A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 136

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

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ROBERT C. CARDELL. Prominent among the younger generations of business men in Billings, Montana, Robert C. Cardell holds prestige as president of the Cardell Lumber and Coal Company, secretary of the Montana Sash and Door Company, and a director and one of the organizers of the Farmers and Traders State Bank. Although he has been a resident of Bill- ings only since 1906, he has already attained a sub- stantial position among the leaders of industrial and commercial activity in the city, and his ability as an organizer and executive has been recognized by his business associates on various occasions. Mr. Cardell was born in Malcom, Powshiek county, Iowa, July 21, 1879, and is a son of Leander and Emma L. (Chap- man) Cardell.

The late Leander Cardell had an eventful and suc- cessful career. Born in the state of Vermont, in 1835, he was still a youth when he joined a party of venture- some comrades and started for the newly discovered gold fields of California, making the trip around the Horn. Three years were spent in mining, but with only indifferent success, and he eventually returned to his home in the East, only to once more seek his fortune in the western fields as a pioneer in Iowa. Locating in Powshiek county, until 1880, he carried on farming and stock-raising, and at that time removed to Perry, Dallas county, Iowa, where he was engaged in the real estate and loan business until 1895, when he retired from active life. While a resident of Mal- com he was actively interested in political matters, serving with dignity and distinction as a member of the Iowa state legislature, and in his death, which occurred in 1907, his community lost one of its most able and representative men. He and his wife, who survives him, held membership in the Congregational church. Of their five children, three died in infancy, the survivors being: Florence, the wife of John R. Swearingen, president of the Montana Sash and Door Company of Billings, and Robert C.

Robert C. Cardell was educated in the schools of Perry, Iowa, in Stetson University and the University of Michigan, and his first venture in the field of busi- ness was in a partnership in Perry, in 1900, in the firm of John R. Swearingen & Company, dealers in lumber. In 1903 he removed to Muscatine, Iowa, where he became a traveling salesman for the Huttig Manufacturing Company, makers of sash, doors and mill work, and subsequently became a stockholder in that company, and when, in 1906, the company awoke to the great possibilities in the West, Mr. Cardell was sent west as one of the directors of the company's western branch at Billings, which position he has filled with ability and judgment to the present time. On February 1, 1911, he was one of the organizers of the Montana Sash and Door Company, capitalized at $500,000, and at that time became its secretary. The Cardell Lumber and Coal Company was organized at the time the Huttig Manufacturing Company estab- lished its western branch in Billings, in 1906, and now Mr. Cardell is president of this company.

Fraternally, Mr. Cardell is connected with Ashlar Lodge, No. 29, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons ; Billings Chapter No. 6, Royal Arch Masons; Aldemar

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Commandery, No. 5, Knights Templar; Butte Con- sistory (thirty-second degree), Scottish Rite, and Algeria Temple, Ancient, Arabic, Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Helena. He also holds membership in Billings Lodge, No. 394, Benevolent, Protective Order of Elks, and like his father, is a Republican in his political proclivities.

On April 10, 1906, Mr. Cardell was united in mar- riage with Miss Florence Penfield, who was born in Missouri, the second of the three children of Herlan Penfield. Mr. and Mrs. Cardell have had two chil- dren : Mary and Robert Leander.

GEORGE W. SEEBECK. In May, 1906, George W. See- beck. came to Montana, settling at Choteau, where he was in the employ of C. H. Drake as drug clerk for fifteen months, at the end of which he removed to Conrad. Mr. Seebeck is an enterprising citizen, whose persistency and initiative have won him an enviable place in business circles in this city. He is the owner of a fine ranch of one hundred and sixty acres, eligibly located not far distant from Conrad, and he also has valuable real estate holdings within the city limits.

