A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 23

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

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With this idea in mind he went to Madison and worked at the carpenter trade for two years, after which he secured employment with the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. He built tanks and stations for them, but after a year and a half he resigned from his position with the railroad and went to Necedah, Wisconsin, to work independently at carpentry and contracting. It was in this town that he met and mar- ried the lady who has been such an inspiration to him, and who has shared in the success which his un- flagging courage and persistence have won for him. She was born in Wisconsin, and her maiden name was Clemmy Miller. The eldest of Mr. and Mrs. Carlson's children died in infancy, and two boys, Aaron and Wilfred, besides one daughter, Alta May, now con- stitute the Carlson family. Mr. and Mrs. Carlson were married on March 2, 1900, about a year before coming to Helena.

The first contract which Mr. Carlson took in Ne- cedah was that of building a barn for a prominent farmer of that city, and as the building was a large one he made quite a neat little profit on the job. This brought him other orders, and for several years he was kept busy around Necedah. Later he purchased a three hundred and sixty acre farm adjoining the place on which he had built his first barn. When Mr. Carl- son first arrived in Helena he worked for the firm of Schaeffer & Moncrief, remaining with them for nearly a year. He left them to go into contracting for him- self, and though he began in a small way his business steadily increased. Except for one year during which he was associated with James Black, under the firm name Black & Carlson, he has been alone. This asso- ciation was formed in 1909.

Mr. Carlson has erected a large number of the fine modern dwellings in Helena, and most of these from designs of his own. Soon after coming to America he took a course in architecture in the International Cor- respondence School. He was one of the school's best pupils. The business which he has built up in Helena is one of the largest of the kind in the city, and it has been a paying one. He owns the building at No. 16 South Park street, and has recently purchased other property on that street, which became necessary for the rapidly growing business.

Having something of a taste for military pursuits, Mr. Carlson belongs to the Montana National Guards, and is a corporal in company G. He is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World, with the Royal High- landers, the Order of Moose, and with the Eagles, be- sides being a prominent member of the Carpenters' Union. In politics he is an independent voter, and so considers only the fitness of the candidate for the of- fice, with no reference to his political party. Mr. Carl- son himself has never been at all attracted to public life. He has taken his course in the school of ad- versity, and in all that hard training did not fail in courage nor falter in effort. As a reward, he has at- tained a comfortable little fortune before he has reached middle life, and with an admirable profes- sional record as a designer, as well as success as a contractor, he has still before him a long career of use- fulness and profit. The brother who accompanied him to America is now a farmer in McMillan, Wisconsin, and so both the boys who came to the country less than a quarter of a century ago have made a place in it for themselves. There is always room everywhere

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for such men of enterprise and capability. They are needed in America, especially in the northwest, for whose development they have done so much, and which in turn has been so generous to them.

HON. CORNELIUS HEDGES. In considering the repre- sentative and constructive men of the state of Montana the name of the late Judge Cornelius Hedges comes im- mediately to mind, for he impressed himself indelibly on his generation through his sturdy integrity, his manly virtue, the force of his natural powers of judgment and his unselfish labors in the cause of patriotism and prog- ress. Judge Hedges was born at Westfield, Massachu- setts, October 28, 1831, and died at Helena, Montana, April 29, 1907, in his seventy-sixth year. His parents were Dennis and Alvena (Noble) Hedges.

Judge Hedges could lay claim to a more or less illus- trious ancestry, his forefathers having been among the earliest settlers on Long Island, removing from there to Connecticut and before his time to Massachusetts. His maternal grandfather, Jacob Noble, served under General Washington in the War of the Revolution, and was the progenitor of a long line of honest farming people and strong supporters of the Congregational church. While the Nobles were of English extraction, it is possible that the Hedges came originally from Ireland. His father, Dennis Hedges, owned a small farm and also conducted a blacksmith business in the vicinity of Westfield, Massachusetts, where he lived into respected old age, and when he and wife celebrated their golden wedding the occasion was made notable for them by the attendance of their only son, Cornelius, who had already become a citizen of great prominence in the far west. This pilgrimage to his old home was one of affection and sentiment and was referred to by Judge Hedges many times during his after life.

