A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 91

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

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In 1881 Mr. Wilson came with his family to Helena and showed his faith in the future of the city by in- vesting heavily in real estate in the business district. His purchase of property on Main street for the sum of $35,000 was the first large deal in real estate in the city and this substantial evidence of his confidence did much to encourage the progress of the city. Mr. Wil- son continued to be actively interested in mines and mining until death called him after he had reached the advanced age of eighty-four years.

Before he went to California in 1852 Mr. Wilson mar- ried Catherine Quin, a native of Londonderry. Ireland. When he finally located in Montana, Mrs. Wilson and little daughter, Ida, started from Pennsylvania to join him. Mrs. Wilson, accustomed to railroad trains and short distances, began her long, difficult journey in Sep- tember. The two traveled by train, by stage, by wagon and by sleigh, for the journey extended through the au-

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tumn into winter, the crossing of the Platte river be- ing made on the ice. At Omaha she vainly sought in- formation concerning the route to be taken to Montana and to Helena, necessitating a delay until she re- ceived a letter from her husband. Even at Salt Lake City she experienced difficulty in obtaining the informa- tion necessary to enable her to proceed on her journey. To a woman not a pioneer by instinct and unusually timid, the journey was a trying one. Mr. Wilson met his wife and daughter in Virginia City on Christmas day and they proceeded to their home in Deer Lodge county. Mrs. Wilson readily established herself in her new environment and the influence of her fine char- acter and splendid religious training soon manifested it- self in the community. She was reared in the Pres- byterian faith and her home was the scene of many religious gatherings, regardless of creed. Physicians were few in the pioneer days and Mrs. Wilson minis- tered skillfully to many a sick man, woman and child. She was one of the early members of the First Pres- byterian church of Helena and continued in its service until she was taken ill. She died in Helena, April 30, 1888, leaving four daughters, as follows: Ida, who married Lucien I. Rosencrans, of Helena. Five daugh- ters were born to them: Nora W., Edna M., Myra K., Ida Elizabeth and Florence Lucia, the first three being deceased. Katherine, the second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, is the wife of Daniel Perrin Mumbrue, of Helena. Mary, the third daughter, married Thomas M. Martin Swindleburst, of Livingston, at one time sec- retary of state; Alberta, the youngest became the wife of J. Bundy Johnston and died in Helena in 1898. In 1891 Mr. Wilson married Mary Eliza Kirk, a native of Iowa, and one daughter, Helen, was born to them.

John B. Wilson was a Whig in his youth and trans- ferred his allegiance to the Republican party when the latter came into existence. He was never an office seeker but his party nominated and elected him as a representative from Lewis and Clark county to the state legislature. He was a member of the Eighth Legislative Assembly, the first legislature that convened in the State Capitol building. He belonged to the So- ciety of Montana Pioneers and took a great interest in its affairs. He united with the Methodist church in early youth and the cause of humanity always found him a warm supporter. He was liberal in his contribu- tions regardless of creed, and was ever found ready to support any movement tending to the advancement of a worthy cause. Mr. Wilson never identified himself with any secret organizations or clubs, but was a man exceedingly domestic in his inclinations, fond of his home and family. Retiring in manner, yet he was a man of strong force of character. Stern when he need be, but beneath it all there beat a most kindly and generous heart, at all times betraying a courtly and honest gentleman. His mental faculties and vigor were retained and his business activities continued until his last illness, which was of short duration. He was a man strong in his likes and dislikes, and when once convinced he was right, he could not be moved from his conviction although he was ever tolerant of the opinions of others. He never shirked his full duty toward his state and contributed his portion towards its advancement. The passing of such a man must in- evitably be regarded as a distinct loss. He was a self- made man of the highest integrity, and his word was as good as his bond, and neither were ever questioned. He achieved much business success and left to his family not only a goodly estate, but the priceless heri- tage of an unsullied name.

MARSHALL E. DOE has been a resident of the state of Montana for thirty years, and is one of the most en- thusiastic "boosters" of the Treasure state that might be found in considerable search. He has been the pro-

prietor of a drug business in Philipsburg since 1885, and has carried on a thriving and ever growing business during the intervening years, reaching a place of much prominence among the representative business men of the city and winning to himself the esteem and confi- dence of his fellow townsmen the while.

