A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 155

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

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Charles O. Bischoff, the senior member of the firm, was born in St. Paul, and completed the curriculum of the public schools in that city at the age of fifteen, after which he went into his father's establishment and learned the fur dressing business. He decided not to adopt this as his work, choosing instead to go into the fur trade. To learn this, Mr. Bischoff left St. Paul and went to New York, where he had an opportunity to go into the employ of a large firm engaged in the manufacture of fur garments. After some time in the east he returned to his home city and there went to work for Lanpher, Skinner & Company, furriers of that city. He was connected with them for a number of years and then decided to come to Helena and go into business for himself. In the year 1910, in com- pany with Otto H. Johnson, they established the Bisch- off & Johnson Fur Company in Helena. At the be- ginning their concern was but a small one, but by ex- cellent management and a comprehensive knowledge of the business, acquired by an experience of fifteen years each in leading fur houses, they have quickly built up an enterprise that is rated as one of the repre- sentative commercial establishments of the city. The fame of this house has permeated the whole of the west and the many sorts of fur garments that they turn out are worn throughout the state.

Mr. Bischoff is a member of the Commercial Club of Helena and of the Helena Retail Merchants' Asso- ciation.

Mr. Otto H. Johnson, the junior member of the firm. is likewise a native of St. Paul, Minnesota, and after completing his schooling learned the fur business with E. Sundkvist & Company, in that city. Later he was with Gordon & Ferguson, both firms being widely known in that line. In 1910 he came to Helena and with his partner established the business already men- tioned. Mr. Johnson is a member of the Helena Com- mercial Club and the Helena Retail Merchants' Asso- ciation. The firm purchases the raw materials or

skins of the native animals of Montana, and these skins, after being tanned in the east, are dressed and worked in their establishment. The partners are young men of unusual enterprise and initiative, and the steady growth of their business is but the natural sequence of their straightforward and liberal business policy.

DAVID E. BOAM, the proprietor of the Boam Mercan- tile Store in Walkerville, Montana, is essentially a prod- uct of the west. He was born in Murray, Utah, on April 12, 1883, and is the son of Thomas G. Boam, a native of Salt Lake City, and a resident of Fresno, Cali- fornia, where he is engaged in farming. His mother was Mary (Miller) Boam, also a native of Salt Lake City, and she died there on July 29, 1901, and was buried in the place where she was reared and passed her life. She was the mother of ten children, nine sons and one daughter, David being the third in order of birth. He was educated in the public schools of Salt Lake, and when he was eighteen years of age he began work as a traveling salesman, representing the firm of Miller & Cahoon, manufacturers of hardware and imple- ments, and he followed that business until IgIo, at which time he came to Walkerville and assumed charge of the business previously established by Joseph Brough- ton, the store then being conducted by the widow of Arthur B. Bryan. Under the management of Mr. Boam the business is steadily increasing, and it assumed the rank of the leading store in Walkerville last year, the business increase over the previous year amounting to fifty per cent.

Mr. Boam is a Democrat in his political faith, but he has taken no active part in political life. He is a mem- ber of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, and is president of the Butte branch. He has always been active in the work of the church, and preached the doctrines of the church when he was a boy of fifteen years. He is a total abstainer from the use of liquor and tobacco.

On September 28, 1910, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Boam to Mrs. Margaret (Gillespie) Bryan, the widow of Arthur B. Bryan. Mrs. Boam is the mother of three sons by her first marriage,-Grant G., Jules A. and Ross G. Of the later union one child has been born, David Emerson Boam, born July 14, 1911. Mrs. Boam was a daughter of John Gillespie, born in Glas- gow, Scotland, and a resident of Utah for many years, now retired from active business. His wife, Katherine (Ross) Gillespie, was likewise a native of Scotland, born in Edinburgh, and she died at Tooele, Utah, July 20, 1912. The daughter was reared and educated in Tooele, Utah. Her first husband conducted the busi- ness of the store now run by Mr. Boam for the inter- ests of Mr. Broughton for a number of years, and later purchased the business. Mr. Bryan died August 1, 1908.

