A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 35

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

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most courageous kind, but in October of the last- named year he succumbed to the resultant weakness and the end came December 20th, at his home in Warmsprings. The last reverent services were said over his body at the Episcopal church of Deer Lodge, by the Reverend E. G. Prout, and were accompanied by full Masonic rites. The presence of numerous emi- nent citizens from distant localities, added to that of his many friends, acquaintances and warm admirers throughout Deer Lodge county, made that memorial gathering the largest of its kind ever known in Deer Lodge.

Dr. Armistead Hughes Mitchell is remembered for those achievements the recountal of which is given in foregoing paragraphs of this article; but even more for the qualities which no pen can make vivid-the in- describable elements of personality which make a friend or comrade so ineffably precious, even in memory. His high sense of honor, personal and professional, his im- partiality and loyalty in friendship; his exquisite sym- pathy, underlying the dominent force of his nature and revealing itself so wonderfully at a patient's need; his ideal relations to the members of his family-these char- acteristics one may name as definitely his. Just what they meant, in their blended entity, to the world in which he moved is now expressible only in the multi- fold heart-image shared by those who best knew Dr. Mitchell.

SOPHRONIUS MARCHESSEAU is, as his name indicates, of French descent, though both his father and his mother were born in Canada. The father, Francis Marchesseau, was a tiller of the soil, but the love of romantism and adventure so strong in the French Canadian, was his most dominant quality. He died in his fifty-sixth year, leaving a widow, Sophia Richards Marchesseau, who mourned him until her own death, almost a quarter of a century later. They were the parents of ten children, of whom but two, Sophronius Marchesseau and his sister Henrietta, were granted length of life. The sister, Henrietta Marchesseau, became the wife of the late Mr. Trahan, of Central Falls, Rhode Island, and her death occurred September 29, 1912, at the age of ninety years, one month and eleven days.

The life of the remaining son, the fourth born in the family of ten children, would have been a delight to Hamlin Gariand or Owen Wister. Bret Harte could have painted it in its true colors and done it justice. That life covers almost a century in time, the great century of development in the northwest. His feet traversed almost every state in the Union from east to west and from west to east and back again, and this in a time when to the average civilization western travel was one of the impossibilities. It is difficult to compress a life so filled with action, so far reaching in its influence, so epoch making in its results, into a few pages of a Montana edition. It was voices like unto his, crying in the wilderness, that made way for a new civilization in a country that is only now beginning to be known.

Sophronius Marchesseau was born in L'Acadie, St. Johns county, in the province of Quebec, Canada, on the twenty-fourth day of December, 1828. Education was a commodity difficult to obtain in those parts and times, nor did the young men feel greatly the lack thereof with half a continent lying unexplored before them. The book learning that lay in his path, however, the subject of this sketch received. He attended, of course, for some little time the schools of his native village, but early became a clerk in a store of general merchandise. About the time he reached his majority he went to Burlington, Vermont, where he accepted a similar position. Hardly was he established in his new work when glad tidings spread like wild fire over the country, tidings of gold in California. From every country side parties of young men set out for the land

of the setting sun. Some traveled around the Horn, others by way of the Isthmus but Sophronius Marches- seau and two of his brothers, with the blood of the Canadian trapper red in their veins, joined a company of eight young men and started on the tedious over- land journey from Vermont to California. Their real starting point, however, was St. Johns, the home of the Marchesseaus. Leaving there on April eleventh, 1850, they traveled by rail and boat through the great lakes and down the Mississippi to St. Louis. Here they were delayed for some time in procuring their outfits and making arrangements for the really serious portion of the great undertaking. At Independence, Missouri, each man purchased a mule, a flint lock musket and what other necessities he was able to carry in his knap- sack. At Westport they joined a party of Sante Fe merchants and on the first of June they set out all together across the dusty plains. They met, of course, many Indians, some tribes considered hostile to the white pioneers, but the young Canadians knew well these Indian tribes, most of whom belonged to the Sioux nation and were pleased to hear again the French Canadian tongue. The hardships of the journey lay in the long months of continuous travel, the thirst and the famine with which they had, at times, to battle and the dropping by the wayside of beast and man. At Salt Lake City, the little band rested for three weeks, and they received at the hands of the Mormon settlers the most courteous treatment and the most urgent invi- tation to join their own colony already established. Some were tempted, but the majority of the party were strong willed men for whom California was the only goal.

