A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 106

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

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For a number of years Mr. Gregg had cherished a fancy for the jeweler and watch-maker's trade, and at Minot, North Dakota, he entered the store of J. W. Rode and acquired this trade during his two years there. He then came to Montana and for four years worked with the Hauser Company in Havre, and then for several years with H. W. Stringfellow's mercantile company in the same city. He then established and be- came a partner in the Pioneer Grocery Company, in- corporated, at Havre, but in 1908 sold his interest to his partners and located in Polson, which has since been his home town. Here in partnership with J. J. Ober, he bought the C. F. Gates Mercantile Company, which became the Polson Mercantile Company, a very pros- perous concern. His interests in this business having been sold to J. G. Dunbar in October, 1911, he and Mr. Ober then opened a real estate office. Since March, 1912, Mr. Gregg has been sole proprietor of a very suc- cessful business in general real estate. He has large

holdings in South Dakota and at Havre, Montana, and city and residence properties in Polson. He also does a large insurance and bonding business, representing some of the best known companies.

Mr. Gregg is Republican in politics, and for a num- ber of years has been an active member of the Presby- terian church. He was married in Detroit, Michigan, June 7, 1902, to Miss Elizabeth Anderson, a daughter of James Anderson. Her father was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and is still living there. Mrs. Gregg came to America at the age of sixteen and lived with her uncle, R. W. Anderson, of Detroit, Michigan. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Gregg are: William Alexander; Mil- dred Louise; Thomas Stewart; Robert Kenneth; and Harold Anderson, all Montana products and with no greater pleasure than living amid such pleasant sur- roundings.

JAMES F. TAYLOR. To James F. Taylor has come the attainment of a distinguished position in connection with the business world of Butte. His life achieve- ments worthily illustrate what may be attained by persistent and painstaking effort. He is decidedly pro- gressive in his ideas and at the present time, in 1911, is president and owner of the thriving business known as Taylor's Collecting Agency, the offices of which. are located at Nos. 22-23 Silver Bow block.

A native of Missouri, James F. Taylor was born near Keytesville, on the roth day of February, 1877. He is the son of James F. Taylor, Sr., a native of Tennessee, whence he removed with his parents to Missouri when a lad of but twelve years of age. The father is a retired farmer and stock raiser in Chariton county, Missouri, where he has long resided and where he is honored and respected by all with whom he has come in contact. He has reached the age of sixty-two years. The mother of the subject of this review was Hulda Kazell in her maiden days and she was born and reared in Tennessee, her ancestry having been of Welsh and German extraction. She was summoned to the life eternal February 17th, 1877, at the early age of twenty-five years, survived by three boys, James F. Taylor being a baby only seven days old.

He passed his boyhood and youth in the place of his birth, where he received his preliminary educational training. At the age of fourteen years, in 1891, he attended the Salisbury Academy, at Salisbury, Missouri, not finishing the term. Leaving home without the con- sent of his parents to make his own way in the world, he secured his first employment on a farm for a meager salary of eight dollars per month, working in the capacity as a farm hand for a year and a half. He then went to St: Louis, Missouri, and secured employ- ment with the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company. He remained with the above firm for six months, working for the munificent salary of four dollars per week. Being unable to exist on this salary, he finally secured a position with the Suburban Street Car Company, and where he began to attend the night sessions of a business college. Too close application to work and study, however, soon impaired his health, and in order to recuperate, he went to Santa Rita, New Mexico, where he secured a job on the celebrated Tea Box ranch, conducted by Patrick & Hobson and located near Santa Rita. He was interested in ranching for a period of fourteen months. At the end of that time, he went to Pueblo, Colorado. Finding it hard to secure employment, he was compelled to secure a position in the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company's steel works, at one dollar and forty cents a day. He soon engaged in the laundry business, purchasing a horse, wagon and harness for the modest sum of thirty-five dollars and rapidly built up a large trade for himself. Eventually the Laundrymen's Association took a stand against him and refused to give him a contract whereby they would do his work on a commission basis. He eventually

