A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 18

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

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Mr. Seubert is an independent voter politically, and while public-spirited in all that concerns the inter- est of the community, he is not one who is interested in public affairs from the politician's point of view. Personally he is a man of sociable disposition, and his cordial manner has not been the least of his assets in the achievement of the success which has rewarded his commercial enterprises. Like the typical Montanian, he is fond of fine horses and he indulges his taste in this line to a considerable extent. Mr. and Mrs. Seubert have no family. She was formerly Miss Mary Lublo of this city, and was married to Mr. Seubert on No- vember 6, 1901.

WYLLYS A. HEDGES. The Hedges family is of New England origin and Cornelius Hedges, the father of Wyllys, was born in Westfield, Massachusetts, on Oc- tober 28, 1831. He was married in Southington, Con- necticut, in May of the year 1856, his bride being then but twenty years of age. The young couple moved to Iowa to begin making their way in the world, and in Buchannan county of that state, on July 3, 1857, was born Wyllys Hedges, the eldest of their eight children. Seven years later the family came to Montana. The trip from Omaha to Fort Benton was made by boat, and thence to Helena overland. In the Capital city

Wyllys A. Hodges.

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Cornelius Hedges entered upon the practice of law and was one of the well-known figures of the Montana bar. He enjoyed the honor of being called the father of Free Masonry in this state and at the time of his death in 1909 was the oldest living grand secretary in the United States. He was seventy-five at the time of his death and he is survived by his wife, Edna L. Hedges, and five children. Mrs. Hedges makes her home in Helena, where her husband is buried. Two of her chil- dren also live in that city: Cornelius Hedges, junior, who not only bears his father's name, but holds the office of grand secretary of the grand lodge of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, which his father held before him. Mr. H. B. Palmer, a broker of Helena, married Edna C. Hedges, also of Helena. Henry Hedges was for a number of years a resident of Valley county, Montana, and he still retains his interests there, though he and his wife now live in California. Emma, the other living member of the Hedges family, is now Mrs. John Woodbridge of Boston, Massachusetts.

Wyllys Hedges began his training in the schools of Helena. He was of a scholarly turn of mind and he early put his fondness for books to practical use. In 1869 the first city library was formed in Helena and Mr. Hedges, at the age of thirteen, was appointed city librarian at a salary of $40.00 a month. He was the second person to hold this office and was undoubtedly the youngest librarian in Montana, if not in the entire coun- try. Mr. Hedges continued at this post for a year and two months and then he took his earnings and returned to his father's native town to go to school. When he had finished the high school he entered Yale, and upon leaving college, returned to Montana and filed on a tract of land, which is now a part of the town of Great Falls. He was the first to receive a patent in that dis- trict and it was there that he began the business of stock-raising, which he has followed ever since. In 1881 he came to the Mussellshell valley and settled where the present town of Hedges stands.

In 1884 on Sepember 3, Mr. Hedges was married in the same Connecticut town where his parents' union had been consummated twenty-eight years before. His bride was Miss Ida S. Beach, a native of Southington, which place had been the girlhood home of Mr. Hedges' mother. None of the four daughters born of this union lived past the period of childhood. Both Mr. Hedges and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church.

Like his father, Mr. Hedges is active in Masonry. It was almost inevitable that the son of a man who was one of the best authorities in this country on Masonic laws and literature, and who was a prolific writer for Masonic journals, should have a leaning toward that honored fraternity. Mr. Hedges is a member of the blue lodge and of the chapter, and has filled various of- fices in both bodies.

Politically Mr. Hedges is a Republican, and an active one. He was a member of the fourth, sixth, seventh and ninth legislative assemblies. He was speaker of the house in the last-mentioned session. It was during this session that a bill was introduced to create a west side county to be called Paradise. Mr. Hedges vacated the chair and introduced an amendment to change this name to Sanders county. This was passed without a dissenting vote, as all recognized that it was a just tribute to Col. Wilbur F. Sanders. In 1906 President Roosevelt appointed Mr. Hedges receiver of the United States land office at Lewistown, Montana, and four years later he was reappointed by President Taft and is now serving his second term. Mr. Hedges is one of the members of the Judith Club. He says he intends to spend his life in the Treasure State.

