A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 52

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

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In 1907 Mr. McCaffrey removed to Butte and opened an office here in partnership with Mr. E. E. Kenerk. This association lasted for one year, and at the expira- tion of that period Mr. McCaffrey took a vacation from practice to superintend the erection of his home on a tract of land which he had secured at some distance from the city. After his residence was finished he re- turned to Butte and resumed his practice, with Mr. G. O. Tyler as his colleague. This partnership is still in effect, and the firm occupies a handsome set of offices in the Phoenix building. They enjoy a large and a desirable practice and their services are in demand by those who desire expert work both as office lawyers and in court. Their practice is of a general nature, and throughout the western part of the state and in large Idaho, their reputation has secured them clientele.

Joseph McCaffrey, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Ireland. Before leaving that is- land he was married to Miss Mary Curran. Both are still residing in Anaconda, where Mr. McCaffrey fol- lows the trade of shoe making, which he learned in this country. Mr. Joseph J. McCaffrey is not the youngest of that name in his family, for he also has a son, Joseph P., born in Butte on July 15, 1908, to Joseph J., and Mae E. (Riordan) McCaffrey. Mrs. McCaffrey is the daughter of Patrick and Ellen Rior- dan. of Vaca Valley. California, whose home she left on June 9, 1903, to preside over that of Mr. McCaffrey.

When Mr. McCaffrey can get away from his office he is to be found with rod or gun in hand, and both the chase of such game as Montana ahounds in and in fishing for mountain trout give him the keenest delight in the world, except possibly that of convincing a jury. He is not a person who takes his pleasure in solitude, either, for he is fond of the society of his many friends. One of the leading men in his profession in the city, he is also interested in commercial matters of different sorts, and is president of the Lucky 20 Mining Com- pany, whose plant is eleven miles east of the city. Mr. McCaffrey is a member of the Knights of .Columbus and has taken the fourth degree in the lodge at Butte. He is a communicant of the Roman Catholic church, as is Mrs. McCaffrey. In matters political Mr. Mc- Caffrey is not strongly partisan, and like most suc- cessful attorneys, public affairs and their conduct in- terest him keenly. Successful, and popular, he is one of the men who are well known in Butte, and who make

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the city well known throughout the state and also outside its borders.

AMOS L. THOMPSON, formerly sole owner of the A. L. Thompson Banking Company in Libby and the owner of considerable real estate in this city, is a representa- tive business man and one who not only has achieved his individual success but who has also public-spiritedly devoted himself to the general welfare of his fellow citizens and been foremost in advancing enterprises and improvements which will prove of lasting benefit to his home city. He is, furthermore, a self-made man, having run away from home at the age of nine years and having thereafter been compelled to seek his living and advancement as best he could.

A native of Polk county, Iowa, Amos L. Thompson was born July 29, 1868, and he is a son of Lew and Bertha (Landy) Thompson, the former of whom was born in Scotland and the latter in Norway. The parents were married in Scotland and came to America in the early '6os, locating in Polk county, Iowa, where Mr. Thompson turned his attention to the great basic in- dustry of agriculture. He was summoned to the life eternal August 5, 1911, at the age of seventy-two years, and she passed away in 1898. Of the ten children born to Mr. and Mrs. Lew Thompson seven are living, in 1913, and of the number Amos L. was the sixth in order of birth.

To the age of nine years Amos L. Thompson attended the public schools of Polk county, Iowa, and at that time, after receiving a severe whipping for some mis- demeanor, he ran away from home. Although but a mere child, he was possessed of unusual determination and he immediately boarded a railway train and beat his way to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where a married sister lived. He spent a day and a night on the way to Minneapolis and after locating his sister remained with her for three weeks, when he secured work as dishwasher in a railway camp near Duluth, Minnesota, the same being connected with the Hinckley & Duluth Short Line. Thereafter he was variously engaged until 1890, when he came to Montana' and settled in Kalispell, where he entered the employ of the Great Northern Railway Company as section hand. With the passage of time he was advanced in the railroad business and eventually became a conductor on the Great Northern. In 1898 he removed to Flathead county near Lincoln county, and there took up a homestead of three hundred acres, following farming for the ensuing five years, at the expiration of which, in 1904, he came to Libby, Montana. He established the first exclusive hardware store in Libby and gradually accumulated considerable real estate in this city. He met with marked success as a hardware merchant but in January, 1911, sold out his business to the firm of Fleek & Fleek. Previously, in February, 1909, he had established the A. L. Thomp- son Banking Company, the first permanent bank in Libby, but in July, 1911, Mr. Thompson sold the A. L. Thompson Banking Company to the First National Bank, and he now devotes the greater portion of his time and attention to the real estate and loan business.

