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 76
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 76
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 76
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 76
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 76
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 76
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 76
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Monfort Bray was born on the Hudson river in New York, December 4, 1862, the son of William and Katherine Permilla (Shoe- maker ) Bray. His education was received from the native schools of his state and in the summers he was occupied on his father's farm. In March, 1893 he left New York to join his father and older brother, who were in Mon- tana. In the same month, he landed in Mon- tana and was soon engaged in working for wages. As cattle raising was to be the only industry then flourishing in this portion of Montana, Mr. Bray at once went to riding the range as a cow boy. He worked for others but a short time, however, for he soon gathered a few head of horses for himself and started in business. Afterwards he began also to raise cattle and he has continued handling both kinds of stock since. In July, 1885, he located a homestead where he now resides and the balance of his estate he has secured by pur- chase. Mr. Bray is one of the stock producers of the country and is also one of Montana's well known and esteemed pioneers.
On July 1, 1906, Mr. Bray married Fran- ces I. Jones, a native of Oroville, California, where also she was reared and educated. Her parents, Tom and Mary ( Meyers) Jones, were natives of California. Mr. Bray's brothers and
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sisters, who were all born in New York state. are named as follows : William, Jr., who came to Montana in 1881 and settled in Custer county and is now living in Butte; Hilan, who came with our subject and resides near; Smith. who came with his mother to Montana in 1886; Mart also came in 1886; Katie, de- ceased; Cora, the wife of H. H. Williams of Sheridan, Wyoming, and Viola, wife of James Williams at Kalispel, Montana.
Mr. Bray is a member of the I. O. O. F. and he assisted in getting the postoffice of Bas- inski established in the Rosebud Valley and was postmaster for nine years, when the office was discontinued.
ROBERT B. HUDSON, a progressive rancher and stockman, residing five miles west of Nye, on Limestone creek, was born in Osh- awa, Ontario, Canada, February 8, 1866. His father, Frederick, was Canadian born, and his father, Robert, was a native of Massachusetts, of Plymouth ancestry. The father of our sub- ject at present resides at Absarokee, aged seventy-five years. His mother, Catherine (McDermott) Hudson, still lives, aged seven- ty-seven.
Our subject received his early education in the state of Michigan, where his father had moved when Robert B. was three years of age. When 18 he left the old home in the Michigan pine woods and worked at various employ- ments. He then came to Montana, making his first stop at Livingston, where he was em- ployed on the range two years. During this period he passed some time mining. In 1880 he came to his present location and secured a homestead of 160 acres. It was then a wild country, and he assisted in cutting the road that let the wagon up the river. He is the first settler on the west fork of the Stillwater. The nearest postoffice was at Nye City, which was then "booming." When coming to Nye he recalls walking through town and seeing bar-
ber shops, blacksmith shops, etc., and every- thing that marked a boom town, and from where the owners had walked out and left everything behind. The postoffice was event- ually moved to its present site in 1893. He remained here until 1892 when settlement be- gan in earnest. The first school was estab- lished in 1894.
Our subject came here with no cash capi- tal, and twenty-three head of cattle, and rustled along the first few years, not daring to leave his stock in summer on account of cattle rustlers. These hardships were accompanied with others which made life at times unendur- able. From his small capital Mr. Hudson has grown to be one of the most prosperous ranchers in Sweet Grass county. He has about 300 Hereford cattle from which he breeds.
March 16, 1896, our subject was married to Miss Anna Cooke, a native of Ireland, and reared in Goderich, Ontario, where she grew to womanhood. Her parents, Henry and Louisa (Deacon) Cooke, are both dead. Her father was sergeant major in the British army. He joined the Second Batallion of the Sixtieth King's Rifle Corps in 1844, and served in different parts of Canada, Africa, India, etc. and also participated in the Kaffir war of 1851- 52-53. He was in the center of the India mutiny three years later. He was in China where he was stationed outside of the gates of Pekin when the memorable destruction of the emperor's palace occurred in 1863.
Mr. and Mrs. Hudson have two children, Edna, born November 14, 1898, and Ruth Evelyn, born February 9, 1901. Fraternally Mr. Hudson is a member of Pleuticoos Tribe, I. O. R. M., of Columbus. Politically he is a Republican, but not active.