Mr. Doe is a native of Canada, born April 25, 1858, and when the family moved to Michigan, Marshall E. Doe was about eight years of age. He remained with them in the Michigan home until 1881, when he first came to Montana. He settled in Butte City at first, staging in from Dillon, as was the prevailing custom in those early days, and in that city he remained for perhaps three years. For a time he was engaged in mining, and for about a year and a half he ran a skating rink in the old Amphitheatre. He sold out his interests there and joined a surveying party going to Anaconda, and after two years in the surveying work went to Cali- fornia. He remained there for a year, after which he returned to Montana and settled at Philipsburg in 1885. In that year he established the present drug business which he is conducting, and since that time has been continuously identified with the growth and prosperity of Philipsburg, and has contributed his full quota to its advancement in his capacity as a worthy citizen and a modern and progressive business man.

Mr. Doe is a man of quiet tastes, although he is a lover of baseball and enjoys out-door exercise perhaps better than the average man. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World, with regard to his fraternal affiliations, and is a member of the Chamber of Com- merce. He is a Democrat, but takes no active part in the political upheavels that recurr at intervals, and has no political ambitions.

Mr. Doe was married at Los Angeles, California, on July 25, 1895, to Miss Jennie C. Crable, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Crable, of that city. Four chil- dren have been born to them, three sons and one daughter. The eldest, Edwin, is deceased. Margaret, Everett and Milton are all in school in Philipsburg. The family are attendants of the Methodist Episcopal church, although not members of it. Mrs. Doe is a mem- ber of the Ladies Aid Society and is active in all its good works.

GEORGE MAY. From early youth, the life of George May, now one of the leading business men of Stevens- ville, has been one of hard, industrious labor, and in the rise of the poor apprentice to the wealthy financier and merchant there may be found something of a nature encouraging to the young men of to-day, illustrating as it does that honesty, integrity and perseverance, if coupled with ability properly directed, will eventually bring success. Mr. May is a native of Clinton, Ontario, Canada, and was born September 17, 1858, a son of Wil- liam H. and Sarah Anna (Davis) May. William H. May was born in the city of London, England, in 1832, and as a young man came to America, settling in Clin- ton, Ontario, where he spent the rest of his life in agricultural pursuits, and where his death occurred in 1887. Mrs. May was a native of Worcestershire, Eng- land, and when she died, in 1897, had been the mother of eleven children, namely: W. H., of Stevensville; Charles, residing at San Dimas, California; George; Lewis, a stockman and rancher of Ravalli county; Allen, who is engaged in farming in Michigan; Frank and John, both deceased; Lucy, who married William Langslow, and resides in Duluth, Minnesota; Fanny, who married Harry Goodrich, of Edmonton, Canada ; Albert, president of the Stevensville Mercantile Com- pany, and a child who died in infancy.

George May attended the country schools in the vicinity of the home farm until he was sixteen years of age, at which time he apprenticed himself to the trade of cabinet-maker for three years at Clinton. He received thirty dollars for his first year's work, forty dollars

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for the second year and fifty dollars during the last year, and out of this saved enough to purchase a service- able set of tools. Thus equipped he traveled to Toronto, in which city he secured employment at organ and piano manufacturing, and remained there until 1881, when he removed to Denver, Colorado. After about six weeks spent in the latter city at carpenter work he went to the end of the railroad, Dillon, where he took the stage to Helena and then on to White Sul- phur Springs, and after two months at the latter point went on to Judith Basin. He was there employed about a year on the sheep ranch of W. B. Edgar, but in the fall of 1882, went to Rocky Point, and thence by boat on the Missouri river to Bismarck, North Dakota, a trip that took three weeks owing to the low state of the water. Subsequently he went to Fargo, North Da- kota, where he was engaged in farming for six years, and at the end of that time joined his brother, Albert May. During all this time Mr. May had been carefully saving his earnings, and thus had accumulated enough to engage in the sheep business in the Yellowstone country with his brother, thus sebsequently branching out to Bitter Root county, where they now own three thousand acres of fine land. In 1900, with his brother he assisted in organizing the Stevensville Mercantile Company, a concern capitalized at $100,000, in which they are the principal stockholders. This has become the leading department store of the city, employing a small army of clerks, and the business is constantly on the increase. Mr. May enjoys a well-established repu- tation for probity in business dealings and private life, and no man stands higher in public esteem. In political matters he is a Republican, but while he takes an in- terest in the success of his party and stanchly supports its principles and candidates, he has never cared to enter the public arena on his own account. He has identified himself with Masonry, and is a popular mem- ber of Stevensville blue lodge.

