A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 103

Author: Sanders, Helen Fitzgerald, 1883-
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1002

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When Lawrence Hauck was about fifteen years old he came to America. He made his way directly to Deer Lodge, Montana, on arriving on these shores, and since 1882 Montana has been his home.

When in the Fatherland. young Hauck had attended the public schools until the time of his departure for

America, and after locating here he decided that it would be best for him to continue his studies in Ameri- can schools, and he accordingly gave up his winters to study in the Montana College for a number of years. working on a ranch in the summer time. In 1887 he came to Philipsburg and secured a position as clerk in a store. His knowledge of the German made him a valuable salesman, and he remained there for a year, then going to Virginia City, Montana, where he ac- cepted a clerical position with S. R. Buford & Company. He continued in their service for three years and then returned to Philipsburg, where he took a similar po- sition with Freyschlag Huffman & Company. After two years in that connection he went into the First National Bank of Philipsburg in a clerical capacity, remaining with them until they went out of business. In 1898 Mr. Hauck purchased an interest in the Philipsburg Mail. A little later he bought out his partners, and for the last eight years he has been running it as owner and editor. It is an enterprising and newsy sheet under his management, and is the leading and most popular newspaper in the county today, as well as the oldest.

Mr. Hauck is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and is affiliated with Flint Creek Lodge, Hope Chapter and the Order of the Eastern Star. He is also a mem- ber of the Sons of Hermann, and is a member of the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Hauck was city treasurer for one term, and was for years a member of the county · school board, being its president for two terms. He is a Republican, and is active and helpful in all the interests of the party. He has been chairman of the county central committee for ten years, and is regarded as one of the strong men of the party in his district. In all the years that Mr. Hauck has been connected with the municipal and commercial life of Granite county, it is a noted fact that he has never once made a failure of any project he gave his aid and support to. To win the co-operation of this man to any enterprise has been to make a success of the highest order of that enter- prise. His deliberate methods, his conservatism, his excellent judgment and his unusual business acumen, all conspired, with his sturdy character, to make of his life a real and worthy success, and he is justly regarded as one whose career might in all fitness be emulated by the rising generation.

Mr. Hauck was married on August 28, 1893, at Phil- ipsburg, to Miss Dora Kroger, daughter of Charles and Anna Kroger, of Philipsburg. Five children have been born to them, two sons and three daughters. The eldest, Herman, has passed through the public schools of Philipsburg and is now attending the Granite county high school. Catherine D. is attending school, and is an advanced pupil in music, for which she shows an unusual talent. Elsie C. and Dora M. are also attend- ing school in the home town, while the youngest, John C., is not yet of school age. The family are communi- cants of the Episcopal church of Philipsburg, and Mrs. Hauck is especially active in the work of the church.

JOHN C. SORENSON. It would be far beyond the realms of necessity to introduce John C. Sorenson, the efficient and popular postmaster. to the people of Glen- dive, for during the five years that he has been the in- cumbent of his present office he has discharged the duties connected therewith in such a satisfactory man- ner as to win the entire confidence and esteem of his fellow townsmen. Mr. Sorenson was born at Ulfsten. Norway, February 24, 1861, and is a son of Soren and Helen (Ellingsen) Sorenson, natives of that place, both of whom are deceased. They were farming people and had a family of six children, of whom five still sur- vive, while John C. is the third in order of birth.

John C. Sorenson was educated in his native country. and came to the United States in 1880, on July 2nd of which year he settled in Lyon county, Minnesota. After working one year as a farm hand he removed to Fargo,

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North Dakota, but on October 25, 1882, came to Glen- dive, Montana, which city has since been his home. He first secured work in the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and in the fall of 1883 began work- ing in the mechanical department of that road. He continued in the shops and roundhouse for some years, then becoming a locomotive fireman, a position which he held until being promoted to engineer. Mr. Soren- son took his first run in the latter position July 2, 1888, and continued as freight and passenger engineer until 1900. He was hurt and when able to work again he was given the position of inspector of engines. This position he held until February, 1907, when he was first appointed postmaster, and on December 18, 1911, re- ceived his second appointment. Holding in high re- gard the responsibilities of his office, Mr. Sorenson has made a most excellent official, and the record made and maintained by him entitles him to the high regard in' which he is universally held. He has improved condi- tions in the local service in numerous ways at all times being conscientious in his regard for the public wel- fare. Fraternally Mr. Sorenson is connected with Glendive Lodge, No. 31, A. F. & A. M., Chapter No. 5, R. A. M., Damascus Commandery, No. 4, K. T., and Yellowstone Chapter, No. 5, O. E. S., of which latter his wife and daughter are also members. He belongs to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, and in politics strictly supports the principles and can- didates of the Republican party.

