A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 138

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

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Mr. Smith holds a valuable tract of fertile land in the Kootenai Valley of Montana, which he is planting to apple trees as rapidly as he can accomplish the work.

On November 16, 1904, Mr. Smith married Cressie R. Rowe. She was born near Fort Benton, Montana, and is the daughter of James H., and Catherine (Ivey) Rowe. Mr. Rowe died in 1895, but Mrs. Rowe still lives. They were the parents of eight children, all of whom are living, Mrs. Glen Smith being the youngest child. Mr. and Mrs. Rowe came to Montana in 1877. at a time when the state was in an unsettled and ex- tremely primitive condition. They located near Fort Benton, and Mr. Rowe became interested in ranching and stock raising, to which he gave much of his time and attention for many years. When he came to Mon- tana he was accompanied by his two brothers, one of whom is now living. For many years Mr. Rowe was assessor of Chouteau county, Montana, it being an especially large territory, six counties having been lately erected from the original Chouteau county.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith have one daughter, whom they have named Ivey, that being the family name of Mrs. Smith's revered mother.

JACOB B. GREGG is a prominent business man of Rye- gate, Montana, who has extensive ranching interests in Musselshell county, and is numbered among the pro- gressive and enthusiastic promoters of this section of Montana. He was born in Williamstown, West Vir- ginia, March 16, 1862, and was a lad about seven years of age when his parents removed to Le Sueur county, Minnesota, and gave him his first glimpse of western life. There he grew to the legal age of manhood, ac- quired a public school education, and earned his first money as a boy, working in a stone quarry, later fol- lowing railroad work for a while; then he moved to South Dakota, where he resided eleven years and fol- lowed farming and stock buying. Returning to Min- nesota, he farmed in Douglas county and also engaged in the sawmill business there until 1904, when he moved to the northwestern part of North Dakota. There he organized the Star Livery and Implement Company, and became president and active manager of the concern, but at the end of three years he sold those interests and returned to Minnesota, where later he bought a stock of merchandise and shipped it to Ryegate, Montana, In February, 1912, he sold the general store he had opened and conducted at Ryegate, and has since given his attention exclusively to the im- plement business, his stock including a full line of everything appurtenant to this business. He owns several fine ranches south of Ryegate which he rents out, and he is personally experimenting in fruit raising in this section. During his thirty years of business ex- perience he has been engaged in the meat business four times.

Jacob B. Gregg is the eldest son of Jehu Gregg, who was born in Old Virginia, but is now a retired resident of Minnesota, in which state he followed farming for many years. In West Virginia Jehu Gregg married Mary E. Shreves, who bore him seven children, of

whom Jacob B. is second in birth. The mother died in 1888, at the age of fifty-six, and is buried in Minnesota. She had the distinction of having won the first prize that the state of Minnesota ever gave on dairy butter.

The marriage of our subject occurred at Lexington, Minnesota, on September 27, 1882, and united him to Miss Fannie Sires, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Sires, of that place. To this union have been born five daughters and three sons, as follows: John J., now a resident of northern Canada; Ida M., who married Joseph Zingham and resides at Mandan, North Dakota; Grace, now Mrs. Merritt E. Doty, of Lewistown, Mon- tana; Edith, who became the wife of William H. Gra- ham and also resides at Lewistown, Montana; Bertha, who married Lloyd L. Smith and resides near Ryegate, Montana; Mary E., at the parental home; and William H. and Leslie, both of whom are attending school.

In religious faith Mr. Gregg favors the creed of the Christian denomination, while Mrs. Gregg is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and takes an active interest in its work. Mr. Gregg is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and in political views is a Republican. While a resident of Minnesota and Dakota he served at different times in various minor offices, such as supervisor, county commissioner and chairman of the school board, and during the last twenty years he has frequently been a justice of the peace, in which capacity he is now serving at Ryegate. He enjoys the different diversions essential to a well balanced life and is well informed on the live issues of the day. Mr. Gregg is very loyal to Montana and is one of the men who are contributing to its development.

