A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 132

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

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Colonel McGowan died in Los Angeles, where he had gone in search of health, on the Ist of April, 19II. His funeral, on the 6th of April, was under the charge of the Masonic order. He was a charter mem- ber of the Eastern Star. The Masonic hall was too small to hold the people, and it was the most impres- sive and imposing funeral procession that the city of Plains had ever seen. The big store and the First National Bank were closed all day, and every other place of business, including even the saloons, which usually require nothing less than an earthquake to close their doors, were closed from noon till five o'clock. How great was the loss felt by the com- munity, may be gathered from the following, clipped from a paper published in Missoula, Montana : "West- ern Missoula mourns this morning the passing of one of her foremost citizens. The sorrow occasioned by the death of Colonel McGowan will not be limited by the boundaries of Sanders county; it will extend to all parts of old Missoula county; Ravalli, Mis- soula. Flathead and Lincoln-all these will mourn with Sanders. The Missoulian voices the sentiment of all this region when it says that the debt which western Montana owes to J. A. McGowan will never be paid because it is too great. But the communities which received the benefit of the life work of this man can, and always will, retain the memory of his friendship and can, and always will, hold him as a man whose service was to his neighbors and to the community in which he lived."

Colonel McGowan was interested in many enter- prises at the time of his death. He owned the pro- gressive paper, published in Plains, The Plainsman, and he held the controlling interest in the McGowan Commercial Company, the electric light and heat- ing plant, the Plains Water Company, and he was president of that very prosperous financial in- stitution, the First National Bank of Plains. In addition to these interests, he was the owner of large real estate properties, both city property and farm and timber land. It would be impossible to give a fist of all the enterprises in which Colonel McGowan has been interested and no doubt were he alive he could scarcely enumerate them himself.

Perhaps the nearest conception of the real greatness and power of this man, may be obtained from the fol- lowing words of H. J. Burleigh, an old time associ- ate of Colonel McGowan: "Dominated by an un- quenchable spirit of optimism, endowed with a talent for organization and administration akin to genius, unswerving in his faith as to its future, shrewd, enter- prising, broadminded and public spirited in a high degree, James Alexander McGowan devoted his time, energies and talents to the development and upbuild- ing of this community and western Montana during the best and greater portion of his useful life. The growing and thriving town of Plains is a splendid and enduring monument to his genius and enterprise. Public spirited and generous to a fault, no call upon his abilities or means, looking to the development, prosperity and welfare of the community, was ever made in vain. The response was immediate and the contribution generously large.

"He was the originator and leading spirit in exten- sive and important business enterprises in which he achieved a marked success and accumulated a modest fortune. All he made and all he had was gained in this community, and it is but simple justice to his memory to say that, so largely was he identified with and so great was his love for this community. so enduring and unfaltering his faith in it, its future and its people, that no part of his accumulations was or is invested outside of it, and in the final disposi- tion of his property, his investments will remain as a valuable and important asset to the community for years to come.

"He was pre-eminently a builder; time and the future will show that he builded on a sound and enduring foundation and much better than he knew. His sound judgment in shaping and guiding the activities and affairs of the community, will be greatly missed; his untimely demise leaves a vacant place difficult to fill. In his death Plains has sustained the loss of one of her most loyal citizens and the best of friends."

So passed from among us one who had made his life count. His widow lives to mourn his death, making her home in the town which received the lifelong effort of her husband.

WILLIAM H. SMEAD. Energetic, enterprising and progressive, William H. Smead, a prosperous business man of Missoula, possesses to a marked degree the public spirit and force of character that renders him an important factor in promoting the welfare of his community, and occupies a place of prominence among the representative men of the city. He was born, May 25, 1863, in Beetown, Wisconsin, and there spent his childhood. His parents, Asa and Eunice (Capwell) Smead, were both born and reared in Penn- sylvania, but subsequently settled in Wisconsin, where the death of the mother occurred in 1871. The father survived her many years, passing away in Blooming- ton. Wisconsin, in 1905, aged eighty-six years.