In the local schools and academies Cornelius Hedges prepared for Yale College, from which he was gradu- ated in 1853. During the three succeeding years he taught school and in the meanwhile studied his law books and in 1855 was graduated from the law depart- ment of Harvard College and was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts. Leaving New England, he located at Independence, Iowa, where he opened a law office and remained until 1864, during a portion of which period he was concerned in a newspaper enterprise and was publisher and editor of the Independent Civilian.

Young, ambitious and enterprising, it is not remark- able that Cornelius Hedges became interested in the wonderful developing changes that were taking place in the western country about that time, and in the spring of 1864 joined a party and crossed the plains to Virginia City, Montana, later coming on to Helena, which city continued to be his chosen home throughout the rest of an unusually active and useful life. While faithful to every local interest, his subsequent activities covered the state, and in the great development which followed he was a very prominent factor. In 1871 he was appointed United States district attorney and from 1875 until 1880 he was probate judge of Lewis and Clarke county. Judge Hedges was probably the original mover that re- sulted in the establishing of the Helena Public Library, was one of the directors who secured as a beginning a room, in the fall of 1868, on the present site of the International Hotel. His constant interest in educa- tional progress brought about his appointment in 1872, by Governor Benjamin F. Potts, as first territorial superintendent of the public schools, and in his devo- tion to duties pertaining to this position Judge Hedges traveled hundreds of miles, under trying circumstances, to gather the few teachers then in the territory, to the different centers of population, instructing, providing and devising methods and improvements only possible with a man of collegiate training and unselfish enthu- siasm. He ably filled this position for five years, one year under appointment by Governor Potts and four years under his successor, Governor Crosby.

Judge Hedges was a member of the Washburn party that visited the geyser region, leaving Helena August 17, 1870, with a small detail of United States Cavalry, under the authority of General Hancock, and returned to Helena, November 27, 1870. It was during the re- turn trip that Judge Hedges proposed the idea of a Na- tional Park. The lofty timbered mountains, the im- mense water power and the wonderful scenery appealed to all the party and only sufficient wealth was needed to exploit the region for great private gain, but these were men of public spirit, state pride, and the idea that originated with Judge Hedges immediately met with the approval of the party. It was his idea that the gov- ernment should take over these great natural advan- tages for the country at large and at the very next legis- lative session a memorial was sent to the United States Congress. The active cooperation of Senator Pomeroy of Kansas and Representative William H. Claggett of Montana was secured and in 1872 the cherished dream of Judge Hedges became a reality ; to the United States was preserved the wonderful Yellowstone region, now the great National Park.

In 1874 Judge Hedges was chosen by the Republican party as a delegate to Congress, but in those days of Democratic supremacy he failed of election, although his personal following was remarkable. In 1884 he was a member of the territorial constitutional convention, and in 1889 he was elected a member of the first state senate. He was recognized as a man of great legal ability, while his knowledge on almost every other branch of learning was thorough. He prepared several volumes of Montana supreme court reports, 1880-1887, and prepared much material for the Montana Historical Society and was its recording secretary from 1877 until 1885 and its president in 1905. In 1899 he was nomi- nated for the United States senate. From 1897 until 1906 he was secretary of the state board of sheep com- missioners. Up to the close of his life he retained his natural powers, his keen eyesight and his firm pen- manship.

In the Masonic fraternity Judge Hedges seemed to find an interest and pleasure that brought him his largest measure of enjoyment. He devoted much time to study- ing and working out the spirit of the symbols and architectural teachings on Masonic subjects, and this was frequently recognized in Masonic literature and for years he held the office of grand secretary of the Grand Lodge, A. F. & A. M., the Royal Arch Grand Chapter, Masons, grand recorder of the Grand Com- mandery, Knights Templar, and at the time of his death was the oldest acting Masonic grand secretary in the United States and possibly in the world. He was a charter member of Miriam Chapter, No. I, at Helena, and was grand worthy patron of the Order of the Eastern Star in 1893. He was proud to refer to these honors during the closing years of his life and no one was ever more knightly in upholding the lofty ideals of the fraternity.

