A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 79

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

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while a member of the legislature was speaker of the house. At the first state convention he was nominated for the supreme bench, but was defeated, although he ran ahead of the ticket and failed of election by only a small minority. In 1910 Gov. Edward Norris ap- pointed him chairman of the board of commissioners selected to find a site for the State Insane Asylum. Politically he has worked and voted in the interest of the Democratic party, and has never utilized his politi- cal badge for dress parade purposes only. In the language of some of his warmest supporters, "every one knows where to find Francis K. Armstrong." He is a man of commanding presence, kindly, yet digni- fied and courteous to all. Since his retirement from the bench, Judge Armstrong has devoted himself to look- ing after his farming interests, his large land holdings and his financial connections. Holding prestige as a financier, with a record for public service that will serve as an example worthy of emulation by those who follow him in the high positions he has so ably filled, and a man whose life both in public and private is an open book, Judge Armstrong well merits the universal esteem and respect in which he is held, and takes rank with the men who have brought honor to the great commonwealth of Montana.

DANIEL MARTIN CROWLEY. The late Daniel Martin Crowley was born in Brasier Falls, New York, on Jan- uary 17, 1856, and was the son of John and Mary (Hurley) Crowley, both natives of Ireland, who came to America on their wedding tour and settled in the town which later became the birthplace of their son, the subject of this review.

John Crowley was a farmer by occupation and he passed his life devoted to that industry. He and his wife reared a family of nine children, of which number Daniel M. was the third born. He remained on his father's farm to the age of nineteen years, attending the common schools in the meantime, and in 1875 he came west to Minnesota, where he found work in the lumber woods of that state. For four years he was variously occupied in Minnesota, and in 1879 he came to Montana and, in company with his brother, John, ran a ranch near Townsend. In about 1881 he came to the present site of Lewistown, then a mere camp, and took up homestead claims. Mr. Crowley bears the dis- tinction of having built the second frame building to be reared in Lewistown. It is expected that this old land- mark will soon be razed, to be replaced by a modern brick block in 1913, according to the present plans.

Mr. Crowley was one of the few Montana men who made an unqualified success of the breeding of fast horses, and from his strains Montana has furnished some of the finest harness horses in the country, fine driving horses being a specialty with him. He owned several fine ranches in the state of Montana, although he did not operate in cattle or sheep himself, and in addition to holding part interests in numerous other

ranches, he was a heavy stockholder in the electric light and telephone company. His holdings in the state were on an immense scale, and he was regarded as one of the financially substantial men of the state. He was ever a man of importance in his community and dis- trict. He was a Republican and a faithful worker in the party ranks, but though he was often urged to run for office, he was never found willing to serve in that way. At one time he served as deputy sheriff of the county, but beyond that his public service did not ex- tend, except in the way of his influence, which was al- ways on the side of the right. He devoted himself al- most exclusively to his private business interests, and was one of the most popular men in Lewistown. He was a kind and generous man, known for his many deeds of benevolence and charity, and his memory is re- vered by many who have reason to remember him with

. On August 23, 1898, Mr. Crowley was married to Miss Annie E. Glancy, a daughter of John and Annie Glancy. John Glancy came to Montana with his family in 1886 and settled in the Judith Basin, where he has become one of the successful cattle and ranch inen of the county. The marriage of Mr. Crowley and Miss Glancy occurred in Lewistown, and to them were born two sons: Charles J., now twelve years of age, and Glancy D., aged ten, both of whom are attending school in their home town.

Since the passing of her husband, Mrs. Crowley has continued the management of the ranch properties left by Mr. Crowley, and has proven herself a most efficient and capable business woman. Her home in Lewistown, recently built, is one of the handsomest places in the city, and is located at No. 204 Eighth avenne. Mrs. Crowley is a member of the Roman Catholic church, as was also her deceased husband.

ANDREW SWANEY, a good old pioneer in the wilds of Montana, came to this state in 1879 and he has been a prominent and influential resident of Kalispell since the founding of that place, in 1892. Mr. Swaney has been the popular and efficient incumbent of a number of prominent federal offices during his residence in Montana and at the present time, in 1912, he is register of the United States land office. He has done a great deal to advance the progress and improvement of this section of the state and as a loyal and public-spirited citizen he commands the unalloyed confidence and esteem of all with whom he has come in contact.

In Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1860, occurred the birth of Andrew Swaney, who is a son of Hugh and Cressala (Fulerton) Swaney, the former of whom was born in Ohio and the latter in Ireland. The father came west in 1882 and located at Missoula, Montana, where he maintained his headquarters as pub- lic administrator of the county of Flathead, a position he retained for a period of eighteen years. He died July 14, 1912, at the venerable age of seventy-nine years. His cherished and devoted wife, who came from her native heath, the Isle of Erin, at the age of eighteen years, to Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, where was solemnized her marriage in Apri, 1859, passed to the life eternal in 1898, aged sixty-eight years. Mr. and Mrs. Swaney became the parents of eight children, six of whom are living, in 1912, and of whom Andrew was the first born.

To the public schools of Pennsylvania, Andrew Swaney is indebted for his rudimentary educational training, which discipline was later effectively supple- mented by a thorough course in the school of experi- ence. In 1879, at the age of nineteen years, he came west on the Central Pacific Railroad, sojourning for a short time at Blackfoot, Idaho, whence he came to Mon- tana by stage. For the ensuing four years he was in the

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employ of Worden & Higgins, of the pioneer merchan- dise house of Missoula, Montana, and in 1883 he came to the Flathead valley, his original purpose being to trade in this section with the Indians. He became so favorably impressed with this country that he decided to locate here and immediately settled at a point a mile and a half from Kalispell on Ashley creek. When Kali- spell was founded, in 1892, he came to this city and here was United States commissioner until 1893, when he resigned that position in order to become deputy clerk of the district court, which latter office he retained until 1894, when he was elected clerk of the district court in and for Flathead county, serving in such office until the month of April, 1898, when he resigned and enlisted in the first regiment of Montana volunteers, United States of America, serving in the Philippines during the Spanish-American war as first sergeant of Company H. Mustered out as second lieutenant of said company. he subsequently organized and was elected captain of Company H, Second Regiment of Montana National Guard, and later promoted to the office of major in such command, subsequently resigning by reason of the interference of his duties as register of the United States land office at Kalispell, having been appointed to the latter office on June 3, 1902. During this period he was likewise engaged in farming and stock raising in the vicinity of Kalispell. June 3, 1902, he was ap- pointed register of the United States land office and he has been the popular and efficient incumbent of that position during the intervening years to the present time, in 1912. He is a man of broad mind and gener- ons impulses and he has implicit faith in the great future of the Treasure state.

December 5, 1886, Mr. Swaney married Miss Mary A. Foy, who was born and reared at Ogden, Utah, and who is a daughter of John M. Foy. Mr. and Mrs. Swaney have four children, whose names are here entered in respective order of birth : Louis L., Alice E., Charles H. and Alex G.

In a social way Mr. Swaney is affiliated with the time-honored Masonic order, in which he has passed through the circle of the York Rite branch, being a Knight Templar, and commander of Cyrene Command- ery No. 10, and he is likewise affiliated with the Mod- ern Woodmen of America and the Kalispell Club. In politics he is a Progressive Republican. Mr. and Mrs. Swaney are well known throughout Flathead county, where their intimate friends are numbered by the score, and their home is a center of most generous hospi- tality.

GEORGE A. ROBERTS. 'Forty-niner, veteran of the Civil war, sailor, pioneer and old-timer, and eventually suc- cessful business man and highly esteemed citizen of Billings,-such has been the career of George A. Rob- erts, of No. 104 North Thirty-first street, who in spite of his seventy-nine years, and the hardships and vicis- situdes that have marked his life, is still in robust health and evincing an active interest in all that is taking place in his adopted city. The record of Mr. Roberts' career reads like the pages from the pen of a master writer of fiction, for the adventurous inclina- tions of his earlier years led him into strange places and thrilling experiences. Now, in the evening of his life, retired from business worries and cares, he may look back over years that have been usefully spent, content in the knowledge that he stands pre-eminent among those men who have braved the perils of the new places and blazed the trail for future generations. Mr. Roberts was born at Brunswick, Cumberland coun- ty, Maine, December 17, 1833, and is a son of Thomas and Murilla (Welch) Roberts, natives of the Pine Tree state.

