A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 85

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

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On March 9, 1883, occurred the marriage of Mr. Osen- brug to Miss Mary M. Heinbockel, a native of Germany. Six children were born of this union, five of whom are living, named as follows: Henry Jacob, Lydia, Rudolph P., Edward and Albert M. Another son, Albert by name, died when nine months of age. The mother of this family died October 18, 1900. Mr. Osenbrug mar- ried again on December 5, 1901, to Mrs. Anna Kroeger, a sister of his first wife. She had one son by her first marriage, William Kroeger. The family home is main- tained at No. 825 West Broadway, where in 1895 Mr. Osenbrug built the fine residence which they occupy.

Mr. Osenbrug is a citizen who is held in the high personal esteem of all who know him, because of his many fine qualities and he has a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, in which he is known as a gentleman of liberality and the strictest integrity, and as one who stands always ready to lend the weight of his influence to any project that has for its object the greatest good of the community in which he resides.

JERE JOSEPH MURPHY. Standing at the head of the well-organized and efficient police department of the

Jacob Osenburg

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city of Butte is Jere Joseph Murphy, a whole-souled, broad-minded Irishman; a capable and popular public official; and a citizen of integrity and worth, who is devoting his time and energies to the duties of his position. A native of Ireland, he was born February 27, 1867, in Kilkenny. His parents, John and Margaret (Conry) Murphy, spent their entire lives in the Emerald Isle, his mother dying in 1896, at the age of forty-five years, and his father in 1897, aged fifty-five years.

Coming in boyhood with his brother John to the United States, Jere Joseph Murphy continued his studies in the schools of Pueblo, Colorado, where, after completing his education, he began work in the office of Chief Desmond. Leaving that position, he made his way to Montana, locating in Anaconda, where he worked in a smelter for a time, and also started the Saratoga Hotel. Disposing of his interests in that locality, Mr. Murphy came, in 1886, to Butte," and here opened the Edgerton House, which he con- ducted for a time, when he disposed of it to Daniel Drew to become city detective under Mayor E. O. Dugan. He continued under Mayor Dugan until the administration of Mayor. Thompson, when he retired and entered the employ of the Anaconda Company. He was subsequently made city detective under Mayors Harrington and Thompson until the administration of Mayor McGinnis began, when he retired. Mr. Mur- phy was subsequently appointed chief of police for Butte, under Mayor Nevin, continuing until the pres- ent time, 1912, at the head of the city's police depart- ment, which, under the leadership of Mr. Murphy, has reached the top notch of efficiency. In addition to being a splendid officer, Mr. Murphy is a loyal citizen of Butte, and in its army of progressive men not one is more earnest and ardent in his civic pride than its chief of police.

Mr. Murphy has been twice married. He married first, in Pueblo, Colorado, Josephine Keneally, who died in Butte, Montana, in 1895. Three children blessed their union, namely: John, a resident of Butte; Margaret, deceased, born in Anaconda, Mon- tana, was a Sister of Charity; and Mayme, born in Anaconda, is a sister in Dominican Order, Sinsina- wa, Wisconsin. Mr. Murphy married second, in 1899, in Butte, Delia Wall, a native of Elmira, New York, and their only child, Ronald Thomas Murphy, born July 24, 1903, is now attending the Mckinley School.

Politically Mr. Murphy is a stanch adherent of the Democratic party; fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Columbus; and religiously he is a Catho- lic. He is fond of athletics, and is a baseball enthu- siast.

W. F. COBBAN is of mixed Scotch and American ancestry, as his father was born in Aberdeen, and his mother, Mary Louise Hardy Cobban, was a de- scendant of the first colonists who came to Massachu- setts for religious freedom. The father was only a boy when his parents moved from Scotland to Canada, and when he grew up, he decided to settle in the United States. He selected Massachusetts as his home, and here as a young man, he met the lady who be- came his wife, and the mother of our subject. Devo- tion to principle, which is the heritage of the true Scot, as well as of the children of the Mayflower, induced Mr. Cobban to join that band of settlers who went to Kansas in 1852, of whom Whittier wrote:

"We cross the prairies as of old The Pilgrims crossed the sea To make the west, as they the east The homestead of the Free."

