A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 97

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

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Mr. Fuller was married in 1904 to Miss Nadine Cook, and they are the parents of one child, Norman Clar- ence Fuller. Mrs. Fuller, who was born in Missouri, is a daughter of Walter Cook, a prominent mining man of Idaho. One of Mr. Fuller's chief recreations is motoring with his wife and child, and he also enjoys hunting and fishing. Fraternally he is a Mason and a member of the Improved Order of Red Men. His family belong to the Presbyterian church.

JOSEPH BINNARD. A prominent and valued citizen of Butte, Joseph Binnard, head of the legal firm of Bin- nard & Rodger, is a busy and successful lawyer, eminent, trusted and esteemed, his professional labors being interspersed with such official and public duties as naturally fall to a man of his intelligence and ability. A son of James Binnard, he was born, November 10, 1875, in Rochester, New York, of Hebrew lineage.

Born and reared in Poland, James Binnard immi- grated to America in 1861, and for a number of years resided in New York, his home after his marriage hav- ing been in the city of Rochester, where he was engaged in mercantile pursuits. Subsequently migrating still further westward, he settled with his family in Palouse, Whitman county, Washington, and was there a resident until his death in 1889. He married Anna Aaron, who came with her parents from Poland to Rochester, New York, when a girl, and she is now living in Spokane, Washington.

But two years old when his parents moved to Wash- ington, Joseph Binnard received his rudimentary edu- cation in Palouse. Determined to fit himself for a pro- fessional career, he left the high school at the age of eighteen years to enter the law office of Americus A. Wilson, in Palouse, and there for a year and a half read law. Moving then to Spokane, Washington, Mr. Binnard continued his studies with the well-known firm of Feighan, Wells & Hermann, the latter of whom specialized in different branches of the law, having been considered an authority on subjects such as estoppel, res adjudicata, and mortgages. A keen and faithful student, with a clear and comprehensive mind, Mr. Bin- nard made such good use of his opportunities that on May 13, 1898, he was admitted to practice before the supreme court of Washington. He at once began his professional career in Spokane, where he continued a few months. In 1899 Mr. Binnard removed to Butte, where he was engaged in practice alone, until becoming associated with his present partner, Alexander C. Rod- ger, as senior member of the firm of Binnard & Rod- ger, one of the most prosperous legal firms of this part of Silver Bow county.

Active and influential in politics, Mr. Binnard is one of the leading Democrats of Butte, and works earnestly, not only for the interests of his party, but for the highest good of the community. Elected as a repre- sentative to the Twelfth legislative assembly, in Jan- uary, 1911, he was made chairman of the committee on townships and counties, and was also made a member of the judiciary committee; of the fish and game com- mittee; of the committee on new counties and divisions ;

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of the committee on state board and offices; and of the committee on libraries.

Mr. Binnard is a member of the State Bar Associa- tion and of the Silver Bow County Bar Association, which he has served as vice president. He is also identified with various fraternal organizations, being a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks; of the Knights of Pythias; and president of the Inde- pendent Order of B'nai B'rith; and of the Dramatic Order Knights Khorassan. In December, 1911, Mr. Binnard was elected president of the I. O. B. B. and in 1912, of the Silver Bow Democratic Club.

Mr. Binnard belongs to a family that is well repre- sented in the states of the far west, his father having been one of five brothers that emigrated from Poland to the United States, and settled in the recesses of the Rocky mountains, in Washington, Idaho, and Montana, where they reared their children to lives of industry and usefulness.

JOHN A. TRESSLER, who is the longest established lawyer in Malta, or indeed, in Valley county, is like- wise the most popular representative of his profession in this section of the country. He has been identified with the growth and progress of Malta since 1900, and in the twelve years that have elapsed he has builded firmly and surely in the way of a permanent estab- lishment in the regard and esteem of the best citizen- ship of the county, and has filled a place of no little importance in the communal life of the city.

