A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 133

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

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On January 1, 1909, Mr. Melzner was elected public administrator of Silver Bow county, and to the exigent and important affairs of the same he has since given virtually his entire time and attention. He was chosen as his own successor in the election of 1911, and his second term expired January, 1913. Concerning his administration, adequate record has been made in the opening paragraph of this review. In politics Mr. Melz- ner is a stanch adherent of the Democratic party, and he has given effective service as an active worker in its ranks. He holds membership in the Woodmen of the World and in the University Club, one of the rep- resentative civic organizations of the Montana metrop- olis.

On the 30th of June, 1909, Mr. Melzner was united in marriage to Miss Ida M. Appel, who was born in Min- nesota and is a daughter of Stephen U. Appel, now a well-known citizen of Kellogg, Minnesota, where he is a rancher. Mr. and Mrs. Melzner have no children.

T. J. NERNY, a representative business man and well known citizen of Butte, has resided in that city since 1906. He is a Pennsylvanian by birth, and since becoming a resident of Montana's metropolis has taken a prominent part in its business and civic activities.

While financially interested in industrial circles, he has taken a prominent part in civic affairs. Mr. Nerny has served with efficiency, as a member of the city council for the past six years, and at the present time (in 1912) is president of that body.

In every respect he a loyal and public spirited citi- zen, giving freely of his aid and influence in support of all measures projected for the improvement and progress of his adopted city and its industries.

FRANK A. LENZ. Seldom is it permitted to any one person to live a life so varied in environment, and at the same time so full of notable achievement, as that of Mr. Frank Lenz. The bare outline of his career reads like a romance, and if it were written as a story

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it would be said that it was unnatural for any single man to have so diversified a life. Born in Danzig, Germany, of noble family, he was surrounded from his youth with all the advantages of a cultivated and affluent home. His father, August Lenz, the noted German horticulturist and poet, was the son of an. officer of high rank in the Prussian army and received his education in the Culm Army Academy. He ex- pected to follow his father's profession, but lost his career through a mistake of Dr. Lauer, the physician of old Emperor William, who was at that time the academy physician, and who performed a clumsy oper- ation on the young man's right eye, rendering it blind and incapacitating him for further army service. He devoted himself to letters, and produced poems that are genuine contributions to the German literature. Though blind for the last ten years of his life, he continued not only to compose but to write his productions, and the handwriting of that blind litterateur would put many a man with full vision to shame. He died in December, 1907, at the age of eighty-nine. His wife, Paulina Roh- leder Lenz, a representative of a noble German family, is still living in Danzig. The Lenz family is one which has long been well known in the upper circles of the German empire, from the time when Jaccum August Lenz served under Frederick the Great.

Our subject was born February 13, 1862, and secured his primary education in the schools of Danzig. When he graduated from the Gymnasium he entered the Deutsch-Krone School of Architecture, from which he graduated in 1876. He was then sent to Bordeaux, France, to study the architecture of the quay and dry- dock system then being installed there. While on this quest, he met an old-time friend of the family, who was captain of a vessel then loaded with a cargo for an American port. Just at this time Mr. Lenz's passport had expired and he was due to return to Germany and to enter the army there. This was very distasteful to him, and so he was induced to accompany his sea-far- ing friend to America. The captain did not wholly approve of the plan, but he finally consented, and on February 2, 1891, Frank Lenz landed in New York, without one cent in his pockets and without any very suitable clothes to harbor the pockets.

In wandering about New York, Mr. Lenz met a man whom he had known in Germany. This gentleman was then engaged in some work for the government, remov- ing the obstructions in the harbor near Hell Gate. Through his assistance Mr. Lenz secured employment with a firm of prominent architects in the city. The work was not what his training had fitted him to do, for he had to go in as a hod carrier, but he cheer- fully accepted that until he could find a better position. His next place was with a stove-manufacturing plant, and from cleaning stoves he was advanced to office work. He remained with this firm until his friend, Mr. Rotzell went into the map-publishing business, and then assisted him making the geographical survey of Manhattan Island. Before this work was completed Mr. Lenz became sick.

