Utah Biographies ~ Park to Powers

Park, Boyd

Boyd Park is one of the most prominent jewelers in the United States, and his establishments in Salt Lake City and Denver, Colorado, are second to none in the jewelry trade. Mr. Park is a native of Scotland, and was born at Ellerslee, December 28, 1837, being at the present writing nearly seventy-two years of age and still actively engaged with the business founded by him nearly forty years ago. He is a son of Alexander Park, who conducted a silk weaving establishment at Ellerslee, Scotland, and Margaret Stephenson Park.

Mr. Park received his education in the schools at Bridge of Weir, Scotland, and his first occupation was working in the silk mills of his native place. In May, 1849, while still a boy, he arrived in New York City, and began the career which was destined to make him a successful man. Shortly after his arrival in this country he went to Troy, New York, where he learned the jeweler's trade thoroughly, with the firm of William L. Adams. Starting as an apprentice in 1852, he worked his way to the top. He remained there until 1862, when he removed to Poultney, Vermont, and became associated with Jervis Joslin, remain-ing there until the spring of 1866, when he went to Denver, Colorado, and in May of that year he established the first Western store of the well-known firm of Joslin & Park. In December, 1867, he extended his business, and opened a store in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and he conducted that place while his partner, Mr. Joslin, established a like concern in Leadville, Colorado, under the firm name of Joslin & Park. In 1871 the Salt Lake establishment was opened under the same firm name, which remained until the death of Mr. Joslin, when Mr. Park purchased from his estate his interest in all of the stores, and has since continued the business, doing a manufacturing and retail business of great magnitude. The manufacturing department is one of the best equipped and does the largest volume of business of any house west of Chicago.

Mr. Park is one of the best known and most respected citizens of the inter-mountain country, and is always foremost in any movement for the public good and welfare of Salt Lake City. He was a member of the Library Board for several years, was president of the Bank of Commerce for a number of years, and has been, and is now, actively identified with many of Salt Lake City's largest industries.

Mr. Park was married in January, 1869, to Miss Jennie Culver, of an old American family dating back to Revolutionary times, and to them were born two children: Samuel C. and Margaret B. Park. Mr. Park is a member of the Alta and Commercial clubs, and of the Masonic fraternity, being a Knight Templar and a Mystic Shriner.

Pollock, James A.

Probably one of the most successful business men in Salt Lake City today, and one who is respected and admired by all on account of his scrupulously honest methods and fair dealing is James A. Pollock, president of the Salt Lake Stock and Mining Exchange and also of James A. Pollock & Company, bankers and brokers. That this latter business is the largest in the inter-mountain region is proof positive of the wonderful keenness and aggressiveness of the man.

Born in Pike County, Missouri, forty-one years ago, he was educated in St. Louis. He remained in that city until 1889, when he went to Denver, and in the following year came to Salt Lake, where he has been ever since. At the time that he came here the Salt Lake Stock and Mining Exchange had just started, and Mr. Pollock was made secretary. The opportunity for a bank and brokerage firm appealed to Mr. Pollock, and within a year after his arrival here he established his business. At the time of the establishment of the company there were very few Utah stocks which were known outside the State, but with the foresight that characterized all of his acts, he set to work to make Utah stocks known all over the country. In this he has been eminently successful and those in a position to know state authoritatively that Mr. Pollock has done more than any other one man in placing before the Eastern investing public the many excellent propositions within the boundaries of this State.

His place of business on West Second South Street is always a scene of great activity. Realizing the possibilities of the city and State and the necessity for things modern and up to date, Mr. Pollock, in 1903, established the first private wire system in the inter-mountain country, and today there is not an important financial center in the country with which he is not connected. Always alert and eager to boost the city of which he is so proud, Mr. Pollock has by his efforts brought more millions into the State than any other one man.

Mr. Pollock does not bother in politics, but is an ardent worker for anything that is for the building up of the city. The only office which he holds is the presidency of the Salt Lake Stock and Mining Exchange. He has held that office for many years and the members of the Exchange do not seem disposed to let him retire, as he is recognized as an authority on all Western securities.

