A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 15

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

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

GEORGE T. BAGGS, the leading attorney of Stevens- ville, Montana, has led a life full of incident and activity ai ł not altogether in the romantic and picturesque. He now has the most lucrative practice not only in Stevens- ville but in Ravalli county and is engaged on difficult cases throughout the district and sometimes in distant parts of the state. Although an office lawyer of ability, it is his power as a pleader that has brought him dis- tinction. As an orator and public speaker he is also much sought after, on occasions not of professional nature.

Mr. Baggs was born in the busy little town of Smyrna, Delaware, known throughout the east as a grain and fruit market. Here the father, William H. Baggs, had married Sarah M. Denning, and together they reared a family of four children. Of these, George T. Baggs, who came to them as a New Year's gift. on the first of January, 1857, was their last born. Until the age of nineteen years he attended the schools of Delaware and then taught in his native county until he reached his majority. Life in the little eastern state did not offer to him the hardships that he so longed to override, nor did it hint of a goal worth the struggle. In a word he wanted real life with its experiences, its failures and its victory. It was in search of life that he set out for the west and his search was amply rewarded. In the spring of 1887, he located in or near Stevensville, Montana. His funds were low and he worked at whatever offered, laying up little capital but a fund of experience that was later easily "cashed in." Sometimes he worked as "cow puncher" on the vast ranch lands, again as hand in the grist mills or laborer in the lumber camps. Opportunity offered him a variety of occupations and necessity demanded that he accept what came, without hesitating to pick or choose.

In 1879, the senior Mr. Baggs was appointed post- master of the small Delaware town and in order to bring the youngest son once again within the home circle, he offered him the appointment as his assistant. The youth started on his long journey eastward, driving an ox team from Helena to Fort Benton. At the latter point he took passage on a steamer for Bismarck, North Dakota, and thence by rail to Delaware. His wanderings had taught him the value of a reliable profession and scarcely was he settled once more in Smyrna, when he began the study of the law in conjunction with his other duties. In the autumn of 1880, he entered the legal department of the University of Maryland, at Baltimore. In one year he completed the entire three years' course, partially owing to his previous study, and was graduated from the law school of Maryland Uni- versity in the class of 1881. He began his professional life in Easton, that state, but after one year became per- suaded that success would come as easily in a city as in a village and removed to Baltimore. After almost ten years in the practice, he was appointed, by President Harrison, United States consul to New Castle, New South Wales. Being a very stanch Republican, he resigned his office immediately upon the inauguration of President Cleveland.

It was the call of the west, with its vast distances and even more vast opportunities, that had been ringing in Mr. Bagg's ears for more than a decade. Now that he was once more foot-loose, he returned at once to Stevens- ville, Montana, where he took up the practice assured of a warm welcome and of ultimate success. He is a leader not at the bar alone, his attractive personality and fine voice cause him to be much in demand at social gather- erings, as well as in political circles. In politics he has ever remained loyal to his party, and willing to give much of his own time and effort to her success. Dur- ing the difficult campaign of 1912, the Republicans of the state counted much on the aid and advice of Mr. Baggs. In that campaign he supported President Taft for reelection. While living in Baltimore, in 1886, the state was hopelessly Democratic, but he, putting aside his own preferences in the matter, went cheerfully down Vol. III-4

to defeat in the uneven race for state senator. His only idea had been to give substance to his party's forlorn hope.

Since coming to Montana, Mr. Baggs has been in active military service for thirty-one days, when fighting with a band of fellow citizens against the Nez Perces Indians. In 1910, he was elected vice-president of the First State Bank of Stevensville, which position he now holds. He also served as alderman for his city until April, 1912, and in the Odd Fellows' Lodge is past noble grand of Garden Valley Lodge of Stevens- ville.

On the ninth day of October, 1895, George T. Baggs was united in marriage to Miss Agnes T. Towers, a native daughter of the Emerald Isle. Mr. and Mrs. Baggs have three attractive children. The little ones are Dorothy, George Towers, and John T. Baggs. The family occupy one of the pleasantest homes of Stevens- ville and have a large circle of friends.

LAWRENCE MULHOLLAND. One of the progressive citizens of Butte, Montana, whose position entitles him to mention in the history of this section of the state, is Lawrence Mulholland, who has resided here for twelve years and is at present filling the office of city electrician of Butte.

