A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 87

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

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Mr. Walsh was married to Miss Anna Wernert, in October, 1899, who was born in Dubuque county, Iowa, the seventh of the eight children born to Ignace and Katherine Wernert, natives of France, both of whom are deceased. They were married in France and came to this country by sailing vessel, landing in New Orleans, whence they came up the Mississippi river to Dubuque county, Iowa, and later removed to Kossuth county, Iowa, where until his retirement Mr. Wernert was engaged in agricultural pursuits. Mr. and Mrs. Walsh have two children: Gertrude I, and Michael E.

GEORGE F. GIESER. Orphaned by the death of his mother while he was yet a child, and being desirous from his boyhood to make his own advancement in the world, George F. Gieser, one of the leading meat merchants of Butte. has bent all his efforts to the accomplishment of his desire, and has succeeded admir- ably in his design. He is prosperous and has high standing in the community of his home, and all his suc- cess in life is the result of his industry, proper ambi- tion and good management.

He was born in the city of New York on March 30, 1850, and was sent to school there until he completed his education in the grammar school grades. Showing a preference for the meat business from his youth, soon after leaving school he was apprenticed to one of the most prominent meat dealers in his native city, and he served faithfully in his apprenticeship, with close attention to the business until he became a thorough master of his trade in every detail and de- partment of it.

The great city in which he was born and reared had many attractions for him, but the West spoke in his heart with a persuasive voice, and he determined to cast his lot in that section of the country. In 1869 he moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and worked at his trade there for a short time. He then concluded to go back a little farther east, and changed his residence and base of operations to the state of Illinois. He did not remain beyond the Mississippi very long, however. but returned to Missouri and located in St. Louis. where he worked at his trade for some years. He had no difficulty in securing steady employment in that city, as there was always at that time a demand for skilled workmen in his craft.

Kansas City still looked inviting to him, and in 1878 he returned to that bustling metropolis and there es- tablished himself in the wholesale and retail meat trade. In 1890 he sold his interests in Kansas City and moved to Ogden, Utah, and for several years was in the front rank of meat dealers in that city. In 1897 he made another change of base, coming to Butte and start- ing in the same business here. From the beginning of his enterprise in this city he was successful. He made money rapidly and invested it in real estate with a bright future, and his investments have all proven to have been made with judgment. He is now one of the substantial men of property in the city, but is still engaged in the meat business, as he prefers now, as he always has preferred, work to leisure.

Michael Gieser, the father of George F., was born in Germany and came to the United States in 1849, when he was a young man. In 1862 he enlisted in the Union army in the Forty-fifth New York Volunteer Infantry. He served in that regiment to the close of the Civil war and took part in a number of the leading engage- ments during the sanguinary and momentous conflict. but was never wounded or taken prisoner. He died

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in New York at the age of sixty years. Mr. Gieser . does not remember the name of his mother, or know much about her, as she died when he was quite a young child, and he never acquired much informa- tion concerning her.

On September 10, 1881, Mr. Gieser was married in Kansas City, Missouri, to Miss Libbie Schaefer, a native of Pennsylvania. They have had nine children, all of whom are living: Frank, who lives in Butte; Herbert, who is now a prominent mining engineer in South Africa; Louise G .: George, whose home is in Butte, in business with his father; Fred, who was an officer in the United States navy; and Josie, Charles, Bryan and Ralph, all of whom are living with their parents and attending school in Butte. The first four were born in Kansas City, Missouri, the next four in Ogden, Utah, and the last one in Butte, Montana.

Mr. Geiser is a member of the Masonic lodge in Butte, and in religious faith adheres to the Christian Scientist church. In political affairs he is independent, bestowing his suffrage on the candidates he believes best fitted for the offices they seek and are most likely to work for the good of the whole people in the per- formance of their official duties. He is always deeply interested in the welfare of his city and county, as he has been in that of every community in which he has lived, and at all times liberal and practical in his support of all commendable undertakings for their pro- motion. He has hosts of friends in Butte and else- where, and is regarded wherever he is known as an ex- cellent citizen, public-spirited and progressive.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN DAWSON. An impressive ex- ample of the hustling, up-to-date and enterprising busi- ness man of the northwest is found in Benjamin Frank- lin Dawson, of Glendive, proprietor of a modern and extensive establishment, and dealer in groceries, boots, shoes, tobacco, cigars, wagons and farm machinery. Like many other successful business men of Dawson county, Mr. Dawson came to the western ranges as a cowboy and remained to identify himself with the busy marts of trade and commerce. Now, the owner of a business that has grown steadily ever since its inception in 1904, he is doing his share in advancing and develop- ing his adopted community, and is known as a represen- tative public-spirited citizen. Mr. Dawson was born in Leavenworth, Kansas, November 25, 1860, and is a son of Andrew and Sarah (Osborn) Dawson.

