A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 103

Author: Sanders, Helen Fitzgerald, 1883-
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 970

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Mr. McDaniel married. in Butte, Montana, June 22, 1910, Miss Nell Fair. who was born in. New Bruns- wick, a daughter of S. R. Fair, now a resident of Butte. Politically Mr. McDaniel is a Democrat, but is not active in party ranks. Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, and socially he belongs to the University Club. Re- ligiously he is a member of the Christian church.

CHARLES AUSTIN. Among the prominent and popular citizens of Butte, one who is specially deserving of men- tion in this history of representative business men of Montana is Charles Austin, who is secretary of the Merchants' Association of Butte, and who has here maintained his home since 1904.

A native of the province of Quebec, Canada, Charles Austin was born on the 15th of June, 1862, and he is a son of Thomas and Emily (Rogers) Austin. the former of whom is deceased and the latter of whom is now

residing in London, England. The father was born and reared in England and as a young man was an officer in the British army. He was ordered to Canada in 1861 and remained in that country for the ensuing eight years, at the expiration of which he returned to England. He was in the army for twenty-one years and for twenty-three years was in the British war office. He retired from active service when in his sixtieth year and four years later was summoned to the life eternal, dying in London, in 1904. Mrs. Thomas Austin was a native of England and her marriage was solemn- ized at Dover, England. She has reached the venerable age of seventy-eight years and is now living in Lon- don.

The second in order of birth in a family of five children, Charles Austin, of this notice, was a child of seven years of age at the time of his parents' return to England, where he was reared to maturity and edu- cated in a military institution. After reaching man's estate he became interested in the legal profession and for two years studied law in the offices of Taylor & Gale, at Winchester, England. For seven years there- after he was in the office of the old law firm of Meynell & Pemberton, at London. In 1888 he returned to Can- ada and for the following twelve years was associated with a prominent law firm at Montreal. In 1900 he decided to try his fortune in the States and in that year came to Montana, settling first at Norris, where he became manager of the Red Bluff Gold Mining Company, a large Canadian corporation. He continued to be interested in the mining business at Norris for the ensuing four years and in 1904 came to Butte, where he is now assistant secretary of the Merchants' Asso- ciation of Butte. Of this influential association D. J. Hennessy was its first president, succeeded by Chas. E. Virden, its second president, until 1912 when John Ferns was elected and is now its president. Mr. Austin is also secretary of the Virden Retail Merchants As- sociation of Montana, and has acted in this capacity since the year after its inception-ten years ago. .

In the city of London, England, on the 28th of August, 1886, Mr. Austin was united in marriage to Miss Edith Hammond, a daughter of Hamilton Hammond, who is deceased, and of Elizabeth (Ross) Hammond, who is a resident of London, England. Mr. and Mrs. Austin have one child, Claud Charles Austin, whose birth oc- curred in London, July 4, 1887, and who is now main- taining his home in England, where he is an engineer in the service of the British branch of the Westinghouse Company.

In his political convictions Mr. Austin accords a stalwart allegiance to the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor and while he does not take an active part in public affairs he is ever on the alert to advance all measures and enter- prises projected for the good of his home city. In York Rite Masonry Mr. Austin is past master of Mount Moriah Lodge A. F. & A. M., at Montreal, Canada, and is now affiliated with Mount Moriah Lodge in Butte. He is a member of Montreal Chapter No. 7, of the Royal Arch Masons, at Montreal. He is also a member of Montana Commandery No. 3, Butte, of which he is the present Recorder and was made a Noble of the Mystic Shrine in Algeria Temple, but demitted to become a charter member of Bagdad Temple of Butte. In their religious faith he and his wife are members of the Protestant Episcopal church, to whose good works they are liberal contributors. Mr. Austin is very fond of all out-of-door sports, being an active member of the Curling Club of Butte and taking a keen interest in the local foot-ball and cricket matches. He is fond of hunting and has made a number of hunting expeditions into the neighboring mountains. He is well known throughout the entire state and the list of his personal friends is coincident with that of his acquaintances.

Henry f. Schwacher,

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JAMES L. WHITE, manager of the Broadway Shoe Company at Butte, is a native of Bloomington, Illinois, where his life began on August 19, 1877. His father, James Robert White, was born in Illinois but is now a prominent resident and architect of Webster City, Ham- ilton county, Iowa. The mother, whose maiden name was Mary Coale, was born in Indiana. They were the parents of five children, four of whom are living, and James L. was the third of the five in the order of birth. He obtained his education in the public schools, beginning it in the lower grades and finishing with a full course of four years in the high school. He after- ward pursued a course of special training for business in the Welister City, Iowa, Business College, complet- ing the whole course of his academic and business in- struction at the age of sixteen years.

