A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 56

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

USA > Montana > A history of Montana, Volume III > Part 56

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

THOMAS ASH SNIDOW. Self-reliance, conscientious- ness, energy, honesty-all these traits of character have been instrumental in attaining for Thomas Ash Snidow, of Billings, the remarkable measure of success . which has attended his efforts, but, more than anything else, perhaps, credit must be given the indomitable resolution that has given an irresistible impetus to his operations and caused him to forge steadily forward in the face of all difficulties and discouragements. In the business world, varied and important as are his interests, he has escaped the criticism which has frequently been

1477

HISTORY OF MONTANA

passed upon various prominent men of his generation, and his career is worthy of study and emulation by the youth of today, not only as one that has been free from stain or blemish, but also as an example of self-made western American manhood. Mr. Snidow was born near Madison, Monroe county, Missouri, Jan- uary 31, 1863, and is a son of James Martin and Martha (Ash) Snidow.

The paternal grandparents of Thomas A. Snidow, William and Chloe (Frely) Snidow, were both born in Virginia, of German parentage In 1837 they trav- eled overland by ox-team to the state of Missouri, settling in Monroe county, on a tract of 320 acres, of which 120 acres were in timberland and 200 acres were prairie. Deer, wild turkeys and other game were to be found in abundance, and the Indians had not left the locality. Breaking his prairie land by means of teams of oxen, William Snidow became one of the successful farmers of his location, and was well and favorably known all over his district. He also became prominent in Democratic politics, and with his wife was a consistent attendant of the old Baptist church. They had a family of three sons and four daughters, James M. being the first born. James Martin Snidow was born September 21, 1825, in Cabell county, Virginia, and was twelve years of age when he accompanied his parents to the new country, his education being secured in the primitive schools of that day and locality, and his boyhood and youth being spent in the hard work of the home farm. He was married October 16, 1853, in Monroe county, to Miss Martha Ash, who was born in Indiana, April II, 1832, daughter of George and Naomi Ash, natives of Kentucky, where the former was born in 1800 and the latter in 1803. They removed to Indiana in 1831, and subsequently became pioneers of Monroe county, Missouri, where Mr. Ash was the owner of large tracts of farming property. He died in 1863, while his widow survived him until 1891, being eighty-eight years old at the time of her demise. They had eleven children. James M. Snidow remained on the parental farm for one year after his marriage, and in 1854 purchased a farm in Monroe county, Mis- souri, but eventually disposed of that property and bought another in the same county. He spent the remainder of his life in that section, following farming, fruit growing and stock raising, and being especially interested in breeding good horses. He took advantage of the latest inventions in farming machinery, and, being a skilled mechanic, was at all times able to keep his machinery in the best of repair. He was recognized as an able agriculturist and an excellent judge of land and crop conditions. He was a faithful member of the old Baptist church and a great Bible student. In political matters, like his father, he was a Democrat, but he never cared for public office, although often pressed to accept positions of public trust. His wife passed away August 2, 1895, and he survived until June 28, 1908. They had a family of ten children, as follows: Laura E., wife of Cyrus D. Lusk, living in Randolph county, Missouri; Naomi, who died at the age of twenty-two years; Martha J., who died at the age of thirty-one years, the wife of W. D. Gerrard; Wil- liam G., living in the west; Christian M., who lost his life by drowning when he was twenty-one years old; Thomas Ash; James P., vice president and manager of the State Bank of Huntley, Montana; Henry L. and Jasper, who died in infancy; and Victor R., who died at the age of twenty-seven years.

The boyhood of Thomas Ash Snidow was spent on his father's farm, where he assisted his brothers in tilling the soil during the summer months, the winter terms being devoted to attendance at the district schools. On March 25, 1885, he left home to go to Jacinto, Colusa county, California, where he entered the employ of Dr. Hugh Glenn, on whose ranch he worked for fourteen months. At this time young Snidow decided

