A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 124

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

USA > Montana > A history of Montana, Volume III > Part 124

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mr. Wutz is affiliated with the Sons of Hermann and the Eagles at Havre, and is a member of the Catholic church. In politics he is independent. He was married in Butte, January 24, 1911, to Miss Mathilda Andrews, who came to America from Ger- many with her parents during her childhood, and lived with her parents in Canton, Ohio, until her marriage.

EDWARD D. PHELAN is the assistant county attorney of Lewis and Clark county, Montana, of which Helena is the county seat. He is also the junior partner of the legal firm of Heywood and Phelan, a firm of excellent standing with the Montana bar.

Mr. Phelan is of Irish parentage having been born in Sauk county, Wisconsin, on the eighteenth day of Octo- ber, in 1879. He was the sixth in a family of thirteen children all but one of whom are living. His parents were well to do farmers who understood the value of education in the career of a young and ambitious man. After finishing the work of the rural schools of Sauk county, the son, Edward, was sent to the high school of Richland, Wisconsin, where he was graduated in the class of 1901. The following September he entered the legal department of the University of Wisconsin from which institution he received his LL. B. in 1904.

Prior to his setting out for Montana, he was admit- ted to the bar in Wisconsin. The bar of Montana was, therefore, so courteous as to admit him to practice in all the courts of that state "by motion" as it is called. His first experience in the practice was obtained in the office of Richard R. Pursell where he remained for six months before becoming law clerk for T. J. Welsh. While acting in this capacity in the autumn of 1906, he was appointed as deputy county attorney.

At the expiration of his term of office he was the Republican candidate for county attorney. Unfortu- nately. 1908 was the fall of the Democratic landslide and Mr. Phelan failed of election. This was, probably, a fortunate defeat for so young an attorney as he im- mediately formed a partnership for general practice with Mr. A. P. Heywood and the present successful firm of Heywood and Phelan was established. Again in the autumn of 1910, he was appointed assistant county at- torney. This has not necessitated his severing the new formed partnership. It seems, indeed, to be increasing their already large practice.

Mr. Phelan is active in fraternal orders, being grand knight in the Knights of Columbus, a member of the Lamb's Club and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He finds much interest in the political game, working with the Republican party.

Although Mr. Phelan has lived almost a third of a century, he has resisted the charms of the fair sex and remains yet a bachelor. His people for generations have been devout members of the Roman Catholic church of which he himself is a loyal member.

Edward D. Phelan is the son of Dennis Phelan who was born on the Emerald Isle in 1842. Dennis Phelan's parents came to America when he was yet a child and without stopping to study the civilization of the east, made directly for Stoughton, Wisconsin. A few years later they moved to Sauk county of the same state and there cleared them a farm in the midst of the na- tive forests. They were known among the pioneer far- mers of their time who made good on the new rich soil. The son, Dennis, worked by the side of his father until the outbreak of the late War of the Rebellion when he enlisted with the Forty-ninth Regiment of Wisconsin. He fought with this and other regiments, seeing most of his active service in southwestern Missouri where

his company followed the regular army, preserving peace and stamping out guerilla warfare. He served until the close of the war then returned to his Wis- consin home where he still lives superintending the work on the farm that he himself helped to hew out of the wilderness.

Dennis Phelan's wife, the mother of his thirteen children, was Elizabeth Quinn, the daughter of James Quinn. She was born on the Wisconsin soil but her father immigrated to Wisconsin from Ireland. Mrs. Phelan still remains at the side of her husband where she has labored so well for almost fifty years.

MORRIS RAFISH. The martial and romantic land of Kosciusko and Pulaski, which has often been the theme of song and story, which stayed the onward rush of the Saracen wave from Mecca, that once threatened to engulf all Europe, Poland, whose tragic overthrow made every lover of liberty throughout the civilized world grieve, has given to the United States a very sturdy, sterling and enterprising strain of their citizenship. Men of that noble race have dignified and adorned every walk of life in this country and won glowing triumphs in our every field of useful endeavor, and wherever they have located have vindicated the historic distinction of their country.

