A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 54

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

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COL. JAMES E. CALLAWAY. In spite of the fre- quently asserted claims of heredity, it is the exception rather than the rule when from ancestry so distin-

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guished as that of Colonel Callaway springs posterity of such distinction as we have herein to record; when brilliant names of the Revolution are repeated as bril- liant names of the Rebellion; when those who are associated closely with the makers of one great state should be authors of a line yielding makers of another great state. It is therefore worthy of some comment that Colonel Callaway's genealogy contains the names of Col. Richard Callaway, of Edmund Callaway and of James Hamilton.

Col. Richard Callaway, a great-great-uncle of our subject, was a partner of the famous Daniel Boone and with him served in the first state legislature of Ken- tucky. Of the many interesting incidents of their as- sociated lives, the one most frequently recounted in the Callaway family is that of the capture of the little daughters of these two men by Indians. While Fannie and Betsey Callaway and Jemima Boone were, one apparently peaceful day, boating on the Kentucky river near Fort Boone, the courageous but panic-stricken trio were captured by savages. Little Margaret Ham- ilton, or "Peggy" as she was always called, hurriedly gave the alarm and Colonel Callaway, with thirty men, made ready for immediate pursuit. After four days of swift riding and clever circumvention, the Indians were encountered and the children brought back to safety. One of them, later Fannie Callaway Henderson, was the first white bride in Kentucky. Her sister Betsey became the daughter-in-law of Dan- iel Boone, and among her descendants are included the Irwin Brothers of Deer Lodge and Edward Lamme of Bozeman. Most noteworthy in Col. James E. Callaway's direct line of progenitors on the paternal side is his grandfather, Edmund Callaway, who, as a mere youth rendered distinguished service to the Con- tinental army, was prominent in the War of 1812, and has received tribute as an honored pioneer of Ken- tucky in the Frankfort monument; his name is es- pecially associated with the battles of Raisin River and Tippecanoe, on which occasions he was in command of a troop of brave Kentuckians. In the maternal ancestry of Colonel Callaway, the name of Col. James Hamilton is one of particular importance. He was born on the Island of Nevis in the West Indies, removing to Georgia at the approximate date of 1767. During the War of the Revolution he commanded a regiment of Georgia volunteers, but his life was sac- rificed early in the conflict. It was his daughter, who, a resident of Kentucky, at the age of four, was assoc- iated with the Boone and Callaway families as Peggy Hamilton ; who grew up and married, in the Blue Grass state, a Virginian named William Means, the first sheriff of Christian county ; and whose daughter, Mary Hamilton Means, married Samuel T. Callaway, the father of James Edmund Callaway. Samuel Callaway was born in Kentucky and was a physician of remark- able energy, which nevertheless presently failed him, as a result of the strenuous practice of that period and locality. He therefore turned from it to another form of service to humanity, one requiring less ex- posure and irregularity of hours, yet no less an outlet for devoted enthusiasm. As a clergyman of the Chris- tian church he lived in Illinois from the year 1848 until his death. He was in early years an old-line Whig, later a Republican.

In Krigg county, Kentucky, on July 7, 1835, James Edmund Callaway was born to Dr. Samuel Taylor Callaway and his wife, Mary Hamilton Means Calla- way. He was thirteen years of age when the family home was changed to Illinois, and his subsequent youthful years were spent in the vicinity of Jackson- ville and in Tuscola, Illinois, until the period of his college and professional study. His educational de- velopment was that provided by the public schools of Jacksonville and Tuscola, of the academy at Jackson- ville and later of Eureka College. He thereupon be-

gan the study of law, being so fortunate as to be a student in the office of the brilliant Richard Yates, later notable as war governor and United States sen- ator from Illinois. Under that famous jurist his reading continued until his admission to the bar. His preliminary practice was in Jacksonville, but he pres- ently located at Tuscola : His promising beginning of a legal career was soon interrupted by events which provided the inception of his distinguished military record.

