USA > Montana > Yellowstone County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 74
USA > Montana > Park County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 74
USA > Montana > Dawson County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 74
USA > Montana > Rosebud County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 74
USA > Montana > Custer County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 74
USA > Montana > Sweet Grass County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 74
USA > Montana > Carbon County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 74
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Born amid the hills of Sweden, whence came the sturdy Norsemen that ploughed the rough Atlantic hundreds of years before the trade winds ever kissed the sails that Colum- bus flew, our subject was well taught in that thrift and industry that is the making of any successful man. The date of his advent into life was February 2. 1855. and his parents were Carl and Carrie (Holt) Carlson, natives also of Sweden. where they remained until
their death. His grandfather was a veteran of the war of 1807 between Sweden and Rus- sia and the conflict between Norway and Swe- den. The father was a carpenter by trade and taught this son in the art of wood working and building. The public schools of his native land furnished the educational training of our subject and in due time he was fitted, by this training and the excellent instruction of his father. to meet the responsibilities of the world for himself. He continued at his trade until 1879. when he came to Illinois and for two years was occupied on the farm, for the pur- pose of thoroughly learning the business of farming. Then he went to St. Paul and worked as a carpenter until 1889, when he came on to Red Lodge and engaged with the Rocky Fork Coal Company, continuing there until he came to his present location in 1894, to begin the work of transforming the wild homestead to the pleasant and valuable farm of today.
Mr. Carlson married Miss Annie Peter- son, a native of Sweden, and to this union eight children have been born. namely : Anne J .. Carl H., Florence, Sidney, Peter, Su- san, Lillie and an infant yet unnamed. The children are all at home and Mr. Carlson has a very interesting family. Mr. Carlson takes an interest in all things for the advancement of the country, is a worker for good schools and maintains an excellent standing in the com- munity.
LOUIS R. KNAPP has decided that Montana is to be his permanent home. He has seen much of the northwest. He has been on various places in the Sweet Grass county, but his present abode, three miles south of Big Timber on the Boulder river, has been and is being fitted as his home and will be known as the Knapp homestead in years to come. In far away Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, on January
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8, 1870, Louis R. Knapp first saw the light. His father, Zopher Knapp, was born near Binghamton, New York, April 7, 1818, and died at Lisbon, North Dakota, on December 24, 1890. He had followed tilling the soil all of his days and was a greatly esteemed and substantial citizen. He led to the altar Aurilla Chalker, a native of Pennsylvania, and until his death they lived a happy and bright life. They were the parents of six children, four of whom dwell in North Dakota, and their mother resides in Fargo of that state, aged seventy-seven. The other two children are in Montana, W. J. and our subject both in this county. Very early in life, Mr. Knapp be- came self supporting and gained his educa- tion by taking the money he would earn from day to day in attending the state normal school in Moorhead, Minnesota. His plan was to work a season, then attend school until his money was exhausted, then again he returned to work. In the winter of 1881, we find him at Fargo, North Dakota, and the family settled on a ranch some sixty miles from that town, which was their principle marketing place. Living there in those days was much like roughing it out west and there he re- mained until the country settled up and then he determined to come still further west. It was in 1898 that Mr. Knapp arrived in Livingston, and after spending one winter there, he immediately came the following spring to Big Timber. He was so well pleased with this section that he lo- cated a ranch. The only settlers on the creek where he took his place were old time stockmen and farming had hardly begun. People had not fully realized the worth of the agricultural pursuits, for they confined themselves almost entirely to stock raising and did not experi- ment much with irrigation. The first loca- tion Mr. Knapp made was on Dry creek, but he sold that place and traded back and forth several times until he finally secured the prop- erty where he now resides. It was about a
year ago that he settled here, and he has three hundred and twenty-five acres under the ditch and makes a specialty of raising alfalfa. So certain is the crop in this section that Mr. Knapp is enabled to count accurately on three and one-half tons or better of alfalfa to the acre with a good stiff market every year. He is so well pleased with the combination of things here that as stated before, he has de- cided to make this valuable farm his perma- nent home.