On February 29, 1888, Mr. Sorenson was married in Glendive, Montana, to Miss Alice Twible, who was born in Chicago, Illinois, daughter of George and Mary Twible, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of England. Mr. Twibble is now a resident of Glen- dive, but his wife is deceased. They had three children, of whom Mrs. Sorenson is the second in order of birth. Mr. and Mrs. Sorenson have had two children : Robert, who died at the age of two years, and Etta J. During his residence in Glendive Mr. Sorenson has made numerous friends, and in addition to being promi- nent in fraternal and official circles of the city, has a wide acquaintance among railroad men in this section of the state.

LEWIS H. FENSKE. Possessing the thrift, energy and enterprise which characterizes his race, Lewis H. Fenske is one of the successful business men of Bil- lings, where he has been engaged in the wholesale liquor and cigar business for thirty years. Starting in life a poor boy, with only an ordinary educational training, and no financial advantages nor influential friends to assist him, he has steadily forged his way forward, grasping opportunities as they have presented themselves, until he now stands in the front rank of the men engaged in his line of industry. Mr. Fenske was born in Brandenburg, Germany, July 7, 1854, and is a son of Lewis Karl and Rosia (Stinke) Fenske, natives of the same place.

Lewis Karl Fenske was a farmer and wagon maker by occupation in his native country, and in 1865 de- cided to try his fortune in the United States. Arriving in New York City, on the steamer "Hanzer," with his wife and six children, he made his way to Berlin, Wis- consin, and there continued in business until No- vember, 1899, following the same lines in which he had become skilled in Germany. On retiring from business activities he removed to Billings, and here his death occurred in 1908. He and his wife were consistent members of the German Lutheran church, and in polit- ical matters he was an adherent of Republican prin- ciples. Of the seven children born to Lewis Karl and Rosia (Stinke) Fenske, three are now living, namely : A. A., Lewis H. and T. H.

Lewis H. Fenske was eleven years of age when he accompanied his parents to the United States, and his education was completed in the schools of Berlin,

Wisconsin. When he had reached the age of twenty years he removed to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, at which place he learned the tinner's trade, at which he worked for about five years, and then went to Bismarck, North Dakota. At that place he began to deal in wholesale liquors and cigars, and on coming to Billings, in 1882, continued to follow the same line. As the city has grown, so has Mr. Fenske's business increased, and he now has a successful and thriving trade which ex- tends all over this part of the Yellowstone Valley. His long experience in the business has made him thoroughly conversant with every detail of this in- dustry, and the manner in which he has conducted his operations has won him recognition as a business man of the highest integrity. One of the pioneer busi- ness men of the city, he was elected the first alder- man from the First ward of Billings, and served in that capacity with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of his constituents. He is a recognized Republican leader in his district. Fraternally Mr. Fenske is affiliated with Ashlar Lodge, No. 29, A. F. & A. M .; Billings Chapter, No. 6, R. A. M .; Aldemar Commandery, No. 5, K. T., and Algeria Temple, Helena, Montana, in all of which he is very popular. In addition to the enterprise which he has built up him- self, he is interested in the oil business in Wyoming, and in insurance matters in Spokane, Washington, and is a stockholder in the Yellowstone National Bank, of which he was for some time a director.

Mr. Fenske was married in November, 1884, to Miss Virginia Ross, who was born in Minneapolis, Minne- sota, daughter of John Ross. The comfortable family home is situated at No. 3633 Montana avenue.

WILLIAM HOWARD TRIPPET, a prominent lawyer of Anaconda and a resident of the state since 1882, is a native of the Hoosier state, born near Princeton on the 18th of April, 1847. He is the son of Caleb Trippet and his wife, Mary M. (Fentriss) Trippet, who were married in Indiana in June, 1846. Caleb Trippet was born in Gibson county, Indiana, on April 19, 1818, and he lived there all his life. He was a prominent farmer and was a leader in the political life of his community, holding many important offices. He died in 1893, aged seventy-five years, and his death was felt as a great loss in the county where he had lived so long and with such worthy accomplishments. Mrs. Trippet died in 1884, nine years before her husband's death. They were the parents of eight children, William H. of this personal record being the eldest of the number.