The first regular work he did in the way of earning a livelihood was as a helper in the wash room of the Beaumont Laundry of Webster City. He remained in the employ of this company five years, and at the end of that period was its superintendent of agencies. When he left the laundry he secured employment as a salesman for the Burlson & White Shoe Company, of Webster City, with which he remained eighteen months. While in the employ of this company he was diligently studious of the business and acquired a good, practical working knowledge of it, and also a strong liking for it which led him to make the shoe trade his line of work during all his subsequent years, and the knowl -. edge then acquired has been the basis of his success in the trade.

In the year 1900 he moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, and there for one year filled a position in the shoe department of the big department store of Messrs. Schuneman & Evans, one of the leading mercantile emporiums of the northwest. He passed the next year in the employ of the Regal Shoe Company's agencies at St. Paul and Minneapolis, and before the end of his service with that company became the assistant manager of its Minneapolis store. He was next chosen for the responsible position of manager of the Waldorf shoe store in St. Paul, which he filled for a year, and then passed eight months with the Stanley Shoe Com- pany in Minneapolis. At the end of that period he returned to St. Paul, and during the next two years was the manager of and buyer for the Stanley Com- pany's store in that city.

In February, 1909, Mr. White came to Butte and took charge of the establishment of the Broadway Shoe Company, then located at 21 East Broadway, but which moved to the present location, 38 North Main street, in March, 1910. This store deals exclusively in shoes and other footwear for men, and is one of the well known and prosperous mercantile establishments in the city. Mr. White is still its manager, and he has a financial interest in the company that owns it. It makes a specialty of the Florsheim shoes and its own trade-mark is "The Worthmore," which is a popular make of shoes and has a very extensive sale and a high reputation.

Mr. White takes an earnest interest in the progress and improvement of the city and state of his adoption, and is ready to take an active part in helping to advance them in every way available to him. Public affairs engage his attention locally only as they affect the wel- fare of the people, and he deals with them without regard to political or personal considerations, always casting his ballot for the candidates he deems most likely to render the public good service, and making the rule his only guide and basis of action. In national politics he is allied with the Republican party.

On October 21, 1903, Mr. White was united in mar- riage at Barron, Barron county, Wisconsin, with Miss Doris B. Myers, a native of that state and the daughter of J. W. and Elizabeth (Dimmitt) Myers, esteemed residents of the city in which the marriage took place. Vol. III-22

Mr. White is practically a self-made man in busi- ness in the most acceptable meaning of the phrase, and is known and esteemed for his excellent business quali- fications and his independence and straightforwardness as a citizen. The gentlemen with whom he is now associated in the Broadway Shoe Company are those with whom he has been connected during the past seven years in the other stores mentioned and his rela- tions with them are entirely congenial and harmonious.

HENRY J. SCHUMACHER. The task of supplying food of the right kind and in sufficient quantities to the people of a large city is first and foremost in impor- tance to every portion of its inhabitants. Stores and provision markets are the very heart of commercial and industrial effort in any community and their num- ber and size are the best possible barometer indicating the general prosperity of the section whose people they serve. The provision men of Butte, Montana, are charged with supplying not only the wants of that city, but this is a market center to which a large sur- rounding country looks for its daily rations. There are a considerable number of distributors of meats and meat products at this point, one of the largest and most important being Henry J. Schumacher, head of the Schumacher Meat Company, whose establishment is located at 24 East Park street. Mr. Schumacher transacts business on a very extensive scale, dealing with both the retail and wholesale trade, the extent of his custom demanding the use of as high as three hundred and fifty dressed cattle a month, besides many sheep, hogs, etc., to keep his assortment of meats com- plete. To cater to the large trade he enjoys, requires the employment of an average of twenty assistants, this fact indicating and contributing to the importance of Mr. Schumacher's establishment as an influential factor in the life of Butte from a commercial standpoint.

Mr. Schumacher is a native of Mecklenberg, Ger- many, where he was born April 2, 1873, the son of John and Sophia (Detmer) Schumacher, both of Ger- man birth who came to this country the same year that Henry J. was born. The family settled at Milwaukee where the father followed the occupation of contractor and builder throughout the remainder of his life. Mr. Schumacher's mother died in Milwaukee in 1889.