Andrew Dawson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania, and there received his education in the common schools. As a young man he came west as far as Leavenworth, Kansas, where he became a pioneer and for some years was engaged in working at his trade of wheelwright. During the gold excitement, he went overland with an oxteam to Pikes Peak and Denver, Colorado, and was engaged in prospecting and mining in that city when there were but six houses there. At this time Mr. Dawson built himself a "wind wagon," in which he traveled all over that locality, and after spending some few years in Colorado returned to Leavenworth, Kansas, and engaged in building and con- tracting. After erecting a shingle mill on the Missouri river, near Leavenworth, he began accepting contracts from the United States government, and built army posts throughout the Chickasaw Nation and all over the west. He retired from active pursuits some time prior to his death in 1906, when he was seventy-seven years of age. His wife, a native of Missouri, survives him and makes her home in Leavenworth, and five of their seven children are also living.

The fourth in order of birth of. his parents' children, Benjamin F. Dawson secured his education in the pub- lic schools of Leavenworth. and his first employment was as clerk in a dry goods store, where he was in- troduced to the mercantile business. In 1879 he went to California, and subsequently moved on to Oregon,

where for some time he was employed as a cowboy. Later he drove cattle over the trail from Oregon through to Cheyenne, Wyoming and up into Idaho, and from Lost river, in the latter state, through to the Musselshell in Montana. He also followed the trail from Musselshell county to Rawlings, Wyoming, and from the latter place to Standing Rock, North Dakota, and later from the Rio Grande up to the Musselshell river in Montana. During the fifteen years that he acted as a cowboy with the Ryan brothers on the Mon- tana range. Mr. Dawson had an adventurous and varied career, but during all this time carefully saved his earnings so that in 1897 he was able to engage in the cattle business on his own account. He continued to conduct a successful business in Dawson county un- til 1904, which year saw his advent in the general mer- chandise business in Glendive, where he has since been located. Mr. Dawson is a representative citizen of his section and is highly esteemed by all classes of people throughout the wide scope of territory in which he is known. He is a member of Gate City Lodge No. 37, I. O. O. F., and is a Democrat in politics and an earnest supporter of the principles of his party.

On March 2, 1898, Mr. Dawson was married to Mrs. Mae (Murphy) Gaynor, a native of Iowa, who had a daughter, Willa, and a son, Merle, by a former mar- riage. They have had one daughter, Frances, and all three children are residing at home. The pleasant fam- ily residence of the Dawsons is situated on Merrill avenue.

WILLIAM H. WOODRUFF. Descended from sturdy old New England and New York stock, with records of participation in the Revolutionary war in the family; taught self-reliance and persevering industry, with a scorn of circumstances, by the examples of his ances- tors; learning the power of dauntless courage and in- domitable will from the career of his father, who never yielded an inch to fate even when her frowns lowered most darkly over him, and feeling within himself the possession of qualities and attributes which fitted him to repeat their performances if necessary, or show the same spirit in other fields of effort, William H. Woodruff, one of the well-known druggists of Butte, has been put to the test in his own career and has stood it with high credit.

Mr. Woodruff is a native of Gold Hill, Nevada, where his life began only July 12, 1874. His eyes opened on this world in a mining camp, and he was soon to see adventures even more thrilling than the rough life and. at times, unbridled excitement of such a place. When he was but ten years of age his parents moved from Gold Hill, Nevada, to Pendleton, Oregon, making the journey through some of the wildest portions of Idaho. Washington and Oregon, traveling with teams and camping by night on the open plains, sleeping with no roof above them but the blue canopy of heaven, and daring danger into the lists against them in every hour of their daily progress. They were hunting a place for future residence, and had not already selected one, or if so, only tentatively, and this accounts for the round-about way in which they made their trip.

