A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 42

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

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In 1879 Mr. McCormick was united in marriage with Miss Mary Spear, a native of Missouri, who was living at Helena at the time of her marriage to Mr. McCor- mick. Five children have been born to this union: Paul, Jr., Myrl and Blythe, and two deceased, Edith, at the age of twelve and Guy, at the age of four years.

MAJOR MARTIN MAGINNIS. "Act well thy part; there all the honor lies," is a truism which has a specific and determinate application and exemplification in the life of this distinguished gentleman, who has been a factor of eminent usefulness in the development of Montana from the early pioneer days, who has rendered to the nation the valiant service of a gallant soldier on many a battle-field, who has been identified with those product- ive activities which have advanced the progress and prosperity of the country, who has honorably held posi- tions of high public trust and who has had that deep appreciation of the elemental rectitudes which ever im- plies a life true to itself and its possibilities.

Martin Maginnis comes of that staunch nationality which has had so valuable an influence upon the history of the American republic, his parents, Patrick and Winifred (Devine) Maginnis, having both been born on the Emerald Isle, descending from a long line of Irish ancestors. They immigrated to the United States in 1838, settling in the state of New York, but later re- moved to Illinois and subsequently to Minnesota, where they died at the conclusion of useful lives. Martin Maginnis was born in Wayne county, New York, on October 27, 1841. His childhood days until he was eleven were passed in attendance at the public schools

Martin Faginnis

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

and Macedon Academy and his education was continued in Minnesota. He eventually entered Hamline Univer- sity at Red Wing, but it was only a short time before his patriotism led him to leave school and give his per- sonal assistance to his country, then menaced by armed rebellion. On April 18, 1861, he enlisted in Company F, First Minnesota Volunteers, under Captain William Colvill, Jr., and was mustered in as its first sergeant. After the first battle of Bull Run, where he received a gunshot wound in the cheek, he was made second lieutenant, and thereafter his regiment accompanied General Shields on his campaign through Maryland and Virginia, after which he was transferred to Sedgwick's division of the Second Army Corps, participating in the siege of Yorktown and the battles of West Point, Fair Oaks, Peach Orchard, Savage Station (here he was wounded in the left shoulder), White Oak Swamp, Glendale and Malvern Hill. He was next with General Hooker in the second fight at Malvern Hill, his regi- ment forming the rear guard of the army and being the last to cross the bridge when the Union troops retreated. From Malvern Hill General Mcclellan went to Fort- ress Monroe, and the Second Corps, under General Sumner, went to Centerville, to reinforce General Pope. After the second battle of Manassas General Mcclellan assumed command. The regiment was actively and prominently engaged in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. At Antietam Lieutenant Maginnis' com- pany lost twenty-five per cent of its members, he himself being promoted first lieutenant for "gallant and merit- orious service in the field." His regiment led the ad- vance of Mcclellan's army when it crossed the Potomac, and occupied a prominent position at Snicker's Gap. He was at Warrentown when General McClellan was relieved by General Burnsides, and the regiment led the latter's advance forces to Fredericksburg, being in the Second Army Corps and in the division commanded by General Couch, who constructed a pontoon bridge and thereby captured Fredericksburg. Major Maginnis par- ticipated in the assault on Marye's Heights, where he re- ceived a slight wound in the side, his regiment holding the ground gained until the army was withdrawn across the Rappahannock. Later the regiment took part in the campaign of Chancellorsville, during which the Federal forces again crossed the river and carried Marye's Heights by assault, under General Sedgwick, who held the ground until the army was again withdrawn across the river. The Second Army Corps was now com- manded by General Hancock, and followed General Lee on his northern raid, leading the advance that event- uated in the battle of Gettysburg. During this march the regiment was actively engaged at Manassas and Thoroughfare Gap. At Gettysburg where General Sickles' line was broken, General Hancock threw the First Minnesota into the breach to hold the ground until reinforcements could come up, and there was made the most fatal charge known in the annals of warfare, the loss aggregating eighty-three per cent of the men en- gaged. In Major Maginnis' company of thirty-four men, seventeen were killed and thirteen wounded. He was here made captain and later promoted to major of his regiment, in which capacity he led his command with General Meade across the Rappahannock, partici- pating in the battle of Bristow Station. The regiment then accompanied General Grant to Cold Harbor, where Major Maginnis was assigned to the command of the Eleventh Minnesota, which reported to General Thomas in Tennessee. He was now placed on detached duty, as provost marshal of that state, and assigned to the staff of the military governor, Andrew Johnson, afterward president of the United States. The Major later re- turned to his regiment, which took part in the battles of Nashville and Franklin, Tennessee. In June, 1865, at the close of the war, Major Maginnis was mustered out of the service with the rank of major. His military career was one of marked distinction, and to him at-