When in April, 1861, the news was flashed over the country of the attack on Fort Sumter, the soldierly heart of James Edmund Callaway awoke to such dy- namic enthusiasm that in the public meeting held in Tuscola his influence was a large factor in the im- mediate result. Within an hour a company was or- ganized and he was chosen to be its captain. Two hours later he was on his way to Springfield to tender its services to the government. It was therefore mus- tered into state service by U. S. Grant on May 9, and into the United States service in June of the same year, 1861. It was listed as Company D of the Twen- ty-first Illinois Volunteers, that famous fighting regi- ment under Colonel-later General Grant, Captain Callaway's regiment left Springfield July 4. 1861, and as it was soon attached to the Army of the West it was eventually not in the battle under General Grant. In Fredericktown, Missouri, its first engagement oc- curred; and such was the conduct of the captain and company in this and related encounters that Cap- tain Callaway was, in September of 1862, commis- sioned as major.

During the battle of Chickamauga the colonel of the Twenty-first Illinois, J. W. Alexander, was killed and the lieutenant colonel was wounded. whereupon Major Callaway was made its commander. And when, as a result of the demoralization of the Eighty-first Indiana Regiment on the day previous, Major Calla- way was sent to take command of this also, he undertook this double command in both the battle of Chickamauga and the siege of Chattanooga. It was told of him that in the former engagement he was the last man to cross the Chickamauga bridge, when the Twenty-first Illinois was assigned to cover the re- treat, on the occasion of that barely averted disaster to the Union army. The record of the Eighty-first Indiana was so praiseworthy after his assumption of its command that it received special mention from headquarters. He was later the recipient of a beautiful tribute from the regiment. He was presented with a gold and silver mounted sword, bearing on its blade the inscription : "Presented to Major James E. Call- away. 21st Regiment Illinois Infantry Volunteers, by the Non-commissioned Officers and Privates of 8Ist Regiment Indiana Infantry Volunteers, Chickamauga, 19th and 20th September, 1863," and elsewhere on its rich metal surface the words, "As a token of the respect we entertain for him as an Officer and a Soldier and for the gallant manner in which he com- manded us in the memorable battle of Chickamauga, on the 19th and 20th September, 1863." That gift and memento was, during Colonel Callaway's life, a much prized treasure and an object of much interest and ad- miration, even of reverence, to his friends. It has hung for many years on the walls of the dining-room in the Callaway home, and is still guarded by the family as a priceless relic.

The above-mentioned battles were by no means Col- onel Callaway's sole or final claim to military dis- tinction. During the siege of Chattanooga he was sent, with his two regiments and some cavalry and artillery, on a foraging expedition nearly forty miles up the Sequatchie valley. Seizing all the mills in the valley, he ran them for a week, gathering and grinding thousands of bushels of corn; he then loaded his three hundred wagons with provisions and returned with-

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out losing man or wagon, although closely pursued by Wheeler's cavalry. Major Callaway was again dis- tinguished by especial compliment, when after the battle of Stone River, General Rosecrans ordered the forma- tion from each division of a light brigade composed of officers and men distinguished for bravery and sol- dierly qualities. Their names were placed on a roll of honor; and not only was Major Callaway's one of the list, but he was made commander of one of these light brigades. After the battle of Chickamauga, the Eighty- first Indiana had so few men that it was not entitled to a colonel and as it had no field officer, Governor Morton offered Major Callaway its colonelcy. But he preferred to remain with his own regiment and was made its colonel in November of 1864. It is pertinent to conclude these comments on his military record by adding that Colonel Callaway's regiment holds very high rank in the official mention of those having ren- dered distinguished service. Having, through this long and strenuous period of heroic service, led his men with the utmost courage, judgment and skill, the sur- render of the Confederate army left nothing for the brave Callaway to do but resign "by reason of the close of the war," and to accept his honorable dis- charge.

