Additional information on A. M. Ginn

ADDn'IOl'fAL IIFOIIIATIOB Oll' A. Mo GlD

On

hia

retirement ae

manager

ot

the Bayru.od., Rebr • ., tac't017 He.rob l., A. NQ

Ginn will

Ofl:l!'r1

with

him the beat

wishes

ot

the marq

people who hfl'le tollowd h1a

outetanding oareer

with The Great Westen Sugar Company.

Ginn o•• to Baton., Colo.,

1n

1902 f'rom his birthplaoe in Warwick,

Maryland., al.&o the boJ'hood home

ot

BoJden

L Nareh., tormer

db'eotor

ot The

Great

Western Sugv Com.pt!l.?11', now ret1red., and P~ul B. Marsh, present

cashier at the Billings tact01"1.

Ginn

had

gone

to Baton to Join his ooua1n.,

J1m

Re:nolds.,

who later

worked

tor

the

augar comp&n7. While the Eaton fac'tor7 wu

beiag

cor:urtruoted, J"OL:.S Ginn worked as

,rater bo7 and tool 110nke7. Be

then

started vork1ng for

vhat vu

mown

as the Big

store

aa olerk

and

delivery

bo:, and

in September., 1902.,

bad

the

diat1not1on

of

de-livering

to a Col. Plattner, ohief cook at the Eaton Rench, a mile last ot tovn., the

firat

bag

ot

sugar

ner

produced b;r the

Eaton

tactor'y ..

M'ter

attond1ng Cutler

.Aoad.emy

1n Colorado Springs

and

working

1n Greele7,

Ginn

entered

Great Western a«rY1oe at sterling 1n 1905, the ~ar of

oonstruct1on there.

ln

1906

he vaa

head bookkeeper

at

J'o.rt

Morgan, beg1nnins

a

period

<:t

continuous

em-plo,aent

vh1oh

hae lasted more than

1'3

years.

lie

waa IUMie cashier at Port Morgan in

1910

and

vu tranaterred

to Gering u oaah1er 1n 1914.

In

1916

he

beo8118

unager at

Baya.rd

and

vu

tranllt'erred

to Mitchell aa mamtSff

1n

1919.

Then

he &er9'ed at Sootteblutt

and Gering aa

1Dlll18ge1' and 1n

1927

went

to Bayard as

•anaser

at

BaJ'&?'(l and

Minatare.

Mr.

and

Mrs,, Ginn v1ll retire to

their 470-acre fat'll "Bl Rancho de lu. Borregas.,"

to

raise

pure-bred sheep, sugar beete

and

teed cattle and sheep both on a

pt"i"Yate

and

comntero1al eoale.,

meanwhile

cont1nu1ns

u an

additional hobb7

the

growing

ot

as

ll1ml7

epao1ea

and

variet1ee

ot

trees which

lllB.7 be found

to t:m.-1ve

in

the Western llebraeka

area.

Adolphus Ginn:

Born February 18, 1885.

Attended Warwick, Maryland Grammar School At~ended Cutler Acactenw (1 semester).

September,

190~

-

Sterling Sugar Co. - Construction work.

June,

1906 - Bookkeeper at Ft. Morgan (.Permanent Employment date = 6/06) until 1910

-became Cashier of Ft. Morgan in 1910 and transferred to Gering as Cashier in

Vee.,

1914. In 1916.; became ••••Manager at BayardJ. transferred to Mitchell in 1919 ( sane

capacity)J transferred to Scottsbluff and Gering in Sept., 1920 as Manager;

transferred to Bayard and Minatare in 1928.

I

~ ~ ( C .

I

1--(,{

61-·t..

\

i

Adolphus 11, familiarly know a orig friends and associates, us Del, Dolf, Dolly and plaim A.M. No relation to the famous brewing fa.mi ly of ,: dolphu.s Busch, but

a,decendent of the originators of Ginn & Co., school book publishers of Boston.