EVAN LEE, whose constant endeavor to maintain the highest newspaper standard has made the Lavina Inde- pendent an example to newspapers throughout the state, and who in the columns of his bright, newsy publica- tion is doing much to influence public opinion in the right direction by telling the truth as he finds it and to give the opinions his clear reasons form, became a journalist by election and has been confirmed in his pro- fession by his zeal. Throughout his career he has been identified with some branch of newspaper work, and the success which is attending his efforts as editor and publisher of the Independent is but the result of in- herent ability backed up by industry and enterprise. Mr. Lee was born at Fergus Falls, Minnesota, Sep- tember 24, 1877.' His father, Halvor Lee, was a native of Norway, and came to the United States in young manhood, settling in Minnesota as an agriculturist and continuing to be engaged in farming until his death in 1908, at the age of seventy-five years. He was a devout

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Christian and an active member of the Lutheran church, to which his widow, a resident of Fergus Falls, also belongs. They were married in Minnesota and had five children, of whom Evan was the youngest, while one other son resides in Montana, Edward, who is married and also resides in Lavina.

Evan Lee was not granted exceptional educational advantages, although his attendance at the public schools of Minnesota amply fitted him to take up the trade of printer, to which he served an apprenticeship in his native state. On attaining his majority he re- moved to Elk Point, South Dakota, where he followed the printing business for about two years, and then spent a year in North Dakota in the same line. Return- ing to Minnesota, he worked for about one year in Detroit, and spent the next few years in various towns in that state, and in 1910 came to Montana. After spending some time in looking over various localities with the view of finding a field in which to enter the newspaper field, he finally selected Lavina and estab- lished his present plant, the first issue of the Independ- ent appearing soon thereafter. The general excellence of this sheet attracted almost immediate attention and patronage, and general public favor caused its circula- tion to grow by leaps and bounds, until it now has readers throughout this part of the state and wields a recognized influence in public matters. Its policies as to politics are independent, it being the editor's idea to give the reading public a fair, unbiased view of conditions at all times, and its columns are devoted to matters of general interest, prominent national news, breezy local happenings and terse, well-written editorials. Mr. Lee is one of the progressive men of his com- munity and has been a leader in movements tending to benefit Lavina and the surrounding country. At present he is acting as a member of the school board and in the capacity of constable. Fraternally his connection is with the Odd Fellows, in which he has been through all the chairs and is now past grand, is a member of the Lavina Commercial Club, and religiously leans towards the Lutheran church. Mrs. Lee is a member of the Lavina Ladies' Aid Society.

Mr. Lee was married at Fergus Falls, Minnesota, De- cember 30, 1901, to Miss Mina Sand, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Sand, of Fergus Falls, and they have three children : Dorothy H., Lucille L., and Robert E., the first-named being a bright scholar in the public school.

JAMES M. MILLER, prominent among the younger at- torneys of Helena, was born in Westfield, Illinois, on the twenty-eighth day of February, 1882. He is the son of Daniel B. Miller, who was a wealthy farmer of western Illinois. The senior Mr. Miller was a native of Ohio, born in that state on February 16, 1836. While yet a young boy his people moved from Ohio to West- field. Illinois, and were residents of that state at the out- break of the Civil war. Mr. Miller volunteered his services and was enlisted in company I, of the Twenty- first Illinois Infantry. During the entire four years of the struggle he remained in the service. For eighteen months of that time he lay in the filthy southern prisons, ill and wounded. Even so, he saw much more real service than did most of the infantry and took an active part in many of the important engagements.

On his return home from the war he was married to Margaret Watkins, a young Irish girl who had come to America with her parents while yet an infant. Both Mr. and Mrs. Miller were residents of Westfield prior to their marriage. Mr. Miller's ancestors were from the German Empire while Mrs. Miller was Irish through her mother, her father being a Welsh man who had married and lived in Ireland before leaving the old country.

James M. Miller was the fifth of six children born to these good people. He attended in his childhood the

district schools of Parker township and the high school of Westfield. For one term he attended the Westfield College, but completed his course in the Red River Valley University of Dakota. He was graduated from the legal department of the North Dakota University in the class of 1908.

