|
JAMES CUTHBERTSON, son of
William and Helen (Symington) Cuthbertson of Berwickshire, Scotland, was
born September 2nd, 1852. His father was a burgess and traces
his ancestry back to St. Cuthbert, bishop of Lindisfarne, who died Marth
20th, A. D. 687. He was consecrated at York during the Easter
festival by Theodore, arch-bishop of Canterbury, but only exercised his
Episcopal office two years. He was noted for his piety, and his austere
and secluded mode of living added greatly to the estimation in which he
was held, and as usual at that period, the performance of miracles was
freely ascribed to him. The ancestors of Helen (Symington) Cuthbertson,
mother of our subject, were given a grant of land by the crown in the 14th
century, on condition that they house and protect the traveling monks who
went about the country building abbeys and cathedrals. It is worthy of
note that for centuries there has been a Helen in the Symington family and
its various branches. Berwickshire is a maritime county of Scotland,
forming its southeastern extremity, and has a notable history. The county
derives it name from the borough of Berwick, one of the few remaining
walled town in the United Kingdom. The town suffered much during the
Border wars. Lauder is the name of the village in which Mr. Cuthbertson
was born and here he received his education. He emigrated to the United
States in his youth, stopping in New York city, going thence to Chicago in
1871, shortly after the big fire in that city. He came to Fort Collins (Larimer
CO, Colorado, USA) in 1872 and located on a tract of land three miles
southeast of Fort Collins which he improved and successfully cultivated
for nearly thirty years. About ten years ago he sold his farm and
purchased another near Timnath on which he now resides. He has been a
successful farmer and stock feeder and has amassed a comfortable
competence. He ranks high as a citizen, farmer, friend and neighbor and is
warmly esteemed by all who know him. He is a man of strong convictions and
is ready at all times to defend his opinions by fair, intelligent argument
in which he is seldom worsted. Mr. Cuthbertson has never married and is
therefore heart whole and fancy free. Politically, he is a republican of
the strictest sort and while he takes an active interest in public affairs
and is well informed upon all important public questions, he has never
been an office seeker and has never held a public office. He prefers the
condition of an independent sovereign to that of public serf. Fraternally,
Mr. Cuthbertson, is a Master Mason, a Royal Arch Mason and a Knight
Templar, being a member of Collins lodge No. 19, A. F. & A. M.; Cache la
Poudre chapter No. 11 R. A. M. and of De Molay commandry No. 13, K. T.,
all of Fort Collins. He is warm hearted, genial gentlemen, a prince
socially and has host of friends in Larimer county, of which he has been a
resident for nearly forty years. |