Thomas Roberts was a ship carpenter and sailor in his younger days, but eventually entered the lumber business, with which he was identified at the time of

his death, which occurred in 1886, when he was eighty- three years of age. Until 1856 he was a Whig, and in that year transferred his allegiance to the Republican party and voted with that organization during the rest of his life. He and his wife, who passed away in Maine in 1879, had nine children, of whom three still survive: George A .; Helen, who is the widow of Wil- liam Tabnor and resides in Boston, Massachusetts; and Adelaide, the wife of B. L. Dennison, of Augusta, Maine.

When George A. Roberts was only ten years of age he went to Boston, but after two or three years in that city returned to his native place and for the period of several years worked in the drug store of William Baker. Subsequently, he shipped on the "Gen- eral Dunlap," a full-rigged vessel, on which he went to Mobile, Alabama, and later made a trip to Liverpool, England, eventually returning to New York City. After spending two or three years in Maine, the discovery of gold in California caused him to take passage on a vessel bound for San Francisco, in which city he ar- rived in October, 1851, and there he was engaged in mining until 1864. In that year he returned to his na- tive state by the same route, and in February, 1864, at Anburn, Maine, he enlisted in Company I, Four- teenth Regiment, Maine Volunteer Infantry, under Colonel Bowlin, for service in the Civil war, His regi- ment went first to Portland, Maine, and then to New York City, subsequently moving on to Hilton Head, North Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia. They then marched to Augusta, Georgia, but were ordered back to Savannah, and were eventually mustered out of the service at Dahlonega, Georgia. Mr. Roberts received his honorable discharge at Augusta, Maine, and soon thereafter became a sailor, following the sea as a voca- tion until 1877. In that year, during the gold excite- ment in the Black Hills, he joined a party that traveled overland via Bismarck, Dakota, and there he engaged in the restaurant business, but was unfortunate enough to lose his business in the fire in 1879, and continued overland to Miles City, Montana, thence to Coulson, and finally to Billings, as a member of the survey- ing party of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Billings at that time was but a tent town, there being only two frame buildings in the course of erection. After ac- companying the surveying party through to Fort Ben- ton, Mr. Roberts severed his connection with the rail- road company, and returned east to his native state to visit his folks. After a short visit he returned to Billings, which his foresight had told him was due to become a large city, and here engaged in the restaurant business until 1890, meeting with exceptional success. In that year he removed to Gardiner, where he car- ried on the same line of enterprise, and was later in the general merchandise business for about four years, but in 1900 retired from active life and returned to Billings, and he is now living quietly at his home, No. . 104 North Thirty-first street.

Mr. Roberts has been greatly interested in the work of the Grand Army of the Republic, and he is now act- ing as quartermaster of William McKinley Post No. 28. He has passed through the chairs of Rathbone Lodge No. 28, Knights of Pythias, and is past com- mander of the lodge. Politically he has always been a stanch Republican. The various changes that have transformed Billings from a tent town with a few straggling settlers into one of the great commercial centers of this part of the West have been witnessed by Mr. Roberts, who has taken an active part in the growth and development of the city's interests. As a business man he bore the reputation of a man of integrity and upright dealings, and he was respected by his busi- ness associates and highly esteemed by a wide circle of acquaintances. As a link connecting the pioneer past with the realized present, Mr. Roberts is fully en-

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titled to a place among Billings' most representative citizens.

A. D. MAYNARD. Another Polson citizen whose valu- able life experience, as well as his broad knowledge of western life makes him an important figure in his city and county, is Judge Arthur D. Maynard. His educa- tion, his practical intelligence, his sterling character and his civic conscientiousness, all combine to make his present office an appropriate one. Mr. Maynard's in- tellectual acquirements are such as befit his New Eng- land origin, for he was born in Springfield, Massachu- setts, on May 19, 1852, his parents being Daniel May- nard, a native of Massachusetts and Rachel B. (Tay- lor) Maynard, whose birth-place was in Vermont.

