A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 105

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

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MISS DAISY F. BLACKSTONE, superintendent of schools of Chouteau county, has through her energy, ability and high character, won to herself a position of trust and responsibility in the county of Chouteau, which, in point of public service of an especially high order, distinguishes her from others of her sex in this sec- tion of the state. Born in Lafayette county, Wis- consin, she is the daughter of Theodore and Mary (Hardy) Blackstone, the father a native of the state of Wisconsin and the mother of Pennsylvania. Theo- dore Blackstone was a son of Judge Blackstone, who was prominent in Wisconsin for many years. The former was a civil engineer and passed his life in that profession. In the latter years of his life he was a resident of the state of Montana, where he died in 1900. The mother still lives, and makes her home on a ranch in Chouteau county, near Chinook.

Miss Blackstone was educated in the schools of Shellsburgh, Wisconsin, and was there graduated from the high school, after which she pursued a two years course of study in the Platteville Normal School. After her graduation from that institution, Miss Blackstone engaged in teaching, and for eight years was engaged in the public schools of Montana, for the greater part of the time in the schools of Helena. In 1908 she came to Fort Benton, and was there elected to the im- portant office of county superintendent of schools, an honor which came in direct recognition of her splendid ability as an exponent of the teaching profession. She has held the office continuously since that time, being re-elected in 1910, and has at all times administered the affairs of the office in a manner highly creditable to herself and wholly acceptable to the public. She has shown unusual ability in the matters of organization and systematizing, and has succeeded in placing the schools of the county on a standard with schools of more metropolitan sections of the country, thereby proving to the county that administrative positions are occasionally handled by women with quite as much skill and effectiveness as could be desired.

PHILIP I. COLE has made Choteau, Montana, the center of his professional activities since 1900, in which year he established his home and business in this city. With the passing years he has found secure vantage ground in the community, and is regarded as one of the able and progressive young attorneys of the county. He has won a considerable prominence in the city in various departments of service, and is known for one of the valuable citizens of Choteau. As county attorney from 1905 to 1909, director of the Citizens State Bank, chairman of the high school board, and a member of the firm of Cole Brothers, engaged in stock and sheep raising, he is easily one of the busiest men of the city, and in all these various places he has given valuable service and won the confidence of his townspeople.

Born in Forrest, Ohio, on August 16, 1869, Mr. Cole is the son of David D. and Mary C. (Bell) Cole, both natives of the state of Ohio. The father died in Cho- teau, on October 3, 1903, while on a visit to his son, and is buried at Beebe, Arkansas, where he had made his home since 1881. He was sixty-three years old when he died. He was a farmer by occupation, and a veteran of the Civil war, serving through three years of the conflict in the Forty-ninth Ohio of the Union army. The mother yet lives and is a resident of Cho- tean, Montana. She was the mother of eight children,

-six sons and two daughters, Philip being the third born.

In the public schools of Beebe, Arkansas, Philip Cole received his common school education, after which he took a four year course in the state university at Little Rock, finishing at the age of twenty-two. He thereafter studied law in the office of W. T. Tucker of Little Rock, and was admitted to the bar on March 4. 1897. He began the practice of his profession in that city, but in 1900 removed to Montana, settling directly in Choteau, which has since represented the scene of his operations in a professional way. As previously mentioned, he was elected' to the office of county attorney in 1905 and served without interruption through 1909. He conducts a general practice and is particularly successful as an exponent of the law. On April 15, 1911, Mr. Cole was elected to the posi- tion of chairman of the high school board, and he has filled that place in a most worthy and satisfactory manner. As a member of the firm of Cole Brothers, he is interested in one of the big stock companies of the county. They own four thousand head of sheep, cattle and horses, and the ranch is enjoying a high state of prosperity. Mr. Cole is a member of the Methodist church and a member of its board of trustees, as well.

On September 20, 1898, Mr. Cole was married to Miss Carrie E. Sadle at Little Rock, Arkansas. She is a daughter of R. B. and Nannie J. Sadler, natives of Missouri. They have one child,-Myrna May Cole, born in Chouteau, Montana, on November 13, 1904.

