A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 55

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

USA > Montana > A history of Montana, Volume II > Part 55

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

George Coleman was the father of eleven children, among them five sons, of whom John Coleman was the third. His marriage to Mary Boyer took place on April 15, 1835. Of the six children of John and Mary Coleman, two sons, William and Lewis, became Montana pioneers, thus continuing the family tradi- tion made notable by their grandfather, George Cole- man, their distinguished ancestress, Catherine Schaef- fer, and their earlier progenitor of Germantown his- tory.

William Coleman was a student in the public schools of Germantown, Ohio, until he reached the age of seventeen, when he enlisted in the Federal army, first as a drummer, but soon discarding the drum for the rifle. he became a member of Company E, One Hundred

His next mining venture was to Loom Creek, Idaho, where with two other men, Charles Ladeau and Dan Mckeever, he prospected for a time but found nothing. He then returned for supplies to Salmon City, and while there was joined by Dr. McCann, and together they prospected the tributaries of the Lemhi river, but were not successful and returned by way of Fort Lemhi over the Range. He then prospected with equal lack of success about the headquarters of Horse Prairie. Coming thence to Bannack City, he began mining alone, and building a suction pump, which was the first introduced in this region, he succeeded in reaching bed rock or the main channel of Grasshop- per Creek, being the first miner who had ever accom- plished this feat. Here he was successful, and here he remained until July 1, 1871. In spite of all these ex- periences he was only twenty-four years of age, and was widely known as the "Boy Miner." In 1871 he sold his claims and came to Deer Lodge, Montana, where* he opened a jewelry store, just a small place at first, but the pioneer in the town. His trade grew and now it is the most important business of its kind in the city and may be compared favorably with any store of its kind in much larger cities.

In 1872 Mr. Coleman established his first branch store at Pioneer, and in 1875 he established a second at Philipsburg, following these by one in Butte in

1030

HISTORY OF MONTANA

1877 and another in Anaconda in 1884. He has since closed out his branch stores, finding his business at Deer Lodge about as much as he cares to handle.

Mr. Coleman has not given his entire time to the management of his own business by any means. He was instrumental in bringing about the present fine water system of the city, working for six months in the organization and promotion of the company. The Water Company was organized on the Ist of Octo- ber, 1886, the officers now being N. J. Beilenberg, presi- dent; Willard Bennett, vice-president; and William Coleman, secretary and treasurer. He evinced the greatest activity in this work, giving the erection of the works his personal attention. He later aroused interest in the prospect of bringing electricity to the city, and worked as hard in behalf of the Electric Light Company as he had for the water company.

Mr. Coleman has many other interests, including valuable mining interests in Montana, and particularly near Butte. He is also the owner of much valuable landed property throughout the state, and owns con- siderable city realty, including his handsome home in Deer Lodge. His life has been eminently successful, not only as a business man, but in other ways that are more important, in the winning of friends and the regard of the people with whom he has been associated.

Mr. Coleman is a Republican and is active in ad- vancing the interests of his party. He married Miss Lucy Hammond, of Grant county, Wisconsin, who was born November 1, 1858. They were married on the 2nd of Angust, 1875. Two children have been born to them: Alice, now Mrs. J. A. Mulcahy of Deer Lodge, and Joseph Coleman, of Deer Lodge. This son married Miss Marie Estelle Reede, and they have one child, Dorothy Loretta. The daughter, Mrs. Mul- cahy, has two children, Coleman and Kathleen.

The father of the subject of this sketch, John Cole- man, was a native of Ohio. He was a veteran of the Mexican war, and served throughout that struggle. He was a wagon and carriage manufacturer and is now deceased. The six children of his father and mother were: George F., who is now a retired farmer of Winchester, Ohio; Lavinia, who is Mrs. Alonzo Law, of Germantown; Lewis, who died at Deer Lodge in 1908; Maria. now Mrs. Dan Kindig, of German- town; and Sarah, who married Peter E. Hart, of Ger- mantown; William was the fourth child.

In his early days Mr. Coleman enjoyed hunting and fishing and all kinds of active sports. Now he gives much time to his fraternal and social interests. He has always been active in the Grand Army of the Republic, and was the first Federal soldier who deco- rated a Confederate soldier's grave in Montana. He* is a Mason and has been treasurer of his lodge for nineteen years. He is also an Odd Fellow and has been treasurer of this lodge for twenty-two years. His wife and daughter and his son and daughter-in-law are also communicants of the Episcopal church and active workers in the same.