Mr. Woodruff is a son of Horatio E. and Ann Ger- trude (Flick) Woodruff. The father was a pioneer in California in the early forties, going to that state by the isthmus route, and being on the ground when gold was discovered there in 1848. he naturally became a miner, and was a very successful one. He owned prop- erties adjoining those of Comstock and the Fairs, and worked in conjunction with them. But when the value of his holdings was discovered he was forced out of them.

He then left California and moved to Virginia City, Nevada, and there he was employed as a clerk by one of the leading business men. Then the proprietor of the

BA. Dawson

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business offered to sell out to Mr. Woodruff, and the latter accepted the offer. He was firmly established in the confidence and regard of the people because of the strict uprightness and integrity which marked and governed all his dealings, and he was successful in his undertaking from the start.

His prosperity in this venture, and his excellent busi- ness management in all his affairs, enabled him to engage in other enterprises, in which, also, he was very successful. He conducted large ranches in Oregon and Idaho, and early in the sixties moved to Montana, where he was a pioneer, but inured to frontier life and fond of it. He died in Idaho in 1906 at the age of seventy-six years. The mother died at Stevensville, Montana, in 1897 at the age of fifty.

Their son William H. obtained his education at Pendleton, Oregon, being graduated from the high school there in 1889. After leaving school he secured a position with a well-known druggist in Pendleton, with whom he remained eight years, becoming an ex- pert pharmacist at the age of nineteen. In 1897 he left Oregon and came to Montana. In this state he worked as a pharmacist in Great Falls and at Fort Benton for some years, locating in Butte in 1901. On his arrival in the city last named he secured a position with Jas. Alterton, who conducted the South Butte Pharmacy at 653 South Utah street, and was one of the successful business men of the city. A short time afterward Mr. Woodruff became the proprietor of this establishment, and he has ever since made it his leading enterprise in business, keeping its reputation up to the highest rank and pushing its trade with all his energy to the benefit of the community and his own advantage in a financial way and in the way of securing for himself the highest standing in the business circles of the city.

On May 4, 1909, Mr. Woodruff was united in mar- riage with Miss Katharine Ashenbach of Butte, a daugh- ter of George and Marie Ashenbach, esteemed resi- dents of that city. Mr. Woodruff is a Freemason of the Royal Arch degree, holding membership in Monitor Lodge No. 35, F. & A. M., in Butte, and Deer Lodge Chapter No. 3. He also belongs to the Montana State Druggists' Association. In politics he is a Socialist and in church connection a Unitarian.

Mr. Woodruff has two brothers and one sister. His brothers are: Frank, who is a resident of Spokane, Washington, and Joseph, who is an extensive rancher in Idaho. . The sister is Miss Harriet Woodruff, who is teaching in a school in Spokane, Washington. Their grandfather, Warren Woodruff, was a native of Machias- port, Maine, and descended from a hero of the Revolu- tionary war, and the family lived in New England from early colonial days. The maternal grandfather, Will- iam Flick, was born and reared in the state of New York, and there was a prominent manufacturer of soap. He also went to California as an argonaut in the pioneer days and secured a considerable fortune in his mining operations. But he lost everything through the failure of one of the early banking institutions of the mining regions. He held high rank in the Masonic fraternity and was a man of prominence and influence in public affairs. He died at the age of ninety-two.

EDWARD BOLEVER. An essentially prominent and in- fluential citizen of Butte, Montana, is Edward Bole- ver, who has been a resident of this city for the past fourteen years and who is now most successfully en- gaged in the real estate and insurance business, he being a member of the concern known as the Bole- ver-Brown Realty Company. He is a self-made man in the most significant sense of the word and in all the relations of life he has so conducted himself as to command the unalloyed confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens.