JOHN BAMBER, a veteran of the Civil War and now an active member of the G. A. R., Thomas L. Cain post No. 12, Glendive, is one of the staunch representatives and sub-
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stantial agriculturists of Dawson county. His fine farm of three hundred acres is just two miles north of Glendive. He recently sold a section of land in this vicinity and still has one of the largest farms in the country. Mr. Bamber has led an eventful career and is now privileged to spend the golden years of his life in peace and plenty, having the solid comfort of knowing that he bravely assisted to fight the nation's battles and has won from dame nature his competence by honest labor.
John Bamber was born in Lancashire. England, March 12, 1841. His father, Thomas Critchley, was born, lived and died in Lanca- shire, England, never traveling more than a few miles from his home place, Leland, which was six miles from Preston. His death was the result of an accident in 1871. he being then fifty-two years old. He was a direct de- scendant of the old Critchley family, one of whom was a general under James I. Our subject took the name of Bamber as his mother. Mary Bamber, took her maiden name after the death of her husband. She died in Eng- land in 1903 aged eighty-eight. John is the oldest of five children, two of whom are living, his brother William being in Pennsylvania, having been employed for thirty-two years on the Pennsylvania Railroad. From the com- mon schools, Mr. Bamber gained his education and he celebrated his twenty-first birthday on the ship coming to New York City. After landing he went direct to Long Beach, New Jersey, and one year later, went to Pittston, Pennsylvania, as a coal miner. He left this occupation to enlist in Company G, 20th Con- necticut Volunteers, and in that capacity was with Sherman on his famous march to the sea. Mr. Bamber was brought into very close re- lations with General Hooker, whom he knows well to have been both a general and a hero. The excellent action of the general at the time of the siege won for him the warm and hearty approval not only of Mr. Bamber but of thou- sands of others. Mr. Bamber's old camp mate,
Jesse Moor, died four years ago in Connec- ticut and their relations in camp life ripened in a life long friendship. Four months of our subject's martial service were spent amid the horrors of Andersonville. The inhuman and awful treatment that was there given to the wretched inmates drove him crazy and for two weeks he was a maniac. The horrors of that place and those times can never be fully de- picted and it is with feeling of pain to this day that Mr. Bamber refers to those days. Finally he succeeded in getting out and often he has been posted on picket duty where he could talk to the enemy's pickets. On July 27. 1865, after much hardship, and brave service Mr. Bamber was mustered out and went back to the mines, working the summer of 1866 with a rebel. In March, 1867, he went to Westmoreland county. Pennsylvania, and fol- lowed mining in the capacity of an ordinary miner and boss until 1875, in which year he moved to Des Moines. Iowa, and again went underground. Seven years were spent there, whence he had come to avoid the labor troubles of Pennsylvania when he found them just as severe. Finally in 1882, he quit a foreman's position in the mines to come to Montana and decided never to mine again for other people. He located a homestead that year, where he now resides and adjoining it was coal land and his skill during the winter of 1886 and 1887, was the means of saving the people of Glen- dive from freezing to death as fuel was not to be had from any other place. He opened up a lead and coal was furnished the needy people. Mr. Bamber worked the property for three years and then gave his attention to ranching. He has seen Montana from its rough condition of 1882 when the vigilantes were the order of the day, whom he fed on one occasion to the present prosperous condition and of all the places he has been on earth, he chooses Montana ahead of any other. His farm is well improved and he is one of the well to do men of the country.
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In Pennsylvania, Mr. Bamber married Mary J. Ralph, a native of Bristol, England, who had come to the United States when five years of age. They have become the parents of eleven children, Francis, living at Glendive; Eliza, wife of James Butler, at Glendive; Alice, at home; Elias, at Glendive; Emma, wife of George Twible, stock detective at Glendive; George, at Glendive. The following are de- ceased, John. Sarah J., Emma and two who died in infancy.
Mr. Bamber was a leader in labor affairs in early days but is now bitterly opposed to the strikes. While in national affairs he votes as he fought, in local politics he is independent. Since leaving England, Mr. Bamber has paid two visits to the motherland and contemplates another soon; but as stated before, Montana is his home.
