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 88
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 88
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 88
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 88
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 88
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 88
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 88
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FERDINAND LEIMBACH, who dwells three miles southwest from Joliet, where he has a fine farm of one quarter section, is a native of Germany and was born on March 8, 1841. His father, George Leimbach, was removed to Moris, Minnesota, remaining with tive country at the age of ninety-three years. He had followed farming all his days. He married Miss Marie Odensas, who was born in Germany in 1790, and is now deceased. From the common schools of his native coun- try our subject received his educational train- ing and when of the proper age was apprent- iced to learn the brewing business. He fol- lowed that in Germany until 1859 when he migrated to the United States, settling first in New York where two years were spent. Then he went to Philadelphia and for twenty-one years was engaged in the brewing business there. In 1882, he determined to try the west and chose Butte as the objective point of his journeys. In that thriving city he was en-
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gaged in hotel keeping and also operated a bar. For twenty-two years he continued in those occupations and then secured the place where he now has his home. The land is all under the ditch and very valuable. Mr. Leimbach has improved the place in good shape and raises much stock, cattle and horses. He takes a great interest in his farm and keeps a very neat and well tilled place.
In the year 1865, while in Philadelphia, Mr. Leimbach married Miss Eliza Merker, and together they have traveled the pilgrim way since. They are the parents of four chil- dren, namely: Augusta, born in 1872; Fred, born in 1874: Ernest, born in 1876; and Eliza, born in 1882. The boys own Philadelphia as their native place and Eliza was born in Har- risburg, Pennsylvania. The children have all started well in life for themselves and Fred is living with his father. He has never seen fit as yet to seek a companion in life, but re- mains under the parental roof. He has a quarter section of choice land adjoining his father's farm and it is said that it is the best kept farm in the valley. This speaks well of the thrift and energy of Mr. Leimbach.
Mr. Leimbach and his family are adherents of the Lutheran church. While he takes the interest becoming the well informed citi- zen in politics still he is not a politician.
OLAF W. MATTSON lives on a ranch about four miles up the Yellowstone river from Livingston and here he devotes his at- tention to farming, while he raises some stock and handles a lime kiln. He has prospered in his labors and is one of the well-to-do men of the county. His birth occurred in Sweden, July 28, 1841. His parents, Johanah and Mary (Elison) Mattson, were both natives of Sweden and followed farming. The children of the family consisted of six boys and two girls. Two besides our subject dwell in this
county ; Andrew at Moline, Illinois, and Mag- nus, on Mill creek in the Yellowstone valley. After securing his education in his native country Mr. Mattson continued to assist on the farm and also learned the stone mason's trade. Finally, in 1864, he decided to come to America and soon we see him in Michigan where he was employed for a year. Then he came on to Illinois and secured employment in a machine shop, where he remained for five years. Then he went to St. Joseph and worked at the mason trade until 1882 when he came on to Montana and purchased the ranch where he now resides. Soon after settling here he opened a lime kiln and found good market for the product even as far as Miles City. He floated it down the river on flat boats con- structed at his farm. His attention and time have been occupied thus with the lime busi- ness and farming to the present.
On July 19, 1886, Mr. Mattson married Miss Mary Elison who was born in Sweden, May 5, 1857, She came to America in 1885. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Mattson : Olive E., November 2, 1887; Lilly, December 8, 1894: Ruth, October 28, 1898; and Esther, December 16, 1900. Mr. and Mrs. Mattson are members of the Congrega- tional church and are people of good standing. Politically Mr. Mattson is allied with the Re- publicans and in all movements for the ad- vancement of the county and state he is keenly interested.
