A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 93

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

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Mr. Fenton Sutherland, junior member of the law firm and son of this most popular of Utah's pioneer attorneys, was married to Mary Ball, daughter of Henry Ball, an Englishman who had brought his young fam- ily to Utah that they might have there the religions freedom denied to those of their faith in the mother country. Miss Ball was, to the time of her mar- riage, a resident of Lark, Utah, the union taking place, however, in Salt Lake City.

Robert M. Sutherland is the only child of this mar- riage. His father, not being so successful in his prac- tice as had been the grandfather and having his career cut short in the tenth year of the son's life, was unable to give the boy the advantages to which the family had been accustomed. Indeed the young man must have left school then and there and devoted himself to earning a livelihood but for the kindness of an aunt who furnished the funds for two additional years of study. What education he received after the age of sixteen was through his own efforts and outside of the school room. This, necessarily, was not of a pro- fessional nature. Immediately upon leaving school he found employment upon a large Montana ranch where he remained for four years, becoming familiar with all lines of ranch life. This experience has been of great use to him of later years in the management of his own valuable ranch. In 1898, he accepted a position as mill hand with the Boston-Montana Mining Com- pany. For eleven years he remained with this com- pany and it was through the strenuous labor of these years that he was enabled to invest in the ranch lands of the Flat Head country that have proven so profitable a possession.

While still employed at the mines, The United States Installment Realty Company of Minneapolis, offered him the position of manager for the state of Montana. This was a savings company much on the order of the building and loan association. After having served this company for only six months Mr. Sutherland de- cided to join with his brother-in-law, William James Martin, in the establishment of a coal company. 'They organized the Meaderville Coal Company and are among the best known dealers of Silver Bow county. From the first they seemed to inspire confidence among their patrons and their every effort has brought deserved success. Their office is at the corner of Main and Collusa streets, Meaderville, Montana.

Mr. Sutherland, unlike his brother-in-law, Mr. Mar- tin, is active in the Democratic political circles of Mon- tana, the taste for politics and legislation probably hav- ing been inherted from hs father and his father's father. He has served as justice of the peace in Basin, Mon- tana, and is local representative, as well as director and stockholder, of the Butte and Spokane Mining Company. This, together with the active management of his large ranch in the Flat Head country, leaves him little leasure. He is, however, a member and treasurer of the Meaderville Volunteer Fire Depart- ment and belongs to the lodge of the Modern Wood- men of America.

He was married, in Butte, on the twenty-first day of June, 1904, to Miss Esther Martin. Mrs. Suther- land is the daughter of George and Elizabeth (Dun- calf) Martin who, although natives of Michigan, came to Butte from the gold fields of California, in 1885. She is also the sister of William James Martin, the present business partner of Mr. Sutherland in the Meaderville Coal Company.

There have been no children born of this union.

Mr. Sutherland, has not given out for publication the exact amount of his present capital. To figure it one would be obliged to know the capitalization of the Meaderville Coal Company, the amount of stock he owns in the Butte and Spokane Mining Company and the intrinsic value of his beautiful ranch, not to men- tion other small pieces of real estate. It might be dif-

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ficult and inquisitive to estimate the worth of all of this but it is, in its entirety, the interest on the saddle horse plus fifteen dollars in cash-the principal with which Robert M. Sutherland started life in 1903. His inheritance was, without doubt, one of which he might well be proud, but an intellectual inheritance, alone, won't multiply a horse into a coal company nor fifteen dollars into a cattle ranch.

HENRY E. ARMSTRONG, M. D. Gifted with a love for his chosen profession, quick of intuition and generous and sympathetic in his work, Dr. Henry E. Armstrong has won the respect and esteem of the citizens of Bil- lings, and by his acknowledged ability has gained an enviable practice. He is a native of Canada, having been born at Orono, in the Province of Ontario, Octo- ber 29, 1867, and is a son of William and Mary (Elliott) Armstrong.

