A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 56

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

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Richard Locky

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Scottish Rite, Mystic Shrine and others, and has of- ficiated in many of their high offices. He now fills the position of grand treasurer of the grand lodge of Montana, A. F. & A. M., and is a trustee on the Mon- tana Masonic home board. He is an active member of the Odd Fellows and of the Sons of St. George, and he served three years as grand receiver of the grand lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen of Montana. In 1868 he assisted in the organizing of the Good Templars in Helena and since that time has of- ficiated in all the high offices of the order.

Mr. Lockey has been a lifelong Republican and he has for years been prominent in politics in his section of the state. In 1892 he was elected a member of the Montana state legislature, in which body he distin- guished himself as a man of patriotic broad-mindedness and progressive ideas. He has served on various occa- sions in the city council of Helena, always with ex- cellent results in the administration of the affairs of the city, in so far as the influence of one man might permeate. He has been twice a member of the board of education and has furthered the best interests of the community in his official capacity there as in many another equally important position.

Always a man of distinction, perhaps Mr. Lockey is better known throughout the state of Montana as the "Duke of Last Chance" than in any other capacity. For more than a quarter of a century he has been the presiding officer of the "House of Lords," a bur- lesque legislative assembly, which was organized in Virginia City many years ago, and removed to Helena when the capitol was transferred thither. His natural adaptation for presiding over such an assembly is marked. Nature made him a humorist of a quaint and unusual order, and possessing, as he does, a thorough acquaintance with parliamentary law, he is quick and incisive in his rulings. His assumed gravity is never disturbed by the mirth and hilarity which is prone to mark the deliberations of the assembly, and his un- ruffled and ever serious demeanor lends a grave dig- nity to the scenes enacted in this mock tribunal, which has given him an added reputation in the northwest, and whose influence upon real legislation has ever been ·of a most wholesome and salutary nature.

On June 5, 1870, Mr. Lockey was united in marriage at Helena to Miss Emily E. Jeffrey of Leavenworth, Kansas. Mrs. Lockey died December 26, 1907, at Palo Alto, California. They had five children, two of whom, Mary Ishbel and Richard, Jr., survive their mother.

Miss Mary Ishbel Lockey founded Castilleja School at Palo Alto, California, near Stanford University, in 1906, which has had a phenomenal growth, and has become one of the best and most popular schools for the education of girls on the Pacific Coast. While a corporation, the school is owned by Miss Lockey, who is president of the corporation, and principal of the school. In 1910 Miss Lockey purchased a tract of land upon which five buildings have been erected, the whole valued at $100,000.

Richard, Jr., who has been associated with his father in business for several years, is vice president of the State Investment Company. He married Miss Flor- ence Gage on June 23, 1908, and they have one child, Janet, born December 30, 1910.

HON. GEORGE DOUGLAS PEASE. Known throughout Gallatin, Park and Madison counties as the leading lawyer in criminal practice, and recognized as one of Montana's eminent legal practitioners, George Douglas Pease, of Bozeman, maintains a foremost position in the list of Montana's eminent professional men. During the twenty years that he has been engaged in practice in this city he has been identified with numerous cases which have attracted wide attention, and the services which he has rendered his city and county as the in-

cumbent of positions of honor and responsibility have given him a wide reputation in the public area. He is a native of Montana and was born in Gallatin City, Feb- ruary 22, 1871, a son of Joseph A. and Orvilla Melissa (Kimpton) Pease.

Joseph and Cynthia Ann (Hunt) Pease, the paternal grandparents of George D. Pease, were natives of Con- necticut, and were married in Clarkson county, New York, April 22, 1827. During the early thirties they removed to Florence, St. Joseph county, Michigan, where Mrs. Pease passed away October 22, 1844, soon after which date her husband moved with his children to Marquette county, Wisconsin. Later he went to what is now the city of Eau Claire, where he was en- gaged in lumbering and farming until his death in 1887. He and his wife had ten children, as follows: Eliza L .; George S .; Joseph Alonzo; Mary Eliza, who became the wife of Henry C. Hovenberg, of Eau Claire, now deceased; Cyrus D., a prosperous farmer of the Gallatin valley; Helen A., the wife of Curley Shea, residing on the old Pease homestead near Eau Claire; Edwin D .; Betsie A., who married A. D. Chappell, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin; Calista A. and Cynthia A.