On November 27. 1895, occurred the mar- riage of Louis R. Knapp and Miss Maude Finley, the latter a native of Brockville, On- tario, Canada, and a daughter of William and Jane (Welsh) Finley. Mr. Finley died in June, 1881, aged forty-two, and his widow died May 5. 1903, aged fifty-seven. After her husband's death, Mrs. Finley had moved out west to Lisbon, North Dakota, Mrs. Knapp being then about eight years of age. Three children have been born to this union, Arthur, August 19, 1897; Gladys, March 27. 1900, and Gertrude, June 7, 1902.
Politically, Mr. Knapp is a well-informed and live Socialist. While he never aspires to office, he is always well informed on the issues of the day and takes a keen interest in political matters.
ELMER T. BOSTIC, who has for more than a decade been connected with the inter- ests of Carbon county, is now residing about three miles south of Bridger, where he has a well improved and valuable farm of one quarter section of irrigated land. He was born in Columbia county. Wisconsin, June 5, 1866, the son of William H. and Martha Jane (Emerson) Bostic, natives of New York state, and now living in Carbon county. The father came from his native place on the St. Lawrence river to Michigan in early days with his parents, he being then but seven years old.
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In 1848 they journeyed thence to Sauk county, Wisconsin, and in 1861, he enlisted in the Sev- enteenth Wisconsin and served through the Civil War, participating with Sherman in the famous march to the sea. Following the war he returned to Wisconsin and there remained until 1871, when he removed to Nobles county, Minnesota, and took government land. In 1880, with his three sons, he took construction work on the Northwestern railroad and for four summers followed that work. Then they returned to Minnesota and two years later went to Nebraska and there dwelt for six years. They were there at the time of the Pine Ridge Indian outbreak and furnished the soldiers with wood. In 1892, they came on to Montana and when the Crow reservation opened they all settled in Carbon county. He had three brothers, namely : Charles, who died from the effects of a wound, fighting the In- dians in Florida; Frank, who died in Michi- gan ; and T. G. Bostic. now residing in Carbon county.
Our subject received the major portion of his education in Minnesota and when they first went there their nearest postoffice was sixty miles distant. He remained with his fa- ther in all the travels mentioned above and came with him to Montana. In 1894, he took the place where he now resides as a homestead and since that time has continued in the quiet labors of improving his farm.
In 1891 Mr. Bostic married Miss Cora B. Barrow, who was born in Sauk county, Wis- consin, her parents being Richard and Frances (Fessenden ) Barrow, natives of Sussex, Eng- land, and descended from old and wealthy English families. The children born to this union are : Kenneth C., Richard H., Ivan George and Edward A. The oldest was born in Billings, and the others in Carbon county. Our subject had two brothers, George, de- ceased, and Charles H., now living in Carbon county, and one sister, Ida, the wife of W. S. Cabbon, of Butte, Montana.
JOHN C. HOOPER, one of Carbon coun- ty's agriculturists, though now confining his labors to producing fruits of the field and stock breeding, has, formerly, been active in various lines and is well acquainted with many por- tions of the west and northwest. He resides five miles south from Bridger on a well im- proved and irrigated farm, which he pur- chased in 1900, and which is the family home today. John C. Hooper was born in Indian- apolis. Indiana, on November 26, 1856, the son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Swift) Hooper, natives of Pennsylvania. The father came on to Indiana when the country was first being settled and followed buying and selling stock and other speculation. He became very wealthy, but he and his wife both died when our subject was young. The father was a veteran of the War of 1812, and had two brothers in the Civil War. He died in Indi- ana, as did his wife, also. She was a cousin of the Swift now well known as a pork packer. She came from Pennslyvania Dutch stock. Owing to his being left an orphan when young. John C. went to Iowa to dwell with an uncle. After finishing the common schools, he went to college in Kirksville, Missouri, there com- pleting his education. He had prepared him- self for teaching, but after following that for a short time, he decided he would prefer an- other life and so went to buying stock for his uncle, Stephen Hooper, and later followed the commission business in Iowa. He bought and sold stock for many years, operated a hotel in Fairfield, Iowa, for one year and in 1876 journeyed west. He traveled over most of the country west of Nebraska, and that state as well, finally settling down in the employ of the Horse Shoe stock outfit in Wyoming. In 1895. Mr. Hooper brought his family to Sher- idan, Wyoming, then started on a trip over- land through Idaho, Oregon and adjacent states, seeking a location. It was 1900, as stated above, when he lighted on his present holdings and since that time he has devoted
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himself to farming and stock raising. Mr. Hooper has also during his life done much freighting, especially in Montana, and is, therefore, well acquainted with the country.