William Armstrong was born in 1828, in Yorkshire, England, and as a young man immigrated to the United States, settling first in Buffalo, New York, where he followed the trade of saddle maker, which he had learned in his native country. Subsequently he removed to Orono, Ontario, where he continued to follow the same line of business until his death in 1867, when he was only thirty-nine years of age, being the proprietor of a successful harness and saddlery business. He was married to Miss Mary Elliott, who was born in County Fermanagh, Ireland, and she still survives, being in her eighty-fifth year. Three sons and two daughters were born to them, Henry E. being the youngest child. The family is connected with the Church of England. The early education of Dr. Armstrong was secured in his native place, and he supplemented this by at- tendance at Trinity University, Toronto, from the medi- cal department of which institution he was graduated with the class of 1894. After spending one year in Brainerd Hospital, Brainerd, Minnesota, he located in practice in Lake Park, Minnesota, but in 1896 removed to Jamestown, North Dakota, where he continued to follow his profession until 1898. Since that year he has been located in Billings, where he has built up a large general practice. In his profession he has steadily arisen until he now occupies a foremost place in its ranks, skill and ability having gained him a wide and enviable reputation. He is a member of the Yellow- stone County Medical Society, the Montana State Medi- cal Society and the American Medical Association, and fraternally is connected with Billings Lodge No. 394, B. P. O. E., and other societies. In political matters he is independent and has not desired public preferment, although he keeps well informed on the issues of the day. He maintains a well appointed suite of offices in the Stapleton building, where may be found an extensive and valuable medical library, and the leading journals of the profession.

In 1904 Dr. Armstrong was united in marriage with Mrs. Mattie Chapple, nee Murphy, a native of Ontario, Canada.

REUBEN M. HOBBS. The history of a nation is nothing more than a history of the individuals com- prising it, and as they are characterized by loftier or lower ideals, actuated by the spirit of ambition or indifference, so it is with a state, county or town. Reuben M. Hobbs, who is chief accountant for the Butte Electric & Power Company, at Butte, Montana, is a citizen of prominence and influence and one who is ever on the qui vive to do all in his power to advance the best interests of his community.

A native of the state of Illinois. Reuben M. Hobbs was born at Yorkville on the 19th of January, 1874, and he is a son of Franklin and Harriet (Crooker) Hobbs, both of whom were born in the state of Maine, the former on the 20th of January, 1828, and the latter on the 29th of September, 1830. Franklin Hobbs re-

moved, with his family, to Illinois in the days prior to the inception of the Civil war. When that struggle came on he gave evidence of his intrinsic loyalty to the cause of his country by enlisting as a soldier in Com- pany H, Eighty-ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. As the war proceeded he was made captain of his com- pany and he served with the utmost gallantry through- out the entire period of the war. After the close of hostilities Captain Hobbs returned to Yorkville, Illinois, where he was engaged in business as a merchant until 1902, retiring in that year. He is now residing, with his wife, at that place, and while this venerable old couple are well advanced in years they are still active, retaining all their faculties. Captain and Mrs. Hobbs became the parents of seven children, six of whom are living, in 1911, and of whom Reuben M. was the seventh in order of birth.

Reuben M. Hobbs received his preliminary educational training in the public schools of Yorkville, Illinois, and in 1891 he was matriculated as a student in the Uni- versity of Illinois, in which excellent institution he was a member of the class of 1895. After leaving college he went to the city of Chicago, Illinois, where he se- cured employment in the large music concern of Lyon & Healy. In 1897 he went to Denver, Colorado, remain- ing in that city for one year, at the expiration of which he came to Montana, locating in Butte in 1898. His first employment in this city was with the Anaconda Copper Mining Co., with which well-known concern he remained for four years. In 1902 he became identified with the Butte Electric & Power Company, taking first a minor position and gradually working up until he was made chief accountant of the company, a position of which he is incumbent at the present time, in 1912. While he does not take an active part in local politics, Mr. Hobbs is a stalwart in the ranks of the Republican party in his political convictions. In religious matters he and his wife are devout communicants of the Protes- tant Episcopal church and in a social way he is con- nected with the University Club of Butte, of which organization he is a director, and he is also a valued member of the Phi Delta Theta college fraternity. He is exceedingly fond of music and devotes a great deal of attention to the reading of good literature.

