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 81
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 81
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 81
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 81
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 81
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 81
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 81
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OLE C. NIELSEN. About two miles west from Hathaway is the home place of Mr. Nielsen, who has spent sixteen years of his life in Montana. The farm consists of three hundred and twenty acres of good land. one- half of which was secured by homestead right `and the balance being purchased. Since the time of his settlement here in 1890, Mr. Niel- sen has given his entire attention to general farming and stock raising. He is one of the thrifty and industrious residents of Rosebud county and the result is, he has been prospered in his labors. . When he came here, this part of what is now Rosebud county was very wild compared with its present development, and it required considerable labor and self denial to open up a farm in the virgin sod. But Mr. Nielsen came with a determination of making a home and the result was that he put forth every effort to that end and has accomplished his purpose in a good manner.
Like many of the prosperous and substan-
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tial citizens of the United States, Mr. Nielsen was born on the other side of the Atlantic, his native place being Denmark and the time of his birth about October 20, 1849. His father, N. P. Nielsen, was also born in that country and followed blacksmithing there 1111- til 1872, when he came to Wisconsin and there wrought at his trade until his death. He had married Anna Marie Olson, also a native of Denmark, who died there in 1870. Our sub- ject received his education in his native land and in 1872 came to the United States with his father. He worked for wages in Wiscon- sin until 1887, in which year he went with a carriage company from Racine to Moline, Illi- nois. He remained with this company in Mo- line until 1890, when he resigned his position and came west to seek out a home. Being at- tracted to Montana, he soon selected the place where he now resides and, as stated before, he has given his entire efforts to building a home since coming to this state.
In 1882, Mr. Nielsen married Rassine Nielsen, and to them have been born the fol- lowing named children: Annie, Niels, Peter, Mary, Soren, Emma and Anton.
HON. THOMAS S. HOGAN, a man well known over the state of Montana and at the present time a leading attorney in Billings, was born near the city of Chippewa Falls. Wisconsin, on December 23, 1869. His par- ents, John and Bridget (Ahern) Hogan, na- tives of the Emerald Isle, migrated from Tip- erary county, Ireland, to the United States about 1850. Soon after their families were located they were united in marriage, this event occurring in the state of Ohio. Mr. Ho- gan dwelt first in Boston and then came west to Ohio and worked at his trade of stone lay- ing. About 1860 he and his wife made their way to Wisconsin and the last ninety miles of their journey was made on foot, so dense was
the wilderness they were penetrating. Most arduous labor was required to clear and put under cultivation a farm in this section, but they were equal to the task and became prominent and honored citizens, the father passing away at a ripe age in 1902. They had a family of nine children and Thomas S. was reared and educated in his native heath, grad- uating from the high school when sixteen. For three years subsequent to that he taught school and then went west to Washington, and for two years afterward came thence to Montana. One year was occupied in mining in the vi- cinity of Butte, and four years, beginning with 1892, he was engaged in the smelters of Ana- conda. In 1896, Mr. Hogan was a candidate for his party, the Populist, with which he had been affiliated actively during his majority, to the office of secretary of state of Montana and was promptly elected. In 1894 he had been a candidate from Deer Lodge county for representative to the state legislature, but was defeated by only sixteen votes. Following the completion of his term as secretary of state, Mr. Hogan practiced law four years in Butte and in 1904 located in Billings, where he has won a place in the esteem of the bar and the people that is very gratifying, and enjoys a large and constantly increasing patronage in his professional business.
Mr. Hogan was a prominent and active member of the Knights of Labor, having been district master workman of the state.
In 1894. Mr. Hogan and Miss Kathleen Donovan, who was born in Chippewa county, Wisconsin, were united in matrimony and four children have been born to crown the mar- riage, namely, Ralph J., Emmett V., Mary T., and T. Fritz.