In 1884, Mr. Hooper married Miss Addie Thompson, a native of Missouri, and there have been born three children, Stella May, Lloyd Ray and John Otis.
PETER W. NELSON is the effi- cient chief of police of Livingston and has held that office many years, being appointed under each administration, whether Republican or Democratic. For twenty-three years Mr. Nelson has been a resident of Livingston and is one of the best known men in the city and is thor- oughly imbued with the Montana spirit of pro- gression and energy. He is a native of Pos- grund, Norway, the date of his birth being July 19, 1863. His father, Marcus Nelson, a i tanner by occupation, came with his family to Racine, Wisconsin, in 1869, having crossed the ocean in a sailing vessel and landed in Racine in June of that year. He soon built a tannery and so lucrative was his business that he soon had to enlarge it and he continued in the management of the enterprise until 1880 when he turned it over to his eldest son. His death occurred May 20, 1903. His father, Marcus Nelson, the grandfather of our sub- ject, was a pilot and died in 1867. Our sub- ject's mother was Mary Hawkinson in maiden life and her parents were John and Mary A. Hawkinson, the father being a pilot.
Peter W. was educated in the public schools of Racine and when sixteen years age went to work for his father in the tannery. This continued until 1883 when he came west, landing in Livingston in April of that year. He soon found employment with Major Pease, but in a short time left that and opened a livery stable, which in 1886 he closed out
to take up the saloon business. This occupied him until 1891 when he was elected chief of police by the Republican party. In the fall of 1892, in company with George Davis, Mr. Nelson opened the Davis & Nelson saloon. In 1897 Mr. Nelson was appointed chief of police and fire chief by Mayor Thompson and since that time he has continued in these offices, be- ing successively appointed by both Democratic and Republican mayors, although in politics he is a Democrat.
On March 19, 1890, Mr. Nelson married Miss Addie Dale, the daughter of John and Christina ( Narham) Dale, natives of Norway. but immigrants to this country when children. Mrs. Nelson was born in the town of Norway. Racine county, Wisconsin, August 23, 1861. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Nelson, two of whom are still living. namely: Franklin M., born December 10. 1891, and Alice J., born June 3, 1893. Mrs. Nelson is a member of the Congregational church. Mr. Nelson is affiliated with the Yeomen and the Elks.
SILAS C. PREWETT has a quarter sec- tion of fine irrigated land three miles south from Bridger and is one of the prosperous ranchers of Carbon county. He was born in Daviess county, Missouri, on April 16, 1870. His father was Thomas Prewett, also a native of Daviess county, Missouri. There he re- mained engaged in farming until 1892, when he journeyed west to Montana, settling on a farm in Park county. Later he secured land in Carbon county and in 1897 settled here where he now resides. He married Sarah E. Clark, a native of Indiana, and now residing with him. Our subject's paternal grandfather, Wil- liam Prewett, was a native of Kentucky and came among the earliest white men to Daviess county, Missouri.
Silas C. Prewett was reared and educated
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in Daviess county, and when twenty years old came on west to Livingston, Montana. He was on the range for a time and then secured some stock and went into stockraising for himself. His headquarters were on the Shields river and there he continued till 1897 when he came to Carbon county and bought an Indian's allotment near Gebo. This was the scene of his labors until 1905, when he sold that and purchased the land where he is now making his home. As stated before, this is all under the ditch and is valuable property. Mr. Pre- wett gives his attention to general farming and raises some stock.
In 1905 Mr. Prewett married Miss Bertha Ridgway, who was born and reared in Boze- man, Montana. Her parents, Millard A. and Lavina (Corbly) Ridgway, are natives of Mis- souri and Iowa, respectively, came to Mon- tana in very early days and are now residing in Carbon county.