McVille, North Dakota, was chosen as the city of his first legal endeavor. He remained here but a short time, however. before going to LaMoure, where he practiced for fifteen months. By the expiration of the first year he began to realize that a young man who can make good in a small town can succeed just as surely in the city. Accordingly, he moved in 1910 to Helena, Montana, where he opened an office and began a gen- eral practice, which has proved very successful.

Mr. Miller is a Progressive in his political views, but thus far, has been able to devote little time to politics, his growing practice leaving him small leisure. He is not a member of any fraternal organization that af- filiates with the Methodist Episcopal church of his fathers. He is a member of the Commercial Club. Al- though still very young in years, he has shown such ability in the profession of his choice that his friends predict for him a future of more than ordinary bril- liance. He has not, as yet, joined the ranks of the Benedicts.

CARL J. ENSRUD. A perusal of the business direc- tory of Butte, Montana, discloses the fact that there are located in this progressive city many commercial and industrial enterprises common only to metropoli- tan communities of the first class. Among the dis- tinctive enterprises of which Butte proudly boasts is the Butte Dental Laboratory, conducted under the per- sonal supervision and management of Mr. Carl J. Ensrud. There is but one other institution of this class in the state of Montana, and none in this or any other state which performs better work or turns out higher class products in its line.

Mr. Ensrud received his professional training for this character of enterprise in the Minot (N. D.) Dental Laboratory, in that splendid institution com- pleting a full course in the science of prescription den- istry. Upon attaining the necessary educational equip- ment he sought an inviting location for the establish- ment of his manufacturing laboratory for dentists' sup- plies, and in the spring of 1910 came to Butte as the most promising field he could find. He fitted out his laboratory with all appliances necessary to enable him to fill orders with dispatch and in the most perfect manner, and has in the comparatively short time that he has been here built up a very profitable business, being able to furnish everything in the dental line re- quired by doctors of the dental science.

Mr. Ensrud is a native of Rushford, Minnesota. where he was born November 9, 1880, the son of Hans and Mary (Mortinson) Ensrud. His parents were both natives of Norway and immigrated to the United States after their marriage, in 1866 settling in Houston county, Minnesota, on a farm, where the father died August 12, 1895. The mother still sur- vives and is a resident of Rushford, Minnesota, at the present writing.

Mr. Ensrud attended the Houston county schools and later enjoyed the benefit of a commercial course in the Wisconsin Business College. Upon completing his work at the business school he first turned his atten- tion to produce trade and went to Minot, North Da- kota, to engage in that business. After two years spent as a produce merchant in that city, during which time he also continued his studies in the Minot Den- tal College, as previously stated, he abandoned his ef- forts in the produce line and turned his attention per- manently to his present enterprise. His success in this venture has already been commented upon, and it is safe to predict that the future holds even larger ma-

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terial and professional rewards for him than the past has given. His laboratory is located at No. 67 Sil- ver Bow Block.

The marriage of Mr. Ensrud to Miss Roberta A. Laurie, a native of Minnesota, and a daughter of James Laurie, of that state, occurred at Minneapolis, Minnesota, October 17, 1906. Mr. and Mrs. Ensrud have a pleasant and hospitable home in Butte and have a large circle of acquaintances in the leading social sets of the city. Fraternally Mr. Ensrud is af- filiated with the Knights of Pythias, holding mem- bership in Lodge No. 170, at Stephen, Minnesota. He is a man of independent thought and action and in- terested in all affairs that promote the best develop- men of the city and state of which he is an honored citizen.

PHIL F. JESTRAB. The largest establishment for the sale of farm implements in northern Montana is that of Jestrab Brothers in Havre. Though recently es- tablished here, the members of the firm are both men of long experience in this line of trade, and through their ability and energy have built up a business to be proud of.

Phil F. Jestrab was born in Osnabrock, North Dakota, May 2, 1884, and is the fourth in a family of eight children whose parents were Frank and Anna (Cap- auch) Jestrab. The parents were both natives of Austria-Hungary. The father came to America in the late sixties at the age of fourteen with his parents, who became agricultural settlers near Cresco, Iowa. In 1881 he moved to North Dakota, was a farmer resi- dent at Grafton, one of the early settlers, and was sub- sequently engaged in the farm implement business. He was a very successful business man. The mother also came to America when a little girl, her family also settling in Iowa, where she was reared and mar- ried.

