Pueblo-Las Animas County CO Archives Biographies.....Wall, Norval Wilson 1848 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 December 21, 2008, 3:13 am

Author: Wilbur Fiske Stone (1918)

NORVAL WILSON WALL.

    Norval Wilson Wall, a civil engineer and architect of marked ability,
practicing his profession in Colorado with offices and residence in Pueblo, was
born in Baltimore, Maryland, September 13, 1848, a son of Jacob and Sarah Anne
(Deems) Wall, the latter a daughter of Colonel Jacob Deems, who won fame as an
officer in the War of 1812. Frederick Deems, great-grandfather of our subject,
served throughout the Revolutionary war with the Third Pennsylvania Regiment,
thus actively assisting in winning independence and liberty for the colonies.
The Deems family comes of Holland ancestry.

    To Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Wall were born eleven children, six sons and five
daughters, of whom Norval Wilson is the youngest. In the city schools of
Baltimore he pursued his education, and also under private instruction, and with
natural talent and inclination for engineering work, he early specialized in
that direction. He acquainted himself with the major points of civil engineering
by practical work under the directions of Major Nathaniel H. Hutton and John
Murdoch. He attained a high degree of efficiency and became an assistant to the
officers of the engineer corps of the United States army, after which he
rendered extensive service in connection with river and harbor work. His father
was an architect and he also developed ability in that direction. In 1874 he
accepted a position with the Baltimore Bridge Company, but at the same time
opened and maintained a private office until July, 1876, when he decided to
remove from Maryland to Colorado.

    On coming to this state Mr. Wall first settled in Trinidad, where he filled
the office of United States deputy surveyor, and in that connection subdivided
public lands both in Colorado and New Mexico. He was also employed in mining
work, mostly in the coal mines of southern Colorado, and has located and
constructed irrigating ditches and reservoirs. He has been engaged in the
location and construction of various railroads in Colorado and New Mexico, and
has furnished plans and specifications for public and private enterprises. In a
word, there came to him ready recognition of his ability as a civil engineer and
as an architect, and the work entrusted to him was of a most important
character. Recognition of his power and skill came to him in his election to the
office of county surveyor of Las Animas county on two different occasions. He
was also city engineer of Trinidad at various intervals through a period of ten
years. During 1898 and 1899 he was connected with the engineering department of
Colorado Springs, and then removed to Pueblo, where he has since resided. He is
regarded as an expert on hydraulic work, and his cooperation and opinions along
that line are much sought after. Moreover, he is a student of archaeology and is
thoroughly informed concerning Colorado's early history. He has many interesting
old views of the state and has been a close student of its development and of
those sciences which have had to do with the formation of the natural resources
of the state.

    In November, 1883, Mr. Wall was married to Miss Elizabeth Henderson, who was
born in Renfrewshire, Scotland. His political allegiance is given to the
republican party and his religious faith is that of the Episcopal church. Mr.
Wall is a member of the Colorado Society, Sons of the American Revolution, to
which his distinguished war ancestry entitles him, and is secretary and
registrar of Pueblo Chapter, and also on the board of managers, taking a deep
interest in this historical organization. He is regarded as a man of sterling
worth in all matters of citizenship. Nothing can cause him to deviate from a
course which he believes to be right between himself and his fellowmen. He is
just, fair and impartial, and there are none who know him who do not have the
most implicit trust in him. His post graduate work in the school of experience
has placed him in the front rank of professional men in the state, and he is a
pioneer of Colorado who for more than forty years has rounded out an active and
useful career in every field of civil engineering and is considered one of the
oldest civil engineers in the state, in point of practice and residence.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF COLORADO

ILLUSTRATED

VOLUME III

CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1918


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