Born and raised on a farm near Warwick, Cecil County, I.'./aryland. Came

to Colorado in May 1902 at the age of seventeen to join a cousin, Jim R~Jnolds, who

at thr t time was employed by the Goodan & Phillips nBig Store•1 _{at Eaton,, and who later} became bookkeeper nt the Sterlil:'€ factory and Cashier of the Eaton f ·ctory.

Boyhood school companion of Royden

K

.

Marsh, who also came to Eaton, Colorado,

in midsummer of 1902, from ·warwick, Maryland, nd who later bec::ime Cashier, _1udi tor,

Colorado District :.Ia.wger .1nd Director of the Company, but since retired • . ,nd, Paul

Marsh, now Cashier of the Company's Eilli11gs pl· nt.

First job in Colorado was with R

.

L

.

Pence, then Postmaster and store quarantined and keeper at ,ult. Left ,ult a few months later when a srtl!lll pox epidemic/closed the

one and only boarding house in 'ult. Worked as water boy and tool picker up for the

cement gJng building the concrete beet flumes at the Eaton factory then under construction. St .rted with Goodan CJ Phillips 11_{:Big Store" D.S clerk}

c nd deli very boy in e1,ter..ber 1902 ,:ind in that c p city h t:cled fro'.J ti.,_c f .cto::-~r

to

t1le stC're nd Li tGr delivered to _, custo,r:er, the FLST J3 ,G of Sl.li: r produced by the .&i.ton pLnt.

Resir;ned from the "Big Store" in the fall of 1903 to enter Cutler

-~c·.demy :::t Colorado Springs, there to rem in until r;fter the beginnint: of the second semester when overt:.ken with period of illness resulting in six weeks in hospitc.l and the end of school1stic V1ork. In the me.mtime had while living in Eaton made the

acquaint~nce, resulting in

1

.sting friendship, with Eruce Eaton, son of Ex Governor

Eaton of Colorado, and W. L. Petrikin who later directed the aff irs of the Great v;estern ~ . . . --E~i lli pi Sugor Company for so m,:u:zy yertrs, and m::rny others of that are.i, including E.W.Good,l&~l

\

After recoveril:'€ from illness, worked for the firm of Delbridge and Wilson

of Greeley, Colorado, as clerk ~.nd bookkeeper, there to learn that Mr.Buck Delbridge,

fatherinlaw of

w

.

L. Petrikin, had been a Confederate soldier and r civil wr:r prisoner

in old Fort Delaware, a Federal prison located on an islind in the Delaware river fifteen

miles from the old home near v:arwick, Maryland. Youthful am.zement was electrified by

I \

\

and eating rats for want of even the poorest of prison fare, and a detail of prison guards r nd prisoners pbying crrds on the coffin top nhile escouxting the

rem ins of a prisoner across the river for burial on the Jersey shore.

Rem"ined with Delbridge & Wilson witil September 1905, meanwhile taking boyish delight in supplying beet sugm:- to cert in customers v.ho insisted on having nothing but cane, but never knowing fue difference. Began as "1Jemporary beet clerk

during the construction year ..,t Sterling in se,)tember 1905, under R. ;:. Marsh,

Cashier and remEi.ined there unti 1 the end of the season's work in February 1906. Fram

March to June 1906 worked as all around h,,ndy m n and c!lrpenter for D. B. Delzell of Sterling, Colorado. I1et "nd 1 ter o rried

:;:r

.

Delzell' s d ughter ·;::erdns Elizabeth

on May 3rd, 1910. , ppointed head bookkeeper July 1906 t the :B'ort Iforg m f ctory

then in course of construction and thus began term of contimwus employ:nent iri th

the Great · estern 3u,; r Comp ny extendinc \ ell over 43 yea:·s.

at l<'ort •. :orct n factory

Continued : a b00,,::ceper /umlcr Fr lJ;: ,i:son, ;J ~'.i .r·,until 1910 when

was prouioted to Cashier to succeed Wi lson \'Jho \'1-...S tr~ nsferred to Lon,:; .. 1ont t o

relieve

a:r

.