One of the acquaintances the young German had formed was a Jesuit priest, and the father took the greatest interest in his young friend. When his health failed, the priest advised him to take a rest in Mary- land at the home of the Novices and Students. In this retreat he regained his health, but when he re- turned to New York his friends had departed. Mr. Lenz then went to Newark, New Jersey, and there be- came professor of mathematics in the college. From Newark he went to Notre Dame College, where he taught the same subject as at Newark for a year and a half. While in this latter position he made the ac- quaintance of Mr. Charles Warren Stoddard, who was one of the lecturers at Notre Dame. The Fathers of the Holy Cross had a college at Cincinnati, and at this time there was one class in the institution which had

almost broken up the discipline of the entire school. Mr. Lenz had been at Notre Dame for a year and a half when he met one of the fathers from the Cincin- nati school. Greatly discouraged over their failure to secure a master who could rule this class, the father confided his perplexities to Mr. Lenz. Somewhat to his surprise, the young man asked for the appointment. When he took charge of the unruly students, he donned the priestly garments, in order to deceive them, and to carry out the part he functionated as sub-deacon at the various celebrations in Holy Trinity church. He was so successful in subduing the class that he was urged to study for the priesthood.

It was while preparing for this vocation that Mr. Lenz made the acquaintance of the noted actress, Mary Anderson, who visited Holy Trinity church every morning during her stay in Cincinnati. She urged him to take up the publication of a Catholic newspaper. The idea appealed to Mr. Lenz and he accepted the editorship of a journal and followed that profession until the abbot of St. Meinrard College persuaded him to fill the chair of professor of mathematics, which was vacant at the time. While filling this position, Mr. Lenz continued his studies, taking a course in theology and philosophy. But at the end of a year he became dis- satisfied with this lot, and going to Louisville, Ken- tucky, he again entered the field of journalism. He pur- chased a paper which he conducted for two years, and then he took up the study of law. After selling the paper, Mr. Lenz worked at the insurance business in the daytime and studied for his profession at night. Later he entered the office of a prominent attorney in Louisville, and then entered the law college in the same city, from which he graduated. His admission to the bar occurred before he completed his course, as he was admitted by a special board of examiners.

Until 1906 Mr. Lenz practiced in Louisville. He had decided to move to Denver, but while on the way thither he received news of the serious illness of his brother in Butte, and so he came to the Montana metropolis instead. The climate and the people appealed to him and so he decided to make Butte his home. He was admitted to the bar of the supreme court at Helena, and his legal career in this state has been marked by that splendid success which he has won in all that he has undertaken.

Mr. Lenz is one of the best-known men of the Ger- man-American element of Butte. He is the founder of the Liederkranz, the Montana Sangerbund, the Butte German Hall, and is active in all the undertakings of his countrymen. He belongs to the Roman Catholic church, and in the order of Lyons he is the secretary.

On October 17, 1888, Mr. Lenz was united in marriage to Miss Louise Kamuf. of Owensboro, Kentucky. Three of his ten children, Paul Albert, August Joseph and Frank Joseph, were born in that city. August died at the age of one year. His eldest child, Mrs. Eva Mat- zinger, was born in Louisville, as were all the others. The names of the other children are Joseph Leo Ama- lius, Frederick August, Marie Adelia Christine, John Urban, Louise Agnes and Marie. Mr. Lenz is a sup- porter of the principles of the Democratic party in political matters. He has a large circle of friends and relatives in business in Butte, and is known throughout the city both as an able lawyer and as a popular cit- izen.

EDWARD OWENS. In the present day and age of the world no young man who has industry, energy and ambition need want for opportunity to make for him- self an honored place in the business or professional worlds, and it is a noteworthy fact, furthermore, that those who are urged by necessity and must secure through their own unaided efforts the things which they desire in life often achieve the highest results. Among the successful business men of Butte, Mon-

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tana, who belong in the self-made class Edward Owens deserves conspicuous mention.