Mr. Mulholland has spent the greater part of his mature life in active work in electrical lines and is entirely competent in every way to discharge the duties of his office with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the people.

Mr. Mulholland was born in Randolph county, Illinois, May 14, 1864. His father, William Mulholland, came to the United States from Dublin, Ireland, his native city, when a young man. Some years after his arrival he entered a homestead in Randolph county, Illinois, upon which he resided until his death. He married Mary Stipe, a native of Westmoreland county, Virginia, whose maternal ancestors, the Turmans, settled in Virginia at an early day. The Stipe family is of Dutch origin. The elder Mulhollands were the parents of ten children.

Lawrence Mulholland spent his early boyhood days on the farm. He attended the district schools of the county, and the high school at Sparta, Illinois, and sub- sequently became a student at the Carbondale Normal College. After teaching two terms of school he decided to go west, arriving in Montana in 1887. He at once went to work in the construction department of the Great Northern Railway Company, between Fort Buford and Fort Benton, later entered the electrical department of the same road and the next year entered the employ of the Northern Pacific Railway.

Upon attaining proficiency in the work, Mr. Mulhol- land was soon placed upon the regular staff of electrical workers on the railway's lines, and until 1898 he remained in the employ of the Northern Pacific Railway Company, where he joined the rush to the Klondike region and spent nearly two years in prospecting and placer mining in the vicinity of Dawson. On his return, in 1900, he immediately resumed his former position with the Northern Pacific Railway Company, in the electrical department, being employed in its various lines and at various places on the system between St. Paul, Min- nesota, and Portland, Oregon. It was in 1900 that he first made Butte his headquarters, and he has been a resident of this city ever since that time.

In 1909 Mr. Mulholland left the employ of the North- ern Pacific and engaged in telephone and electrical work in Butte, working as an electrician in the High Ore mine for more than a year, preceding his appoint- ment as city electrician, May 1, 1911, which office he still holds and devotes his whole time to its attendant duties. Although a Republican in political tendencies, he takes no active part in partisan affairs.

On April 10, 1895, Mr. Mulholland married Miss Hattie Mackenzie, a native of Sparta, Illinois. Two

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children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Mulholland, the elder son dying in early infancy. Kenneth, the sur- viving son, is a native of Butte, born July 20, 1902.

Mr. Mulholland is fraternally connected with several lodges, including the Ancient Order of United Work- men, and the Woodmen of the World. He is a man who enjoys great popularity wherever known, and he has many traits of character that endear him to his friends and that have won for him the highest respect of all interests and factions in this city of which he is an honored resident.

GEORGE L. TRACY, for many years an honored resi- dent of Helena and the founder of the brokerage firm of the George L. Tracy Company, with head- quarters in Helena and branches in all the more prominent cities of the northwest, was one of the best known men in his line of business in that section. His death took place in Chicago, Illinois, on January 29, 1907. Helena suffered a severe loss in the sudden pass- ing of her beloved citizen, and she will long remember with affection and regret the simple, kindly man who had been identified with her best interests since the years of his young manhood. When Mr. Tracy first connected himself with this section of Montana in a business way, his resources were of slender order in a material way. But he possessed the splendid ability which was necessary to build so large and definite a suc- cess out of an infantile business venture, and his strong inherent traits of determination, executive ability and far-sightedness were all sufficient to overbalance his lack of financial possessions. When he died in 1907 he left a valuable estate and a flourishing business which is still being conducted under the name with which he endowed it at its inception twenty years previous.

George L. Tracy was born in Utica, New York, on the 25th day of March, 1846. He was the son of George and Caroline (Tracy) Tracy. The mother was of Dutch extraction through her mother, Caroline von Lansing, while through the paternal line, she was a des- cendant of George Drake, the brother and heir of Sir Francis Drake. The father settled in New York state in early life, and while still a young man he migrated to Wisconsin, locating in Milwaukee in 1857, where he passed the remainder of his life. He was prominent in commercial and mercantile circles of that city in an early period, but in his declining years he lived a re- tired life. The wife and mother died in Milwaukee on April 10, 1886. She was the mother of Olive Drake, who married Captain Vaughn, of the U. S. Army, and George L., of this review. The daughter, who was born in July, 1840, died in June, 1909.