..

Lnford c,t,.rk who wei.t to Sc,?ttsblu_ff s C rhier tl,c • "' .,_, J~·1 t L ctory

was .. oved from "~:.1cs, . eor s!c • Rem'ined at Fort .Uorgun witil transferred as Cashier

of the Gering plant then in the initinl st.ges of construct ion in December 1915, there

to join Construction Superintendent Bob Miller 2nd form :.' team which continued in the

construction end of the sugnr business for several years following. 1

,fuile living in

Gering helped org~nize and bee me ~ charter member of the Scottsbluff Country Club, with

H. G. Leavitt, Cr ie McCreary, Jack Gr1Ves .snd tn'.HJY others. Transferred to Bay· rd as

Resident :3n1ger, under Edmund Simmons, District L:ancger, in the fall of 1916 to help in the construction of th~-t pl. nt. Tr"nsferred to jjii;chell in December 1919 when thnt factory was moved from Missoula, 1rontana. Rem ... ined ~, t lli. tchell until th3t pl1:mt beg .n

.operating in 1920 ~nd then was transferred to Scottsbluff as llam.ger of Scottsbluff

While at Scottsbluff factory, from 1920 to 1927, participsted in m~ny of the Company's plans for expcnsion on the south side of the river

reaehir.g into Wyomir.g which later resulted in the construction of the Lymnn

f ictory. Was in charged of the Company's operations in the Bellefourche, South

~ I

Dakota area, froml919 ~ 1924 when thr,t district was turned over to the Uta h-Idaho Sugnr Company. Met and beci,me well acquainted during that period with

Capt. Seth Bullock, owner of the eleven hundred acre ranch which the Company

acquired in the Bellefourche district, and who was Sheriff at Deadwood in the

days of Wild Bill '.Ind Calamity Jane. -~lso, while t Scottsbluff, was c chnrter

member of the Sccttsblu.ff Li 011s Club, Member of the building committee of the

/ [.nd Jtember of buildir.g committee of the Presbyterian Church

new Methodist Hospital, President of the Scottsbluff Country Club and club

golf champion for five years straight, during which tirre additional land was acquired and the course enlarged to eighteen holes. While president of the clu~during this

period, personally surveyed and lnid out the eighteen hole course, which remains,

planned

with a few minor chnnges, as it was/in that day • . :.1so, built the entrance arch

commonly referred to by Tom Green and other fellow club members as the "Arch of

Adolphus". The club has since become one of centers of attraction for social

and for

recreation in/the entire Valley.

Transferred to Bayard as I\lanager o:f Bayard and Min"t.r.re L ctories

in 1927 after h1ving helped in the resumption of construction of Minatare plant

in 1922

in 1926-27, following suspension/or operations begun there in 1921. Continued as

Manager of Bayard and Mina t,ire until l\fa.rch 1st 1950. During course of employment

at Bayard, had ,.in important port in :ext:e:mtt-q:,c initiating the growing of beets :bl:x:

under

:.tu pump irrigation in the Alliance-Hemingford area, where the acreage has increased

Acquired in 1937-39 three farms r mile north of Bayard consisting of 470

acres, most mt all of which is irrigated under the Farmers Irrig:.tion System, there

to begin a program of improvement and better.rmnt v.hich h s resulted in materially

increased produ.cti vi ty of the land through systenn.tic application of soil conservation,

livestock feeding nd other practices designed to improve the general fertility level

of the soi 1.

Was one of the first to recognize the v .l ue of soil conservation irethods

as originated lander the

CCC

and hns since continued in close h ,rmony with pproved soil

conservation ::'ractise ;.nd development, including the use of irrig ted pasture and livestock

raising. One of the first to become interested in the Government shelter belt program, with

an initial pl nting of ore mile of tree belt in 1938, which h~s since been increased to

nearly three miles in addition to m·my thou.sands of trees planted for feed yard windbreaks

nnd for l .ndscaping r;nd general improvement of the appearance of the farms.