Later Mr. Cobban located at Westport, and he was one of the commission sent by the governor of Mis-

souri to the governor of Kansas, to try and settle the question of the boundary by arbitration.

In 1855, Mr. Cobban went to Horican, Wisconsin, and it was here that the subject of this review was born on September 16, 1856. After a few years there, Mr. Cobban removed to Chippewa Falls, and here he conducted an extensive lumber business. Besides oper- ating a large saw mill, he owned a sash and door factory, and both enterprises yielded him rich returns. He was a man of the loftiest patriotism, taking active part in all which was for the good of the country. At the time of the Civil war, he joined the Thirty- seventh Wisconsin, and while in service, was wounded at the battle of Petersburgh. He never recovered from the effects of this injury, and it was instrumental in hastening his death. For some years before he died, Mr. Cobban gave up active participation in business, and returned to Massachusetts, where he had spent the years of his young manhood. It was here that he died in 1889.

W. F. Cobban went to school in Wisconsin, and as he grew older, took an increasing part in his father's business. He learned the machinist's trade, and for three years was in charge of this department of the factory. He did not intend to settle in Wisconsin, so he started out to find a locality which suited him. He spent two years in search of this, trying various parts of the south, but as even the warm climate did not reconcile him to that region, in 1880, he decided to come to Montana. His first stopping place was Wicks, then a prosperous mining camp, where he remained only a few months. From here, he went to Butte, and took up the business with which he had been familiar all his life, entering a lumber concern operated by Sebree, Ferris & White. Here he worked until 1886, when he opened up a department for the manufacture of sashes and doors. Later Mr. Cobban went into real estate and mining business in Butte, remaining there until 1907. In this interval, he was connected with a number of the famous mining prop- erties of Butte. He was at different times, part owner of the Moonlight, the Hesperus, the Carlisle and the Protection. All these were sold to the Amalgamated Company, and in addition to these, Mr. Cobban bought and disposed of much other valuable mining property.

In 1907, after turning the business over to his son Ray, Mr. Cobban took a year's vacation which he spent in California. In 1909, he came to Missoula, where he has been in the real estate and land business, dealing chiefly in Montana orchards. Mr. Cobban's eldest son Ray, is now a large ranch owner in the famous new Flathead country. Of the four other children, Rena May is at home; Ronald H., in the auto- mobile business in Missoula, while Margery and Har- vey are in the high school. Mrs. Cobban is a Ver- monter. and was previous to her marriage in 1884, Miss Kate Hurlburt, whose family, like that of Mr. Cobban's mother, bears one of the time-honored names of New England. They belong to the progressive class of Montana's citizens, as well as to that which gives the state its substantial commercial standing.

Mr. Cobban has the honor of being one of the charter members of the Oswego lodge of the Knights of Pythias of Butte. Aside from this, he is not affil- iated with any of the fraternal orders. In politics, he supports the Republican party, as far as national issues are concerned, and in local affairs gives his vote to the best candidate put up for the office. Both as an individual, and as a man of affairs, Mr. Cobban has the respect of all who come into contact with him.

RAYMOND S. CONGER. The city of Thompson Falls, Montana, is well represented in the journalistic line by the Sanders County Ledger, one of the leading news- papers of western Montana, 'the manager of which, Raymond S. Conger, is one of the wide-awake, pro-

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gressive business men who have done so much to make this section what it is. Mr. Conger, a man of versatile abilities, has not confined himself to the newspaper field, however, but is widely known in business circles as a member of the firm of the Treasure State Realty Company, and is also prominent in fraternal and polit- ical matters. He was born at Carmi, Illinois, August 31, 1873, and is a son of Judge Everton J. and Emily K. (Boren) Conger.

Everton J. Conger was born in the state of Ohio, and as a young man moved to Illinois, where for a num- ber of years he was a prominent attorney. As colonel of the First District of Columbia Cavalry, he served throughout the Civil war, and gained nation-wide fame as the man who captured John Wilkes Booth after the assassination of President Lincoln. He continued to practice law in Illinois until 1878, in which year he came to Montana, and here was appointed territorial judge by President Hayes. For many years he held positions of public trust, and was really responsible for the bill creating a State Law Library in Montana, but has now retired and is living quietly at Dillon. He was married in Ohio to Miss Emily K. Boren, who died in 1904, at the age of fifty-one years, and was buried at Dillon. They were the parents of six children, four of whom survive, as follows: C. W., clerk of the fourth district court at Dillon, elected November 5, 1912; Mrs. Judge Poindexter, also a resi- dent of Dillon; O. D., who also lives in Thompson Falls; and Raymond S.

