A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 21

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

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On September 2, 1896, at Great Falls, Montana, Mr. Gies was united in marriage with Mary Miller, a daugh- ter' of Matthias and Katherine (Bauer) Miller. Mr. and Mrs. Gies are the parents of five children, namely, Arthur, born June 16, 1898; Olive, November 18, 1899; Katherine, born July 16, 1905; Noel, born December 9, 1908, and Rosemary, born November 21, 1911. In his political affiliations, Mr. Gies is a steadfast Democrat. Fraternally he belongs to the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks; and religiously he is a member of the Roman Catholic church.

WAKEMAN SUTTON. Starting life for himself as a poor young man, with no capital except his strong arm, his clear and well trained brain, his strong desire for success and his unwavering determination to win it, Wakeman Sutton, one of the promising mining men of Butte, has reached a position in his industry that is highly creditable to him, and is all the more commend- able because it has been won over difficulties and in spite of disasters. Adversity has attended him at times, but has not been able to quell his spirit. Neither has suc- cess unduly elated him or made him careless of details in his business. He has literally been tried by both extremes of fortune and has never been seriously dis- turbed by either.

Mr. Sutton was born in the city of Bloomington, McLean county, Illinois, on August 30, 1857, and is a son of Benjamin and Mary (Barnard) Sutton, the for- mer born in the state of New York in 1824, and the latter in North Carolina in 1827. The mother died in June, 1899, and the father in August , 1900. Both passed away at Santa Barbara, California, where they located in the year 1872. The father was a physician, and was seventy-six years of age when he died. He and his wife were the parents of five children, of whom their son Wakeman was the second in numerical order.

He began his education in the public schools of Bloom- ington, Illinois, and completed it at a high school and college in Santa Barbara, California, leaving school at the age of eighteen. Becoming at once the master of his own movements and controller of his affairs, he entered the employ of Wells Fargo Express Company and re- mained in their employ until the fall of 1876, when he became bookkeeper for the wholesale commission house

F. L Melchu.

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of Rouse & Laws, San Francisco. In 1879 he removed to Arizona, where he was engaged in mining and mer- cantile pursuits for about eight years, during a portion of the time being the manager of the large mercantile establishment of the Roger Brothers, their stores being situated in Benson, Fairbanks and Bisbee. He came to Montana in 1887, first as a traveling salesman for the firm of Castle Brothers of San Francisco, extensive importers of teas, coffees and spices, and dealers in high class groceries of every kind. He traveled through all parts of Montana for this firm until 1894, then decided to take up his residence per- manently in Butte and devote himself wholly to min- ing operations.

He began mining in 1895 and has been continuously engaged in it ever since, being connected, in the course of his activity in the industry in this part of the country, with the Nora mine, now an Amalgamated Copper Company property, the Silver King mine and the Modoc mine, as well as with other properties.

He is now president of the Silver King Leasing Com- pany, which is working the Silver King mine, the shaft of which is located at 212 West Quartz street, right in the heart of the city, and in the rear of Senator Clark's residence and the new county courthouse. At present, with a depth of only three hundred feet, it yields about fifty tons of ore per day.

On September 6, 1881, Mr. Sutton was married in Tucson, Arizona, to Miss Lillie Sargent, a native of New York state and the daughter of Charles and Jane Sargent. Three children have been born into the Sutton household, and two of them are living. These are: Addie, now the wife of Dr. J. S. Mckinley, of Butte; and Dorothy, who is still living with her par- ents. The one son born in the family, William, died in Butte, in December, 1901. The family residence is at No. 205 West Quartz street, near the Silver King mine.

FRED L. MELCHER, secretary and treasurer of the Western Iron Works at Butte, Montana, is a native of Brunswick, Maine, born there on April 27, 1858. He is a scion of families long resident in that state and prom- inent in its history for generations. His father, Os- born A. Melcher, was born in the same house where occurred the birth of the son, as was also the grand- father, it having been the family residence for years and handed down from one generation to another as its representatives came and went.