Vii th a rdlroa.d loading chute r-nd holding pens located directly on the farm,

and with an efficient system of lanes .nd driveways connecting the several feed yards, sheds

0)

·..-i

0)

0

and pastures, the farm has become one of the best equipped in the valley for the feeding of -1-"

U)

1i vest ock, with potential facilities for handling up to twenty thousand sheep

a

m

one thousand

cattle. modern feed grinding and mixirig pbnt now in course of construction wi 11 add

~ C) ~ 0 '"O ~

materially to the efficiency of the entire setup. -,fuile the farming operations are conducted C:l

both priv.te

by the owner as a private enterprise, mostly through tenants, the feeding operations/are

conducted by the Bayard Land & Livestock Company, a corporation organized four years ago and

owned jointly by A.i:J.Ginn and Johh R. Jirdon of :ilorrill, Nebraska. It has been successfully

dem-onstrated on this f0 nn that irrie;ated pasture nnd sugar beets in proper rotation provide a

practical system of operation both from the standpoint of returns ,nd preservation of soil

fertility, and in conjunction vdth shelter belts this system has brought about a worthwhile

lessening

'-- '-- '-- _ _

~---of damage through soil erosion which has t,·ken such a toll throughout the

v lley in recent years when the tendency has been to over plant to row crops.

Accomp~nying phot0t,"Taphs show the effective use of shelter belts snd windbreaks on these farms •

n interesting hobby has been the rnising of pure bred sheep, with four distinctive breeds now on the farm. ,nother hobby is the propag tion of trees, both for windbreak and ornament 1 u.se. Now has over five thousand small trees of me..ny

varieties growing in five gallon tin cont2-iners. Seedlings ire set in these CE n%nd

grown in the nursery under conditions \'lhich insu.re maximum protection and attention

for one to four years and then placed in perm,,nent loc•.1tions by setting can and all, which c ).n be done in July as well as .:.pril, with the result th ... t the tree has every chance to survive even the most severe drouth conditions and '7i thout irrig~ tion.

The C'n soon rusts and supplies iron to the soil, meannhile the roots of the young

tree find their way through openings cut in the bottom of the can when the seedling

is first planted. Ginn hes fou.nd this e. pleasurable hobby ~nd hrs :: \'lide variety of species of both evergreen nnd broadleaf to sho~ for his efforts. Probably as mnny as tv10 hundred or more v~rieties of trees and shru.bs now growing on llihese farms and in the private nursery. I,:any of the trees no·., growing on the Bayard factozy grounds were grown in this nursery fror1 seed. Dr. Hildreth of the Government Borticultural Experiment st tion t Cheyenne '.nd Earl Maxwell,

rmK

Nebr~ ska Std e B:-,tcnsi on Forester, have visited and ad:.,ircd these tree plantings.

His retire .. ent fro~ the active duties envol ved in a lifetL1e of Sug0r Frctory service .wsrks the beginning of a more concentr2:ted effort in a field v1hich

to him is both voc·tion and avocation, v,here f r rning, livestock feeding, trees, <>nd pu.re bred sheep, re of prim .ry interest. Mr. & :i11:'s. Ginn vli.11 rem!:in es residents of this community . s proprietors of El Rancho de :Bora.gas where at some not too distant future they hope to hc.ve quarters fitting the v elco:n~ospi tali ty of their ,n::c ny friends•

A. ·-· Ginn, born nnd raised on a farm near Wurwi ck, Ceci 1 County, ( Eastern

boyhood

shore; county seat Elkton, the r~mous, or infi,.mous, Gretna Green, 9.lso the/home of

Royden :: • ..::.Srsh, :::ormer official and director of the Comp ,ny nov, retired, , nd Paul H.

l.Iarsh, present Cashier of the Billings factory • . ,ccoro.ipg to an article, with maps,

appearing in National Geographic "1agazine a few years ago, Warwickt named for the

English Earl of Warwick, a decendent of Lord Calvert, was on a route taken by George

Washington on one or more of his early surveying trips.

at

tho age of seventeen

Came to Eaton, Colorado May 2nd, 1902/to join a cousin Jim Reynolds who at

that time was employed by the Goodan & Phillips "Big Store" and who later bJ.came

bookkeep-er and Cashier for the Company t Sterli!€ & Eaton.