A native of the fine old Gopher state of the Union, George W. Seebeck was born in LeSueur county, Min- nesota, December 26, 1877, and he is a son of August H. and Bertha C. (Saltan) Seebeck, the former of whom was born in Germany and the latter of whom is a native of Minnesota. The father came to the United States in the early '6os, at the age of eleven years, and in the pioneer days of Minnesota assisted in the subjugation of hostile Indians. He was a miller by trade but after coming to America engaged in agri -. cultural pursuits. He and his family now reside in the city of Redwood Falls, Minnesota. August H. Seebeck is possessed of considerable inventive genius and among the devices which he has had patented is a straw stacker much in use by farmers of the middle west. Mr. and Mrs. Seebeck are the parents of twelve chil- dren, and of that number the subject of this review was the first born.

George W. Seebeck was a child of but three years of age when his parents removed from LeSueur county, Minnesota, to Redwood county, that state. To the pub- lic schools of the latter place he is indebted for his preliminary educational training. He was reared to maturity on the old homestead farm, in the work and management of which he early began to assist his father. At the age of twenty-three years he left home and entered the employ of E. A. Luscher, a druggist at Redwood Falls. Mr. Seebeck spent four years as an apprentice learning the drug business and in the spring of 1906 he came to Montana and located at Choteau, where he worked in the drug store of C. H. Drake for the ensuing fifteen months. August 26, 1907. he came to Conrad and here undertook the conduct of a drug store established by Mr. Drake. He afterward had charge of this store, which was the first one opened for business in this city, and he became a partner in the Drake Drug Company, which was incorporated under the laws of the state in 1912. The official corps of the company were as follows: C. H. Drake, president and treasurer; A. G. Witmer, secretary; and Mr. Seebeck, manager.

May 26, 1908, Mr. Seebeck was appointed postmaster at Conrad and on June 30, 1910, he was reappointed to that position, being promoted from fourth class to third. In politics he is a stalwart Republican and while he is interested in public affairs he is not an active politi- cian. In the time-honored Masonic order he is a valued and appreciative member of Conrad Lodge No. 80, Free and Accepted Masons, and in religious matters he and his wife are devout members of the Presbyterian church, in the different departments of whose work they are zealous factors.

When Mr. Seebeck landed in Choteau, Montana, his

capital in a financial way amounted to thirty cents. With the passage of time he has made the most of his talents in a business way and he now holds prestige as one of the prominent and influential citizens of Con- rad. He has a finely improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres, located four miles from Conrad, and he owns a beautiful home in this city.

June 26, 1907, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Seebeck to Miss Marguerite E. Barr, a daughter of Adam H. Barr, of Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Seebeck are the parents of two children, George B., born April 12, 1908; and Harold Maxwell, born December 1, 1909.

OSCAR JUDSON SEELEY. In little over seven years the Seeley Lumber Company, of Billings, has grown to be one of the leading establishments of its kind in the state, and its success may be directly traced to its or- ganizer and executive, Oscar Judson Seeley, a man who has been the architect of his own fortune in a marked degree.

With yards supplied with every kind of lumber and building material demanded by the trade, Mr. Seeley's operations are seen to require more than ordinary execu- tive ability and a knowledge of detail that no one acquires who is not thoroughly versed in the business. His operations cover a wide area, as he maintains a number of branch yards in the state and handles some of the most desirable business in this section of the country.

Mr. Seeley was born at Cordova, Rock Island county, Illinois, September 5, 1864, and is the son of Jesse and Gulaelma (Witter) Seeley. His great-great-grandfather was Capt. Samuel Seelev, who was killed by the Brit- ish at the defense of Danbury, Connecticut, and his great-grandmother, Elizabeth Taylor, was a cousin of Zachariah Taylor. Jesse N. Seeley, son of Nathan Seeley (an 1812 veteran) and Elizabeth (Taylor) See- ley, was born at Charleston, New York, in 1815 and re- ceived his education for the ministry at the old Hamil- ton Theological Seminary of New York. He became the representative of the Baptist Home Missionary Society for the then territory of Iowa, and organized and estab- lished many of the churches which are now the pillars of the Baptist denomination in that state. He lived to see the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of many of these churches. On his retirement from the ministry he moved to Clinton, Iowa, where his last years were spent, and where he died in 1898, being eighty-three years of age. The life-work for humanity of this pioneer minister is intimately interwoven with the de- velopment of the middle West.