The early education of William H. Trippet was re- ceived in the public schools of Indiana, after which he attended the state university at Bloomington, In- diana, from which institution he was graduated in 1869. He then entered the law department of the same uni- versity, graduating therefrom in 1871, receiving his degree and being simultaneously admitted to the bar of the state. He began the practice of his profession at Princeton, and there he continued until he came west. reaching Montana in 1882. He first located in Deer Lodge and in that city carried on a law practice for about fifteen years, after which he removed to Ana- conda. In the years of his association with the business activities of Anaconda Mr. Trippet has continued to merit the excellent reputation for ability and fair deal- ing that he won to himself in the previous years of his practice, and he is regarded as one of the foremost men in his profession in this section of the country, with a reputation for being invariably found defending the cause of right and justice, regardless of what the conditions or consequences may be. He is a Democrat, and has served his party in many ways throughout his career. He has filled various public offices during the past years, and always with a high degree of efficiency that has won to him the esteem and confidence of his constituents. While yet in Princeton, Indiana, he was

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prosecuting attorney for two terms, and he was attor- ney of Deer Lodge county, Montana, during three terms and city attorney in Anaconda for two terms. Mr. Trippet is not the only member of the family who has shown pronounced legal ability, his brother Oscar, who lives in Los Angeles, California, being an espe- cially prominent member of the California bar.

In October, 1876, Mr. Trippet was married at Washı- ington, Indiana, to Miss Anna Smyth Kennedy, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David H. Kennedy, recently of Florida. She died at Deer Lodge, Montana, in 1896, aged forty-nine years, the mother of three children. The eldest, Ruth, died in 1894; Ethel is the wife of M. O. Roark and is living at Lebanon, Indiana, where Mr. Roark is engaged in farming; the son, William K., married Florence Atwater, of Manchester, Iowa, and they have two children, Frank H. and William A. William K. Trippet is engaged in the lumber business at Columbia Falls, Montana, where he makes his home.

Mr. Trippet was married a second time, on October 3, 1900, to Miss Harriet McGuffey Osborne, the mar- riage taking place at Dayton, Ohio. She was for a number of years engaged as a teacher in the mission schools of the Presbyterian church. Mrs. Trippet is a niece of Dr. McGuffey, author of the widely known McGuffey readers for school use. Like her husband, she is a member of the Presbyterian church, and is an active participant in all the good works of that body.

FRED AUGUST HENDERSON. A man who has carved his own fortune and achieved business sticcess coupled with a financial competence early in life is Mr. F. A. Hender- son, retired hardware merchant of Butte, Montana. Mr. Henderson, who is a native of Carlin, Nevada, where he was born May 12, 1877, came with his parents to Butte when he was a small boy. He attended the public schools of this city for a time, but was early obliged to contribute to his own support, and in doing so turned his hand to whatever lucrative employment he could find to do. Like many other of our successful men Mr. Henderson was a plucky newsboy in youth and for sev- eral years he lustily cried his papers on the streets of Butte. In fact he was one of the first newsboys of this city and enjoys the distinction of having sold the first copy of that well-known publication, the Anaconda Standard, that was ever sold in Butte by a newsboy. Mr. Henderson also gained a part of his preparatory business experience as helper in a meat market, and he was at one time a messenger boy here.

His first mercantile position was secured when he accepted employment in W. R. Kenyon's store at the age of thirteen years. He proved to be trustworthy, industrious and ambitious and was advanced from time to time as he proved his ability, and so well did he perform his every task that he was retained by Mr. Kenyon in his store for thirteen years. At the end of that period he resigned to enter the mercantile world on an independent basis, and in partnership with his brother established a hardware store. The busi- ness was continued for eight years with remarkable success and at the end of that time Mr. Henderson retired, and is now enjoying the fruits of his labors. Since his retirement from business he has taken a prominent part in public affairs, is active in Republican party politics, and among the positions of trust he fills is that of a trustee in bankruptcy. Religious circles know him as a devout and liberal member of the Epis- copal church, and he is fraternally affiliated with the Masonic lodge, of which he was treasurer for four years. Outdoor life appeals strongly to him and he is an especially enthusiastic follower of Isaac Walton, the occupation in which he takes the greatest enjoyment being that of fishing.

