Laramie County WY Archives Biographies.....Carey, Joseph M. 1845 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/wy/wyfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 July 21, 2008, 3:43 am

Author: Bowen & Co. (1903)

HON. JOSEPH M. CAREY.

   Upon the magnificent roll of the founders and builders of the prosperity and
existence of the young state of Wyoming stands no more conspicuous or worthy
name than that of Hon. Joseph M. Carey, whose services to the territory and
state have been of most distinguished order, and whose prominence and power in
public, civic and industrial circles have been far-reaching and distinctive from
early pioneer days until the present. It is not our desire to enter into a
prolix encomium upon this sterling, symmetrical. many-talented man, but to
record in plain and concise form the statement of his life to serve as memorial
and incentive in after years, as a portion of the just history of Cheyenne and
the state. Senator Carey descended from the old-time English family of that
name, its residence on American soil, however, dating back to an early period in
the settlement of the Old Dominion, where it soon attained position and
standing. The ancestors of ex-Senator Carey inclined to merchandising and
agriculture and became merchants of Delaware, where his grandfather, Joseph
Carey, was born and passed his life in mercantile and agricultural pursuits. He
died in 1838. The father of the ex-Senator Carey, Robert H. Carey, born 1811,
died 1891, succeeded to the merchandising interests of his father and conducted
successful business in Sussex county, Del., in which state he also passed his
life, marrying there Miss Susan P. Davis, born 1813, died 1881, also a member of
an old Colonial family, and rearing four sons and two daughters. The subject of
this sketch was born on January 19, 1845, in Sussex county, Del., and here he
received his early educational training at public and private schools. Following
these advantages he became a student at the Fort Edward (N. Y.) Collegiate
Institute, where he was fitted for Union College, located at Sehenectady, N. Y.,
where he was in diligent study from 1863 until 1865. This college made him an
honorary chancellor in 1894 and conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Law.
He began the technical study of the law in the office of Benjamin F. Temple in
Philadelphia, Pa., thereafter continuing instruction under the direction of W.
L. Dennis and Henry Flanders, leading attorneys of that city, and in the law
department of the University of Pennsylvania, acquitting himself with credit and
being graduated therefrom in 1867. Being thus well fortified and equipped for
his chosen profession, he was engaged in legal practice in Philadelphia until
1869. During this period he had an admirable preparation for his subsequent
useful career in Wyoming, as by active practice and attention, to business
matters in Philadelphia he was well educated for western life. When he was a
student in the lawyers' offices in Philadelphia and after his admission to the
bar he made political speeches and canvassed portions of Pennsylvania and New
Jersey. In May, 1869, Wyoming was organized as a territory. Mr. Carey becoming
the first U. S. attorney for the new territory and he took an active interest
and part in bringing order out of chaos. He was well qualified for the position.
He prosecuted violators of the law in all the counties of the new territory. His
official labors were discharged with ease, promptly and always with satisfaction
to the people and the government he represented. In recognition of his ability
and services, in 1871, when he was less than twenty-eight years of age, he was
again honored by President Grant by an appointment as an associate justice of
the Supreme Court of the territory. This office he held until 1876, fidelity to
his duties and an appreciation of their responsibilities marking his full term
of office. The centennial year witnessed the retirement of Judge Carey from both
judicial office and the practice of law, his energies thereafter being expanded
in the development of the state's great industrial enterprises. He was one of
the earliest to realize the inexhaustible resources of Wyoming as a
stock-growing state and he was one of the leaders in this field of wealth, in
company with his brother, R. Davis Carey of Philadephia, in 1871 he engaged in
stock raising, their operations being very large and while they were interested
in several large companies, among these the Penn Cattle Co. and Carey Co., their
chief business has been conducted under the name of J. M. Carey & Bro., which
firm still has very large livestock interests in Wyoming and the Dakotas. The
citizens of Cheyenne honored themselves, as well as Judge Carey, when in 1880
they elected him the mayor of their progressive city, increasing this honor in