All sorts of out-door pleasures find favor with Mr. Hedges and he is especially fond of good horses. Withal he is a man of literary and cultured tastes, in which his wife also shares. Both are great music-lovers and will go far to see and hear a good play.

D. H. Ross is another good Montanian who was born in Canada. His birthplace was Andover, New Bruns- wick, and the year of his nativity was 1858, the day being January 14. His parents, John and Mary Kearney Ross were both natives of Canada, and both died there, Mr. Ross, in 1900, at the age of seventy- eight, and Mrs. Ross, in 1885, when she was sixty- eight years old.

D. H. Ross attended school in Canada, and after finishing his course in the common branches, spent some time in various occupations until the year of 1884, when he came to Missoula. He entered the em- ploy of the Eddy Hammond Company, which later became the Missoula Mercantile Company, and for six years remained in that establishment where he filled several different positions. In 1890, he and Mr. Henry Hammond organized the D. H. Ross Lumber Company. At the end of three years, Mr. Ross dis- posed of his interests in that concern and the same year was elected police magistrate, serving from 1894 to 1896. At the expiration of his term of office, he went into the real estate and insurance business with Mr. F. C. Stoddard, the firm name being Stoddard & Ross. In 1903, Mr. Ross was appointed postmaster and still holds that office.

In politics, Mr Ross is an active Republican, and he is a person who takes the keenest interest in all matters of public interest. From 1886 to 1890 he had charge of the interests of the Missoula Mercantile Company at Corvallis and at Victor, and was school trustee in the former place. He is a most able public official, as well as a most popular one. He brings to the perform- ance of his duties the same energy and efficiency which achieved his success in his various business ventures.

Mr. Ross was married before leaving Canada, in 1883, to Miss Ida Gunter, a Canadian by birth. One child, Anabel, has been born of their union. She is a native Missoulan, born May 18, 1884. In the fraternal orders, Mr. Ross is connected only with the order of the Odd Fellows.

JUDGE SIDNEY SANNER. The roster of distinguished jurists who have brought honor to the bench and bar of Custer county contains many names of deserved eminence, and the place which Sidney Sanner, of Miles City, occupies among these leaders of the legal pro- fession is one of high credit and distinction. He as- sumed the duties of judge of the district court on January 1, 1909, and on November 5, 1912, was elected to the supreme bench of the state of Montana. As a lawyer, Mr. Sanner took a foremost place among the leading practitioners at the local bar, his gifts as a speaker and his capacity for a close logical reasoning making him a peculiarly forceful and effective advo- cate. As a judge he has made a record that holds out a stimulus and example to all men who are called upon to bear the high responsibilities of a place upon the bench. Judge Sanner was born in Maryland in 1873, and is a son of James B. and Maria (Beetley) Sanner, natives of Maryland and Virginia, respectively, and the parents of thirteen children. The father was a soldier in the Confederate ranks during the war between the states, and both he and his wife were descended from Revolutionary stock.

Judge Sanner was thrown upon his own resources at a very early age, and until he reached the age of fifteen his education was wholly self-directed. At fifteen years of age he came to Helena and commenced to work his way through the Helena high school, and in 1892 was graduated from that school. In the mean- time he had given all his spare time to the study of law, and after his graduation he continued his studies under the able preceptorship of Judge H. C. Smith, and was admitted to the bar in 1893. During the next two years he practiced his profession in Helena, and then spent four years at Big Timber, in

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1899 coming to Miles City, where he formed a local partnership with Judge George Milburn. This asso- ciation was dissolved by mutual consent after a short time, and Mr. Sanner then began to practice alone, building up a large and representative clientele. The reputation that came as a result of the successful termi- nation of a number of important cases conducted by Mr. Sanner brought his name prominently before the public, and it was not long ere he became a candidate for public office on the Democratic ticket. Once in Sweet Grass county and again in Custer county he was the candidate for the office of county attorney, but on each occasion political conditions were such as to nullify his chances for election. From 1903 to 1907 he served as a member of the high school board, and in 1908 was chosen by the citizens of the first ward of Miles City to represent them as a member of the city council. During the same year he was elected to the office of district judge, taking his place on the bench in January, 1909. During his incumbency Judge Sanner has displayed the sound judgment, the well- balanced judicial mind, the intellectual honesty and freedom from bias which are required in a judge- attributes which have enabled him to maintain the best traditions of the judicial office, and which have so acquainted his fellow citizens with the calibre of the man that he was nominated on the Democratic ticket for the vacant seat on the supreme bench of the state, the nomination coming to him entirely un- solicited, and he was elected on the 5th of November, 1912, by a large majority. A Miles City paper has this to say concerning the election of Judge Sanner :

"The elevation of Judge Sanner to the supreme bench will mean the loss to this community of one of the brightest legal minds in this section of the state. Re- gardless of party lines, local people will be glad to know of the honor which has come to the Miles City man, and they believe he will establish the same record for probity, fairness and efficiency in the supreme court that he has in the district court since assuming his judicial office here."