Mr. Owens, who was born in Ida county, Iowa, October 6, 1880, is of Welch-German ancestry, his ma- ternal grandfather having come from Germany to settle first in Ohio, and later to become a pioneer in Iowa. His grandfather Owens immigrated from Wales, his native country, in an early day and was a miner at Mineral Point, Wisconsin, from the time of his arrival in this country until the date of his death. His son, David Owens, father of Edward, was born in Wales December 17, 1856, being two years old when brought to the United States by his parents. The elder Owens was reared and educated at Mineral Point, Wisconsin, and married Mary M. Dryer, a native of Iowa, who was born January 9, 1859. They became the parents of six children, of whom Edward was the second oldest. The family removed to Livingston county, Missouri, when Edward was a small child, at which place the father now lives and follows agricultural pursuits, he having been since early manhood a prosperous farmer.

Edward Owens was reared on the farm under such influences as usually obtain in rural communities. He attended school in Livingston county during his early years and later went to high school at Laurel, Nebraska, continuing his studies there until eighteen years of age. After finishing this portion of his education Mr. Owens apprenticed himself to J. B. Jouvenat, a drug- gist at Laurel, and while there learning the drug trade he resolved to become a full-fledged pharmacist and after three years with Mr. Jouvnat the young man went to St. Louis, entered the St. Louis College of Pharmacy and after two years' study was rewarded with the degree of graduate of pharmacy. While attending the university Mr. Owens found it necessary to support himself through his own personal efforts and found em- ployment in the drug store of the Marion-Sims Col- lege in St. Louis. Subsequent to his graduation he continued to occupy a responsible position for two years, but afterwards accepted an offer to connect him- self with the Arcade Pharmacy in the same city.

Mr. Owens cherished the laudable ambition of own- ing a drug store of his own, however, and believing that the west afforded the best opportunities for the wide-awake and enthusiastic to enter business he decided to locate at Butte. Upon his arrival in this city in June, 1906, he at once found employment with C. B. Hoskins, a popular druggist here, and continued to fill the posi- tion for two years. At the end of that period Mr. Owens in partnership with Mr. W. R. Montgomery purchased Mr. Hoskins' store and they have since been conducting the business as a corporation. under the name of the Owens-Montgomery Drug Company, at 140 West Park, Mr. Owens being president of the firm and Mr. Montgomery secretary and treasurer.

Theirs is now one of the leading drug establishments in Butte and as it is conducted in a modern and up- to-date manner, with a clean, fresh stock of drugs al- ways on the shelves, the store attracts a constantly increasing clientele and is classed as one of the best and most substantial commercial enterprises of the city today.

Mr. Owens is a gentleman of superior business ability and pleasing personality and his high worth as a man and a citizen is fully recognized throughout the community. He is a valued member of the University Club here. Since his eighteenth year Mr. Owens has been a mem- ber of the Royal Highlanders order and is also a mem- ber of the Butte lodge of Elks. While he discharges his duties as a citizen and an important integral part of the commercial life of the city he is not actively interested in political affairs, although his party prin- ciples are Democratic. As a rising young business man of exemplarv character and unimpeachable integrity he is held in high esteem by all who know him.

WILLIAM S. CASTO, proprietor of the New Orpheum Theatre in Butte, Montana, is distinctively a pioneer in the amusement business in the west. His opera- tions have not alone been confined to Montana, but he has conducted a theatre business in numerous points in California for years, and he, with his brother, Grant Casto, as the firm of Casto Brothers, are prop- erly regarded as being among the representative men of the west in connection with their business.