In politics Mr. Thompson owns allegiance to the Democratic party and he served as one of Libby's first aldermen. In a social way he is affiliated with the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is a member of the board of trustees. Mr. Thompson is unmarried.

ROBERT LEE CLINTON. The city of Butte, Montana, has within its borders professional men of excep- tional abilities, members of the various callings who have brought credit to themselves, their vocations and their city, and who while pursuing their professional duties have developed the best interests of their com- munity. Among these may be mentioned Robert Lee Clinton, who, as a man versed in the laws of the

country, has been a recognized power. Indomitable energy, perseverance, patience and strong mentality have served to bring him to his present high position, and as a prominent figure in many legal controversies and an able solver of numerous complexities his repu- tation has become state-wide. Mr. Clinton was born at Anderson, Indiana, February 18, 1865, and is a son of Henry V. and Melvina. (Shafer) Clinton.

The father of Mr. Clinton was born in County Down, Ireland, and when a lad of fourteen years came to the United States with his parents, the family set- tling in Paterson, New Jersey. There he grew to manhood, and during the gold rush of 1849 journeyed to California via the Panama route, but after spend- ing a few years in mining returned to the east. Sub- sequently he became a correspondent for a number of the metropolitan newspapers, a vocation which he followed until his death, which occurred in 1906, at Trenton, New Jersey. His wife was a native of Virginia and a member of a prominent old family of the Old Dominion state, a niece of War Governor John D. Letcher. She is of German descent and still survives, making her home in the east.

Robert Lee Clinton secured his early education in the Anderson, Indiana, high school and for three years attended the Indiana State University at Bloom- ington, now the University of Indiana, where he re- ceived his early law training. He spent a short time in a. law office in Indiana, but in 1890 came to Mon- tana and became associated in a clerical capacity with the Missoula Mercantile Company. After a short time he decided to resume his law studies and went to Kalispell, Flathead county, where the Missoula Mer- cantile Company had large interests, and was re- tained by that concern to, represent it in legal af- fairs and was also attorney for the First National Bank at Kalispell. He continued to be so engaged until 1897, also carrying on a general practice, but in that year came to Butte, which has since been his field of practice. Mr. Clinton has numbered for many years among his other clients the First National Bank of Butte, Montana, the largest financial institution in the state. He also had charge of the litigation on the part of the farmers in their famous suit against the Washoe Smelter. (F. J. Bliss vs. Anaconda Cop- per Mining Co., and Washoe Copper Co.) This suit has become one of national prominence, and has played an important part in the state's history, not only from a judicial standpoint, but also from the political and social standpoint. It has even attracted the atten- tion of the national government at Washington, un- der President Theodore Roosevelt, who sent a num- ber of experts on behalf of the government to make investigations in the Deer Lodge valley as to the fume injury to the farmers in that locality, and who gave important testimony for the farmers in this liti- gation. It has also been known among the members of the bar as the largest record ever made in any one case in the history of the civilized world, there being on file now, in the supreme court of the United States, where this litigation is pending, 68 large vol- umes of printed testimony, containing over 30,000 pages of printing. A writ of certiorari having been recently granted upon petition of the farmers, whereby the su- preme court of the United States has decided to re- view the entire case.

Mr. Clinton's abilities have been recognized by his retention as attorney for some of the largest cor- porations in the city, and he also has a large and representative general practice. Of unerring judg- ment, there have been none who have comprehended the etliics of the profession better than he. His cli- ents know him to be a man of honor and integrity and none fear at his hands any underhanded dealing or chicanery, while as a citizen he has gained the

Robert Lee Clinton

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universal respect of his fellow men. He takes very little interest in politics and has not been an office seeker, but has interested himself in fraternal work as a member of the Masons and the Elks, and in social circles is popular as a member of the Silver Bow and Butte Country clubs.

