A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 128

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

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J. FREDERICK KIESEL. A member of Butte's com- mercial contingent whose operations are of such nature and extent as to make him an important factor in trade not alone in this city and state, but throughout this portion of the whole northwest is Mr. J. Frederick Kiesel, district manager for the Money Weight Scale Company of Chicago, his territory including the states of Montana, Utah, Wyoming and Idaho. Mr. Kiesel has under his direction an average of four traveling salesmen, and since he has taken charge of the ter- ritory, sales of Money Weight scales have very largely increased and continue to grow in a very satisfactory manner.

Mr. Kiesel was born at Ogden, Utah, August 7, 1873, of German parentage. His father, Julius C. Kiesel, was born in Germany in 1848 and immigrated to the United States when a boy of fourteen years, coming to Utah on the first passenger train that passed through the state. He was a baker by trade and fol- lowed that line of business throughout his lifetime, being actively engaged in running a bakery, at Ogden, Utah, up to the time of his death, in 1906. Mr. Kiesel's mother was before her marriage Theresa Stitz. She was born in Germany in 1848 and died July 9, 1910. Of the family of seven children four are now living, these being J. Frederick and his three sisters.

Mr. Kiesel was fortunate in securing a good educa- tion before becoming an active participant in com- mercial life. He took up elementary studies in the parochial schools of Ogden, Utah, attended for a time All Hallows College and graduated from the Ogden

Military Academy. He also took a business course in the Ogden Business College, graduating from that in- stitution with the best commercial principles and meth- ods thoroughly mastered. Completing his studies in 1891, Mr. Kiesel took a clerical position in the office of his uncle, the Hon. Fred J. Kiesel, of Ogden, and continued in his service for seven years. Going to Chicago just previous to the opening of the world's fair there, he secured an appointment on the special service corps, on which he served throughout the time the fair was open. When the closing of the fair made the employment of the special service corps no longer necessary Mr. Kiesel returned to the west and for about three years was employed by the Fred J. Kiesel Com- pany at Pocatello, Idaho, being assistant manager dur- ing the last year. His next connection was with the Maple Grove Orchard and Vineyard Company of Ogden, and he represented them in their sales department for a short period. He was then for about one year traveling representative for the Salt Lake Coffee & Spice Mills, after which he was for four years proprietor and manager of the Hotel Kiesel at Logan, Utah. Disposing of his interests here, he became associated with the Cudahy Packing Company; from this last con- nection he resigned a year later, then went to Havre, Montana, and established himself in business as a merchandise broker. He was very successful in this venture and continued to operate on those lines for two years. During this time he became associated with the Money Weight Scale Company, distributors for the Computing Scale Company of Dayton, Ohio. Taking up his residence at Butte in September, 1905, Mr. Kiesel proceeded to devote his entire time to his work as district manager for this concern, and continues to retain that responsible position.

On August 11, 1898, at St. Anthony, Idaho, occurred the marriage of Mr. Kiesel and Miss Idonia Blan- chard, a native of Utah. Her parents, John R. and Bartha Blanchard, were among the earliest pioneers of that state. They settled there in 1854 and built the first residence at the point which is now the city of Logan. Mr. and Mrs. Blanchard are eighty-three years old and still reside at their old home in Logan. Three children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Kiesel : Theresa was born at Logan, October 29, 1901; Carroll, at Salt Lake City, August 4, 1903; and George, at Butte, July 23, 1910.

Mr. Kiesel is a man of exemplary personal character, liberal and progressive in his ideas and methods and enjoys the highest respect and esteem of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances throughout the northwest. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, No. 719, at Ogden, Utah.

FRANK H. WALNUM has been identified with the fortunes of Montana since 1905, and for the past three , years has been a resident of Cascade, where he helped organize the Cascade Lumber Company at that time. Since then it has grown to be one of the most thriv- ing concerns of its kind in the county and its owners and proprietors have achieved a distinct success in their manipulation of its affairs.