George L. Tracy received his early schooling in the public scools of Milwaukee, to which city his parents had removed when he was a small child. Finishing the public schools, he attended a business college, after which he secured work as a shipping clerk with the firm of Sibley, Endicott & Company, in Chicago in 1866. He remained with this firm, winning promotion from time to time, and he was finally sent to Montana to adjust a settlement of a business matter for his firm. After completing the business he returned to Chicago and he had managed the matter so skillfully that his firm kept him on the road constantly from that time on, attending to similar business affairs. He continued thus until the disastrous Chicago fire, when the busi- ness place of his firm was completely destroyed. A few days after the fire Mr. Tracy assisted in the erection of temporary quarters under tents on the lake front, where the firm continued to carry on business for sev- eral weeks, until a more substantial shelter was ar- ranged for. Later, when all matters had been ad- justed in connection with the fire, Mr. Tracy severed his connection with the firm with whom he had been employed for so long, and became a traveling represen- tative of the firm of Sibley, Dudley & Company, also of Chicago, and was assigned to the states of Utah,

Idaho and Montana. He remained in their employ a few years, after which he became connected with the firm of Reid, Murdoch & Fisher, with the same ter- ritory. In the meantime, Mr. Tracy had been giving some attention to matters on his own responsibility, and had laid in a small way the foundations of what de- veloped into the flourishing brokerage firm of which he was the head for so many years. The business, as first organized in 1885 by him, was in charge of Mr. Tracy in Utah, while Mr. Cory looked after the Mon- tana interests. In 1887 Mr. Tracy took over the inter- est of his partner, and thereupon proceeded to sever all connection with his old firm, giving up his entire time and attention to the management of the business. Thus from a small beginning was evolved the business which, at the time of the death of its founder, main- tained branch offices in a half a dozen or more of the more important cities of Montana. Following his de- mise, Mrs. Tracy took up the reins of control and with the aid of Mr. Cottingham, manager of the firm, she has conducted the business with a pleasurable degree of success for the past five years.

Mr. Tracy was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, being a Knight Templar and a Shriner, and was for many years treasurer of Algeria Temple of Helena. He was a member of the Montana Club, and in Mil- wankee, a member of the Presbyterian church, but never united with the church in Helena. He was a Repub- lican, although he never took an active part in political matters. He was a faithful citizen, and regarded his duty to the community as of equal importance with his duty to the state. As a result, he cast his vote with a view to exerting his influence on the side of right, re- gardless of party lines or sentiments.

On May 24, 1881, Mr. Tracy was united in marriage with Miss Eva May Hubbard, at Genesee, Illinois. She is a daughter of Alonzo and Sarah Ann (Brown) Hubbard, a family held in high repute in Genesee, where they are well known. The grandparents on both sides of the Hubbard family are of old and honored Revolu- tionary stock, and Mrs. Tracy's paternal great-grand- father was an intimate friend of General Israel Put- nam. He was often heard to tell that when the first gun of the Revolutionary war was fired he was en- gaged in conversation with General Putnam, while plow- ing a field on the Hubbard farm. Mrs. Tracy attended the public schools as a child and in her teens was sent to a young ladies' academy in Illinois, after which she took a business course in one of the foremost business colleges in the state. Mrs. Tracy still resides in the . beautiful home which her husband built some time be- fore his death. It is situated at 702 Harrison avenue, one of the handsomest residence streets in Helena, and lends an air of distinction to that fashionable avenue. Mrs. Tracy is one of Helena's most estimable ladies, whose interest in the improvement of the city is keen and constant.

HON. THEODORE BRANTLY. The Brantly family is of Dutch origin, and the American branch has a history antedating the Revolutionary war. in which several doughty Burghers participated. The grandfather of Theodore Brantly was a soldier in the War of 1812, and his son Edwin Theodore, entered the ministry. The latter was born in 1820, at Conacuh, Alabama, and in the course of his life lived in different cities of the south. He preached and carried on his pastoral duties in the Presbyterian church until his death in 1904. All his sons are professors of the faith by which he lived, as well as preached, and one, Erskine Brantly, has fol- lowed the same calling and is now living at Antlers, Oklahoma, where he has his present charge.