In the early autumn they arrived at Logtown, Eldo- rado county, near Mud Springs, and started at once to work. Their only knowledge of placer mining was what they had gleaned from hearsay. They had brought with them their rockers and, what was more to them, each man had an inexhaustible supply of energy and en- thusiasm. The first day's work netted twenty-five dol- lars apiece. All winter these eleven men labored side by side, earning on an average of one hundred dollars a day. In the spring they moved on to the Yuba river diggings, where they were again successful. In 1858 came the great Frazer river gold excitement. Eighteen thousand men left California for Alaska, and among the number was Sophronius Marchesseau. He went from San Francisco to Victoria by boat, thence across the gulf of Georgia to the Frazer river. The report of the gold findings had not been exaggerated, but the hardships of the plains were as nothing to the cold and the famine of this barren land. Many a man was known to exchange his largest nugget for a crust of bread. It seemed impossible to supply the multitudes with food, and so high were the prices that only the wealthy could buy. Many who preferred a competence and comfort to gold and starvation retraced their weary steps to Frisco.

Mr. Marchesseau, to whom the excitement had ap- pealed even more strongly than had the gold, returned to California and his mines, richer by only the experi- ence. He continued to work his properties until 1863. when he returned to his old home for a visit, the trip being made by way of the Nicaragua route. It was with sadness that he noted the many changes that four- teen years had wrought in St. Johns. Of his own fam- ily there remained to him only his mother, one brother and a sister, the latter having recently died September 29, 1912, aged ninety years. The country appealed to him even less than before, and after a brief visit he set his face again westward.

This time he chose to end his journey in Montana, a country that had interested him in his earlier travels. In the spring of 1865 he came up the river to Fort Denton and overland by wagon to Helena. At the mouth of the Marias there was great excitement over

S. Marchessean IN HIS 85th YEAR

Thomas Il Irvine

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a prospective Indian uprising, as a camp of foresters had been recently murdered, but the difficulty proved to be entirely local and our subject reached Helena on the fifth of July. Here he became interested in some valuable mining property which he still owns. He be- gan operations in Dry Gulch on Indian Creek but was soon engaged by the New York Mining and 'Exploring Company at ten dollars a day. Professor Hodges was superintendent of the "White Latch Union" and Mr. Marchessean became his overseer. In 1886 he pur- chased a stock of goods in Helena and came to Butte, where he started a trading post. Butte at that time was merely a mining camp where the miners were work- ing with rockers and sluices. For two years he con- tinued in business here, when the water became so scarce that the miners were many of them obliged to discontinue their operations. He then moved his stock to French Gulch and later to Bitter Root, Missoula county. When the quartz mines were opened at Butte business began to prosper once more and Mr. Marches- seau reopened his general store. This was in 1875 but even then all goods had to be hauled by wagon and the price of freight was from twelve and a half to fifteen cents per pound. His store was located on Main street on the present site of his brick block, which was erected in 1890. This block is one of the best business structures of Butte, being seventy-four by eighty-one feet and three stories in height. In 1883 our pioneer merchant disposed of his business to L. W. Foster and L. R. Mallet that he might have more freedom to de- vote to his other growing interests.

Mr. Marchessean has never found time in his active life to search for his "Golden Girl" and assume family cares. He is a member of the Roman Catholic church but neither a lodge member nor a politician. He makes his home in his own beautiful building, the upper stories of which he has finished and equipped as a modern hotel. Although a man who has never taken a part in the public life of his city or state, he is known through- out Montana as one of the old timers who has made the new regime possible.

REV. WALTER M. JORDAN, a prominent and highly esteemed member of the Christian church, is a worthy son of the Montana pioneer whose life is recorded in other pages. When Harrison Jordan and Catherine Tuttle, his wife, were residents of Alder Gulch, in this state, their eldest son was born on July 22, 1865. This son, named Walter Marion, received his elementary education in the district schools, from which he passed to the Butte high school for more advanced study. He subsequently entered that well-known institution of higher learning which is known as Drake University and which is located at Des Moines, Iowa. From the col- legiate courses there he was graduated in 1888 with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy.