Phil F. Jestrab received his education in the public schools of Grafton, North Dakota, and after leaving high school in his eighteenth year became a telegraph operator, being employed in that capacity with the Great Northern eight months. He then entered the establishment of his father at Pisek, North Dakota, and under his direction learned the farm implement business in all its details. After being associated with his father two years he engaged in the business on his own account at Deering, North Dakota, his older brother Frank, being his partner, and the firm name being Frank Jestrab & Company, hardware, farm implements, etc. After six years they sold their well established business in the spring of 1910. For about a year Phil Jestrab traveled in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, looking for a new location, and in the fall of 1910 took up a homestead near Havre. In Febru- ary, I911, he and his brother Frank again engaged in business, under the name Jestrah Brothers, at No. 333 First street, dealing in farm implements, wagons, buggies, etc. The first year their trade amounted to thirty thousand dollars, while during the present year of 1912 the business will total at least seventy thou- sand. This is the largest trade in this particular line in northern Montana.

Mr. Jestrab is a Democrat in politics, but not active. He is a member of the Havre Chamber of Commerce, and affiliates with the local camp of the Modern Wood- men of America. He is a member of the Catholic church. He was married at Cando, North Dakota, December 20. 1910, to Miss Florence Fundeshide, who was born in North Dakota.

Frank Jestrah, the senior member of the above firm, was born in Iowa, May 12, 1880, and received his education in the Grafton public schools, which he left at the age of twenty and entered the business of his father. He came to Montana with his brother, and also took up a homstead in Hill county. He affiliates

with the Eagles and the Yeomen, belongs to the Chamber of Commerce, and is a member of the Cath- olic church. He was married at Seattle, Washington, November 1, 1909, to Miss Anna Larson. She is a native of Minnesota.

HILMAR H. WAHRMUND, cashier of the New York Life Insurance Company's agency at Butte, was born in Gillespie county, Texas, on January 9, 1884, and lived there, except when he was away at school, until he reached the age of twenty. His parents, August and Fannie (Schild) Wahrmund, were of the same nativity as himself. The father was born on October 8, 1853, and died on April 23, 1896. He was a banker and general merchant, and passed the whole of his life in the region where it began. The mother, who is now living in San Antonio, Texas, is a daughter of August Schild, in his day a prominent resident of Gillespie county in that state, and her grand-parents were early settlers there, taking up their residence in the locality when the country was still wild and unpeopled, it being in the early fifties. She was born on June 14, 1856, and by her marriage with Mr. Wahrmund became the mother of seven children, three sons and four daugh- ters, her son Hilmar being the third of the six in the order of birth.

Hilmar H. Wahrmund began his academic education in the country school near his home and completed it at an academy in San Antonio, where he also pursued a course of special training in a good business college, attending school until he was twenty years old. He then left home to take up the burden of making a livelihood for himself, and for his purpose secured a position as collector for the San Antonio Drug Com- pany, extensively engaged in the wholesale drug trade. At the end of one year's service with this company he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he found employment under the F. W. Braun Company, also wholesale druggists. He was given the management of the company's billing department, and remained in charge of it fifteen months.

By the end of that period he had made many acquain- tances in the city and saw new business opportunities. He became connected with the New York Life Insur- ance Company on August 23, 1905, as a bookkeeper and assistant cashier, and he remained in its service in that capacity in Los Angeles four years and a half. He was then transferred to Butte, to take charge of the company's office in that city, and there he has been so employed ever since, having begun his work in Butte on February 25, 1910.

In political faith Mr. Wahrmund is a Republican, but he is not an active partisan and never takes part in political contests of any kind beyond performing a good citizen's duty in casting his vote according to his convictions and desire to promote the best inter- ests of his city, county and state. His religious con- nection is with the German Lutheran church, in the work of which he takes an active part.

On June 30, 1906. at Los Angeles, California, Mr. Wahrmund was united in marriage with Miss Beatrice Vejar, born in that city November 16, 1884, daughter of Dolores and Mary E. (Goss) Vejar.