By his first wife he had two children, all being now deceased. His second wife, who bore the name of Gulaelma Witter, was born near Albany, New York, a descendant of the Holland Dutch Witters, who settled on the Van Rasalear grant during the Dutch reign, and who died in 1887, having been the mother of three chil- dren, Rachel A., who was the wife of George A. Rock of Two Harbors, Minnesota, and died in 1911; Oscar Judson; and Jessie Elma, who married Francis V. Hall of Clinton, Iowa, and died in 1911.

Oscar Judson Seeley received his early education in the public schools at Clinton, Iowa, supplemented by attendance at the Central University at Pella, Iowa. After finishing school he was employed in the Clinton postoffice, the C. & N. W. Ry., and C. Lamb & Sons, manufacturers of lumber, later moving to Minnesota, learning telegraphy and following that occupation on various roads for about four years.

Realizing, before too late, the limited opportunities in that line of endeavor, he went to Minneapolis and sought employment as shipping clerk for a lumber and sash and door concern.

Mr. Seeley has had a varied and all-around experi- ence in the lumber business, having held the position of logging superintendent, saw and planing mill superin-

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tendent, charge of sales, credits, auditor for a line of yards, etc., all of which eminently fitted him for the time when opportunity came.

In 1906 Mr.Seeley decided to enter the retail lumber business in Montana and organized the Seeley Lumber Company, with headquarters at Billings. Having begun his career as a lumberman at the bottom of the ladder and worked his way up rung by rung, he has thoroughly familiarized himself with all the details of the trade, and has won success by hard work and thorough hon- esty, intelligent effort and efficient service.

The duties and responsibilities of his business have demanded the greater part of his time and attention, and he has neither the leisure nor the inclination to seek official preferment. He has, however, taken the interest which all good citizens should feel in political movements, and in the election of those whom he deems best fitted to represent the community.

He has been prominent fraternally, being a Knight Templar, thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, and . a Shriner. He has many friends, both in business and fraternal circles, and is regarded as one of the solid, substantial men of his community, and one who is as- sisting to advance the development of his city and state.

On April 30, 1900, Mr. Seeley was married to Miss Blanche Bissell, daughter of L. L. and Sarah ( McKibbe) Bissell of Lakeview, Michigan.

McQUITTY BROTHERS. Montana and its records fur- nish no better illustration of the congenial and success- ful business relations that may be carried on by brothers than the proprietors of the Harlowton Grocery Com- pany, Ewell F. and Isbell S. McQnitty, who followed the railroad to this city and have carried on satisfac- tory business operations here ever since. In addition to being prominent factors in the commercial and in- dustrial importance they have risen to high places in public life, Ewell F. McQuitty being mayor of Harlow- ton, while Isbell S. is representing his district in the state legislature. Natives of Columbia, Missouri, they were born June 15, 1878, and November 17, 1876, re- spectively, the only children of James D. and Anna (Dysart) McQuitty. James D. McQuitty was born in Missouri and has spent his entire life there, at present residing at Columbia, where he is the owner of a fine fruit farm, although in his younger years he was en- gaged in agricultural pursuits. A devont Christian, he has always been active as a church worker, and is equally well known as an influential politician of his locality. He was married in Missouri to Anna Dysart, who died in 1897, at the age of forty-two years, a faith- ful member of the Baptist church, who was buried at Columbia.

The McQuitty boys secured their educations in the public schools at Columbia, subsequently attended the high school there, and finally the university, working their way through college. Progressive and enterpris- ing, they had begun to earn money at the age of twelve years, applying themselves assidnously to what- ever task opportunity threw in their path. They have declined to be separated in their business dealings, and the result has been a satisfactory and profitable partner- ship in various ventures. In about 1900 they began to work on contract with various railroad companies, trav- eling extensively in the construction of a number of roads and coming into Montana with the new Milwau- kee Railroad. In 1906 they arrived in Harlowton, hav- ing worked along the new Milwaukee extension for three years, and in 1909 returned to Harlowton and built the McQuitty block, a handsome two-story build- ing, the first floor of which is devoted to the Harlow- ton Grocery Company, dealers in groceries, hardware and farming implements, while the second floor is known as McQuitty Hall. Mr. E. F. McQuitty is un- married. While he belongs to no particular faith, he supports all religious bodies and is a friend of morality