Mr. Coleman and family are representatives of the highest type of a cultured family in the state. He is a pleasing and courteous gentleman. With the wealth and culture of himself and household go also those traits of character that win and keep the esteem of all who know them.

BISMARK WILLIAMS. Among the leading men of Montana may be found numbers who proudly claim this great state as their native one, and as they owe a son's allegiance. it is given with enthusiasm and patriotism, for the loyal sentiment of love of birth- place is essentially American. Broadwater county has a notable native citizenship and a leading representa- tive of this class is Bismark Williams, who is serving in the office of county treasurer of Broadwater county and is a member of the society of Sons and Daugh-

ters of Montana Pioneers. Mr. Williams is a resident of Townsend, Montana, but was born at Radersburg, Montana, January 10, 1871. He is a son of W. U. and Mrs. Malicia (Pool) Williams.

W. U. Williams was born in 1838, in Maine, of an early settled family of the Pine Tree state. He re- mained on his father's farm until old enough to safely handle tools and then learned the cabinetmaking trade, which he followed until his attention became attracted toward the west. In 1867 he accompanied a wagon train that crossed the plains to Alder Gulch, now Vir- ginia City, and suffered many of the hardships that attended the early pioneers. For one year he pros- pected around Alder Gulch and in 1868 took up a claim in what is now Broadwater county and for a number of years afterward engaged in stock raising in .Crow Creek valley. After selling his ranch he retired to Radersburg, where he still resides.

W. U. Williams married Mrs. Malicia Pool, who died in March, 1893, on her husband's ranch in Crow Creek valley. She was a widow at time of marriage to Mr. Williams and had two daughters: Laura, who is now Mrs. John Ross, of Tostan, Montana; and Alice, who is Mrs. Aaron Schaaf, residing at Lewistown, Montana. To her second marriage three sons were born, namely: William S., who is a mine owner liv- ing at Radersburg; Frank L., who is a mine foreman and superintendent, residing at Radersburg; and Bis- mark.

Bismark Williams attended the public schools of Radersburg and Crow Creek and at the age of nineteen years became a farmer and stock raiser on his own account. He operated in Broadwater county for four years by himself and then sold a one-half interest in his ranch and stock to his brother, William S. He was then appointed rural mail carrier and served in that capacity for four years, until 1896, and afterward, for two years devoted himself entirely to work on his ranch. From 1898 until 1900 he served as post- master at Radersburg, and from 1900 until 1904 fol- lowed mining and prospecting in Broadwater county. In the fall of the latter year he was elected assessor for the county and served out a term of four years and then resumed private business, moving to the National Park and embarking in the mercantile busi- ness, which he conducted successfully for two years, at the end of which time he was again called to public office, being elected county treasurer. For this impor- tant office he is well qualified in every way and is a man of responsibility and of ample means, owning, in addition to his ranch lands, valuable realty at Raders- burg and at Townsend.

On January 19, 1898, Mr. Williams was married to Miss Mertie Doughty, a native of Radersburg, like himself, and they have an interesting little school-girl daughter of eleven years, Hattie M. Mr. Williams is active in the order of Odd Fellows and has passed all the chairs in the local lodge. He is one of the influen- tial members of the Democratic party in this section.

EDGAR MOORE HALL, of the firm of Gunn, Rasch & Hall, one of the leading law firms of this part of the state, is a native son of Montana and of the type which the commonwealth is particularly proud to claim as its own. His father, Joseph E. Hall, became identified with Montana some twenty-five years before it was ad- mitted to statehood, and by heritage and personal in- clination the subject is loyal to its institutions. He is the scion of one of the oldest American families, the arrival of the Halls on these shores having little ante- dated the landing of the Pilgrims and the records bear the names of a goodly number of soldiers and patriots, whose staunch characteristics are reflected in the per- sonality of the gentleman.