WILLIAM WISEHAM TERRETT. The Terrett family is one of America's oldest families, the progenitors having settled in the early days of Jamestown, in Virginia, coming from a strong and prominent English family of those days. William Henry Terrett has the destinction of being the first one of the family to set foot in the New World, and he, with nine others, received direct from the King of England a city charter for the city of Alexan- dria, Virginia, which city they founded and built. The family is decidedly a military one and members have participated in all the wars that have been waged on American soil, while the record of the family shows them, as far back as there is authentic data, to have been prominent in all military conflicts. Captain Terrett formed and commanded a company during the Revolution. An uncle of our sub- ject, John Chapman Terrett, participated in the Mexican war, and is mentioned in Grant's Memoirs. He was killed in battle.
Alexander Hunter Terrett, the father of William W., was born in Fairfax county, Vir- ginia, in 1818, and in 1855 removed with his family to Monroe county, Indiana, settling on a farm. At the breaking out of the Civil War, he returned to Virginia and enlisted for the cause of the confederacy, fighting for two years until his death in those ranks. He had married Elizabeth Carrington Payne, a native of Virginia, and descended from a strong English family, which settled in Colonial days in Virginia.
William W. Terrett was born in Washing- ton, D. C., July 23, 1847, and was taken by his parents to Indiana at the time of the removal spoken of to that territory. There he was reared and educated, remaining until 1869, in which year he married Miss Priscilla G. Rich- ards, a native of Virginia and the daughter of John and Mary (Gantt) Richards, also natives of Virginia. In the same year of his marriage, Mr. Terrett removed to Chariton county, Mis- souri, and engaged in farming. He remained there until 1882, when he came on to Montana, selecting a ranch in Custer county, where he now resides. Having established headquarters here, he returned to Missouri, and finally, in 1890, he came to Custer county to reside per- manently. He has given his attention to rais- ing cattle and horses on an extensive scale and is one of the prosperous and prominent men of the county.
To Mr. and Mrs. Terrett seven children have been born, named as follows, Eloise, Ro- salie, Richard Price, George Hunter. W. W. D., Colville D., and Julian.
MILTON C. LOWE, a progressive Yel- lowstone rancher, resides five miles from Nye, Carbon county, up Lodge Pole creek. He was born in Gentry county, Missouri, May 4, 1869. His father, Theodore, a native of Tennessee,
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born in 1832, died in June, 1879. In early life he moved to Montana, with ox teams, going to Alder Gulch. But in 1882 he returned to Missouri, and thence went to Colorado, where he engaged in farming until his retirement, three years prior to his death, which occured at Boulder.
The mother of our subject, Samantha (Robertson ) Lowe, was a native of Kentucky, and has also passed to the great beyond, dying March 12, 1905, aged 61 years.
Our subject is the third and only survivor of a family of four children. He was educated in the public schools and a business college in Stanbury, Missouri. Thence he returned home where he passed his entire time until 1895. when he married and found employment in Colorado Springs, and in 1896 came to Nye, where he located land and upon which he now lives. For a number of years he had up-hill work on this land, a portion of the time, earning his living by outside work. He is now on the road to prosperity. The first winter here he drove a stage between Nye and Columbus, and many a day while fac- ing a blizzard he devoutly wished himself back in Colorado. But last spring he visited there and discovered that Montana was his state, and here he intends to make his future home. He has 100 acres under irrigation and profit- ably raises alfalfa.
March 13. 1895, Mr. Lowe was united in marriage to Frances Robinson, born in Boul- der. Colorado, and daughter of Daniel and Nancy Robinson. Her parents were pioneers of Colorado, going there with wagons. The father is dead; the mother lives with a daugh- ter. Mrs. Charles Williams, at Absarokee. Mrs. Lowe has a sister, Mrs. Leonard Ekwort- zel, at Nye. Mr. and Mrs. Lowe have three children, Milton, Harold and Harry.
Fraternally he is a member of the Improved Order of Redmen, Pentecuse Tribe, No. 22, of Columbus. Nationally he is a Democrat. but locally independent.