Then came the era of his legal success which dem- onstrated the caliber of the man no less clearly than did his military career. During the year 1864 he had been detached from his regiment for a time in order to fulfill the duties of judge advocate general for the department of the Etowah, a signal recognition of his professional ability and an honor contributing not a little to his prestige when he returned to Tuscola to resume his regular practice. With another brilliant young lawyer Thomas H. McCoughtry, he formed a partnership, their legal firm name being Callaway and McCoughtry. Together they achieved a notably high standing in the community and in their profession at large. Their services were employed on one side or the other of almost all the important litigation in that section of Illinois; and it is of peculiar interest to note that the opposing side was usually represented by an able young man named Joseph G. Cannon, who has since then served for so many years as speaker of the house of representatives, but who was at that time a young and rising barrister of Tuscola.

An able and ambitious lawyer with a gift for polit- ical procedure, usually finds it but a step from legal practice to statesmanship of one kind or another. Cen- sidering his legal talent and his military reputation, it was quite natural that he should soon be chosen as a member of the Illinois legislature. In spite of his success and the high esteem in which he was held, all was not well with him, for his health was suffer- ing from disabilities left by this strenuous martial endeavors. A change of climate seemed advisable, and for some time the colonel had been keenly con- scious of the call of the great and growing west. It was therefore with satisfaction that he accepted, in 1871, an appointment from his friend, President Grant, as secretary of Montana, and he thereupon removed with his family to this state in March of that year. He held the office also through the second term, having been re-appointed in 1875. In March of the year 1877 he resigned, on the occasion of the inauguration of President Hayes. As the office had not required his entire time nor repaid the service with adequate pe- cuniary return, Colonel Callaway had continued the practice of law when time permitted and opportunities presented themselves. It was not long before his talents were recognized in his being elected to the legislature of Madison county. In January of 1885 he was chosen speaker of the Montana house of repre- sentatives, being the first Republican to hold that office in Montana. He was furthermore a member of the constitutional conventions of both 1884 and 1889, and Vol. II-12

was thus a prominent factor in the formulating of the state constitution. In the former of these conventions it was granted that he had but one superior as a debater and that no one could surpass or even equal him as a parliamentarian. He was one of the only five men who were members of both these important bodies and also one of the seven who prepared the address to the people when the present constitution was submitted. Another honor accorded him at this period was his being made commander of the Montana Grand Army of the Republic, an appointment which came to him in 1889. He had also served in 1878 and 1879 as United States district attorney for the first judicial district of Montana, having received that appointment from Judge Blake.

Throughout a quarter-century era of his life the colonel's interests were woven through the sturdy and sometimes rough warp of Montana public life in one capacity or another. His courage and enterprise made him one of the first parties that entered National Park, the date of that investigation being 1871. The evenness and steadiness of his character through these political events recounted gave tone to the fabric of the evolving state. The brilliancy of his mind light- ened the dullness of the formative drudgery of the creation of a commonwealth. And the delicate quality of his conscience counteracted some of the garish self- seeking of many participants in that task.

But his physical nature, never so strong as his will or his ambition, and his financial affairs, never quite first in his motives could not longer stand the strain of this constant giving out of self. From 1871 he had made his home in Virginia City, and there he had performed his public duties while he had strength enough for these and his legal practice. He gradually discontinued the former and again gradually, from the year 1887, when both physique and property were noticeably failing him, he withdrew from professional life, until in 1896 he had practically retired. In 1898 his physicians ordered him "off duty" entirely, but in 1901 his valiant heart pushed him once more into the professional world that had meant so much to his splendid impulses toward action. It fought bravely on, against odds as great as those of Chickamauga, until in 1905 the Great Commander offered honorable dis- charge. And so, after seventy years of gallant service in life's earthly detachment, James Edmund Callaway returned home.