William S. Casto was born in Sonoma county, Cali- fornia, on August 27, 1869. He is the son of Timothy Everett Casto, born in Indiana, and who went to Cali- fornia in 1853 by way of the Isthmus and located near Santa Cruz. He was a cooper in his native state, and was one of the pioneer coopers of California, con- ducting a cooperage business and a lime kiln at Santa Cruz for a number of years. He died in California in 1905, at the age of seventy-seven years. His wife and the mother of his children was Ann (Bell) Casto, born in Washington, D. C., on July 4, 1828. She died at the family home in California in 1899. Two sons were born to Timothy and Ann Casto, Grant E. and William S. The latter named was educated up to his fourteenth year in the common schools at Sonoma, after which time he went to work in the cooperage shop of his father to learn that trade. The boy was of an ambitious nature, and his evenings were passed in attendance upon a night school. He followed the cooperage business for twelve years, becoming thorough- ly proficient in the work and was in a fair way to success in that industry when he was irresistibly at- tracted by the money-making possibilities which the amusement field offered. As a venture, he and his brother Grant started an arcade in San Francisco, and were the representatives of the Edison Manu- facturing Company, of which the great inventor is the head. Their efforts from the outset were attended by a reasonable degree of success, and when the cinemato- graph was first made possible as a popular movement, the Casto Brothers promptly opened up a completely equipped moving picture theatre, which proved a gen- uine success. Their operations in San Francisco was successful, and from one arcade they increased the number in that city, and also established them in Salt Lake City and in Butte. They were the first to go into that line of business in both the latter named places, and pioneers' rewards have been theirs from the beginning. In the summer of 1904 they ran an arcade at the Great Sale Lake, and in the fall of 1905 opened a large arcade in Ogden, Utah. In Jan- uary, 1906, they came to Butte to look over the situa- tion here, and as a result opened one of the first arcade theatres in that place, at 33 West Park street, invest- ing the sum of $15,000 in the venture. In the follow- ing year they opened the first moving picture theatre in the state of Montana. At the time of the earth- quake in California the two brothers lost everything they possessed in California, having still retained their interests there, although deeply interested in Montana and Utah as well, so that they were entirely dependent upon the result of their venture in the latter named states. For a time their circumstances were in a straitened condition, but by careful management and skilfull manipulation of the property they possessed, the brothers were soon on their feet once more and on November 1, 1907, they opened the little theatre known as "The Orpheum," at 77 West Park Street.

After three and one-half years in this location the business had grown to proportions that warranted a larger and more commodious theatre, with the result that they secured a ten years' lease on the Baltimore Block, at 69-71 West Park street, and after remodeling the same at a great expense opened it as the New Or- phenm Theatre, on August 9, 1911. This is one of the finest theatres of its kind in the West, with a seating capacity of seven hundred and fifty. The theatre is

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a decided success as a place of amusement, and is patronized by the best element of citizenship in the city of Butte. They have installed every new feature in the moving-picture world as fast as they are per- fected, and their establishment is as complete as such a theatre could be. Advancement is the watchword of the brothers, and they aim to maintain a high stand- ard of entertainment in their theatre, and always to have the best offerings that the market affords. In addition to their regular business, they have secured the agency for the entire northwest of the latest inven- tion of the Edison people, the moving picture for the home, from which agency they expect a deal of benefit to accrue to them. The brothers are regarded in their section of the state as being particularly prosperous men, and it is obvious to all that they are fast forging ahead in the amusement field.

William Casto is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Theatrical Mechanical Association. He is a Republican in his poli- tical leanings, although never an aspirant to office. He is particularly fond of out-door life, and is well known in the theatrical world. On August 28, 1898, he was married to Miss Charlotte Fritsch, of San Francisco, California. One child has been born to them, Everett Casto, born June 28, 1899, at San Francisco. He is now attending school in Butte.

The brother of William Casto, Grant E., has been his brother's partner since he first went into the theatrical business, and their success comes from the combined efforts, with equal credit to both. He was educated in Sonoma county, where he and his brother were born, and until he went into the amusement line with his brother, was engaged in railroad work. Qn July 29, 1888, he was married to Miss Bell Ward, of Cloverdale, California. Two children are the result of their union: Harold W. Casto, born in 1896 in Pajaro, California, and Charles Shortridge Casto, born in 1894, in San Jose, California.

GEORGE A. JEFFERY. Prominent among the leading business enterprises of Carbon county stands the W. A. Talmage Company of Red Lodge, dealers in hardware, agricultural implements, wagons and buggies, the gen- eral manager of which, George A. Jeffery, has been identified with this line of business since the days when commercial travelers were forced to make use of the stage coach to reach the various points of their desti- nations in Montana. Mr. Jeffery is a native of Charles- town, Massachusetts, and was born March 25, 1861, a son of Joseph John and Katherine (Reidhead) Jeffery.