Mr. Walnum was born in Norway in 1881, his natal day being February 26. He is the son of S. B. Walnum and his wife, Mrs. Hapstock (Wenche) Walnum. Both were born in Norway. The father still lives there and is a clergyman. His wife died at the early age of thirty, leaving five children, of whom Frank H. was the second born. He attended the public and high schools of his town, and when his schooling was finished the young man, then eighteen years of age, emigrated to America. He came here in the year 1899, going directly to Minnesota and securing employment in a flour mill, where he remained for a period of six years. In 1905 he came to Montana, where he engaged in the grain business, buying and selling and carrying on a lively

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

trade in that commodity. Three years ago he located in Cascade and decided to open up a lumber business, which he did, after due deliberation and making careful arrangements for the management of the business. He is now the part owner and proprietor of the business represented by the Cascade Lumber Company, which is, as previously mentioned, one of the most thriving and prosperous concerns in the county. Mr. Walnum. is a man of much business ability, and has already achieved a success worthy of a more experienced man. He pos- sesses all the traits of character and mind which make for large and worthy success, and his unquestionable integrity and reliability is one of his most valuable assets.

Mr. Walnum in his political activities maintains an independent stand, and his influence is rather to be found on the side of the most worthy candidate for any given office than for any especial party. He is a member of the Christian church, and is a member of Euclid Lodge No. 53 of the blue lodge of the Masons in Great Falls. He is somewhat of an athlete, and was prominent in athletic circles in Norway, where he was the winner of a number of medals and various swimming and running contests. Although he has for the most part given up active part in these sports, Mr. Walnum is still fond of all out door exercise and finds a great deal of his pleasure in this way.

On September 25, 1908, Mr. Walnum was united in marriage with Miss Grace L. Curran of Culbertson, Montana. They have one child,-S. B. Walnum, born September 6, 19II.

FREDERICK W. WILSON. After a long and varied ca- reer that has taken him to points throughout the west- ern mining states, and during which he has been identified with large ventures which have met with varying degrees of success, Frederick W. Wilson is now engaged in business in the city of Stevensville, where he is one of his community's best-known citizens. Reared to the life of an agriculturist, a roving and ven- turesome spirit caused him to leave home at a tender age to seek his fortune in the new places of the west, and the self-reliance and adaptability to all conditions thus ingrained in him in his younger years have been of great benefit to him in the conduct of his business affairs. Mr. Wilson was born in County Bruce, On- tario, Canada, February 7, 1864, and is a son of Samuel and Sarah (Cockburn) Wilson. His father, a native of Ireland, came from Dublin to Canada when he was seventeen years of age, and during his earlier years was engaged in farming. Subsequently he removed to Lucknow, where he became a partner in the large wholesale and retail firm of Madden, Ruckledge & Wilson, and later he moved to North . Bay where he engaged in farming until his death in 1910, at North Bay. His wife, a native of Canada, passed away in 1884, having been the mother of children as fol- lows: Robert C., who is engaged in mining in Alaska; Samuel J., engaged in mining in Carter, Montana ; Ruth Ada, who married Fred Clement, of Saskatchewan, N. W. T .; Margaret J., now Mrs. Alfred Glendenning, of Saskatchewan; Elizabeth, who married Robert Wil- son, of Toronto; Clara M., a widow of Saskatchewan; Frederick W., and Albert E., of Saskatchewan.

Frederick W. Wilson was six years of age when taken to Lucknow by his parents, and his education was secured in the public schools, which he left at the age of fifteen years. He then served an apprenticeship of one year to the trade of printer, then spent two years in the employ of a butcher, and one year in a store and postoffice, and at this time his parents removed to the Nippissing district. At that time he and his brother, Robert, engaged in a butcher business at Callender, northwestern Ontario, but after one year the business was dissolved and Frederick W. became clerk for Gerwin. Sanders & Company, in whose employ he