A Hoosier by birth, Edward Bolever was born in Vanderburg county, Indiana, the date of his nativity

being the 18th of January, 1866. He is a son of John and Barbara (Wegel) Bolever, both of whom were born and reared in Germany, whence they immigrated to the United States. The father settled on a farm in Indiana and he was identified with agricultural opera- tions until the time of his death. Mrs. Bolever was born in Baden Baden, Germany, and there was solem- nized her marriage. Of the fourteen children born to Mr. and Mrs. Bolever, Edward was the youngest in order of birth.

Edward Bolever received his elementary educational training in the public schools of his native place. He remained at home and worked for his father until he had reached the age of eighteen years, at which time he accepted a position as clerk in the store known as the Kargas Grocery Company, at Evansville, Indiana. Two years later he located at Fort Scott, Kansas, where he engaged in the retail grocery business on his own account and whence he removed, seven years later, to Kansas City, Kansas, there likewise engaging in the retail grocery business. He continued to reside in Kansas City for the ensuing four years, at the expira- tion of which, in 1897, he came to Butte, here accept- ing a position as city salesman for Col. A. F. Bray, a wholesale grocer, in whose employ he continued for nine years. From 1906 to 1907 Mr. Bolever was in the employ of the Butte Wholesale Grocery Company and in the latter year he entered into a partnership alliance which formed the Bolever-Brown Realty Company, dealers in local properties, farm lands and insurance. The Bolever-Brown Realty Company en- joys a prosperous and extensive business and holds pres- tige as being one of the most prominent concerns of its kind in Butte. Mr. Bolever is a man of splendid executive ability and keen judgment and his various business dealings have all been characterized by fair and honorable methods.

In politics Mr. Bolever is a stalwart supporter of the cause of the Republican party and while he does not participate actively in local politics he gives liberally of his aid and influence in support of all measures and enterprises advanced for the good of the general wel- fare. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Wood- men of the World.

At Little Rock, Arkansas, on the Ist of February, 1893, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Bolever to Miss Susan K. Lincoln, who was born at Atchison, Kansas, on the Ioth of January, 1875, whose parents are both now deceased. Mrs. Bolever has the distinc- tion of being a member of the Lincoln family of which our martyred president was one of the notable repre- sentatives. The original progenitor of the Lincoln family in America settled in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1632. His name was Thomas Lincoln and one of his descendants, Capt. Rufus Lincoln, great-great- grandfather of Mrs. Bolever, was a prominent and valiant soldier in the War of the Revolution. On the maternal side Mrs. Bolever traces her ancestry to stanch Scotch extraction, and after coming to Amer- ica they established their home in Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Bolever have no children. The Bolever home at 524 South Montana street is recognized as a center of refinement and generous hospitality and it is the scene of many attractive social gatherings.

JAMES WALTER SPEER, mayor of Great Falls, is giv- ing of his best efforts to the advancement of civic wel- fare and the promotion of important enterprises in which his concern personally is simply that of a public- spirited citizen. He was born February 25, 1871, on a farm in Jo Daviess county, on the outskirts of Han- over, Illinois, and is a son of Charles and Nancy (Campbell) Speer, the former of Irish descent, and the latter of Scotch parentage.

Mr. Speer was reared to agricultural pursuits and at- tended school at Hanover until he was fourteen years