Judge Sanner has been a conspicuous and influential force, not alone in the legal profession, but as a leading citizen, interested in the important public movements of the day, and it is but natural that he should have the esteem of the entire community and the sincere friendship of a wide circle of acquaintances.

The fraternal relations of Judge Sanner are repre- sented by his connection with Yellowstone Lodge No. 26, A. F. & A. M., and Miles City Lodge No. 537, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, while socially he is a member of the Miles City Club.

Judge Sanner was married in 1901 to Miss Kirtlye of age.

A. J. GIBSON, one of the pioneer residents of Missoula, was born in Ohio. He was born on a farm two miles from Savannah, in Ashland county, Ohio, on April I, 1862. A few months' schooling in the country school house each winter was the extent of his educational advantages. But he had what the schools cannot give and that is common sense, an unfailing sense of humor and tireless industry. Added to this was an ambition to succeed. From the first it was easy to see what his life work was to be. He was never happier than when working out some mechanical problem. The harder it was to solve the better it suited him.

Between Sam Seymour, a neighbor, and Albert Gib- son, as he was called, there sprung up a warm friend- ship. The fact that Seymour was an old man and

Albert a boy did not in any way interfere with the warmth of their regard for each other. To Sam Seymour Albert took his knotty problems and together they worked them out. Albert had what amounted to almost a genius for the use of tools, but the problem that had to be solved was how to obtain the tools. They say that we do not value the possessions that we obtain without effort. If this is so, Mr. Gibson should greatly value what he has acquired, for it has come by the hardest kind of work. As an instance, he secured his first tools by trapping mink, weasels and musk-rats, and selling their pelts to get money with which to buy the tools. That he made good use of them is evidenced by the fact that before he was eighteen the neighbors were invited to the Gibson farm to a barn raising. Every log, every timber, every part of the barn went to the place designed, and fitted accurately and every bit of the work was planned and done by an eighteen-year old boy.

When Mr Gibson was twenty-one years old, his father died. The other boys stayed on the farm and Albert struck out for himself. He went to Butte, Montana, to work for an old-time friend, H. M. Patterson. After five years spent at Butte, he decided to go into busi- ness for himself. Looking over the field, he picked Missoula for a winner. In those days it was a village. Today it is a metropolitan city. He and another am- bitious young carpenter became partners, under the firm name of Selander & Gibson.

Some time later Bob Mentrum and A. J. Gibson be- came partners. They say that poets are born and not made. It must be so with architects, for from building from someone else's plans Mr. Gibson soon began pre- paring his own plans. He took up the study of archi- tecture and before long he was securing the most im- portant contracts. One of his first large jobs was St. Patrick's Hospital. To drive over Missoula is to see on every hand evidence of his skill and ability. He built the high school, the Hawthorne School, the Sacred Heart Academy, the Harnois Theater, all of the University and Montana buildings, and innumerable others.

It is said that no better building, for the money, and no building more complete and up-to-date has ever been built in the West than the court house, built in Missoula from Mr. Gibson's plans, and under his supervision.

When Mr. Gibson first settled in Missoula, he saw the possibilities of the town, and as soon as he was able to do so he began purchasing business lots. When he put up the handsome brick block, the Gibson Block, his fellow townsmen smiled at his folly, but today the Gibson Block is in the heart of the town on Missoula's busiest corner. Besides this Mr. Gibson owns other important revenue producing property.

In 1909 he retired and since that time has devoted his time to a personal investigation of the roads of the United States and Canada. He is an enthusiastic advocate of "good roads," and his wife shares his fondness for "across the continent" trips in their auto- mobile. They were among the first from Missoula to drive their car across the country to New York City.