and probity. He holds an official position in the local Masonic lodge, and takes a very active part in Demo- cratic politics, being the present incumbent of the office of mayor, in which he is giving his adopted city a safe, clean and businesslike administration. Baseball and football are his favorite pastimes, although all healthy sports have in him an ardent admirer and good reading and music have always appealed to him. With un- bounded faith in the future of Montana, to the soil of which he accredits the ability to raise more produce with less effort than that of any other state which he has visited, he gives unstinted praise to its climate and industries and has pledged unwavering support to all of its activities.

Isbell S. McQuitty was married in July, 1905, at Cen- tralia, Illinois, to Miss Ida Kyger, formerly of Fulton, Missouri. Mr. McQuitty, like his brother, has been active in Democratic politics, and at the last election was the choice of his party for the office of representa- tive. He is prominent also in Oddfellowship, and at present is past noble grand of his lodge. A man of progressive and enterprising spirit, he has done much to forward movements of a beneficial nature and stands high in the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens in the thriving city which he has done so much to build up.

CHARLES J. MARSHALL. Prominent among the well known attorneys of Fergus county is Charles J. Mar- shall, one of the successful young lawyers of this dis- trict, where he has been established since 1906. Mr. Marshall is a native son of Michigan, born in Berrien county on the 18th day of January, 1882, and he is the son of Charles H. and Dora C. Marshall. The father was born in England, there remaining until he was about eighteen years old, when he came to America and henceforth made his home in this country. In his home he had been designated for the ministry, and his educa- tion up to the age of eighteen had been along the line of theology, but he never entered the profession. In- stead, he settled in Benton Harbor, Michigan, and in the county which is famous as a fruit growing center, he has devoted himself to the quiet and pleasant life of the farm. He is now a resident of that city. His wife was born in St. Joseph county, Michigan, whither her parents had migrated from the state of Pennsylvania. She married her husband in 1877, and they became the parents of two children, Charles J., of this review, and . a daughter, Maud, who is a teacher in her native state.

Charles J. Marshall attended the public schools of Benton Harbor as a boy. He was an ambitious youth, determined on a college career, and in order to make it possible to at least begin his college work, he employed himself in his spare time by hauling fruits to the boats from the rural communities in his district. While at- tending college he added something to his expense fund by performing various services for his fellow students who were more advantageously situated than he with regard to finances, and he was able, by practicing a cer- tain amount of economy, to complete his studies in the academic department of the institution at Valparaiso, after which he entered the law school of the same col- lege and there received his law degree in due season. Returning to Michigan, he passed the state bar examina- tions, then entered the teaching profession, and for four years he was engaged in educational work. His popu- larity as an instructor was enhanced considerably by the fact that he was a football player of some note, and his services as a coach were in demand while he was en- gaged in teaching.

In 1906 Mr. Marshall came to Montana, his objective point being Lewistown, and there he located and has ever since continued to be identified with the legal ac- tivities of the city. He was not slow in winning a cer- tain recognition among the legal fraternity in the city and county, and before he had been two years a resi-

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dent of the state he had been elected to the office of county attorney, and he is the present able incumbent of that office as the choice of the Democratic party, al- though it is an acknowledged fact that he found ardent supporters in the ranks of opposing parties.

In local lodge circles Mr. Marshall is found affiliated with a number of fraternal orders, among which may be mentioned the Odd Fellows and the Elks. In the last mentioned organization he is now past exalted ruler. He is a communicant of the Methodist Episcopal church, and his wife is one of the members of that body who ably assist in carrying on the work of the denomina- tion in its many departments of usefulness.

On the 24th of November, 1903, at Benton Harbor, Michigan, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Marshall and Lillian Grace Tubbs, danghter of Everett and Lil- lian Tubbs of that city. Two children have been born to them, Lillian, born in Benton Harbor, and Charles, who was born in Lewistown, Montana.