Mr. May was married to Miss Lillian W. Rearden, of Appleton, Wisconsin, and they have two interesting children : George R., who is completing his educa- tional training in Wesleyan University; and Miss Sarah May, a student in the Woman's College at Jackson, ville, Illinois.

CHARLES WILLIAM ELLINGWOOD, owner of the Gold- smith mine at Butte and one of the leading citizens of the city, was born in Andover, Massachusetts, on the Ioth day of October, 1856, and is a son of Henry Os- good and Augusta (Martin) Ellingwood. The ancestry of Charles William Ellingwood, in both paternal and maternal lines, dates back to early colonial history. His father was a native of the North Parish of the old town of Andover, Massachusetts, and his mother was a na- tive of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Henry Osgood Ellingwood was a ship carpenter by occupation and was engaged at his trade until the outbreak of the Civil war, when he enlisted in Company K, Sixteenth Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteers. He did not serve long in the Union cause, however, as he, was taken ill and died on March I, 1863, in the hospital at Camp Mansfield, Carrollton, Mississippi. He was thirty-one years of age at the time of his death. His widow survived him until 1907, passing away at Sanford, Maine.

Charles W. Ellingwood was graduated from the John- son high school at North Andover, Massachusetts, and soon afterward secured a clerkship in the city engi- neer's office at Lawrence, Massachusetts. He next went to work as a clerk and salesman in a grocery store in that city. In 1881 he came direct from Lawrence to Butte, Montana, which he found at that time to be a typical mining camp, possessing great possibilities, but the greater part of them still undeveloped. He did not stake all his hopes on the prevailing industry of the state, but prudently accepted a position with the Lavell Brothers Lumber Company, whereby he might

provide for his immediate needs until an opening in mining operations was found.

It was not long before Mr. Ellingwood saw a better opening before him, being on the lookout for every opportunity to advance himself, and accepted it, going to work in the grocery store of Lee W. Foster & Com- pany. He remained in this employment until July I, 1886, when he and a fellow clerk, one John C. Reznor, started a grocery store on their own responsibility, loca- ting in the Renshaw block on West Park street. They were successful in their venture, and conducted a flour- ishing business until they disposed of it in 1898.

In the meantime Mr. Ellingwood had in 1894 taken a lease from the A. J. Davis estate in the Hibernia mine, which he operated for two years. His partners in the venture were G. A. Kornberg and the Richards Broth- ers. The mine proved to be a big producer, and made them all prosperous with its bountiful yield. At the end of the first year of operations the Richards Brothers retired and returned to England, Mr. Ellingwood and Mr. Kornberg working it alone the second year. From that time Mr. Ellingwood continued mining on leased properties, and eventually began operating the Gold- smith mine, which he has since continued with success. In 1905 he bonded and bought the ground on which the Goldsmith mine is located, after having held the lease since 1896. The property adjoins the Moulton mine, one of the famous producers in the Butte district, and all its ore is smelted at the Washoe smelter. This is easy of access, and affords Mr. Ellingwood many advantages in the handling of his ore.

Mr. Ellingwood was married at North Andover, Mas- sachusetts, on November 15, 1884, to Miss Gertrude Emily Downing, a daughter of Samuel and Rebecca Hildreth (Bailey) Downing, residents of that town. Mr. and Mrs. Ellingwood became the parents of four children as follows: Osgood Raymond, born March II, 1887, is now a resident of Butte; he married Ethel Vera McCormick, of Butte, and they have two children, Ethel Gertrude, born July 17, 1907, and Dorothy, born No- vember 21, 1909. Ruby Downing, born May 23, 1889, died April 10, 1890. Columbia Gertrude, born January 16, 1893, is a graduate of the Butte high school, and Charles W., Jr., who was born July 17, 1896, is a stu- dent at the Butte high school at this time.