RICHARD L. McDONALD. a brother of Malcolm McDonald, a sketch of whom ap- pears elsewhere in this work, resides on an ex- cellent ranch adjoining his brother's, twelve miles up the Rosebud river from Fishtail, in Carbon county. He was born in Randolph county, Indiana, November 27, 1856. Sketches of his parents will be found in full in the arti- cle devoted to his brother, Malcolm. He re- ceived a common school education in the high
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and graded schools of Perrysville, Indiana. When twenty-one years of age Mr. McDonald went to the Black Hills, where he engaged in the sawmill business for about two years. He came to Montana in 1880 and did sub-contract- ing on the Northern Pacific railroad until it was completed. Coming to Billings when it was a town of tents he resided there about four years, freighting most of the time to what is now Lewiston and down into Wyoming. In 1886 he located a ranch on Fidler creek, which he named, where he now resides. He supposed he was locating on public land, but owing to an erroneous survey he was within . the limits of the Crow reservation. He as well as all the other settlers were greatly harrassed by the Indian police and the hangers on at the agency. Mainly by his efforts, assisted by Fred H. Foster and the Hon. O. F. God- dard, both of Billings, a special agent, Captain Duncan, from Washington, D. C., was sent out to adjust the matters between the settlers and the Indian department, which resulted sat- isfactorily to the settlers, at least, as every set- tler secured the ranch on which he was located.
Mr. McDonald has always taken an active part in politics, being in national matters a Republican, but ignoring party lines in local politics. He was one of the seven delegates to the Carbon county convention in 1895.
Mr. McDonald is engaged in ranching and cattle raising. In 1897 while in Chicago with cattle he made the acquaintance of Miss Eve- lyn Haskin, a teacher in the public schools of that city and they were married the next year. Miss Haskin was born in Lake county, Indi- ana, in 1867. She is a graduate of the Indi- ana State Normal School at Terre Haute. Her father, R. A. Haskin, was a veteran of the Civil War and a brother of Col. D. C. Has- kin of New York, the originator of the first tunnel under the Hudson river, between Jer- sey City and New York. They are descend- ants of veterans of the Revolution.
Mr. and Mrs. McDonald have four chil-
dren, Charles, Marjorie, Dorothy and Joseph Worth.
CHARLES M. SIMPSON is one of the veteran stockmen of the great stock state of Montana. His place of business is in the vi- cinity of Beebe, where he owns a good ranch and has all the improvements that are needed in conducting a stock business. He is a man well acquainted with the business from per- sonal experience and has traveled the country from Montana to Texas several times, besides having been long riding the range in this state.
Charles M. Simpson was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 10, 1867. His father, Willard E. Simpson, was born in Maine, and came to Boston when quite young. engaging in the mercantile business. In 1875, he retired from that business and went to Texas where he took up farming until his ยท death. He had married Miss Hannah J. Mow- er, a native of Maine and still living in Texas. Our subject got the first year of his school- ing in Boston, and then went with his par- ents to Texas, where he was privileged to study further in the common schools. He con- tinted thus until eighteen when he commenced riding the range, having. also, been engaged thus at intervals before that time. He was engaged in various portions of the Lone Star state and in 1887-8 he made two trips with stock from Texas to Montana. In 1888, he decided to remain in Montana, and was soon in the employ of the Hereford Cattle Com- pany, where he continued for a decade, con- stantly employed with stock. Finally, in 1898, Mr. Simpson decided to start in business for himself, so sought out his present ranch and began raising horses and cattle. At the pres- ent time he has some fine bands of these ani- mals and is prospered in his labors. Owing to his long experience in the business, Mr. Simp-
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son is one of the very skillful stockmen of the county and he shows the same in his conduct of his business.
In November, 1898, Mr. Simpson married Miss Maggie S. Shy, who was born in Mis- souri, and came to Montana in 1891 with her parents. Her father, Walter C. Shy, is en- gaged in ranching on the Little Pumpkin. He married Jannie Elliot, a native of Mis- souri and now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Simpson one child has been born, Milton C., in Miles City, in December, 1899.
SAMUEL J. TUTTLE, one of the most successful ranchers of the Yellowstone valley, resides on a fine farm nine miles west of Red Lodge, Montana. He was born in Ing- ham county, Michigan. His father, Frederick A. was born in Bunker Hill township, Mich- igan. In 1864 he enlisted in Fifth Mich. Light Art. serving until the close of war. Following his term of service he learned the trade of a harnessmaker, and went to Colorado in 1880, locating at Leadville. Remaining here one year, he went to the foothills above Denver, and there he farmed about three years on a ranch near Denver. In 1892 he came to the place where he now resides, and secured a homestead, remaining on the same until his death, in 1901, he being fifty-four years old. The mother, Mary L. (Moore) Tuttle, was born in Washtenaw county, Michigan, where she was reared, married and came west with her husband. Originally the Moore family came from New York state.
