A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 77

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

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name is indissolubly linked with many of her most pros- perous industries and activities. He was born at Brownsfield, Maine, in 1830. His paternal ancestor was John Gibson, who was born in England in 1601 and arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1631, con- tinning to live there until the close of his life aged ninety-three years. His maternal ancestor was also of English birth. His name was James Howard and the records of Duxbury, Massachusetts, show that he settled there in 1643. Samuel Howard, a descendant of this James Howard, was a member of the famous "Tea Party" of 1773. Grandfather Howard served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and Grandfather Gibson took part in the French and Indian war.

Of military ancestry, Paris Gibson has also fought many a battle during his long and eventful life, and his conquests have been no less illustrious than those of his forefathers, albeit won on the fields of peace. After being graduated at Bowdoin College, in his twenty-first year, he immediately took so prominent a place in the public affairs of his section that in 1854 he was elected a member of the Maine legislature. Until 1858 he followed agricultural pursuits in his na- tive state, in the meanwhile becoming interested as a wide-awake and enterprising young man, in the ex- ploited business possibilities of the western country. In the above year he located at Minneapolis, that great mill city of the present, where, in association with William W. Eastman, he built the first merchant flour mill and later the North Star Woolen Mills. He was active in all the developing agencies of that city where he continued to reside until 1879, when he came to Montana. His business vision was so clear that he soon satisfied himself concerning the great agricultural possibilities here as well as the value of the vast mineral deposits, and the dream came to him of founding a city in the midst of such natural richness, not to bear his name but to become the happy home of thousands of contented dwellers. After visiting the falls of the Missouri he knew that he had found the site for his city for here was the motive power that would turn the wheels and bring certain prosperity. With business shrewdness and uncommon foresight he secured the locations of greatest importance as regarded the build- ing of an industrial city and in 1883 he platted and founded what is now Great Falls, Montana, and shortly afterward succeeded in interesting James J. Hill, the great railroad builder of the northwest, wlio became his associate in the further development of this place. Although the dream of his manhood had thus been visualized, Mr. Gibson continued to watch and foster the growth of the infant city and was the main factor in the organization first of the village, in the creation of the county, and later in the organizing of the city.

While Senator Gibson has been more closely iden- tified with Great Falls than any other city of Montana, his business interests have not been confined here, while his public efforts in behalf of the development of the state for many years, have been so wide-spread and beneficial that his name is known from one end of it to the other and his fellow-citizens have shown him honor and appreciation. He was a member of the con- stitutional convention, was then elected to the state senate to represent Cascade county, and in 1900 was elected by the Montana legislature to the United States senate. All these positions and many others more local, he has filled withi honor and efficiency. He con- tinnes to watch with pride and feels a fostering care over the still growing interests of his city and has been constant in his contributions to its prosperity. On the occasion of his eightieth birthday there assembled at the New Park Hotel, in Great Falls, a representative gath- ering from all over the state to do him honor.

In August. 1858, Senator Gibson was married at Brownsfield, Maine, to Miss Valeria Goodenow Sweat, who was born there. November 3. 1838, and died at

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Great Falls, Montana, in August, 1900. Four children were born to this union, two of whom are deceased. The surviving sons, Philip and Theodore, both reside in Montana. Senator Gibson is a Unitarian in religious belief and is president of the Great Falls Society of Unitarians and is a trustee of this body. He is identi- fied fraternally with the Masons and the Elks, both at Great Falls. He is a member of the Board of Com- merce and belongs to the Electric and University clubs.

LAWRENCE K. DEVLIN. Northern Montana has no more enterprising and public-spirited citizen than Law- rence K. Devlin, the president of the Pioneer Meat Company at Havre. He has been identified with this section of the state for more than thirty years, and has been an active factor in its development from the primitive conditions which existed here at the time of his arrival.