Henry J. Schumacher was a member of a family of ten children and was obliged to become self-support- ing when a small boy of nine years. Under these cir- cumstances his schooling was almost entirely neglected and he was obliged in later years to make up for this deficiency by studying at odd times as opportunity per- mitted. Being of a plucky and persevering disposition, however, he succeeded in acquiring a large fund of knowledge, enabling him to carry on his commercial and civic duties in a manner exceedingly creditable to himself and the community at large.

When he had arrived at a sufficient age to make it possible Mr. Schumacher sought employment in the meat packing plants of Milwaukee and held his first position under Patrick Cudahy, who afterwards became the well known meat packer, but was then an employe of the old firm of Plankington & Armour. After com- pleting his apprenticeship in the Armour packing houses Mr. Schumacher for several years worked in various smaller retail establishments, and was for eight years one of the valued employes of H. Mahler & Sons of Milwaukee. In 1894 he found himself in position to engage in business for himself, as he was at all times thrifty and industrious and saved his earnings, and for a time conducted a shop in his native city. Believing that greater opportunities were to be found in the west for one in his line, he later sold out his Milwaukee busi- ness and spent the subsequent three years as a resi- dent of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The year 1900, however, found him in Butte and in the employ of Pat- rick Mullin. Six months later Mr. Mullin disposed of

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his meat business and Mr. Schumacher then accepted a position in the Metropolitan Market, a branch of the Butte Butchering Company. Proving himself en- tirely competent and trustworthy, he was given charge of the market in which he worked and retained that responsible post for a period of four years.

Desiring to again become an independent operator Mr. Schumacher next formed a partnership with W. G. Hansen and these two gentlemen for two and a half years conducted a large market at 119 East Park street, and a branch at 121 West Park street. Selling out his interest in the partnership Mr. Schumacher formed the Schumacher Meat Company, and opened up business at 222 East Park street, where he catered to the wholesale and retail meat trade on a constantly expanding basis until April 10, 1912, when fire de- stroyed his place of business, and, by a singular coin- cidence his residence was completely destroyed the same day by a disastrous fire in the south part of the city. On September 12, 1912 he opened a new estab- lishment at 24 East Park street, the most sanitary meat market and sausage factory in the northwest. He is one of the best judges of live and dressed meat animals in this section of the country, handles high class products only, and has built up a profitable business on a foundation of fair and honest treatment of every customer whose trade he acquired.

Not only as a commercial factor is Mr. Schumacher influential in Butte's activities, but he is also a strong force in all efforts of a political or civic character that tend to enhance the name and fame of the city and state of which he is an honored citizen. He is a man of strong social instincts and is a member of several of the best fraternal organizations of the country in- cluding the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, and the Modern Woodmen of America; is also identified with the Butte Chamber of Commerce.

On September 8, 1895, Mr. Schumacher was united in marriage with Miss Jennie Ryan, a native of Ausable, New York, where she was born June 25, 1873. Her parents were Lawrence and Jane Ryan, both of New York birth and Irish ancestry. Mr. and Mrs. Schu- macher have a pleasant, hospitable home in Butte, and are held in high esteem by a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.

FRANK M. TENNEY. Active, progressive, and intel- lectual, Frank M. Tenney, manager and managing editor of the Great Falls Daily Leader, of which he is part owner. holds a position of note among the lead- ing journalists of Montana, having through his own persevering efforts won success along lines fertilized by his unflagging energy. Coming from honored New England stock on both sides of the house, he was born, August 18, 1870, in Aurora, Illinois, a son of Solomon A. Tenney.

Born, in 1829, in New Hampshire, Solomon A. Ten- ney was of Revolutionary ancestry, and was lineally descended from one Thomas Tenney, who emigrated from England to Massachusetts in 1639, and settled in Rowley, Essex county. He belonged to a family of considerable prominence, among the eminent men with whom he was distantly connected by ties of kin- ship having been the Hon. Daniel Webster, one of New Hampshire's, favorite sons. In 1837 Solomon A. Tenney followed the march of civilization westward, and was one of the pioneer settlers of Aurora, Illinois. where he subsequently resided until his death, April 2, 1903. He married, on March 24, 1853, Mary S. Cleveland, a distant relative of the late Grover Cleve- land. She was born in New York state, April 28, 1834, and died in Aurora, Illinois, February 14, 1909. Six children blessed their union, four of whom are living, Frank M. being the youngest child of the family.