On the 7th of November, 1900, at Butte, was cele- brated the marriage of Mr. Hobbs to Miss Hazel N. Hines, who is a daughter of George and Olive Hines. George Hines was the first jeweler in Butte and was a citizen of prominence prior to his demise, in 1899. Mr. and Mrs. Hobbs are the parents of two children,- Janet Merrill, born September 8, 1907; and Marian Frances, whose birth occurred on the 15th of July, 1909.

ALEXANDER MACKEL. An able and influential mem- ber of the Montana bar. Alexander Mackel is widely known in the broad fields of his profession, his fine legal attainments, his scholarly and forceful arguments, and his many successes, having given him a well-merited reputation throughout Silver Bow county. A native of Minnesota, he was born, December 12, 1875, in Red Wing, Goodhue county, of excellent German ancestry.

His father, Ignatius Mackel, was born, bred and edu- cated in Germany. After the Revolutionary movement in Germany, about the middle of the nineteenth cen- tury, he came with Carl Schurz and others to the United States, locating first in Chicago. After the great fire which devastated that city, he moved to Minnesota, becoming a pioneer settler of Goodhue county, where he bought land, and was subsequently engaged in agri- cultural pursuits. In 1879 he moved to Norman county, Minnesota, where he resided until his death, in 1889. He married, in Iowa, Mary Buss, who was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and died February 12, 1904. Of the seventeen children born of their union, nine

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are now, in 1912, living, Alexander being the fifth child in order of birth.

Brought up on a farm, Alexander Mackel was edu- cated in the public schools, during the later years of his attendance walking three miles to the village school. At the age of sixteen years he began teaching school, and for two years taught in his home county, spending his long vacations and whatever leisure time he had in the nearby lumber camps, or in the saw mills near Duluth. At the end of three yars, Mr. Mackel having saved some money, continued his education at the State Normal School in Moorhead, Minnesota. He after- wards entered the law department of the University of Minnesota, where, at the end of two years, in 1894, he was graduated with the degree of LL. B. In July, 1894, six months after his graduation, he was nomi- nated county attorney for Norman county, Minnesota, on the Populist ticket, and being elected served two years. Going then to Texas, Mr. Mackel was engaged in the practice of law in Jackson county until the breaking out of the Spanish-American war, when, at Dallas, he enlisted for service in the army. Being sent to Austin for examination, he was rejected on account of ill health, and went back to Dallas. A few months later he returned to Minnesota, and in December, 1898, came from there to Montana. Im- mediately locating in Butte, Mr. Mackel has since been actively engaged in the practice of his profession in Butte, where he has built up an extensive and lucra- tive patronage. The care of interests involving largely the element of personal trust constitutes a fair share of his patronage, although he specializes in criminal work, and has a large private practice against corporations, branches of the law with which he is especially famil- iar. In 1902 and 1903 he served as county attorney for Silver Bow county.

Mr. Mackel is a man of good business ability, and is now a director in the Montana Illinois Copper Min- ing Company, incorporated, and is its attorney. In his political relations Mr. Mackel was formerly a Populist, and an adherent of the Labor party, but since 1910 has been actively identified with the Social- ists. Fraternally Mr. Mackel belongs to the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is past noble grand; to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; and to the Knights of Pythias. Socially he is a valued member of the Silver Bow Club. Broad and liberal in his religious beliefs, he is an active and faithful member of the Unitarian church.

LOUIS B. WOODS, general agent in the freight depart- ment of the Great Northern Railway in Butte, entered the railroad service as a telegraph operator soon after his graduation from the high school, and since then he has filled many positions in a number of different places in the service, and has made steady and rapid progress in it from post to post by frequent promo- tions. His success has been based on faithful atten- tion to duty, ability in the performance of it and efficiency in every respect.

Mr. Woods is a native of Waverly, Bremer county, Iowa, where his life began on May 5, 1870. He is a son of James Weston and Adeline Estella (Walling) Woods, the former born in Boston, Massachusetts, and the latter in eastern Canada. They were mar- ried in Burlington, Iowa, the mother having moved to that city with her parents in her girlhood. She is now living in Denver, Colorado. James Weston Woods moved to Iowa at a very early period in the history of the state and there became prominent as an attor- ney. He helped to make the state constitution and took an active part in the Black Hawk Indian war, coming out of the struggle with the rank and title of colonel. He died in Iowa in 1883 after a long record of great usefulness to the state.