Mr. Devlin came to this region in 1879 to take charge of the work of construction of Fort Assiniboine. He was thus identified with this old outpost and frontier settlement, and in this way first came to know and take a personal part in the life and activities of this part of Montana. Mr. Devlin was born in Vermont, in June, 1857, and during boyhood removed with his parents to New York state, where he grew up and received his education in the public schools. He con- tinued with the contracting firm of Broadwater & Mc- Culloch until 1894, when the firm was dissolved, and in that year he located in Havre as one of the first settlers of this then small town. He bought the inter- est formerly owned by his old firm in the Pioneer Meat Company of this place, and has since given this enterprise the greater part of his energy and attention. In 1906 the business was incorporated as the Pioneer Meat Company, of which Mr. Devlin is president, G. W. Brown, vice president, Frank B. Brown, sec- retary, and H. P. Brown, treasurer, the latter gentle- men being residents of Great Falls. This is one of the large meat supply companies of the Northwest, and has branch houses in several of the principal centers of this state. Besides this position as the head of one of the important commercial houses of the state, Mr. Devlin has many other financial and vested interests in Montana.

His father was Patrick Devlin, a native of Ireland, who came from his native land to America during the early forties. For some years he was engaged in the marble business in Vermont, and from there moved to New York, in which state he died in February, 1878. Patrick Devlin was married in Vermont to Margaret Kinsella, who was also born in Ireland, came to this country when a girl, and is now living, at the age of seventy-nine, at St. Paul, Minnesota.

On November 3. 1003, Mr. Devlin was married to Miss Laura Lepper it Havre: Two children have been born to them -- Lawrence K., Jr., at Havre, on February 2, 1905, and now attending school; and Mar- garet Mary, born in the same city, February 20, 1907. The family residence is one of the handsomest in the city of Havre.

There is no citizen more loyal to his state than Mr. Devlin, and as he has been a large factor in business enterprises so he has been active in civic affairs. His work as a county commissioner of Chouteau county during 1896 to 1898. when he put the fiscal affairs of the county on a cash basis, is well remembered. He also served as an alderman of Havre from 1902 to 1911, and for eighteen years has been chairman of the school trustees of the city. At the present time he is a deputy of the State Bureau of Child and Animal Protection. Politically he is a Democrat, is a member of the Cath- olic church, and affiliates with the Knights of Colum- bus. For diversions from a busy career he has found his chief pleasure in hunting and fishing.

T. N. AVERILL. Ranking high among the more useful and valued members of the community in which he resides is T. N. Averill, proprietor of the Townsend Star, the official paper of Broadwater county. For nearly thirty years a resident of Townsend, he has been actively identified with its growth and increasing pros- perity, as time and opportunity have occurred lending his energies to its advancement. A son of Robert Averill, he was born, January 30, 1855, in Kalamazoo county, Michigan, of substantial New England stock, his immigrant ascestors having been the same as that of General Averill, of Civil war fame. His grandfather Averill migrated with his family from Vermont to Michigan in the year 1800, journeying through the dense wilderness with ox teams and on foot and settling in the forest, becoming a pioneer of Kalamazoo county.

Growing to manhood in Michigan, T. N. Averill was educated in the schools of Plainwell and Kalamazoo. In the spring of 1876, but a few months before the brave General Custer met his terrible fate in Big Hole basin, he followed the "star of empire" westward to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he lived and labored for three years. In the spring of 1879 he came to Montana to look about, and a short time later spent one season in the Yellow Jacket country, in Idaho, prospecting in the vicinity of Challis and Bonanza. Returning to Montana early in 1880, Mr. Averill was for awhile employed at various kinds of work, in different places, including Butte, Wickes, Jefferson City, and Helena.

In the summer of 1883 Mr. Averill located in Town- send, where he has since maintained a continuous resi- dence. For many years thereafter he followed the trades of a carpenter and contractor, in that capacity erecting nearly all of the best residences built in Town- send prior to 1898. In that year he purchased the Townsend Star, which indirectly took over all news- papers of previous date, including the Townsend Transient, the Messenger, and the Forum. Dur- ing the fourteen years with which Mr. Averill has been actively associated with journalistic work, as owner of the Townsend Star, he has placed his paper on a substantial basis among the leading newspapers of the county, it being now the official journal. Mr. Averill is a man of excellent business ability, and has acquired property of value, owning real estate in Townsend, and mineral lands in Broadwater county.

A stanch and unswerving Democrat in politics, Mr. Averill has served almost continuously as mayor or alderman since the incorporation of the town, in the early nineties, while during political campaigns he exerts great influence as a ready and popular stump speaker. Fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; of the Modern Woodmen of America; of the Knights of Pythias; of the Yeomen of America ; and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, of which he was grand master in 1897, and during a part of that year traveled in its interests, delivering public addresses in many places.