MARTIN JACOBSON. Prominent and influential in the business and public life of Cut Bank, Martin Jacobson has been a leader in the development and advancement of the mercantile and industrial interests in this part of Teton county, in the meantime having served his fellow-citizens in many offices of trust and responsibil- ity. A native of Denmark, he was born, September 17, 1874, in Randers, where he lived until eighteen years of age.

His father, Carl Jacobson, was born, bred, and mar- ried in Denmark, his birth occurring in 1847. Migrating with his family to the United States about 1892, he crossed the country to North Dakota, becoming one of its early pioneers, and having taken up land, cleared and improved a fine farm. He is now living retired at Minot, North Dakota, enjoying a well-deserved leisure. His wife, whose maiden name was Annie Thybo, was born in Denmark in 1849, and died in Minot, North Dakota, in 19II.

Martin Jacobson acquired his first knowledge of books in Denmark, and after coming with his parents to this country, attended the public schools of Minot, North Dakota. He was subsequently variously em- ployed for a time, principally in ranching and rail- roading. He first visited Montana in 1893, but did not then remain long, going back to his old home in North Dakota, and later settling in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Coming from that city to Montana in 1900, Mr. Jacob- son located in the newly organized town of Cut Bank, and soon after erected one of the first buildings in the place. Putting in a miscellaneous stock of goods, he began business on a modest scale, and has since built up an extensive and lucrative business, having been liberally patronized by the people in and around Cut Bank. He also started the Pioneer Lumber Com- pany, of which he was president, it being now one of the leading industries of the kind in Teton county.

Mr. Jacobson married, in 1898, in Minot, North Dakota, Miss Ingeborg Bakke, and they have two children, namely: Mabel, born at Minot, North Dakota, in 1900; and Irving, born at Cut Bank, Montana, in 1904.

A stanch Republican in politics, Mr. Jacobson has been very active in public affairs, and in every position to which he has been elected has served with ability and

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fidelity. He has represented his district in the state legislature, has been United States commissioner and has filled the office of postmaster. Religiously he is a Lutheran.

MOSES WILLIAM PETTIGREW. The editor who brings his superior intelligence to the literary activities of the Shelby News is a man of thoroughly practical points of view and of a strongly typical American spirit. The latter is perhaps partly a natural sequence of his long line of colonial and military ancestors. Mr. Petti- grew's earliest progenitor in this country was James Harvey Pettigrew, a Scotchman who settled in Vir- ginia in 1660 and whose family provided a general in the great conflict for independence. The direct line from James Harvey Pettigrew to the representative of the family who is the subject of this sketch, is as follows: Moses W., James H., Moses W. and Charles W., the last being the father of Editor Pettigrew.

Charles Pettigrew was a merchant and farmer, born in 1832, of Republican principles and Presbyterian faith. His wife, born in 1834, was in her girlhood Miss Sarah E. Dalton. At their Illinois home, on April 27, 1859, was born the son who was named for two of his ancestral line. Moses William Pettigrew was given the advantages of the public schools and later of an academic course providing exceptional literary and scientific equipment.

When a young man Mr. Pettigrew prepared himself for the study of the law. He practiced his profession with success until the year 1900, when he was obliged because of ill health to change his vocation to one of a less confining nature. In that year he came to Mon- tana, where he has since engaged in the agreeable journalistic pursuits that now claim his time and atten- tion and in which his labors are productive of results so eminently satisfactory to his public.

Mr. Pettigrew has always given allegiance to the principles of the Republican party. During his profes- sional career in Kansas he was honored by being elected to the responsible office of district attorney, which office he held for two terms. He has also been popu- lar in fraternal organizations, having held all posi- tions in the Masonic order.

Mrs. Pettigrew, nee Nancy K. West, was a daughter of Prof. John W. West, who was for many years a prominent Kentucky educator. Her marriage with Mr. Pettigrew occurred in 1886. They were the parents of two children, a son named Moses and a daughter called Ruth, both of whom are now attending high school in Salt Lake City, Utah.