Osborn A. Melcher was a farmer, as his progenitors for successive stages had been, and he passed his en- tire life on the family homestead on which he was ushered into being on February 7, 1825, and where he died on June 18, 1899. His wife, whose maiden name was Margery Y. Loring, also passed all her days in Maine. She was born in Yarmouth, on May 23, 1823, and died on May 5, 1904.

Fred L. Melcher was educated in one of the little red schoolhouses in the neighborhood of his home which were prevalent in his boyhood and have not yet altogether disappeared from that part of the country and still abound in many other sections. He lived with his parents on the home farm until he reached the age of eighteen, and then went to Newfields. New Hampshire, and learned the trade of a machinist, at which he worked there for twelve years.

On April 23, 1888, he arrived in Anaconda, Mon- tana, to take a position as master mechanic in the em- ploy of the late Marcus Daly. After two years of service in that capacity he moved to Butte and .be- came master mechanic for the Butte & Boston Mining Company, with which he remained six months. At the end of that period he transferred his services to the Western Iron Works as superintendent. This old and prosperous manufacturing institution was founded in 1890 hy H. F. Brown and J. E. Gaylor, who incorpor-

ated it, and was conducted by them until Mr. Melcher and W. G. Bawden bought them out. They retained the old name of the establishment, which it still bears. The company manufactures general mining and smelt- ing machinery and does an extensive business. Its name stands high in the industrial world, and gives all its products a full guarantee of excellence in every particular.

Since coming to Butte Mr. Melcher has been a very busy man, energetic and capable in pushing his busi- ness, and working hard himself. Aside from personal matters he has taken an earnest interest and an active part in the public affairs of the community. He served as alderman from the Seventh ward of the city in 1897, 1898 and 1899, and has been on the school board since 1904, being made its chairman in 1909. He is a Republican in politics, zealously loyal to his party and energetic and effective in its service at all times. In the fraternal life of the community, too, he has been deeply and serviceably interested. He was made a Master Mason in Butte Lodge, No. 22, A. F. & A. M., and is a member of Deer Lodge, Chapter No. 3, R. A. M., Zabud Council, No. 2, R. & S. M., and Montana Commandery, No. 3, Knights Templar. He is also a member of Butte Consistory, No. I attaining the thirty- second degree in Scottish Rite Masonry, and on June 15, 1910, he was honored by selection to the thirty- third degree. He is a Noble of the Mystic Shrine af- filiating with Bagdad Temple at Butte. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

On September 23, 1886, while living in New Hamp- shire," Mr. Melcher was united in marriage with Miss Etta S. Swett, a native of that state. Mrs. Melcher holds the official position of vice-president of the West- ern Iron Works. She sympathizes with her husband in all his undertakings and shares in his devotion to the public welfare of the city of their home. Mr. Mel- cher is accounted one of the best and most useful citi- zens of Butte, and is well worthy of the high estimate placed upon his merit.

JOSEPH LEPKE. German enterprise and influence have entered strongly into every branch of industrial activity and into every avenue of commercialism in our country. In the professions no nationality is more largely repre- sented, and what a potent influence Germans have exerted upon the Americans through the art of music is universally recognized. Joseph Lepke, a prominent business man of Anaconda, Montana, where he is established as a wholesale cigar manufacturer, is by birth and generations of ancestral inheritance a German and by his own success has added to the achievements of his countrymen in the United States. Born in Ger- many on February 12, 1867, five years of his life were spent in the Fatherland before he accompanied his par- ents, August and Johanna (Lourenz) Lepke, both natives of Germany, to the United States in 1872. Set- tling in Wisconsin, the parents there reared a family of twelve children, of whom Joseph is the eldest, and they have continued residents of that state to the present time. The father is a contractor and is still actively engaged in his line of business.

The grammar school educaion which Joseph Lepke acquired in the public schools of Wisconsin was later supplemented by a course in a business college at Helena, Montana. He began early to earn money and to realize its value, thus learning to rely on his own resources. Errand boy was his first position and he began to fill it at the age of eight, one of his first employers being ex-Congressman Price of Wisconsin, who on one occasion gave the lad a dollar, his first one, and this he gave to his mother. When about ten years old he entered a cigar factory to learn the trade, con- tinuing his school studies in the meantime, however, and from that time to the present his whole activity has heen in connection with the cigar and tobacco business.