Receiving his preliminary education in the public schools of Wisconsin and Illinois, W. H. Smead sub- sequently completed the literary and scientific courses

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

at the University of Illinois. Going then to Rock- ford, Illinois, he was employed with the People's Bank until 1884, when he started westward in search of a favorable opening. Locating at Dillon, Montana, he worked for John W. Lowell Company for a year, and then embarked in business on his own account, organizing the Dillon Lumber & Grain Company, with which he was associated until 1891. Coming in that year to Missoula, Mr. Smead organized the State Lumber Company, which operated mills in the west- ern part of the state. At the same time he became associated with the development of the lumber manu- facturing business at Kalispell, Montana, and with the mining operations of Spring Gulch. Disposing of his interests in those industries in the spring of 1894, Mr. Smead was elected state senator, and served ably and satisfactorily in the fourth and fifth sessions of the state senate. Being then appointed United States Indian agent at the Flathead reservation, Mr. Smead filled the important and responsible position for seven years, performing the duties devolving upon him faithfully and efficiently. Returning then to Missoula, he has since been actively and successfully engaged in the real estate, insurance and loan business, being one of the best known men in his line in the county.

Mr. Smead married, in 1886, Antoinette C. Car- michael, of Rockford, Illinois, and into their house- hold two children have been born, namely: Helen A., who was graduated from the University of Montana; and William Burton, engaged in business in Missoula. Mr. Smead is a member of the Missoula Chamber of Commerce, and of the Benevolent and Protective Or- der of Elks. At the present time he is not holding any public office, but several years since he served ac- ceptably on the Missoula board of education.

GERALD MAITLAND KIRWAN. Many of the finest ranches of Custer county are located on the banks of the Tongue river, where exceptional advantages are offered those engaged in the cattle and sheep business, and among these may be found the well-irrigated prop- erty of Gerald Maitland Kirwan, a cattleman of nearly thirty years experience. Mr Kirwan came to this locality when the land was practically in its infancy, and during his long residence here has identified him- self with the movements that have served to develop the natural resources of the county. Mr. Kirwan is a native of Scotland, was born January 1, 1861, a son of Charles and Matilda (Maitland) Kirwan, both of whom are deceased. Mr. Kirwan was a native of County Mayo, Ireland, where he owned a large estate, while his wife was born in Scotland. They were the parents of nine children, of whom seven are living, Gerald M. being the youngest.

Gerald M. Kirwan was given good educational ad- vantages, being sent to England to school, and when twenty years of age turned his face to the New World and came to the United States. First locating in Plymouth county, Iowa, he was there successfully en- gaged in farming and stock raising until 1884, which year saw his advent in Montana. He settled in Custer county on the Tongue river, where he soon built up an excellent business, and from 1896 until the fall of 1911 carried on operations on the open range. At that time, however, he returned to his Tongue river property, where he now resides. Mr. Kirwan belongs to that class of citizens who, coming to a new country, readily adapt themselves to its habits and customs and make for the best type of citizenship. He has been successful in his ventures, due to a persistence of effort, and the exercise of honorable business methods in all his dealings that have won the confidence of those with whom he has 'come in contact. During his residence in Custer county he has made numerous friends.

On December 18, 1894, Mr. Kirwan was married to

Miss Charlotte Allerton, a native of New York City, and they have one son: Gerald.

WILLIAM D. FENNER. It is entirely within the province of true history to commemorate and perpet- uate the lives and character, the achievements and honor of the illustrious citizens of the state. High on the roll of those whose efforts have made the history of insurance in southwestern Montana a work of sub- stantiality appears the name of William D. Fenner, who is district manager for the Equitable Life Insur- ance Company, with headquarters at Butte, Montana. Mr. Fenner is strictly a self-made man, his education and success in life having been obtained through his own well directed efforts. He is an active participant in public affairs at Butte, his intrinsic loyalty to all matters affecting the good of the general welfare hav- ing ever been of the most insistent order.