1881 by his second election to the same official station, while in 1882 they
crowned their action by choosing him as mayor without opposition for the third
time. In the mayoralty he inaugurated and carried to completion important
improvements, constructed valuable water and sewer sytems and placed the young
city easily at the front of cities of similar size and importance in the
Northwest. In 1884 he was chosen the delegate of the territory to the
Forty-ninth Congress, serving with such clear-sighted statesmanship that he held
the office by successive reelections through three eventful terms, it being his
hand that drew up and introduced to the favorable consideration of Congress the
important bill which created the state of Wyoming. It is very easy to see that,
following services of this momentous and acceptable character, that, in 1890, at
the first session of the state legislature, the distinguished delegate of the
state should receive still further honors in his election as Wyoming's first U.
S. Senator. In the dignified body of the country's leading statesmen Senator
Carey took his seat as to the manor born, discharging the duties incumbent upon
him to the certain welfare of his state, dignifying the commonwealth by his
conceded ability and holding the honors of this exalted position until 1895. His
record here is surely an enviable one. Among other measures of vital importance
to the great West he introduced and brought to successful passage the
legislation entitled the Carey Arid Land Law, the first existing declaration of
Congress upon this important question. He also was successful in obtaining the
necessary legislation under which several government buildings were constructed
in Wyoming, including the magnificent structure in Cheyenne, and in securing the
establishment of four of the goverment land-offices in the state. But to
recapitulate his  accomplishments in the U. S. Senate would be to write a
volume; suffice it to say, that here as elsewhere he won high laurels. He lost a
reelection to the Senate because of his stand in favor of the gold standard, and
in this connection he said he never proposed to be compelled to apologize to his
conscience. In business life in Cheyenne and in the state. Senator Carey has
ever been an imposing factor. He was one of the organizers of the Wyoming
Development Co. in 1885, and of this corporation, organized to develop and
advance the value of the land owned by the state, he was the honored president.
He was also the president of the Wheatland Roller Mill Co. organized in 1897,
the Wheatland Industrial Co., and with many other kindred enterprises he has
been primarily and usefully connected. His firm, J. M. Carey & Pro., erected the
Carey block in Cheyenne in 1876, the Delaware block in 1883, the opera house
block in 1896, and they purchased and rebuilt the Davis block in 1896. They have
from 1876 almost every year added to the city in the way of the erection of
residences of which the citizens are proud. As a member of the Republican party
the Judge has shown unfailing fealty, being long a member of and for many active
years the chairman of the Republican State Central Committee, while for twenty
years he was a working member of the Republican National Committee. On September
27, 1877, Judge Carey married Miss Louisa David, a native of Dubuque, Iowa, and
a daughter of Edward C. and Eliza J. David, natives of New Hampshire and
Missouri. The family became residents of Cheyenne in 187O when the father was
the surveyor general of the Wyoming territory. Two children were born to Judge
Carey and his wife, Robert Davis and Charles David. The oldest one is a graduate
of Yale University, the class of 1900, and is now at Careyhurst, Wyoming, the
manager of the J. M. Carey & Bros.' cattle interests at that place, while the
younger son was educated at the Hill school in Pennsylvania and at Yale
University. We have here given a brief synopsis of the more salient points of
the unusually full and busy life of this most eminent citizen of Wyoming. His
character in its relation to his public and business career has been
sufficiently indicated in the preceding narrative and in its relation to his
private life it has ever possessed the added grace of uniform courtesy, kindness
of heart and a sympathetic nature, binding him by the strongest ties to his
family and friends. In both of these relations he has stood unwaveringly an
earnest and true man.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF THE STATE OF WYOMING

ILLUSTRATED

A people who take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors, will
never achieve anything worthy to he remembered with pride by remote
generations.—.MACAULAY.

CHICAGO, ILL.
A. W. BOWEN &CO.
PUBLISHERS AND ENGRAVERS
1903

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wy/laramie/bios/carey9gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wyfiles/

File size: 9.9 Kb