Mr. Averill married, December 29, 1881, Nellie Hale, the ceremony being performed at the home of the bride, in Oshtemo, Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Averill have four daughters and one son. Two of the daughters are graduates of the Montana University, and the son is proprietor and manager of the Carbon County Jour- nol, published at Red Lodge, Montana.

JOHN T. ATHEY. Fifty years of tense activity in public and private life have marked the career of John T. Athey and have won for him a solid and admirable reputation for genuine worth and ability to accomplish whatever he may set his hands to. Beginning the business of real life at the age of eighteen, he fought through the Civil war as a Union soldier, followed by a term of service in Custer's regiment; since that time he has been occupied in the main by government positions, interspersed with rare occasions when he engaged in private business ventures, and in all his

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various connections with government service he has performed most praiseworthy work. In 1904 he was elected to the office of clerk of the supreme court, fill- ing the office most creditably, and he was re-elected in 1910 to the same office, which he now holds. He has been a valuable citizen from first to last, and has never failed to fulfill his duty in that respect with the utmost conscientiousness.

Born in Allegheny county, Maryland, February 14, 1843, John T. Athey is the son of Thomas and Mary Athey, both natives of Maryland. Two sons and one daughter were born to Thomas and Mary Athey, John T. being the second born. The parents passed their lives in their Maryland home, the father dying there in 1847 and the mother passing away in the year following, leaving their three children to the care of strangers. John was reared in the home of A. L. Withers, in Cum- berland and was an attendant at the public schools of the town in which he was reared, and in the Allegheny County Academy. When he was eighteen years old he left school and enlisted in the Sixth West Virginia In- fantry for service in the Civil war. He enlisted as a private, but after four years of continuous service emerged as a lieutenant. He was mustered out June 10, 1865, at Wheeling, West Virginia. In 1866 Lien- tenant Athey joined Custer's Regiment, the Seventh U. S. Cavalry, and fought throughout the period of the Indian disturbances. He was mustered out of the service November 1, 1870, after having participated in every engagement with his regiment; but escaping in- jury at any time.

In 1871 Mr. Athey engaged in service in the Sur- veyor General's office at Lawrence, Kansas, and he served there and in the Chief Engineer's office in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas until 1874, in which year he was appointed post trader at Fort Sully, receiving his appointment from the secretary of war and serving for three years in a manner highly creditable to himself and all concerned. He first came to Montana in the spring of 1879 and settled at Fort Benton and was then engaged as clerk in the merchandise business for C. T. Bowes & Brothers at Fort Walsh, North West- ern Territory. In the fall of 1880 he went with Broad- water & McNamara as bookkeeper at Fort Maginnis and remained there until 1884, when he went to Sun River Crossing and took charge of a bankrupt stock of George Steele. He remained there until 1890, then removing to Armington, where he became man- ager for the store owned by Mr. Broadwater. He con- tinued thus until 1896, when he was elected clerk of the district court of Cascade county, Montana, and in 1900 was re-elected to that office. The next public office of which he became the incumbent was that of clerk of the supreme court, which came in 1904, and in 1910 he was re-elected to the office,-an example of the fitness of the little witticism of the late Governor Johnson of Minnesota that "one good term deserves another." Mr. Athey is still filling that office, with a high degree of efficiency and general satisfaction. While a resident of Cascade county Mr. Athey served as a member of the school board for three years, and during his connection with that body was regarded as one of the most capable members of the board. He has always been a Republican in his political faith, and cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, since which time he has been an ardent supporter of the party and has ever been active in political circles. Fraternally Mr. Athey is affiliated with the Masonic Order, and is a member of the blue lodge, chapter and commandery. He has held two chairs in the blue lodge and chapter and all chairs in the commandery. His connection with the blue lodge and commandery is at Great Falls, Montana, and he is affiliated with the chapter at Sioux City, Iowa. He is a member of the Lambs Club and is an attendant of the Episcopal church. Mr. Athey has always been of a studious na- ture and is particularly fond of the best literaturc.

with which he is thoroughly conversant. He has always been a nature lover and has found much in the beauties of the western country to gratify that inclination.

Mr. Athey was married on October 29, 1872, at Leavenworth, Kansas, to Miss Katie De Sanno Clark, the daughter of Hartford Clark, a native of Rhode Is- land. Two children have been born to them: Harry R., born in Sioux City, Iowa, December 20, 1878, now a resident of Helena, and Lulu B., born at Fort Magin- nis, Montana; both are unmarried.

