A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 77

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

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which is the fact that he personally oversaw every detail of its construction. It is as perfect in plan and construction as the most costly residence in Montana, although built on a modest scale.

Although Mr. Ellis did not come to Montana empty handed, he regards his greatest successes in a financial way as having come from his operations in this state. He is today one of the leading citizens of Harlem, and is regarded as one of the progressive and solid men of the community. Mr. Ellis is an ardent sportsman and his annual hunting trips in the mountains are events to which he looks forward with much pleasure and anticipation. He never fails to return with the two deer which the law permits each hunter to bring down, if he be sufficiently skilful.

In 1888 Mr. Ellis married Miss Anna E. Everett, and four children have been born to them. The eldest, Mabel, is a bookkeeper in her father's offices, and is a most capable and valuable assistant. Joseph B. is nineteen years old, Ernest sixteen, and Karl, eleven years of age.

JOHN STRASSER. At No. 117 West Galena street, Butte, Montana, John Strasser is most successfully en- gaged in the repair and manufacture of all kinds of metal articles, in addition to which he also conducts an automobile supply store. In connection with the latter line of enterprise he employs a number of skilled workers in automobile repairs and he conducts a splen- did business, which he has himself, unaided, built up and which is now proving very remunerative. Mr. Strasser is unusually loyal and public-spirited in all matters tending to advance the welfare of Butte and that he is also intrinsically loyal to his adopted coun- try is evident when it is stated that he was one of the valiant volunteers in the Montana regiment that figured prominently in the Spanish-American war.

John Strasser was born in Austria, the date of his nativity being the 11th of October, 1875. He is a son of John and Mary (Dorf) Strasser, both of whom were natives of Austria, where they spent their en- tire lives and where they passed to the life eter- nal in 1907, the latter on March 13 and the former just three days later, March 16. The father was en- gaged in the manufacture of house heaters in Aus- tria for a number of years prior to his death. He and his wife were the parents of two children, of whom John was the second in order of birth and both of whom are living at the present time, in 1912.

After receiving a fair rudimentary educational train- ing in the public schools of his native land, John Strasser, at the age of fourteen years, was appren- ticed to learn the metal-workers trade. His appren- ticeship covered a period of three and a half years and at the expiration of that time he was a journeyman metal worker. He was repair machinist on ocean going vessels engaged in carrying oil, and made four full trips between Hamburg and New York, and on October 31, 1894, when his vessel put in at New York. he concluded to remain in this country. He remained in New York until January 17, 1895, when he went to Ogden, Utah, and was employed as a blacksmith on the Ogden reservoir, which was just started. After. three weeks he went to Corinne. Utah, and was em- ployed by the Bear River Canal Company at his trade, but after three weeks there he came to Butte, arriving here May 27, 1895. His first business location was at No. 60 West Broadway, in an old log cabin, the former home of Simon Hauswirth, an old pioneer in this city. He was so successful in his operations in Butte that he was soon obliged to seek more commo- dious quarters, going to 42 West Broadway, later to 20 West Broadway, and December 10, 1910, located at 117 West Galena street, where he repairs and manu- factures all kinds of metal articles and where he also conducts an 'automobile supply store. He employs a

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large force of skilled workmen for auto repairs and for other mechanical work and his admirable success as a business man in Butte has been on a parity with his well directed efforts.

At the time of the inception of the Spanish-Ameri- can war, in 1898, Mr. Strasser was one of the foremost to volunteer his services as a soldier. He enlisted in Company F, of the First Montana regiment, and for eighteen months was in the Philippine Islands, where he participated in a number of important en- gagements marking the progress of that conflict. While absent from Butte his business was cared for by a couple of trusted employes. Mr. Strasser was mus- tered out of service October 17, 1899, at San Fran- cisco, and he immediately returned to Butte, where he has since resided.

