A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 84

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

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Mr. Briscoe is of English birth, his birth having occurred in Shropshire, England, on November 21, 1871. His parents were James and Martha (Wordley) Bris- coe, both natives of England. The father was born there in 1829 and died in his home town in 1910 at the advanced age of eighty-one years. He was one of the well-known and highly-respected men of his com- munity, and was an old soldier, his later years having been given to the grocery and mercantile interests. The mother died in 1908, having attained the age of eighty- two years. They were the parents of ten children, of which number Alfred Briscoe was the ninth in order of birth. The others are: Katherine; Thomas James; Rev. Frederick John; Elizabeth; Albert Edward; Will- iam Henry; Osborn; James Wordley and Mrs. Martha Amelia Greaves.

As a boy, Alfred Briscoe attended the schools of Shropshire, and when he had left school took employ- ment in a grocery house in Birmingham, England, where he worked for seven years, after which he emi- grated to Canada, locating in Alberta in 1894 and tak- ing a government homestead there. He remained there for two years, and in 1896 came to Montana, settling in Cascade, which at that time was a small village boast- ing a mere handful of settlers. He became interested in ranch life and worked for various ranchers in the Cas- cade neighborhood for five years. In the meantime, the town of Cascade had made some rapid strides in growth and a number of business houses had located and were doing good business. With the Cash Ex- change Company of Cascade Mr. Briscoe secured em- ployment after his five years of ranch life, and his early training in Birmingham stood him in excellent stead here. In 1906 this firm consolidated with the Cascade Mercantile Company, and Mr. Briscoe remained with the new concern until 1909. In October of that year he established the Briscoe Mercantile Company, dealing in all kinds of hardware and machinery, and although he started in a small way the business today is one of the most expansive of its kind in the county. He has made large and worthy progress in his inde- pendent business relations, and the future of this young concern is well assured.

Mr. Briscoe is a director of the Cascade Opera house, and in 1911 was elected to the board of alder- men of Cascade. His term will expire in 1913. He was also justice of the peace in Cascade in 1909 and 1910, and in all his relations with the public, either in a business or official way, he has proved himself to be an honest gentleman and a trustworthy citizen. Mr. Briscoe is a Republican in his political allegiance, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal. church. He is a Master Mason, a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Great Falls and of the Modern Wood-

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men of America, of which order he is clerk of the Cascade Lodge.

On November 8, 1905, Mr. Briscoe was united in marriage with Miss Mina D. Rohr of Great Falls. Two children have been born to them,-Henry James, born October 20, 1906, and Kenneth Alfred, born March 10, 1911.

ANDREW MALCOLM MAC LEAN has the distinction of being the founder of a new industrial trade, the future of which it is impossible to estimate. His factory is a departure from the marble and granite monuments and grave stones in use through the centuries. He offers the public, in their stead the phosphorus bronze and aluminum bronze tablets and monuments which threaten to revolutionize the tombstone industry. The figures, modern or classic, moulded from these peculiar metals, have almost the grace of the statues of antiquity. The care of construction and beauty of line give them the effect of having been chiseled by the hand of a master sculptor. They are impervious to all conditions of weather, practically indestructible, light in weight and so inexpensive in price that people of moderate means can afford to purchase them. Their cost is about one-half that of regular stone of granite and the effect that of carved marble itself.

The company, the only one of its kind in the world, is known as the Riverside Brass and Bronze Works, the factory being situated at Tenth avenue and Ninth street, north, Great Falls, Montana. Mr. Mac Lean is probably the best authority in the country on the fusion of metals. The best years of his life have been spent in the experiments that finally led up to the perfection of the metals with which he works and his present success. Sixteen years ago, he came from De- troit, Michigan to Great Falls to accept a position with the Boston Montana Smelter in the manufacture of brass, bronze and copper castings for the amalgamated company. He was eminently successful in this line, the company never having been able to find his equal. For fourteen years he devoted his time to their serv- ice and even now, since he has founded the new com- pany, he receives much difficult bronze casting from the Boston Montana corporation whom he served so faithfully.