THOMAS HENRY LARKIN. One of the public-spirited men in Great Falls is Thomas Henry Larkin. He is one of the most successful real estate dealers in the city, and devotes considerable attention to the civic and political affairs of Great Falls. He is active in the progressive movements of this city, giving both time and money to advance its interests. One of the proudest possessions of the city, the Valeria Way, was built at his instigation. He is not only anxious that the city should have good schools and hospitals, but that it should be made a city beautiful, so that the man who comes from the elm shaded Massachusetts village may not shudder at the sight of bare, dusty streets. In his position as a real estate man he is not only able to influence others to his way of thinking, but is in a position to practice what he preaches, and civic improvement is more than a hobby to him. Mr. Larkin has lived in Great Falls for a comparatively short time but he has won the regard and friendship of all with whom he has been brought into contact, and is one of the prominent business men of the city.

Thomas Henry Larkin was born in St. Paul, Minne- sota, on the 15th of July, 1872. His father was John Larkin, who was a native of Ireland, having come to America in 1851. He first settled at Paterson, New Jersey, where he lived for two years. Reading and hearing of the opportunities to win fame and fortune in the young town that was growing up in the vicinity of the Falls of St. Anthony, on the far distant Mis- sissippi, he decided that there was room there for one more Irishman, so he became one of the pioneers in the city of St. Paul. Real estate was the field which offered not only the greatest profit, but also furnished the largest amount of risk and excitement. He was an Irishman and loved a fight, therefore he went into the real estate business. This was in the days when one had to be possessed of the wings of Mercury in order to keep up with the sales of property, for one piece of land might exchange hands several times in one day. Mr. Larkin was shrewd and observant, possessed of good judgment, with the patience to await the auspicions moment, and a thorough knowledge of values of real estate in St. Paul and in the surround- ing country. He was a man of limited education, but he was a great reader, and a keen thinker, so by his own efforts he acquired a knowledge that put better educated men to shame. He was very prominent in the commercial circles of the city, for though of very decided views and a blunt manner, he was generous to a fault, and once a man's friend he stood by him through thick and thin. Therefore when he made friends he kept them, and when, after spending a long life in the real estate business, he died on the 26th of February, 1904, at the age of seventy-two, he was mourned by many friends, not only in the city but in many sections of the country, for he was a man

one could not easily forget. Mr. Larkin was married on the 13th of May, 1862, to Anne Griffin, also a native of Ireland, Listowel, Kerry, being her birthplace. She lived to be seventy years old, dying in St. Paul on May 23, 1907. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Larkin, of whom Thomas was the next to the youngest.

Thomas Henry Larkin was educated in the public schools of St. Paul, and also spent several years in the Christian Brothers College, and St. John's Uni- versity. He had heard much talk of the great oppor- tunities of the far West, and so in 1888, he and his brother, James, set out on a trip through this section of the country. They spent five years traveling over the west, working whenever an opportunity offered, and acquiring valuable information concerning the country. Thomas felt that there in the West was the place for him, the only difficulty was in deciding be- tween the charms of the many fascinating spots. Finally he decided that Montana, with its splendid climate, whole-souled people, and possibilities in the business line, offered the greatest inducements, so on the Ist of August, 1906, he permanently settled in Great Falls, Montana. He selected Great Falls at the request of James J. Hill, and became manager of the Water Power and Townsite Company, of Great Falls. He held this position for four years, the first two of which were spent under the Hill regime and the latter two under the authority of John D. Ryan and his as- sociates, of the Amalgamated Copper Company.

In August, 1910, on the Ist day of the month, he resigned his position with the above company and went into the general realty business on his own account. Through his knowledge of the property values in Great Falls and the surrounding country, and through the reputation he had built up during his position as man- ager of the Water Power and Townsite Company, he has been able to build up a very satisfactory business. He has the confidence of the citizens of Cascade county, and it is easy to prophesy that his future career will be one of prosperity. He served as sec- retary and later as a director in the Great Falls Civic Club, and his activities in this regard have been men- tioned. In politics he is an active member of the Democratic party, while his membership on the board of directors of the Commercial Club, Real Estate Ex- change and Park Board shows the interest which he takes in the welfare of the city. He was the first to hold the office of vice president of the Great Falls Real Estate Exchange.

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A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 136

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