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In 1888 Mr. Lepke came to Montana, and spent one year at Helena and two years at Livingston in the cigar busi- . and was formerly secretary of state in President ness before he came to Anaconda in 1891. For five years, or until 1896, he worked on a salary there; then he established his present business. He manufactures a general line of cigars for wholesale trade and has built up a very profitable business. Mr. Lepke has traveled all over the United States and has also visited parts of British Columbia, but remains loyal to Montana, for he considers it the garden spot of the world and pre- dicts a great future for this commonwealth. Taft's cabinet. Before the end of his high school course, however, Edward Flaherty was forced to leave school in order that he might learn a trade by which he could become self-supporting. The barber's trade appealed to the boy as one that would be easily mastered, and at this avocation he earned his living in Rome for the next four years. The indoor life and confinement of his calling began to tell upon his phys- ical strength and his physicians ordered a complete In February, 1896, Mr. Lepke was married at Ana- conda, Montana, to Mary Bloing, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Bloing, of Hurontown, Michigan. Two sons and a daughter have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lepke. Joseph E. Lepke, the eldest son, is now a student in the Anaconda high school, and Leora T. and George M. are pupils in the grades. change of climate. In 1875 he went to Denver, Colo- rado, where he worked in a shop until January, 1876. Like hundreds of others he was then overcome by the prevailing epidemic-"gold fever." He was one of the number who rushed from Colorado to Black Hills in a vain attempt to locate the precious metal. His trade in that region stood him well, as he was able to earn, In religious faith Mr. and Mrs. Lepke are Catholics and the latter takes an active interest in church work. Mr. Lepke sustains fraternal membership in the Order of Eagles, the Woodmen of the World, the Sons of Hermann, and the Improved Order of Red Men, and has filled all the offices in his local lodge of Red Men and also in the Order of Eagles, having been president of the latter order four years. With a stanch devotion to the Democratic party in politics, Mr. Lepke is a zeal- ous worker in its behalf and has given official service as alderman in Anaconda. While he is essentially a business man, yet he has a large capacity for the enjoy- ment of social life and sports. He and his rod have visited many of the streams and lakes of Montana and he is also interested in athletics and is at the present time an officer in the Washoe Athletic Club. As is char- acteristic of the German, he is highly appreciative of music and was at one time a member of the Anaconda Band. Anaconda numbers him among those of its citi- zens and business men who are contributors to the pres- tige of Montana. while not prospecting, sufficient for his actual wants. In April, 1881, he had about decided to turn his face again eastward when news reached him of the excite- ment in New Mexico where, it was reported, there was gold enough for all. This second venture proved no more remunerative than the first, and, after making an honest "try" of it for five months, he left the Black Range for the little city of Santa Fe, where he opened a prosperous barber shop. Here, too, he formed a partnership with John W. Oligan and opened an estab- lishment for undertaking and embalming. For eight years this business paid large dividends, but Mr. Fla- herty had heard much of the attractions of Helena and felt that to Helena he must go. Accordingly, he sold out his interests to his partner and reached Montana on May 18, 1888. At Helena not an unoccupied store building was to be had, but Mr. Flaherty, his Irish optimism nothing daunted, purchased the undertaking parlors of A. B. Taylor which was the foundation of his present business, the best equipped and most modern of its kind in the city. He was fortunate in reaching Helena at the psychological moment for business devel- opment and this, added to his natural perspicacity, has made of him a wealthy man. From 1891 until 1898 he served as alderman for the city, being elected county coroner in 1909. Mr. Flaherty now owns large fruit orchards near Kalispell, one orchard alone containing twelve hundred apple trees. He is interested too, in the Penwell sheep ranches and several pieces of mining property in and about Montana.