In 1862 Daniel Maynard moved with his family to Minnesota, thence in eight years to Iowa, and again in eight years to Montana, where he became one of Mon- tana's sturdy pioneers. A farmer of the most respected and worthy class, he lived at Bozeman, Montana, until in 1901 he laid down the responsibilities of earthly life at seventy-two years of age, leaving a wife, the one son and two daughters and all but one daughter still sur- vive. His wife at the writing of this sketch (March, 1913) is living at Long Beach, California, where she enjoys excellent health and retains a remarkable de- gree of useful and enjoyable activity at eighty-four years of age; she was of the General Putnam stock of · New England origin.

Arthur D. Maynard was but ten years of age when the family home was changed from Springfield to the Minnesota town of Owatonna where his school life was continued. He later attended the high school of Dexter, Iowa, and soon began teaching in the western part of the state, where he met Miss Anna M. Cook, she being eighteen years of age; they were married in 1874. During the next year both attended the Bap- tist college, located in Des Moines, Iowa, from which institution he was honorably graduated in 1875. Hav- ing been thus fully prepared Mr. Maynard pursued the profession of teaching and civil engineering in various parts of Iowa for twelve years, finally accepting a po- sition in the graded schools of Bozeman, Montana, where he wielded pedagogical influence during 1878- 1879. Having given many good years of his life to the dissemination of book lore and to the western de- velopments of the state, Mr. Maynard yielded to the lure of the fruitful soil and of the practical science of civil engineering, some of which work now stands finan- cially at the head of western developments in the state where he now lives, chief of which was that he was one of the principal promoters in the building of the great Farmers Canal in Gallatin county, Montana, which brings an annual revenue of more than a half million dollars to the farmers of Gallatin county near Boze- man. In addition to this he surveyed and mapped out canals and reservoirs for the farmers of Yellowstone county living along the Big Horn river near Hardin, Montana, all of which are now built and are success- fully operated, greatly to the advantage of the people for irrigation purposes, in south eastern Montana.

After thirty useful and profitable vears, spent chiefly on his farm in Gallatin county and in civil engineering throughout the state, he sold his property and located in Polson. Here he was officially engaged as civil en- gineer for the town and country, and afterward was ap- pointed city engineer, which position he filled for nearly two years, or until a lameness caused the sale of his engineering office and his good-will to an employee. But he had inspired such confidence that in 1911 he was induced to accept the offices of justice of the peace and police judge of the city, which positions he still ac- ceptably holds.

By no means the least creditable of Judge Maynard's achievements is his family. His estimable wife. whom he married in 1874. was, as previously stated, Miss Anna M. Cook of Onawa, Iowa; seven children have

been given to them. Of the five sons, the eldest, Har- lan Q., passed to the spirit world, just as he was en- tering upon the strong, bright years of manhood, being eighteen years of age when he died in Bozeman. Two children were lent them only during the blossom time of babyhood; Meritt Arthur closed his eyes 'in the long sleep at the age of twenty-one months, and his brother, little Clement, lived but one year. Irving L., the old- est living son, born in 1879, at Bozeman, is happily settled in life, and lives with his wife and three little daughters, not far from his parents' home in Polson. A younger son, Maurice W., who was educated at Boze- man, bids fair to become an example of that "noblest work of God"-an educated farmer. For at twenty years of age he is beginning his agricultural experi- ments near Polson. Both daughters occupy worthy stations in life; Edith L., born in 1887, was educated in Bozeman, Gallatin County high school, and at the State normal school at Dillon, Montana; she is a suc- cessful teacher at Polson. She is a graduate and holds a state life diploma. Laura C., born in 1888, was formerly a student of Gallatin County high school and after graduating went to Wooster College, Ohio, and also completed the State Normal school at Dillon; she is an adept in the school-room. She is the wife of Professor J. H. Holst of Victor, in this state, their little daughter, Rachel Anna, being the fourth in Judge Maynard's bouquet of grandchildren.

In the Republican party Mr. Maynard is counted a stanch politician, though an unassuming one. In re- ligious life he is a loyal supporter of the Presbyterian church, though his religious sympathies are not nar- rowed down to one sect. Among his other enviable qualities, Judge Maynard's friends count him a capital conversationalist. His life, notwithstanding the fact that it has been so largely an intellectual one, has not heen without its thrilling adventures, including more than one encounter with the Indians. But he is, above all other things, a man of practical purpose, of broad understanding and of superior judgment. These charac- teristics have been displayed in his administration of many important affairs, especially those related to his office as a director of the Flathead County State Bank, of which he was formerly vice president. In this and other capacities, he is well-known throughout this sec- tion of the state, and is recognized as a prominent fac- tor in its welfare and its progress.