William Dryden Fenner was born at Hillsboro, Highland county, Ohio, July 31, 1861. The Fenner family is an old settled one in Pennsylvania. He is a son of John Dryden and Henrietta (Rhoades) Fenner, both of whom passed to the life eternal at Los Angeles, California, the mother in 1891 and the father in 1908, whither they went to spend the declining years of their lives. John D. Fenner was a native of Pennsylvania and was a pioneer settler in Highland county, Ohio, where he followed farming and became prominent dur- ing the greater part of his active career and for several terms was the popular and efficient incumbent of the office of county assessor of Highland county. The mother of John Dryden Fenner was a Dryden of Scotch descent and a member of one of the leading families of Virginia. The maternal great-grandmother of William D. Fenner was a resident of Virginia, and a relative of Gen. Arthur St. Clair and he a relative of the Duke of Roslyn, who possessed a large estate in England. Thomas H. Rhoades, the father of Henrietta Rhoades and maternal grandfather of William D. Fen- ner, came from England of a family of traders and vessel owners, and settled near Culpepper Court House, Virginia, and served in the Revolutionary war. Later he removed to Hillsboro, Highland county, Ohio, where he resided the rest of his life. He and his wife be- came the parents of ten children, of whom William D. was the sixth in order of birth and five of whom are living in 1912.

To the public schools of his native place Mr. Fen- ner, of this notice, is indebted for his preliminary edu- cational training and subsequently he pursued a com- mercial course in the Nelson Business College, at Cin- cinnati, Ohio, being graduated in the latter institution in 1876. He paid his business college expenses with money he had earned himself, and after his graduation accepted a position in the large dry goods store of Rhoades & Hubbs, at Paducah, Kentucky, remaining with that concern until 1880. In the latter year he went to Kansas City, where he secured a position in the dry goods store of Bulline, Moore & Emery, being department manager for that firm for the ensuing four years, at the expiration of which he came to Butte as buyer for the firm of Sands & Boyce. When the Hen- nessy Mercantile Company was founded in Butte, in 18 , Mr. Fenner succeeded Sam Courtney as cloak and suit buyer for the M. J. Connell Company establishment. Subsequently he became general buyer for the M. J. Con- nell Company, retaining the latter position for a num- ber of years.

In 1898 Mr. Fenner was offered the position of dis- trict manager for the Equitable Life Insurance Com- pany, his territory to cover southwestern Montana and his headquarters to be at Butte. He accepted that offer, and for the past fourteen years has acquitted himself with honor and distinction in that capacity. Positive proof of his ability to handle the business entrusted to his care is shown when it is stated that

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he has always been a representative to the National Insurance Convention, that honor being awarded only to those agency managers and directors who have se- cured the greatest amount of business. The conven- tion is one of international importance in the life in- surance field.

Mr. Fenner has also been a leading factor in many positions of trust politically. He was elected as alder- man to represent the Fourth ward in Butte, that being one of the largest tax paying districts in the city, and as the incumbent of that position he fought honestly, conscientiously and vigorously for the rights and in- terests of his constituents. In 1910 he was nominated, on the Republican ticket, for the office of county treas- urer, and met defeat at the polls by but seventeen votes. He has also been requested to make the run for the office of mayor of Butte, but has constantly refused to do so. He is one of the leaders of the Republican party in this section of the state and has served as chairman of the city Republican central committee. There are but few men in Butte who are so popular with their fellow citizens as is Mr. Fenner. He is loyal and public spirited to an unusual degree, and no matter projected for the good of the general welfare ever fails of his heartiest support.

For a number of years Mr. Fenner was a member of the Clerks' Union at Butte, but in 1901 was obliged to give up his work connected with that organization on account of the increased demands upon his time in the insurance field. He is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World and the Silver Bow Club. His favorite recreation is hunting for "big" game in the mountains, and in this connection he has met with unusual success.

At Butte, December 10, 1884, Mr. Fenner was mar- ried to Miss Lulu C. Gilbert, who was born at Weston, Missouri, July 1, 1863. Mrs. Fenner is a daughter of William H. and Elizabeth Jane Gilbert, formerly resi- dents of Leavenworth, Kansas, where their respective deaths occurred. Mr. and Mrs. Fenner have one daughter, Willie Louise Fenner, born April 20, 1893, and graduated in the classical course of the Butte high school in 1912.