FRANK T. BAILEY. The person who irradiates the usually somber and always toilsome course of human life with amusement, music, mirth and other means of enjoyment is a public benefactor and deserving of the high regard of mankind. If he adds only a few beams of bright, warm sunshine to the gloomy path- way of human endeavor, he is doing a great deal for the comfort and happiness of his fellow men and is worthy of a high place in public estimation and appreciation. And if he does more, having at his command at all times some source of enjoyment and entertainment for those who can secure the oppor- tunity to take advantage of his offerings, he is doing a vast amount of good.

Frank T. Bailey, of Butte, president and controlling spirit of the Montana Amusement Company, which has in operation several places of refined and elevat- ing entertainment for the public, is a man of this character. Mr. Bailey conducts his business primarily, of course, for his own profit and financial benefit. But this does not detract from the value of his services to the people in the circles of his residence and oc- cupation, who, without such enterprise as he exhibits, would not have the means of enjoyment he provides for them, and in which he studies to please them.

Mr. Bailey was born in the city of Akron, Ohio, on July 22, 1876, and is a son of Griffin H. and Kath- arine (Stein) Bailey, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Maryland, but now residents of Billings, Montana, where the father is engaged in the theatrical business. He, also, is a purveyor for the entertainment of the public, and holds an en- viable rank among the useful men who are engaged in this business in an active and fruitful manner.

Frank T. Bailey obtained his education in the pub- lic schools of Cleveland, Ohio, finishing with a thor- ough course of instruction at a high school in that city, which he left at the age of eighteen years. He then secured a clerical position in the employ of the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad in Cleve- land, and remained in the service of that road for a period of ten years, with successive promotions to higher rank and more elevated and important duties

freuerte

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from time to time while his connection with the road continued.

Mr. Bailey's next venture in business was in the real estate field, in which he conducted an enterprise in Cleveland for three years. But through all these years and notwithstanding his exacting engagements, he was ambitious of becoming a factor in the busi- ness of entertaining the public, and at length he found or made the opportunity to gratify his longing in this respect. In 1907 he moved to Butte, Montana, and started the first moving picture show in that city. His show is located at 41 North Main street, and is one of the most popular places of resort in the city. It has been successful from the start, and has grown in prestige and popularity every year. For Mr. Bai- ley studies the tastes and desires of the community and lays all his resources under tribute in his ef- forts to meet the requirements of the case in every particular.

As a means of promoting his business and more amply providing for the entertainment of the public, in the fall of 1907 he organized the Montana Film Exchange in Butte, and this enterprise he conducted by his personal management until July 1, 1911, when he sold the business in order that he might give more time and attention to other projects he had in opera- tion. He is the pioneer in his business of conducting picture shows in the state of Montana, and one of the leading men in the business in the country. Hc has many competitors in his line in this state and those which adjoin it, but they all started and all con- tinue as imitators of his methods and his skill. He still sets the pace for this part of the country in his undertaking, and the others keep up with it if they can. Mr. Bailey has succeeded in placing the photo- play theater on the same high standard as occupied by houses playing the highest class productions, and in no other city in the country will be found as large a percentage of the very best class of theater goers constant patrons of this form of amusement. No bet- ter evidence of this fact is shown by the attendance of over 28,000 people at the new American Theater during the first week it was open.

Mr. Bailey, as has been noted, is president of the Montana Amusement Company, which has head- quarters in Butte and operates four of the five mov- ing picture shows in that city, and fifteen of the lead- ing houses of the kind in the state. The company, under his inspiration and influence, built and now manage the American Theater in Butte. This play- house, the finest in the United States for photo- play productions, was opened to the public on April 6, 1912. At this time the Anaconda Standard, in descrihing the American theater, said in part :

"In opening the new American Theater to the Butte public yesterday the Montana Amusement Company has more than made good its promise to local patrons of the photoplay. The company promised that within 90 days from the date construction began it would open the finest photoplay house in the west. Ex- actly 85 days from the date the first stick of tim- ber was placed in position for the framework of the concrete foundation the finest motion picture the- ater in America was entertaining its patrons with Sarah Bernhardt in a pictured version of 'Camille,' one of the finest and most expensive photoplays ever produced.