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secured a contract with Wm. H. Metz, proprietor of the Colorado Springs Steam Laundry Co., in Colorado Springs, for a period of five years on a fifty per cent. commission basis, express one way. And so successful was he in this enterprise, at the end of the five year contract, he renewed the contract, having five wagons on the job steady all the time besides the office help required, and several sub-agents through the southern part of Colorado. He disposed of this business for a little better than two thousand dollars. After investing that sum in real estate, he accepted employment with P. F. Collier Publishing Company, as a traveling repre- sentative. Years later, he came to Butte to take charge of the company's office here. He continued with the concern until August 29, 1907. At that time he became connected with the Taylor Laundry Company. At the end of five months; seeing the possibilities in the col- lection field, he established his first office at his resi- dence, 721 Colorado street. One of his first assign- ments was to take over the business for the different doctors, afterwards contracting with the Montana Independent Telephone Company in the states of Mon- tana, Idaho and Washington. Gradually he branched out and got other assignments, and from his first month's collections of $129, he has branched out until he now has a business of 831 clients, 38,000 claims. He has about twelve experienced workers and collectors in his employ and carries on his business in a very scientific manner. He has never had any serious trouble in his career, is firm and reliable, and has the full confidence of the hest business men in the state. He is decidedly energetic and a hard worker, and his present high stand- ing is due entirely to his own efforts.

Mr. Taylor was married December 31, 1908, at Butte, to Miss Sallie Evans, a native of Ashland, Penn- sylvania. Mrs. Taylor passed to the life eternal on the 7th day of October, 1911, and is survived by one daugh- ter, little Maud Montana Taylor, whose birth occurred September 12, 1910.

In politics Mr. Taylor is a stalwart Democrat and in a fraternal way he is a valued and appreciative member of the Modern Woodmen of America. His religious faith is in harmony with the tenets of the Baptist church, to whose charities and benevolences he is a liberal con- tributor. Mr. Taylor is sociable by nature and is ex- ceedingly fond of home life, all his love and interest being centered in his little motherless daughter.

PHILIP R. LONG, the popular clerk of the district court of Lincoln county, is one of the young men who have won prominence in the public life of the county through the efficient performance of the duties in con- nection with their official positions. He has lived in the West since his youth, but was born in Columbus, Indiana, on June 27, 1888. He is the son of David F. and Mary M. (Dorons) Long, the former a native of Maryland and the latter of Missouri. David Long came to Indiana in early life, and was a pioneer settler of that state. He passed his latter days in Kalispell, after his retirement from business activities, and died in that city in 1910 at the age of seventy-four years. He was a merchant of considerable prominence in Columbus, where he spent so many years of his life. The wife and mother died in Kalispell in 1911, one year after the death of her husband. They were the parents of seven children.

As a boy in Columbus, Philip Long attended the schools of that place, later attending school in Kalis- pell. Following his school attendance he went to Seat- tle, Washington, and worked in the abstract office in that city for some time, later returning to Montana and settling in Kalispell where he entered the law office of his brother, T. D. Long, a practicing attorney of that city, and he continued in that service until July 1, 1909, when he was appointed clerk of the district court of Lincoln county. He still retains the impor-

tant post and continues to perform the duties of the position with the thoroughness and regard for detail which is a characteristic of his nature. Mr. Long is of a quiet and somewhat studious nature, fond of home life, and finding much pleasure in reading and study. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Masonic fraternity, in which he is identi- fied with the blue lodge of Libby. He is a Democrat and a member of the Episcopal church,

· CHARLES H. SPENGLER. Fortune is elusive, but sel- dom is the victory lost to him who grapples with her with determination and self-confidence. There are many citizens of Montana who are accounted success- ful men but there are few who owe what they have accomplished to other than their own pluck, persever- ance and intrepid endeavor. Charles H. Spengler, a master mechanic who has charge of the entire mechani- cal department of the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Rail- road and resides at Anaconda, Montana, entered the workers' ranks in youth and has forged steadily for- ward because he gave of his best ability to whatever duty was at hand.