Joseph Alonzo Pease, father of George Douglas, was born March 17, 1831, in New York, and as a lad ac- companied his parents to the state of Michigan, and later went with his father to Wisconsin, where he was reared to agricultural pursuits. In 1861 he crossed the plains to Montana, settling in Gallatin county, at what is now known as Gallatin City, where he engaged in farming and stock growing at the head of the Mis- souri river as a pioneer. In 1880 he disposed of his interests and removed with his family to Bozeman, in the vicinity of which city he purchased a valuable ranch, on which he carried on operations until his death, No- vember 10, 1901. He was one of the first settlers in Gallatin county and his efforts were well rewarded, his sterling character and exemplary life gaining for him the respect and esteem of his fellow citizens. In political matters he was a Republican, but never sought public preferment. He married Orvilla Melissa Kimp- ton, who was born in Derby Line, Vermont, February 10, 1851, daughter of George and Sarah (Rollins) Kimp- ton, natives respectively of Vermont and the Dominion of Canada, their marriage having taken place in County Stanstead, Canada. The Kimptons removed to Wiscon- sin soon after their marriage, and on the old homestead near the city of Eau Claire, in 1891, George Kimpton passed away, his widow surviving him until September 13, 1906, when her death occurred. Their eight chil- dren were as follows: Orvilla Melissa; Edward A .. a prosperous farmer of Broadwater county, Montana; Alvin, who resides near the old Wisconsin home- stead; Lillie, the wife of Melville J. Farrel, still re- siding near the city of Eau Claire: Archie, who also makes his home in that locality; Washington I., who at the time of his death in 1898 was an influential far- mer of Broadwater county, Montana; and Emily and Emma M., who died in infancy.

Mrs. Orvilla M. Pease died March 18, 1912, having been the mother of nine children, all of whom are liv- ing: George Douglas; Joseph Loran, born May 22, 1873, who married June 3, 1903, Mabel Thornton Gage, of Oakland, California, and resides in that city: Edward Alonzo, born September 7, 1875, residing in Bozeman; Marv Aurelia, born October 10, 1877, who married De- cember 26, 1906, in Bozeman, Rutherford B. Ward, and now lives in Palouse, Washington; Sarah Helen, born January 8, 1881, married December 25. 1905, in Boze- man, Frank Matthew Connelly, and now lives at Pot- latch, Idaho; Allen Albert, born April 21, 1883, who married August 15, 1905, at Sand Point, Idaho, Bertha Augusta Mergey, and now resides in Ellensburg, Wash- ington; Vern Ashley, born August 24, 1885, who lives in Bozeman: Margaret Isabelle, born January 21, 1888, who married February 12, 1908, in Bozeman, Manning

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Garland Fanster, and resides at Potlatch, Idaho; and Bessie Orvilla, born November 15, 1893, who is living in Bozeman.

George Douglas Pease was brought up on the home farm, and as his father's oldest son, spent much of his time assisting in the cultivation of the property. His preliminary studies were prosecuted in the district schools of the vicinity of the homestead and the public schools of Bozeman, which he attended winters until 1888, in which year he was sent to Madison, Wiscon- sin, to take a high school course, thus preparing him- self for collegiate work. In the fall of 1889 he matricu- lated in the University of Wisconsin, at Madison, and graduated therefrom in the fall of 1893, receiving the degree of B. L. During his last year in the university he also prosecuted a course of study in the law depart- ment, and in the spring of 1893, prior to his gradua- tion, passed an examination before the state board of Wisconsin, being admitted to the bar of that common- wealth on April 26. He then returned to his home, but in November opened an office in Bozeman, where he has since been engaged in the practice of his profes- sion, having gained prestige through his ability as an advocate and counselor, and being recognized as a close student of the science of jurisprudence. Mr. Pease has carried on a general practice, but has given the greater part of his attention to criminal cases, and in this con- nection has not a peer in this section of the state. He is a valued member of the State Bar Association and of the Gallatin County Bar Association, having served for some time as president of the latter body.