EDWARD L. FLAHERTY. The father of Edward Flah- erty, Robert Flaherty, was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1828, and although he came to America in his twentieth year he never ceased to be proud of his Irish blood. For five years after crossing the ocean he lived in New York City, where he plied his trade as wood carver and turner. In 1833 he was offered a good position in the line of his trade in Rome, New York. He at once accepted and there he worked steadily for fifty- four years, always in the same building. For much of this period he was manager of his department. Three times the business changed hands, but always Mr. Flaherty remained. He was much too valuable a man to lose and his employers seemed to realize this. The last owner of the factory was Mr. Arthur Soper, who later became the president of the Iron Mountain Rail- way System. During the half century of his residence in Rome, Mr. Flaherty acquired some valuable prop- erty in the city, most of which was in the form of improved rental property. He lived until August 15, 1905, passing away in the home where he had spent the greater part of his life. His wife had gone before, ten weeks to the day, and this may have shortened the honest and busy life of her husband.

Mrs. Flaherty was Katherine Steppe, a native of Frankfort, Germany. From this unusual union of races four children were born: Elizabeth, their first born, is now the wife of E. L. Gatly and still resides in Rome, New York; Edward, the subject of the sketch is the only other member of the family now living: William, the oldest son, lived until his forty-second year but now lies buried in the Black Hills of Dakota ; while Albert, the third in age, died suddenly at Niehart, Montana, in 1901.

Edward attended both the elementary and secondary schools of Rome, one of his teachers being Mr. Root

who served as. United States senator from New York,

On the thirtieth day of October, 1878, Mr. Flaherty was married to Miss Ida Runkle of Cohoes, New York. They became the parents of two daughters: Estella is the wife of Mr. R. W. Church, the general manager of the Independent, one of the daily papers of Helena ; Miss Mae makes her home with her parents.

Mr. Flaherty is most popular in fraternal circles. He is past chancellor of the lodge of the Knights of Pythias, past noble grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Queen City Lodge, and a member of the Woodmen of the World. In the Masonic order he is very active, being a thirty-second degree Mason and a Shriner, as well as past eminent commander of the Knight Templars. The entire family are members of the Episcopal church of Helena of which Mr. Flaherty is one of the vestrymen.

JAMES WALKER was born near Belfast, in County Antrim, Ireland, his natal day being the twenty-fourth of February, and the year of his birth, the one most important in the memory of American citizens, 1861.

The father, John Walker, himself a native of the same county, spent most of his life near the town of Moira, which is only about twelve miles from Belfast. There, until his sixty-first year, he conducted a mer- cantile establishment, being also interested in farming several extensive tracts of land. He was a political leader in his community, a Liberalist, working for the

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Irish land-rights and home rule. When in his sixty- second year he was induced to come to America that he might spend his remaining days with his sons, James and John, who were then well known merchants of Helena, Montana. After only one year's residence in the western city he was injured in a runaway between Helena and Unionville and lived but a month, his death being preferable to a crippled and enfeebled life.

John Walker had married, during his younger days, Mrs. Elizabeth Swan, the widow of William Swan of Belfast. She passed away in their Irish home in 1867, leaving him three children-of whom Grace, the oldest, is now living in the north of Ireland, herself the widow of Theodore Sinton. John, the younger brother, is a member of the firm of Lindsay Walker Company, whole- sale fruit and produce merchants of Billings, Montana.

James, the older of the two sons, received his school- ing in Lurgan, Ireland. There, after finishing the elementary course, he did some work in the secondary scientific schools and then apprenticed himself to a grocer in Belfast, with whom he remained, in one capacity or another. for five years. At the age of twenty he set out for New York City and, with his savings, established himself in the wholesale commis- sion business, his potatoes and many of the other vege- tables being supplied by his father from the home farms near Moira. So profitable was this venture that he shortly returned for a brief visit to the little island that was still home to him. On his return to the United States he settled in North Dakota, being one of the first white men to locate in Cooperstown, Griggs county. Fargo was at this time (1882) a mere village, the streets knee-deep in mud-if the season was sufficiently wet to produce a crop. In Dakota, he labored for six years, leaving the state much poorer than when he entered it. Year after year his crops (for this time he had tried farming) were killed by the frosts or the droughts. It was, then, in the autumn of 1888 when he first came to Montana, securing employment for a short time in the grocery of John T. Murphy. The proverbial difficulty in "keeping a good Irishman down" applied to this case. Soon he had established, in his own name, a small store in the Woods block. Shortly after he was joined by his brother, John, who purchased the stock Gander & Fuller, groceries. For ten years they re- mained in one location. when the brother withdrew from the partnership and James Walker built the com- modious store building and attractive residence on the corner of Davis and Broadway.