Receiving his preliminary education in Aurora, Illi- nois, Frank M. Tenney attended first the public

schools, and in 1886 was graduated from Jennings Seminary. Going then to Evanston, Illinois, he com- pleted his early studies at the Northwestern Univer- sity, and at the age of twenty years entered the broad field of journalism, becoming a reporter for the Aurora Beacon, a semi-weekly paper. A year later he assumed the management of the Daily News, at Aurora, Illi- nois, and held the position for eight years. Going then to Grand Rapids, Michigan, Mr. Tenney was for a brief time reporter for the Daily Press. Returning then to Illinois, he was associated with the Chicago City Press Bureau, and the Chicago Daily News, until August, 1900, being eminently successful in his jour- nalistic work. Then, feeling the need of a change, Mr. Tenney came to Montana, and for two years lived in Carbon county, near Bowler, where he was vari- ously employed, for a short time having been engaged in the sheep business. Locating at Great Falls in November, 1902, he became associated with the Daily Leader, first serving as advertising solicitor, then as a reporter, later becoming business manager, and after- wards city editor. Since February, 1908, Mr. Tenney has had full control of the management of the paper, and as managing editor has met with unquestioned success. Under his judicious management the paper has been greatly enlarged, its circulation tripled, and its advertising capacity doubled. Full of personal resources and of undoubted confidence in himself, Mr. Tenney labors with enthusiasm, putting his in- 'dividuality into his work, the Daily Leader being today the foremost Republican organ in the state.

Successful also in business, Mr. Tenney has acquired considerable property, having valuable real estate hold- ings in Great Falls. An active member of the Repub- lican party, he exerts a healthful influence in local politics. Socially he belongs to the University Club of Great Falls, and is a member, religiously, of the Episcopal church.

On December 6, 1904, at Riceville, Montana, Mr. Tenney was united in marriage with Nellie Rice, who was born in Leadville, Colorado. Her father, Col. David Rice, a pioneer settler of Montana, is an ex- tensive ranch and mining man, and a prominent and influential citizen of Riceville. Mr. and Mrs. Tenney have one son, namely: Minard Rice Tenney, whose birth occurred at Great Falls, Montana, March 13, 1906.

A. E. SCHWINGEL. By a continuous devotion to the demands of his responsible position as cashier of the Conrad Banking Company, and by an ability equal to its requirements, A. E. Schwingel has gained a place of note among the influential and successful men of Great Falls, which has been his home for the past twelve years. Of German lineage, he was born, Ang- ust 19, 1876, in New York state, being the youngest boy in a family consisting of seven sons and five daughters.

His father, John A. Swingel, was born in Germany, and there acquired his elementary education. At the age of thirteen years, shortly after the death of his father, he came with his widowed mother to the United States, locating in western New York. When ready to settle in life, he chose the occupation of a farmer, and was there engaged in tilling the soil until his death, in 1905. A strong Republican in politics, he was prominent in public affairs, and for some time served as county superintendent of the poor. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Miller, was born in Illinois, and is now a resident of Wayland, New York.

Educated in the public schools of Wayland, New York, and in the Corning high school, A. E. Schwin- gel was trained to habits of industry on the home farm. Not content with the rural life to which he was reared, he completed a course of study, including stenography, at a business college, and was afterwards engaged in clerical work in his native state for two years. Leav-

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ing home in 1898, he went to Lima, Ohio, where for two years he was stenographer for the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad Company. While thus engaged he accepted a position with the Great Northern Railroad, and coming to Great Falls, Montana, in May, 1900, was identified with the road a short time. On the establishment of the Conrad Banking Company, in August, 1900, Mr. Schwingel was made stenographer and messenger for the company. Showing marked ability and fidelity in that capacity, he has since been promoted from time to time, and since 1905 has ren- dered efficient and highly satisfactory service as cashier of the institution. Mr. Schwingel is likewise vice-president and director of the Lincoln Land & Live Stock Company; vice-president of the Belt Val- ley Coal Company; and one of the directorate of the Board of Commerce. Politically he is a Republican, but is not active in public matters. While a resident of Lima, Ohio, he served as a private in Company C, Ohio National Guards.

Mr. Schwingel married, September 24, 1902, at Gen- eseo, New York, Mahel C. Burley, a daughter of Wil- liam Burley, and they have two children, namely : Milton Frederick, born at Great Falls, Montana, Ang- ust 4, 1903; and Burley Carlyle, born May 13, 1907, in Great Falls. Mr. and Mrs. Schwingel are mem- bers of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, at Great Falls. They are extremely hospitable people, and their home, at 611 Fifth avenue, North, is ever open to their large circle of friends.