Mr. Spengler was born in Washington, D. C., Octo- ber 22, 1869, the sixth of seven children and the young- est son of Theodore and Sarah (Brock) Spengler. The father was a native of Germany and came to the United States as a young man, locating first in Philadelphia, but later removing to Washington, D. C., and thence to St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1883, where he died shortly afterward when about fifty-five years of age. He was one of the 200,000 or more German-Americans who bravely fought under the Union flag during the Civil war, and after that struggle had closed he was in the government service at Washington, D. C., for a num- ber of years. He was engaged in the clothing business at St. Paul, however, at the time of his death. The par- ents were married in England. Sarah (Brock) Speng- ler, the mother, is still living and resides at St. Paul, Minnesota.

Charles, who was but four years old at the time of the father's death, received his education in the public schools of St. Paul, and in that city when about fifteen years of age he earned his first money by working in a large music store, his salary at the start having been eight dollars per month. This money he gave to his mother and for many years thereafter he contributed to her support. On severing his connection with the music store he began learning the machinist trade, his first position in this line being with the Chicago & Western Railway Company. In 1901 he came to Havre, Montana, where he entered the employ of the Great Northern Railway Company in the capacity of general foreman and remained eight years; then he came to Anaconda to fill the same position for the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railway Company, and in 1910 was promoted to the position of master mechanic, being placed in charge of the entire mechanical department of this railroad. Not the work, but the character of the workman and of his work, has been the key to his success.

At St. Paul, Minnesota, on the 30th of June, 1895, Mr. Spengler married Amy Marie Latimer, whose par- ents are John and Mary Latimer, of Algona, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Spengler have one son, Walter A., now a student in the Anaconda high school.

Mr. Spengler is a Republican but takes no active interest in political affairs. While a resident of Havre, Montana, he served as an alderman two terms and was also chief of the volunteer fire department there. In his religious belief he leans toward the Lutheran denom- ination, while Mrs. Spengler is a member of the Presby- terian church and is one of the prominent and active workers in the Ladies' Aid Society of that church. Fraternal ties have been formed by Mr. Spengler in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Inde- pendent Order of Foresters and the Knights of Pythias,

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and he has been an officer in the last named order. In the way of recreation he finds pleasure in hunting and fishing and in athletic sports he especially enjoys box- ing, occasionally participating in a contest himself. He likes Montana and its people and considers it the great home state of the future.

A. FREDERICK TOLER. The retail business of Butte, Montana, is in the hands of a group of enterprising and progressive men who are interested not alone in their own individual success but strive continually for the benefit and improvment of the community at large. In these respects no element is more alert than that which comprises the drug trade of the city, and in this department of trade one of the leading represen- tatives is Mr. A. Frederick Toler, a pharmacist of years' experience whose store is located in commo- dious quarters at 401 South Main street. The firm name under which the establishment is conducted is A. F. Toler, Incorporated, Mr. Toler being secretary of the company, J. R. Davenport, president and treas- urer, and A. B. Davenport, vice-president.

Mr. Toler evinced as a boy a natural aptitude for chemistry and natural philosophy, which studies he took up under a private tutor immediately after his graduation from the Oxford, Ohio, high school at four- teen years of age, his being the class of 1890. His apprenticeship with a druggist ended when he had reached his eighteenth year, that being his age when he received his diploma as a registered pharmacist. For fifteen years subsequent to his registration he con- tinued to follow his profession as a pharmacist as an employe, and the greater portion of the time he was a resident of various towns and cities in Ohio. The date of his arrival in Butte was June, 1901. His first position here was in Newton Brothers' drug store, where he continued to work for sixteen months, then left to accept a similar position with the old Eagle drug store. After a short time he resigned that con- nection and then for five years was head pharmacist in the drug store of C. B. Hoskins.

This last named position ended Mr. Toler's career as an employe, for upon his resignation of his position with Mr. Hoskins he organized the company of A. F. Toler, Incorporated, and opened his present store, which is without exception the largest and most im- portant business of the kind in the section of the city in which it is situated. The venture proved an un- qualified success from the start and trade is increasing with gratifying rapidity. Mr. Toler's ability and repu- tation as a pharmacist are unsurpassed and his business and executive talents are of the highest type, so that his success in conducting a drug business was a fore- gone conclusion.