Louis B. Woods attended the country schools in Vol. III-20

his native place until he reached the age of eight years. His parents then moved to Eldora in Hardin county, and there he continued his education until he was graduated from the high school. He then learned telegraphy, and, after mastering the art, he secured a position with the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad as station agent. A short time afterward he became connected with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, remaining with them until 1890. Going from that line to the Cudahy Packing Company at Omaha, Nebraska, and later to the Union Pacific Railroad in Wyoming, where he was employed as sta- tion agent and telegraph operator eight years. At the end of that period he came to Boulder, Montana, as block train despatcher for the Great Northern. From Boulder he was transferred to Belt and from Belt to Helena, and in the city last named from the station agency to the traffic department. In 1903 he came to Butte to serve the road in the same capacity, and in 1909 was promoted to fill the position of general agent of the freight department. In his career as a rail- road man he has always filled with credit to himself and benefit to his employers the positions he has held, and has many times won honorable mention and high commendation from the officials above him in the service.

Mr. Woods was married in Denver, Colorado, on January 28, 1897, to Miss Julia A. Potter, a native of Pennsylvania and the daughter of David G. and Lydia (Klephans) Potter. Mr. and Mrs. Woods have no children, but Mr. Woods has two brothers: George W. Woods, a train despatcher in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Hon. William Weston Woods, judge of the dis- trict court in Wallace, Idaho.

Mr. Woods has taken a cordial interest in the frater- nal life of his community and state. He is a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and the Royal Neighbors. Of the social organizations around him he belongs to the Silver Bow and the Anaconda clubs. In political faith and allegiance he is allied with the Democratic party, and while living in Helena was the ward representative of that party in the section of his residence in 1902.

Mrs. Woods is also a zealous worker in fraternal and social circles. She is a prominent member of the Women's Club in Butte, belongs to Helena Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, and is also con- spicuous in the Order of Royal Neighbors. She and her husband are members of the Episcopal church and devoted in their interest in the welfare of the parish in which they hold their membership.

Mr. Woods is something of a sportsman too. He is fond of hunting and fishing, and seeks recreation from the cares of business in these pastimes whenever he has opportunity in the proper seasons. Mr. and Mrs. Woods are among the most highly esteemed residents of Butte, and fully deserving of the cordial regard bestowed upon them.

JAMES T. BOYD. From the rugged, rock-bound coast of Maine have come many of Montana's best citizens, men identified with large affairs and important ventures, who have demonstrated that their stern New England training has been as valuable to them in the practically new country where they have cast their lots as it would have proved in the older east. To this class belongs James T. Boyd, of Great Falls, well known in business, realty and mining circles, and a member of an old and honored New England family whose members partici- pated in the War of the Revolution, and whose founder, Capt. Thomas Boyd, of the marine service, came from Glasgow. Scotland. Mr. Bovd was born in the city of Bath, Maine, October 16, 1867, and is a son of Capt. Alpheus P. and Susan (Truford) Boyd.

Following the example of a number of his forefathers. Alpheus P. Boyd early took to the sea as a means of

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livelihood, and for many years commanded vessels that sailed to ports all over the world. On retiring from sailing he settled down in Boston, Massachusetts, where he spent his last days, and there his death occurred in December, 1909, when he was eighty years of age. His widow, a native of Maine, is still a resident of Boston and is seventy-two years old. They had seven chil- dren, of whom James T. was the fourth in order of birth.