"The new theater is not only a monument to the faith of its builders in the future of Butte, but it is a splendid example of the progress that has been made in theater construction. While there are prob- bly more costly theaters devoted to the legitimate drama in the west, there are none more modern, more up to date or prettier. That it will be one of the show places of the city in the future goes with- out saying. Outwardly it is imposing and commands

attention, while one must deplore the lack of adjec- tives in describing the interior.

"The claim that the American is the finest and most lavishly cquipped theater devoted exclusively to photo- plays in this country has never been challenged. Den- ver, Salt Lake, Portland, Chicago and Cleveland boast of costly and beautiful picture houses, but none of them compare in architectural beauty, equipment or construction to the American."

In political affairs Mr. Bailey takes but little part. He never neglects his duty in connection with them, which every good citizen performs, and always votes for the best interests of the public according to his convictions, but his action is always independent of partisan considerations, and without direct personal entry into the contests involved as a working factor. He is earnestly interested in the welfare of his com- munity and its people but not in the personal ambi- tions of his fellow men and the struggles and con- tentions which they engender, and does not mingle with them in any way.

On July 22, 1898, Mr. Bailey was married in Cleve- land, Ohio, to Miss Grace Grombacher, a native of that city and the daughter of Henry and Eliza (Ark- wright) Grombacher, highly respected citizens there. One child has been born of the union, a daughter named Dorothy, whose life began in Buffalo, New York, on October 28, 1902, and who is now attending school from the comfortable and attractive home of her parents at 715 West Park street, which is com- modious in capacity and equipment and artistic in appointments and adornment, and is a center of gra- cious hospitality.

The ancestors of Mr. Bailey's mother came from Germany to this country and located in the state of Maryland before the Civil war. They were sturdy and sterling, as his parents are, and faithfully per- formed their duty as American citizens and as men and women in all the relations of life. The forebears of the father came to this country from England at an early day and took up their residence in Akron, Ohio. Mr. Bailey, however, received no aid of a financial character from either side of the house be- yond what was expended on his rearing and edu- cation. When he left school he took up the strug- gle for advancement among men for himself, and he has ever since made his own progress, and is entitled to all the credit for it. He is an excellent citizen, and is everywhere highly esteemed as such as well as for his genial and companionable nature.

CRAWFORD JOHNSTON, M. D., practicing physician of Culbertson since 1907, is a native born Canadian, his birth occurring at Alma, Ontario, on January 4, 1880. He is the son of James S. and Jane (Booth) John- ston, both natives of Ontario. The father was a prom- inent land owner and implement dealer in Alma, Ontario, where he still lives. They became the par- ents of three children, Dr. Crawford Johnston being the first born; the others are Russell, a druggist in Cochran, Ontario, and Della, who lives in her native town, Alma, Ontario.

As a boy Dr. Johnston attended the public and high schools of his home town and of Elora City, in which latter town he was graduated from the high school with the class of 1896. He began the study of med- icine in Toronto Medical College in 1903, and in 1907 began the first practice of his profession in Drayton, Canada, where he continued for six months, coming to Culbertson in July, 1907, where he has with the passing years built up a very successful practice.

Dr. Johnston is the owner of a drug store at Pop- lar, Montana, which is one of the leading business houses of that place. He is a past master in the Masonic lodge, a past patron in the Order of Eastern Stars and a member of the Modern Woodmen of

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America. He has a pleasant home in Culbertson and is the owner of considerable ranch lands in Valley county.

On May 25, 1910, Dr. Johnston was married to Miss Nora Carr of Detroit, Minnesota.

FRED DENNINGER. The president of the Havre Brew- ing & Malting Company is Fred Denninger, who has had an extensive experience in the business, having been connected with the trade in Germany for a num- ber of years and also with brewing establishments in various cities of America.