In I911 they made a trip through Canada going by the Crows Nest route. In 1912 they toured California, coming home through Nevada, Utah and Montana.

Mr. Gibson was married on January 30, 1889, to Maud Lockley, the daughter of Frederic Lockley, a veteran of the Civil war, and a pioneer newspaper man. He was editor of the Salt Lake Tribune from 1872 to 1879 and was the first editor of the Butte Inter- Mountain.

Teo.H. Stauton

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HON. HARRISON N. SYKES. During a residence in Montana of more than thirty years, the record made and maintained by the Hon. Harrison N. Sykes, state sena- tor from Custer county, both as business man and public official, has been one worthy of emulation in every respect and has demonstrated his right beyond all doubt to be classed among the men whose activities have been the cause of the growth and development of the best resources of the Treasure State. He is a native of Van Wert county, Ohio, and was born October 10, 1850, a son of George S. and Hannah (DeCamp) Sykes.

The father of Senator Sykes was born in Niagara county, New York, November 5, 1825, and in young manhood removed to Ohio. In the Empire State he had been engaged in farming, but on taking up his residence in Middlepoint, Van Wert county, engaged in the flour milling business. In 1859 he removed to Newark, Knox county, Missouri, where farming and. stock raising enlisted his attention, and he was so engaged until 1910, when he came to Montana to visit his son, at whose home he died on May Ist of that year. Originally a Whig, he later engaged in supporting the principles of the Republican party, and in fraternal matters was a Mason and an Odd Fellow. Mr. Sykes was married in Ohio to Hannah DeCamp, who was a native of that state, and she died when only 51 years of age, having been the mother of four children, three of whom are living, two being Harrison N. and Edwin A, the latter a resident of the state of Missouri.

Harrison N. Sykes secured his educational training in the schools of Middlepoint, Ohio, and Newark, Mis- souri, and until he attained his majority worked on his father's Missouri homestead. At that time he learned the business of telegraphy, and spent three or four years in the employ of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. Subsequently he returned to farming, and for about seven or eight years was engaged in tilling the soil in Knox county, Missouri. In 1880 he came to Montana, with the idea of looking the country over for a suitable location to engage in business. He spent two or three years in Montana, during a part of which time he was engaged in working for contractors for the United States government, in getting out wood at Fort Shaw, and then returned to Missouri and followed farm- ing up to 1889. On his return to Montana he settled in Custer county, and engaged in the cattle and sheep business near Eklaka, where he is now the owner of two ranches, one being devoted to sheep and the other to cattle. Mr. Sykes has been uniformly successful in his operations, and while conducting his business along strictly legitimate lines has benefited not only his own interests, but those of his community as well. A stanch and active Republican, and a hard worker in the party's ranks, he was first elected state representative, and after serving two terms was, in November, 1910, sent to the Montana State Senate. In his official capacity he has capably conserved the interests of his constituents and faithfully and conscientiously discharged the duties of his office, being known as one of the active members of Montana's distinguished body. Fraternally, he is connected with Sandstone Lodge, A. F. & A. M., at Baker, Montana; Beaver Lodge, I. O. F., Eklaka; Miles City Lodge No. 537, B. P. O. E., and Eklaka Lodge, M. W. A. The Senator is unmarried.

IGNATIUS MATTINGLY. For many years Ignatius Mat- tingly has been connected with the upbuilding of Butte and he has just reason to be proud of the fact that to his efforts can be traced many a substantial enter- prise or advancement contributing greatly to the growth and prosperity of this city. In every sense of the word he is a representative citizen and a business man of marked capacity. Since 1899 he has been engaged in the gentlemen's furnishing business in Butte and his establishment is recognized as complete in every detail.

Ignatius Mattingly was born in McClain county, Ken- tucky, the date of his birth being the 5th of August,

1861. Both his parents, Edward and Eliza (Buckels) Mattingly, were natives of the fine old Bluegrass com- monwealth and the former figured prominently as major of a Kentucky regiment in the war between the states. After the close of the Civil war Major Mattingly de- voted his attention to grist milling and mechanical pur- suits in Kentucky, and he was summoned to the life eternal in 1899, at the age of seventy-two years. Mrs. Mattingly died in 1867. Of the six children born to Major and Mrs. Mattingly but two are living, in 1912, namely,-Henry T., a prominent railroad man in Texas; and Ignatius, the immediate subject of this review.