Mr. Toler is a representative of one of the oldest families in the United States and springs from dis- tinguished ancestry on both the maternal and paternal sides of the house. He was born in Butler county, Ohio, March 23. 1876, the son of John C. and Mary H. (Gailliard) Toler. His father, who was born in Union county, Indiana, September 7, 1833, and died in 1903, was a photographer by profession. The founder of the Toler family in the United States was George Toler, who came from England and settled at Fairfax, Virginia, and the grandfather of our subject was a soldier in the War of 1812. His mother was a daughter of a Methodist clergyman who came from England with his family when she was a child of seven years and settled at Cincinnati, Ohio. She was reared in that city and was married to Mr. Toler at Oxford, Ohio, in 1866. The Gailliard family is of French extraction and occupied positions of distinction in William the Conqueror's time.

Mr. Toler is a worthy descendant of his distinguished ancestors and is entitled to much credit for the high success he has achieved entirely through his own un-

aided efforts. He occupies a foremost position in leading commercial and social circles of the city, his standing as a substantial business man and a gentle- man of high character and pleasing personality justly entitling him to that place. Fraternally Mr. Toler is affiliated with the Masonic order, being a member of Lodge No. 158 at Marysville, Ohio.

FRANK P. BIRRER was born in Riverside, Iowa, Feb- ruary 23, 1874. He resided in that place until he was twenty-seven years of age, when he came to Dillon, Montana. He arrived here in March, 1901, and has made this his home ever since. He is the leading con- tractor of the city and has an office and factory second to none in the Beaverhead valley.

He worked only one year under a boss and then went to contracting. The business of building is a natural one for Mr. Birrer. As a child he played with tools and was continually trying to construct something. He earned his first money as a boy by playing at country dances on a violin which he had made himself. He was supposed to receive one dollar per night for this service, but he states that he played many a night without re- ceiving a cent.

Mr. Birrer learned every detail of his construction business through practical experience. He draws all his own plans and specifications. He has designed some of the finest residences in Dillon, and in the season of 1911 he drew fourteen sets of plans. He se- cured his early education in the public schools of Iowa, but at the age of sixteen had to give up further study on account of his father's ill health.

Mr. Birrer is an active member of the Catholic church. In politics he is Democratic although the tendency is toward independence. He is a member of the Order of Modern Woodmen of America, is now venerable coun- cil and has held this position most of the time since the lodge was organized. He is the chief of the Dillon fire department. Mr. Birrer is fond of all out-door amusements, and is devoted to reading and to music. He is a self-made man.

He was married at Riverside, Iowa, in June, 1897, to Miss Rosa M. Knebel, of Sigourney, Iowa. There is one child in this home, a boy, Ivo M. Birrer. who was born in April, 1899, and is now attending school in Dillon.

Mr. Birrer's father was Martin Birrer, who was born in Alsace-Loraine, then under the control of France. He came to America when a young boy. He has fol- lowed farming all his life, and is now living in Iowa, on the old homestead, and enjoying his age in retire- ment. The mother was Christina Birrer, who was born in Germany. The marriage of this couple took place in Iowa. There were eleven children in the family of the elder Birrer, six girls and five boys, the subject of this sketch being the fourth child. Two brothers and one sister are now living in Montana, as follows: Mary Seraphina, who is keeping house for her brother Andrew V. Birrer, on a ranch near Dillon, and Nicholas M. who is married and is associated with Mr. Birrer in his contracting business.

HON. HARRY ALBYN FRANK is one of Butte's younger barristers, who has been practicing his profession in that city, with a steadily growing reputation, for a dozen years, during which time he has also attained political eminance in the state of Montana. Mr. Frank is a Nebraskan by birth and education, born at Falls City July 7, 1877, and his parents were Albyn L. and Jennie (Stanley) Frank, the former of Clearfield, Pennsylva- nia, and the latter originally of Quincy, Illinois.

In the public schools of Omaha, Nebraska, Harry Albyn Frank received his preliminary education. His collegiate course was pursued in the University of Ne- braska, from which institution he was graduated in the year 1896, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. His

Crank. P. Birrer

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professional alma mater is Cornell University, from which he received his degree of Bachelor of Laws with the class of 1898.

Mr. Frank began his legal career in Omaha, Nebraska, where he was engaged in practice from 1898 until 1901. In the latter year he came to Butte, where he has con- tinued in professional activities until the present time.