First job upon reaching Colorado was with R. L. Pence, then Postmaster and

store keeper at \ult. Resigned after e few months to take a job as water boy and tool

monkey for the cement g">ng building beet flumes at Eaton factory which was then under

construction. Stirted working for the Big State as clerk and deli very boy in September

via horse & wagon

1902 and in th·,t c~paci ty hauled from f ctory to store and later delivered/to &fol. Plattner,

chief cook at the Eaton ranch , mile east of town, the first BAG OF SUGAR produced by

the Eaton fqctory. ( a paragraph to this effect ~ppeared in some early history notes of

Eaton in an issue of the ~c. ton Her:..ld so, .• ( ~-t,1..rs .,b ,:,)

Resigned the 11_{J,ig Store" job in Septer;1bcr}

19v3 to o:1te:e :J.:.tl..Jr .• c !.3

v

at

Colorado Springs. In the t',eur.tir::c ho.d bece,Lc \ ell "c;r:_~.c.L .. tct1

itl 1:1.c frrmed a' lasting

friendship with Bruce Eaton, \1. L. Petrikin, 1~. · •• Goodan, T. C. Phillips ""'nd others of

the ..:.:i\ton C:).!l.'l1J_1i ty.

Extended period of i l lness soo1. i::.ftcr the 1;cciiu.il,£.; cf tr.J rec011C PJrmr~";0'1"

;,..h with Delbridge & Wilson, ,,s book\::;e:;_:ier .:1-ld. ,::le:t:<:. l,s;;·:t

t~

..,

·~-:

·

1 _{ir~ r' c·'; ~r.,· as}

temporary beet clerk under

.

r.:

.

warsh, On.shier, in S0pte.:1bor 1905, t1_{1c Je:...r of c )tis tr} 1ction •

. L.u

. rl ~::;entsr f:)r J. ~. ~3lza11

_.

_,

.

.

.

·:,nile working for .i...ll'. Delzell, · iet c.nd lG.ter ru.r:cied his d,:.10.::1t 1:r.':

\1or:Ln :.i:lizaoeth . .... ::~rried ...;by 3rd, l'.Jl,) ,,,hile o.,,)lo:rud . s Ju. ·lli~J:r .:·~ J?o:,.'t •.• br__; n •

..,...:-J.Je::

Jegrn as head bookkeeper rot Fort jforgan f wtory, t1Hm :j:..Y:3:&:~;;i;ldm-0:g

Great r·estern SugJr Company which h.·s l,::stetl. wull ove1· ,1,3 ~:re-rs • • J,r·L._{0 .} .Ji10h of

l;'1is tine in the constr:.w·tion e~1.d Gi' t1,o business with Bob ... 1illcr construction

affairs at a factory already built. ...1ade Gs.shier in l:'. l:J ,hem :;;':;__·.mk \Ji lso:,.1 ·rmt

t

0·>)1

·.

:

1::11J ··Ju.i 1_ :; • At Gering froin December 1915 to l· te tho folloHing =,rea.r ns

!;·;. ""' ·': ';--\.1.i.,·G~-;_~;-'::;:o.d.

Ja.shier. Then to .3a;v .rd as Resident .. tan c:er/in lS,'lG, 113·:t t) .... itchell s -~.i.:;i 1_.:: .. 1t

'

...

·

.

....:..--lJ.J.

ter ,'i

tnr;r

,

t;h,...

\vill retire to , 7'.., c.cro :i:\-J.::.',J, ":i:l ... l 1,1cllo 1a 1 .s .Bo:.·:c..·3_;_,s'' to

• .i. · hobby, the growing of