OWEN DUFFY. The good old "Emner- ald Isle" has furnished many a stanch citizen to the great Republic of the United States and
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many a faithful veteran who fought as only the true Irishman can fight has given his blood for the Stars and Stripes, and no more loyal supporters of that grand banner are found on the earth in this day than those same faithful ones who have been transplanted from the "Isle" and who have raised families to revere and cherish the laws and the free institutions of our beloved land. Quick to perceive the advantages of the New World, many were the immigrants thither from Ireland, and who but this race would have remained, even one, to bear the trials of their own land, and there has been a ready adaptation to the new order of things, and, it is with regret we say it, yet it is true, there has been noticed by students of the subject that often times the worthy immi- grant, by contrast perhaps, has a more appre- ciative spirit for the real freedom of America than those called her native sons. Among those who have come hither and found homes, carving their fortunes from the resources of the land, we are gratified to mention the gentleman whose name heads this arti- cle. His present residence is eight miles west from Joliet on Redlodge creek. Christ- mas day. 1861, was the date of his birth, and this event occurred in the province of Mun- ster, Ireland. His father, Owen Duffy, was born, lived and died in Ireland, the closing event of his life being at the age of sixty- seven, in 1892. He had married Margaret McIntyre, who died when our subject was a small lad, he being the youngest of seven children. All of the children are now in the United States, scattered in different locations. James resides on American Fork in Sweet Grass county, this state. The first twenty-two years of Mr. Duffy's life were spent in his na- tive country and then he determined to bid farewell to all this and try his fortune in Mon- tana. He sailed to New York city, arriving without unusual event, and there took passage for Big Timber, Montana, direct in 1884. His brother had been in this locality for four years
and he had worked on the latter's ranch, re- maining with him for nine years. At the ex- piration of that period he came to his present location, anticipating the opening of the reser- vation. He filed finally on the quarter, section where he now resides and to the improvement and cultivation of this he has devoted his en- ergies since. When he located his nearest point for mail and supplies was Red Lodge, thirty-five miles distant, and no roads were constructed through the country. It was two years before any roads were built and Mr. Duffy had to well experience the life of the pioneer. He has faithfully labored along and now has one hundred and forty acres under the ditch and producing abundant crops. He raises mostly hay and grain, but intends in the near future to devote much attention to the production of sugar beets.
Mr. Duffy has never seen fit to affiliate himself with any order, but is a consistent member of the Roman Catholic church. In politics he is Republican, although not es- pecially active. Thus far on life's journey. Mr. Duffy has chosen to walk without the re- sponsibilities of the married life and belongs to the order of jolly bachelors.
JOSEPH BROWN is a miner residing at Gardiner and was born in Baden, Germany, September 1, 1834. being the son of Joseph Brown. also German, born at Baden in 1800 on a farmn. He mar- ried Catherine Meyers, a native of Baden, who was about three years younger than himself. They had four children, our subject being the only one who came to America. This trip oc- curred in 1850, after he had received his edu- cation in Germany. For two years he re- mained in New York and then moved to Erie, Pennsylvania, where he spent ten years pros- pecting for oil. He went to Marquette, Michi- gan, about 1862 and was employed in the cop-
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per mines for one year. In the fall of 1863 he started for Virginia City, Montana, but did not get there until the following year. Not finding pay dirt there, he crossed over to Grizzly Gulch, near where Helena now is, and from that time until the present Mr. Brown has been one of that sturdy army who has fol- lowed mining and prospecting steadily in the promising state of Montana. Like the others, he has had varying success, rather better than the average, but sometimes down and some- times on the crest of the billow. He located at Bear Gulch in 1876. There he staked out the Legal Tender, Graham, Tip Top and Mountain Chief, in company with James Gra- ham. These properties are now owned and operated by the Kimberly Company and are spoken of as the Jardine Mines, being quartz properties, Mr. Brown has located and worked several placer claims that have panned out first class.
In religious persuasions he was raised a Catholic, while in politics he is a strong Re- publican. He has always taken a keen and active interest and has served at several con- ventions. Mr. Brown is a Mason and can truly be said to be one of the sturdy pioneers of the state of Montana. He comes from a very long lived family. his father, Joseph Brown, died at the age of eighty-six, his grandfather, Joseph Brown, dying at the age of ninety-six and his great-grandfather at the age of one hundred and six. As early as 1866 Mr. Brown, in company with four others. spent three months in the Yellowstone Park and his is supposed to be the first party that ever thoroughly looked over this wondrous region.