In politics of a national character Mr. Strasser is a stalwart Republican, but in local matters he main- tains an independent attitude, preferring to give his support to men and measures meeting with the ap- proval of his judgment rather than to vote along strictly partisan lines. He takes an active interest in all civic affairs and is ever in readiness to respond to any call wherein the city, state or nation may be benefited. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and he is also a valued member of Lawton Camp of the Span- ish-American War Veterans. Mr. Strasser is unmar- ried, but this fact in no way detracts from his social popularity. He is genial in his associations, courteous and kindly, and is everywhere accorded the unalloyed confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens.

ELLSWORTH F. KILMER, one of the leading real es- tate and insurance men of Butte, is a native of Jackson, Michigan, where his life began on September 28, 1862. He is a son of George M. and Orrisa N. (Hull) Kilmer, the former born in Auburn, New York, and the latter in Jackson county, Michigan. The father was taken by his parents from his native place to Michigan in 1847, when he was about fourteen years old. He grew to manhood in the latter state and became a prosperous contractor and builder. In the later years of his life he turned his attention to farm- ing, and made as great a success of that as he did of his former occupation, for he was highly endowed and used all his powers in everything he undertook and carried on. When the Civil war began he enlisted in Company K, Seventeenth Michigan Volunteer Infan- try. in which he served sixteen months, and was then discharged on account of disabilities incurred in the service. While in the army he took part in several of the great battles of the war, among them that of Antietam.

Ellsworth F. Kilmer obtained his education in the public schools of Lansing in his native state. the fam- ily having moved to that city in 1868. After leaving school he entered the dry goods trade as a clerk in Lansing. and later followed the same pursuit in Kansas City, Missouri. While his employment was in the serv- ice of others, and its range of thought and requirement was limited, it nevertheless embodied experience of value, giving him knowledge of men and of himself. and sharpened his faculties for the subsequent inde- pendent business career.

In the spring of 1895 he came to Butte and took employment with the M. J. Connell Company, with which he remained four years. In 1899 he turned his attention to the real estate and insurance business, and until 1907 he worked in that for others, then embarked in the same line for himself. In December, 1908, he formed a partnership with Robert C. Ross under the firm name of Ross & Kilmer, for carrying on the busi- ness he was engaged in, and from the start the firm has been steadily successful. Its dealings have become very extensive and its name has gone to the front

rank in real estate and insurance circles. Both members of the firm are gentlemen of fine business capacity and have studied the requirements of their enterprise with close attention. They know the city and the country around it far and wide and have a keen and analytical knowledge of realty values. Each is, in fact. a specialist in his department. Mr. Kilmer has in charge the insurance department of the business and Mr. Ross, the real estate department, and each has an intimate knowledge of his own branch and of the other one also. In April, 1912, Mr. Kilmer be- came secretary of the Montana Orchard Land Com- pany.

He is public-spirited and progressive in reference to the affairs of Butte, and sedulous in his efforts to promote the city's development and improvement. In the Masonic fraternity he holds membership in Mount Moriah Lodge in Butte.

ROBERT W. ELLIS. A man of artistic tastes and tal- ents, skilled in his profession, Robert W. Ellis is widely known as one of the most expert and successful pho- tographers of Silver Bow county, his well-equipped studio in Butte being one of the busiest places in the city. He was born June 27, 1877, in Rosita, Colo- rado, but was reared and educated in Missouri.

His father, James T. Ellis, spent his early life in Illinois. He was for a few years employed as a min- ing man in Colorado, subsequently locating in Mis- souri. Coming to Montana soon after the work of developing the mineral resources of the state began, he took up his residence in Butte, where he became known as an expert stationary engineer, and was an important factor in promoting the mining interests of this part of the state. Since his retirement from active pursuits he has lived at his old home in Wind- sor, Missouri, an esteemed and highly respected citi- zen of that place. He married Susan M. Hughes, who was born in Windsor, Missouri in 1855, her birth having occurred nine years later than his. Three children blessed their union, as follows: Robert W., the special subject of this brief personal record; Emma H., born in Windsor, Missouri; and Mattie E., who was born in Windsor, Missouri, and is now the wife of Dr. M. E. Bradley, of St. Louis, Missouri.