The independent activities of Walter M. Jordan began with a period of pedagogical activity-that profession, which, when conscientiously conducted, is fraught with the same altruistic spirit which pervades the Christian ministry. In the winter of 1889-90 he engaged in teach- ing at Silver Star, Montana, and the following August entered the ministry of the Christian church, but was not officially ordained until June, 1892, at Cotner Uni- versity, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Rev. Jordan's first charge was at Cascade, Montana, with which he combined his pastorate at Hogan, Mon- tana. His recognition of the greatness of his calling led him to desire the fullest possible intellectual advancement, a direct result of which was his pursuing of a post-graduate course at Cotner University, from which in 1892 he received the degree of Master of Arts.

In August, 1894, Rev. Jordan responded to a call from the church of his denomination at Deer Lodge, Montana, and his ministry there was followed by simi- lar pastoral services at Helena, where he accepted the

Christian pastoratc. On January 1, 1899, he began his work at the latter city, where he remained for five years. During his pastorate there his consecrated and carnest leadership resulted in the clearance of a large church debt and in a doubling of the membership of the Helena Christian church.

The next pastorate of Rev. Jordan was at Quincy, Illinois, the early home of his father. In 1908 he passed from there to another charge in his native state of Mon- tana, becoming pastor for one year of the Christian church in Billings, when he accepted a call to become the pastor of the Shortridge Memorial church at Butte, where he has since been located. In that church he still continues his ministry, leading his people to a clearer comprehension of the spiritual vision and of its appli- cation to the mundane life. Single-minded in his ideals and standards, he is broad in his interests, which touch every phase of the life of Butte and of an even wider field.

Organizations of high moral purpose, whether avowedly religious or nominally secular, have sought both his membership and his official service. From 1890 until he removed to Quincy, Illinois, he was a member of the State Board of the Montana Christian Associa- tion; when he became a resident of the state once more he became a member of the organization, of which he was made president of the executive com- mittee in 1912. The Montana Christian Endeavor Union made him its secretary in 1895 and its president in 1896. On the State Board of Charities and Reform his serv- ices'were called into requisition by Gov. R. B. Smith, and he was reappointed by Gov. Joseph K. Toole; as the board's secretary, Rev. Jordan served until his resignation on removing from the state. He served as chaplain of the state senate the first time that body met in the new capitol, and offered the first invoca- tion uttered within that structure of civic deliberations.

Of secular organizations, the order of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons claims the membership of Rev. Jordan, who in 1890-at the time when his father was worshipful master of that lodge-attained the degree of Master Mason. Rev. Jordan is now affiliated with Butte Lodge, No. 22.

The domestic life of Rev. Jordan began in 1892; on June 30th of that year, he was united in marriage with Miss Ella Dungan of Des Moines, Iowa. She was a daughter of Prof. David R. Dungan of Drake University. The children who were born to Walter M. and Ella Jordan were three, who were named respec- tively, Merle Kinnis, Marion Jean and Derryl Dee. Ella Dungan Jordan died in 1906, in Quincy, Illinois. The present Mrs. Jordan (nee Jeannie Coe) is a daugh- ter of Josiah Coe, of Woodbine, Iowa. His second mar- riage took place at Billings, Montana, on June 30, 1008.

THOMAS HOWARD IRVINE. Although more than thirty years have elapsed since Thomas Howard Irvine passed away, he is yet remembered by the pioneers of Deer Lodge valley, where he was an early settler and where he occupied a position of respect and esteem, as befitting a man of the high character and personal worth which were his. Mr. Irvine came from a fine old Kentucky family, whose members were prominent in the early history of the state. The name of his grandfather, Capt. Christopher Irvine, occupies a prominent place, together with those of Boone, Har- rod, Shelby and other men of equal prominence, on the magnificent shaft that stands in the cemetery at Frank- fort erected to the memory of Kentucky's honored dead.