LESLIE H. HAMILTON. The automobile industry is one which has grown with astounding rapidity during the last decade, and many of the leading business men of Montana have interested themselves in some branch or another of the trade. One of the most prominent of these, Leslie H. Hamilton, is the owner of the Stand- ard Garage, at Great Falls, the largest establishment of its kind in the state. Mr. Hamilton belongs to that class of citizen, of which the west is justly proud. Starting in life with little or no capital, he rapidly rose to a position of importance in the sheep industry through the exercise of persistent energy and natural ability, and when he was ready to retire from that line of activity displayed his versatility by achieving a pro- portionate measure of success in the automobile busi- ness. He was born December 6, 1852, at Marlboro, Windham county, Vermont, and is a son of Joseph H. and Abigail (Mather) Hamilton.

Joseph H. Hamilton was a representative of a ster- ling old New England family, and spent his entire life in the state of Vermont, being engaged in agricultural pursuits up to the time of his death in 1900, when he was seventy-two years of age. He married Abigail Mather, daughter of Timothy and Abigail Mather, of a prominent New England family, and she died in 1860, at the age of twenty-six years, having been the mother of six children. Mr. Hamilton was again married, having three sons by his second union.

Leslie H. Hamilton divided his boyhood between the home farm and the district schools, and until of age was engaged in agricultural pursuits. He then spent three and one-half years at various occupations in Vermont. In 1878 he went further west to Nevada, where he received his introduction to the business of sheep raising, and in the fall of 1879 made his entrance into Montana driving a band of sheep from Nevada to Beaverhead county for the Hoppin Brothers. He was employed by a Mr. Bazette in Beaverhead county dur- ing that winter, and in 1880, in company with John Stoutenberg and Albert Barney, located in the Judith Basin, in Fergus county, where the Sage Creek sheep ranch was established. In 1888 Mr. Hamilton pur- chased the interests of Mr. Barney, and in 1886 Mr. Stoutenberg sold his share in the firm to the Rev. Jacob Mills of Helena, and Messrs. Mills and Hamil- ton continued in partnership as the Sage Creek Sheep Company until 1890, when it was made a corporation under the same style. Mr. Hamilton was chosen presi- dent, Mr. Mills vice-president, and Mrs. Hamilton, a woman of exceptional business ability, secretary and treasurer, and the firm subsequently became one of the leading enterprises of Fergus county, owning upwards of 10,000 acres of patented land, and running 30,000 .head of sheep annually. In 1908, after he had devel- oped from a poor sheep herder with a capital of but $500 into one of the leading capitalists of his section, Mr. Hamilton decided to take his family east in order that his children might secure better educational ad- vantages. Accordingly, he disposed of his great inter- ests in sheep, cattle, and horses, and went to Boston, Massachusetts, where he remained three years. In 1911 he returned to Montana and settled in Great Falls, where he had in former years erected a hand- some modern residence, bought a large amount of val- uable property and built the Standard Garage, a three-

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story structure, with ample floor space and salesrooms for several of the standard makes of machines, and equipped with every appliance known to the trade. A large force of experienced salesmen and expert me- chanics is employed, and the venture has become the leading enterprise of its kind in the state. Mr. Ham- ilton is a director in the Lewistown Bank and the State Bank of Moore, and has numerous other invest- ments. He is a Republican in his political views, but has not desired public office. His religious faith is that of the Congregational church.

On August 10, 1887, Mr. Hamilton was married to Miss Lizzie Montgomery, at Sage Creek, in Judith Basin, and five children were born to this union, as follows: Julia Bell, born February 6, 1890, a graduate of LaSalle Seminary; Henry Montgomery, born De- cember 6, 1892, a graduate of Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, where he took a general course; Abigail . Mather, born in July, 1894, attending Vassar College; Harley A., born in March, 1897, attending high school; and Leslie H., Jr., a student in the public schools.

Mr. Hamilton has lost none of his love for out-door occupations that in his youth laid the foundation for his present excellent health. He may well lay claim to the title "old-timer," as his residence in Montana dates back to the Indian days; and he can recall many exciting experiences of the time when the Treasure State was still in its infancy. On one occasion an Indian horse thief attempted to steal one of Mr. Ham- ilton's animals, but was captured by Mr. Hamilton and a friend, a Mr. Skelton. The Indian managed to escape during the night without his clothes, although the night was cold and there was a heavy covering of snow on the ground, but returned the next day while his former captors were absent from camp, equipped himself with a suit and a new hat and was never seen again by Mr. Hamilton.