JOHN C. HOPE is one of the very earliest settlers on the upper Tongue River and now re- sides in Rosebud county. He is a man of prominence in the county, well and favorably known and is occupied in ranching and stock raising. His place is five miles south from Birney and he has been upon the same ranch for over twenty years. Mr. Hope is a native of Ayr, Ontario, Canada, and the date of his birth is September 12, 1863. He comes from Scotch extraction as both of his parents, An- drew and Helen (Anderson) Hope were na- tives of Scotland and came to Ontario when young people. The father is a carpenter and cabinet maker and followed that occupation until his death. In the world famed schools of Ontario our subject received his education and at the age of nineteen left his native heath for North Dakota. The next year we find him in the Black Hills country where he followed freighting for one season. In 1884, he journ- eyed on to Cheyenne, Wyoming, and the next year came to Sheridan, in that territory. The summer of 1885 was spent in working for wages near Buffalo and in the fall of that year he took a trip up into Montana. So well was the pleased with the country that he selected his present location on the Tongue river and began raising horses. Those were early days for this portion of Montana and Mr. Hope was brought face to face with all of the trying hardships of pioneer life, among Indians, far from the base of supplies and without neighbors. The coun- try began to settle and develop and betimes Mr. Hope has secured more land and is stead- ily following the occupation of farming and stock raising. He has always taken an active interest in everything for the welfare of the country and in the fall of 1902 was elected commissioner on the Republican ticket. He made a very efficient and wise officer and won friends from every portion of the country.
1893, Mr. Hope married Esther Butler. a native of Ireland, who came to St. Paul. Minnesota, when a young girl. One child has
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been born to this marriage, Esther O., her native place being the home ranch on the Tongue River.
As many others have done, who live in this section of Montana, Mr. Hope has seen much of the Indian character as various mem- bers of the tribe are almost daily observed go- ing back and forth through the country, the reservation being near. He has never had any difficulty with the Indians, having always treated them kindly yet firmly and he is highly respected by them as well as among the white residents of Rosebud county. It is very inter- esting to note how different men have dwelt with the Indians and been treated by them and it is certainly a study in human nature to be able to handle these people when they are so near, in such a successful manner that no diffi- culty results. Mr. Hope is a man with good sense of justice and in his deals as well as in his daily life has so conducted himself that he has established an excellent reputation and his success in life has placed him in a prominent position in this portion of the state.
PRESTON B. MOSS is president and principal owner of the Frst National Bank of Billings and is also engaged in sheep growing besides other enterprises. He was born in Paris, Monroe county, Missouri, in 1863, his parents being David H. and Melville E. (Hol- lingsworth) Moss. The father's ancestors hailed originally from England and then came as pioneers from Virginia to Missouri, being among the early settlers of this last named state. David H. Moss practiced law several years and was elected prosecuting attorney of his county, but later preferred another line of business and so devoted himself to banking. Preston B. secured his education in the public schools, the Kemper Family School, Harvard College, and Eastman Business College. After school days he was associated with his father
in the bank for a short time then engaged in lumber business in southwestern Missouri. In 1892 he came to Montana, located at Billings, placed money in the First National Bank, in March, 1893, became its vice-president and in 1896 was made president which position he has held since that date. This well known fin- ancial institution had been organized as a pri- vate bank in 1883 by W. R. Stebbins, presi- dent, and H. H. Mound, cashier. Soon after that it was made a national bank with capital of fifty thousand dollars and later this was increased by one hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Stebbins was president for three years and then Mr. Mound served till 1892.
In 1889, Mr. Moss was united in marriage to Miss Mattie Woodson, the daughter of George W .. and Iantha (Jackson) Woodson, of Paris, Missouri. The father was a mer- chant and the family is related to ex-governor Jackson, of Missouri. Mrs. Moss is a member of the Christian church. They have five chil- dren, Woodson J., Cullie, Melville, Preston B., and David H. Mr. Moss is a member of the Masonic fraternity, being a Shriner. Politi- cally he is not bound by party ties, but pre- fers to reserve for his own decision the ques- tion both of local and national politics rather than be dictated to by partisans.