Mr. Hall was born in Diamond City, January 5. 1871. His father, Joseph E. Hall, was a native of Holmes

Cintaes

1031

HISTORY OF MONTANA

county, Ohio, born July 23, 1834, and this venerable gentleman is now a resident of Bozeman, Montana. He came to the state in 1864 and first located in Virginia City, but left there in the following year and came overland to Diamond City, where he engaged in mining until 1875. During later years he followed ranching and real estate, and for some time past has been retired. He has been a prominent man and has, with credit, held several important public trusts. In Meagher county, when Diamond City was the county seat, he was for five years clerk of the court and in his earlier life he was at all times active and interested in politics. He was the friend and supporter of Colonel Sanders, his loyalty to that gentleman being of the highest type. He was an adherent of the men and measures of the Republican party, a member of the Presbyterian church and a Mason, belonging to Diamond City Lodge, No. 7. He went west'in 1859, when great sections of the country were still wilderness and adventure lay waiting at every turn in the road, and he lived the life of the western pioneer with its attending hardships and deprivation's. He lived in New Mexico for a time and then removed to Colorado, where he engaged in mining and prospecting. He took as his wife Nannie Moore, who was born in Shelby county, Missouri, April 8, 1839, his union to her being celebrated in Helena in 1868. Mrs. Hall came to Montana in 1865, with her widowed mother and a younger brother, then seventeen years of age, the jour- ney having been made overland with ox-teams and having been attended with many hardships. They came direct to Diamond City. The grandmother died No- vember 16, 1868, in Diamond City, and there the re- mains of that good and brave woman are interred. Mrs. Hall is a woman of strong character, an advocate of temperance and one of the sturdy pioneer women of Montana. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hall are members of the Society of Montana Pioneers. Edgar Moore is the eldest of the three children born to them. The second son, Fred Brant, born June 12, 1874, in Diamond City, resides with his parents at Bozeman and the youngest, Harry, born at Hall's Ranch on the Musselshell, October I, 1880, met with a tragic death by drowning in the Musselshell river at the age of two and a half years.

Edgar Moore Hall received his early education in the public schools of White Sulphur Springs and was graduated from the high school with the class of 1891. In the meantime he had come to the decision to adopt the law as his profession, and in the fall of the year mentioned he entered the law department of the Uni- versity of Michigan, and from that noted institution received the degree of LL. B. in 1893. He was a member of Delta Chi fraternity in the University of Michigan. Subsequent to that he removed to Lewiston, Montana, and there hung out his professional shingle in association with E. W. Morrison, one of the most prom- ising of Lewiston attorneys, with whom he remained as- sociated for a short period. He next removed to Nei- hart, Cascade county, and practiced there for a year, but in May, 1895, went to Big Timber, shortly after the creation of Sweetgrass county. He continued in Big Timber for a decade, until January, 1905, in that place developing his legal powers and enjoying high standing in the community, which looked upon his departure as in the nature of a calamity.

On the first of January, 1905, Mr. Hall became a citi- zen of Helena. entering the office and becoming assistant to Attorney General Albert J. Galen, and filling the position of assistant attorney general until July 1, 1910. Since then he has been engaged in private practice and formed a partnership with M. S. Gunn, the firm now be- ing known as Gunn, Rasch & Hall, with offices in the Treacy building. They carry on a general practice and the firm is also counsel for the Northern Pacific Rail- road Company, for the state of Montana, and the fame of their ability is by no means bounded by the limits of Helena or Lewis and Clarke county. Mr. Hall had

known preferment before coming to Helena and was county attorney of Sweetgrass county for three terms,- being elected in the fall of 1898 and serving until Jan- uary I, 1905. Preceding that, he was deputy county clerk at Big Timber.

Mr. Hall is a leading member of the ancient and. august Masonic order, belonging to Doric Lodge, No. 53- at Big Timber, where he is a charter member. He has passed all the chairs and is a past master, but is affiliated only with the Blue Lodge. He is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and belongs to the Montana Club. His faith is that of the Presby- terian church. In politics he is of Republican convic- tion and until within the past year and a half was active in party affairs, his influence being very definite. His practice, however, has grown to such proportion that he has little time for anything else.

Mr. Hall was married June 5, 1907, at Helena, Mon- tana, to Agnes May MacDonald, daughter of Alexander MacDonald, a Montana pioneer. That gentleman, now deceased, constructed and operated what was known as MacDonald's pass toll road between Helena and Mis- soula. He was formerly engaged in mining. Mrs. Hall was born in Lewis and Clarke county May 29, 1881. They have two interesting children: Genevieve, born January 10, 1909, and Edgar MacDonald, born April 4, 19II, both natives of Helena.