After completion of his studies in the Windsor, Mis- souri, high school, Robert W. Ellis came, in 1895, to Montana in search of congenial employment, and for two years worked in a quartz mill at Bannack. Be- ginning then the study of photography under profes- sional tutelage, he traveled extensively in the north- west, taking views of the country on both sides of the Rockies, from Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, being on the road the greater part of the time from 1897 until 1902. Deciding then to locate per- manently, he purchased from the George Morse estate the property which he now owns and occupies, it being in the very heart of the business district of Butte, as- suming its possession in 1903. As a photographer Mr. Ellis has won a fine reputation for excellence in execu- tion, posing and effect, his work bearing the inspec- tion of both amateurs and connoisseurs, and winning for him an extended and remunerative patronage.

In Butte, Montana, October 5, 1905, Mr. Ellis was united in marriage with Bertha B. Davis, who was born at Barry, Illinois, a daughter of Douglas and Jessie (McTucker) Davis. Her father, who was for many years a prosperous merchant in Barry, Illi- nois, was born in 1856, and died in 1904, while her mother is still living, being a resident of Great Falls, Montana. Mr. Ellis is an active member of the Butte Kennel Club, and is very fond of all outdoor amuse- ments, including hunting and fishing, and, being a sociable and congenial companion, is exceedingly popu- lar in the social life of the city. Politically, on national

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

issues he is a Republican, but in local affairs votes for the best man.

ANTON J. KNIEVEL. Those discouraging pessimists who persist in declaring that the best opportunities for success in business and industry are past and that the young man of today has not as good a chance to create for himself position and fortune as had those of previous decades need but look about them and see the many examples of influential and prosperous young men in every community to find the error of their claims. Especially is this true in the west, which has proven the magic land of opportunity to so large a num- ber of men who came here without financial resources and have made good in all particulars in every avenue of trade and industry. A conspicuous example of the successful and prosperous business man who owes all that he has achieved and possesses to his own indomi- table will and pluck, unaided by money or influence, is Mr. Anton J. Knievel, the well-known president and general manager of the Butte Potato & Produce Com- pany, rated as the largest wholesale produce firm in the state of Montana.

Mr. Knievel arrived in this city January 10, 1895, with the magnificent capital of two dollars in his pockets, but he did not long remain in that condition of limited resources. For three years after coming to the city, he was employed by his brother Conrad, who did a whole- sale produce business here at that time, and after sever- ing his connection with him held the responsible position of general manager of the Merchants Produce Company. After holding that office for four years, during which time he proved himself to be a thorough master of the produce business in all its connections and competent to handle big deals successfully, in 1903 he formed a partnership with H. E. Morier and for two years they carried on a produce and commission business in Butte. In 1905 Mr. Knievel organized the Butte Potato & Produce Company, Incorporated, which has ever since continued to carry on an extensive business as wholesale dealer in produce, fruit, vegetables, confec- tionery, fountain supplies, etc., the trade increasing by leaps and bounds.

The Butte Potato & Produce Company began business at the present location in a small tenement building which then occupied the site. When one sees the mag- nificent five-story and basement building which Mr. Knievel himself erected to give an adequate capacity for storage and correct handling of the immense volume of produce the firm secures from this and other parts of the United States and supplies its trade therewith, some idea of the phenomenal growth the business has en- joyed will be gained. The building, which is located at the corner of Iron and Utah avenue, is equipped to enable its owners to most expeditiously handle the lines of produce they deal in and has every convenience necessary to insure prompt shipments, including a switch paralleling the building and connecting with the main line of the railway.

Mr. Knievel, as his name indicates, is of German descent, and he possesses the sturdy characteristics of which that nationality is proud to claim,-thrift, indus- try and thorough business capacity, combined with strict integrity and high moral principles. He was born in Colfax county, Nebraska, April 15, 1876, a member of a family of cight children. His parents, Anton Edward and Elizabeth (Spenner) Knievel, were natives of Ger- many and came to the United States immediately after their marriage, in 1866, the trip to this country thus becoming their wedding journey. They went directly to Nebraska, then a wild, unsettled cattle country, and located on a ranch which was situated eighty miles from a railroad, and were obliged to do their marketing in Omaha, covering that great distance with the slow. tedious ox team. The elder Knicvel was a man of prominence in his section during his lifetime, and at the time of his death, February 17, 1906, held the office

of county commissioner. In addition to his operations as a ranchman he conducted a store at Clearwater, Nebraska, and after the son, Anton, had graduated from the schools of that city in 1893, he worked for his fa- ther, assisting him in his merchandising business. He remained at home only two years after completing his education, however, and then came to Butte, where he has ever since continued to reside.