The responsible office of chief deputy county attor- ney of Silver Bow county was accepted by Mr. Frank during the year 1907-1908. The following year his character and ability received due tribute in his election as a representative to the Montana legislature, for the term of 1909-10. In connection with his duties in that capacity he was further honored by being made chair- man of the judiciary committee of the house.

Mr. Frank's political prominence is primarily con- nected with his loyalty to the Democratic party, although his public acceptability has been by no means limited to a partisan camp. The social affiliations of ex-Repre- sentative Frank include his membership in the orders of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons and in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

LEVERETT S. ROPES was born at Ispheming, Michigan, on July 21, 1868. His father's people were of English origin, the American branch of the family being founded in 1635. His mother's maiden name was Eunice L. Rouse, and she too is of English descent. Her birth- place was Lockport, New York, from which place she removed to Marquette Michigan. Here, in 1867, she was married to Julius Ropes, a chemist and geologist.

Leverett S. Ropes inherited his father's interest in geology and to this the family owed a great good for- tune. When the boy was thirteen, while out prospecting on some property in which his father was interested, found a piece of rock which he carried to his father. The chemist examined the rock and found that it con- tained a large percentage of gold. The land upon which it was found, when developed, became the Ropes Mine, which produced three quarters of a million dollars. Julius Ropes continued to operate the mine until 1893, when it was closed. Mr. Ropes died in 1905, at the age of sixty-nine. His widow, Mrs. Eunice Ropes, now resides in Michigan.

After graduating from the high school in Ispheming, Leverett S. Ropes entered the Michigan School of Mines, from which he received his degree in 1893. For a time after finishing his studies, Mr. Ropes was instructor in the college, but soon abandoned the theory of mining, for its practice. He went first to North Carolina, later to Georgia, and thence to Ontario to follow his pro- fession as a mining engineer. In 1901 he came to Mon- tana to take charge of the Corundum mining properties in the Gallatin valley. This was at that time a new venture in the mining industry, at least in this section of the state, and to Mr. Ropes belongs the credit of organizing and developing it. He remained some time with the company, after completing its organization and getting it into running order, and then came to Helena to take charge of the Bald Butte mine. From 1908 to 1910 he was connected with the General Land office and in that work was sent to all parts of the state. In 1909 Mr. Ropes was elected county surveyor and is still filling that office. About a year later, on April 1, 1910, Mr. Ropes and Robert McIntyre opened an office in the Power block, as surveyors and mining engineers, continuing until September, 1911, when the partnership was dissolved. The field of their operations embraced various sections of the state. Among the properties with which Mr. Ropes has been connected may be mentioned the Corundum mines, the Bald Butte mine, the Cataract copper mine, the Alta mine, the mines at Jardine, and the Havre coal mine. Mr. Ropes is manager of the Elkhorn Duluth Development Company, and is employed as consulting engineer on many other of the larger mining industries of the dis- trict, as he is recognized as one of the ablest of his

profession, possessing both the training of the college and the practical experience of the prospector and the miner. He is an enthusiast on his profession and deeply interested in it as such, and not merely as a means of livelihood. Besides being president of the Montana Association of County Engineers, Mr. Ropes is a mem- ber of the American Institute of Mining Engineers.

Mr. Ropes was married at Franklin, North Carolina, on December 12, 1894, to Miss Eleanor H. Deal, daughter of Rev. John Archibald Deal, an Episcopal clergyman now living at Gainsville, Georgia. The five children of this marriage were born in three widely distant places. Dorothy Eleanor, now in high school, began life at Franklin, North Carolina, on October 16, 1895. John Lyman Ropes is a Canadian by birth, his native town being Combermere, where he was born on December 6, 1900. Judith Ropes, whose birthday is the same as Lincoln's, was born in Helena, in 1907; and Leverett Deal was born May 12, 1912. Besides these children there was another son, who was born in August, 1899, and died in early childhood. Mr. and Mrs. Ropes are members of the Episcopal church. Of the lodges, Mr. Ropes is affiliated only with the ancient Masonic body. In politics he is a Republican, and as much interested in party affairs as his very busy professional life permits. In the party as elsewhere, he counts a long list of acquaintances and an unusually large number of friends.

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A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 106

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