The subject's paternal ancestors were of English ex- traction and Thomas Hall, the founder of the American branch of the family, crossed the Atlantic early in the seventeenth century, locating in Connecticut. The great- grandfather and the grandfather served in the Revolu- tion and the War of 1812, respectively. Mr. Hall has in his possession an original document of discharge for the great-grandfather, Thomas Hall, after seven years' service in the Continental army, the same being signed by George Washington. The maternal ancestors came from Scotland and settled in America early in the eigh- teenth century, making their home in Virginia.

Mr. Hall is a member of the Lewis and Clarke Bar Association and of the Montana State Bar Association. He has no particular hobbies, nor is his happiness de- pendent upon any particular diversion, his greatest pleasure being in his home in the company of his wife and children. His residence, an attractive and hospitable one, is located at 443 Clark street.

REV. LAWRENCE PALLADINO, S. J. The beloved father, whose scholarly attainments have given him a place among the thinkers of the country, Rev. Law- rence Benedict Palladino, was born in Dilecto, a small village in the Appenines, about thirty miles from Genoa, Italy, on the 15th of August, 1837. His parents were Julius and Magdalene (Recci) Palladino, who lived and died in their Italian country. After a course of private instruction at home, Father Pal- ladino entered the Petit Seminaire at Genoa. Owing to the fact that his health was not robust, he was sent to the diocese of Tortoro, to continue his studies at Stazzlus. He early decided to take holy orders, and in 1855 entered the Society of Jesus as a novice. His philosophical studies were conducted in Italy and at Felkirch in the German Tyrol. For his course in theology, he went to Lyons, France, completing his course at Monaco. He was ordained at Nice in 1863, and the same year was sent to California to be professor of Latin and Greek at St. Ignatius' College in San Francisco. From here Reverend Palladino was sent to Santa Clara and until 1867 was minister in the college in that city. leaving it in that year to engage in missionary work in the . Flathead country of Montana.

For four years, Father Palladino was in charge of the St. Ignatius Mission on the reservation, and then in 1871 was sent to Helena, where he labored until 1887, when he was recalled to St. Ignatius Mission,

1032

HISTORY OF MONTANA

and was given charge of the work there and also of the Missoula valley. From this post, he was again sent to Helena, remaining six years this time, when he was called to Spokane to be president of Gonzaga College. He held this position one term and then was transferred to Seattle for one year. For the following eight years, he had charge of the parish of Missoula, and after a few years in Idaho and North Yakima, Washington, he was sent back to this city in 1910, to become assistant pastor in the parish in which he had so endeared himself in previous years.

Father Palladino has been active in literary pursuits as well as in the duties of his priestly office. One of his most interesting works is "Indian and White in the Northwest." It is a masterly presentation of the achievements of the two races in the region, printed in an octavo volume. The first edition of the book is about exhausted, and the second is in preparation. In addition to this valuable historical work, Father Palladino has been a frequent contributor to the maga- zines and has written a number of devotional works. As a writer, he is clear and forceful in style, and these qualities also characterize him as a speaker. He has made a careful study of the early history of the North- west, and is a recognized authority on Indian history. He was for some ten or twelve years vicar gen- eral in the diocese of Helena under Bishop Bronder.

The work of the early missionaries of the church among the Indians deserves a volume in itself. Men of the highest attainments in scholarship and of the finest culture, cheerfully gave the best years of their lives to the work of uplifting the aborigines, and one of the men who has done much in this field is Father Palladino. Characteristically, he gives the praise to his order, and claims no personal credit for his years of sacrifice and toil. From the earliest begin- nings of Montana history, there have been priests who have lived the life of sacrifice, and who have con- secrated themselves to the service of the race: "re- joicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing in- stant in prayer, distributing to the necessities of the saints, given to hospitality," and it is to this noble band of valiant souls that Father Palladino belongs. He felt it no hardship to leave the college work for which his training and intellect had so admirably fitted him, and to go among the savages, and truly the fruits of that ministry have justified the sacrifice. Father Palladino is spending his declining years among the people who love him, and who appreciate the achieve- ments of his noble life, and who enjoy the charm of his genial, modest and lovable presence.