to enter the agricultural field on his own account, and accordingly secured a farm of 640 acres in the same county, but after raising one crop of wheat sold the land and entered the employ of the Sierra Lumber Company, where he was engaged in cutting cord wood. He then became fireman of the hoisting works at Butte Meadow, a position which he held until December 21, 1887, then removing to Chico, in the Sacramento val- ley of California. Subsequently he returned to the lumber camps in the Sierra Mountains, but on Decem- ber 20, 1888, returned to his old home in Madison county, Missouri, and continued to visit his parents until February, 1889, when he purchased a farm of 120 acres in Randolph county, Missouri. He was there engaged in farming until August of that year, when he disposed of his crop and farm and returned to the home of his parents, and engaged in buying and selling stock until April, 1891, at which time he removed to Castle, Meagher county, Colorado. At that place he carried on the ice business until July 19, 1891, and then came overland to Billings, and in October, 1891, invested his savings in the sheep business. Purchasing 855 head of sheep, he took the herd to Clark's Ford and there disposed of it and having made a decided success of this first venture purchased 1500 head, which he took to Crouper creek, Bighorn county, Wyoming. In March, 1893, he added 700 head to his flock, but dur- ing the following winter he lost about 900 head by the extreme cold, and the financial panic which followed swept away all of his earnings and put to naught the years of hard, faithful labor. It needed more than this to discourage a man of Mr. Snidow's spirit, how- ever, and in April, 1894, he took the remainder of his stock to Blue creek, in Yellowstone county, south of Billings, and formed a · partnership with P. B. Moss, who furnished 700 head of sheep and a ranch for range, both becoming equal partners in the enterprise, although the active operation of the venture was left in the hands of Mr. Snidow, who successfully con- ducted it until October, 1900. At that time a partnership was formed with the First National Bank of Billings, of which Mr. Moss was president, and the Snidow Sheep Company was organized, with Mr. Moss as president and Mr. Snidow as treasurer. In 1907 Mr. Snidow purchased the interest of all the other stock- holders and became sole owner of the company, which at that time was running approximately 77,000 head of sheep, with 400,000 acres of leased land in the Crow Indian Reservation. Mr. Snidow disposed of his interest in this business May 1, 19II. On October I, 1909, with three others, he bought the stock of the H: P. Rothwell Livestock Company, of Rothwell, Wyoming, now known as the Owl Creek Land and Livestock Company, with about 31,000 head of sheep, horses, and cattle. Also in 1908 Mr. Snidow purchased a two-thirds interest in what is known as the Basin Cattle Company, located in Bighorn county, Wyoming, this company owning 2,300 head of white-faced Hereford cattle, about 1,000 head being full-blooded animals. In addition, this company breeds as fine Belgium Percheron and Shire horses as can be found in the United States.

Mr. Snidow is the owner of a ranch of 1,500 acres, located about thirty miles west of Billings, at Youngs Point, on the Northern Pacific Railroad, which may be reached in Mr. Snidow's forty-eight horse-power auto- mobile in about an hour and twenty minutes from Billings, the trip being made over a finely graded road running through some of the most beautiful parts of the famous Yellowstone valley. This ranch is a model of its kind. In addition to a handsome, modern residence for the family of the superintendent, there is a comfortable, well-built bunk house for the herders, while the barns, ice house and other buildings are substantial and commodious. Running water supplies the stock, which consists of 2,300 head of sheep, 200 Duroc hogs, fifty Bronze turkeys and a large number

1478

HISTORY OF MONTANA

of Plymouth Rock chickens. Twenty valuable horses are kept, principally for the use of the herders. Mr. Snidow raises small fruits and has a fine young or- chard, and the 900 acres of irrigated land are devoted to oats, which run forty-five to fifty pounds to the bushel and seventy-five to eighty bushels to the acre. He also has about 1,200 tons of alfalfa in stacks, and in 1908 he raised the banner crop of sugar beets on 120 acres of land, this crop paying him over $11,000. In honor of his boyhood home, Mr. Snidow has named this the Missouri Ranch, and at the present writing he is erecting the Missouri Building in Billings, a fire-proof theatre, hotel, office and store building on Twenty-eighth street, in the center of the business dis- trict. He has also demonstrated his ability in the field of finance, being president of the Huntley State Bank, of which he was one of the organizers in 1905; a direc- tor in the State Bank of Powell, Wyoming, and in the First National Bank of Hardin, Montana; and vice- president and one of the organizers of the Farmers and Traders State Bank of Billings. He holds 147 shares of stock in the Broadwater Subdivision in the city of Billings. In political matters he is a Republican, but his business interests have been too numerous and varied for him to think of a public career.