HAWLEY J. SELWAY, well-to-do farmer and stockman of Dillon, Beaverhead county, Montana, is a repre- sentative of one of the early families of this county, and was born in Dillon on May 31, 1879. He is a son of James and Eunice (Noble) Selway, who were pioneer settlers of Montana. Hawley J. is one of the three children of his parents. He received his education in the schools of Dillon, being graduated from the high school in May, 1899, and in 1900 took a business course at the Wesleyan University at Helena. Since that time he has been devoted to the ranching business. Mr. Selway has a ranch on Horse Prairie of some twenty- seven hundred acres, which is the scene of large and profitable operations in the stock business, his sales in the year 1912 from the ranch aggregating about nine hundred head of cattle and one hundred horses. He is also devoting some attention to the matter of draft horses and cattle, and is the owner of a blooded Belgian stallion weighing twenty-two hundred pounds, which is said to be the heaviest horse in Beaverhead county. In addition to his property on Horse Prairie, he owns a half interest in a four hundred and forty- acre ranch near Dillon, as well as a considerable prop- erty. in the city. Mr. Selway is secretary-treasurer of the Horse Prairie Reservoir Association, and has al- ways done his full share in the promotion of every movement which he has reason to believe will result in the ultimate good of Beaverhead county. Mr. Sel- way is a Republican, and he is a member and stockholder and director of the Beaverhead Club. He is also a member of the Beaverhead County Fair Association and stock holder. His fraternal connections are repre- sented by his membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is a member of Apollo Lodge No. 15. Independent Order of Dillon Encampment No. 9, and Lodge No. 9511 of the Modern Woodmen of America.

On April 10, 1901, Mr. Selway married Miss Lovilla

Hughes, the daughter of James and Sarah E. Hughes, of Centerville, Iowa, where Mrs. Selway was born. She came to Montana in her girlhood and has here made her home ever since. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Selway, namely: Berthena, aged ten years. Francis, nine years of age, and Ralph, now aged five.

ALFRED O. DE LORIMIER. A splendid example of the successful westerner-the man who by persistence, optimism and good management rises from the meager- ness of poverty to the distinctions of wealth, is Mr. Alfred O. de Lorimier, whose name figures so promi- nently in many of the most conspicuous enterprises ef Fort Benton and whose ability as well as his fortune makes him an influential resident of the place.

Alfred Octave de Lorimier was the eighth son of his parents, who in giving him his middle name, Octave, commemorated his place among their children, who ul- timately numbered eighteen. Mr. Lorimier's father was a native of Canada and was named George Anthony Lorimier. He was for many years a government agent for the Iroquois Indians, and his death occurred in Can- ada at the age of fifty-eight. His wife, our subject's mother, was Marie Louise McCumber and was of Scotch parentage and Canadian birth.

Alfred de Lorimier's education was pursued in the private schools of Lachine, near Montreal. At the age of eighteen, having completed his academic courses, he left his home to begin the carving of his fortune. In the city of Montreal he took a position as clerk at a salary of $20 per month in the store of Henry Morgan & Company, one of the leading mercantile firms of the city at that time. He continued his connection with this house for two years, living carefully and conserving his pecuniary resources as far as was possible on a meager salary and at the expenses always particularly high in a metropolis. Like many thoughtful youths, he pondered the advisability of trying other vocational experiments, in the hope of getting something more lucrative. With a cash capital of only fifty dollars, he arrived in Chicago on the fourth of July, 1870. On investigating prospects in an employment office, he was given a letter to a farmer whose location was at some distance from the city. Young de Lorimier made the journey, at a cost of six of his carefully saved dollars. He was thereupon informed that his services were not needed, and indeed many other applicants were being turned away. But he stood his ground, insisting on being given a place, and his perseverance finally won. Throughout the season, he toiled in the hay field, faithfully and laboriously, at a salary of thirty dollars per month. He eventually re- turned to his work as a store salesman, being employed by Twohey Brothers, for whom he worked for eight years, and for John B. Farwell of Chicago, about one year.

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A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 77

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