Born in Germany, September 17, 1877, and educated in the public schools from the age of six to sixteen, he then spent three years in the imperial navy .. At the age of fourteen years he began learning the brew- ing and malting trade. As apprentice and journey- man he worked in Germany until he was twenty-six years old. On July 9, 1904, he arrived in America, having a capital of about one thousand dollars. Since then by combining experience and skill with grad- ually increasing capital he has firmly established him- self, and is today one of the substantial citizens of northern Montana. The first nine months in America he spent in Philadelphia, was in Chicago three months, in San Antonio, Texas, two years, and then successive- ly at New Orleans and in Denver and Golden, Col- orado, being connected with his profession in each of these places. From Colorado he came to Montana and during his residence at Butte formed the acquaintance with Mr. Wutz which later resulted in their business association. He was located at Helena six months and at Kalispell two and a half years, and in 1910 joined in the organization of the Havre brewing enter- prise. He is a member of the Sons of Hermann, and is a Democrat in politics, without being an active party man.

CONSADINE LUKIS, a Greek-American of much busi- ness ability, is best known in Butte through his prom- inence as vice-president of the rapidly growing cor- poration of the Pallas Candy Factory of this city. His father was George Lukis, a contractor in Fernis, Greece, and his mother, Belio Lukis, was a native of that locality. The former died a few years ago, at the age of fifty-five, but the latter is still living in Fernis, being now about fifty-one years old.

In that land which is noted for so much of legend- ary as well as of natural beauty, Consadine Lukis was born on July 12, 1876, in the parental home at Fernis. He received his education in the schools of that place and at eighteen years of age took the first definite steps toward the business success he has since reached. At that time, the year 1894, he came to America to test its possibilities, some of which he knew had proved advantageous for others of his countrymen. For five years he worked in various parts of the United States in various lines of candy manufacturing. After concluding this preparatory experience in Indiana Mr. Lukis joined his brother, Dematrius Lukis, and Peter Lambrose in establishing a factorv in Chicago for the producing of high grade candy. After continuing this business for a number of years they went to Seattle, Washington, where again each of them entered the em- ploy of other heads of manufactories, thus further learning the more complex and less common features of this work. As Peter Lambrose had preceded the Lukis brothers to Butte, and had there already begun the manufacturing of special and superior candies, Dematrius and Consadine Lukis soon joined their former partner and they were again associated in preparing and disposing of their products. Their experience and ingenuity seemed here to bring marked success from the start, although its beginning, in 1907, was a very modest one. Located at 47 West Park street, they at first conducted only a retail business. To this

they devoted their abilities and their energies, with a view to offering not only pure candies from the highest quality of materials, but also to provide all new con- tections on the market and to originate yet others.

In 1911 the Lambrose and Consadine business was on such a satisfactory basis that its proprietors estab- lished a factory at the corner of Mercury and Colo- rado streets. This added enterprise brought them a large increase of business and in order to properly care for this, outside capital was interested, a corpora- tion being formed in June, 1912. The large building which was bought for the wholesale manufacture of confectionery by this company is installed with the most modern and up-to-date machinery and is the largest of its kind in the state, being considered by many to be equal to any of its kind in the west. Its products are manufactured by methods and from in- gredients which combine the most sanitary arrange- ments with a thorough observance of pure food laws. Extreme cleanliness prevails at all times and the public is extended a cordial invitation to visit the factory at any time, an innovation which the Pallas Candy Factory was the first to introduce. The installation of this factory involved an expenditure of about $50,000 and its worth requires the services of approximately 100 workmen. The emporium where the retail business of the firm is done is exceptionally complete in all its details, is counted the finest store of its type in the western country and is one of the show places of the city of Butte.

The president of the Pallas corporation is Mr. Lam- brose, the subject of this sketch being its vice-presi- dent and Dematrius Lukis, the secretary. All have become wealthy through the successful operation of their business. The three are well-known and popular men in Butte.

Consadine Lukis is a member of the Business Men's Association of Butte. He is a member of the Greek church and is politically independent. Mrs. Lukis, nee Rose Heinze, is a native of New York, where she was married to Mr. Lukis on the third of March, 1901.