Born in Palo Alto county, Iowa, on March 29, 1875, Mr. Tressler is the son of Samuel W. and Harriet A. (Lacey) Tressler, the former being a native of Penn- sylvania and the latter of Michigan. Samuel W. Tressler was a Civil war veteran, and was a member of Company H of the Ninety-second Illinois Regi- ment. He saw much service throughout the term of his enlistment and was wounded seven times in action. Mr. Tressler was a prominent contractor and builder at Curlew, Iowa, which represented the family home for many years. They became the parents of four children: Katherine, the wife of Arthur Brown of Curlew, Iowa; William J., a resident of Malta, Mon- tana, where he is prominently engaged in the lum- ber business, and of whom a more detailed account will be found elsewhere in the pages of this biographical work; Georgina S., the wife of Dr. F. M. Flynn, resid- ing in Los Angeles, California, and John A., of this review.

Mr. Tressler was educated in the public schools of Curlew, his native town, and in 1891 he was gradu- ated from the high school of that place, at the early age of sixteen years. Later he took a business course, which he completed in a most thorough manner, and followed it by a collegiate course, graduating from the law department at Drake University at Des Moines, with the class of 1896. His first actual work in his profession was performed at Sioux Rapids, Iowa, and he later located at Ayrshire, that state, where he re- mained until 1899. In that year he became impressed with the opportunities Montana offered to the young and ambitious men, and as with him to decide was ever to act, he was soon established in Malta, which he regarded as being one of the most opportune loca- tions for his business at that time. His judgment has been justified four-fold in the passing years, and the highly enviable reputation he has gained in a pro- fessional way is a direct result of his skill, his tact and his untiring energy in any task to which he sets his hand. Mr. Tressler has not been content to build his reputation upon his college training alone, but has made further study of legal methods and procedure since beginning active practice. In 1898 he made a trip to Europe for the sole purpose of visiting the legal courts of London and Paris with a view to gain- ing a knowledge of court procedure in foreign lands.

He spent many weeks in careful study and observation, and his trip afforded him an extended knowledge which has been both gratifying and beneficial to him in his professional capacity. He has the best equipped law office in the county and his legal library is one of the finest and most complete to be found in this sec- tion of the state.

Mr. Tressler is a politician to the manner born, and it is not too much to predict that his voice will be heard in the political life of Montana and the north- west in the future, and at no far distant date. Al- ready he has come to be recognized as a leader in county politics, and has on different occasions stumped the county in behalf of the Republican party, while in 1910 he was secretary of the county central .com- mittee. Public life affords him the keenest pleasure, and his capacity for business of that nature, together with his legal training and other splendid qualifications, will render him a formidable opponent when he steps into the political arena, as it is almost certain that he will do in the future. He was the first and second mayor of the city of Malta, an office in which he ac- quitted himself creditably and in a manner prophetic of further official honors. His enthusiasm for the state of Montana has only increased with the passing years, and it is his expressed conviction that within a decade the Treasurer state will lead the northwest in industry, wealth and in every other good thing. In his opinion it is the one best place for the young man with no money, but a goodly portion of ambition. "Here he will find failure an impossibility," says Mr. Tressler.

On April 29, 1911, Mr. Tressler was united in mar- riage at Malta, Montana, with Miss Florence Mathers, of Nora Springs, Iowa, the daughter of Thomas Math- ers of that place, and they maintain their home at Malta, where Mrs. Tressler is active and popular in the social life of the city.

J. HOWARD SUYDAM. The town of Walkerville, Montana, numbers among her citizenship one who has done much for the business progress of the community in the few brief years of his connection with that place. As the owner and proprietor of a thriving and well kept drug establishment, J. Howard Suydam takes a prominent rank in business circles.

Born at Milford, Delaware, on November 9, 1873, J. Howard Suydam is the son of George L. Suydam. The latter named was born at Flatbush, near Brook- lyn, New York, in 1836. He was a farmer and com- mission merchant, and in 1858 went to Sacramento, California, and located there, for a time successfully carrying on a contracting business. Later he returned to Milford, Delaware, and was engaged in manufactur- ing lines, later removing to Philadelphia and subse- quently to New York City, in both places being engaged in commission business. He died in 1904, while his wife, who was Mrs. Roby Lyndon Suydam, died in 1876, when their son, J. Howard, was a child of three years. The boy attended Rockville Center high school on Long Island, and after receiving his regent's certifi- cate he began his first work as a clerk in a Rockville Center drug store. By close application to the details of the business and much study the young man learned enough to warrant him in taking a course of study at the New York College of Pharmacy, which he did by attending the school in the evening and working days. As a result of his labors he was able to graduate from the school in 1893 as a registered pharmacist, follow- ing which he went to Florida and clerked in a drug store at Jacksonville and later at Tampa, his stay in Florida covering a period of six years. The fame of the far west, especially Montana, had reached his ears, and he decided to try his fortunes in a different part of the country. His first position was in Butte with the Paxson & Rockefeller Drug Company, and later with the Finlen Drug Company, and he was four years with