His own establishment although young in years, only coming into existence in the autumn of 1910, is very comfortably equipped with modern machinery and ap- pliances. His success has outstripped his most san- guine expectation. Already both the building and the land are free from mortgage and the advance orders keep the employees busy. This for a beginning of little more than a year! The future is beyond sur- mise. Mr. Mac Lean, as its inventor, has surely paid his debt to mankind, and it is mankind that he would serve. For more than thirty years he has been a leader and an organizer in the unions, having been president of Number 93 for five years. Always he is ready to assist the union with counsel and advice or in a more material manner. Although he is rapidly becoming a large employer instead of an employee his views on matters social and political have not changed. He is a Socialist to the core, anxious to foster the benefits of humanity and eager in the support of his party.

Andrew Malcolm Mac Lean was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on the fifteenth day of October. 1865. His father, Laughlin Mac Lean, a contractor by trade, lived on his native island until eighty-five years of age, meet- ing accidental death in 1907. The mother, Flora McCal Mac Lean was herself a Scot. She died at her home in Scotland in 1901 being then in her seventieth year. Alr. and Mrs. Laughlin Mac Lean were the parents of eleven children of whom Andrew was the sixth in line. He attended, until his tenth year, the private schools of Glasgow, when he became, what is known in Great Britain as a "Van" boy, a baker's delivery

boy, delivering on foot. In this manner he worked for five years receiving in compensation for his services, one dollar and fifty cents a week. When fifteen, he was apprenticed in a foundry to learn the trade of the moulder. Here he served for three years before com- ing to America where he joined a married sister in Erie, Pennsylvania. Here he "served under instruc- tion" for two years more before becoming a journey- man. From 1885 until 1896, he worked at his trade in the various states spending most of his time in the north central portion of the country. On the fourth day of March, 1889, he was united in marriage at Han- cock, Michigan, to Miss Bertha Leibetrau, her father being Lauie Leibetrau of Wisconsin. The three chil- dren that came to them were all of Canadian birth. The only son, Laughlin Mac Lean, named for his paternal grandfather, died in 1891 while still an infant in arms. He was born in Windsor, Ontario. The older of the two girls, Flora A. was born in Windsor in the year of her brother's death. Minnie L. Mac Lean, the youngest of the family reached her majority on the seventh day of January of this year, 1912. Mrs. Mac Lean died Nov. 26, 1912.

In the fall of 1896, Mr. Mac Lean brought his family to Great Falls, Montana where he entered the employ of the Copper Amalgamated Company. In 1910, he formed a partnership with Chas. H. Small, an expert in this line, for the establishment of the Riverside Brass and Metal works already mentioned. They manufacture brass, copper, bronze phosphorus, bronze and aluminum castings and do machinist work of various kinds in ad- dition to the manufacture of the famous "Grove tab- lets" for which the demand is so rapidly increasing. He has been a resident of Great Falls since 1896.

Mr. Mac Lean is a member of the Independent Order of Foresters, the Modern Brotherhood of America, and the Eagles in addition to the political organ- izations to which he belongs. He is a stanch Socialist. The family reside at 716 Sixth avenue, north.

NELSON H. MORGAN. As a worthy representative of the virile young manhood that is making Montana one of the leading states of the Union, Nelson H. Morgan, county clerk and recorder of Sanders county has brought excellent business and executive ability to his important office, and is deserving of mention among his community's most popular officials. Mr. Morgan is a native of Niagara county, New York, and was born May 13, 1879, a son of John and Marietta ( Hol- loway) Morgan. His father was born in New York state, where he resided all his life, and was engaged in .agricultural pursuits up to the time of his death in 1892, when he was forty-seven years of age. Mr. Mor- gan was married in New York to Marietta Holloway, who died in 1906, at the age of sixty-four years, and they were buried side by side near their old home in the Empire state. They had a family of eight children, Nelson H. being the youngest, and one other son resides in Montana, Fred C. Morgan, superintendent of the Flathead Indian reservation at Jocko.