S. WALTER KELSEY. Montana is widely known because of her vast rich mines, but. also, she is known far and near as one of the best stock states in the union and the fact that she has within her boundaries today so many stockmen, who are men of means and large property holdings, justifies this reputa- tion she enjoys among the sister states of the union. Among these men who have reaped well from their endeavors in the line of stock- raising, we are constrained to mention the name of S. W. Kelsey, of whom this article speaks. He is a resident of Custer county, his
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home being in the vicinity of Stacey, and he stands among the leading stockmen of this part of the state. His land holding amounts to about fifteen thousand acres, while he handles about six thousand sheep, half a thou- sand head of cattle, and a goodly number of horses.
Mr. Kelsey was born in Paxton, Illinois, on December 20, 1868, being the son of Theo- dore B. and Rhoda N. (Grey) Kelsey. The father was born in South Carolina but was brought by his parents to Illinois when a small child, where he resided till grown to manhood. His boyhood days were spent on the farm and when the call came for men to defend the union, he stepped forward, enlisting in Com- pany D, Twelfth Kansas, having removed to Kansas prior to that time. When the war was done he returned to life on the farm, but the grasshoppers destroyed his crops and he re- turned to the east, and about 1875 went to Wayne county, Iowa, where he remained thir- teen years. Then, it being 1888, Mr. Kelsey came to Custer county, Montana, and since that time has been a resident of this section of the state, and is at present engaged in the mercantile business in Moorhead. His wife, who is still living, was born in Indiana.
Our subject went with his parents to the various sections where they lived after his birth, and received his education mainly in Iowa. When he came with them to Custer county, he at once began to ride the range and in other ways became conversant with the stock business, and as he was of an economical turn, he saved his money and by 1892 he was in shape to enter business for himself. In partnership with his brother, Arthur R., he embarked in the sheep business and although they had hard work to pull along for a few years, they soon began to forge ahead and prosperity came their way in reward of the faithful and careful work they bestowed in the prosecution of their business. After some years, they added cattle to their sheep and also
horses and in rearing these kinds of stock they have been occupied ever since, with the result, as has been stated, that they are among the leading stockmen of this part of the state at this time.
In 1898, Mr. Kelsey married Miss Amelia M. Miller, a native of Fremont county, Iowa. She was liberally educated and taught school before her marriage, coming to Montana when twenty. Her father, Edward Miller, was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and his people were among the first settlers of that now populous state, having come thither from Pennsylvania. He married Mary E. DeBorde, a native of Wisconsin. Her father's people came to Amer- ica in the French fleet at the time of the Rev- olution. To Mr. and Mrs. Kelsey three chil- dren have been born, namely: Walter Emer- son, Austin Monroe and Marion Grey. Mr. Kelsey is affiliated with that time honored in- stitution, the Masonic lodge, and is one of the leading men of the county.
W. H. HORTON, who was born in Char- iton county Missouri, on April 30, 1865, re- sides one mile north from Brandenburg, in Custer county and is to be classed with the most prosperous and well to do stockmen and agriculturists in the county. He is a progres- sive man and in partnership with his brother, Thomas, who lives with him, has wrought a wonderful change from the wild land, that was here when he came, to the magnificent irrigated ranch that is now their property. Thomas was born in the same locality as his brother and came hither one year before him. They have one thousand acres under the ditch and have recently taken out a ditch from the Tongue that is five miles long. Theirs is one of the choicest ranches in the entire valley and it is a model of accomplishment in the years they have dwelt here. They handle stock and do general farming and are evidently among the most thrifty people of the county.
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The parents of these young men were B. F. and Susan (Fuel) Horton. The father was born in Virginia and went with his parents to Missouri in early days, being among the first settlers of Sheridan county. He was a Union veteran of the Civil War and died June 8, 1897. The mother's people were, also, very early settlers in Missouri. Our subject was reared and educated in his native place and then engaged in farming and stock raising. It was in 1894 he came to Miles City and soon after settled where we now find him.
In 1897, Mr. Horton 'married Miss May Haynes, who was born in the same county as her husband, and to them three children have been born Lillian, Charlott, Edith.
The Messrs. Horton have accomplished a good work here and such are the men who make any country what it is in its prosperous days, and it is very encouraging to be able to note the labor they have performed, and it is a source of inspiration to others to put forth efforts that will result in further improvement and substantial building up of the country.
They own the Circle Bar brand of horses which are known all over the state as among the very best in the entire west. The Horton Brothers are very active and progressive and handle a great deal of stock each year.
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