In 1891, while a resident of Kalispell, Mr. Clinton was married to Miss Maude Golden, a native of Ne- vada, whose father, Thomas L. Golden, was born in Londonderry, Ireland. Four sons have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Clinton: Robert V., Thomas L., John K., and Earl J. Robert V. Clinton, the eldest son, was graduated, in 1912, from the St. John Military Academy at Delafield, Wisconsin, receiving a classi- cal diploma, the first to be issued in twelve years by that school. He took the class medal in 1909. Thomas L. Clinton, the second son, was a student at the same school, a member of the class of 1913, but in 1912 was appointed principal cadet midshipman to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.

JACOB ZIMMERMAN. The branch of the Zimmerman family to which the popular leader of the Zimmerman band belongs, is of Swiss origin, and the first to come to America was the grandfather of Jacob, who was among the early settlers of Ohio. He married in his native country, and the father of our subject was seven years old at the time they moved from the little repub- lic, with its stirring history, to the vast new one, whose short existence had proved it also to be a place which bred heroes. With the Zimmermans came the family of Jacob Wasem, whose daughter Elizabeth was the wife of Jacob Zimmerman and the mother of Jacob. The Wasems settled in Ohio, and later moved to South Dakota. Joseph Zimmerman, like most pioneers, followed the occupation of farming and in addition to this he was also a minister. He moved from Ohio to Minne- sota, and both as a farmer and as a preacher, he was a factor in the life of the community in which he re- sided. During the Civil war, he enlisted, but was not called into active service. He died at Aberdeen, South Dakota, in 1899, at the age of sixty-five. Of his eight children, six are still living, Jacob being the only son. Mrs. Sarah Keterling lives at Big Stone, Montana; Mrs. Elizabeth Swartz at Fargo, North Dakota; Mrs. John Cortey and Mrs. Andrew Hydner also reside at Big Stone, and Mrs. Harry Hague's home is at Lock- port, Indiana. The mother was married in Minnesota, and died there in 1879.

Jacob Zimmerman was born on a farm near Winona, Minnesota, on July 6, 1865. His early life was the usual one of the farmer's son; district school and farm work filled the long winters and the short summers until he reached the age of eighteen. He had deter- mined to be a musician, but as that was not only as un- profitable calling, but also one which required a consider- able outlay of money as well as of time to prepare for, he entered the Tower City Commercial College at Fargo, North Dakota, and took a thorough course in com- mercial branches, specializing in bookkeeping and com- mercial law. In 1890, he came to Helena and secured a position in the congenial surroundings of the Jack- son Music House. The panic of '93, however, proved disastrous to this firm, and Mr. Zimmerman found him- self thrown out of employment by reason of his em- ployers going out of business. But shortly after Mr. A. I. Reeves opened a similar store, and Mr. Zimmer- man was tendered a place with the new concern. He remained with them for seventeen years, during which time he did much to further interest in music in the city, apart from his business connection with it. There is scarcely a musical project in the city which has not received his support and his hearty co-operation. Fore- most of his undertakings is the Zimmerman band, of which he is the organizer, as well as the director. This is now something in the nature of an avocation, since he

has entered the real estate business. Since 1910, Mr. Molten and Mr. Zimmerman have been in partnership and engaged in the land business. They have pros- pered in their new undertaking, and though it is in altogether a different line from the work which has occupied Mr. Zimmerman for so long, it does not in- terfere with his efficiency as a director of the band, nor with the popularity of that body. They are in demand for numerous engagements on important occasions both in Helena and in adjacent districts.

The Methodist church has in Mr. Zimmerman one of its most valued members, not only for his musical ability, but on account of his great personal popularity. Though unmarried, he is no recluse, and few men can count a larger circle of influential friends. In politics he is Independent, and his only connection with the lodges of the city is his membership in the Woodmen of the World. Second only to his enthusiasm for music is that he holds for outdoor recreations, especially hunting and fishing-but it is remarking the obvious to state that predilection in a trute Montanian, such as Mr. Zimmerman assuredly is.

