Individual Details

Ozias Dow Sebree

(February 18, 1839 - 1909)

"Ozias D. Sebree of Carbondale one of Garfield county's most wide-awake, enterprising and successful cattle-growers, whose life in this state has been full of usefulness in developing its resources and promoting the interest of its people, was born at Canton, Fulton, Illinois, on 18 Feb 1839 and acquired business capacity and enterprise in a store conducted by his father in that city, and strength of body and independence of spirit on a farm. His parents Robert T. and Elizabeth (Ryan) Sebree, were natives, respectively, of Ohio and Kentucky, but reared in Virginia. They settled in Illinois in 1836, and there the father was a successful merchant and also connected with other enterprises in which he was prosperous. Both were member of the Baptist Church. They had seven children, five of whom have died. The two living are George and Ozias, both residents of Colorado. The mother died in 1863 and the father in 1881. Their son Ozias received a good public school education in his native town, and when he was fourteen took a position in his father's store, but he was unable to continue long at the confining work, and in order to restore his failing health went to work on a farm. After a few years of the exhilarating life in the open air thus available to him he accepted another mercantile position as traveling salesman for an omnibus line at Kansas City, serving with satisfaction to the company from 1869 to 1874. In the year last named he came to this state, and after a short stay at Denver, moved to Colorado Springs, where he was connected with a transfer company two years and a half. He then moved into the Arkansas Valley and became interested in the toll road on Cottonwood pass in partnership with Charles Holmes. Not long afterward to sold his interest in the enterprise at a good profit, and going to Free Gold, where Buena Vista now is, he opened a grocery which he sold after operating it profitable a year, disposing of his interest to his partner, Charles Holmes. He then began freighting between Leadville and Canon City and Colorado Springs, and in this enterprise was very successful, but he sold his outfit a year and a half later and became interested in a sawmill business conducted by the Fasson Company. In the spring of 1880 he quit this company and located at Aspen, where he devoted some time to prospecting. In the autumn of 1881 he located a homestead nine miles northwest of Aspen, and two years later he sold the improvements he had made on it and abandoned it. In the meantime he was conducting a feed store at Aspen, which he continued to carry on until 1888, then rented it until 1892, giving his attention to training horses for the racetracks. In 1893 he sold the feed business and began devoting his entire time to training horses and raising cattle and ranching on a place which he now owns and which is two miles and a half southeast of Carbondale. This comprises one hundred and fifteen acres and yields excellent crops of hay, grain, and potatoes, and gives a generous support to his herds, which are profitable. He is a man of public spirit and a Republican in politics. On November 7, 1903 he was married to Mrs. Alberta (Grubb) Winters, a native of Pennsylvania and a daughter of Edward and Sarah Jane Grubb, also born in that state. They moved to Mandato, Minnesota, in 1867 and there the father (Edward Grubb) followed his trade as a tanner. Four of their nine children survive him he having died on April 20, 1899. The mother (Sarah Jane) now makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Sebree. Her living children are Lloyd, Eugene, Alberta and Josephine, the last named being the wife of Eugene Silvester, of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mrs. Sebree has been during the past ten years the postmistress at Carbondale, and during the last five the town clerk. She is an accomplished lady and a popular official in a manner that is creditable to her and satisfactory to the patrons of both. Mr. Sebree is highly esteemed as a businessman and a good citizen, and has the confidence and goodwill of the whole surrounding county in the midst of which he has for a number of years lived and labored." (Sebree, Ozias D, 1905 Biography, Garfield County, Colorado.)

Events

BirthFebruary 18, 1839Canton, Fulton County, Illinois
MarriageNovember 7, 1903Garfield County, Colorado - Alberta Louise Grubb
Death1909Colorado
BurialCarbondale, Garfield County, Colorado

Families

SpouseAlberta Louise Grubb (1857 - 1948)
FatherRobert T. Sebree (1812 - )
MotherElizabeth Ryan (1813 - 1867)
SiblingGeorge M. Sebree (1841 - )
SiblingSt. Clair S. Sebree (1842 - )