HON. CHRISTIAN YEGEN AND PETER YEGEN. in business known as Yegen Brothers, stand at the head of some of the most important enterprises of the state of Montana, which form a principal integral por- tion of the business transactions of the entire Yellowstone valley besides reaching exten- sively into other parts of the state. Merchants, bankers and general capitalists, whose early business experiences were in a most humble way, as will be seen from the following, the story of their doings for the last quarter of a century is not only intensely interesting and instructive, but demonstrates, most emphat- ically, two things, namely: The princely re- sources of the great state of Montana, and the wisdom, stability, executive force and business capacity of the men who have wrought these most gratifying results. From the time of their birth, in the far distant republic of Switz- erland, the former on November 19. 1857. and
the latter on August 7. 1860, through the carefully and wisely selected courses of in- struction for their early and more complete educational training. for their father, Con- rad Yegen, was an educator by profession and was scrupulously careful to fortify his sons by the best instruction possible to be given to the youth, on to the time of starting in a new and barren land without capital, through its hardships and trying experiences, losses, sick- ness and the succeeding inception of a primi- tively small business, on to better things and steady growth while they climbed the ladder of commercial success and business prosperity to the position of capitalists and financiers, theirs have been exceedingly busy lives, crowded with action for existence, then plans for enlargement and the conception of move- ments that required active executive ability to put into operation and maintain to the culmin- ation a mammoth and lucrative series of businesses. Busy lives, indeed, wherein has never been found the hour to allow their spir- its to be depressed, nor the moment to fold the hands and "wait for something to turn up," nor an instant to hunt for "luck," but ac- tion, wise, ceaseless, forceful action dominated everything and every moment and has pro- duced its legitimate progeny, a success, which, for volume and worth, is not duplicated in any city in the entire United States of the class of Billings. What a splendid picture of actual fact to exhibit as an object lesson to the youth of the land, wrought out, as it has been, by painstaking industry and wise thought. Away with those hateful, demoralizing and soul be- numbing tales of woe so frequently heard from the lips of lazy youths in this day, "There are not so good chances as father had." "I am down on my luck." "Everything is against me." they are all lies, hatched by laziness and effeminateness brought on through lack of good, honest, noble work. The plain Anglo- Saxon word, work, stiff and plenty, is the only antidote to this degenerate spirit. Look and
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see, here is an example and to get the per- spective properly pore over the long years of patient industry these men went through with no better prospect than you have. They gained success, but they did not do it with kid gloves on their hands, neither will you. Pull off your coats, roll up your sleeves and take hold of good, honest work and success will follow your wise efforts, now and in the future, as it has in the past.
But let us read the story of these lives told simply and plainly. The living children of the family besides the men mentioned above, are Margaret Alleman and Dorothea Plater, in Switzerland; Elizabeth Copman, in Wyoming ; and John, in Bismarck, North Dakota. The dear old parents, Conrad and Emerita (Pra- der) Yegen, passed away in Switzerland, their native land, in 1885, having passed industri- ous and honorable lives, the father following the work of the educator. Christian was ed- ucated to take his father's place, but he pre- ferred a business life and so in 1879, he came to Bismarck to join his brother John and sister Dorothea. From him Christian learned the but- ter trade and the next year he took a small farm and in 1881 sent for his brother, Peter, who had been farming in a small way in the old country. With the help of their sister, Dorothea, they all spent one season on the farm and then purchased a small restaurant in Glendive, Montana, whence they went the last of 1881 to conduct the section house at Terry station. It was days of palmy buffalo hunting and they served buffalo meat, some cranberries and bread for seventy-five cents per meal and did well, as there was a rush of people, and in 1882 landed in Billings with three thousand dollars. This was in April and they rented a small bakery, but as the rail- road moved on, Billings became dead and all three of them fell sick simultaneously with mountain fever. 1884 saw them broke and four hundred dollars in debt. They again opened a small bakery and baked their materials in the
morning and peddled it in the afternoon. Five dollars was a good day's receipts in those times. Later it came up to thirty dollars a day and inside of a year they purchased for twenty- seven hundred dollars their first building. Soon after this they added a small stock of groceries, being now on the south side, near their present location. The next move was a structure, two stories, twenty-eight by eighty feet on their present location. In 1893, they built an addition about the same size as their former building to be used for hardware. The next year they added fifty feet to the rear of the grocery and built a new structure as large as all their other buildings and filled it with dry goods of the best kinds and well assorted. Still their growing business demanded more room and they extended the hardware back fifty feet and added another story, this being in 1898. After this they erected a cold stor- age plant, thirty by thirty-four feet. It was in 1900 that the Yegen Brothers embarked in banking, opening a savings bank in Billings, the first of its kind in the city, and during that year they added a building seventy-five feet by one hundred and thirty to accommodate their in- creased hardware and implement trade. In 1903 other savings banks were started, one at Anaconda and one at Gardiner, and the fol- lowing year one was opened in Butte. In 1903 they purchased the wholesale grocery business of Millis & Company, together with the spacious warehouses of that concern and added that to their own already immense busi- ness. In 1902 the Yegen Brothers incorpor- ated under the same title and aside from some stock sold to a few of their trusted employees, they retain it all. They have platted two ad- ditions to the city of Billings and aside from their business they have found time to mani- fest themselves citizens of keen interest in the development and growth of the city and county, to which they have contributed in no mean way.