On November 26, 1899, Mr. Snidow was united in marriage with Miss Sallie L. Rodes, who was born in Monroe county, Missouri, daughter of John C. and Virginia Rodes. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Rodes, of whom three died in infancy, and Mrs. Snidow, who was the third in order of birth, was born December 18, 1868. Her mother is now deceased, but her father, a prominent agriculturist and Democratic politician, is now residing in Shelby county, Missouri, where he has served for a number of years as justice of the peace. Mr. and Mrs. Snidow have had two children: Martha and Virginia. The former died in infancy, but the latter is now in her tenth year, a bright and interesting child, and a general favorite with all who visit the comfortable family home in Billings. The young lady inherits her sunny disposition from her father, whose whole-souled, genial manner has made him friends in whatever community he has found him- self. Among his business associates he is recognized as a man of versatile talents and one whose activities have always been centered in enterprises of a strictly nature, while his friends know him as a big-hearted, generous man, who successful himself, finds enjoyment in the success of others.

J. WARD HUSE. The career of the late J. Ward Huse, in whose death Billings lost one of its leading business citizens, was one of constant industry and courageous perseverance from his earliest boyhood. From modest beginnings, the Michigan lad, who was later to become an influential merchant, triumphed over all obstacles in his way and set an example of success won without double dealing or unfair advantage over any men. With none of the advantages open to the youth of to-day who can prepare for a business career, as a sequel to a college education leading directly to that end, Mr. Huse ap- plied to the tasks and problems he encountered a native commercial sense which his perspicacity developed with years. When he came to Montana some twenty years ago, he found the mercantile business practically in its beginning-a vast, untried field of commercial endeavor with but few precedents to guide those that engaged in it. To him, as much as to any other, is due the credit for the marvelous development of Montana's commer- cial interests during the past several decades. J. Ward lluse was born October 10, 1869, in St. Clair, Michigan, and is a son of Charles and Helen (Woodbury) Huse, his father having been a steamer captain on the St. Clair river.

The second in order of birth of the five children of his parents, Mr. Huse secured his early education in the

common schools of St. Clair, and as a youth of fifteen left the parental roof to make his own way in the world. Going to the lumber town of Oscoda, Michigan, he se- cured a position as clerk in a store, there receiving his initiation into the mercantile field. Subsequently he went to Chicago and took a course in a business college, and in that city secured valuable training in the great wholesale grocery house of Sprague, Warner & Com- pany. In 1891, Mr. Huse decided to go farther west, and in that year made his advent in Lewistown, Mon- tana, where he immediately became connected with the Power Mercantile Company, and for years continued to be associated with that firm- as manager of the various stores under its control, and during the greater portion of this period he was manager of their large mercantile establishment at Fort Benton. From Fort Benton he came to Billings in 1905, to take charge of one of the branches of his company, then known as the Donovan- McCormack Company, proprietors of a general store. And in 1907, when the company retired from the field at Billings, Mr. Huse and his partner, Mr. Yates, bought out the implement business, forming the company of Huse-Yates & Company, that partnership continuing until the death of Mr. Huse on the 25th of July, 1910. This concern, which is one of the leading implement houses in the state, is now controlled by Mr. Yates.

On September 11, 1895, Mr. Huse was married to Miss Fay A. Turner, daughter of Dr. Will E. Turner, of Fort Benton, a pioneer physician of that place, whence he came as a United States army surgeon. When the fort was abandoned, he resigned his commission and en- gaged in a large general practice until his death in 1889. Dr. Turner was married to Annie Snow, who joined him in Montana in 1875, and is at this time a resident of Seattle, Washington. Mr. and Mrs. Huse had one daughter, Fay Irene.

Mr. Huse was connected with the Elks and the Ma- sonic order. In politics he was a Republican, and he was chairman of the Chouteau County Republican Cen- tral Committee for many years. He had large business interests of numerous kinds and was for several years an extensive dealer in and raiser of sheep. At various times he rendered signal services to his city where his business abilities, executive capacity and high sense of commercial integrity made those services of great im- portance. His was a busy life, and it is to his high credit that he was busied about those things which make for the material growth of a community. He found leisure, however, to take occasional hunting and fishing trips, from which he invariably returned with excellent specimens of the furry and finny tribes, and he was a valued member of the Fort Benton Hunting and Fish- ing Clubs. A business man of honor and a citizen who had the welfare of his community at heart, he was highly respected and liked by all with whom he came into con- tact in any way, and his place will be hard to fill in the business world of Billings and in the hearts of his many friends.