taches the honor of attending those who offered their lives in defense of the nation's honor during the greatest civil war known to history.

After the war Major Maginnis was for a time editor of a newspaper at Red Wing, Minnesota, but determin- ing to locate in the west, he organized a party of one hundred and forty men, who, with forty wagons, crossed the plains to Montana, by the northern route, now the line of the Great Northern Railroad. The party arrived in Helena on September 5, 1866, and Major Maginnis engaged in mining on Indian creek and in Mitchell Gulch until August, 1867, when he became editor of the Rocky Mountain Gazette, which was issued under his direction until 1872. The paper eventually became the Helena Independent, now recognized as the leading Democratic daily of the capital city. In 1868 he joined the ranks of the Benedicts, marrying Louise E. Mann, a native of Michigan. In 1872 Major Maginnis was elected territorial delegate to congress, defeating Hon- orable W. H. Clagett, and in 1874 he was elected his own successor, defeating Honorable Cornelius Hedges, the Republican candidate. By subsequent re-elections he remained in congress until 1884, serving six con- secutive terms-a fact singularly indicative of trust and confidence reposed in him by the people of the territory. More distinguished honors were to be his, however. He was a delegate to the constitutional convention in 1889, which framed the present constitution of Montana, and took an active part in its proceedings. It will ever stand to his credit as a high distinction in the annals of Montana that he was chosen as one of the first two to represent the new commonwealth in the United States senate, his colleague being Hon. W. A. Clark. These duly elected senators were denied their places in the senate, the seats being awarded to Hon. W. F. Sanders and Hon. T. C. Power. As congressional delegate Major Maginnis made a reputation that has not been surpassed in the history of that office, and succeeded in obtaining benefactions for the young and struggling territory which have so far not been equaled by all the legislation obtained by a full state delegation in both senate and house. He successfully abolished the Indian reservations which then covered the larger portion of the territory. He procured appropriations from congress and caused to be established and built for the protection of the frontier these army posts: Fort Logan, Fort Keogh, Fort Custer, Fort Maginnis, Fort Assinnaboine and Fort Missoula; the assay office at Helena, and the United States penitentiary, at Deer Lodge, afterwards turned over to the state. The other government build- ings erected in Montana are those at Fort Harrison, in the establishment of which he was an important factor. He procured many appropriations for the payment of depredation claims, the payment of the Montana militia claims and various claims of citizens beyond enumera- tion. He was active in the passage of land and timber laws for the benefit of the settlers, and took an active part in all general legislation, particularly affecting the western states and territories. One of the most im- portant laws contributory to the development of the west was the general right of way for railways across the public lands. This bill he drafted and carried through congress, and under it all the railways in the west, except the three chartered by congress, have been constructed. He procured the grant of lands for the university and other state institutions, and was active in procuring the admission of the state. He was contin- ually chosen as chairman of the territorial delegates, who then had a committee of their own; achieved a national reputation as a debater in the house of rep- resentatives, and made notable orations at the national cemetery at Gettysburg, the Soldier's Home in Wash- ington, the reunion of the Army of the Potomac in Washington, the meeting of Democratic Clubs in the Academy of Music in New York, and to the Tammany Society at its hall in the same city.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