For nearly forty years he had lived with his wife, Mary E. Link Callaway, whom he had married at Paris, Illinois, on January 16, 1866, and who was a daughter of Nehemiah and Emeline Vaught Link, the family being one of the old and prominent ones of Paris. Mrs. Callaway still resides in Virginia City. The chil- dren of whom she and the colonel were the parents were four in number, three sons and a daughter. Llewellyn L. Callaway, who was born December 15, 1868, has gratified his father by also following the profession of law, in which he has been signally successful. He re- sides at Virginia City and is now judge of the fifth judicial district. The daughter, Mary Ethelwyn, who was born December 26, 1872, died February 10, 1878. Edmund J., born December 31, 1880, was graduated from the law school of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, has since been married and now resides at Dillon, where he is a prominent attorney. George R., the third son, who was born September 14, 1883, is secretary of the Montana State College at Bozeman.

Colonel Callaway's social attitude and the quality of social esteem of which he was the recipient call for especial remark. Radical Republican though he was, never did he permit political differences to inter- fere with or to limit his friendships, and he experienced peculiar joy in the fact that he had as many friends among the Democrats as among those of his own party. As a member of the fraternal society of the

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Masons, he was of most exceptionally high rank, be- ing a member of the blue lodge and of the com- mandery; holding the position of grand lecturer of the Montana jurisdiction ; serving as junior grand warden for one year and as worshipful master of his lodge for four years; and taking class generally as a very prom- inent Mason. His friendships, however, were limited by socially conventional lines no more than by political limitations. All men with morally clean hands he was glad to count within the bounds of his comradeship. Southern to the core, he was quick to resent an injury, but was also quick to forget and was generous to enemies as to friends. As an officer honored by nation, state and private soldier; as a lawyer of high rank in the exceptionally able bar of Montana's territorial days; as a statesman and parliamentarian invaluable in the era of our voung statehood; but, most of all, as a man, genuine in fibre and white in the soul of him, do friends, acquaintenances, colleagues speak with something more than ordinary affection the name of James Edmund Callaway.

MARCE SORENSON. Ten miles west of the city of Billings, Montana, lies the 256-acre ranch of Marce Sorenson, one of the prominent agriculturists of the Yellowstone valley, who after many years of hard, in- dustrious labor and many discouragements has achieved success in his chosen line of endeavor. Mr. Soren- son is a native of that country which has contributed largely to the best citizenship of this section, having been born at Jylland, Denmark, August 25, 1855, a son of Marce and Anna Marie (Olson) Sorenson. Mr. Sorenson's father was a weaver by trade, and also served as a soldier in the Danish army, during the war between Prussia and Denmark ia 1847-49. He and his wife, who died when Marce was eleven years old, had six children, of whom two are living: Marce, and Marie, who is the wife of John Johnson and re- sides in Montana.

Marce Sorenson received his elementary education in the schools of his native country, hut when he was only fifteen years of age, accompanied by his small sister, Marie, he took passage in the steamship "Col- orado," and eventually landed at New York City. At that time he had an aunt living in Montana, Mrs. Anna Martin, who owned a ranch at Jefferson Island and the little emigrants started for the west, taking the train to Ogden, Utah, at that time the terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad. There they were met by S. R. Miller and his wife, who had come to meet them from Jefferson Island, Montana, and at that place Mr. Sorenson worked for Mr. Miller for two years, being the only boy herding cattle in the Butte valley in 1871. During this time he made the acquaintance of a number of men who became prominent in later years, among them being John Noyes, Myron Benard, Sen. W. A. Clark and Wilbur Fisk Sanders, and drove the eminent Dr. Tracey, one of the pioneer physicians of Montana, over the mountains from Butte to Harrison. After he had left Mr. Miller's employ, Mr. Soren- son secured work at day wages, and as he was thrifty and economical soon saved enough to invest in a few calves. To these he added as rapidly as he could secure funds, and eventually engaged in the cattle busi- ness on his own account. continuing successfully there- in in the counties of Jefferson and Madison until 1884. At that time Mr. Sorenson went to southern Iowa, where he purchased a farm and engaged in agricultural pursuits, but there he encountered a number of dis- couragements and misfortunes, and eventually lost all that his hard labor had earned for him. Although some- what disheartened, he did not give up, but in June, 1895, returned to Montana and again began to work for wages, after he had spent two years in a visit to Denmark. In 1896 he located on his present property, situated in the Yellowstone valley, ten miles from