A stalwart Republican in politics, Mr. Pease has long been identified with the work of that party. Shortly after commencing practice in Bozeman, in 1894, he be- came a candidate for the office of county attorney, but was defeated in the nominating convention by a ma- jority of only two votes. In April, 1895, he was elected city attorney of Bozeman, in which capacity he served two years, and in May, 1897, the office having become an appointive one, he was chosen as his own suc- cessor, receiving the appointment from Mayor J. V. Bogert. Two years later he was reappointed by Mayor Alward, thus being in continuous service until January I, 1901, when he resigned to assume the duties of county attorney, to which office he had been elected on the Re- publican ticket in November, 1900. He was re-elected in 1902, and was one of the most successful county at- torneys Gallatin county ever had. He had been a can- didate for the same position in 1898, his name appear- ing on the Republican, "Silver" Republican and Popu- list tickets, but he was defeated at the polls by the Dem- ocratic nominee. In 1904 Mr. Pease was the Republican candidate for district judge, comprising Gallatin, Broad- water and Meagher counties, but after a bitterly con- tested campaign met defeat at the hands of the Demo- cratic candidate, Hon. William R. C. Stewart. In fra- ternal matters he is identified with the Woodmen of the World, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, and Western Star Lodge No. 4, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

On June 26, 1895, Mr. Pease was married at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, to Miss Nellie Maybell Ward, who was born in that city February 5, 1872, daughter of Eben and Sarah C. (Brunk) Ward, and the eldest of their five children, the others being: Eugenia M., Ruthford B., Homer E. and LeRoy A. Eben Ward was born at Springbrook, Maine. October 13, 1837, being a carpen- ter by trade, and still maintains his home at Eau Claire. His wife was born in Indiana, May 10, 1849, and died June 22, 1885, at Eau Claire. Mr. and Mrs. Pease have three children, namely: Edith Emogene, born October 20, 1896; George Douglas, Jr., born February 5, 1898; and Muriel, horn May 5, 1899.

JOHN R. THOMAS, now one of the sucessful men of Montana, was left an orphan at the age of eight, and

at the age of twenty-two came to Montana with only a few dollars in his pocket, and started out in life with his capital consisting of his two strong hands and a determination to win success, in the face of every dis- couragement. He has been miner, rancher, store- keeper, indeed nearly everything that a non-profes- sional man could be in a rough country such as Mon- tana was during the first years of his residence here. It is a story of a slow and steady climb up the ladder of success. He never faltered, never grew discouraged and each step was upward and not downward. Thrown upon the world at so early an age he was no more than a child before he had learned the hardest of life's lessons, and as a young man he possessed a maturity of thought and a knowledge of humanity with all its faults and virtues that many *a middle aged man does not possess. He thus succeeded where many a young man would have failed, not only in making a success in the business world, but also in winning the friend- ship of men all over the state of Montana. He is now the center of a large circle of friends, who admire him not only for the ability which he has shown in the management of his affairs, but for his character and personality.

John R. Thomas was born at Wills Rivers, Vermont, on the 18th of June, 1850. He was the son of Ben- jamin L. Thomas, who was a native of the state of New Hampshire. He was killed by a railroad acci- dent, when only twenty-eight years of age. His young son was just eighteen months old, and grew up never knowing a father's love and care, one of the saddest. things that can happen to a boy. His father now lies buried at Clairmont, New Hampshire. The mother of John R. Thomas, was Betsey M. (Anger) Thomas, also a native of New Hampshire. She only lived till her boy was eight and then died at the age of twenty- eight. She now lies at the side of her young husband in the quiet New Hampshire cemetery. The orphaned lad received his education in the public schools of his home, and even yet has vivid memories of the little red school house, and the agonizing hours spent therein.

As he grew to manhood the lure of the great west became stronger and stronger. He felt that some- where out in that vast country he could find a place, such as the overcrowded east could not furnish. He came to Montana, therefore in 1872, arriving with four- teen dollars and forty cents in his pocket. He was confident that he would succeed and this was half the battle. He soon found work on a ranch in Prickly Pear valley, and here he remained for six years, ac- quiring an intimate acquiantance with the country and the people. Meanwhile he had been saving money and in 1878 resigned the position that he had held for so long, moving to Nevada Creek, where he bought a ranch. He remained there until the spring of 1880, and then sold out for a good price. He now worked on the opera house for a time, and then turned to "cow punching." Both of these occupations were merely to fill in the time while he was looking about to find a ranch suitable for his purposes. In the fall of 188r he found what he had been looking for, and settled on the ranch in question. It was located opposite the mouth of Prickly Pear creek and here he settled down to stock-raising. He became well known throughout the cattle country as a successful stock raiser, and it seemed that he had found his vocation. However, he was never the man to resist a good bargain and when he saw an opportunity to trade his ranch for a pros- perous mercantile establishment at Craig, Montana, he hastened to close the deal. This was in 1896, and he remained in the mercantile business until 1900, when having another opportunity to make a good trade, and being ready to go back to ranching again, he traded his store for a ranch sixteen miles south of Cascade. He has lived here ever since and in connection with

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his ranch he operates the corner store at Cascade which he bought from Mr. Marcom. He thus is inter- ested in the two lines of business that have always been most attractive to him, and he has proved that he is equally capable as merchant or stock-raiser.