On July 7, 1856, Judge Hedges was married to Miss Edna Layette Smith, of Southington, Connecticut, and eight children were born to them. On July 7, 1906, Mr. and Mrs. Hedges celebrated their golden wedding. Mrs. Hedges died in Helena September 26, 1912. Judge Hedges was a man of strong religious convictions, and was an elder in the First Presbyterian church at Helena. Although full of years at the time of his death, his life had been so rich in worthy achievement that his loss was felt in every circle, and rich and poor, high dignita- ries and humble people, all united to do honor to his memory at his funeral.

The Montana Daily Record said, editorially, at the time of Judge Hedges' death: "In the death of Cor- nelius Hedges, which occurred at his home in this city, Sunday, there passed away one to whom the peo- ple of Montana owe a debt of gratitude which can never be repaid. Coming to Montana with the first of the pioneers, his whole after life was spent in the

Cornelius Trages.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

territory and state. In the beginning he put himself on the side of those who were determined Montana should be a safe haven for the home maker and home builder and from that time to the day of his death his talents and his time were always at the service of his community and his state.

"In those early days there were few of the pioneers who had the educational equipment of Judge Hedges. Reared in New England, educated at Yale, he came to this then wild country and became one with the people. Never a self seeker, his ability was soon recognized and whenever there was need for a service which it was thought could not be so well performed by anyone else, he obeyed the call. But Judge Hedges was not only an educated man and student; he was in every sense a pioneer. One of the first lawyers in Last Chance gulch to practice his profession, he won the con- fidence of the miners and of the rough element as well, and his kindly counsels often in those days prevented serious conflicts and attempts to overturn the authority of the laws made by the miners. As the territory and state grew there was a place for Judge Hedges. Whether at the head of the territorial educational sys- tem, a judge of court, the representative of the United States government as its district attorney, or the ed- itor of the leading daily papers of the state, Judge Hedges was a power for good, and for the develop- ment of the best in Montana.

"The great work done by Cornelius Hedges for Mon- tana will be more appreciated as the years pass. There are a few who know what a dominant personality he was in placing before the world the beauties of the Yellowstone National Park. He was a member of the expedition which visited the park and told of its at- tractions to the world. Always modest and keeping in the background, others have reaped much of the credit that should have gone to him in connection with the setting aside of the park as a national pleasure ground.

"The Helena public library owes more to Judge Hedges than to any other for its present efficiency. In the late years to it he devoted much of his time, and its good work was his pride. Above and beyond all, Judge Hedges was a loyal Montanian. He went through the good times and the hard ones, and never did he lose faith in the greatness of the state and its future. As it was with the state, so with his adopted city. Helena, which for so many years had been his home, was to him the one place in all the world, and he was the friend of every man and woman in it.

"Thoughtful, kind, charitable, ever ready to heed the call of the unfortunate, without selfishness or guile, no better man has ever lived in Montana, nor to any is there a higher meed of praise due for what he did and gave to Montana."

Cornelius and Edna Layette (Smith) Hedges, were the parents of eight children, two sons and a daughter, died in early life, while those surviving are: Wyllys Anderson, of Fergus county, Montana, formerly a sheep grower, and was speaker of the lower house in the 9th assembly. At the present time he is receiver of the United States Land Office at Lewiston, Mon- tana; Henry Highland, formerly a stockman of Valley county, Montana, now a resident of California, where he is engaged in the dairy business; Cornelius Hedges, his father's namesake, was closely associated with him for many years and succeeded to many of his responsi- bilities. He was born at Helena, Montana, March 14, 1874, and was educated at Helena and spent one year at the high school in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He en- tered upon the study of law, but owing to his father's failing health, was obliged to assist in official work and never continued his law studies to a conclusion. When fifteen years of age he was appointed a page at the constitutional convention of the state, and later was cashier in the water works office at Helena for six years. During all this time he was his father's assistant in attending to the great mass of work as Ma-

sonic secretary and since the death of his father has creditably filled the same office. Mr. Hedges is un- married and resides at Helena; Edna Cornelia, Mrs. Harry B. Palmer, who resides in Helena; Emily Mar- ion, is Mrs. John M. Woodbridge, of Newton, Mass.