Raymond S. Conger was about five years of age when his parents removed to Fostoria, Ohio, and in 1880 came to Montana, of which state he has since been a resident. His early education was secured in the schools of Virginia City and Dillon, Montana, this being supplemented by a special course in Valparaiso (Ind.) State Normal School. Even as a lad he devel- oped traits of industry, and when but nine years of age earned his first money picking currants at five cents per gallon, for "Old Man" Bartruff, at Virginia City. He also accumulated not a little spending money trapping squirrels, the bounty being five cents per head, but his first real salaried position was at Dillon, where he learned the printer's trade in the offices of the Dillon Tribune, with which newspaper he was con- nected on and off for some twelve years. His first salary in the newspaper business was $4.00 per week. Mr. Conger continued to reside in Dillon from 1887 to 1905, and in the latter year came to Plains, where for nearly two years he conducted the Plainsman, but sold out to come to Thompson Falls, securing a clerical position in the office of Ed. Donlon. In IgIo he organ- ized the Treasure State Realty Company, and some time later formed a partnership with Albert W. Thayer of this city, and took over the Sanders County Ledger. Although these two enterprises are entirely independ- ent of one another they are conducted from the same office. The Ledger is a bright, newsy sheet, advocating and supporting Republican principles, and under its new management has prospered greatly. It now has an excellent equipment, and is the only paper west of Missoula, in Montana, to use a linotype machine. That it has done much to influence public opinion in the way of progress may be surmised from the views of its manager, who states: "If I were going to explain why Montana is a great state I could do so in a thou- sand different ways. I can say with all candor and honesty that if a man traveled elsewhere a thousand years he could never find the chances or opportunities offered that may be found in Montana. Montana will inspire your enthusiasm, satisfy your ambition and give you a bank account quicker than any place in the world." It is probably needless to add that Mr. Conger is one of the enthusiastic "boosters" of the Thompson Falls Development League. He is widely known in news-

paper circles throughout this part of the state, still maintaining his membership in the typographical union ·and being vice-president of the Montana Press Associa- tion. A stanch Republican in politics, he has served as a delegate to numerous state conventions, and in religious matters is an Episcopalian, as is also his wife who is an active worker in Trinity Guild. Mr. Con- ger is a prominent Mason, was one of the organizers of the lodges at Plains and Thompson Falls, and has been sent as delegate to the grand lodge of the state. All athletic sports have interested him, and he is also very fond of music and literature. He served with the First Montana, U. S. V. in the campaign in the Phil- ippines and was mustered out in San Francisco, in 1909, with his regiment.

Mr. Conger was married at Lewistown, Montana, August 31, 1904, to Miss Marion E. Weldon, daughter of James M. and Rose M. Weldon, of an old pioneer family of Montana, and now residing on a ranch near Lewistown. Mr. and Mrs. Conger have three interest- ing children : Judson Weldon, Raymond Stuart and Catherine Marion, the two first-named being pupils in the public schools.

ALBERT W. THAYER. Possessing talents as a busi- ness man which have made him a prominent figure in commercial and realty circles, being skilled as a civil engineer and metallurgist, accomplished as a journal- ist, and through his executive ability capably serving his community in positions of public trust, the career of Albert W. Thayer has been replete with adventures and experiences, and his versatile faculties have led him to distant shores and diversified fields of endeavor. During the last six years he has been identified with the interests of Thompson Falls, where he is now presi- dent of the Treasure State Realty Company, editor of the Sanders County Ledger and city clerk, as well as a citizen who has gained and retained the confidence and esteem of the entire community. Mr. Thayer was born at Acworth, Sullivan county, New Hampshire, October 10, 1867, and is a son of William M. and Marie (Marvin) Thayer. William. M. Thayer, who was editor of the Boston Post for twenty years, died in 1893, at the age of fifty-eight years, and was buried in Massachusetts. At the outbreak of the Civil war he was war correspondent in the Union army and passed safely through the struggle, but two brothers who had enlisted at the same time were captured by the Con- federates and died in Andersonville prison. Albert W. Thayer was the youngest of his parents' three chil- dren, his mother dying when he was but one week old.