When the difficulty arose between the state and the Northern Pacific Railroad Company as to title to min- eral lands in the commonwealth, Major Maginnis threw the full force of his strong individuality into the work of securing to the state and the government the rights justly due each in the premises, being made a special commissioner, and he secured the congressional ap- pointment of the mineral land commission for Montana, whose work has recently been successfully completed. For his efforts in this case alone the Major merits the gratitude of the state. Major Maginnis has ever been a fearless advocate of the principles and policies of the Democratic party, whose cause he has done much to forward, through editorial utterances and influential participation in its councils. He has represented the party in many state conventions, was for years a mem- ber of the Democratic national committee, and in 1896 was a presidential elector from Montana. He is rec- ognized as one of Montana's representative men and his efforts in her behalf will be held long in grateful recog- nition. The Major keeps alive his practical interest in his old comrades in arms by retaining membership in the Grand Army of the Republic and the Loyal Legion.

ANTHONY WAYNE BARNARD. There is perhaps no man in Butte, Montana, who has lived a more interesting life than Anthony Wayne Barnard, nor one whose in- fluence upon the development and upbuilding of this part of the state has been so keenly potent. Not only was he one of the earliest immigrants to this portion of the Northwest, but he came here as a young man with an unusual amount of grit and determination, and at once set out to make himself a factor that would be felt in the history of the state. From the time when in 1866, a young man of twenty years, but brave and adventurous in spirit, he started out with a team and a spring wagon to cross the plains to Montana, up to the present days of successful fruition of a life's ambition, he has had many experiences; some thrilling, some trying and discouraging, many demanding con- fidence and courage and strength of body and mind.

Mr. Barnard was born in Chautauqua county, New York. September 3, 1846, the son of Martin M. and Elizabeth (Benedict) Barnard, and in early childhood was deprived by death of a mother's loving care and ministrations. His father, a Virginian by birth, went to New York, when young, and when the government in the early fifties made a most liberal offer of lands to settlers who would go west he took advantage of the opportunity to acquire free land and located with his family in Rock county, Wisconsin, where his death occurred in 1876. The Barnard family consisted of eight children, and Anthony, who was fifth in order of birth, was a lad of but four or five summers when his father went to Wisconsin. That part of the state was then indeed the "Wild West" and the life of the farmer's son was then far different and perhaps much more interesting than is now the case in the same place with all its beautiful cultivated fields and modern farm equipment and home conveniences. At any rate Mr. Barnard lived the life of the typical boy of the Wild West. He went to school when opportunity was afforded to do so, and by great good fortune secured a finishing course at a good high school, completing his studies finally when nineteen years old. Then began his independent career. The call of the still further west was in his blood, and as previously stated the young man pluckily started out on a trip to Montana with a team and a spring wagon as his principal outfit. The route which he selected was that leading through Council Bluffs and Omaha, then up the Platte river across the state of Nebraska to Fort Laramie.

This was in the year 1866, that memorable time when Red Cloud and his band of Indian followers made so much trouble for the pioneer settlers and emigrants

who were moving westward. It was at that time that several bloody massacres occurred, among them that of Harney's men, and the whole country was aroused over the situation.

Fortunately for them before Mr. Barnard's party left Fort Laramie a treaty of peace was signed by the Indians and the government, and the train of twenty- five wagons to which he was attached suffered no annoyance from the savages. However the streams and rivers were much swollen and the party experienced great difficulty in fording or crossing many of them. When fording was impossible it was necessary to im- provise rafts for crossing, and several men, and many cattle and mules, were drowned while the crossings were being effected.

Among other points of interest passed by the train was the Custer Battle Ground, but after leaving Fort Laramie, on one long stretch of five hundred miles not a single human habitation was seen. The party trav- eled the new Bozeman route and they saw Colonel Bozeman at his ferry when they crossed the Yellow- stone river, but soon his tragedy also was to be enacted, for the next year he was killed. The train of emi- grants of which Mr. Barnard formed a part arrived at Virginia City late in July and reached Butte on August 6, 1866, at which date the inhabitants of the place did not number so many as one hundred and fifty people.