To the public schools and Western College of Ken- tucky Ignatius Mattingly is indebted for his educa- tional training. As a young man he became interested in the mercantile business as a clerk in a store at Livermore, Kentucky. In 1887 he decided to try his fortunes in the Northwest and accordingly came to Montana, locating first in Helena, where he was in the employ of Babcock & Company for one month, at the expiration of which he was transferred to the Butte office of that concern. Mr. Mattingly continued to work for Babcock & Company for a period of twelve years and in 1899, in company with W. A. Smith, he bought out his employers, continuing to conduct the gentle- men's furnishing business at Butte under the firm name of Smith & Mattingly. In 1903 Mr. Smith withdrew from the partnership and since that time Mr. Mattingly has conducted the business individually. He has proved distinctly successful in his particular line of enterprise and takes great pride in catering to the best class of trade in the state.

On the 23d of January, 1895, Ignatius Mattingly was united in marriage to Miss Julia Pelkey, a native of Holyoke, Massachusetts. There have been no children born to this union. Mrs. Mattingly is a woman of most gracious personality and is deeply beloved by all who have come within the sphere of her gentle influ- ence.

While Mr. Mattingly does not take an active part in local politics he gives a stalwart allegiance to the principles and policies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor and contributes in generous measure to all projects forwarded for the good of the city and state at large. In fraternal circles he figures prom- inently as a member of the Woodmen of the World, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Silver Bow and Butte Country clubs. He is fond of horses and horseback riding and is an expert horseman. He is genial in his associations and is decidedly pop- ular with all classes of people. His citizenship is a valuable adjunct to Butte, where he is recognized as a man of sterling worth and impregnable integrity.

GEO. H. STANTON is a native of Indiana. His parents died before he was twelve years of age. Came to Mon- tana October. 1887, while yet a boy. Was graduated from the law department, Yale University, 1893, and at once began the general practice of law. Continued in general practice of law until 1912 when he became president of Commercial Trust & Savings Bank of Great Falls. Was a member of the house in the fifth legislative assembly. Was elected to the state senate in 1898, serving four years when he quit politics, declin- ing all offers of further political preferment. He was president pro tem of the senate and chairman of the judiciary committee. Mr. Stanton was married Feb- ruary 5, 1910, to Miss Dorothy Potter, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Potter of Chicago. A son, Potter Stanton, was born December 15, 1911. Great Falls has been the home of Mr. Stanton from the time he came to Montana.

EDMUND WRIGHT. Ranking high among the sub- stantial business men of Lewistown is Edmund Wright, who deals in real estate and insurance, and negotiates loans, and who is a persistent and consistent believer

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in the city and its citizens, and can always be counted upon to do his full share towards promoting the mate- rial welfare of Montana, which has been his home for a quarter of a century. A son of Edmund Wright, Sr., he was born, December 14, 1869, in Penn Yan, New York, where his earlier years were spent.

Born in England, Edmund Wright, Sr., came to the United States when a lad of eight years, and has since been a resident of New York state. Having learned the trades of a carpenter and cabinet maker when young, he located in Penn Yan, where he has since continued in business. He married Sarah Wal- ton a native of the Empire state, and they became the parents of eight children, two of whom are living in Lewistown, Montana, namely: Edmund, the subject of this sketch; and Frank E., who is here engaged in the banking business.

Brought up in Penn Yan, New York, Edmund Wright attended the public schools as a boy and youth, and being a little hustler he began work at the age of nine years, in a truck garden, earning three dollars a week, money which he conscientiously car- ried to his parents each pay day. At the age of fif- teen years, he went to Elmira, New York, where he worked his way through a business college, selling newspapers, clerking in stores, ushering at theatres, being willing to engage in any remunerative employ- ment. In 1887, foreseeing the undeveloped possibilities of Montana, Mr. Wright made his way to Lewistown, where he has since resided. Until 1890 he was con- nected with the bank of Fergus county, and the ensu- ing three years was deputy county clerk and recorder. He was afterwards deputy in the office of the clerk of the district court for another three years, and the following eight years was clerk of the district court. In 1902 Mr. Wright embarked in the real estate, loan and insurance business, and in its management has met with great success, being now one of the larg -. est operators in Montana, his finely equipped offices being located in Lewistown.

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A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 18

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