volume of
their business is indicated in the fact that they employ thirty men. They handle
all lines of automobile goods and accessories and their trade has steadily and
continuously increased until it has now assumed very extensive proportions.

    On the 13th of October, 1890, at Carleton Place, Ontario, Canada, Mr. Mattes
was united in marriage to Miss Jeanette Sinclair. In his political views Mr.
Mattes has always been a stalwart republican since age conferred upon him the
right of franchise, and while he has never been an aspirant for office, he has
always stood loyally in support of the principles in which he believes. He
belongs to the Minnequa Club and to the Commerce Club of Pueblo and his
religious faith is indicated in his membership in the Presbyterian church. He is
a man of genuine personal worth, as is attested by the warm friendship extended
to him by Pueblo's leading citizens. In his business life Edward C. Mattes has
been a persistent, resolute and energetic worker, possessing strong executive
powers, keeping his hand steadily upon the helm of his business, and strictly
conscientious in his dealings with debtor and creditor alike. Keenly alive to
the possibilities of every new avenue opened in the natural ramifications of
trade, he passed over the pitfalls into which unrestricted progressiveness is so
frequently led and was enabled to focus his energies in directions where
fruition was certain. If a pen picture could accurately delineate his business
characteristics, such might be given in these words: a progressive spirit, ruled
by more than ordinary intelligence and good judgment; a deep earnestness
impelled and fostered by indomitable perseverance; a native justice expressing
itself in correct principle and practice.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF COLORADO

ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME II
CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1918

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