The journey had been long and exhaustive, fraught with many dangers and anxieties, delays were experi- enced and difficulties had occurred on the way that had not been anticipated, so that when the party arrived numbers of them were without means, Mr. Barnard being one of those whose slender provision of money was entirely depleted. Although without funds he was not discouraged, however, and he went to work prompt- ly and energetically, securing work in the mines and earning as much as was possible until winter closed the season. When the mines closed no other work was to be secured and as a result of the dark outlook for the future many of his friends and acquaintances returned as quickly as possible to their eastern homes. Mr. Barnard, however, had a spirit made of "sterner stuff" and having reached the land he sought was de- termined to conquer ali adverse conditions and wring success from his adventure if life and strength did not fail him.

During the time when no employment was to be secured at cash wages he spent his time in prospecting and was one of the first to find good placer grounds and he was one of the first patentees of a claim within the limits of the state, he having secured Number 42. His ground proved to be rich and from the claim he took out gold to the value of about $200,000. This claim was located in Missoula Gulch, where is now what is almost the heart of the city, and in addition to the value of the land for mining, after it had been thoroughly worked Mr. Barnard sold town lots to the value of $40,000 from it. Thus in his young man- hood he laid the firm foundation for what he has made into a large fortune and he is at this time rated as one of the wealthiest property owners in this section. He is extensively interested in various valuable mining properties, among his holdings being a lot of seventy- five quartz claims.

Many fine pieces of city real estate are also owned by Mr. Barnard in Butte and besides the Barnard block, one of the first large buildings he erected here, he has built a large number of houses in other parts of the city. His faith in this city and state is unbounded and he believes that the future has in store a more phenomenal growth and development than the past has shown and in the progress that is to come he aims to be an influential factor, as he has been in the develop- ment during the past.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

When the call of need has come to him in whatever capacity Mr. Barnard has always with promptness re- sponded and on the occasion of the celebrated raid made on the whites by Chief Joseph and his fanatical followers he joined Hon. Wm. A. Clark's company of defenders and spent two weeks in the service. He was not, however, a participant in the great battle which was fought in the Big Hole country, and in which thirty men were killed and many others wounded, for his command was then engaged in another part of the country and did not arrive on the scene until the day after the battle.

Mr. Barnard is a man of strong influence in public life and politically is a stanch advocate of Jeffersonian Democratic principles. He has, however, consistently refused the importunities of many of his friends to accept official honors of any kind. He has been urgent- ly solicited by both Republicans and Democrats of prom- inence to become a candidate for mayor of Butte but has always refused, feeling that he can best serve by giving his attention to his business and the public interests incidentally involved in the same because of their magnitude and important character.

In fraternal circles Mr. Barnard occupies a high place. He is a member of the Masonic order and in that lodge has given valuable service both in the ranks of the craft and in official station in all the depart- ments to which he belongs, lodge, chapter, council and commandery. Of the last named he is past commander. He also holds membership in the Silver Bow Club and was that organization's first secretary.

On January 8, 1880, occurred the marriage of Mr. Barnard to Miss Jessie G. Addis, a native of New Jersey. They are the parents of five daughters, Lillian, Ida, Josephine, Mabel and Edith.

RICHARD W. CLARKE. One of the old and honored pioneers of the Yellowstone valley, where he was one of the first to cultivate the soil, is Richard W. Clarke. He has been closely identified with the industrial growth and development of this section ever since the Indian trading days, and throughout his long and useful career he has so conducted his activities that his record stands without stain or blemish. Mr. Clarke was born at Stoyestown, Somerset county, Pennsyl- vania, October 22, 1840, and is a son of George A. and Mary Fletcher (Black) Clarke.

On the paternal side of the family, Mr. Clarke traces his ancestry back to John Clarke, who came to America on the Mayflower and his paternal grandmother was born at Fort Duquesne, Pennsylvania, of Holland an- cestry. His grandfather on his mother's side was a native of Tyrone County, Ireland. George A. Clarke was born in 1796, at Stony Creek, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, and there was engaged in farming, as the proprietor of a sawmill, as a merchant, and as a tanner, and was also associated with the Shads Creek Iron Company. He was a justice of the peace for a number of years and was a prominent Whig until 1856, in which year he embraced the principles of the Republican party. On his removal to Chattanooga, Tennessee, he became an extensive owner of real estate. the management of which he made his work during the rest of his life, and his death occurred in Chattanooga in 1886, when he had reached the ad- vanced age of ninety years. He was married in Wash- ington county. Pennsylvania, to Mary Fletcher Black, a native of that county. who lived to be eightv-two years of age, and they had a family of nine children, of whom five are living: Richard W .; Laura, who is the widow of James Cardin; Ida, the wife of Seth F. Lewis; George A., of St. Louis,Missouri, who after thirty-seven years of service is still in the employ of a railroad; and Cora, the wife of a Mr. Burnett.