Nelson H. Morgan received his early educational . training in the public schools of his native state, later attended high school and a business college at Lock- port, New York, and at the age of seventeen years came to Montana and for one year was a student in the University of Montana at Missoula, taking a spe- cial course. Even as a little boy Mr. Morgan had dis- played industry and thrift, and when only nine years of age earned fifty cents per day pulling beans, and saved his money as the nucleus for a school fund, which was a great help to him in later years. For one year he was employed by a dry goods concern in Mis- soula, and then removed to Plains, where he became connected with the McGowan Commercial Company, with which he was identified for three years. He sub- sequently went to Browning, on the Blackfoot Indian

James Brodie

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reservation, where he remained about three and one- half years, engaged in the same line of business, but at the end of that time returned to Plains and again became associated with the McGowan Commer- cial Company, this term of employment lasting five years. At the expiration of that period he was ap- pointed deputy clerk and recorder and came to Thomp- son Falls, and later was elected clerk and recorder, a position which he efficiently fills at the present time. Mr. Morgan is a Republican in politics and has ren- dered yeoman service in the ranks of that organiza- tion. Fraternally, he is a popular member of the Masons, the Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America, and has filled various chairs, while his wife is a favorite among the members of the Order of the Eastern Star. They are consistent members of the Episcopal church.

On July 4, 1901, Mr. Morgan was married to Miss Maud P. Jones, daughter of Thomas H. and Lenora MI. Jones, of Missoula, and three children have been born to this union: Frederick Dale and Naomi, who are attending school; and Ruth Isis, the baby, at home. Mrs. Morgan shares her husband's fondness for baseball and out-door sports, and like him is very fond of music, being a talented pianist. Mr. Morgan has never hesitated to praise his adopted community in every way, and Montana has no more enthusiastic admirer.

JAMES BRODIE. Necessity has been a priceless spur to a great many of the men of success, for under its stress and pressure the individual develops a fuller stature of power, a strength to battle against adversity, and the characteristics of courage, self-reliance and perseverance. James Brodie, a representative and a substantial citizen of Montana who has acquired val- uable coal mining interests near the city of Belt and is also the owner of two hundred acres of farming land near there, can attribute to necessity his start in life. Orphaned of his mother at the age of three and of his father two years later, he became a wage earner in the mines of England at the age of eight, and from that time to the present has had to do with mines and mining.

cial faith in the district about Belt, which city he thinks will some day be one of the leading mining towns of the west.

In November, 1910, Mr. Brodie located what is now known as the James Brodie mine, at Belt, one of the best veins of coal in the Belt district, of which he and his son are joint owners with the North Montana Coal Company. It is located next to the property of the Anaconda Coal Mining Company, is equipped with all modern machinery for the mining of coal, and the own- ers are very busy opening up and developing their property. Their tunnel is now in over seven hundred feet and an output of sixty tons per day has already been reached. The coal is of excellent quality, and the mine gives large promise of being one of the big pro- ducers of the Belt district. They already give employ- ment to a large number of men. Besides over two hun- dred acres of coal lands they own two hundred acres of farming land. Belt is extremely proud of such men as Mr. Brodie, and deservedly so, for while chance may enter in to some extent, such showings are really the result of character, ability, and thought applied.

On September 25, 1884, Mr. Brodie was married in England to Miss Mary Elizabethe Crawshaw. They are the parents of seven children, namely: James Will- iam Brodie, born at Ishpeming, Michigan, in 1887, who is now in business with his father ;. Thomas Edwin, born in September, 1891, with his father; Lester, born in 1899; Allen Raymond, born in 1901; John Arthur, born in 1903; Charles Wesley, born in 1905, and Ruth, born in 1906. All except the eldest two were born in Belt and are now attending school there.

Politically Mr. Brodie is a Democrat, and in church faith and membership, with his family, he is a Meth- odist. While a resident of Wilkinson, Washington, he served as school clerk for a time. Mr. Brodie is well known throughout this section of Montana and is highly respected by all admitted to his acquaintance. In the thriving city of Belt he is known as one of its most energetic and public-spirited citizens, and Mon- tana recognizes him as one of the men who are push- ing its progress and prestige.