DR. J. ARTHUR LAMB has been identified with the medical profession in Kalispell since 1901, and has gained with the passing years the confidence and esteem of the public, winning to himself a generous and lucrative practice in the city and its vicinity. Until I911 he was engaged in practice alone, but in that year he became associated with Dr. Little, and they have since carried on their work jointly, and with a pleasurable degree of convenience and satisfaction. At one time Dr. Lamb's practice reached. as far as Libby and north as far as Canada, but this growing practice in Kalispell has compelled him to eliminate places of any distance from his calling list.

Dr. Lamb was born in Ontario, Canada, on January I, 1874, and he is the son of W. A. and Ellen (Black) Lamb. The father was born in Canada, where he still lives. He is identified with a prominent life insurance company in Ottawa, Canada, and is yet active in business. The mother is a native of Scot- land, who came to Canada in her young days. They became the parents of three children,-Walter, Edith and Arthur. The two first named are still residents of Canada.

J. Arthur Lamb, who was the second child of his

parents, was educated in the public schools of Canada, and after his graduation from the high school of Ottawa he entered McGill Medical University at Montreal, Canada, from which fine old institution he was graduated in 1898. Following his graduation, the young doctor went to New York, where he entered New York Lying-in Hospital, serving there for one year. He then moved toward the west, and located in Sand Coulee, where he was engaged in practice for one and a half years, following which he came to Kalispell, becoming established here in 1901, as inti- mated in a previous paragraph.

Dr. Lamb has come to be known and recognized for one of the coming men of Montana, in whose future he has implicit faith, and where he is per- manently established in his profession. He is a mem- ber of the Medical Society of Flathead county, and also ex-president of the society, and is city health officer. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and has passed through all chairs of the lodge, chapter and commandery. He is a member of the Kalispell Club and a director of the Masonic Temple Associa- tion.

On December 30, 1910, Dr. Lamb was united in marriage with Miss Mand Talbot of Kalispell, Mon- tana, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James A. Talbott of Columbia Falls, Montana.

ASA WILLARD was born in the state of Maryland on the fourteenth day of August, 1876. His father was John Willard, a successful merchant of Maryland,, who spent his life in his native state and in the state of Missouri, where he was also in the mercantile business. He died at the family home after his son had reached his maturity. His wife was Ida Myers, herself a daugh- ter of fair Maryland.

The mother was most ambitious that her son acquire not only a scholastic but a professional education. After he had finished the elementary schools of Maryland, he entered the State Normal School of Missouri situated at Kirksville, his intention at that time being to become a school man. At the end of his normal course he accepted a position in a book store at Kirksville. While here he became much interested in the cures effected through osteopathy and in the general work as carried on by the profession. Having spent several years as a layman in the Mecca of the osteopath he was in a position to judge of the sincerity and usefulness of their school of medicine. So greatly did it appeal to him that he forsook his former ambitions and entered the Kirksville school of osteopathy from which institution he was graduated in January of 1900.

Immediately upon his graduation he started for the West, where he located in Dillon, Montana. After the fourth year of his practice in Dillon he moved to the more promising city of Missoula.

With the coming of the year 1904 he began his work in his new home and has been a most success- ful practitioner almost from the first. Not only is he at the head of his profession but he is a prominent and progressive citizen in all of the affairs that touch the welfare of the city of his adoption.

In 1901, Mr. Toole, then governor of Montana, ap- pointed him to membership on the State Board of medical examiners, Dr. Willard being the first physician of his school to occupy a like position in the state. So satisfactory was his service that he was reappointed by Governor Norris the following term and again reap- pointed in 1911. He is at the present time one of the most widely respected members on the board. He has also been for two terms a member of the state board of health of Montana.

Ever since becoming a citizen of Montana, the doctor has been chairman of the executive committee of the state association of osteopathy. From 1902 until 1906 he served as president of the society.

asa Willard D.O.

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Dr. Willard being a man of scholarly attainments with his heart in his work, has contributed some valuable articles to osteopathic literature. Most of these appeared in the journal of the National Osteopathic Associa- tion, published in New York City. This publication has the honor of claiming Dr. Willard as one of its asso- ciate editors.

The doctor was married in 1907 to Miss May Curfman, a young woman who had come to Missoula from Iowa a few years before her marriage. Their home is the happier for the arrival of two attractive children.