The Irvine family is of Scotch-Irish extraction, its members being early settlers in Virginia, whence they emigrated to Kentucky, then a frontier section. Thomas H. Irvine was born in Richmond, Madison county, Kentucky, on February 16, 1811, a son of David C. and Nancy (Howard) Irvine. His father was born

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November 18, 1785, in Richmond, Kentucky, and mar- ried Nancy Howard of Bourbon county. He died August 14, 1820, at Richmond, Kentucky, when he was but thirty-five years of age.

David C. Irvine was a son of Captain Christopher Irvine, mentioned above, who settled at Richmond, Kentucky, in 1799. Captain Irvine married Lydia Calaway of Madison county, Kentucky, a daughter of Col. Richard Calaway. Captain Irvine served in the war of 1812, and was killed in battle, near Fort Meigs, Ohio, May 5, 1813, his body being interred upon the field of battle.

Thomas Howard Irvine grew to manhood in his na- tive Kentucky county and there he married his first wife, Mary Ann Williams, who bore him four children, of whom but one is now living,-William C., retired, and living in Butte, Montana. For his second wife Mr. Irvine married Sally Bryan, of Fayette county, Kentucky, a daughter of one of the old and prominent families of the state. Bryan Springs, near Lexington, was named for them. The children born of this sec- ond union were as follows: Isabelle who died in in- fancy; Nannie H., now the widow of Richard Jones, who makes her home in Seattle, Washington; Thomas H., of this review, a rancher at Perma, Montana; Bryan, one of the best known mining men in Butte. where he located many of the richest mines in the city, and where he finally died; Bettie Hart, the widow of

George W. Irvin, one of the prominent men of Butte during his lifetime, in which city she now lives; Mary E., the widow of Dr. A. H. Mitchell, who is men- tioned in greater detail elsewhere in this work; Mar- garet Bryan, who married William Shanly of Deer Lodge, Montana, where she died; Eliza, who married William Cassidy, of Anaconda, Montana; Sally B., who married Harry Mills and died in Deer Lodge; Alice, who died at Soda Springs, Idaho, while the family were en route to Idaho.

About 1848 Thomas Howard Irvine left Kentucky with his family and emigrated to Missouri, settling in Buchanan county some fifteen miles south of St. Joe, where a brother, William L., had located a short time previously. In 1865 he came to Montana (where his two sons were then living) and located on a tract of land along Race Track Creek, in what is now known as Powell county, and there he took up farming and stock-raising. Here he continued to live for a few years and about 1870 moved to within a short distance of Deer Lodge, where he passed the remainder of his life. His death occurred on July 14. 1881, in Butte, Montana, while there on a visit to his daughter. He is buried at Deer Lodge. His wife died January 24, 1871, at Deer Lodge.

Thomas H. Irvine was one of the old-school Dem- ocrats, whose faith in his party was firm and stanch. But he was never an office seeker, although a regular voter. He was a member of the Christian church. His home was ever noted for the genuine old southern hospitality peculiar to those of his section of the coun- try, and his excellent family were well reared. He was a highly respected and esteemed citizen, who bore an enviable standing in his community, and he is still remembered by many who were privileged to know him in the years gone by.

JOHN A. SPENCER, dealer in implements of all kinds in Philipsburg. Montana, is a representative business man of this city. His identification with the life and growth of the state began as long ago as in 1865, and since that time he has been variously occupied in vari- ous parts of the state. In 1892 he settled in Philips- burg, and since that year has been engaged in the im- plement business.

Mr. Spencer is a native of Indiana, born in Boone county, that state, on April 9, 1844. When he was seven years of age his parents moved to St. Paul,

Minnesota, where they remained until the later years of their life. He is the son of John B. and Nancy (Johnson) Spencer. The father was born in Kentucky and after his removal to Minnesota remained there until late years, when he made his home in California. He was a contractor and builder of some importance and was a successful man. He died at the age of eighty-five years. His wife, whom he married in In- diana, also died in California, and is there buried by her husband's side. She lived to the age of eighty years and was the mother of six children, of which number John A. of this review was the first born.