JAMES WOOSLEY resides just south- west of Sedan, which is in Gallatin county. He owns eight-hundred and seventy-five acres of good land and does both general farming and
stock raising, having enjoyed a bounteous measure of success in his labors here. He is a native of Illinois, the date of his birth be- ing January 10, 1841. John Woosley, his fa- ther, who died when James was four years old, was a Kentuckian, farmed in Central Illinois, and used to own forty acres where Decatur now stands. He married Jane Smith, who was born in Indiana. After receiving his ed- ucation from the public schools, our subject in 1860 went to work for himself on a farm. The next year. 1861, he rented a farm and on August 15. 1862, he enlisted in the 18th Illinois Infantry, serving throughout the en- tire war. He was present at Vicksburg at the surrender to General Grant and was also at the surrender of Little Rock, Arkansas. Having done well the part of the brave sollier in defending his country throughout the long years of war, he was ready upon the receipt of his honorable discharge to return to farming ; but he did not come back to civil life as he had gone into the army. for the bullets of the enemy had done their work and Mr. Woosley was forced to take up life with one arm sadly crippled. However, being of a bright dispo- sition, he overcame all of this and made a good success in his farming. In 1880 he moved to Kansas and tilled the soil near Cedardale five years. He came to Montana but soon re- turned to Kansas. In 1887, however, he came to permanently locate here and selected a homestead in the east Flathead valley. He still retains that homestead which is the seat of his residence, but has added to it until he has an estate as mentioned above.
On August 9. 1860. Mr. Woosley married Martha E. Pratt, the daughter of Matthew Y. and Lydia (Jones) Pratt, a native of Illinois. They have become the parents of nine chil- dren, only three of whom. however, are still living: Joshua Y., born September 8. 1861 ; Sarah E., January 25. 1869; and John S. May 30, 1871. Both Mr. and Mrs. Woosley are members of the Christian church and are
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exemplary people. Mr. Woosley is a Demo- crat but not partisan.
OLOF NELSON was born in Sweden, July 13, 1856. At present he resides on a fine ranch fourteen miles northwest of Red Lodge. on Red Lodge creek. His father, Nels Nel- son, born at Skornu, Sweden, followed the avocation of an agriculturist. He died in 1905. The mother, Hannah Nelson, a native of the same place, died in 1899.
On attaining his majority our subject had passed through the common schools of his vi- cinity, and obtained a fair business education. In 1882, having followed farming during his early manhood, he landed in Boston, Massa- chusetts, going from there direct to New York, where he remained three months. He thence went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, but in 1883 he came to Livingston, Montana, and here he found employment on the Yellowstone Park branch of the Northern Pacific railroad. The following fall he went to Portland, Ore- gon, and here he resided eight months, coming thence to the vicinity of Billings, Montana, where he found employment with I. D. O'Don- nell on a stock ranch, and with whom he re- mained seven years. During this time he had taken a ranch four miles west of Red Lodge, on Willow creek. This he disposed of in 1898 and removed to East Red Lodge Creek. where he remained four years. Having disposed of this property he indulged in a profitable trip through. the wonderful Yellowstone Park. To his present location he came in 1904. At pres- ent he lives with his two brothers, they having between them 320 acres of excellent land.
In 1879 our subject was united in mar- riage to Celia Anderson. She passed from earth twenty years ago. Mr. Nelson has three brothers : Nels, who came from Sweden with our subject, and one year later to Mon- tana. He is now living on the ranch. Mang-
nus, coming to Montana in 1886, and where he now has 160 acres of land and is residing with our subject; Martin, now in Sweden. Our subject has four living sisters : Bangter, Hannah, Annie and Anna, all in Sweden. He has lost one sister, Christine.
SAMUEL FEYLER. Born in Lincoln county, Maine, March 9, 1869, the subject of this sketch is at present a prosperous farmer of Yellowstone county, residing eight miles west of Billings. His father, Rufus, a native of the same place, combined the businesses of farm- ing and ship carpentering, working the greater portion of the time at his trade. The mother, Amelia (Swartz) Feyler, also a native of Maine, descended from ancestors who were among the first settlers of the Pine Tree state.
In the public schools of Maine our sub- ject received his early education and in 1882 came to Billings, where he at first worked for wages. Continuing this for ten years he then purchased a ranch upon which he now resides, having eighty acres all under an excellent sys- tem of irrigation, and which farm he has, by industry and keen business sagacity, made a most valuable property. He owns considera- ble stock and is well-to-do in every respect.