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of age, at which time he went to the home of his brother, in Sioux county, Iowa, working on the farm in summers in order that he might earn the means whereby to prosecute his studies during the winter months. When seventeen he went back home, and with the exception of one year, when he attended Mon- mouth College, remained there until he was twenty- one. Attaining his majority, he was made secretary- manager of the Hanover Creamery Company, which position he held for four years, and for a time was employed by the Deering Harvester Company, but in 1897 decided to study law and was enrolled at Dixon Law school at Dixon, Illinois. He was graduated from that institution in May, 1900, and in June of that year was census enumerator in his native township. Shortly thereafter he went to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to locate, but after his admission to the bar in October of that year, came to Great Falls, Montana, which has since been his home. Forming a partnership with W. C. Danks, for a few months he practiced law. and then sold out and engaged in the real estate business, but on January 1, 1903, returned to his legal practice, which he has followed continuously ever since, with the ex- ception of two years when he was deputy collector of customs. He served two terms as county attorney of Cascade county, and scarcely had he left that office when he was elected mayor of Great Falls by a phenom- enal majority. Mr. Speer is giving his adopted city an excellent administration, his incumbency having been marked by many needed reforms. In the prime of life, with his best years still before him, and pos- sessing a record as a citizen and public official to which not the slightest blame can attach, Mr. Speer's career of usefulness to his community is only begun, and it is safe to predict that still higher political honors await him. He has always advocated the principles of the Republican party. In the summer of 1900 he was initiated in Kavanaugh Lodge No. 36, A. F. A. M., at Elizabeth, Illinois. On June 25, 1901, he affiliated with Cascade Lodge No. 34, of Great Falls, in which he still retains membership. In 1906 he served the lodge as master. He was exalted a Royal Arch Mason March 14, 1907, in Great Falls Chapter No. 9, the grades of the Scottish Rite were conferred upon him in Butte Con- sistory in November, 1910, and on December 1. 1910, he was made a noble of the Mystic Shrine in Algeria Temple at Helena. In 1906 he was appointed senior grand deacon in grand lodge; the next year was elected junior grand warden, and was regularly advanced until the 1910 session, when he was chosen grand master. He is a member of the Elks and the Eagles. His busi- ness interests include a directorship in the Armstrong Ranch Company and the Montana Implement Company.

In 1904 Mayor Speer was married at Ludington, Mich- igan, to Miss Grace C. Shorts, the daughter of a prac- ticing physician of that place, and to this union there have been born three children: Jenet, born November II, 1905; James Walter, born April 4, 1910; and Kathryn C., born June 15, 1911, at Great Falls. Mrs. Speer and the children spent the winter of 1911-12 in Honolulu.

ALONZO E. ROBERTS. The most of the active career of Alonzo E. Roberts has been spent as an educator, in which field of endeavor he has become well known for his ability, energy and sterling qualities of character, but in the business life that he has later taken up as paymaster for the Cottonwood Coal Company at Stockett, Montana he has won equal recognition for his excellent business discernment and fidelity. These re- lations and prominent fraternal affiliations have served to make him well known throughout this state, and a pleasing personality has brought to him with his wide acquaintance a large association of true friends.

Mr. Roberts is a Canadian by nativity, born in the province of Ontario on March 8, 1870. William H. Roberts, his father was born in New York state but

at the age of four he emigrated with his parents to Canada. There he grew to manhood, took up farming, and married Mary Lees, a native of Canada, but of Scotch lineage. He passed away in Canada at the age of fifty-four years but is survived by his wife who resides at Norwich, Canada. William H. and Mary (Lees) Roberts became the parents of seven children, namely: J. W. Roberts, of Great Falls, Montana; D. T. Roberts, of Manitoba, Canada; E. B. Roberts, of Ontario, Canada; John Roberts, of Saskatchewan, Can- ada; Alonzo E. Roberts of this review ; Lew Roberts, of Calgary, Canada; and Mrs. T. F. Mills, of Medicine Hat, Canada. D. T. Roberts, the paternal grandfather of our subject, was born in New York state and was a contractor and carpenter. He lived near Buffalo where he was well known and took an active part in the public life of that section of New York during the earlier years of the last century and prior to his immi- gration to Canada. He died when sixty years of age. His wife was Elizabeth Wiengardner, who was born in Pennsylvania of German parents, was married in New York state and died in Canada at the age of fifty. William Lees, the maternal grandfather of Mr. Roberts, was of Scotch descent and was an early settler in Can- ada where he died about 1876 at the age of fifty. He married Mary Hodg, who was born in Wales in 1818 and immigrated to Canada with her parents at the age of twelve. She died there in 1902 at the advanced age of eighty-four years.

After having completed the usual common and high school course Alonzo E. Roberts continued his educa- tion as a normal school student and was graduated in 1890. He at once took up the profession of teaching at which he was engaged six years in Ontario, Canada. In 1897 he came to Great Falls, Montana, where for five years he was a teacher in the Franklin school. The next four years were spent as an instructor in the Sand Coulee public schools. Then in December, 1906, he became identified with the Cottonwood Coal Com- pany as paymaster, which position he has continued to fill to the present time in the most satisfactory manner and in which responsible capacity he has entire charge of the company's payroll which includes over 425 em- ployes.

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A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 87

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