FRED E. Buck is one of the younger enthusiasts who believe in the unlimited resources of the great state of Montana, and he has thus far in his life devoted himself to a field of labor which gives him opportunity to assist in the development and settling of the Treas- ure state. As a boy of fifteen he chose engineering for his life work, and though he has not yet reached his thirtieth year, he has placed to his credit worthy ac- complishments in his profession, and is at present hold- ing the highly responsible position of city engineer of Missoula.

A native product of the state, Mr. Buck was born in Stevensville, Ravalli county, Montana, on March I, 1884. He is the son of Henry and Clara (Elliott) Buck. The father was born in Michigan and came to Montana in 1868, where he has been identified with the growth and progress of the state since that time. He is rec- ognized as one of the substantial pioneers of the state and enjoys an honorable reputation wherever he is known. He first settled in the Bitter Root valley and for a number of years followed various lines of in- dustry,-mining, freighting. ranching, etc. Later he became interested in the mercantile business and lo- cated at Stevensville, where he continued until 1911, enjoying a pleasing degree of prosperity. In that year he withdrew from the business, although he still re- tains an interest in it, and he is now engaged in the orchard business. His wife, who was the daughter of a pioneer family of the state, died in 1879 at the age of thirty-nine years. She left two children,-Fred E. of this review; Clarence, who is a deputy in the office of his brother, city engineer of Missoula.

Until he was fifteen years of age, Mr. Buck attended

the public schools of Stevensville, after which he came to Missoula and entered the State University. He took a three year preparatory course, which he followed with a four year collegiate course, and in 1906 he was graduated from that institution, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. For one year after his graduation he remained in the uni- versity as instructor in the engineering department, after which he was sent out on the Black Feet Indian Reservation as United States Deputy Land Surveyor, which work he continued in for almost a year. He was then transferred for a year to the Flat Head Indian Reservation as surveyor for the appraising commission. When this work was completed Mr. Buck decided to take a post graduate course in engineering, and he ac- cordingly spent one year in the University of California in study. When he returned to Missoula he became connected with the W. H. Smead Locating Company and was occupied in gathering information with refer- ence to the Flat Head Indian reservation. He con- tinued with the work for about eighteen months, and in June, 1910, was appointed city engineer of Missoula, which office he has held since that time and is still its incumbent. During the time that Mr. Buck has been acting in this capacity, many and important are the re- forms he has brought about in the department. Previ- ous to his incumbency the office had been conducted along the line of least resistance, and its duties dis- charged in a most perfunctory manner; but the elec- tion of Mr. Buck meant changes of a radical nature. Not only has he improved the work for the city, but he has made a record for himself as an engineer of abil- ity and as a safe man to handle the affairs of the city in his line of business. Mr. Buck has introduced a new system of street grades, and has kept a complete rec- ord of all works performed since he has been in office, -a fact worthy of mention in the light of the circum- stance that no records were kept in the office previous to his election to it. He has compiled a complete rec- ord of sidewalk curbs, house numbers, etc., and he lias introduced a new system for keeping the records of all sewer connection, as well as numerous other reforms of a similar nature. On the whole, his tenure of office thus far has been of a nature most satisfactory to the citv and of the greatest credit to himself.

In connection with his work in the university, Mr. Buck has had some interesting experiences while on surveying trips in the northern part of the state. On one occasion he surveyed the battlefield where the Nez Perce Indians were captured by General Miles after the Big Hole battle.

Mr. Buck is of a particularly energetic and ambitious nature, and he has never been an idler. As a small boy he had a hobby for gardening, and in conjunction with his school work did a good deal of gardening in his home town. He gave his particular attention to ber- ries, and his labors were so successful that he was able to supply a regular 'trade with his berries, and he earned considerable money in that way up to the time of his leaving home to attend the university.