· A good representative of its business enterprises and progressiveness is found in Morris Rafish, merchant tailor of Butte, Montana, and president of the Rafish Tailoring Company, whose establishment is located on East Broadway in that city. The company carries on a profitable business, the trade having been built up al- most wholly by the enterprise and excellent manage- ment of its president, Mr. Rafish.

Morris Rafish was born in Russian Poland on May 10, 1876, and is a son of Meyer and Rifka (Frank) Rafish, the former also a native of Russian Poland and the latter of Russia. The father was born at Vassha in 1830 and died there in 1902. He was a prominent merchant tailor in the place of his nativity. The mother is now a resident of Butte, sixty-seven years of age, and makes her home with her son Morris, having come to this country after the death of her hus- band.

Morris Rafish attended the country schools in his native land and extended the opportunities they gave him for instruction by diligent study and judicious read- ing at home. After leaving school he worked at various occupations for a short time, then became apprenticed to a leading merchant tailor to learn the trade of making garments for men. At the age of twenty-one he emigrated to London, England, where he worked at his trade for eight years. In that city, which is in close and constant touch with this country, he heard more and more as time passed of "The States" as the land of promise and opportunity to realize the promise, and at length he could resist the temptation no longer and decided to come over.

In 1904 he landed in New York and came direct to Butte, where his older brother Samuel had been living several years and had established a fast growing busi- ness as a merchant tailor. Morris secured employment at his trade with his brother and worked for him one year. He then engaged in business for himself, and opened a merchant tailoring establishment of his own on Arizona street. This soon proved to be a success- ful venture and he was obliged to move to more com- modious quarters on Park street.

The history of his business since his location on Park street is one of continuous and increasing prog- ress. It soon outgrew the Park street accommodations, and he was compelled to seek more floor space and better facilities, and these he found in his present quar- ters on East Broadway.

Mr. Rafish was married in his native land in 1896, when he was but twenty years old, to Miss Lee Morris, who was born and reared where he was. They have

1703

HISTORY OF MONTANA

three children: Samuel, who was born in Poland on January 1, 1897; Rhea, who was born in London, Eng- land, on October 6, 1899; and Sarah, whose life began- on December 16, 1903, and whose birthplace was also London, England. All the children are attending school in Butte, and are making rapid progress and excellent records in their studies.

In politics Mr. Rafish is independent, looking only to the good of the community and the best interests of the people in bestowing his suffrage. His religious connection is with the Jewish Temple in Butte, and his fraternal relations are confined to membership in the organizations of his countrymen in the city of his home. He is prosperous, stands high in business cir- cles in Butte, is well esteemed as a first rate citizen, and enjoys in a high degree the regard and good will of all classes.

WILLIAM DEWERKIN. In a city which has grown so rapidly as has Butte, Montana, the past decade or two there is unlimited opportunity for profitable business and industrial operations in all lines that are allied in any way to building and construction work. Among those who have been for the past several years actively engaged in a line of work of which the foregoing is conspicuously true is Mr. William Dewerkin, expert plumber who first came here to ply his trade in 1904. During the first two years of his residence in Butte he worked for Isador Krueger, then took contracts on an independent basis, and finally in May, 1911, in company with Mr. John B. Coppo, formed the Butte Plumbing Company, now recognized as one of the leading establishments of its kind in the city, employ- ing a large force of skilled workmen, the number sometimes reaching as high as fourteen or more. All work undertaken by this firm is executed promptly and in a fine workmanlike manner and so universally satisfactory has the firm fulfilled its contracts that it is receiving a constantly increasing patronage with financial returns growing proportionately. The firm also install all kinds of modern heating apparatus.

William Dewerkin was born August 9, 1878, at New- ark, New Jersey, the son of Hyman and Lea ( Schov- elzon) Dewerkin, his parents being natives of Russia who came to America in the early seventies, locating first in New York, and later removing to New Jersey. William was sent to the public schools at Newark, New Jersey, until twelve years of age. Finding it necessary to assist in his own support subsequent to that time he first sought and secured employment in a harness factory. The work proved to be distasteful to the boy, however, and he remained there but a short time. His father, who conducted a small store at that time, then permitted the son to assist him with the busi- ness and for five years subsequently he followed mer- cantile pursuits.