Mr. Thomas has now lived in Montana for forty years, and the changes that have passed before his eyes seem almost phenominal. As a miner and rancher in the early days, when Montana was the dumping ground for adventurers, idlers, and those who were unwelcome at home, he shared in many experiences that are surpassed only by the adventures of "Diamond Dick," or others of the yellow backed tribe. He had his experiences with the Indians and was in more than one fight. But perhaps his most vivid recollections are of the blizzards, that in the days when long jour- neys by horseback were necessary, were far more dan- gerous than they are today. Once while crossing the range from Helena to Helensville, he had one of his worst experiences with a blizzard. Afraid to go fur- ther for fear of traveling in a circle, he lay down and went to sleep in the snow. When he awoke in the morning in found himself buried under a foot of snow, and he knows just what the sensation of being buried alive is like. On another occasion he left home to go on an errand that would take him to another ranch only a few miles away. One of these sudden storms of snow and wind came up, and instead of the hour or so that the trip would have required, he spent thirty- six hours in wandering through the snow attempting to find his destination; even then it was the sagacity of his horse that led him to safety.

Mr. Thomas is a Republican in his political views. He was married on January 30, 1888, to Miss Sarah E. Billops, who lived in Cascade, Montana. They have one child, David A. Thomas, who was born in Septem- ber, 1893, at Great Falls, Montana. He is at present a great aid to his father, with whom he is in business.

CHARLES WEGNER. The life of John Francis Wegner, the father of Charles Wegner, covers a period made famous in the history of two nations and Mr. Wegner played his part in the building of the history. Born in Germany, during the infancy of the American na- tion, he lived in the Fatherland until the close of the German Revolution of forty-eight, that period of dark- ness and pain that gave birth to the new German lib- erty. Mr. Wegner was among the leading revolutionists, fighting for the freedom that might have been achieved through less strenuous methods but fighting for what he knew to be right. When the Empire seemed to have won the gloomy victory, Mr. Wegner was forced to flee for his life from his native land but he fled in most distinguished company. With him were Franz Siegel, John Hecker and Robert Blum, the originators of the movement-if they may be so designated. To- gether they reached Vienna where Mr. Blum was cap- tured and shot, the remaining three evading the enemy and escaping by way of Switzerland to America.

Mr. Wegner first settled in New Orleans in 1849, but after a short residence moved to Chicago where he amassed, what in those days was known as a huge fortune and became known as one of the merchant kings of the new city. In the great money famine of 1857, his fortune became dissipated, fifty thousand dollars disappearing at one time. During these seven years in the city on the lake, he sustained a loss far greater than that of his wealth.

He had been married while still a youth in the Ger- man home, to Elizabeth Niebergall who was born in Frankenthal, Baden, Germany, in 1825. Married in 1843 when the Revolution was only a tiny murmur, she had later, in company with her two young sons, Charles and John Francis, followed her husband to New York. Going from New York to New Orleans, thence to Milwaukee and Chicago, she was only per-

mitted to see the beginning of that husband's financial success. The cholera scourge was the forerunner of that financial panic. In July of 1854 it laid its pallid hand on this devoted wife and mother. It spared, as she would have had it do, the other members of the little family, but in July of that dread year the lads were motherless.