PARSON MOODY ABBOTT. One of the most distin- guished citizens of his section of Montana is Parson Moody Abbott, who is a potent factor in several de- partments of business and industry, being a successful rancher and stock grower and also identified in an important way with the banking and real estate activities of the county. Mr. Abbott belongs to one of America's noted families, the Abbotts having been established on our shores as early as 1700 and having produced an unusual number of soldiers, patriots, and men of unusual honor and distinction.

Mr. Abbott is himself a native of Ohio, his life record having begun in Bowling Green, Wood county, that state, October 2, 1869. He is the son of Philander S. Abbott, an attorney-at-law, and a veteran of the Civil war. Soon after the first guns were fired at Fort Sumter, he enlisted in the cause of the Union and became first lieutenant of the First Ohio Heavy Artillery, seeing three years' service in the great conflict between the states. His untimely demise occurred in 1876 as the result of wounds received in the service. This gentleman, himself a man of unusual attainments, was a cousin of the noted Dr. Lyman J. Abbott, editor-in- chief of the Outlook, author and devine. The mother, whose maiden name was Mary L. Fisher, was the de- scendant of a family founded in this country at an even earlier date than the Abbotts, her forebears having settled in Pennsylvania at the same time as William Penn. the great Quaker and philanthropist. The demise of this admirable lady occurred in the year 1889.

Parson Moody Abbott received his early education in the public schools of Bowling Green, Ohio. At the age of ten years he tried his wings in the capacity of a money earner, selling papers to make a living, the death of the father having reduced the family to strait- ened circumstances. As soon as his years would admit of such proceeding, he learned telegraphy and at the age of fourteen years he accepted his first position as a telegrapher on the Pennsylvania system in Ohio. In 1890, the time of the attainment of his majority, young Abbott hecame inoculated with the desire for the life of the west with its promise of opportunity and adven- ture, and in the year mentioned arrived in Montana. He has heen in Gallatin county nineteen years and for a considerable portion of his time he has been identi- fied with railway activities. In the capacity of tele- graph operator he worked on the old Utah Northern, now the O. S. L. Railway, and also as such he was employed by the Northern Pacific and the Great North- ern lines. He left the service in 1905, having taken an active part in a telegraphers' strike and being "fired" when the strikers lost their cause. This was doubtless a good destiny working for him in disguise, for larger

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and better fortunes have been his ever since that time. He has engaged extensively in ranching and stock growing and subsequently added real estate to his inter- ests and he has been successful in a marked degree, particularly in ranching. He is vice-president and director of the First National Bank of Three Forks, Montana, and has proved an able and discriminating financier.

Mr. Abbott has ever been loyal to the tenets of the Democratic party and almost since first becoming of voting age has taken an active interest in politics, his loyalty to the causes in which he believes being of the aggressive sort. Fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and for twenty- one years belonged to the Order of Railway Teleg- rappers.

On May 23. 1901, Mr. Abbott was hanpily married at Helena, Montana, Catherine Miller, daughter of J. L. Miller and Mary J. Miller, of Logan, Montana, becoming his wife. Mrs. Abbott is a native of Coles county, Illinois, where the Millers lived for many years and whence they came to Gallatin county in 1893. Her father is a rancher.

Glancing again at Mr. Abbott's ancestry, we find that the Abbott family located in Vermont upon their arrival in America in 1700. From the Green Mountain State they moved westward by degrees, first to New York, then to Michigan, then to Ohio, and the family now boasts one stalwart descendant in Montana. Abbotts were represented in all the wars,-the Revolu- tion, the War of 1812, the Mexican war and the Rebel- lion. The maternal family, the Fishers, were of Eng- lish origin and from Pennsylvania migrated to Ohio. They too are a race of patriots, having furnished soldiers to the Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Civil war. Few citizens have as just cause for pride in a loval and unblemished ancestry as the subject of these lines.

JOHN N. PEARCE, general superintendent of the Nel- son Coal Company of Sand Coulee, is one of the most successful and best known mining men in this section of the country. He has been identified with the min- ing interests of Montana since 1890, and previous to that time had followed the coal mining industry for six years in Clay county, Indiana, where he was born on August 23, 1871.