Not feeling satisfied to continue permanently at that employment. Mr. Dewerkin then decided to learn a trade and accordingly became an apprentice to Burns & Tucker, plumbers, whose place of business was on Fourth avenue, New York City. After becoming master of the intricacies of that trade he spent the following five years working as a journey- man in various states of the Union, finally locating permanently at Butte in 1904, his career in this city having been briefly outlined at the beginning of this sketch.

Mr. Dewerkin understands his business thoroughly in all particulars, gives close personal attention to overseeing and managing it, and the success he has achieved is a direct result of the effort and talent he has put into the work.

On October 20, 1908, at Butte, occurred the marriage of Mr. Dewerkin to Miss Julia Levy, a daughter of Solomon Levy, and who was born in this city. The union has been blessed in the birth of one child, Henrietta, born October 30, 1909, and the family main-

tains an attractive home at 722 West Park street.

Mr. Dewerkin is a man of high moral principles and unquestioned personal integrity, is a citizen of the best type and is held in high esteem by a large number of friends and acquaintances in this and other com- munities where he has resided.

JESSE RAYMOND VILLARS. One of the most success- ful and prominent young professional men of northern Montana is Jesse Raymond Villars, a mining engineer of thorough training and exceptional qualifications who is also filling the position of United States mineral surveyor for the northwestern district of Montana. He is a university man, but one who struggled for his opportunities and is of that class who by that same energy and indomitable will with which they fought for an education enter as aggressive competitors for success in life and seldom fail.

He is of mingled French, German, Scotch and Irish blood, his surname indicating his French descent on the paternal side. James Villars, the great-grandfather of Jesse Raymond, was a French emigrant who es- tablished the American branch of the family in 1807 in Clinton county, Ohio. There Jesse Raymond Villars was born November 7, 1873, to Hiram J. and Lydia E. (Thatcher) Villars, both natives of that same county, where the birth of the former occurred February 12, 1845, and that of the latter on July 10. 1848. The father followed farming throughout his active career but is now retired and resides in Great Falls, Montana, in which city he took up his abode in 1910. He is a veteran of the Civil war, his service having been from 1863 to 1865 as a member of the Second Regiment Ohio Heavy Artillery. The Thatchers also were early set- tlers in Clinton county and were of mingled German, Scotch and Irish descent.

Mr. Villars is the third of eight children born to his parents, of whom four are living. His education be- gun in the country schools of his native county was continued in Wilmington College, the Friends' school at Wilmington. Ohio, where he remained two years. Following that he was a student for a short time in the academy at Arkansas City, Kansas, and later completed a course in liberal arts at Kansas City University, Kan- sas City, Kansas, graduating as a Bachelor of Arts in 1900. To earn his tuition and expenses at the latter institution he taught school in southern Kansas and while pursuing his studies also worked as a stockman in a Kansas City furniture house. From 1900 to 1902 and during a part of 1903 he was a bookkeeper and collector for an Arkansas City, Kansas, mercantile estab- lishment. The remainder of 1903 and the earlier part of 1904 were spent as a gymnasium instructor in the Railroad Young Men's Christian Association at Topeka, Kansas. In June, 1904, he came to Butte, Montana, where he entered the Montana State School of Mines and spent four years in earnest and thorough profes- sional study, graduating as a mining engineer in 1908. He came to Great Falls in February, 1909, and from that time until July, 1910, he followed his profession alone as a mining engineer.

Since coming to Great Falls, Mr. Villars has also been commissioned United States mineral surveyor for this state, which position he is still filling and to these duties he adds that of assaying and chemical and geo- logical work. He has established a large clientele in his private practice, which includes irrigation and rail- road work.

In politics he is a Republican but takes no active part in political affairs. He is a member of the University Club at Great Falls and is a member and an elder of the First Presbyterian church of that city. Young men of ability, energy and moral strength are always welcomed to citizenship in any community and Mon- tana is proud to number such men as Mr. Villars among its representative men.