Albert W. Thayer attended the public schools of Acworth until he was about fourteen years of age, and at that time went to Claremont, New Hampshire, and worked his way through high school. Subsequently he went to Boston, where he attended the Institute of Technology, and after graduating from the depart- ment of civil engineering started out to make his own way in the world. Removing to Cleveland, Ohio, Mr. Thayer remained about two years in the employ of the Cleveland & Canton Railroad, and in 1887 went to Colorado, where for fifteen years off and on he oper- ated as a civil engineer, the greater part of this time being associated with . Dave Moffit, Evan Smith and W. P. Dunham, for whom he made trips to Oregon, Old Mexico, Alaska, Central America and other points as mining engineer, inspecting and passing on prospects and properties. During one year he was with John Hays Hammond, and for three years with the Cog Wheel Railroad as general passenger agent, and when the camp at Cripple Creek was opened he was one of the first to enter the famous district. In 1902 Mr. Thayer removed to Sand Point, Idaho, where he re- mained for four years as buyer and metallurgist for the Panhandle Smelting Company and during the sum-

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mer of 1906 came to Thompson Falls, which has since been his field of endeavor. For five years he was en- gaged in the mining business, but in January, 1911, he became associated with Raymond S. Conger, and since that time has been president of the Treasure State Realty Company and editor of the Sanders County Ledger, one of the leading newspapers of western Mon- tana.

Mr. Thayer is an active Republican, has served four years as a member of the school board, and at pres- ent is city clerk of Thompson Falls and bounty inspec- tor for Sanders county. He is an enthusiastic member of the Thompson Falls Development League and gives his unqualified support to all measures that promise to be of benefit to his community. In spite of the various countries and communities he has visited, Mr. Thayer has found no place to suit him like the Treasure state, which, to use his own words "is like a great panorama for which your admiration grows continuously as you see it spread before you." He bears an excellent repu- tation for business integrity and in whatever locality he has found himself has been popular with all classes. His religious belief is that of the Congregational church.

In April, 1904, Mr. Thayer was married at Spokane, Washington, to Miss Enid Gibson, daughter of Supreme Judge Oren and Mary (Gibson) Gibson, of Pueblo, Colorado. Mrs. Thayer is a graduate of the Illinois State Normal School, is a Greek, Latin and German scholar, and is an accomplished pianist and a leader in social circles.

WALTER O. BURRILL. It may be not inappropriately said of Walter O. Burrill, of Plains, that he was born to the lumber business, for three generations of the family have been engaged in this line, covering a ter- ritory that reaches from the Atlantic coast in Maine, through the timber district in Michigan, and into the forests of Montana. His grandfather was a well- known lumberman of the New England States, while his father, Simon C. Burrill, a native of Maine but now a resident of Michigan, has been engaged in the same line all of his life, while Walter O. has won an en- viable reputation and built up a large and growing trade in the lumber industry. Mr. Burrill's mother was formerly Miss Mary Northaway, of New York, and she and her husband had seven children, of whom Walter O. was the second in order of birth. One sis- ter is in Montana, Grace, who married Ernest Gray and resides in Plains.

Walter O. Burrill was born in Steuben county, New York, May 29, 1869, and there received his education in the public schools. He was about thirteen years of age when taken to Michigan by his parents, and two years later received his introduction to the lum- ber business as chore boy in a lumber camp, his wages to start being twenty dollars per month. On reaching his majority Mr. Burrill came to Montana, locating in the Bitter Root country in the spring in 1880, and after following lumbering there for one year went to the Flathead country, where he continued in the same class of work for another year. During the next seven years he worked as a ranchman at Paradise, but sub- sequently came to Plains and established himself in a mercantile business, but, although he had a fair meas- ure of success in that line, sold out after ten years to again identify himself with the lumber business. Mr. Burrill built a large sawmill and lumber yard and since that time has developed an extensive general trade, doing business with some of the largest concerns in this section. He has demonstrated more than ordi- nary business shrewdness and acumen in his dealings and has conducted his affairs along lines calculated to be of benefit to his community. Like numerous other successful men of this part of the state he believes that