PERCIVAL E. ALLEN. A member of a family that traces its ancestry back to the days of the American Revolution and members of which have at all times held prestige as patriotic soldiers and leaders in civic life, Percival E. Allen, the efficient county attorney of Car- bon county, has demonstrated that he possesses the family traits of firmness of character and conscien- tious devotion to public duty. Born in Racine, Racine county, Wisconsin, April 16, 1888, he is a son of Edgar E. and Mary (Mccullough) Allen. His great-great- great-great-grandfather, Ethan Allen, was the famed American patriot, and his sword, made in England in 1727, is now in Mr. Allen's possession. His grand- parents on both sides of the family located in what is now Racine county, Wisconsin, during the early thir- ties, there becoming pioneer agriculturists when Wis- consin was still a territory. Edgar E. Allen was born in Racine county, November 23, 1848, and was there engaged in contracting until 1902, since which year he has lived retired. His wife was also born in Racine county, November 13, 1852, and they had one son: Percival E. Mr. Allen belongs to the Masonic fraternity and the Royal League, and in political matters is a stanch Republican.

Percival E. Allen received his early education in the public schools of Racine, Wisconsin, and as a youth of fifteen years learned telegraphy in that city, where he was connected with the Chicago & Northwestern Rail- road Company. Later he became train despatcher at the Wells street depot. Chicago, and then held a like posi- tion with the Illinois Central Railroad at Memphis, Ten- nessee, subsequently being connected with the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad at Savannah, Illinois. During all this time he had been engaged in the study

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of law, and eventually entered Northwestern University, Chicago, and when he had completed his course there became a student in the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, where he was graduated from the law depart- ment in the class of 1907. During the summer vacation of that year he was admitted to the bar at South Bend, Indiana. June 26, 1907, and during the following Aug- ust came to Joliet, Carbon county, Montana, where he was admitted to the bar in November following, prac- ticing in Joliet until November, 1910, when he came to Red Lodge to take up the duties of the office of county attorney, to which he had just been elected on the Republican ticket. In his official position Mr. Allen has been given the opportunity to display his skill as a legist and in numerous important cases has demon- strated his entire fitness for the position which he holds. Although still a young man, the manner in which he has discharged his duties has won the entire confidence of the people of Carbon county, who feel that their interests are being carefully looked after while he holds his position. Mr. Allen belongs to the Greek letter society, Alpha Epsilon, and to Carbon Lodge No. 16. A. F. & A. M., and Joliet Lodge, I. O. O. F.

On December 1, 1909, Mr. Allen was married to Miss Louise Dean Mcclellan, who was born in North Liber- ty, Indiana, daughter of Charles A. and Allie (Souerdt) McClellan, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of St. Joseph county, Indiana, and both now living. They have two daughters: Mrs. Allen, and Alma. Mr. McClellan is one of the prominent farmers of St. Joseph county, Indiana, where the family is widely and favorably known. Mr. and Mrs. Allen reside at No. 115 West Seventh street, Red Lodge, and are prominent in the social life of the city.

GEORGE F. DOWNER, superintendent of the public schools of Butte, is one of the young men of the west of marked ability and enterprise, whose progressive spirits are bringing about the rapid development of this section of the country. During his four years' connection with the schools of Butte he has succeeded in greatly raising the intellectual standard and promot- ing the efficiency of the system as a preparation for the responsible duties of life. Indeed, the constant aim and general character of Mr. Downer's life work are summed up in the famous dictum of Sydney Smith,- that "The real object of education is to give children resources that will endure as long as life endures; habits that time will ameliorate, not destroy; occupa- tion that will render sickness tolerable, solitude pleas- ant, age venerable, life more dignified and useful, and death less terrible."

A native of the fine old Badger state of the Union, Mr. Downer was born at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, the date of his birth being the 20th of February, 1875. He is a son of William H. and Emma J. (Hale) Downer, the former of whom died in 1908, at the age of sixty- four years, and the latter of whom is now residing in Montana with her only son. The father was a mer- chant and agriculturist bv. occupation and he was prosperous and successful in both those lines of enter- prise.

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A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 138

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