1704

HISTORY OF MONTANA

HENRY C. SCHULTZ. No profession develops, with so much of accuracy and masculine vigor, the native intellectual predominancies as that of the law. Whilst it opens a vast field for profound philosophic inquiry, it at the same time imperiously demands an acute and close observation of the daily workings of practical life. The materials for the foundation of society, which are scattered around broadcast and in profusion, often the most heterogeneous and crude, have to be molded into form and symmetry by the application of great principles. These crude materials and great principles have to be fused together in the crucible, and the melting down and refining the former is under- gone by firm and unyielding contact with the latter. The very highest development of intellectual vigor, the most profound and comprehensive knowledge of prin- ciple, is often found inadequate to this task; for with these must be united a quick sagacity, and adaptation to the habits and modes of thought by those surrounding the legislator or judicial functionary, or all his well- meant labors will turn to naught. Among those who act conspicuously in thus molding and fashioning soci- ety in Montana stands eminently forward Henry C. Schultz, an eminent attorney of Sanders county, who also holds a foremost position in the field of literature and on the lecture platform.

Henry C. Schulz was born at Horicon, Wisconsin, February 16, 1861. His father, Carl Schultz, was born in Germany and came to the United States in 1847, settling in Chippewa county, Wisconsin, where he fol- lowed farming although his trade was that of a wagon maker. He was a highly educated man, having been a teacher in his native Berlin, a college professor, and a commissioned officer in the German army at Berlin for nine years. He died March 5, 1911, at the age of ninety- four years, and is buried in Chippewa county, Wiscon- sin. While in the Fatherland, he married Caroline Borchardt, who died November 17, 1899, at the age of seventy-eight years. They were the parents of six sons and six daughters, Henry C. being the tenth in order of birth, and his brothers and sisters being residents at this time of Illinois and Wisconsin.

The early education of Henry C. Schultz was secured in the public schools of Watertown, Wisconsin, and Chippewa Falls, and he subsequently attended North- western University, Evanston, Illinois, from which he was graduated and received his degree. He subse- quently took post-graduate course in civil engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. As a lad of eleven years he had decided upon the law as his life work, and the first money he earned, received from his uncle for working at various employments on the farm, he put away to start a fund to take. him through college. During the vacation months, while attend- ing school, he accepted the opportunity of working at whatever occupation presented itself, teaching special night classes in German, and acting as tutor of the English class, and thus managed to finish his collegiate course. On leaving the law class with his degree, Mr. Schultz located first in Chippewa county and later in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, remaining there until coming to Montana in 1904. He first located at Plains, and when Sanders county was organized was appointed first county attorney. Subsequently removing to Thompson Falls, he served as county attorney for one year under appointment and four years by election, and was the first and only county attorney to secure a conviction for involuntary manslaughter against a railroad dis- patcher on account of a wreck, in which five lives were lost. During his five years as county attorney, Mr. Schultz succeeded in convicting twenty-nine out of seventy-two felony cases tried, and was personally re- sponsible for bringing to justice a notorious band of murderers and "bad men" which terrorized the county for a long time. A fearless prosecutor, he at all times

discharged his duty, regardless of conditions or conse- quences.

Mr. Schultz has been widely known in the fields of literature and journalism, having had newspaper con- nections for twenty-three years, and at one time con- ducting a daily and weekly newspaper The Current, at Chippewa Falls, which he edited in connection with his law practice. As a speaker and lecturer he is equally well known and has had many flattering offers from lyceum bureaus. For sixteen years he was connected with the Speaker's Bureau of the Republican party, and has taken part in numerous campaigns in five different states. He takes an active interest in politics, being a progressive and persistent fighter in behalf of the prin- ciples of his party, served as county attorney at Chip- pewa Falls, assistant city attorney at LaCrosse and was county superintendent of schools at one time in Wisconsin. He is a member of the State Bar Associ- ation and has served on a number of important com- mittees thereof, and is also connected with the Fourth Judicial District Bar Association, of which he was for- merly vice-president. In fraternal matters he is con- nected with the Masons, having served in various chairs, and is also holding membership in the Thomp- son Falls Development League. In religious matters he is a German Lutheran, while his wife is identified with the Episcopal church, and very active in religious work, having been the first president of Trinity Guild here and at present its efficient vice-president and sec- retary. She was unanimously chosen as the women's candidate for member of the school board, being pecu- liarly qualified for the position, in that she had wide experience as a teacher, principal of schools in Wisconsin and member of the county board of examiners in Thompson Falls.

At Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, October 26, 1886, Mr. Schultz was married to Miss Minerva G. Smith, daugh- ter of Jonathan W. and Mary G. Smith, of that city, and have an adopted daughter, Marion Jessie, who married Burt Sinclair and resides at Thompson Falls, Mr. Sinclair being agent for the Northern Pacific Rail- road.

Mr. Schultz enjoys a wide reputation for his legal ability and sagacity, and is also well known for char-' acteristics that go to make personal popularity. He is fond of hunting and fishing, riding and driving, keeps a number of fine horses, for which he recently purchased a ranch, and is an ardent baseball rooter. The American poets, singing, violin playing and the- atricals have all found a place in his favor, and he is also a great Shakespearian student and an active mem- ber of a Shakespeare Club. That Mr. Schultz has faith in his adopted community may be taken for granted from his reply to a question asking him his opinion of the future of Montana. "The fact that I am in Mon- tana and always hope to be," he answered, "should be my verdict on the question as to whether Montana has more to offer in the soil and above and below it than any other state in the Union-and I have been in twenty-nine of them."

HARRY C. SMITH, M. D. Professional success re- sults from merit. Frequently in commercial life one may come into possession of a lucrative business through inheritance or gift, but in what are known as the learned professions advancement is gained only through pains- taking and long continued effort. Prestige in the heal- ing art is the outcome of strong mentality, close appli- cation, thorough mastery of its great underlying prin- ciples and the ability to apply theory to practice in the treatment of diseases. Good intellectual training, thor- ough professional knowledge and the possession and utilization of the qualities and attributes essential to suc- cess, have made the subject of this review eminent in his chosen calling and he stands today among the schol-

Harry Caminh M.A.

1705

HISTORY OF MONTANA

arly and enterprising physicians in a locality noted for the high order of its medical talent.

Dr. Harry C. Smith was born in Hughsville, Mis- souri, February 4, 1872. He was educated in the public schools of Hughsville and Sedalia, Missouri. Having finished his high school course, to round out his general education, at the age of fifteen years he entered West- minster College and subsequent to that studied medicine under Dr. J. W. Trader, formerly head surgeon of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad hospital. During his vacation periods he attended Bellevue Hospital Medical College of New York City and having com- pleted his medical education, he received a well-earned degree on March 26, 1894. Dr. Smith first hung out his professional shingle at Sweet Springs, Missouri, where he resided for six months and following that became sec- ond house surgeon of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, in which capacity he continued for some two and a half years. He was then sent to Denison, Texas, in association with Dr. A. W. Acheson and at that place the two gentlemen took charge of the railway re- lief station. While located at Sedalia he was appointed local surgeon for the Missouri Pacific and Sedalia, War- saw & Southern railroads. At Denison, in addition to his duties with the Missouri, Kansas & Texas hospital, he was appointed local surgeon for the Houston & Texas Central and Denison & Sherman railroads. In 1899 he severed his railroad connections and entered the gov- ernment service as contract surgeon with the regular army, and from the year last mentioned until 1902 he spent his time in the Philippine Islands. The climate, however, proved trying to his health and in order to re- cover this he returned to the United States and located at Denison, where he was appointed special examiner for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway. This time he assumed the duties of special examiner for the road, this position, it is needless to state, requiring one whose ability and discrimination was beyond question, as all cases of injuries, etc., were passed upon by the doctor and the reports made to the company accordingly. Be- lieving that the climate of the northwest, with its lower temperature, would benefit him, he decided to come to Montana and arrived here August, 1904. He was grati- fied by the improvement in his physical condition far beyond his most sanguine expectations and as his health returned so completely, he decided to locate permanently in Missoula.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 124

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