Socially Mr. Pollock is well known and belongs to many clubs, both here and in California. He is a member of the Alta, Country Club, and also of the Country clubs of Pasadena and Santa Barbara, California, at which places he spends a portion of each year.

Although a young man, Mr. Pollock has been uniformly successful in all of his ventures, and he is today one of the prosperous men of Salt Lake. He has a legion of friends and they predict for Mr. Pollock a future full of successes.

Porter, Sam S.

In Sam S. Porter, manager of the Kenyon Hotel, Salt Lake City has an example of that younger set of business men which plays such an important part in industry, and particularly in Western industry; for it is often a matter of remark that much of the success of the West is due to the fact that young men are at the head of its important institutions.

Mr. Porter is a native of Chicago, where he was born in 1876. His father is Don H. Porter, proprietor of the Kenyon Hotel, a man of strictly business affairs, who is of a benevolent disposition, and a man widely known, particularly as "mine host of the Kenyon," and Sam has been raised "to the manor born" and drilled on the lines that the hotel business does not entirely mean a mere livelihood, but to know it well and to make it justly and liberally a profession and an art.

The Porters came to Salt Lake City about 1892 or 1893, and their son received his education in the Salt Lake City public and high schools and at the University of Utah.

Of an active disposition, and possessed of a good physique, Mr. Sam Porter at college was interested in athletics, and won early distinction for himself as a member of the All Hallows College and University football teams. Later he played with the Y. M. C. A. team. He also joined the National Guard of Utah, and was captain in that body for four years. When the Spanish-American War broke out, Mr. Porter was quick to answer the call of his country, and he served as quartermaster sergeant in the first Utah Volunteer Cavalry, Troop A.

In the business world, Mr. Porter got his start as a clerk with the Rocky Mountain Bell Telephone Company, leaving that to go to the war. Returning, he joined forces with his father in the Kenyon Hotel, and as manager of that hostelry he is well known to the traveling public from every part of the Union. The energy he has shown, and the popularity he has attained in his present position, presage for him a future full of success and promise.

Mr. Porter's activities have by no means been confined to the hotel field. True to a trait that is characteristic of the Western business man, he has branched out along many lines. Among the more important positions he holds with other enterprises are those of member of the Executive Committee of the Pittsburg-Salt Lake Oil Company, secretary and treasurer of the Rexall Silver and Copper Mining Company, and vice-president of the Wasatch Electric Company.

And not only in the business field have Mr. Porter's qualities won for him both popularity and success. From his college days to the present he has been a leader in the social sets in which he has moved. He is a well-known and popular member of the Country Club, and in the Commercial Club his business acumen and energy have long been recognized.

Mr. Porter was married to a Chicago girl, Miss Amy F. Bersbach, and they have two baby daughters, Helen May Porter and Lilian Claire Porter. His pretty residence, in the fashionable quarter of the city, East South Temple Street, has been the scene of many an enjoyable and select social function.

Powers, O. W.

Judge O. W. Powers, one of the most prominent jurists of Utah, was born June 16th, 1850, at Pultneyville, Wayne County, New York, near Palmyra. His ancestors occupy honorable places in the history of England and Ireland, and many of them appear conspicuously in Colonial and Revolutionary times.

In the place of his birth he passed his early boyhood with his parents, who were farmers. He secured his early education at a district school and at Sodus Academy and the Marion Collegiate Institute of Wayne County.

Determining to become a lawyer, Mr. Powers procured a copy of the Revised Statutes of New York, which he studied very sedulously. At the age of eighteen he was given his choice of taking a course at Cornell University or the University of Michigan. He chose the latter, and graduated in 1871.

After his graduation Mr. Powers returned home and worked on the farm for a time, in order to obtain the means with which to begin the practice of law.

In 1873 he removed to Kalamazoo, Michigan, landing there with less than one hundred dollars, and with no experience either at the bar or in a law office. He succeeded in obtain-ing a position as clerk with the law firm of May & Buck, and received for his services his board and permission to sleep in a room back of the office. After three months they allowed him a salary of ten dollars per month in addition to his board and lodging, requiring him, however, to put into the firm five hundred dollars worth of law books, which he procured by borrowing the money.