The marriage of Mr. Henderson to Miss Martha Else, a daughter of W. H. and Margaret Else, occurred in Butte in 1897. The union has been blessed in the

birth of one child, Frederick Marvin, whose birthday was June 8, 1904. Mrs. Henderson's parents were both natives of Pennsylvania, who came to Montana in an early day, but are now residents of California. She has three sisters living in Butte and one in Salt Lake City. Mr. Henderson is of English descent. His father, George Henderson, settled in Nevada when that por- tion of the country was newly opened, and assisted in the development of the west as a railroad builder, he having been a constructing engineer on the Union Pacific Railroad when it was built to the Coast. The elder Henderson later moved to Montana and lived here for a number of years, and is now retired from active business and lives at Portland, Oregon. His wife died in Butte in 1903, aged fifty-five years. The three sons, Fred, Charles and Bert, all are residents of Butte.

FRANK H. DRINKENBERG. A life history of Frank H. Drinkenberg, a prominent and influential citizen of Hamilton, Montana, and president of the First National Bank, would fill a large volume, and would read like a romance, being full of thrilling experiences and epi- sodes. He was born January 9, 1857, in Hanover, Ger- many, where his parents, Reuben and Josephine (Nor- man) Drinkenberg, were then visiting. Until he was fourteen years he attended the public schools of Cin- cinnati, and was then sent by his parents to a university in Bremen, Germany, in order that he might study the languages and fit himself for a literary career. Dissatis- fied with his surroundings and his prospects, he ran away from the college to follow the fortunes of an American theatrical troupe, with which, within the ensuing nineteen months, he traveled through Germany, Russia, France. Italy and Austria. Leaving the company at the city of Cologne, Mr. Drinkenberg made a two hundred mile trip down the Rhine to Amsterdam, Holland, the home of one of his uncles, who there owned a beet sugar factory. Receiving a small sum of money from the uncle. he again started down the Rhine, going to Rotterdam. whence he embarked on board a cattle boat for Hull. England, paying his way thither by feeding the stock. Starting then for Liverpool, England, he was put off the train three times while en route, but arrived there with the train. For four days, having no money, he lived with the rats on the Liverpool wharves, eating herring. He there became acquainted with a sailor, who stowed him away on a schooner supposedly bound for America, but when he disembarked a few days later he found himself in London. Begging his food in that city for two days, Mr. Drinkenberg again beat his way to Liverpool, and once more lived with the tramps, or rats. At the end of six days he interviewed the captain of an emigrant ship destined for the United States, and found that he could earn his passage across the ocean by doing a little work. On the third day out. when off Queenstown, the ship was wrecked and forced to stay there two weeks for repairs, the fourteen hun- dred passengers on board, mostly women and children, living like hogs during the entire trip of twenty-three days.

On arriving at New York, the captain told Mr. Drink- enberg to remain on board the vessel, and he would send him to Cincinnati, but, after the ship had been unloaded by lighters and taken to the wharf, he forgot all about the captain and made a break for liberty. Securing a position in a butcher's shop on Green street, he worked there three months, and by saving his earn- ings had then money enough to pay his railroad fare to Cleveland, Ohio. He then beat his way to Cincinnati, but his arrival at his home caused such consternation. and proved such a shock to the family, that he decided to leave at once. Borrowing a small sum, Mr. Drinken- berg went to Minnesota, arriving in St. Paul in the spring of 1874. Joining a government outfit of fifteen boys, all being older than himself, he went with the

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little party to Fort Lincoln, on the Missouri river, where the boys were outfitted as a cavalry brigade.

In the fall of 1874 the brigade was sent on an experi- mental trip to Fort Buford, then to Fort Benton, Mon- tana; thence Mr. Drinkenberg was sent with two horses on a trial trip for time and endurance to the American Falls, Montana, thence to Fort Shaw, and on through Helena and Bozeman to Yellowstone river, where the government had a small camp at what is now Fort Keogh. During the entire trip, which was successful in every respect, Mr. Drinkenberg had changed horses seven times, and had each day averaged eighty-three miles-following wagon trails some days,-blazing his own trail other days, and relying on government maps for routes. Wintering in that camp, he journeyed down the Yellowstone river and back the following summer, being engaged in making and filing notes, and remaining there until the fall of 1875, when he was ordered to the Black Hills. Very little was done until the spring of 1876, when the main detachment of the Seventh Cavalry was ordered to the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers to quell the Indian outbreaks. In an engagement with the Cree Indians, who had crossed the Canadian line, Mr. Drinkenberg was seriously wounded by a bullet charged with rattlesnake poison, losing a part of the knee cap and the fleshy part of the leg below the knee. Subsequently he had various encounters with the Indians prior to 1879, his wound troubling him con- tinuously until 1883, when Dr. Wells, of Stevensville, Montana, extracted the poison and healed the wound. In 1877 Mr. Drinkenberg was again wounded in the right knee, in an engagement near the Three Buttes, or Pumpkin mountain, in Montana, when his company formed a part of a small scouting brigade. He was then receiving forty-five dollars a month, double the pay of the ordinary soldier, having been engaged for a special duty in St. Paul. While serving with Colonel Broad- water, in the spring of 1880, Mr. Drinkenberg was taken ill and left the service.