remained one year. He then drifted west over the north shore of Lake Superior into the Rocky and Sel- kirk mountain ranges, from Rogears to Ravestoke, where with eight other boys he bought a large dug-out, or canoe, and came down the Columbia river, on a five- day journey in the fall of 1885, to Marquis, or Little Dells, Washington. At that point they hired an In- dian and teams and drove through the Colville valley to Spokane Falls, and were well received at the various points, there being a musician in the party. Arriving at Spokane Falls, the party divided, but Mr. Wilson re- mained at that point for two months and then re- moved to Couer d'Alene, where he began his career as a miner and prospector. In this he was almost immediately successful, and these vocations claimed his undivided attention until 1905, he having interests in Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska. This has continued to be Mr. Wilson's chief interest. He has been a close student on mineral formations and is an acknowledged judge of quartz, and it is believed no man in the county has a more intimate or wider range of knowledge on the subject. In 1905 he came to Stevensville, where, with his brother-in-law, Joseph Dagenais, he engaged in a drug business, purchasing the store of Frank Cyr. Under their management the business has prospered greatly and is now the leader of its kind in the city. One year after they commenced business the store was destroyed by fire, but a hand- some new structure was immediately erected and ac- commodations made for the rapidly growing trade. Mr. Wilson has also built a handsome home in Stevens- ville. He is a past master of the Masonic lodge, and is past patron of Eastern Star lodge of Stevensville. In his political belief he is a Progressive, but has not cared to hold public office.

Mr. Wilson was married to Miss Eva M. Dobbins, of Stevensville, and they have had two children, a son and daughter. Mrs. Wilson is a daughter of George W. Dobbins, one of Montana's "old-timers" who is now living a retired life in Stevensville, after a life replete with adventure and experience. He was born July 7, 1830, in Bourbon county, Kentucky, a son of J. D. and Nancy (Smalley) Dobbins, who shortly after his birth removed to Quincy, Illinois, where the mother died in 1836. The father then took the family to Marion county, Missouri, where he was engaged in general merchandising, farming and stock raising until his death, in 1842. George W. Dobbins received a public school education, and until twenty years of age was engaged in farming and stock-raising in Missouri. In 1850 he left DeKalb, that state, in an ox-team, in company with his brother, W. J. Dobbins, the latter's wife, and another emigrant, prepared to cross the plains to California. At the present site of Atchison, Kansas, they joined other parties who were joining in the rush to the Golden state, the entire band finally totalling about twenty-one wagons and 100 people. The women and children rode in the wagons during the greater part of the journey, which took from May Ist to August Ist, but the men walked, and had fre- quent skirmishes with the Sioux Indians, of whom at that time there were some 40,000 between Atchison, Kan -. sas, and the point of destination, Placerville, California, and in one battle an Indian was killed. Rockers and shovels had been purchased on the journey, and on arriving at Placerville Mr. Dobbins at once engaged in placer mining, but the first two days of work show- ing only seventy-five cents worth of gold, he moved on to Drytown, on Dry creek. Here he was almost im- mediately successful and continued to carry on placer mining during the fall and winter, accumulating much gold and taking out on one occasion $1,000 in a single day. Money was spent in a prodigal fashion in the mining camps of that day, however, the prospectors feeling that what was spent today could be made up tomorrow, while the cost of foodstuffs reached as

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

high as one dollar a pound. As a consequence, when Mr. Dobbins left Drytown, he had a capital of but $1,200, and with this went to visit the new mining district in the vicinity of Sacramento City, settling about twenty miles therefrom. He remained about two years in that locality, making plenty of money, but subse- quently went to Sierra county, California, where he re- mained only one month. Returning to the vicinity of Sacramento, he settled in Brown's Ravine, and there remained six years. In 1858 he started for Frazier- ville, but after six months there pushed on to Butte county, which, in turn, he left in 1859 at the time of the Pike's Peak, Colorado, excitement. A trip of three months followed, and he continued in that locality for some time, meeting with only ordinary success.