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those firms. It was then he learned of the intention of the proprietor of the Walkerville Drug Company to dispose of his interests, and Mr. Suydam bought the place and set about to make a modern establish- ment of it. How well he has succeeded in his deter- mination is an open secret, and "he who runs may read;" it is sufficient to say that his greatest hopes have been realized and that he has built up a business which is constantly expanding, and which under his splendid management is yielding the maximum profit with the minimum expenditure. Mr. Suydam is a member of the State Pharmaceutical Association and is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, being a member of Deer Lodge Chapter, R. A. M. He is a Republican but takes no active part in the political affairs of the city and county, although he takes his full share of the usual responsibilities of a good citizen. He is a member of the Reformed Protestant church.

On June 26, 1906, Mr. Suydam was married to Miss Monetts McGinnis at Ashland, Wisconsin. She is a daughter of William McGinnis. They are the parents of one child, Madeline E. Suydam, born in 1907, at Walkerville.

KNYPHAUSON E. PARK, of Roundup, is another one of Montana's many enthusiasts. He says of his adopted state: "There are no two ways about it. Montana has more natural resources, and is positively the best state in the Union. It will easily support a population five times its present number." Since March, 1911, Mr. Park has filled the position of assessor of the new Musselshell county, and is thus situated in a way to know what he is talking about. He has been a resident of the state since 1899, and has watched and been a factor in its development ever since.

Mr. Park was born in St. Clair county, Missouri, January 12, 1874. He attended the public schools as a boy, spending his vacations doing any odd jobs that he could find. He earned his first money as a child of eight years by cutting corn. With the five dollars which he received he bought a pig. That represented the beginning of his capital, and he afterward saved and invested until before he was out of his teens he had quite a collection of live stock. He worked on the farm until he was twenty-five years old, and then started for Montana. He arrived in May, 1899, and immediately took up the stock business, which he continued until 1911, when he was appointed assessor. He settled first in Fergus. His marriage to Martha E. Pollard, the daughter of John and Catherine Pollard of Clinton, Missouri, took place in Clinton, October 10, 1894, and they became the parents of four children-Flavia I., Custer B., Cecil O., and Viola O .- all of whom are in school.

Mr. Park was himself the oldest son, and the second child in a family of nine children. His father, the Rev. Thomas B. Park, was born in Indiana, but spent most of his life in Missouri, where he acted as a min- ister and school teacher. His wife, Martha J. (Burch) Park, was born in Missouri, and died there in 1899 at the age of forty-five. Rev. Park moved to Okla- homa in 1906, and died there three years later. Two of their children besides Knyphauson E. are in Montana, Mrs. George Gonser living in the Gallatin valley, and Leroy Park, who is a student at the Normal College in Bozeman.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Park are members of the Chris- tian church, and Mrs. Park is vice president of the Ladies' Aid Society. Mr. Park is a member of the Roundup Commercial Club and of the Pioneer Club, and as a Democrat takes an active interest in politics. He was once a justice of the peace, and has been con- nected with the school board for many years. Mrs. Park assists her husband in the county assessor's office. Both Mr. and Mrs. Park are welt-liked in the com-

munity, and are always called upon to assist in any social affairs.

C. C. HURLEY. Dawson county has some of the most learned members of the bar to be found in the state, and one who has gained a position of importance and is known as one of the leading criminal attorneys of Montana is C. C. Hurley, the present judge of the Sev- enth Judicial District. During the thirteen years that Mr. Hurley has resided in this city he has held posi- tions of public trust, and has proven himself a thorough master of law and jurisprudence and a public-spirited citizen who brings to the duties of his office an en- thusiasm and conscientious regard that has at all times protected the interests of the citizens of his community. Mr. Hurley is a native of the Hoosier state, having been born in Clinton county, Indiana, February 12, 1869, a son of James and Mary (Schauer) Hurley, natives of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania.