Richard W. Clarke was educated in the schools of Pennsylvania, where from his eighteenth to his twenty- first year he was engaged in teaching the same school. In 1861 he removed to Jefferson county, Indiana, and after two years spent there as an educator, started overland with Major Colby, at that time Indian agent, for Fort Lyon, Colorado. He then began trading with the Indians, an occupation which he followed until November 29, 1865, when Colonel' Chivington attacked Black Kettle's camp, where Mr. Clarke was trading and nearly exterminated the Indians. Mr. Clarke then re- turned to Leavenworth, Kansas, but in the spring of 1866 came overland on the Bozeman trail to Mon- tana, going on up to Alder Gulch at a time when there was but one log shack in the present city of Bozeman. Subsequently he took up a homestead in the Gallatin valley, where during the early days he met with numer- ous exciting experiences. On one occasion the Sioux Indians coming up the valley, killed three white set- tlers, Mr. Clarke's wife and baby being hidden in the brush for fear they would pass by. He continued to live in the Gallatin valley until 1878, and then removed to near the present site of the city of Billings, purchasing eighty acres of railroad land and later buying two hundred and eighty acres from P. W. McAdow, where he erected a home and set out trees that today form a beautiful grove. Although it is not known whether Mr. Clarke was the first to put a plow into the land in the Yellowstone valley, it is known that he has the distinction of being the first settler to use irrigation in the valley, and there he developed a valuable property, but in 1904 disposed of his ranch and went to Oregon to deal in farm lands. This he continued until 1911, and in that year returned to the Yellowstone valley, where he has since carried on farming. Mr. Clarke is a stanch Republican and cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln, but he has never cared for public office, al- though he has done his duty as a citizen by serving as a member of the school board both in Montana and Oregon. He is a charter member of Ashlar Lodge A. F. & A. M., in which he has numerous warm friends.

On October 21, 1869, Mr. Clarke was married to Miss Davidella Wallace. who was born at Paducah, Ken- tucky, March 2, 1853, the daughter of William and Susanna (Leffle) Wallace, both of whom are deceased. Mr. Wallace was born in Scotland and came to this country with his parents when a mere child. Prior to 1849 he followed farming in Kentucky, and in that year removed to California, but later returned to Ken- tucky and subsequently went to Kansas, building the first house in Leavenworth. Some years later he pur- chased a farm near Topeka, on which the remainder of his life was spent. Mrs. Clarke is the only survivor of her parents' twelve children. To Mr. and Mrs. Clarke a family of twelve children have been born, all of whom still live, as follows: Rose, the wife of J. M. V. Xochran, of Billings; Laura, B., the wife of Chris- tian Yegen, also of this city; Florence, wife of Henry Scott. of Custer, Montana; Alice, who married Henry Morehouse, of Ada, Washington; Abigail, who mar- ried John Sparling, of Roundup; George, a resident of Bend, Oregon; Mary, the wife of Willard Stockwell, of Musselshell, Montana; Jay W., living in · Carbon, county, Montana; Eva, the wife of Homer Finley ; Katherine, who married a Mr. Solem, and is an actress ; Thomas Carter, connected with the freight department of the Northern Pacific Railroad; and Ruth, who is completing her education in Switzerland. Mr. and Mrs. Clarke have twenty-seven grandchildren. Al- though he possesses a handsome competency, honestly and fairly earned. Mr. Clarke continues to engage in activities, being still hale and hearty in spite of his seventy-two years. His ability has been of a high order, but it ranks no higher than his personal char- acter, and he is honored and esteemcd as one of those

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A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 42

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