Mr. Ellingwood is a member of the Masonic order and a charter member of Camp No. 153, Woodmen of the World, in Butte. In political affiliations he is a staunch Republican, and takes a keen and active interest in the success of his party. He is now, in 1912, a mem- ber of the city council as alderman from the Eighth ward in Butte. While Mr. Ellingwood is an active partisan, standing firmly by the principles of his politi- cal creed because he feels that they are the promise and fulfillment of the greatest good to the state, he has never allowed partisan considerations to overbear his zeal for the general weal or his earnestness, activity and efficiency in promoting that condition in every way open for his efforts. Mr. Ellingwood represents the highest type of citizenship to be found in his city or state, and as such a representative is cordially and universally es- teemed.

FRED D. BOOTH, one of the popular and successful real estate men of the Bitter Root valley, has traveled a rugged road to prosperity. With him, success was cer- tainly not attained at a single bound. Nothing but his indomitable courage and faith in his future welfare could have carried him over the rough places on the way.

He was born in Adams county, Illinois, on the third day of March, 1854. After attending the schools of Adams county until his tenth year, his people moved to New London, Iowa. Here he completed his schooling and at the age of seventeen became an employee on the Chicago & International Railway. After remaining

G.It Ellingwood

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with this company for one year and receiving much valuable experience, he transferred his services to the Missouri Pacific. With this road he worked up to freight conductor receiving such good compensation for his services that by the spring of 1881, he had been en- ahled to accumulate a capital of ten thousand dollars. Unfortunately for Mr. Booth, he heard much of the gold excitement of Montana, and met during his busy life on the road a number of men who had grown rapidly wealthy in the mining regions. His ten thousand dol- lars began to look paltry to him and the years of hard labor spent in its accumulation seemed doubly long in retrospect. Carefully cashing his little fortune, he set out for the gold fields of Montana hoping to treble it within the year. Scarcely had he reached Helena, the capital city, when an opportunity came to him-an opportunity that promised to be all for which he had hoped. It is the old story, new to him then. The town was full to overflowing. All were miners. A few were successful, but the many were losers in the great gamble. Mr. Booth and a railroad friend who had come to the west with him fell into the hands of an unscrupulous speculator. They did not realize that their past experience had scarcely prepared them for life in a mining camp and that their knowledge of mines was limited indeed. The speculator convinced them that he was forced to sell, at a great sacrifice, a mine of unusual value. The little ore on the surface looked good to them. The excitement was at its height. The contagion for buying was general. It was no difficult matter to sell "a sure thing" to two railroad men from Iowa. For more than a year they worked at their bogus mine, sinking what remained of their small cap- ital. When they were finally convinced of the worth- lessness of their property, they left for Missoula, the entire fortune of the pair consisting of fifty dollars in gold. However, both Fred Booth and John Williams were men of courage and both knew that a good rail- road man is never long out of employment. Almost immediately on reaching Missoula, they secured work with the Northern Pacific company where, after a brief space of time, Mr. Booth was advanced from brakeman to freight conductor. After three years of conscientious labor he again saved a competence. This time he invested it in the safest of all sureties-land. In 1889, he took up a claim consisting of a quarter of a section near what is now the town site of Darby. Here he began ranching and stock raising in earnest, con- tented now to win his wealth by slower and more legiti- mate methods. As the town began to grow, Mr. Booth prospered. Finally he sold his ranch and invested the proceeds in town property on which he erected a store building, residences, etc. This was the beginning of his efforts in the real estate business. He now owns, aside from his holdings in the Bitter Root, valuable property in Kansas, the rentals from which furnish him a good income. His own future seems entwined with that of the city of Darby, but Mr. Booth is more than willing that it should so be, as he has the greatest faith in the city's brilliant prospects.

Mr. Booth's personal tastes are domestic in char- acter, and his chief pastime comprises the study and discussion of historical events. He is also a deep stu- dent of English and American literature. In 1898, Mr. Booth won in marriage Miss Frances M. Demick, of Colorado. They have no family, but, sharing many tastes in common, are contented with a quiet home life.