James Hurley was born in 1842, and during the early 'sixties left his native Pennsylvania for Indiana. There he was engaged in farming until 1883, which year marked his removal to Hall county, Nebraska, and in that locality continued to carry on general farming and stock raising until 1908. He then removed to Perry, Oklahoma, where he purchased a large tract of land, and is now living quietly, enjoying the fruits of a long life of useful endeavor. He is a Democrat in politics, and is fraternally connected with the Masons and the Odd Fellows. His wife, who also survives, was born in 1840 and they had four children: C. C .; Katherine, the wife of C. T. Loper, living in Lincoln, Nebraska; Lulu, the wife of William Pinnell, of Calloway, Neb- raska; and Emma, who graduated from Nebraska Uni- versity with the class of 1903, taught the normal school at Sioux Falls for a time, and is now engaged in teach- ing the normal school at Cloquet, Minnesota.

C. C. Hurley was educated in Fremont Normal School, Nebraska Normal School at Wayne, and the public schools of Hall county, Nebraska, and when twenty-one years of age began teaching school at New- man Grove, that state. Subsequently he became prin- cipal of schools at Osman, Nebraska, later held a like position at Elka, Nevada, and then went to the Uni- versity of Nebraska, to complete his law studies, which he had been assiduously prosecuting during the time he worked as an educator. After his graduation from the law department of that institution, in 1898, he returned to school teaching, being principal of schools at Glenns Ferry, Idaho, but in 1899 came to Glendive and en- gaged actively in the practice of his profession, in which he has since continued. Mr. Hurley won almost immediate recognition from the citizens of his locality, and in 1902 he was elected county attorney of Dawson county. The excellent and capable manner in which he conducted the affairs of the county attorney's office during the next two years caused his reelection in 1904. An able, just and fearless prosecutor, with a broad and comprehensive knowledge of criminal law, Mr. Hurley has riven to an enviable place among Montana's legists. and also possesses the tolerance, breadth of view and generous public spirit which characterize the superior man. He is known as one of the influential workers in the ranks of the Democratic party in Dawson county, and is active in his support of the organization's prin- ciples and candidates.

On June 13, 1906, Mr. Hurley was united in mar- riage with Miss Fannie Skiles, a native of Wisconsin and daughter of Robert Skiles. They have had one son, who bears the name of his grandfather, Skiles.

WILLIAM JOSEPH TRESSLER is one of the prominent business men of Malta, where he'has been located since 1908. He has been a resident of Montana since 1899, however, first as a homesteader, later a rancher, which interests he still maintains to a considerable extent, and

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since his residence in Malta he has been identified with the lumber business. He has progressed steadily in a financial way since casting in his fortunes with the western state, and is warm in his praises of the op- portunities the west offers, more especially Montana.

Mr. Tressler was born in Curlew, Palo Alto county, Iowa, on October 12, 1871, and is the son of Samuel W. and Harriet A. (Lacey) Tressler, natives of Penn- sylvania and Michigan, respectively. The father mi- grated to Illinois in his young manhood and there married Harriet Lacey, who bore him four children, of whom mention is made in the life sketch of John A. Tressler, a prominent attorney of Malta, the same to be found in other pages of this work. The father is a well-known contractor and builder of Curlew, Iowa, where he has lived these many years, and is well and favorably known to a wide circle of friends and acquain- tances. He is a veteran of the Civil war also, and mention of his record is made in the sketch mentioned above.

The public schools of Curlew afforded William Tres- sler such book-learning as he has acquired, and he finished with his schooling when he was sixteen years of age. He early began the serious business of life as a wage-earner with the construction gang of a local railroad line, and after a short time he went to work for a cousin, G. W. Tressler, a prominent con- tractor of Curlew. He remained with his cousin eight years, and in that time learned the building business from the ground up. When he left his cousin's ser- vice he was fully competent to conduct a similar busi- ness on his own responsibility, and he accordingly launched out into a contracting business in his home town. He was successful in the business, but he was attracted by the west and in 1899 he gave up his work in Curlew and went to Montana, where he immediate- ly preempted a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres in what was then known as Chouteau county, now Blaine county. He improved the land and made a home for his family there, later bringing them from their Iowa home to the Montana wilderness. He began farming and gradually enlarged his operations till he was doing a full-fledged ranching business. The property has increased in value with each suceeeding year, and today the homestead is worth a consider- able sum of money. In 1908 Mr. Tressler came to Malta, purchased some property, and again engaged in his old business of contracting and building. In con- nection with that enterprise, he started a lumber yard, which he has increased in scope from time to time until today it is one of the most complete and modernly equipped lumber yards in this section of the state.