He is the son of Nicholas and May (Netherland) Pearce, both natives of Cornwall, England. The father was horn there in 1827 and he emigrated to America in 1863. He located in Clay county, Indiana, and was there actively engaged in the mining industry up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1897. The mother is still living at Brazil, Clay county. Mr. Pearce received the usual advantages of schooling in his home town, and while yet in his teens gave up his studies and engaged in mining. He was occupied thus for six years in Clay county, when he came to Belt, Montana, which then, in 1890, had just been opened up as a coal mining district. He remained there for a year, then came to Sand Coulee and worked in the mines until 1905, when he decided to take a trip abroad. He spent one year in foreign travel, making a particu- larly careful study of the British Isles, and giving a good share of his time to careful study and research, and when he came back to Sand Coulee after an ab- sence of a ycar, he again took up his mining work. After about a year he went to the new mining camp of Stockett, where he remained about six years, and again returning to Sand Coulee he was made general superintendent of the Nelson Coal Company, with a force of two hundred men under his direct supervision. His years of close study of mining conditions and methods have made it possible for him to fill this important position in the most creditable manner, and he is enjoying a most pleasing success in his work at the mines, where he is as popular with his men as

he is throughout the entire community. Mr. Pearce is recognized as one of the most valuable citizens of Sand Conlee, and he is a member of the school board. He is independent in his political opinions, giving his sup- port where he sees the fittest candidate for office. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Mr. Pearce was united in marriage with Miss Emma A. Martin on September 12, 1899. Seven children have been born of their union. They are: Martha May; John N .; Franklin Alexander; William J .; Mildred ; Arthur; Alice. Those of the children who are of school age are attending the schools of Sand Coulee. All were born at Sand Coulee with the exception of the eldest, Martha May, who was born in 1900 at Stockett, Montana.

PHILIP FRANCIS BUCKLEY. From the position of breaker boy in the Pennsylvania coal mines at a salary of thirty-five cents per day to the ownership of a magnificent ranch in Harlem township and a position of importance among his fellow men, such has been the record of Philip Francis Buckley, assessor of Chou- teau county, a man whose life is strikingly illustrative of the fact that industry, perseverance and well-directed effort are the means by which to achieve success. The birth of Mr. Buckley occurred in a house at No. 149 River street, Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, June 29, 1878. His father, William Buckley, was a native of Cappagh, County Tipperary, Ireland, and for a period of ten years served in the English army, being a crown sergeant of artillery and participating in the Crimean war. About 1860 he came to the United States and when the Civil war broke out became captain of a company of volunteer infantry, serving therewith until the close of hostilities. For a number of years he was engaged in mining operations, being successful in his ventures and holding positions of trust and responsibility, and on March 17, 1890, came to Harlem, where he became the first justice of the peace of Harlem township. His death occurred here February 28, 1904, when he was seventy-one years old. Mr. Buckley was married in England to Margaret Skelly, a native of that country and now a resident of Harlem, Montana, and they had eleven children, eight of whom are living, while Philip Francis was the seventh in order of birth.

As a lad, while still a resident of Pennsylvania, Philip Francis Buckley attended the public schools of Tunnel Hill during the winter months, while in the summers he worked as a breaker boy, earning thirty- five cents per day. He was twelve years of age when he accompanied his parents to Montana, and for two seasons attended the first school established in the Harlem school district. At the age of thirteen he left school to accept a position as section hand on the Great Northern Railroad, where he worked for two years, and then became a sheep herder on a ranch, but gave lin this position to become a round-up rider. In the following year, with his father and older brother, he engaged in the stock raising business, which he fol- lowed extensively and successfully for a period of ten years, when he sold his interest in the business to enter ranching on his own account on a tract of 160 acres, situated about two miles from Harlem, to which he has since added an adjacent tract of 160 acres. From earliest boyhood, Mr. Buckley has relied upon his own ahilitv to make his way in the world, and his present enviable position is ample evidence that he has been a faithful and industrions worker. He readily admits that his life has not been devoid of discouragements, disappointments and misfortunes, but he has never allowed himself to become disheartened, and the reward for his courageous persistence is an honorable stand- ing among his fellow men and a steadily increasing competence. He has so well managed his private affairs that on a number of occasions the citizens of his community have decided that he was capable of

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A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 52

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