GEORGE MACE, well known all over eastern Montana, and now the postmaster at Howard, is one of the old timers who chased the buffaloes and blazed the path through these sections as well as in many other places of the west. He is a man of intrepid courage and strong powers in the lines which he has fol- lowed. His experience in the west, for he has traveled all over the country west of the Mississippi and between Mexico and Canada, would make a large and interesting volume had we the space to outline it. Suffice it to
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say, however, that from the time he was a small lad till he settled in Custer county he was on the go in all the various callings and rela- tions that obtain on the frontier, from the po- sition of cowboy to postmaster, and his time of hunting the noble buffalo was one which can never be effaced from his memory, being filled with adventure and thrilling incident. A more detailed account of his life will, there- fore, be sought after and we append a brief epitome.
George Mace was born in New York Au- gust, 1848. His father, John Mace, a native of England, came to the United States when a young man and then after a few years here, he returned to his natvie land and there re- mained until his death. He married Miss Louisa Hicks, also a native of England. Our subject was nine years of age when his parents went to England from New York, he accom- panying them. He finished his education in the old country and when sixteen returned to the' United States, as he preferred this country to where his parents remained. From that time onward he was traveling in all portions of the west and became personally acquainted with all the callings of frontier life. He has mined, been cowboy, done freighting, packing, and all the arduous things that allure the rest- less from the quieter home of the east. In 1869, we find him working on the Union Pa- cific railroad, and in the famous centennial year he made his way from Arizona to Montana, settling in the vicinity of Miles City, being among the first to locate there permanently. That continued to be his home until 1880, when he came on west to his present location and took land. At the present time Mr. Mace has three sections of land, one-third of which is under the ditch and very productive. He gives his attention to general farming and stock raising and is one of the well to do men of the county.
In 1883. Mr. Mace married Miss Hannah A. Anderson, a native of Norway. She was
reared in Minnesota and came to Montana with a family from that state in 1883. Here Mr. Mace and she met and later were married, and their children are Hannah, Bertha, and Alfred.
CHARLES R. CROSS is one of the pio- neers of Custer county and is today dwelling on his ranch about two miles up the Tongue from Miles City. He gives his attention to the cultivation of his ranch and to stock rais- ing, having been one of the first ones in this country to start in that business. A native of Burlington, Vermont, November 23, 1863, the date of his birth, Mr. Cross inherited the thrift and stability of the New Englander and has manifested it in his career. His parents, Fran- cis and Elizabeth Cross, were farmers and the latter died when he was an infant. The father was a native of France and came with his par- ents to the United States when a child. He re- mained in Vermont until his death. The other members of the family, the brothers and sisters of our subject, are Frank, deceased; V. L., who came to Custer county in 1876; Joseph, deceased; H. G., a rancher in this county ; Mary Besette, Marie Videll, Orilla McCuen. and Louisa. Charles R. grew up and was edu- cated in his native place and at the early age of sixteen stepped forth to assume the burdens of life for himself. He at once came to Fort Keogh, the journey from Bismarck being by boat, and for two years was employed by his brother who was operating a farm on the mili- tary reservation. Then with his brothers, V. L. and H. G., he went to upper Pumpkin creek and embarked in stock raising. They contin- ued in this until the winter of 1886 when they lost twelve hundred cattle, which catastrophe so cripple them they went out of business. For several years Mr. Cross was occupied in various ways and in 1893. he came to his present place and located, and since then he
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has labored here with good success. It is of interest to note that during the first two years of the time he was raising cattle with his brothers of the Indians on the war path and there were some exciting times.
In 1887, Mr. Cross married Hannah Wing, a native of Deammen, Norway, and the daugh- ter of H. T. and Caroline (Larson) Wing, natives of Norway, also. The family came to Ottertail county, Minnesota, when Mrs. Cross was twelve years old and two years later came on to Custer county where the father was en- gaged in stock-raising until his death in 1899. Mrs. Cross has one brother, Alf. L., and two sisters, Helga Kennedy, and Julia Ostein. To Mr. and Mrs. Cross, four children have been born. Francis T., J. Margaret, Vivian A., Harold V.