With the money which he had saved while employed as a soldier, Mr. Drinkenberg went with some mining prospectors to Lima, Peru, where he lost the greater part of his money, reserving enough to take him around "the Horn." Landing at Vera Cruz, Mexico, he traveled (partly on foot and partly on horseback) to the City of Mexico, arriving there a stranger in a strange land, ill and almost penniless. Picking up a little Spanish, he remained there three months, working as waiter in a hotel. Going thence by way of Vera Cruz, to Tampico. he found no work, and with the few dollars that he had left paid his passage across the Gulf to Houston, Texas; thence going overland to El Paso with a cattle outfit belonging to Miller & Lux, San Francisco packers, and accompanying them to Chilhauhua, Mexico, for the pur- pose of smuggling six thousand head of cattle into the States, swimming the Rio Grande about forty miles above El Paso, Mr. Drinkenberg, who had charge of the band, lost a few cattle and some of his Mexican employees, by drowning. Four days after gaining the American side, the cattle were stampeded by the Indians, but with the assistance of some cattlemen, Mr. Drinkenberg succeeded in getting control of his herd and arrived in the San Joaquin valley, California, with about one-half of his original herd.

After working for Miller & Lux for a time, Mr. Drinkenberg went by boat to Portland, Oregon, and was there for awhile in the employ of the O'Shea Brothers, meat packers. The Northern Pacific Rail- road Company subsequently let the contract for clear- ing the roadway from Courtney, Idaho, to Thompson Falls, Montana, to Small Brothers, of Walla Walla, Washington, and Mr. Drinkenberg secured the position of manager of the thirty-eight provision camps along the route. In the work thirty-two hundred Chinamen were employed, sixteen hundred white men, and four- teen hundred mules and horses; the Chinamen being

under the control of Du Bois King & Company, of Portland, Oregon, and the engineering corps under that of J. H. Uhl, now of Elk post-office, Wyoming.

Leaving the railroad work in the spring of 1882, Mr. Drinkenberg, in company with J. H. Uhl, started for Missoula, Montana, crossing the Blue Slide. On arriv- ing at Horse Plains, these enterprising travelers con- ceived the brilliant idea of raising potatoes, and paid six cents a pound for seed, which they planted. No evi- dence of potato sprouts being seen at the end of three weeks, Mr. Uhl became disgusted and began digging up the seed. After watching his partner several hours, Mr. Drinkenberg saddled his pony, and with one pack horse left camp en route for Missoula. Mr. Uhl at once stopped digging and followed with the other horses. That night the six horses of Messrs. Uhl and Drinkenberg were frightened away, doubtless by Indians, but they were fortunate enough to secure one and proceeded on their way, alternately walking and riding until reaching Missoula. Not liking Missoula and vicinity, Mr. Drink- enberg, who had previously heard a good deal about the Bitter Root valley, came to the region and for sixty days worked for Frank Ives in a saw mill. He then leased a tract of land on Three Mile creek, and em- barked in sheep raising, investing the two thousand dollars he had cleared in the provision camps, in sheep. In 1899 disaster came, there being neither snow, grass nor hay. He was forced to transfer his seven thous- and sheep, and his horses, to Bear Paw mountains, five hundred miles away. Locating at Chinook mountain he lost four thousand sheep that winter, but he remained there two years, recuperated his losses and sold out. Returning to Ravalli county he attended the opening sale of lots in Hamilton, invested heavily, and platted and sold lots through the boom of 1896.

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A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 103

Author: Sanders, Helen Fitzgerald, 1883- Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1002

Author: Sanders, Helen Fitzgerald, 1883-
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1002