Mrs. Huse is a favorite in the best social circles of Billings, and with her charming daughter, who is a stu- dent in the high school, entertain most graciously in their model home.

EUGENE CARROLL. Well known not only as one of the more progressive and enterprising citizens of Butte, but for his activity in the public and social circles of the city, Eugene Carroll is eminently worthy of special mention in a work of this character, and it is with pleasure that we place a brief resume of the more salient points of his life before our readers. A son of the late Robert W. Carroll, he was born, April 7, 1861, in Cin- cinnati, Ohio, of honored Irish ancestry. Thomas Car- roll, M. D., the founder of that branch of the Carroll family from which he is sprung, came to the United States in colonial days from Ireland. He subsequently

1479

HISTORY OF MONTANA

settled as a physician in Ohio, and there spent the re- mainder of his life.

Robert W. Carroll, a life-long resident of Ohio, was a lawyer of note and ability in Cincinnati, where he was engaged in the practice of his profession until his death, December 17, 1897. He married Mary Ara- bella Piatt, who was born in Ohio and is now living in New York City. She was of English and French ancestry, and of Revolutionary stock, and is now a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Obtaining his early education in the public schools of Cincinnati, Eugene Carroll entered the United States Naval Academy, from which he was graduated in the class of 1881. He remained in the navy two years longer, and on resigning, in 1883, took up the civil engineering profession, which he still follows and in which he is an expert. Locating at Butte, Montana, in 1891, Mr. Carroll, as superintendent and chief engineer of the Butte Water Company, built the water works system of Butte, and is now general manager of the Water Works Company's affairs.

A wide-awake member of the Republican party, Mr. Carroll takes an intelligent interest in local, state, and national affairs. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and a member and ex- president of the Montana Society of Engineers. He likewise belongs to the Navy League of the United States. Socially, Mr. Carroll is past president of the Silver Bow Club; and is also a member of the Country Club of Butte, and the Montana Club of Helena. Fraternally, he is a Knight Templar Mason and a mem- ber of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

Mr. Carroll married, in Butte, Montana, March 21, 1895, Mary S. Napton, who was born at Deer Lodge, that state, a daughter of Thomas L. and Anna (Chad- wick) Napton.

J. HUMPHREY JOHNSON, M. D. In looking around for men of vigorous and forcible character who have taken important and prominent part in the affairs of men, the biographer is not expected to deal only with valiant and martial heroes, for in the world of science and arts, the professions and politics, are found men of action, capable and earnest, whose talents, enterprise and energy command the respect of their fellow men and whose lives are worthy examples and objects of emulation. That the life of such a person should have its public record is peculiarly proper, because a knowledge of men whose substantial fame rests upon their attainments, character and success, necessarily exert a wholesome influence on the rising generation of Americans. In this connection it is appropriate to review in this volume the circumstances of the life of J. Humphrey Johnson, M. D., of Bridger.

The progenitor of the branch of the family to which Dr. Johnson belongs, John Johnson, a native of Eng- land, came to America prior to the Revolutionary war, in which he participated as an American officer, and in the possession of the doctor's brother is an old sword which this John Johnson captured from a British officer. On his mother's side, Dr. Johnson is descended from settlers of 1635 who located near the present site of Falmouth, Massachusetts, one of the descendants being Capt. Zephaniah Hatch, of Connecticut, who, in the early part of the eighteenth century was a master mariner and engaged in the West India trade. Timothy, the head of Mrs. Johnson's branch of the family, was born in 1757. He entered the Colonial army at the age of nineteen, and took part in the battle of White Plains, where he was taken prisoner, and was thereafter con- fined in the Bridewell prison in New York.