The mother of Theodore Brantly was Eliza Brown, daughter of Duncan Brown, a Tennesseean of Scotch descent. The founder of this line of the family was Jacob Little, a captain in the Revolution, who was later advanced to the rank of colonel. He first settled in Robeson, South Carolina. Eliza Brown was born in

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

1820, and died in 1853. She was the mother of three sons : Erskine, mentioned above; Theodore; and George, who died in infancy. Her husband, Edwin Theodore Brantly contracted a second marriage in 1856, and there were four sons and two daughters born of this union. Samuel, the eldest of these, became a farmer and died eight years ago in Wilson county, Ten- nessee; William, the second son, died in infancy; Mary became the wife of E. T. Fleming, of Nashville, Ten- nessee; William Brantly, an implement dealer in the same city; Edwin D. Brantly, a physician, and Alta Brantly. All reside in Nashville.

Theodore Brantly, the distinguished member of the Montana bench, was born in Wilson county, Tennessee, on the anniversary of Lincoln's birthday, 1851. Like that great American, received his early education in somewhat primitive schools, but, unlike him, he was born of the stock who regarded every scholar as wealth to the commonwealth, as old John Knox had declared, and who had been used to culture and prestige always. When the boy was older he went to the Southwestern Presbyterian University at Clarksville, Tennessee, and from this school he received his A. B. in 1875. For his legal training he went to Cumberland University, at Lebanon, Tennessee, and in 1881 received his diploma from the legal department of that college. For the fol- lowing three years he practiced law at Lebanon with J. S. Gribble, the firm being Gribble & Brantly. In 1883 Mr. Brantly gave up the law for a time to accept a position in Lincoln University, at Lincoln, Illinois. Here he had the chair of classical languages, and for four years he taught Latin and Greek. From Lincoln he was called to the College of Montana at Deer Lodge, and was a member of the faculty of that insti- tution from 1887 to 1889. In July of 1888 he was ad- mitted to the Montana bar, on certificate from the state of Tennessee, and in the June of the following year opened his law office in Deer Lodge and practiced there until January 1, 1893.

In the meantime, Mr. Brantly had been elected district judge of the third judicial district of Montana, and he took the bench, where he served one and a half terms, from 1893 to 1898, inclusive. The occasion of his leav- ing this office was his election as chief justice of the Supreme court of the state, upon which he succeeded Judge W. Y. Pemberton. On January 1, 1912, Justice Brantly completed his thirteenth year as a member of this dignified judiciary, in which he has served as befits one of its scholarly attainments and lofty personal char- acter.

Justice Brantly maintains his legal residence in Deer Lodge, and it is there that he has his membership in the Masonic order. He has been grand master of the state of Montana. In Helena, Justice Brantly belongs to the Lambs' Club, and also to the Elks, while he is a Knight of Pythias in Lotus Lodge, No. 14. at Lebanon, Ten- nessee. His politics are Republican, and his church is that of his father, the Presbyterian.

While at Lincoln University, Justice Brantly became acquainted with Miss Lois Reat, daughter of James and Sarah Reat, both of Illinois. Four years after settling in Montana, Justice Brantly returned to Lincoln to be married. The wedding occurred on June 9, 1891, and there are three children born to the union. Theodore Lee Brantly was born on December 19, 1892, and is now in Yale University. Lois Brown Brantly is two years her brother's junior, and her birthday is on Christmas eve. She is now attending school at Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Neill Duncan Brantly was born on July 8, 1896, and is attending the Helena high school. All of the children were born in Deer Lodge.

Judge Brantly is a representative of all that is best in what we term the characteristic American. His in- heritance is one of which any patriotic citizen would be proud, and he has worthily done his part for the country which his fore-fathers helped to win. In the high duty of passing the torch of progress, with its

light undimmed, he has not merely done his share, but has given without stint or measure.

HON. THOMAS M. EVERETT is one of the successful and prominent men of Blaine county, in which he has been located since the year 1889, settling there when the county was known as Chouteau. He first engaged in ranching and was particularly successful as a breeder of horses and cattle. His operations have not alone been confined to the ranch business, although he has given a generous share of his attention to that enter- prise and has added very materially to his ranch hold- ings in the years that have passed, but he has acquired a quantity of valuable city realty as well. He organized the First National Bank of Harlem and is its presi- dent, and he has so far won the confidence and es- teem of his fellow-men in this section of the country that he has served them four terms in the state legis- lature-two in the house and two in the senate. Mr. Everett is a Progressive, stanch and true, and a valu- able factor in the party in Blaine county.