Mr. Wahrmund's paternal ancestors came from Ger- many, Emil Wahrmund having been the founder of the American branch of the family. The mother's grand- parents moved to Texas from Germany in the early forties and her ancestors were also German, but several generations of the family have lived in the United States.

H. MASON RABORG. There is much in having dis- tinguished ancestry to account for a man's success in life. He may or may not inherit the traits of char- acter that gave his ancestry distinction, and if he should inherit them, unless they be basic and of them-

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selves productive, without regard to circumstances, there is no assurance that they will meet the changed conditions with which they will have to contend as compared with those that confronted his forefathers. But if he have that within which is essential and virile, he will make his mark without regard to surroundings and requirements.

H. Mason Raborg came from New York to Montana · in 1910 and became president of the State Savings Bank of Butte. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 2nd, 1867, and is a son of Dr. Samuel A. and Matilda (Mason) Raborg, the former a native of Mary- land and the latter of Virginia.

The father was a noted physician of Baltimore and New York and died in the latter city at the age of forty-five years. His great-grandfather, Christopher Raborg, founded the first bank in Baltimore. The mother belonged to the eminent Mason family of Vir- ginia, Maryland. She was married to Dr. Raborg at the close of the war and died in 1898 universally es- teemed for her high character, great social culture and useful public spirit. The same qualities gave her hus- band renown in the state, and his early demise was universally lamented there.

Their son, H. Mason Raborg, was educated at the Georgetown University in the District of Columbia. Starting immediately in business he became agent for several eastern woolen manufactories which were later on absorbed by the American Woolen Company. Young Raborg then bought a seat on the New York stock exchange and formed the firm of Weaver, Raborg & Co., with offices in the Drexel building, New York.

The firm prospered and grew in favor and influence until Mr. Weaver, a somewhat elderly man, withdrew from business and the firm of Raborg & Mauice succeeded. The business continued to expand in vol- ume and a banking business was added to its opera- tions.

The firm of Raborg & Mauice continued in business eight years, and was then dissolved, Mr. Raborg deter- mining to come to the west. The presidency of the State Savings Bank of Butte being offered him he accepted it. Under Mr. Raborg's able management the bank flourished and is now recognized as one of the best conducted fiscal institutions in the country. He resigned from the State Savings Bank in February, 1912, believing there were greater possibilities for use- fulness in an institution whose functions would be state wide. To that end he accepted the presidency of the Farmers & Drovers Co. This company was formed to loan on cattle and lands with the idea of promoting the development of Montana.

On Dec. 4, 1905, Mr. Raborg was married in New York City to Mary Wigham, a daughter of John and Phoebe Wigham. John Wigham was formerly a part- ner of Jay Cook and both men were well-known Wall street financiers.

While devoted to the west, Mr. Raborg still keeps up his eastern associations. He is a member of the following clubs: The Metropolitan, the St. Nicholas, the Railroad and the Larchmont Yacht clubs of New York City and the New York Athletic Club. He is also a member of the Maryland Club of Baltimore; the Canadian Yacht Club of Toronto, Canada; the Silver Bow, the University and the Country Club of Butte, and the Montana Club of Helena. In politics he is a Republican, ardently devoted to the welfare of his party.

As an athlete Mr. Raborg has had quite a career and for a time was quarter mile running champion of the United States.

WILLIAM W. GALT. Loyalty to state and faith in its marvelous resources and possibilities are conspicu- ous characteristics of Montana's citizenship. This be- lief has brought many capable citizens of other states

to a residence here, and one of these is Mr. William W. Galt, of Stanford, who was for many years pros- perous in business and influential in public affairs in Minnesota, but recently moved to Montana as a home for his later years, and where his sons are now promi- nent in business.

Mr. Galt was born in the state of Wisconsin, May 8, 1854, and when about twelve years old moved to Freehorn county, Minnesota, which was his home until 1910, in which year he located at Stanford. His early education was in the village schools of Wisconsin and Minnesota, and from the beginning to the conclusion of his active career he was identified with agriculture.

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A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 155

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