Long before the Alder Gulch district was opened Mr. Dobbins came to Fort Limki, having been drawn to Montana in 1862 at the time of the Florence excite- ment. During his stay at that place he assisted in the capture of a party of ten Indians, who were held as hostage while another of their party secured two horses to give to the white men in place of a horse which the Indians had stolen and killed. On the recommendation of a pioneer named Joseph Blodgett, Mr. and Mrs. Dobbins started for the Bitter Root country, some 200 miles away, and while on their journey found miners at work in the Big Hole diggings, badly in need of food. Returning to Fort Owen, Mr. Dobbins purchased eight- een pack-loads of vegetables from Mr. Blodgett, which he took to the miners and sold for a span of American horses and harness and $200 in gold dust, all valued at about $500, and these were the first vegetables ever sold or taken out of the Bitter Root valley. During that same year Mr. Dobbins participated in the stam- pede to Grasshopper Falls, and later to Bannack City, but in 1863 took charge of the blacksmith shop at Fort Owen, where he was able to make and save some money. He raised 600 bushels of potatoes during the next year, which he sold at three dollars per bushel, while wheat was bringing fifteen dollars a bushel and other vegetables and grains proportionate prices. Event- ually he drifted into stock-raising, in which he was uniformly successful, continuing therein until 1902, at which time he platted his land and disposed of eighty acres to George May, forty acres of his property hav- ing been given to the Stevensville Townsite Company after long litigation.

Mr. and Mrs. Dobbins are now living in quiet retire- ment, enjoying the fruits of their long years of hard ' labor. They experienced all the hardships and privations of the pioneers in any new district, and have lived hard, rugged lives, but despite this are enjoying good health for those who have reached their years, Mr. Dobbins being eighty-two and his wife sixty-nine. They were married October 15, 1860, she having been Miss Louisa Salee, a native of Missouri, and they have had nine children, of whom three are deceased, while the sur- vivors are: Jefferson, residing in Stevensville; Jack- son, of Phoenix, Arizona; Sterling, of Stevensville ; Eva May, the wife of Mr. Wilson; James D., living at Victor, Colorado; and Myrtle, who married Joseph Dagenais, Mr. Wilson's partner in the drug business. Mr. Dobbins is a Socialist in his political belief, and at one time was a candidate on his party's ticket for the office of mayor, but on account of adverse political conditions met with defeat at the polls.

HARRY B. BYRNE. As local representative in Montana of the extensive brokerage firm of Paine, Webber & Company, of Boston, Massachusetts, Mr. Byrne has built up a large and substantial business for this con- cern and has made its branch in the city of Butte one of the most successful in the west. He is known as a progressive and reliable business man of marked initia- tive and executive ability, and has proved a valuable accession to the business circle of the Montana met-

ropolis, where he has gained secure vantage ground in popular confidence and esteem. He has won advance- ment and success through his own ability and efforts and his status as a citizen and man of affairs amply justifies his representation in this history of the state of his adoption.

Mr. Byrne is a scion of one of the old and honored families of Maryland and is of staunch Scotch-Irish lineage on both the paternal and maternal sides. Four generations of the Byrne family have played well their part on the stage of activities in the fine old state of Maryland, where the founder of the family estab- lished his residence in 1760, upon his immigration from the north of Ireland, and records extant show that he served as a valiant soldier of the Continental line in the War of the Revolution. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Byrne likewise came from the northern part of the fair old Emerald Isle and established his home in Maryland.

Harry B. Byrne was born in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, on the 31st of July, 1872, and is a son of Samuel E. and Laura V. (Stuart) Byrne, both likewise natives of Maryland, where they continued to maintain their home until 1875, when they removed to Michigan and established their home in the city of Marquette, the metropolis of the upper peninsula of the Wolverine state. Samuel E. Byrne was born in the year 1842 and is still a resident of Marquette, Michigan, where he has been engaged in the real estate business for many years and where he is held in high esteem by all who know him. His cherished and devoted wife, who was born in August, 1850, was summoned to the life eternal in November, 1886, and of their eight children four sons and two daughters are living. The family have been communicants of the Catholic church for many . generations and have been zealous in their service to this great mother of Christendom. Samuel E. Byrne was a valiant soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war, in which he served during the entire period of the long and sanguinary conflict between the North and South, as a member of the First Maryland Battery, with which he participated in many of the important engage- ments marking the progress of the war, including the second battle of Bull Run, the battle of Gettysburg and the battle of the Wilderness. Harry B. Byrne was three years of age at the time of the family removal to Michigan and was reared to adult age in the city of Marquette, to whose public and parochial schools he is indebted for his early educational discipline. He was graduated in the high school as a member of the class of 1888, and, with the intention of learning the rail- road business as thoroughly as possible, he entered the employ of the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Rail- road Company, with which he remained for fifteen years, within which he served in various departments, in clerical and executive capacities. He then retired and entered the employ of the Standard Oil Company, in Marquette, and after remaining with this great corpora- tion three years he again identified himself with the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railroad, as an engineer and surveyor in connection with construction work. He was thus engaged for several years and in the mean- while he determined to seek a sphere of enterprise which would offer better opportunities for advancement and individual success. Accordingly, in 1900, he asso- ciated himself with the firm of Paine, Webber & Com- pany, the well known Boston bankers and brokers, as its representative in the city of Houghton, Michigan, where he remained until 1905. In August of that year he was transferred by the firm to Butte, Montana, and as- signed to the duty of establishing a branch office in this city. He accomplished this preliminary work and has since been most successful in developing the ex- tensive brokerage business of the firm in this state, the concern being known as the largest brokerage firm in Boston and maintaining branches in the prin-