JOSEPH S. BROWN. The active head of one of Fort Benton's leading business concerns, the Benton Hard- ware Company, Joseph S. Brown has made a decided impression upon the commercial interests of this city, where during a residence of sixteen years he has risen from obscurity to a leading position among the pro- gressive and enterprising citizens. In the conduct of his affairs he has displayed many of the sturdy char- acteristics of his race, and has always maintained a reputation for integrity in business matters and probity in private life. Mr. Brown was born at Perth, East Coast, Scotland, August 16, 1866, and is a son of George and Helen (Johnstone) Brown. His father, also a native of Perth, was born in 1828, and died in Scot- land in 1895, being a well-known wholesale grocer and the owner of a lorge fortune at the time of his demise. Mrs. Brown, who was born in 1838, in Scotland, died of ten children.

Mr. Brodie was born in Yorkshire, England, on August 16, 1860, to John and Mary (Bates) Brodie, both of whom were natives of County Durnham, Eng- land. The father was engaged in mining and died in 1865 when forty-three years of age. Mr. Brodie grew to manhood in his native land, his education being lim- ited to what he was able to acquire in night schools and by home study outside of working hours. In 1884 he came to the United States, and for a year and a half worked in the mines at LaSalle, Illinois. From there he went to Ishpeming, Michigan, where he remained four and a half years. Responding to a restless desire for better opportunities, he left Michigan and went to Wilkinson, Washington, where he worked in the mines until 1896. In that year he came to Belt, Montana, and with an abiding faith in the mineral resources of that section, a faith based on an intuitive apprehension . in that country in July, 1911, having been the mother of its possibilities and on years of experience, he con- tinued on, steadily acquiring by industry and persistent Joseph S. Brown secured an excellent education in the schools of his native country, and on completing his studies worked in the establishment of his father and at various other occupations until coming to the United States in 1892. On landing in this country, he first settled in Chicago, Illinois, where he secured employment as a clerk in a large store, but after two years decided there was a better field for the develop- ment of his abilities in the west, and accordingly journeyed to southern Utah. He spent some time there in the employ of one of the prominent mining con- cerns, but subsequently removed to Portland, Oregon, and in that city received his initiation into the hard- ware business, acting in a minor capacity for a con- effort that property which today makes him one of the wealthy men of that section. What he has accom- plished in the comparatively short period of sixteen years is a splendid example of what men can do in the west who have a willing heart, self-confidence, and the courage to push their way through difficulties, and a large fund of energy which they are willing to use in striking hard blows. During his nearly forty-five years of experience in the mining business he not only gave honest endeavor as a laborer but was a deep student along those lines as well. He believes Montana to be one of the richest sections on earth in its deposits of coal, silver, copper, iron, and gypsum and has an espe-

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siderable period. The year 1896 saw his advent in Fort Benton, when he came to this city to take charge of the books of the Benton Hardware Company. His inherent ability, faithfulness to duty and general effi- ciency caused him to be promoted from time to time, and nine years after his arrival he had attained the position of manager of the concern, which is recog- nized as one of the leading establishments in its line in the state. Under his management the company's business has shown a healthy increase, and progres- sive methods and modern ideas have served to extend its territory to a considerable degree. Mr. Brown is a director and stockholder in the Mackton Coal Com- pany, and the owner of a fine ranch in Chouteau county. He has attained success through the medium of his own efforts, and as one who has worked his own way to the front fully merits the respect and esteem in which he is universally held. He has a wide circle of friends throughout the county, who enjoy his business success and social prominence. In political matters Mr. Brown is a Republican, but has not entered the public arena, although as a public-spirited citizen and one who holds the welfare of his community at heart he takes a keen interest in matters pertaining to Fort Benton.

MORRIS W. BOTTORF, M. D. It is entirely within the province of true history to commemorate and per- petuate the lives and character, the achievements and honor, of the illustrious sons of the state. High on the roll of those who have made the history of medi- cine in Montana a work of fame appears the name of Dr. Morris W. Bottorf, who for nearly a score of years has been numbered among the medical practitioners at Kalispell, Montana. In addition to the work of his profession Dr. Bottorf is deeply interested in public affairs, his intrinsic loyalty to all matters affecting the good of the general welfare having ever been of the most insistent order.