RAE J. LEMERT. As Mr. Lemert's name would in- dicate, his paternal ancestry is of French stock. Jean Paul Lemert, a famous Huguenot pastor of Paris at the time of the massacre of St. Bartholomew in 1572, was one of his forebears. This family was driven from France by that persecution and settled in the Rhine country. Nearly two hundred years later, in 1760, Laban Lemert came to Virginia and founded the Ameri- can branch of the family. It was his son, Lewis Lemert of Fauquier county. Virginia, who had charge of Wash- ington's estates in the northern part of the old dominion for a number of years, and the letter of authorization, written by the first president himself, is one of the prized possessions of the Lemert family. Lewis Lemert was a member of the Society of Friends. His descend- ants intermarried with representatives of many distin- guished houses of that region, people of divers beliefs and training, but having in common the spirit of worthy and determined ambition. Among the ancestors of Mr. Lemert who have left their records on the history of the early days of America are Peter Glasscock, a Welsh sea captain who settled in Fauquier county soon after the Revolution and founded the towns of Paris and Upperville: George McNish, a Scotch Pres- byterian missionary who arrived in Virginia in 1691 ; Moses Green, an officer in the Second Virginia State Regiment during the Revolution; George Naylor, who was one of the prominent men of the colony during its early history, and John Adams, who came to Prince George county, Maryland, in 1706. He was a grand- son of Sir Edward Littleton, of Mounslow, Salop, keeper of the great seal of England under Charles I, and a descendant of Edward III of England.

Mr. Lemert's mother was Sobie S. Powell, who was horn at Napoleon, Ohio. Her father, John Powell, was a pioneer merchant and a leading citizen of Henry county. The Powells are of Quaker stock, although Mrs. Lemert's grandfather. Benjamin Powell, was not an orthodox Friend, for he became a soldier in the War of 1812 and lost a leg at Sackett's Harbor. This branch of the Powells emigrated from Wales, and set- tled at Westbury, Long Island. Thomas Powell, the founder of the American branch was born in Wales in 1641 and died at Westbury in 1721. Mrs. Lemert, too, is of Virginian ancestry on her mother's side, as her

mother was Esther Magill, daughter of Samuel Magill, a Scotch-Irish Virginian, born in 1778.

Beverly W. Lemert, the father of Rae J. of this review, was born at Elizabethtown, Licking county, Ohio. He served through the Civil war, advancing from the post of second lieutenant to captain of Com- pany A, 76th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. At his dis- charge for disabilities contracted during service, he was breveted major. Shortly after the close of the war, Major Lemert moved to eastern Kansas and from 1870 until 1900 practiced law there. At the latter date he retired and came to Helena, where he and his wife now reside.

Rae Lemert was born in Napoleon, Ohio, on De- cember 12, 1866. Before he was of school age, his parents had moved to Neosho county, Kansas and he received his education in the common schools there. In 1882 he graduated from the high school of Osage Mission, receiving the degree of B. A. The same year he began teaching in the county schools, and studying law in his father's office. He continued in the legal work with his father for some years, but gave it up to go into journalism. The first paper with which he was connected was the Fort Scott Daily Monitor of Fort Scott, Kansas, upon which staff he was city editor. After two years here, Mr. Lemert again took up the law with his father, this time in the town of Garden City, Kansas. This association lasted until 1889 when Mr. Lemert, Jr., went to Pueblo, Colorado, and there founded the Security Abstract Company. After conducting this concern for a time, Mr. Lemert disposed of his interests in that business and went to Salt Lake, where he entered the United States' land office, as ex- aminer of titles. In 1900, he was transferred to Helena, but resigned after a few months' work here, to take up journalism again. He was employed on the Helena Independent and later on the Helena Daily Record. In 1905 Mr. Lemert founded the Montana Chemical Company and conducted its business for four years, at the expiration of which, he sold out and, with Mr. M. J. DeLano, bought the Union Laundry Company of Helena, and reorganized it as the Domestic Laundry Company. Mr. Lemert is now president of this com- pany as well as of the Montana Linen Supply Com- pany and the Domestic Cleaning Works, both of this city. Besides this, he has some mining interests and is a stockholder in a number of corporations of Montana, and is the owner of some valuable rental properties in Helena.

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A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 103

Author: Sanders, Helen Fitzgerald, 1883- Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 970

Author: Sanders, Helen Fitzgerald, 1883-
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 970