Mr. Buck is a stanch Progressive and is always ac- tive in the interests of that party. He is recognized as one of the strong forces of Progressivism in his district and is known as a fighter of wit and resource in matters of a political nature. He is an ardent sportsman. and there is no form of sport that does not appeal to him. He loves horses,-he rides, drives, shoots and fishes. He is a tennis enthusiast of no small ability. Music, theatricals, literature,-all find an ardent support in him. He is particularly addicted to the study of scientific literature and has a splendid library devoted in a great measure to scientific works. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity. being associated with the blue lodge and chapter, and is a member of the Sigma Chi. his college fraternity, and the Silent Sentinel, a local fraternity.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

ROY H. FULLER. One of the youngest, if not indeed the youngest, man Montana ever elected to fill the office of county treasurer, Roy H. Fuller, at the age of twenty- eight, has attained a certain distinction in a political way and is undeniably one of the most popular and promising young men of the state. Born on October 31, 1884, in Deer Lodge Valley, Montana, Roy H. Fuller is the son of Charles W. and Nellie B. (Miller) Fuller, the father born in Pitkin, Colorado, and the mother in New York City.

Charles W. Fuller was a civil engineer and a miner, and he has the distinction of having brought in the first steam sawmill ever introduced into Montana. He has led a busy life in the west, but is now retired from active business pursuits and with his wife resides at Cleary, Alaska.

When Roy H. Fuller was six years of age he began to attend the Butte schools and he continued there until he was sixteen years of age, when he was graduated from the grammar school of the city. He then entered high school at Sheridan, Montana, and was nineteen years old when he was graduated from that school. He then spent four years in the state college at Boze- man, Montana, graduating in due season, and work- ing his way through college by working Saturdays and Sundays, and other odd moments, in a Bozeman drug store. When he arrived in Bozeman preparatory to en- tering college, he was equipped with fifteen dollars in cash, which represented his only tangible assets, but the fund of courage and determination which he pos- sessed, in conjunction with his splendid physical strength and his alert and comprehensive mind, made it pos- sible for him to get through his course there in the prescribed time, earning his own way through, and finding time for some of the pleasures incident to col- lege life at the same time. The spirit which character- ized his college career has been manifest in his in- dependent life since then, and it is safe to predict that the future of this sturdy young westerner holds many surprises for those who will watch his subsequent career.

Following his graduation, Mr. Fuller continued with the Gallatin Drug Company in Bozeman until 1905, then came to Havre, arriving here in April, and en- tered the employ of the Havre Drug Company. He re- mained thus for four years and in 1910 established a drug business in this city on his own responsibility, and has since continued successfully in the enterprise, which is in a state of constant development along solid and substantial lines.

On November 5, 1912, Mr. Fuller was elected county treasurer of Hill county, and is its first treasurer, as well as the youngest man ever elected to a county treasurership in the state of Montana.

On June 16, 1908, Mr. Fuller was united in marriage with Miss Leona A. McClaskey, the daughter of John J. and Nora McClaskey, of St. Paul, Minnesota, in which city Mrs. Fuller was reared and educated. She followed her academic education by a course of train- ing in Columbus Hospital in Great Falls, Montana, and is a competent nurse. On January 31, 1910, a daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Fuller, named Catherine Margaret.

Mr. Fuller has a sister and brother, the former, Mina C., is the wife of John J. Waylen, of Oakland, Califor- nia, and the brother, Dr. Frank J., resides in Long Beach, California.

The fraternal relations of Mr. Fuller are represented by his membership in the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, lodge No. 1201, of which he was first sec- retary. In 1908 he was admitted to the Montana State Board of Pharmacy with the degree of Ph. C.

DANIEL MCH. MCKAY, M. D. Notwithstanding the long strides that have been made in the practice of the healing art within the past half century, the discoveries

of medical properties in hundreds of vegetable and mineral substances that not many years ago were not included in materia medica as remedies and barely mentioned in the pharmacopeia, or laid dormant as far as the dispensary is concerned; notwithstanding the charlatancy practiced by adventurers in the legitimate practice of the art and the quacks that claimed particular attention and special gifts in the treatment of human ills; and notwithstanding the fact that legislatures have found it necessary to regulate the general practice by the expulsion of diplomaless pretenders and the regis- tration of legitimate and truly scientific physicians, there are some of the latter who have risen to eminence within the field of their actual labors and among them is the subject of this sketch, whose career has been that of a true and conscientious worker in the sphere to which he has devoted his life and energy and who . possesses a profound knowledge of medicine and sur- gery.

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A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 132

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