Rev. Leonard Johnson was born in the state of Ver- mont in 1801, and received his education in Amherst College, where he was valedictorian of his class, de- livering the first valedictory address at that institution. His life was spent in the service of the Presbyterian

ministry, and he held various charges throughout Ver- mont and New York, and died at Triangle in the latter state. His wife, a native of Massachusetts, died in 1868, at the age of seventy-four years, having been the mother of nine children, as follows: Narcissa H., who died at the age of forty-five years, the wife of Thomas S. Rod- gers ; Leonard J., a surgeon with the rank of major in the First New York Volunteers during the Civil war, who died in 1911; George M. T., a member of the First New Jersey Cavalry under General Kirkpatrick, during the Civil war, and now a resident of Binghamp- ton, New York; M. C., who was living in Nebraska at the time of the Jay Hawk trouble, served in the Kansas militia, and during the Civil war was a member of a regiment of Nebraska volunteers, and died in 1867; Charles H., a well-known practicing physician and sur- geon of Michigan, who died in 1870; William E., who served three years as a member of Company D., Twen- ty-seventh Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, participated in thirteen engagements, received a medal for personal bravery at the battle of Antietam, and died in 1893, at Strong, Maine; Joseph M., who served dur- ing the Civil war as captain of a company of New York volunteers, and after the war settled down to a law prac- tice in Washington, D. C., where he is now living re- tired : Norton, who died at the age of twenty-one years ; and J. Humphrey.

J. Humphrey Johnson was born August 7, 1850, at Binghamton, New York, and after graduating from the high school of that city was appointed deputy clerk of Broome county, a position which he held for nine years. He then entered the medical department of the Univer- sity of the City of New York, from which he was grad- uated in 1879, and returned to Binghamton and entered practice. He was elected to the office of coroner, and served in that capacity for four years, but in 1884 went to Lebanon, Oregon, where he remained only two and one-half years, when he returned to the city of his nativity. Subsequently he went to Lebanon, New York, where he continued in practice until 1891, that year see- ing his advent in Red Lodge, Montana, where he con- tinued in practice until the fall of 1898. At that time he was elected a member of the Sixth legislature of Montana, and removed to Helena, but in the spring of 1899 located in Bridger, where he was physician and surgeon for the Bridger Coal Company until 1907. In 1904 he acquired a homestead in Carbon county, eleven miles from Bridger, where he now has about 4,000 apple trees, in addition to much small fruit on a tract of 320 acres of finely improved land. It is given to few to possess such versatile talents, but Dr. Johnson has shown himself as skilful an agriculturist as he was an able medical practitioner, and in his new field of en- deavor has gained an enviable position. Politically a Democrat, in addition to the offices heretofore men- tioned, he served as a member of the school board of Red Lodge for a number of years, and since residing in Carbon county has been a trustee of school district No. 35. He is a valued member of Carbon County Medical Society, Montana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and his fraternal connection is with Lebanon (N. Y.) Lodge No. 582, of which he was one of the organizers and past noble grand; the encampment at Canton, Uniform Rank; the Rebekahs of Norward, New York, of which Mrs. John- son is also a member; Bridger Lodge, I. O. O. F .; and Star of the West Lodge No. 40, A. F. & A. M., of Red Lodge.

Dr. Johnson was married February 17, 1874, to Miss Catherine M. Brown, daughter of Charles M. and Char- lotta M. (Moulter) Brown, the former born at Palmyra, New York, December 24, 1825, and the latter at Cassa- daga, New York, July 12, 1827. Mrs. Johnson's father passed away July 2, 1887, and her mother, September 18, 1880, she being their only child. Mr. Brown was edu- cated at Cassadaga Seminary, New York, and Norwich

1480

HISTORY OF MONTANA

Academy, and as a youth engaged in clerical work, securing a position in a large eastern bank. Later he was engaged in the hotel business, first at Norwich, and later at Binghamton, at which latter city his death occurred. For many years he acted in the capacity of overseer of the poor, and was active in Democratic politics. Fraternally, he was an Oddfellow and was also prominent in Freemasonry, having passed through the thirty-second degree, and being in line for the thirty- third degree at the time of his death. Dr. and Mrs. Johnson have had three children: Mary, the wife of Samuel H. Glidden, of Seattle, Washington, and for- merly of Montana, where he served two terms as state senator, has two children: Jane M. and Ann; Anna A., wife of Frederick B. Williams, master mechanic for the Bear Creek Mining Company, of Bear Creek, Montana, has two children, Winnifred Narcissa and William H .; and Joseph Hatch, who is also in the employ of the Bear Creek Mining Company. Dr. Johnson's handsome home is a center of pleasing and genial hospitality, and a popular meeting place for the hosts of friends he and Mrs. Johnson have drawn about them.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 56

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