Doctor Willard devotes so much of his time to the practice and the prosperity of his profession that he finds few hours for relaxation and recreation. He is, however, a member of the Masonic lodge and takes pleasure in wearing the emblem of the Mystic Shrine.

While still very young in years, not having reached by several milestones the prime of life, the doctor stands absolutely at the head of his profession in Montana and has been recognized by his fellow physi- cians through the entire country.

ERNEST GODFREY SHAFFROTH has been located in Montana since 1900 and in the years of his residence here has been identified with the machinist's business, for a time in the employ of the Great Northern, but since 1901 engaged in an independent business. He has realized a pleasing degree of success in his vocation and Kalispell knows him for one of the representa- tive men in his line of work, giving open acknowledg- ment to his ability by extending a generous patronage to his establishment.

Born in Switzerland, on August 19, 1868, Mr. Shaf- froth is the son of Peter and Elizabeth (Grunder) Shaffroth, both natives of that country, and he was but two years of age when he came to America with his parents. Peter Shaffroth was a resident of Colum- bus, Nebraska, from 1870 until the day of his death, which occurred on April 22, 1912. He engaged in agriculture there until ten years previous to his demise, the last decade of his life being spent in retirement from the activities of business life .. The wife and mother died in 1896 at the family home in Columbus, Nebraska, when in her sixty-second year. Three chil- dren were born to them, Ernest of this review being the youngest.

Until he was fourteen years old Ernest Shaffroth was privileged to attend the public schools of Platte county, Nebraska, after which he remained at home on the farm until he was twenty-two years old. In that year he removed to Lincoln, Nebraska, there securing employment with the Eagle Iron Works and serving a three year apprenticeship at the machinist's trade. Thereafter he served eight years as a journeyman ma- chinist in that place, and came to Montana in June of 1900, locating immediately in Kalispell. For one year he worked at his trade in the shops of the Great Northern Railway, but in 1901 he saw an opportunity to become independent and he and James A. Coram established the Kalispell Iron Works, the first business of its kind to be located in this city, or indeed, in Flat- head county. This partnership endured until January 1, 1907, at which time Mr. Shaffroth sold his inter- ests and established his present business. He took a partner at first, and the concern was known as Shaf- froth & Michaels. They continued a thriving ma- chinery and automobile repair business as partners until January 1, 19II, when Mr. Shaffroth once more bought out his partner, and he has since continued as the sole proprietor of the business. He has discon- tinued the automobile repair department of the busi- ness and devotes his attention exclusively to building special machines and machinery repair, his being the only exclusive business in the city.

In the years of Mr. Shaffroth's residence in the city he has taken a prominent place in the civic affairs, and

has assumed the full duties and responsibilities of citizenship. He is a Democrat, but has not been es- pecially active in county politics of late years. In 1910 and I911 he represented the First ward on the board of city aldermen, and gave excellent service to the city in that capacity. Mr. Shaffroth is prominent in frater- nal circles and is identified by his membership in the Masonic order, being a member of the Knights Tem- plar and past commander of Cyrene Commandery No. 10. He is a member of the Christian church.

On February 8, 1910, Mr. Shaffroth was united in marriage with Miss Rose Jones, the daughter of James Jones, a native of England. A daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Shaffroth on December 19, 1910.

WINFIELD SCOTT AND REUBEN THOMAS FLEEK. The progress and enterprise of any growing city is perhaps as clearly indicated in the class of business men, rep- resenting the varied interests of the place, as i11 any other respect, and at this juncture reference is made to the firm of Fleek & Fleek, prominent hardware mer- chants in Libby, Montana.

Winfield Scott Fleek was born April 12, 1851, near Broadhead, Wisconsin. He is a son of Reuben G. B. and Mary Ann (Bowen) Fleek, the former of whom was born in the state of Virginia and the latter in Pennsylvania. The father removed from the Buckeye state to Wisconsin in 1847 and there devoted the residne of his active career to cultivating a fine farm which he purchased in the vicinity of Brodhead. He was called from the scene of his mortal endeavors in the year 1904 and his cherished and devoted wife passed to the life eternal in 1893. They were the parents of four children, of whom Winfield S. was the first in order of birth.