The marriage of Mr. Knievel to Miss Anna Ione Mc- Carthy, a native of Michigan and a daughter of D. J. McCarthy, occurred at Calumet, Michigan, July 24, 1901. Mr. and Mrs. Knievel are the parents of two children, Anton J., Jr., born in this city May 14, 1903, and Margaret Ione, also a native of Butte, born De- cember 12, 1907.

Mr. Knievel is a man of diversified interests and occupies a position of honor in leading social, religious and fraternal circles of the city in which he is so prom- inent a commercial factor. Politically he is an advocate of Republican principles, though he does not take part in partisan affairs to any extent. He holds member- ship in the Silver Bow Club, belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Knights of Columbus, and is a devout communicant of the Roman Catholic church. All affairs in which he is interested receive his earnest and enthusiastic support, and he invariably exerts his in- fluence to the promotion of all projects that have for their object the improvement of conditions and develop- ment of the interests and industries of this city and state.

HARRY W. JOHNSON. Among the enterprising citi- zens of Butte, Montana, Harry W. Johnson holds prestige as one who has gained his admirable success in life solely through his own well directed endeavors. He has been a resident of Butte since 1906 and during this time has been secretary and treasurer of the well known Brophy Grocery Company. He is a man of broad mind and great public spirit and in every possible way has done his share in forwarding the progress and de- velopment of the community in which he lives.

A native of the fine old Keystone state of the Union, Harry W. Johnson was born in Chester county, Pennsyl- vania, on the 10th of March, 1870. He is a son of John R. and Margaretta (Worrest) Johnson, both of whom were likewise born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, the former in 1831 and the latter in 1830. During the early portion of his active career John R. Johnson was en- gaged in farming operations, but later in life he turned his attention to the manufacture of paints and oils at Downingtown, Pennsylvania. He was summoned to the life eternal in 1892, at the age of sixty-one years, and his noble wife, who still survives him, is now residing at Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Harry W. Johnson was the youngest in order of birth in a family of three children, and he received his preliminary educational training in the public schools of Downingtown. Subsequently he attended a school in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but at the age of seventeen years he entered the employ of George B. Woodman, who conducted a grocery store at West Philadelphia. Mr. Johnson has continued to devote his entire active career to the grocery business and in 1895 he came to Montana, settling first in the attractive city of Helena, later removing to Hamilton, in Ravalli county. He remained at Hamilton for a period of thir- teen years, and while there was associated with the Amalgamated Copper Mining Company. In 1906 he severed his connections at Hamilton and came to Butte, where he has since been a member of the Brophy Gro- cery Company, serving that important concern in the capacity of treasurer and secretary.

At Hamilton, Montana, on the 5th of April, 1899, was solemnized the 'marriage of Mr. Johnson to Miss Florence Nicol. a daughter of Robert Nicol and a rep- resentative of the old pioneer family of that name at

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

Hamilton. Mrs. Johnson was born at Hamilton, Mon- tana, on the 28th of July, 1880. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and their names and respective dates of birth are here recorded .- Rob- ert, November 14, 1900; Margaretta, August 25, 1904; and Wayne, born December 28, 1906. The two elder children were born at Hamilton and the youngest is a native of Butte.

In politics Mr. Johnson is a stalwart supporter of the cause of the Republican party and in a fraternal way he is affiliated with the time-honored Masonic order and with Silver Bow Club. He is a man of fine, clean-cut personality, fair and honorable in his business dealings and loyal and public-spirited in his civic attitude.