Montana offers golden opportunities to those who are not afraid to work hard and industriously, and misses no chance to advise those of moderate means to in- vest their capital here. Mr. Burrill has lost none of his love for the out-door life that marked his youth, hunt- ing, fishing and camping being his favorite recreations, and like most men who enjoy living in the open is a great lover of horses, always keeping several fine driv- ers on hand. An omnivorous reader, he is a subscriber to the leading periodicals of the day and appreciates a good lecture or speech. His fraternal connection is with the Elks, in which he has numerous warm friends. Although he belongs to no particular church he sup- ports all religious denominations.

SAMUEL PHILLIPS. It scarcely distinguishes a resi- dent of Lewistown so that you could pick him out in a crowd to say that he regards Montana as the only place in the world which a discriminating person would select as the location of his settled habitation, so it will scarcely describe Mr. Phillips to state that is his deliberate opinion. But while all Montanians hold this doctrine, not all of them have so wide a knowledge of the other habitable portions of this globe as has Mr. Phillips, and so perhaps one can venture to say that he finds Montana the best place he has ever known, without laying him liable to the charge of merely having the western point of view, irrespective of the advantages which other places offer.

In the spring of 1880, he went to Chicago, and be- fore the fall, he had worked in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in Salt Lake City, and in Helena. He spent only a month in the capital, and then came to Fergus county. Lewistown was then not in existence, and no one dreamed that the beautiful Judith Basin was suited for anything but a grazing country. Mr. Phillips spent a year at Fort Benton and Assiniboine, from which point he returned overland to Benton, and thence to Helena remaining in the capital until the spring of 1881, when he came back to Lewistown, where he has remained ever since. He went into the stock business. as soon as he arrived here, and has ever since con- tinued to raise cattle, sheep and horses. He was one of the organizers of the Empire Bank & Trust Com- pany, of which he is now the president. This is one of the solid financial institutions of the Basin, and its. officers and directors have always been of the county's best business men.

Mr. Phillips is a Republican, not active, but inter- ested. He has not shirked the duties of public office, having served two years as mayor and ten years as chairman of the board of county commissioners. He is a member of the Presbyterian church as is proper to a born Scot but he allows Mrs. Phillips to do the heavy work in the ecclesiastic line, even as he gives his best efforts to the commercial interests of Lewis- town. He is a member of the city commercial club, and one of its directors. He also belongs to the Judith Club, and has served in the administrative depart- ment of that body.

In the Masonic lodge, Mr. Phillips is a member of the blue lodge and also of the Shrine. In the former he has filled all the chairs and has held office in the other branches of the order.

In 1884, at Billings, Montana, Mr. Phillips was mar- ried to Maggie, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Page, at Watkins, New York. Their union has been blessed with six children, all born in Lewistown. One daughter, Mary, is married to T. O. Gorman of Madison, Wisconsin, near which city her husband operates a large and well-paying ranch. John, the eldest son, resides in Fergus county, where he has charge of one of his father's ranches. The other son, and the three daughters live in Lewistown with their parents.

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CHARLES L. MYERSICK. The county auditor of Fer- gus county is a Montanian by birth, and he has lived in the county for twenty-nine years, rather longer in fact than the county as such has existed. He was but three years old when his parents moved from Can- ton, Montana, to their ranch, as he was born on De- cember 6, 1880, so he has lived practically all his life eight miles from Lewistown. His father, William Myersick, was born in Germany, but left that country when a boy. He first settled in St. Louis and came to Montana in the 70's. He did not make the trip over- land, but came by boat the entire distance from St. Louis to Fort Benton, and only there did he enter the wagon train bound for Diamond City. His marriage took place in Montana, his bride being Alice Elizabeth Steele, born in Kentucky. She died at the early age of thirty-two in 1887, and is buried beside her father and mother. There were nine children in the family of the elder Myersick, five boys and four girls. Four are residents of Montana. Frank W. Myersick, Charles' twin brother, is in the mining business at Hilger. Ann, Mrs Welch, is the wife of one of Fergus county's successful ranchers. Mrs. Victor D'Autremont lives in Helena, where her hus- band, a traveling salesman, has his headquarters.

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A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 85

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