Mr. Walker's mercantile efforts have brought a large reward, but thus far his mining ventures have not proved so satisfying. He lost in one investment in Jefferson county, a fortune of over twenty thousand dollars; but this did not squelch his native enthusiasm and optimism. He now has city property in both Idaho and Montana, in the future of which he has the greatest faith. He owns some real estate of value in Helena, and much good ranch land, well stocked with horses and cattle. In addition to this, he has recently assumed the state agency for the Jackson Automobile Com- pany of Jackson, Michigan. He was married in Helena to Miss Ida Peterson, a young woman originally from Marsja, Sweden. Of their union, one son was born to them. As he grew to young manhood he showed so marked a talent for the pencil and brush that his parents are now sending him to the Minneapolis School of Art. Some two years ago, he succeeded in com- pleting his high school and business course. This son, whom. they have called James Edwin, has just reached his majority, having been born in 1891, and his friends predict for him a brilliant future.

Mr. James Walker, Senior, as he is known to the associates of the boy, is not a "Joiner" nor a politician. His political sympathies are, however, as might be ex-

pected from his father's son, with the Progressive Democrats.

PHILIP GREENAN. The aptitude of the Irish for statecraft and politics is proverbial. Perhaps it has become rooted in their blood from the centuries of strug- gle with adverse political conditions which have ham- pered the wonderful island of Erin. Possibly they are not really any more ardent politicians than they are poets and warriors; for certainly they go into these pur- suits with zeal and emerge with distinction. The Celtic revival has drawn our attention anew to the literary exploits of that people and meanwhile they are continu- ing to exert their genius for organization upon public concerns, very much to the advantage of said concerns. Mr. Greenan is a notable example of Montana's able public men of Irish blood.

The first twelve years of Philip Greenan's life were spent in Ireland, and there he received all his training in the schools. He came to America with some rela- tives and obtained employment in a rubber factory at Millville, Massachusetts. This was in the year of 1881 when child-labor laws did not yet forbid the children under fourteen to work in factories. Mr. Greenan re- mained here for three years, and in 1884 came west. His first stop was at Leadville, Colorado, and in that lively mining town he obtained work at the smelting plant, and thus the next three years were spent. The following twelve months he was in Denver, and from that city he came to Montana in 1888. At Anaconda he found work easily in the smelter, and for ten years he stayed in the city and worked at this same occupation.

When the Spanish-American war broke out in 1898 Mr. Greenan enlisted with Company K which went from Anaconda, and .was sent to the Philippines. Here he served until the company was mustered out at San Francisco. On March 23, 1899, he was wounded in a skirmish and obliged to spend some time in the hospital. He did not remain long, as he was eager to rejoin his regiment at the earliest possible moment. After being mustered out, Mr. Greenan returned to Anaconda and there resumed his work in the smelter, remaining there one year.

It was in 1900 that the Democratic party selected Mr. Greenan as their candidate for clerk of Deer Lodge county. He was elected to the office and two years later was again a candidate for the same office and a second time the choice of the county for the position. His term of service expired in March, 1904, and then he again resumed his work at the smelters and for the next five years was busied with this occupation. Though not in public office, he was, however, still active in the party councils and recognized as one of its strong men. On March 4, 1909, Governor Norris appointed him adju- tant general and he still holds that position. The filling of this position made it advisable for Mr. Greenan to move from Anaconda to Helena and since his appoint- ment he has resided at the capital, with his family. This consists of his wife, Bridget Dorian Greenan, and their one son, Philip Gregory, a lad of nine who is at- tending the public schools of Helena. Another child born to this union died in infancy. Mrs. Greenan was born in Wisconsin, but came to Montana when a young girl and here met Mr. Greenan. The family are mem- bers of the Catholic church.

Both of Mr. Greenan's parents are now deceased. Neither Peter Greenan nor his wife, Anne Finnegan Greenan, ever immigrated from county Monaghan, Ire- land, which was their birthplace and that of their chil- dren, and is now their last resting place.

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A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 21

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