Joseph John Jeffery was born in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, May 30, 1831, and is now living in Min- neapolis, Minnesota, while his wife, born at Blue Hill, Penobscot county, Maine, in 1842, passed away in 1903. They had two children, Mary Anna and George A. Joseph J. Jeffery was given an excellent education in the schools of Boston, where he took an engineering course, and as a young man entered the employ of the United States government at Springfield, Massachusetts, where he was engaged in the manufacture of guns for the United States army up to 1865. In that year he removed to Minneapolis, becoming superintendent of the Minnesota Iron Works, a position which he held for a number of years, then entering the local machin- ery department of the Chicago, Minneapolis & St. Paul Railroad Company. Later he was superintendent in organizing the water system of the city of Minne- apolis, and at this time is superintendent of the meter department of Minneapolis. He is well known in Ma- sonic circles, and is also an active and influential Re- publican.

George A. Jeffery was educated in the public schools of Minneapolis, Minnesota, to which city he went with his parents when he was four years of age, and his first

employment was as clerk in a hardware store in that city, where he worked during 1879 and 1880. He then entered the establishment of Miller Brothers & Fletcher, wholesale and retail hardware merchants of Minneapo- lis, being connected with that firm until 1889. At that time he removed to Seattle, Washington, and engaged in the undertaking business, but the great fire in that city destroyed his place of business and wiped out his capital, and he went to Portland, Oregon, to make a new start in the business world. There he became a travel- ing salesman of Zahn Brothers, in woodenware and hardware specialties, but after about two years associated himself with C. W. Hackett, a wholesale hardware mer- chant of St. Paul, as traveling salesman, and remained in his employ for about five years. Mr. Jeffery next acted in the capacity of traveling salesman for Mon- tana of the Marshall Wells Hardware Company of Duluth, Minnesota, with headquarters in Helena for eleven years, but in 1906 purchased an interest in the business of W. A. Talmage, of Red Lodge, whose estab- lishment is situated at No. 21 North Billings avenue, with a branch store in Joliet. Under Mr. Jeffery's able management this business has become one of the leaders in its line in this part of the State and commands a large trade among representative firms all over Mon- tana and the surrounding country. Connected with this line since early youth, he is thoroughly familiar with every detail of the business, and his modern ideas and progressive methods are constantly tending to bring in new business. Fraternal matters have claimed a large amount of his attention, and he is a member of Star of the West Lodge No. 40, A. F. & A. M., of which he is a senior warden; Carbon Chapter No. 20, R. A. M., where he is captain of the host; Billings Com- mandery No. 6, K. T., and Algeria Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., at Helena. He is a life member of Helena Lodge No. 193, B. P. O. E., of which he is past exalted ruler, and has served one term as district deputy grand exalted ruler of Montana, having been appoint- ed to this position by the grand exalted ruler of the United States, John F. Fanning of Indianapolis, Indi- ana. He is likewise connected with the Knights of Pythias, belonging to Fergus Falls Lodge No. 59, and has served two terms on the grand council of the United Commercial Travelers from the districts of Montana, Idaho and Utah. In political matters Mr. Jeffery is a Republican, but public affairs have not in- terested him to the extent of causing him to enter the public arena as a candidate. During the early days he had many interesting and exciting experiences while traveling from point to point by stage-coach in Mon- tana, and another well-remembered journey was the trip he made on the first train sent with passengers from Kalispell to Havre, a journey of 265 miles that took twenty-nine hours to accomplish.

On May 25, 1885, Mr. Jeffery was married to Miss Carrie Peakes, who was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, daughter of John D. and Mary (Ruffe) Peakes, and she died December 2, 1887. Mr. Peakes was a native of Maine and his wife of Nova Scotia, and they had two children, of whom Mrs. Jeffery was the elder. One child, Marian, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Jeffery, December 2, 1886, and died July 5, 1887.

C. HENRY SMITH. A wide-awake, brainy man, en- thusiastic, energetic and optimistic, C. Henry Smith is prominently identified with the manufacturing and com- mercial life of Butte, and as a man of broad affairs, is contributing both directly and indirectly to the ad- vancement of the material interests of the city. Coming from excellent New England ancestry on the maternal side of the house, and of thrifty German stock on the paternal side, he was born July 13, 1869, in Hartford, Connecticut.

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A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 133

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