RICHARD LOCKEY. Perhaps no man in Montana has a wider acquaintance or occupies a more pre-eminent position in the affairs of that state than Richard Lockey, closely identified with Montana since 1866, and con- nected with its political and industrial affairs from the beginning of his acquaintance here. His influence has been felt in nearly every avenue of public and private interests. In politics, in mining affairs, in industrial matters, in educational lines, in fraternal circles, in financial institutions,-in fact, in every connection where the presence of a master mind and willing hand has been in demand, there has Richard Lockey been found at the helm.

Born in Yorkshire, England, June 11, 1845, Richard Lockey was the third child of the nine who were born to his parents, John and Mary Lockey, who emigrated to America when their son Richard was one year old, settling in Dubuque, Iowa. Up to his twelfth year Richard Lockey was permitted such primitive advantages in an educational way as the then frontier town af- forded. The gleanings of those first few years, however, were sufficiently well implanted in his fertile mind to stand him in good stead in later life as a foundation for advanced education, and he has ever been a student

of the best, so that his earlier lack in the matter of education has been in no sense a handicap to the man. When the Civil war broke out Richard Lockey was sixteen years old and looked less. He offered himself twice for enlistment in the Union army, but each time was refused because of his youth. Not to be frustrated in his design, the persistent boy was finally accepted in a clerical capacity, which he regarded as somewhat less opprobrious than remaining at home with aged men and small boys, and was attached to the Fremont Hussars, at Patterson, Missouri. In November of that year his command accompanied that of General David- son on an expedition into southeastern Missouri and Arkansas. In 1864 he accompanied General Sherman's army from Vicksburg in its march across Mississippi into Alabama, and later, returning to Vicksburg, he joined in General Banks' famous Red River expedition, at that time Mr. Lockey being in charge of the com- missary and quartermaster departments of Gen. A. J. Smith's command, the Sixth Division, Sixteenth Army Corps. In the fall of 1864 the unhealthful cli- mate and the exposure of army life reduced his vitality to such an extent that he suffered a dangerous illness at Memphis, and was eventually sent home. Upon his ultimate recovery he entered Bayliss Commercial Col- lege in Dubuque, Iowa, from which he was graduated. During the winter of 1865-66 he was engaged at St. Louis in settling up the books of the quartermaster Sixth Division, Sixteenth Army Corps. After complet- ing the work he came to Montana, locating almost im- mediately in Helena. where he secured employment. For three years thereafter he was engaged as a clerk in Helena, following which he read law in the offices of W. F. Sanders and Chumasero & Chadwick for some time.

In 1871 Mr. Lockey engaged in business in Helena in a mercantile way, and in 1876 he opened a branch store in Bozeman, where he manufactured immense quantities of the product known as "hardtack" for the military and Indian departments, this part of the busi- ness being conducted on contract for the government. In 1881 he sold out his Bozeman interests to his brothers, John and George W., and disposed of the Helena store to William Ulm, thus freeing himself entirely from the demands of the mercantile business. Following his with- drawal from that line of business, Mr. Lockey began to devote his time to matters of real estate, insurance ' and abstracts, and in the years that have since elapsed he has built up a most representative clientage and has come to be recognized as a leader in that class of busi- ness. He has large real estate holdings and is the owner of some of the choicest business and residence properties in Helena, including extensive mining interests and hold- ings in many other important enterprises of a worthy nature. He is one of the organizers and was for twenty- one years a director of the American National Bank of Helena; he is president of the State Investment Company and has been president of the Helena Trust Company and of the Helena Rapid Transit Company; at the present time he holds important positions in the official administration of these companies. Mr. Lockey has ever been foremost in philanthropic works and in measures of whatever nature calculated to tend to the public good, and he has shown his interest in that respect by his generous contributions on numerous oc- casions. He was one of the largest contributors to the Montana Wesleyan University and was a trustee and vice president of its board of trustees for many years. He donated to the city of Helena the Lockey Avenue Park, and was one of the principal owners of the land which was donated to the state of Montana for the cap- itol building site. He was also a heavy contributor to the fund for enlarging the Lewis and Clark county courthouse square or park, a handsome additionto the city. Mr. Lockey has been for years prominently and actirely identified with the various branches of the Masonic fraternity, including the Knights Templar,

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 55

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