GEORGE C. CAMPBELL, one of the progressive Yellowstone Valley ranchers, born in Ontario, Canada, March II, 1874, now re- sides three and one-half miles north of Roscoe, Carbon caunty, on an eligible and finely im- proved ranch. His father, Alexander R., a na- tive of the same place, went from Canada to Buffalo, Wyoming, with his wife and children in 1886. Here he located on a ranch upon which he remained until he died. His father, Alexander Campbell, emigrated from Scot- land to Canada. The mother, Helen ( Watt) Campbell, a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, when a small child came to Canada with her parents. Here she was married and is now living in Buffalo, Wyoming. Her mother was a Cameron, and her people on both sides of the house were connected with a distinguished Highland family.
In the common schools of Canada our sub- ject received his elementary education, which was supplemented by courses in the schools of Buffalo, Wyoming, to which place he came with his parents in 1886. There, at the age
of fifteen years he began riding the range and was employed by the Bar L. X. and two other large companies, continuing until 1892.
In the spring of 1892 the war between the cattle rustlers and the stockmen broke out in Johnson county, Wyoming. He served as a deputy under Sheriff Angus and was one of the first party that left Buffalo to head off the Whitecaps. His party participated in the three days' fight. April 11, 12, 13 with the rustlers at a ranch on Crazy Woman.
Three years later, in the spring of 1895, he came to his present location where lie se- cured a homestead. Later he purchased more land until now he has a half section, nearly all of which is under irrigation and well im- proved, and is one of the largest stock owners in his part of the country.
In 1898 Mr. Campbell was united in mar- riage to Dora E. Brown. She was a widow, the name of her first husband having been Mc- Donald. Her father, James Brown, died while he was a young man. Her mother is at pres- ent the wife of R. O. Morris, mentioned else- where. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell have two chil- dren, Earl M. and Helen. With them are three step-children, Maud, Elizabeth and Nellie Mc- Donald, all living with our subject.
EDWARD KAISER, the popular and ef- ficient postmaster at Meyersburg is one of the well known men in Park county. He owns about fourteen hundred acres of land around Meyersburg and is platting a portion of it for the promising village where he resides. He was born December 21, 1865. the son of Sam- ttel and Margaret (Holderman) Kaiser. The father was born in Switzerland in 1847 and is now living in the Crow Creek valley. He is a cooper by trade and was following this oc- cupation in Helena at the time of the stampede to the Black Hills, Dakota, which he joined. Not finding this so auspicious as he expected,
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he started a brewery at Central City. After that, he returned to Montana and now resides as stated above. His wife died when our sub- ject was a lad. After Edward finished his edu- cation at Readersburg, he being then fifteen years of age, he left home and went to work on a neighboring farm. After that he rode the range in Jefferson county for some time. in 1890, he took up ranching again, this time for himself, selecting a homestead near his present location. In 1895, he sold that place and in March 1899, bought the place that he now owns. For more than sixteen years he has been postmaster and the office has always been taken with him when he moved from one place to another. He has a fine large body of land, and is seeking with a good measure of success to make of Meyersburg one of the pros- perous towns of Park county.
In 1890, Mr. Kaiser married Alvie R. Nave, daughter of F. R. Nave, and to them have been born three children, Vera E. May 30, 1892; Claude R. July 9, 1893: Margaret C., October II, 1897. Mrs. Kaiser died on October 6, 1903.
On September 6, 1905, Mr. Kaiser con- tracted a second marriage. Etta S. Bown, the daughter of Spellman and Eliza (Fitz) Bown, becoming his wife. Mr. Kaiser is a good strong Republican and takes a keen interest and satisfaction in the campaigns.
WILLIAM ROBISON, born in Clay county, Indiana, February 5, 1869, is one of the leading stockmen of the Yellowstone Val- ley. residing at Billings. His father, J. B. Robison, a native of Ohio, removed to Clay county in 1850, remaining there until 1874. when he went to Montgomery county, Kan- sas. Here he tarried until 1898, returning thence to Indiana, where he is now making his home with his son. The mother of our sub- ject, Hannah J. ( Reader) Robison, was a na-
tive of Ohio, going to Indiana with her hus- band, and later to Kansas, where she died.
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