Three years later, with his orphaned children and the remnant of his fortune, the father purchased a hotel in Kansas City, Missouri. The misfortunes that pursued him were no exception to the rule. They seemed to come in droves. For a few short years he prospered as a landlord and there seemed to be a hope that he might eventually retrieve at least a portion of the former fortune. However, almost before he could realize the calamity, he was again caught in the tide of war and his possessions submerged. At the outbreak of the Civil war, Missouri was the scene of much border warfare. Mr. Wenger, although too old to himself take an active part in the struggle, was a strong Union sympathizer, one of the boys, born to him in the Fatherland, going to the front in his stead. When then Kansas City was overrun with a Rebel host, they confiscated his hotel and caused him to flee from his home for a second time. This time he moved only across the Mis- souri river into Leavenworth county, Kansas, settling between Leavenworth and Lawrence on the old De Compton road. Here during the war, he lived upon a small farm, returning when the land was once more at peace, to Kansas City where he entered into the grocery business. Success seemed to elude him during three difficult years. He went from Kansas City to Leaven- worth, establishing a grocery in that city. There he died, on the twenty-seventh of October, 1877, at the age of sixty-seven. His death closed a career re- markable even in that era of tragic events when each year added a page to history.

The son, Charles, attended the public high school of Chicago until his fourteenth year. Having been born in beautiful Baden on the Rhine on the 16th day of April, 1844, he had reached that aforementioned age before his father met with the financial reverses. On fleeing from Kansas City to Leavenworth, the lad was apprenticed to a locksmith where he learned the lock- smith trade. He was working at this trade in 1862 when the United States government organized the State Volunteer Militia under Colonel Robinson of Lawrence. Mr. Wegner being every inch his father's son needed no second invitation to enlist. He joined Company G, under Capt. Martin Smith, of the First Kansas Regiment. For two years the company saw some service in southwestern Missouri and eastern Kan- sas, much of the time being spent in quelling guerrilla warfare on the borders.

From the restoration of peace until 1872, Mr. Wegner spent his time on a Kansas farm. In the spring of that year he made his way to Montana, mostly by water, on board the steamer, "Nellie Peck." In Montana, he began farming on the banks of the Missouri river near Craig. For ten years he tilled the soil before assum- ing the management of the Holter Brothers' saw mills. In 1885 he moved from Craig to Great Falls that he might organize the Holter Lumber Company. For seven years, Mr. Wegner remained with the firm in the capacity of general manager. He was also one of the large stockholders. In 1892. he entered the livery and feed business, joining with Mr. Cornelius in the estab- lishment of the Axtell stables. In July of the following year he was obliged to dispose of his interest in the stables that he might become postmaster of Great Falls. that position having been tendered him by President Cleveland. After the expiration of his term of office. he engaged in the real estate business in his home city in which line he has been more or less interested ever since.

In 1885, Mr. Wegner was elected county commissioner

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of Chouteau county, those associated with him being R. S. Ford and W. G. Conrad. In 1887, on a redivision of counties by the legislature, Great Falls was made the county seat of Cascade county and Mr. Wegner was named as the first commissioner of Cascade county, the other commissioners being J. H. Harris and E. R. Clingen, elected twice. He served on this board until his appointment as postmaster in 1893. Politics have always seemed to him much more than a diver- sion. The welfare of the Democratic party being al- ways one of his chief concerns. In lodge circles he is most prominent. He was one of the charter members of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Lodge No. 214, and has served as secretary to this order for a period of twelve years. He was also a charter mem- ber of the Cataract Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, No. 18, organized in April, 1887. For this chapter he has been keeper of the seals for fifteen years. He is a member also of the Electric City Club, the Board of Trade and the Commercial Club. In his church affili- ations he has been loyal, always, to the church of his fathers, the German Lutheran.

During those years spent on a Kansas farm at the close of the war Mr. Charles Wegner wooed and won for his wife Miss Elizabeth Stigers of Connar, Kansas. They were joined in marriage on the sixteenth day of May, 1869. Miss Stigers was the daughter of Mr. Lewis Stigers, a Missouri farmer. She was born in Platte county, Missouri in 1846, being some two years her husband's junior. After sharing with her husband his successes and hardships and becoming the mother of his eight children, she passed away in their Mon- tana home at Great Falls on the twenty-seventh day of October, 1891, and was laid to rest by the side of her oldest daughter in Highland cemetery. Of the seven children now remaining, John Francis Wegner, named for his distinguished grandfather, is a resident of Libby, Montana. Leonard, the second son, is register clerk in the postoffice of Great Falls. Charles Roberts is travel- ing engineer for the North Bank Railroad, while Henry B. is a rancher in Lincoln county. Percy is with his older brother in Libby. Elizabeth, the oldest daughter, rests beside her mother. Emma is the wife of Mr. E. E. Wegner, of Butte, Montana, and Pearl is Mrs. M. H. Millions of Great Falls.

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A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 56

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