by Charles W. Bowman
Biographies
FRED H. POMEROYMr. Pomeroy's parents came from Granby, Conn., to Portage County, Ohio, about 1830, where he was born January 25, 1834; there he lived until he was ten years old. His parents died when he was quite young, and he was obliged to find a home among strangers. This he did until he was seventeen years of age. In 1851, he removed to Kendall County, Ill., where he lived with an older sister seven years. Mr. P. then went to Minnesota and remained one year in the lumbering district. After a short visit to his former home in Illinois, he came direct to Denver, paying $30 in gold for the privilege of driving an ox team across the plains. Soon after his arrival in Denver, he went to the mountains and worked in the mines by the day. He bought a claim in company with other men for which they paid $600. It was not a money-making scheme. He was more successful in a quartz mill, after which he was engaged with others mining in Musquito Gulch. For eighteen months following he was wagonmaster of a train that ran between St. Joseph, Nebraska City and Denver. He then took a train of ox teams and carried corn from Julesburg along the stage line on the Salt Lake road. This work ended in spring of 1864. Mr. P. then went in company with Joshua Guest in general jobbing business in Nevada City, Gilpin Co., Colo. He went to Denver for the purpose of buying a team. It was at the time of the Indian war in Southern Colorado, and a regiment of 100-day men was being formed. He saw three families that had been brought into Denver in a mutilated condition, from the Indians, which stirred his anger to an enlisting point, and he joined the regiment at once, and participated in the Sand Creek engagement. He was discharged at the end of the one hundred days, and went to the mountains and freighted the balance of the winter. He was obliged to work horses as the cattle had been killed by the storms. Mr. P. then engaged in the butchering business, wholesaling and retailing beef in Nevada City. In this occupation he was engaged six years. At the end of this period, Mr. Pomeroy went to work for H.S. Holly & Co., as foreman of their cattle ranch. He was married February 6, 811. For ten years he was engaged as foreman. Much of the success of handling stock depends upon the men who have the constant care of them while on round-ups and at other times, and the foreman is largely responsible for the whole. Mr. Pomeroy has been very successful in the position he has held for more than a decade.