Mr. Everett was born on Christmas day, 1865, at Princeton, Missouri, where he spent the early years of his life. When he was but a lad his parents moved to Kansas, locating in Butler county, and there he attended Baker University until 1885, pursuing a course in literature. He returned to Princeton after his gradna- tion and remained there one year, in 1887 moving to Helena, where for two years he engaged in contracting and building. In 1889 he came to Harlem, and since that time his fortunes have been bound up in the great Treasure state of the Union. His success has been of the most unquestionable order from the beginning of his identification with Harlem and this county, and he has advanced financially, socially and politically with each succeeding year.

With regard to the parentage of Mr. Everett, he is a son of Hosea and Jane (Béctcher) Everett, natives of Ohio, and now residing in Harlem. The father re- tired from his farming activities some years ago and is passing his declining years in Montana. They were the parents of nine children. The eldest, Annie and Antoinette, are twins. Annie is the wife of Alonzo Ellis of Harlem, and Antoinette is married to P. M. Bosley, also of Harlem; Josephine, who mar- ried E. M. Kinney of Harlem, was killed in an auto- mobile accident ; Melissa married W. E. French of Indianapolis, Indiana, and there resides; John M. is engaged in ranching in Harlem; Lucy is married to G. M. Phillips of Harlem; Amos is a clergyman of Bozeman, Montana; Mary is the wife of C. E. Farnum, of Harlem: Thomas M., of this review, was the fourth child of his parents.

Mr. Everett is a member of the Modern Wood- men of America and of the Odd Fellows. He married Miss Addie Brewer, of Maiden Rock, Wisconsin, in 1895. They have no children.

BARNEY HOGAN. By proving himself a man of hon- esty and integrity and one of the world's industrious workers, Barney Hogan, clerk of the court in Deer Lodge county, Montana, through these admirable traits rose rapidly in the confidence and esteem of the peo- ple of Anaconda and Deer Lodge county during but a few years' residence and by them was placed in his present official position of responsibility.

But his own generation removed from the soil of Erin's Isle, he was born in Calumet, Michigan, June 23, 1876, and has inherited the warm and generous heart and the happy temperament of Irish blood. John Hogan, the father of Barney, was born in Ireland and came to America when a young man, settling in north- ern Michigan, where he resided many years before his subsequent removal to Montana. He died in 1896, at the age of fifty, and is buried at Helena. Various occupations were followed by him during his years

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of industrial activity. In Calumet, Michigan, he mar- ried Margaret Thornton, who is still living and now resides in Anaconda. Five children were the issue of this union, as follows: James S., who is married and resides at Anaconda; Barney, the subject of this review; Mary A. and Agnes M., residing with their mother in Anaconda; and Bartholomew J., who is assisting his brother as deputy clerk of the court.

Until about eleven years of age Mr. Hogan lived in Calumet, Michigan, and began his education there, completing it, however, in the public schools of Marys- ville, Montana, whither the family had removed in 1887. During thirteen years' residence in Marysville a few months were spent as an employe in a mill, but the greater portion of his time as a wage earner was given to the meat and grocery business. About 1900 he came to Anaconda, where the first five years were spent in the employ of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. Following that, he was engaged in the gro- cery business here until his election as clerk of the court in January, 1909, which office he has continued to fill in the most acceptable manner to the present time. He is a Democrat and an aggressive politician, ar- dently devoted to the interests of his party. Frater- nally he is united with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Woodmen of the World, and in church membership both he and Mrs. Hogan are af- filiated with the Roman Catholic church. He enjoys hunting and fishing and all forms of athletic sports, especially baseball, a game of which seldom has a more enthusiastic spectator than Mr. Hogan. He is intensely loyal to Montana, for he says it is a state which adapts itself to the needs of all classes better than any other in the Union, encourages effort in every way, maintains the highest standard of excel- lency in its educational institutions, and for business and wage conditions cannot be equalled anywhere.

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A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 15

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