The boyhood and youth of Winfield Scott Fleek were passed in Wisconsin on the old homestead farm, in the work and management of which he early began to assist his father. His education was received in the neighboring district schools and up to the age of twenty years he remained at home. In 1870 he located at Greene county, Wisconsin, and after engaging in different lines of enterprise finally turned his attention to the real estate and insurance business. In 1910 he came to Libby, Montana, where his son Reuben T. had settled in April, 1909, and in the following year he and his son purchased the established hardware business of A. L. Thompson, who opened headquarters as a hard- ware merchant here in 1902. This is the only exclusive hardware store in Lincoln county and the business is conducted under the firm name of Fleek & Fleek. Messrs Fleek are dealers in heavy and shelf hardware and they make a specialty of plumbing and tinning.

When Mr. Fleek came to Libby he organized the Lincoln County Abstract Company, W. S. Fleek being president of the company and his son Reuben being the secretary.

Winfield Fleek was married, November 3, 1873, in Brodhead, Wisconsin, to Miss Mary F. Johnson, a daughter of Thomas C. Johnson, who was born in Illinois. Her birth occurred in Illinois, May 22, 1854. Mr. and Mrs. Fleek have two children, Lotta L., a resi- dent of Pendleton, Oregon; and Reuben T., concerning whom further information is given in the following paragraph.

Reuben T. Fleek was born in Wisconsin on the 12th of April, 1875. He was educated in the public schools of Brodhead, Wisconsin, and was graduated in the high school of that city in 1894. After leaving school he entered upon an apprenticeship to learn the tinner's trade, which took him three years, and thereafter he was a journeyman tinner for ten years. He came to Montana in 1900 and located in the city of Kalispell, where he worked at his trade for several years. In 1909 he was elected clerk of Lincoln county and he served in that capacity for eighteen months, after

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which he and his father engaged in the hardware busi- ness, as already noted. He is secretary of the volunteer . fire department in Libby and in politics is a stalwart Republican, although not an active politician.

In Kalispell, Montana, February 2, 1895, Reuben T. Fleek was united in marriage to Miss Marian Slack, a daughter of Ezra Slack and a native of Michigan. This union has been prolific of two children, as fol- lows: William Rodney, born in Kalispell, December 11, 1906; and Kathryn, born in Libby, November 10, 1910.

Both father and son are valued and appreciative members of Libby Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons and Reuben T. is likewise affiliated with Kalispell Lodge, No. 725, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. They are both members of the Libby Chamber of Commerce and in religious faith they are devout com- municants of the Episcopal church. In addition to their business interests in Libby, Messrs. Fleek own many acres of valuable timber lands in various sections of Montana. They are business men of marked ability and as citizens are loyal and public spirited, giving their hearty support to all measures and enterprises projected for the good of the general welfare. They are well liked in Libby and here have a wide circle of acquaintances and intimate personal friends.

WILLIAM A. GREGG. A business man and citizen of Polson who is both enterprising and prosperous, Mr. Gregg began his business career without capital, and by his persevering industry and ability has gained a creditable position in life.

William A. Gregg was born in Lenawee county, Michigan, December 13, 1870. His father was William Gregg, a native of Ireland who came to America and settled in Lenawee county in 1865, and for many years has been one of the substantial farmers of that locality. The mother, whose maiden name was Margaret Stew- art, was also born in Ireland, and was married in Antrim county before their emigration to America. She died in Lenawee county, Michigan, in 1904, aged seventy, having been the mother of six children.

The youngest of the family, William A. spent the first twenty-two years of his life on the home farm, with attendance at the public schools. He was also a student in Brown's Business College at Adrian, and after completing his course there established the Star Laundry at Adrian. Though young in business he did very well and conducted the laundry a year and a half, then selling to Wm. McDonald of that city. For a little more than half a year he filled a clerical position with McNaughton, Walker & Company, wholesale and commission merchants at Detroit, and then started for the Northwest, which for more than fifteen years has been his home and the scene of his successful business career. On April 5, 1896, he located in Towner county, North Dakota, where he took up a homestead, proved up, and still owns this property.

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A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 105

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