SHERMAN FERSON TUTTLE. The world instinctively and justly renders deference to the man whose success in life has been worthily achieved, who has attained a competence by honorable methods and whose high repu- tation is solely the result of preeminent merit in his chosen profession. Such a man is Hon. Sherman Fer- son Tuttle, president of the Bank of Boulder, member from Jefferson county in the Montana state legislature and extensively engaged in ranching and stock-raising.

Mr. Tuttle is a Hoosier by birth, his life record hav- ing begun in Noble county, Indiana, July 21, 1848. In April of the next year his parents moved to Warren county, Iowa, and he lived in Warren and Marion coun- ties until he attained to the age of fourteen years. The family then went to Denver, Colorado, but remained there only eight weeks before going on to Stockton, California. After six months in Stockton, they came to Montana in the spring of 1864 and on July 8 of that year made location at Alder Gulch. There they lived until the fall of 1866 and then took up their residence in Fish Creek, Jefferson county, which was at that time a part of Madison county, legislation subsequently divid- ing it and making it part of Jefferson county. The family lived in those early days on the property which was afterward known as the John B. Wellcome ranch. There Mr. Tuttle of this review lived for many years, but in 1897 he went to Whitehall and since that year has been engaged in farming and stock-raising. In November, 1900 he bought the Belcher ranch, situated one mile from Boulder, and in this city he now re- sides. Boulder has welcomed him as one of the most progressive and useful of her citizens, and very shortly after coming here he was elected county treasurer of Jefferson county and served in that important office for two years. After concluding his public service Mr. Tuttle returned to his ranch and remained engaged in the conduct of its affairs until 1906, when he bought out the interest of F. C. Beherendes in the Bank of Boulder and has ever since been identified with its affairs, having a controlling interest in the bank and holding the office of president. This is one of the momentary institutions which emphasize and exert marked influence in con- severing the financial stability and commercial prestige of Jefferson county. He is also a director of the White- hall State Bank, at Whitehall, Montana.

In the year 1911 he was elected on the Democratic ticket to the state legislature and his services for his constituents in the state assembly have been greatly to his credit and their profit. He is also president of the Boulder school board and he has been very zealous in his championship of the best education possible. He is one of the stalwart advocates of Democratic policies and principles, has for a good many years been active in politics and is well known for his public-spirited at- titude toward all concerning the community's welfare.

Mr. Tuttle was married March 16, 1873. at Fish Creek, Montana, the young woman to become his wife and the mistress of his household being Derinda Jane Butt, daughter of Jonas and Louanna (Gist) Butt, originally of the state of Missouri. Mrs. Tuttle was born on a Missouri farm, situated midway between Kansas City and Independence. To the subject and his wife have been born ten children, eight of whom survive, as fol- lows: Arthur; Cora Jane, widow of George Melton and resides in Escondido, California, and the mother of five daughters : Sherman resides in Sacramento, California, and has one daughter ; Claud resides in Pocatello, Idaho ; Earl resides at Whitehall, Montana ; Ada is Mrs. Joseph Moore, of Boulder ; Lulu Oleta and Julian Errett. The eldest son is associated with his father in the bank, as assistant cashier.

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Mr. Tuttle's father, whose name was David Tuttle, was born on Long Island in 1809; removed to Ohio at an an early age and in the Buckeye state married Miss Lucinda Cornwall. Shortly after their marriage they went to Indiana, the subject's birthplace. David Tut- tle's name was originally Tuthil, but upon reaching the Noble county and Wabash river country where he lo- cated he found so many Tuthils that in order to avoid confusion he obligingly changed his name to Tuttle, by which name his family has ever since been known. The father died after coming to Montana, on January 15, 1870, but the mother survived for many years, her de- mise occurring in 1895. Both are interred in Fish Creek cemetery, as are also his wife's parents.