ROBERT AULL LUKE was born in Lexington, Lafay- ette county, Missouri, and after attending the public schools and Washington University in the city of St. Louis, where his father was in business. St. Louis was his home until 1880, when he came to Montana, making the trip from Bismarck, North Dakota, to Fort Benton by steamboat, that being a convenient method of travel to this part of the northwest. Mr. Luke settled at that place intending to engage in stock raising, but the First National Bank of Fort Benton being organized at that time he was appointed cashier, which position be retained until 1885. when he removed to Helena. Here he took up a different line of business, that of general insurance, in which he has been successful, and in 1893. during the closing of many of the banks throughout the country, he was appointed receiver for the First National Bank of Phil- ipsburg, Montana, which was a very prosperous mining town in those times. In less than a year he had arranged the bank's affairs in such shape that it resumed its operations, and during that period, as he retained and operated his general insurance business at Helena, he returned there and continued it. In 1905 Mr. Luke disposed of his general insurance business at Helena and has since been engaged as a general adjuster for all of the principal fire insurance companies operating in this and adjoining states throughout which he is well and favorably known.

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John W. Luke, the father, was a native of Belfast, Ireland, who came to America as a young man in the middle of the last century. Making St. Louis his home, and serving as pilot, captain and subsequently owner of three or four steamboats operating upon the Mississippi and Missouri rivers from St. Louis about the time of the Civil war, Captain Luke had retired from steamboating and engaged in the general mer- cantile business at St. Louis. Through his steamboat- ing days he had a large and extensive personal acquaint- ance, and after many years' residence in St. Louis, dur- ing which he had been prominent as a Mason, having been grand secretary for the Masonic order for the state of Missouri for several years and occupying other exalted offices, in 1883, he retired from active business at St. Louis and came to Fort Benton, making his home with his son there till October, 1888. In that year he died at the home of his daughter at Fort Benton and his body was taken to St. Louis and in- terred in Bellfountaine cemetery. His wife was Cather- ine Wells Wilson of Steubenville, Ohio. Of the nine children, only three are still living: Robert Aull Luke, at Helena; John Wallace Luke, living at Birmingham, Alabama; and Harry Lee Luke, residing at Seattle, Washington.

Mr. Luke is a member of the Montana Club, and almost qualified to be an old timer and in political issues he supports the Democratic party, but is not one who seeks political. preferment for himself, while in the world of business his methods have won him the respect of all who deal with him.

EDWARD MARRON. For a number of years one of the leading cattlemen and horse raisers of Montana, the late Edward Marron will be well remembered by the older residents of Glendive, in which city he spent many years of a long honorable career, and where his death occurred June 8, 1898. He is recalled as a man of great public spirit, of willing charity, of tender sym- pathy for those in trouble, and had a cheerful, optimis- tic view of life that made him a welcome comrade in any organization and a valued member of social bodies. Edward Marron was born at Utica, New York, Sep- tember 12, 1857, and was four years of age when his parents removed to Assumption, Illinois. There he at- tended the public schools until he was sixteen years of age, when, in 1876, a desire to see something of the world led to his coming to the west as far as Dakota, and subsequently to Montana. For a young man of energy and spirit this section presented many oppor- tunities, and Mr. Marron had the enterprise to grasp them. Prior to 1882 he spent the greater part of his time in hunting buffalo, in 1883 becoming connected with the large stock firm with which he remained until his demise. He was manager for Hubbard & Sampson, on their great ranch on Red Water, located sixty-five miles northwest of Glendive, and in this connection, as in others, he became one of the best known men in eastern Montana. Political honors were often ten- dered him by the Republican party, but he steadfastly refused to enter into politics. He was an active and successful business man and a noble and upright citi- zen. He was of robust appearance, and with the excep- tion of what was supposed to an occasional attack of heart affection, was in excellent health. For this reason his sudden death prostrated his family and brought grief to a wide circle of friends and admirers. Mr. Marron was a popular member of the exclusive Glen- dive Club.

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A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 79

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