As a boy in St. Paul, John A. Spencer attended the public schools of that city, and he remained there until he was about twenty-one years of age, first visit- ing Montana in 1865. He located in Virginia City at first, and he remained there for a period of twenty- seven years, engaged in the merchandise business. After that long period of business experience in Vir- ginia City he sold out and went to Butte, where he again engaged in mercantile lines, and continued in business there for three years. He once more closed out his business and went back to the old home in St. Paul, where he remained for two years, becoming estab- lished in business there, but the call of the west drew him back to Montana again and he returned to Butte, where he remained for one year, followed by a period of one year in Granite, in both places being occupied by business interests. In 1893 he located in Philips- burg and established the business which has held his. undivided attention continuously since that time.

Mr. Spencer has always showed a decided business ability, that characteristic of his nature becoming . ap- parent in his youth. When he was but sixteen years of age he went to work in a grocery store in St. Paul, receiving as his monthly stipend fifteen dollars, which he dutifully and generously handed to his mother every pay-day, and until he came west he was for the most part engaged in the mercantile business in one capacity or another, thereby gaining a goodly store if experi- ence which he has turned to excellent account in past years. Mr. Spencer is a Mason and is affiliated with Flint Creek Lodge, No. II, and the Eastern Star. He has been master of the blue lodge at Virginia City and at Philipsburg also. He is a Republican, but not a man of any political ambition. He has always lived the life of a good citizen, content to perform the duty lving nearest him and let others fill the public offices. He has served his city as a member of the council during two terms and in that office has done good work for Philipsburg. He is a member of the Society of Montana Pioneers.

In 1875 Mr. Spencer was married to Miss Harriet Welch at Virginia Citv. She was a daughter of Wil- liam and Harreit Welch, of that city. She died in 1904, leaving her husband and one son, Clarence C., to mourn her loss. The son is now married and lives at Wallace, Idaho.

CLINTON A. SLOAN. An active and highly prosperous business man of Butte, Clinton A. Sloan has spent a large part of his life in Montana, and in the develop- ment and advance of its material and industrial interests has performed an important part. A son of the late A. H. Sloan, he was born June 15, 1856, in Clinton county. Missouri.

A. H. Sloan was born in Ohio. in 1820. Learning the carpenter's trade when young, he followed it in Mis- souri for a number of years. Coming from there to Montana in 1865, he located with his family on a ranch, and was here actively engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, in 1888. He married Marian Donglass, who was horn in Iowa, and is now living in Montana, her home being in Boulder Valley. To them eight chil- dren were horn, including: Clinton A., the subject of this brief biographical sketch; John B., a ranchman in

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Madison county, Montana; Seymour D., of Butte; Mrs. L. D. Byers, of Boulder; and Mrs. F. C. Berndies, of Seattle, Washington.

A lad of six years when he came with his parents to Montana, Clinton A. Sloan attended the district schools several terms after locating here, and as soon as old enough to earn a livelihood began work on a ranch. Industrious, economical and an excellent manager, he saved some money, and having wisely invested it in land owned quite a valuable ranch as early as 1888. Making a specialty of raising and shipping horses and cattle, he built up an extensive industry in that line, shipping immense car loads of stock to the eastern markets from his ranch in Jefferson county, Montana. Disposing of his land and other interests in Jefferson county in 1898, Mr. Sloan became a resident of Butte in that year, and embarked in the livery business as a member of the firm of Parmer, Cotter, McGovern & Sloan. Two of the partners withdrawing at the end of eight months, the business was continued under the name of Sloan & Mc- Govern until 1900. Mr. Sloan then bought out his partner's interests, and carried on the livery alone for two years, but the ensuing three years had as a partner Mr. Tom Morrow. That partnership then being dis- solved, Mr. Sloan established the Sloan Livery Com- pany, which he conducted successfully for two and one- half years, when he sold out to the firm of Miller & Simons. A short time later, becoming associated with Mr. Byers, Mr. Sloan again engaged in the livery busi- ness, under the firm name of Sloan & Byers, and in its management is meeting with characteristic success, being one of the best known liverymen of the county.

Mr. Sloan married, January 22, 1902, Miss Lillian Rogers, of Butte, and their home is one of comfort and cheer. Politically Mr. Sloan supports the princi- ples of the Democratic party, and religiously he is a member of the Christian church. Fraternally he belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America and to the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks.

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A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 35

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