In the public schools of Colorado and Mon- tana our subject received his education. He was a boy of fourteen years of age when he came with his parents to Montana. Follow- ing the death of his father he assumed charge of the home ranch, and at present lives with his mother and an unmarried sister. He has two sisters: Mattie M., wife of A. A. Ellis;
Jennie A., at home with her mother and brother. It was during a financial panic that the family of our subject came to Montana, and for a few years it was exceedingly diffi- cult to make a living. However, they are now in excellent circumstances and surrounded with all the comforts of life.
BENJAMIN STRICKLAND resides in Paradise valley, Park county, and is numbered with the leading and substantial stock raisers and farmers of this section of Montana. He handles about five hundred head of cattle each winter, mostly Shorthorns, and has a domain of two thousand five hundred acres well improved and tilled in a manner that produces annually handsome dividends.
The birth of Mr. Strickland occurred in Broome county, New York, April 5. 1832, his parents being David and Betsey (Wheeler) Strickland, natives of Saint Lawrence county, New York and Connecticut, respectively. Ben- jamin was one of seven sons and five daughters and in 1855 the family all came west to Iowa, where the father passed the remainder of his life on a farm. Mrs. Strickland's father, Joshua Wheeler, was a seafaring man for many years.
Benjamin Strickland received his educa- tion in his native state and remained with his parents until 1852, in which year he came on west to Portage, Wisconsin, and there engaged in lumbering for five years. Then he jour- neyed to his father's home in Iowa and there remained until 1861, in September of which year he enlisted at Albert Lea, Minnesota, in Company H, First Minnesota Rangers, mounted, and served under Colonel Pender. They at once started in pursuit of the Indians and the entire time of Mr. Strickland's service was in the Indian warfare and he saw much of it. However, he never received from the weapons of the savages but slight wounds. On.
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one occasion his horse was shot from under him and he was permanently injured. . for which he is now receiving from the govern- ment a small pension. From Fort Ridgeley they began the tour of two years, always in hot pursuit of the savages in one place or an- other, the engagements being numerous and many of them hotly contested. Finally, un- der General Sibley, the troops drove the In- dians across the Missouri and Mr. Strickland returned with his command to Fort Snelling. Minnesota. Later on he acted as one of the escort of the governor of Minnesota who ef- fected a treaty with Red Cloud and Hole-In- the-Day, the Indian chieftains. Receiving his honorable discharge at Fort Snelling in Sep- tember, 1863, Mr. Strickland returned to his father's home and there remained until the following April, when in company with a train of three hundred, he started west to Emigrant Gulch, Montana. Arriving in August 27, 1864, without molestation from the Indians, he at once went to mining and after one year spent in the gulch, devoted five years more to that absorbing work in various camps in the northwest.
It was 1874 when Mr. Strickland located on his present place taking a quarter section as a homestead. Since those days he has been prospered exceedingly and is counted one of the most successful men of the county and one of the representative men of the state. Mr. Strickland is a Jeffersonian Democrat and al- ways manifests a keen interest in the campaigns and the upbuilding of the state and county. He has acted as school trustee, but never reaches for public office. He is affiliated with the Masons, being a Knight Templar.
On May 16, 1868, Mr. Strickland mar- ried Miss Nancy J. Daley, a native of Iowa, whither her father, Ebenezer Daley, came from to Virginia. Seven children have born to this marriage : Katherine, Frank, Mil- lie, Ebenezer and Samuel; besides Mary and John, who are deceased.
A. J. MORRISON. The subject of this biographical tribute is one well deserving of the prominent name he bears of one of Montana's earliest pioneers and a mighty nim- rod of his day. Probably there is no man in the state with a better record as a hunter and trapper than he, and his war record is sans reproche, and most meritorious. At pres- ent our subject is a prosperous rancher, resid- ing four and one-half miles east of Billings. He was born in Steuben county, New York, September 22, 1833.