Billings, where he now has his 256 acres in a fine state of cultivation and thoroughly irrigated. His buildings are substantial and of modern architecture, and are supplied with all equipment and appurtenances necessary to carrying on the business of ranching. He has a young orchard of two hundred apple trees, raises wheat, oats and alfalfa, and also gives a great deal of attention to raising fine horses. Mr. Sorenson has given his children a good educational training, and that he has not neglected to fit them for the serious business of life was demonstrated in the summer of 1911, when his two sons, Harry and Lester, aged fourteen and fifteen years, respectively, raised over $3,500 worth of wheat, oats and alfalfa on 156 acres of land. In political matters Mr. Sorenson is a stanch Democrat, and that he stands high in the esteem of his fellow citizens was made evident in November, 1910, when he was elected to the office of county commissioner. Yellowstone county is one of the leading strongholds of Republicanism in the state, and Mr. Sorenson was' the only Democrat on the ticket to be elected to county office. He is a member of Billings Lodge No. 394, B. P. O. E., and for several years has belonged to the Brotherhood of American Yeomen.

In 1884. Mr. Sorenson was married (first) to Miss Lizzie Gaulter, who was born in Utah and died in 1891, having been the mother of three children: Lewis M., who is engaged in beet raising on an eighty-acre tract situated five miles from the city of Billings, and married Hazel Brennan; Frederick, who died when seven years of age; and Phoebe, who died in infancy. After the death of his first wife, who passed away at Lamoni, Iowa, Mr. Sorenson left his two sons, Lewis M. and Frederick, at Lamoni, and took a trip to his native place. He was there married in 1894 to Miss Sophy Amalie Jacobsen, who was born in Denmark, and they have had three children: Harry Clay, Lester and Christina A., all at home.

In the life of Marce Sorenson there is presented a lesson for the youth of any land; something to be found in it of a nature encouraging to the young as- pirant, who, without friends or fortune, is struggling to overcome obstacles in his efforts to acquire a com- fortable competence, if not absolute wealth. Mr. Sor- enson has met his share of discouragements and dis- appointments, but has never allowed himself to falter, and the poor emigrant youth of forty years ago has developed into one of the most substantial and highly esteemed men of his community. While his business activities have kept him very busy, he has not denied himself the pleasure of companionship with his fellow men, and in his wide circle of acquaintances there are many who recognize his admirable qualities and are proud to call him friend.

WILLIAM COLEMAN. Coming as a boy into the state of Montana and immediately identifying himself with the life that was most typically hers during pioneer days, by becoming a miner, William Coleman has been for forty-six years a resident of the state. From mining he drifted into a branch of the mercantile trade and has made an unquestionable success of his business. Not only a pioneer in the commonwealth and in a business way, but also in matters pertaining to the welfare of the community, Mr. Coleman through his progressive ideas and his energy in carrying them out has done much for Deer Lodge, where he makes his home.

William Coleman was born in Germantown, Ohio, January 25, 1847, the third son and fourth child in a family of six children. His parents were John and Mary (Boyer) Coleman and he is descended from a long line of pioneer ancestors. His grandmother, Mary Schaeffer Boyer, was a granddaughter of that early Pennsylvanian, who owned and sold the large tract of land now largely occupied by the present city