He advanced rapidly in his profession and was soon ably handling important cases. In the midst of his law practice, he found time for some political work. In 1874 he took the stump for the Democratic Party, and was thereafter a member of every Democratic State Convention of the State of Michigan, and for many years held the position of County Chairman for the Democrats of Kalamazoo County, directing his party in several hard-fought campaigns.

In 1875, Mr. Powers succeeded to the business of May & Buck and associated himself with Mr. W. H. Daniels. In 1876, he was elected City Attorney of Kalamazoo. In the presidential campaign of that year, he stumped the State for Samuel J. Tilden. He also took part in the campaign in Indiana, speaking through the northern part with Governor Hendricks and Daniel W. Voorhees. A strong friendship grew up between Judge Powers and Governor Hendricks and thereafter the former was a staunch supporter of the great Indiana statesman.

In 1880, without his consent, Judge Powers was unanimously nominated for Congress from the Fourth District of Michigan, which had been almost uniformly represented by a Republican. He was defeated by Julius Caesar Burrows, now United States Senator.

In 1882, Mr. Powers wrote "Chancery, Practice and Pleading," and in 1884 he wrote "Powers' Practice," both of which are recognized authorities.

In 1884 he was elected to the Democratic State Convention and was also, the same year, one of the four delegates at large from Michigan to the Democratic National Convention at Chicago.

In 1885, he was again elected City Attorney of Kalamazoo, and during the same year he was appointed, by President Cleveland, Associate Justice of the Third District of Utah, and in May of that year he took the oath of office and entered upon his duties, with head-quarters at Ogden.

On August 16th, 1886, Judge Powers ceased his duties on the bench, and was succeeded by Judge H. P. Henderson, of Michigan. He then returned to Michigan, where he became editor of the "Daily Democrat" at Grand Rapids.

On October 26th, 1887, Judge Powers was married to Miss Anna Whipple, daughter of George Whipple, an old resident and merchant of Burlington, Iowa. They had two children, Don Whipple Powers, who died in 1889, and the other, Roger Woodworth Powers.

In 1887 Judge Powers returned to Utah and began the practice of his profession in Salt Lake City, where he has built up a large and lucrative business.

In 1888, the Liberal Party, which had been growing very strong, selected Judge Powers for its leader. He was made chairman of the Liberal Territorial- Committee, and conducted a vigorous campaign throughout Utah. In 1889, he was called upon to take the chairman-ship of the Liberal Party of Salt Lake City. He accepted and laid out the work for the hottest political campaign ever fought in Utah. The election resulted in a victory for the Liberals, for the first time in the history of the State, by a majority of 841 votes.

Judge Powers remained the leader of the Liberal Party until its dissolution, in 1892.

In January, 1897, Judge Powers was a candidate for the United States Senate, but before the balloting he withdrew in favor of Hon. Moses Thatcher. The latter was, however, defeated by Hon. Joseph Rawlins.

In 1898, Mr. Powers again became a candidate for United States Senator and was one of the leading candidates during the whole session of the legislature, which failed to elect a Senator.

On August 26th, 1899, an attempt was made by an ex-convict, named John Y. Smith to assassinate Judge Powers by means of an infernal machine loaded with giant powder and fulminating caps. The would-be assassin was captured, and the day after his conviction he committed suicide.

In 1900, Mr. Powers was appointed United States Senator by acting Governor Nebeker, but he declined the appointment. The same year he was Democratic nominee for Presidential elector. In 1904, and again in 1906, he was the unanimous choice of his party for Congress. In 1908 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, where, in a strong and eloquent speech, he seconded the nomination of William J. Bryan for President of the United States.

Judge Powers is the head of one of the leading law firms of Utah and is employed in cases of the greatest importance. His practice is very large, extending over Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, Washington and California; and comprising all branches of the law. As an advocate, he has few equals and probably no superiors; as an orator, he is forceful and brilliant. His late case at Washington, D. C., in which he secured the acquittal of Mrs. Anna M. Bradley, charged with the murder of Ex-Senator Arthur Brown, which case is still fresh in the minds of the people of the United States, is one of his most notable achievements.

Index

Source: Sketches of the Inter-Mountain States, Utah, Idaho and Nevada, Published by The Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1909