His parents were Thomas and Hannah (Sullivan) Morrison, the father a native of County Down, Ireland, the mother of the Empire State. It was in 1811 that Thomas Morrison came from Ireland to the United States. Here he served patriotically all through the struggle of 1812 under Generals Scott and Brown. Following the close of this war he located on a farm in the state of New York. His trade was that of a mechanic at which he worked industriously the greater por- tion of his time. In 1854 he removed to Dane county, Wisconsin, at that period "way out, west," where he continued at his trade until 1858, when he took the road as a seller of cer- tain patent rights. He died in Minnesota. The mother of our subject followed the fortunes of her husband, accompanying him on his numerous journeys and dying in the same state, Minnesota.
With his parents our subject removed to Wisconsin. At that period he was quite a small boy. His elementary education was se- cured in the public schools of that state. With his parents he went to Minnesota. In 1866 he crossed the plains with mule trains, ar- riving in Deer Lodge county, where for three years he was engaged in mining. He then followed the business of trapping and hunting in which he achieved a wide celebrity along the Missouri river. He assisted in the erec- tion of the first house in Judith Basin. For sixteen years he followed the precarious, yet
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remunerative avocation of a hunter and trap- per. Thousands of wolves have fallen before his unerring rifle. Seven hundred and sev- enty-five of these "varmints" he slew in the winter of 1870-71. He has killed a great many buffalo, elk, deer, antelope and bear. As a proficient scout, he has been engaged in the service of the government on numerous occasions, involving great peril and hardship. In 1862 Mr. Morrison enlisted in D Company, Thirteenth Wisconsin Infantry, under Colonel Maloney. Subsequently his regiment was commanded by Colonel Lyons, under
General Thomas. For twelve weary months he languished as a prisoner in Andersonville. During the Nez Perce war, in 1878, our subject served as a scout, and spe- cial courier carrying dispatches. At the time the Nez Perce Indians crossed the Missouri river, about one hundred and fifty miles below Fort Benton (at Cow Island), Major Elgis, of Fort Benton, raised a company of about forty men, comprising mainly wood-choppers, hunters, etc. To this sturdy band our subject belonged. Accompanied by a half breed Nez Perce Indian he was sent on a scouting expe- dition for the purpose of locating the camp of the hostile Indians. Within fifteen hours they rode one hundred and twenty-five miles. On the way they conversed with two of the enemy and this company had a battle with the recal- citrant redskins the following day near Cow Island. They suffered the loss of one man. To many tribes of Indians in Montana, Idaho and Washington our subject is well known, as in early days he traded with them extensively.
Twenty years ago Mr. Morrison located in the Yellowstone Valley, although he had many times visited the vicinity previous to this. Here he at present has a fine ranch sur- rounded by all conveniences for successful and profitable farming. Throughout their event- ful lives our subject and his father have been pioneers in the western empire. While resid- ing in Minnesota they were compelled to jour-
ney one hundred and fifty miles to mill. Many a sharp skirmish has our subject had with hostile Indians, and during his eventful life he has slain 104 bear.
HENRY C. HENDRICKSON, one of the prosperous farmers of the attractive Yellow- stone valley, residing ten miles southwest of Billings, on the Yellowstone, was born near Springfield, Illinois, December 25, 1859. the son of Henry C. and Mahala (Elder) Hend- rickson. Both were natives of Marion county, Ohio. At the age of seventeen the father came to Illinois and located on a farm. After his son left home he sold his farm and engaged in the grocery business at Fancy Prairie, Illi- nois. His father, Harvey, was born in Penn- sylvania, and was a veteran of the Revolution- ary War, and an early settler of that portion of Ohio. The family are of German ancestry.
With her parents the mother came to Illi- nois when a child and was here reared, and is here still living. Her father, George Elder, came from Ohio to Illinois at a very early day. and there he secured a homestead in Menard county. He was of English ancestry.