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of Germantown, Pennsylvania. Selling this land at and Thirty-first Regiment of Ohio Volunteers. He re- mained with this company until the close of the war, being so fortunate as to receive only one wound, a slight one obtained in a skirmish. At the end of the war he returned home and with his older brother, Lewis, set out for Montana in March, 1866. They went by rail as far as Kansas City, Missouri, and were. joined there by a comrade of Lewis Coleman's, J. T. Clark, of the Second Colorado Cavalry. They pur- chased between them a mule team and outfit, and on the 12th of March, 1866, they left Kansas City en route for Montana. Their way led them along the famous old Santa Fe trail as far as Pueblo, Colorado. There they crossed to Cherry Creek, thence to Den- ver, where they secured more supplies and after a rest of several days, a respite of which both their mules and they themselves stood in sore need, they started on again, over the emigrant (Mormon) road, head- lowed the Cash Valley to Alder Gulch, Virginia City, arriving in the mining town in July, 1866, having been four months and four days in making the jour- ney. During this long trip each night they were com- pelled to picket their mules and mount guard over the wagon and outfit, each taking turn at this duty. what he considered an advantageous price, he removed his family and effects to another extensive tract which he had purchased in the interior of the state. That region was at the time of his locating within it a frontier section of Pennsylvania. Indian raids were not unusual and one such attack resulted in the death of this pioneer and his wife at the hands of the sav- ages. Their two children, Catherine and an infant sister, were seized by the Indians and carried away by them. The younger sister soon died from exposure, but the girl Catherine for seven years remained in captivity. Being a young woman of more than ordi- nary intelligence and force of character, she won a remarkable degree of respect and deference from her wild captors. Her understanding of the medicinal efficacy of various herbs added to the high esteem in which she was held and she became a noted doctress among the members of the tribe, who greatly prized . ing for Salt Lake. From the latter place they fol- her services. This band-probably the Miami In- dians-in their wanderings traversed an extensive part of southern Ohio. It was while they were in that part of the country that the Pennsylvania girl captive, who was permitted much liberty in going about to gather her herbs, was one day surprised to hear the sound of hammering. Tracing the sound for some distance, At this time gold had just been discovered at High- land Gulch, and the team of the brothers was the fifth to cross the hills into that section of the country. Leaving his brother Lewis at Highland Gulch, William Coleman with a party of four went into the Big Hole, and until fall prospected the tributaries of the Wise river, but finding that gold was not to be had in pay- ing quantities he returned to Highland. It was while on this trip that Mr. Coleman discovered the Ruby Gulch, and it was while he was away from his brother that he prospected in Rochester, Camp Creek and Soap Gulch. In 1868 he made another trip into the Big Hole country, which at the time was alive with game of every description and infested with Indians, who were, however, peaceably inclined. He had the mis- fortune to be taken ill with mountain fever, and the party was forced to camp under a fir tree for two weeks or more, the sick man being made as comfortable as possible on a bed of pine boughs. As soon as he was able to be moved they carried him for thirty miles, taking ten days to make the journey, to a house occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Forest. There he slowly recovered and when he was able to sit on a horse's back, made his way once more to Highland Gulch. she came to the bank of a stream, down which a raft was about to be floated by some white men. Aston- ished to see a young white woman in Indian garb, they listened with eager interests to the story of her cap- tivity and endeavored to persuade her to join them in order to secure her liberty. But she preferred re- maining among her respectful and considerate captors to joining strangers of whom she knew nothing. She requested these men, however, to report her predic- ament to authorities who should enter into negotia- tions with the Indians for her release. In the course of time that end was accomplished, her leave taking of this Miami band being accompanied with gifts of valu- able trinkets and other highly prized articles. Return- ing to the friends of her family in Pennsylvania, she resumed the habits of civilization and was later married to a young man named Schaeffer. One of her daugh- ters, Mary Schaeffer, became Mrs. George Boyer, and with her Catherine Schaeffer lived in the days of her widowhood. It was then that her reminiscences of the fine country to the west, in which the Indians had lived and hunted, aroused such interest that in 1804 a colony of emigrants from' that section of Pennsyl- vania migrated to Ohio. Their long journey by wagon was one in which this lady acted to a great extent as guide. She it was who named the new settlement in Montgomery county, Ohio, with the same name as that given to the village of her father's early com- munity. Catherine Schaeffer lived in Germantown, Ohio, to the end of her life, rendering valuable service through her knowledge of medicine and of life in a new, wild region. That colony included among its other settlers George Coleman, whose son, John, later married Mary Boyer, a daughter of Mary Schaeffer Boyer and a granddaughter of Catherine Schaeffer.

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A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 54

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