Dr. Morris Wayne Bottorf was born in the city of White Pigeon, Michigan, in February, 1871. He is a son of Jacob K. and Emily (Barrett) Bottorf, both of whom are deceased, the former having died in 1908, at the age of seventy-two years, and the latter in 1909, likewise aged seventy-two years. Jacob K. Bottorf was a native of Pennsylvania, whence he immigrated to St. Joseph, Michigan, as a young man, there becoming a pioneer merchant. Mrs. Bottorf was born and reared in Ohio. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bottorf-three boys and one girl-and of the number the subject of this review was the youngest in order of birth.

After completing the curriculum of the public schools of White Pigeon, Michigan, Dr. Bottorf was matriculated as a student in the Hahnemann Medical College, in the city of Chicago, Illinois, in which ex- cellent institution he was graduated, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, in the class of 1895. Imme- diately after graduation he came west and located for a short time in Missouri, eventually coming to Montana in 1896 and settling at once in Kalispell. He initiated the active practice of his profession in this city and during the long intervening years to the pres- ent time, in 1912, has succeeded in building up a large and lucrative practice, in fact he holds distinctive pres- tige as the most efficient physician and surgeon in this section of the state. He first opened offices in the Conrad Bank building and later removed to the Nofsinger building, where he has one of the finest equipped suites of offices in the entire state. He was one of the first doctors in the territory of Montana and his success was assured from the start. In the early days he traveled many miles daily on horseback to and from his patients, who were scattered over a wide area tributary to Kalispell.

In Chicago, May 31, 1894, Dr. Bottorf was united in marriage to Dr. Phebe A. Anderson, whose birth occurred at Wetmore, Kansas, and who is a daughter of S. Anderson and Mary E. Anderson. Dr. and Mrs. Bottorf have no children.

Fraternally, Dr. Bottorf is a Royal Arch Mason and in politics he is an uncompromising supporter of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands' sponsor. Religiously, he and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church, to whose charities they are most liberal contributors.

OLIVER R. BEATTY. One of the most popular and pro- gressive merchants of Lewistown is Oliver R. Beatty, familiarly known throughout the city as "Dad Beatty," who, as a dealer in agricultural implements and machin- ery, vehicles, farmers' hardware, and engines, has built up a large and prosperous trade. With a personality that is exclusive and original, he is a diplomat in busi- ness, one of the secrets of his success being the abso- lute confidence he has in his abilities, and his courage in advancing new ideas, which he carries to the finish, never faltering in thought or purpose. He was born December 25, 1858, in Vermont, Illinois, where his par- ents spent the large part of their lives, and where at their deaths their bodies were buried.

Educated in the public schools of his native town, Oliver R. Beatty began working for wages as a painter and paper hanger when but sixteen years old, receiving three dollars a day in good money for his work. Leav- ing home when nineteen years of age, he went to Min- nesota and the ensuing nineteen years was associated with the Minneapolis and Saint Louis Railroad, for twelve years being in the legal department as claim agent and for seven years having charge of the water service. Severing his connection with the railroad com- pany, Mr. Beatty went to Hutchinson, Minnesota, where he opened a cafe, which he operated a short time, and then sold. The following year he was located at Bemidji, Minnesota, where he ran a steam laundry, and was meeting with good success in his venture until the occurrence of a serious conflagration that destroyed his home and plant, leaving him with nothing, as he had no insurance.

Coming then to Montana to begin life anew, Mr. Beatty was employed for five years in hunting, fishing, and as an engineer in the saw mills of the Tobacco plains country. Locating then at Bonner, Montana, he worked for the Blackfoot Milling Company for a time, and was afterwards engineer in a laundry at Great Falls one winter. Going from there to the Mussellshell country, Mr. Beatty farmed a thousand acres of land for three years. In 1903 he came to Lewistown, and having entered the employ of the Judith Hardware Com- pany was for eight years connected with its imple- ment department. Becoming thoroughly familiar with the business, Mr. Beatty opened his present establish- ment at 120 East Main street, and in its management has met with phenomenal success, running his store under the name of "Dad Beatty." Familiar with the wants and needs of the modern, up-to-date agriculturist, he has built up an extensive patronage among the farm- ers of Fergus county, his genial courtesy, cordiality, and fair dealings winning for him the confidence and respect of all with whom he comes in contact.

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A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 84

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