Mr. Tressler recalls the day when he came to Mon- tana, with limited means, but with a sincere deter- mination to succeed if energy and force of character could make success possible. That he has carried out his intention is a patent fact to all, and he is today regarded in Malta as one of the representative busi- ness men of the city and county. Much of his success he accredits to the splendid opportunities which the state of Montana offers to home-seekers, and it is his belief that any man with a little money, a determina- tion to succeed and possessing honesty and integrity of character, can find no more likely spot on earth than Blaine county, Montana. Mr. Tressler is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is district deputy for the order.

On June 8th, 1892, Mr. Tressler was united in marriage with Miss Louisa J. Smith, daughter of Oliver P. Smith, a pioneer farmer and stock man of Iowa, who died there in 1900. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Tressler: Ilo F. and Georgia L.

FRED L. GIBSON. To win success in the field of law a man must be primarily an indefatigable worker, must

possess a clear, incisive mind, and be able to express his thoughts in cogent, convincing language; further- more, he must know men, be a good judge of human nature and quick to grasp a situation. The fore- going are some of the qualities that have aided Fred L. Gibson, of Livingston, to succeed in his profession and to attain his present position, that of county attor- ney of Park county. Added to them is a natural inclination for his work, a long and careful technical training and an inherent ability that has won for him the unqualified respect of his fellow practitioners at the bar, and the confidence and enthusiastic support of the citizens of his community. Mr. Gibson was born in Dundee, Monroe county, Michigan, September 20, 1874, and is a son of Matthew and Ellen B. (Carney) Gib- son.

Matthew Gibson was born in Cattaraugus county, New York, in 1827, and as a youth learned the trade of plasterer. He was taken to Michigan by his parents when he was six years of age, but in 1888 removed to southern Ohio and engaged in farming, and in 1894 located in Madison county, Montana, where he met an accidental death during the same year. His wife, who' was born in Monroe county, Michigan, in 1843, still survives him and makes her home in Livingston. They had two sons: Fred L .; and Guy, the latter being en- gaged in ranching in Madison county, Montana.

The early education of Fred L. Gibson was secured in the common schools of Michigan, and he subsequently attended the Owensville (Ohio) high school and the law department of the University of Nebraska, from which he was graduated with the class of 1899. During that year he was admitted to practice before all the Montana courts, and first located in Virginia City, from whence, one year later, he removed to Forsyth, Rosebud county. He was appointed county attorney in 1901 and elected to that office in 1902 and 1903, but in September, 1903, resigned his office to come to Liv- ingston, where he engaged in a general practice. In 1907 he was appointed city attorney of Livingston. While a resident of Madison county, in 1898, he had been elected to the state legislature, and in 1908 he was sent as representative from Park county. On his return, in 1910, he was elected county attorney, a position he has held to the present time. He has been elected to this office because of his eminent qualifica- tions, and has made a record which every young man entering upon the profession can study with proht. Mr. Gibson is a stalwart Republican in his political views, and is fraternally connected with Hiram Lodge No. 52. of Forsyth.

On July 12, 1899, Mr. Gibson was married to Miss Winnifred Fletcher, who was born in Madison county, Montana, daughter of William A. and Ellen (Gordon) Fletcher, natives of Allegany county, New York. In 1863 William A. Fletcher came overland to what is now Alder Gulch, Montana, and was engaged in prospecting and mining until 1866, in which year he established him- self in a meat business in Virginia City. Subsequently he became a pioneer ranchman of Madison county, where the rest of his life was spent, his death occurring in 1905, and where his widow now resides. Of their ten children, Mrs. Gibson was the eighth in order of birth. Mr. and Mrs. Gibson have two interesting children : Kathleen and Alice.

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A history of Montana, Volume III, Part 97

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