Mr. Tuttle, of this review, is a prominent Mason and his religious faith is that of the Methodist church, South. He is not especially interested in out-door sports and diversions of various sorts, but finds his greatest pleasure at his own fireside, in the company of wife and children, like so many men worth while being es- sentially domestic in nature.

His schooling was terminated at the age of fourteen years, but he has since remedied any such educational defects as may have existed by his own efforts. At the age of twelve years his principal ambition in life was to own a pair of boots, and he worked sixteen days for a neighbor, at a compensation of twenty-five cents a day, and had this realized. The ability to get what he wants still characterizes him.

The journey made to Denver by his parents in his boyhood was overland with ox teams; its tedium needs no comment. They traveled to California with mules and horses and by the same method to Montana. On their trip down the Humboldt river in Nevada they were much troubled by the Indians, who displayed a somewhat hostile spirit. In some way one of the fam- ilies became separated from the crowd, the Indians cut- ting off their return. Later the noise of an attack frightened the mules of the lost family and the mules dashed madly away and rejoined the train. Just how they accomplished this has always been unexplainable to everybody.

In the spring of 1870, for the purpose of carrying on the live stock business, the subject formed a partner- ship with his two brothers. Elihu Francis and Harrison Jordan, and this partnership continued unbroken and with the pleasantest of relations until the death of Elihu Francis on July 25, 1907, at Lewistown, Mon- tana. The estate was then closed out. The three broth- ers carried on a very extensive business in Jefferson, Fergus and Valley counties. Seldom have three people been so long and so happily associated, and its only ex- planation is the unselfish spirit of every one of them. Mr. Tuttle enjoys the respect and confidence of all with whom he comes in contact and as one of Jefferson county's representative citizens and builders, no one is better entitled to a position in this history.

HARRISON JORDAN. The late Harrison Jordan, one of the eminently successful ranchers and general agricul- turists of the Treasure state, covered varied experiences and divers localities during his full life of eighty-six years, forty-eight of which were merged in the fortunes of the young and growing Montana. His parents, repre- senting respectively Scotch-Irish and German ancestral lines, were William F. and Isabelle (Painter) Jordan; the place of his nativity was that part of southern Illi- nois which is known as "Egypt;" and the date of his birth was March 17, 1825. In 1847 his father's family removed to Pleasantville, Iowa, a town surveyed and plotted by his brother Wesley, and that state he called his home for several years. In 1846 three of the Jordan brothers enlisted for service in Mexico, in a company of the First Illinois Volunteers, under Captain James D. Morgan and Colonel John J. Hardin, the latter of whom met his death in the historic events at Buena Vista.

After the close of the war, Mr. Jordan returned to Illi- nois and was mustered out of service at Quincy.

Returning to Iowa, then the home of the family, Har- rison Jordan was active in public service, both peda- gogical and civic. A period of teaching, combined with work as clerk of the board of commissioners of Marion county, occupied him until the winter of 1851-2, at which time he undertook what is always a memorable office. As town agent, he laid out the town of Indianola, in Warren county. This practically closed his activities in Iowa, for the intense interest of that epoch of gold dis- coveries in the west had claimed him as one of its par- ticipants. In that same winter Mr. Jordan went to Cali- fornia by way of the Isthmus of Panama. He found the Golden state a field for many profitable activities, due to the rapidly growing population and the high prices paid for commodities. His main line of activity was dairying, in which he engaged until the spring of 1855, at which time he returned to Iowa. There he spent seven years in mercantile business, at the end of that time again responding to the call of the west. Dis- . posing of his interests in Iowa, he undertook the experi- ment of crossing the plains to Colorado with mule teams. He thus arrived in Colorado, where for a year he conducted a dairying enterprise, closing that activity to resume his travels by mule teams, proceeding again to California, though with a brief stay at Carson City, Nevada, en route. In the spring of 1864 he returned toward the east as far as Montana, which became his permanent home.

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A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 23

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