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Peter Yegen was married in September 1890, to Margueritte Tripp, a native of Switz- erland. Her parents live near Lewiston, Montana. The fruit of this marriage is three children, David, Peter, and Elizabeth.
The marriage of Christian Yegen and Laura B. Clark was celebrated on August 27, 1893, and they have five children, Louise, Dora, Mildred, Virginia, and Christian. Mrs. Yegen's father. W. R. Clark, was formerly of Bozeman, this state, but he now resides in Vancouver, Washington.
The Yegen brothers are Republicans in politics and have ever striven to set in action those principles they believe to be for the welfare of the country. In 1892 Christian Yegen was chosen alder- man of Billings, two years later he was sent to the lower house of state repre- senitatives, in 1896 he was chosen mayor of Billings, and in 1902 he was called by the people to serve as state senator, being re- elected to succeed himself in 1904. Thus it is evident that the people are appreciative of the integrity and ability that has won the suc- cess that is now crowning the labors of Mr. Yegen and have determined that he should have ample opportunity to use the same in public matters, and it is known to all that he has faithfully discharged the duties of public life as he has those of private business.
DANIEL W. TRIPP resides at Gardiner, Montana, where he conducts a liquor store. He was born in Fredonia, Maine, April 27, 1866, the son of Daniel and Emile (Higgins) Tripp. The father was born in Bedford, Maine, in 1821, followed sailing in his youth and then farmed until his death at the age of fifty-four. The mother was a native of Geor- gia. They were the parents of five children. Our subject received his education from the common schools of his native place and then,
when eighteen, started in life for himself. He determined to see the west and from the infor- mation obtainable, he decided Montana was the proper place and soon we find him at White Sulphur Springs in Meagher county and for some years he was employed with the stage company. After this he followed the fortunes of freighting and the arduous labor connected with that activity until 1890, in which year he removed to Gardiner and was employed by the transportation company un- til 1901. At the last mentioned the opened his present business and has remained in it since.
On September 27, 1903, Mr. Tripp mar- ried Miss Jessie May Fitzgerald, the daughter of S. M. and Mary Fitzgerald, mention of whom will be found in another portion of this work. Mrs. Tripp is a member of the Epis- copalian church. Mr. Tripp is a Republican in politics and is always interested in the cam- paigns. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Eagles.
It is of interest to note that Mr. Tripp's great-grandfather was the commander of a war vessel during the Revolution while his mother's father was a colonel in the southern army at the time of the Rebellion.
WILLIAM CALAWAY ADAMSON, who resides about three miles south from Bridger where he has a fine ranch well watered and productive, is a native Kentuckian. Crit- tenden county of the Blue Grass State is his native heath and February 29, 1850, is the date of his birth. His parents were born in Ken- tucky, also, and both died when this son was a small lad. They were William and Salina (Dempsey) Adamson, both from old Ken- tucky families. Our subject followed coal min- ing in his younger days and continued in the native state until 1889, when he came west to Sheridan, Wyoming. There, also, he mined
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the black diamonds and later went to the Black Hills. Soon, however, he returned to Wyom- ing and finally came out to Red Lodge. When the Crow Indian reservation was opened he came to his present location and here he has labored since, in the cultivation of the soil and in stock raising.
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