James T. Boyd secured his education in the schools of Boston, Massachusetts, and on completing his scholastic training removed to Duluth, Minnesota, where for three years he worked at the trade of plumb- ing as an apprentice. On leaving Duluth he came to Great Falls, in 1898, and went to work at his trade, which he continued to follow for eight years. At that time he opened up the large plumbing business which bears his name, but in the meanwhile continued to be em- ployed by the Great Falls Hardware Company. Since locating in Great Falls he has been employed in doing much of the important work in various public institutions, including the Orphans' Home and the New Deaconess" Hospital. An excellent business man and skilled me- chanic, he has built up a reputation in his vocation that places him in the foremost rank in this line in Great Falls, although his work has not been confined to the limits of the city. He has shown his confidence in the future of Great Falls by investing in real estate, and also has large interests in mining properties, in all his ventures displaying business shrewdness and acumen and a thorough knowledge of affairs. As one of the energetic, progressive business men of his city he has a wide acquaintance, among which he numbers many influential friends. In political matters Mr. Boyd is a Democrat, but his private interests have been of such a nature as to preclude the idea of his entering the public arena. In religious matters he is an Episcopalian, and fraternally he is a popular member of the Elks and the Electric City Club.

Mr. Boyd was married at Great Falls, January 7, 1907, to Miss Frances Jersen of this city.

JONATHAN G. LOBB. M. D. Classed among the lead- ing physicians and surgeons of Montana, and also hold- ing prestige as one of the most prominent and influential citizens of Great Falls, is Dr. Jonathan G. Lobb, whose proficiency in his calling has been evidenced on a num- ber of occasions since his advent in this city in August, 1910. Dr. Lobb was born in Mariposa township, Little Britain, Ontario, Canada, August 2, 1863, and is a son of John and Lucy (Brown) Lobb. The former, native of England, immigrated to Canada at the age of sixteen years, and shortly thereafter identified himself with the carriage and furniture manufacturing business, with which he was connected during the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1876, when he was but forty- five years of age. His wife, also a native of England, was a young girl when she went to Canada, and died in 1867, when forty years old. They had a family of four children, of whom three survive.

Dr. Lobb was only thirteen years of age when he was left an orphan by the death of his father, but he man- aged to secure a good education, graduating from the high school at Bowmanville, Canada. In 1888 he en- tered a factory in Toronto and learned the carriage trimmer's trade, and during the following year went to Syracuse, New York, where he followed that line of work four years. From his boyhood he had been intent upon entering a profession, and in 1893 found himself financially able to enter college, having carefully saved his earnings since leaving school. In his spare moments he had devoted his whole attention to close and arduous study, and in 1893 he matriculated in the celebrated Rush Medical College, Chicago, from which he was graduated in 1897, immediately after which he engaged in practice at Stanley, Chippewa county, Wis- consin. There, however, Dr. Lobb met with a good

measure of success, but the place was small, and, seek- ing a wider field for the exercise of his abilities, in 1898 removed to Butte, Montana. From that time his success was assured. Associating himself with Dr. George H. Wells, he soon built up a large practice, and his remarkable success in a number of complicated cases gained him a wide-spread reputation. He continued in practice until August, 1910, at Butte, at which time, recognizing the need of Great Falls for a physician and surgeon of his ability and standing he came to this city, which has since been his field of endeavor. The success which rewarded his efforts in Butte has been duplicated here, and no member of the profession stands higher in the confidence of the people. Dr. Lobb is one of whom it may be said he has chosen well his vocation. Pos- sessed of a kind, sympathetic nature, a keen sense of discrimination, and a natural taste for the various branches of the medical profession, he has made a. signal success. He has invested to some extent in real estate, owning a handsome residence at No. 1108 Third avenue North, while his well-appointed suite of offices is situated in the Todd building. He also derives a large income from some valuable oil land in Oklahoma. Although a great lover of out-of-door life, Dr. Lobb has considered it his duty to spend a large part of his time in research work, and may often be found devoting his attention to the unraveling of some problem of a scientific nature in his large library, which is well filled with volumes on medicine, science, surgery and kindred subjects. Fraternally, he is con- nected with Damon Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and Butte Lodge No. 240, B. P. O. E., and he also holds membership in Silver Bow Medical Society. Politi- cally he takes an independent stand, casting his vote rather for the candidate than the political organization.

On April 17, 1905, Dr. Lobb was married at Butte, Montana, to Miss Josephine M. Lyons, a leading mem- ber of Butte's social set. Dr. and Mrs. Lobb are mem- bers of the Presbyterian church and are well known in religious and social circles.

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A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 93

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