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{{Short description|American politician (1831–1903)}}
{{other people}}
{{Infobox person
| name = <!-- defaults to article title when left blank -->
| image = William Newton Byers00.jpg
| alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
| caption = William Newton Byers
| birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name -->
| birth_date = February 22, 1831<!-- {{Birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} for living people supply only the year with {{Birth year and age|YYYY}} unless the exact date is already widely published, as per [[WP:DOB]]. For people who have died, use {{Birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}}. -->
| birth_place = [[Madison County, Ohio]], U.S.
| death_date = March 25, 1903<!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date) -->
| death_place=[[Denver]], Colorado, U.S.
| resting_place = [[Fairmount Cemetery (Denver, Colorado)|Fairmount Cemetery]]
| nationality = <!-- use only when necessary per [[WP:INFONAT]] -->
| spouse = Elizabeth (Sumner) Byers
| occupation = surveyor
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
}}
'''William Newton Byers''' (February 22, 1831, in [[Madison County, Ohio]]<ref name=Marquis>[https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinamerica02marq/page/166/mode/2up Byers, William Newton] in [[Marquis Who's Who]] (1901-1902 edition), at [[Archive.org]]</ref> – March 25, 1903) was a [[Founding figures of Omaha, Nebraska|founding figure of Omaha, Nebraska]], serving as the first deputy surveyor of the [[Nebraska Territory]], on the first [[Omaha City Council]], and as a member of the first [[Nebraska Territorial Legislature]].
He was also an early settler of [[Denver]], Colorado, and the founder and [[Editing|editor]] of the ''[[Rocky Mountain News]]'' in Denver. He was married to Elizabeth Byers who was a prominent woman in Denver for her philanthropic activities. They lived in the [[Byers–Evans House]], now a museum that is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].
==Early life==
Byers was born in Madison County, Ohio, to Moses and Mary.<ref name=Marquis/> In 1851, he moved with his parents to Iowa, and then to [[Omaha, Nebraska]], as the city was being laid out in 1854.<ref>[http://www.coloradobusinesshalloffame.org/william-n-byers.html Colorado Business Hall of Fame]</ref>
==Career==
In Omaha, he became the first deputy [[surveying|surveyor]] in the Nebraska Territory, in which capacity he created the first official [[plat]] of Omaha. A partnership with [[Andrew J. Poppleton]] led Byers to make the first map of the city of Omaha. Soon afterwards he became a member of the first city council, and a member of the first session of the Nebraska Territorial Legislature, convened January 16, 1855, in Omaha.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20061115223931/http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/timeline/byers_william_n.htm William N. Byers.]}} Nebraska State Historical Society. Retrieved 4/5/08.</ref>
In 1859 Byers moved to [[Denver, Colorado|Denver]] to take advantage of recent gold strikes in the area. Taking the printing presses of the defunct ''Bellevue Gazette'' by [[ox]][[cart]], he and J. H. Kellom were the authors of a handbook to the gold fields, published that year. Robert W. Furnas, in 1859 associated with the ''Nebraska Advertiser'', later recalled that Byers had bought the equipment of the defunct newspaper and had it taken by ox team to Denver, then in western [[Kansas Territory]], where he used it in the publication of the ''[[Rocky Mountain News]]''. ''The Rocky Mountain News'' was the first newspaper printed in Colorado; it continued publication until 2009.
In 1863 Byers purchased [[Hot Sulphur Springs]] in northern Colorado from a Minnesota Sioux woman in a shady deal, causing the real owners, the [[Ute people|Ute]] tribe, to unsuccessfully sue. Byers' plans to turn it into "America's Switzerland" were foiled by the failure of the railroad to arrive until 1928.