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cipal mining centers of the country. Mr. Byrne is also interested in mining operations in an individual way and he has gained a success in his various en- deavors that causes him to feel well satisfied with the fact that he has thus become so closely identified with business interests in the Treasure State of the Union.

His office headquarters are established at 47 East Broadway and his residence is at 401 West Granite street. He is popular in the business circles of his adopted city, and both he and his wife are similarly placed in connection with the social activities of the community. In politics Mr. Byrne maintains an inde- pendent attitude, and both he and Mrs. Byrne are com- municants of the Catholic church, as members of the parish of St. Patrick's church. He is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and holds membership in the Silver Bow Club, the Country Club and the Montana Fishing and Hunting Club.

At Hancock, Michigan, on the 23d of January, 1907, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Byrne to Miss Alice Sarah Ryan, who was there born and reared and who is a daughter of Edward Ryan, a well known citizen of that thriving mining city of the upper penin- sula of Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Byrne find their home the brighter by reason of the presence of their two children, Harriet, who was born in Butte on the 20th of February, 1908, and Thomas Joseph, born December 14, 19II.

ARTHUR A. STAPLETON. Occupying a good position among the keen and progressive business men of Lew- istown is Arthur A. Stapleton, who keeps busily em- ployed as a plumber, having a wide and lucrative pat- ronage. A native of Canada, he was born, October . 25, 1874, at Saint Marys, Ontario, which was his home until four years of age.

Mr. Stapleton's father, Arthur Stapleton, was born in England, but while yet an infant was brought by his parents to America, and from that time until his death, which occurred in Saint Marys, Ontario, in 1879, was a resident of Canada. He was a farmer by occu- pation, and was engaged in agricultural pursuits, in- cluding lumbering, during his active career. His wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Long, survived him until May, 1912.

The sixth child in a family of seven children, Ar- thur A. Stapleton was a little lad of less than five years when his father died, and very soon after that event was taken by his widowed mother to Lexington, Michigan, where he was brought up and educated. Partly dependent upon his own resources from boy- hood. he began hustling for himself at the age of ten years, doing errands and odd jobs of all kinds, his first real employment having been at the age of four- teen years, when he was engaged to take care of a trotting horse at a salary of twenty dollars a month, that being the sum promised him, but which he never received. On the contrary his employer went away without paying him his wages, leaving Mr. Stapleton at a hotel, with his bills unpaid, and moneyless. Ex- plaining his predicament to his landlord, he sought work, and earned enough money before leaving the hotel to settle his accounts with the proprietor, who had been most kind to him.

When sixteen years of age, Mr. Stapleton learned the plumber's trade in Grand Rapids, Michigan, serving an apprenticeship of three years, and has followed it continuously since, being an expert workman. He subsequently worked as a journeyman in all the large cities of the United States, traveling in that capacity until 1896, when he returned to Michigan, and em- barked in the plumbing business for himself, a ven- ture which proved successful. Coming from there to Montana in 1905, Mr. Stapleton had charge of the plumbing and heating department of the Judith Hard- ware Company, of Lewistown, for a year and a half,

but since that time has been in business for himself, being now the leading plumber of the city.

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A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 128

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