JOHN V. DWYER, a well-known and representative member of the bar of the metropolis of Montana, controls a substantial professional business in the city of Butte, and is also the incumbent of the office of deputy county attorney of Silver Bow county. As a youth he worked with pick and shovel in the mines of Montana and in the meanwhile his ambition was of the most vital and insistent order, as shown in his de- termined application to study and his conserving of his earnings for the purpose of securing an adequate edu- cation to fit him for a higher station in life. He has felt the lash of necessity and has found it a benignant spur to definite effort.

John V. Dwyer was born at Atlantic, a small mining town in Houghton county, on the upper peninsula of Michigan, and the date of his birth was August 18, 1878. He is a son of Timothy F. and Mary (Harring- ton) Dwyer, both of whom were born in Ireland. Timothy F. Dwyer was born in the year 1832, and was but a lad of thirteen when he came to America in 1845. He became a resident of the state of Michigan and was one of the pioneers in connection with mining opera- tions on the upper peninsula of that state. He held the position of master mechanic of the Atlantic mine for some time and finally removed with his family to O'Neil, Holt county, Nebraska, where he was identified with extensive farming interests during the major por- tion of his active career thereafter and where his death occurred .on the 26th of September, 1905. He was a man of sterling character and his life was one of consecutive industry.

Though it was not his to attain to wealth or prom- inence, he accounted well to the world as one of its earnest and worthy workers and was a citizen who merited and received the fullest measure of popular confidence and regard. His wife was nine years of age when she came with her mother to America, where they joined the husband and father, who had here established his. home about the year 1841. He settled in Massachusetts, and there his family joined him. He met a tragic death while serving as superintendent of railroad construction, having been killed by an explo- sion while at work, about the year 1843. Timothy . F. Dwyer was a devout communicant of the Catholic church, as is also his widow, who now maintains her home in O'Neill, Nebraska, and of their children three sons and two daughters are living.

John V. Dwyer, the immediate subject of this review gained his early educational discipline in the public schools of the town of O'Neill, Nebraska, where he remained until he had attained to the age of seventeen years. He then came to Montana and located in the city of Butte, where he found employment in the Ana- conda mines. Though devoting his days to arduous toil, his ambitious spirit conquered physical fatigue, as is shown by the fact that he attended the evening classes first in the Silver Bow Commercial College and later in the Butte Business College, in each of which he applied himself earnestly and effectively to the general courses provided. Later he went to Great Falls, this state, where he secured employment in the smelters

and where he was for a time a student in the Great l'alls Commercial College. From this time onward his course was one of consecutive advancement, and this progress was won in the face of obstacles that would have thwarted one of less determination and singleness of purpose. He finally found his savings sufficient to enable him to enter the academic depart- ment of Creighton University, at Omaha, Nebraska, and in this institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1904, with the well-earned degree of Bachelor of Arts. While attending college he passed his vacations as a worker in the mines at Butte, and after his grad- uation he put his scholastic attainments to practical test and utilization by assuming the position of superintend- ent of the public schools in his old home town of O'Neill, Nebraska, where he served in this capacity, with marked acceptability, from 1904 to 1906, inclusive. In the mean- while he had continued to follow his customary plan of making every moment count, as in the midst of the cares and exactions of his pedagogic work he devoted himself to the study of law, under effective preceptorship. In the autumn of 1906 he attended a course of lectures in the law department of his alma mater, Creighton Uni- versity, and in 1907-8 he was a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of Butte, where he was admitted to the Montana bar in 1909. In the spring of that year Mr. Dwyer engaged in the active practice of his profession in this city, and it was practically a matter assured that to one who had proved his powers through such discipline as had been his in gaining academic and technical education, success must come as a logical result. It is gratifying to note that his posi- tion as a representative of the legal profession is one of secure and unequivocal prestige and that he controls a substantial and representative general practice, in con- nection with which he has proved himself a skilled and versatile trial lawyer and admirably fortified counselor. Soon after initiating practice he was appointed deputy attorney of Silver Bow county, and in this office he has given most effective service, his term expiring on the 31st of December, 1912.

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A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 77

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