Fred D. Booth is the son of Milton Booth, originally a farmer from Virginia. Being a Federal sympathizer, Mr. Booth, Sr., moved to the north about the time that the first war cloud appeared upon the horizon. He settled first in Illinois but later moved his family to Iowa. His first wife and the mother of the subject of this sketch was Miss Agatha Moore, a native daughter of the Blue Grass region of Kentucky. Five childern were born of the union, three of whom are now living.

Thomas J. Booth, whose home is in Independence, Kansas, is a large dealer in real estate and oil lands. He was instrumental in his brother's investments in Kansas lands. The only sister, Ella, is the wife of L. F. Pickler, a farmer from near Independence. Mrs. Booth, the mother, died in her home at New London, Iowa, after which her husband and family moved to Kansas, where he himself passed away in 1880. William Booth, his brother, never left the family estate in Vir- ginia. During the war he was a loyal Confederate sol- dier and in two of the prominent battles. Donnelson and Chalangee, it was his misfortune to fight against his own nephew, the oldest son of his brother Milton, a son by his first marriage and hence a half brother to Fred D. Booth, the Montana capitalist.

JOHN L. Fisco, the sheriff of Roundup, Montana, is one of its earliest settlers and regards it, with more conviction each year, as promising to be one of the greatest states in the Union. Mr. Fisco came to Mon- tana in 1881, and has been a resident of the state ever since. His first position in Montana was in the con- struction department of the Northern Pacific Railroad, but on reaching Bozeman he sold his outfit of teams, etc., and joined issues with the Balch and Bacon Cattle Company. This latter position brought him into Mus- selshell county, where he has remained ever since as a ranch and stockman. For five years before his present appointment in 1911. as sheriff of the New Musselshell county, he was deputy sheriff under three administra- tions in Yellowstone county.

Mr. Fisco is the son of Charles and Charlotte (Ditt- man) Fisco. They were both natives of Germany, but their marriage did not take place until they came to this country. He was a machinist and blacksmith by trade, and served as a soldier in the Union army during the Civil war. John L. is the eldest of their eight chil- dren, all the rest of whom are still living in Iowa, their native state.

John L. Fisco was born in Davenport, Iowa, March 26, 1861. He remained there until he was eighteen years of age, attending school and learning the black- smithing trade. He then started west, spending the first year in North Dakota, living as a hunter. But he did not see in this in the future his ambitions realized, and the result was his moving to Montana. He was mar- ried in 1901, at Billings, Montana, to Zelma Scrutch- field, formerly of Sheridan, Wyoming, and they have had five children, Lawrence, Evelyn, John L., Jr., Louise and Margaret. The three oldest are in school, but Louise and the baby are at home.

Mr. Fisco attends the Lutheran church, but he has no prejudice against any denomination. He is a member of the Roundup Commercial and Pioneer Clubs, and as a Democrat, takes an active interest in politics. He served as chairman of the school board in his district for ten years.

ISAAC BOYER is of German ancestry. His father, John Boyer, came to America in the early '40 and took up his residence in Washington, D. C. It was here that the four sons and four daughters, who made up the family of John and Pauline Lasky Boyer were born. The mother was a native of New York state, but she passed all her married life at the national capital, dying there in 1880. Isaac Boyer is the next to the oldest of the children, the date of his birth being December 15, 1864. Until he was seventeen he attended the public schools of Washington, but at that age began to work independently. His father was a merchant, and had he grown up in the country of his ancestors it would have been the wise, and indeed almost the only possible course for him to follow, to pursue the same line. But it was precisely for this that the father had come to America, so that he and his children might be free to choose any field of effort. Here there was unlimited

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scope for new enterprises, and the commercial sphere was not so completely occupied that in order to make a living the only safe plan is for a man to step into a business which has already an established clientele. Mr. Isaac Boyer wished a place where there was plenty of opportunity, so in the fall of 1881 he came to Montana and went to work for the government in the post office at Miles City. He stayed there for two years, and in 1884 came to Helena. His father moved here in the same year, continuing in the marcantile business, as he had done in Washington. For a time his son was asso- ciated with him, but after ten years of successful work in Helena the elder Boyer removed to Portland, Ore- gon, and six years later retired from business. For the last decade of his life he resided in Rose City, and enjoyed his leisure in that delightful climate, until he passed away in 1910.

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A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 91

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