Byers wrote numerous editorials justifying the 1864 [[Sand Creek Massacre]], maintaining even years later that "Sand Creek saved Colorado, and taught the Indians the most salutary lesson they had ever learned."<ref>{{cite news |author1=William N. Byers |title=What White Men Have Done and Are Doing to Indians in Colorado |access-date=25 September 2023 |work=Rocky Mountain News |issue=21 |publisher=Rocky Mountain News |date=February 29, 1880 |url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=RMD18800229-01.2.34&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA--------2------ |page=3}}</ref>
==Personal life==
<!--- A redirect for Elizabeth Byers points here -->
He was married to Elizabeth Byers who came to Denver during the [[Pikes Peak Gold Rush]] when it was a small settlement of tents. It was primarily inhabited by rough men who frequented the saloons. She had rough experiences during her 60 years in Denver. She lost both of her children with William. One of their houses was lost to fire, and another was flooded. She was active in establishment of charitable organizations in Denver.<ref name="HC - Elizabeth">{{Cite web |url=https://www.historycolorado.org/event/colorado-women-lecture-elizabeth-byers/2019/11/23 |title=Colorado Women Lecture: Elizabeth Byers |website=History Colorado |access-date=February 7, 2020}}</ref> In 1860, she founded the Ladies United Aid Society.<ref name="Catlett">{{Cite book |last=Catlett |first=Sharon R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tq-lga6iFbEC&pg=PA14 |title=Farmlands, Forts, and Country Life: The Story of Southwest Denver |date=2007 |publisher=Big Earth Publishing |isbn=978-1-56579-545-7 |page=14 |language=en}}</ref> With [[Frances Wisebart Jacobs]] and [[Margaret Gray Evans]], it was reorganized in 1872 to the [[Frances Wisebart Jacobs#Denver Ladies' Relief Society|Ladies Relief Society]]. One year later, Elizabeth Byers and Margaret Gray Evans founded the Old Ladies Home.<ref name="Catlett" /> To care for homeless girls, Byers established the Home of Good Shepherds in 1885.<ref name="Catlett" />
Upon moving to Denver he built and lived in several mansions, including the one now known as the [[Byers-Evans House]]. The Byers-Evans House is now a museum, and is located next to the [[Denver Art Museum]] in downtown Denver. In 1891 Byers and his wife relocated to a mansion they built on a large tract of land at 171 S. Washington St. Byers was an avid horticulturalist and planted a wide variety of tree species on his property; he used the majority of the land plot for personal farming and gardening. After the Byers couple vacated their mansion and farm, the house was demolished and the property was dedicated to the [[Denver Public Schools]] in 1921. Some of the trees he planted may still be on the property today, around the periphery of [[Denver School of Science and Technology|DSST Cedar Middle and High Schools]].<ref name="Stone1918">{{cite book|author=Wilbur Fiske Stone|title=History of Colorado, Vol. III|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TS6U22oRZXYC|access-date=9 March 2020|year=1918|publisher=The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company|___location=Chicago|pages=499–503}}</ref> The school was originally named [[William N. Byers Junior High School]], then DSST: Byers, until 2023 when the name was changed in consideration of Byers' support for the Sand Creek Massacre.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Asmar |first1=Melanie |title=DSST school nixes namesake William Byers, Denver newspaper founder who defended Sand Creek Massacre |url=https://denverite.com/2023/07/20/dsst-school-nixes-namesake-william-byers-denver-newspaper-founder-defended-sand-creek-massacre/ |access-date=25 September 2023 |work=Chalkbeat Colorado |publisher=Chalkbeat |date=20 July 2023}}</ref> A branch of the Denver Public Library had been named for Byers, but it was renamed in 2021, also in consideration of the Sand Creek Massacre.<ref>{{cite news |title=Byers Branch Library In Denver Renamed Due To William Byers' Support Of The Sand Creek Massacre In 1860s |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/william-byers-branch-denver-public-library-renamed-history-sand-creek-massacre/ |access-date=25 September 2023 |work=CBS Colorado |publisher=CBS Colorado/ |date=25 October 2021}}</ref> Byers had a mistress, Hattie Sancomb, who tried to kill him. It created a scandal, and ended his political career, but Elizabeth stood by her husband.<ref name="Tramway">{{Cite web |url=http://fairmountheritagefoundation.org/tag/denver-tramway-company/ |title=Denver Tramway Company Archives |website=Fairmount Heritage Foundation |language=en-US |access-date=February 8, 2020|ref={{sfnref|Denver Tramway Archives}} }}</ref>
As a former territorial surveyor, it is not surprising that Byers was an accomplished outdoorsman. While living in Denver, he spent considerable time in the mountains. In 1863, the artist [[Albert Bierstadt]] asked him to serve as a guide, and he led Bierstadt on an expedition from [[Idaho Springs, Colorado]], to the summit of the mountain Bierstadt named Mount Rosalie, later known as Mount Evans, and later as [[Mount Blue Sky]]. Bierstadt's masterpiece [[:image:Bierstadt-storm-in-the-rocky-mountains-1886.jpg|Storm in the rocky mountains]] was based on that trip.<ref>William Newton Byers, Bierstadt's Visit to Colorado -- Sketching for the famous painting "Storm in the Rocky Mountains", [https://books.google.com/books?id=4fMOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA238-IA5 Magazine of Western History], Vol. XI, No. 3, Jan. 1890; page 237.</ref>
William N. Byers died on March 25, 1903, and was buried in [[Fairmount Cemetery (Denver, Colorado)|Fairmount Cemetery]] in Denver, Colorado.<ref name="Tramway" />
==Legacy==
A 1964 episode of the [[Western (genre)|Western]] [[anthology series]] ''[[Death Valley Days]]'' purported to be the story of the establishment of the ''Rocky Mountain News'', with Byers portrayed by actor [[Jerome Courtland]].
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20020116232550/http://www.denvergov.org/AboutDenver/history_char_byers.asp Byers biography]
*[https://sites.rootsweb.com/~codenver/1901_History/byers.htm Longer biography of Byers]
*{{Find a Grave|8679390}}
*[https://townofhotsulphursprings.com/ Town of Hot Sulphur Springs website]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Byers, William Newton}}
[[Category:1831 births]]
[[Category:1903 deaths]]
[[Category:Politicians from Denver]]
[[Category:History of Denver]]
[[Category:Burials at Fairmount Cemetery (Denver, Colorado)]]
[[Category:American newspaper founders]]
[[Category:Members of the Nebraska Territorial Legislature]]
[[Category:Omaha City Council members]]
[[Category:Rocky Mountain News people]]
[[Category:19th-century American businesspeople]]
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