In Illinois our subject was reared and edu- cated, and on attaining manhood he engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1881 he removed from Illinois to Nebraska and there farmed for a while. It was in 1896 that he came to his present location, purchasing eighty acres of bottom land, which is now under irrigation.
In 1889 he was married to Castella Jones, born near Marysville, Kansas. She accompan- ied her parents to Nebraska when a child where she married. Her father, William C. Jones, was a native of Pennsylvania ; her mo- ther, Maria (Clemmens) Jones, was born in Wisconsin.
Mr. and Mrs. Hendrickson have six chil- dren : Bertha, Bessie, Maud, William, Ralph and Teddie, besides two that died in infancy.
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With the exception of the youngest two they are all at school. Our subject has two broth- ers and two sisters: Mary, wife of Thomas McDonald; Addie, wife of William J. Snod- grass ; Charles and Harvey.
MALCOLM M. McDONALD, who is one of the well and favorably known citizens of Carbon county, residing on a handsome ranch twelve miles south of Fishtail, on the Rosebud, was born in Troy, Ohio, August 26, 1852. His father, Joseph L., a native of Dela- ware, born in 1826, was a cooper by trade, but greatly preferred the avocation of a farmer. During the Civil War he enlisted in the army, the first time in the Sixty-ninth Ohio Volun- teers, and the second in the One Hundred and Eighty-second Indiana Volunteers. He was first sergeant in the Sixty-ninth and a lieuten- ant in the latter regiment. He was with Gen- eral Grant in all the latter's battles during the Vicksburg campaign, and at Champion Hill was shot in the calf of the leg. Following his discharge he moved back to Ohio, where he re- enlisted and participated in the battle at Nash- ville. Following the close of the war he en- gaged in farming in which he continued until his death, in 1869. The mother of our subject. Sarah (Worth) McDonald, was a native of Indiana, and was married at Troy, Ohio, in 1851. She died in 1867.
When four years of age our subject re- moved with his parents to Indiana. He had but little chance in the public schools in his vicinity, but he made the best of his advan- tages. When only thirteen years old he went to Covington, Indiana, and here he worked in the coal mines. When he had arrived at the age of eigliteen he came west, and when twen- ty-four, went to Fort Sully. Dakota, where he secured a government contract for wood. Subsequently he removed to Standing Rock, Dakota, and here he engaged in the same busi-
ness. Men were scarce, and the government to secure their services actually "shanghaied" men. Our subject with others was placed on an island where it was thought they could not escape, but the treatment was so severe, that in company with another man, he swam the Mis- souri river in October and escaped to Bis- marck, Dakota. He was caught in a severe blizzard and was compelled to sleep one night in the snow. In 1887 he assisted in blocking out the first mail route between Bismarck and Whitewood, in the Black Hills.
Our subject then went up the Yellowstone river to Miles City, where he engaged in cut- ting wood which he sold to steamboats. Fol- lowing this lie hunted buffalo, deer and poi- soned wolves and made one trip carrying dis- patches for General Miles. From 1877 to 1881 he followed hunting, and engaged in some rather exciting episodes with hostile Indians. Two of his partners were killed by them. The redskins stole every horse except the one upon which he rode. One of his partners was crip- pled and crawled down the river before he died, having first notified our subject of his peril. The Indians attempted to ambuscade Mr. McDonald, and take his life, but were driven away by a man coming down the river. In the spring of 1881 a brother of our subject, Richard, joined him at Miles City, Montana, and they secured a contract on construction work on the Northern Pacific railroad, west of Miles City. This consumed the greater por- tion of one year. They then engaged in pros- pecting near Stillwater river, or where Nye now stands. In company with William Hamil- ton. Joseph Anderson and James Hubble, he made the first location at Nye in 1883. They still own their original location which they be- lieve to be rich in copper and some silver, and lead. He again, for a period followed hunt- ing, and in 1886 settled near his present lo- cation, and engaged in various pursuits, in- cluding mining and stock raising. He and his brother Richard were instrumental in opening
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the ceded portion of the Crow reservation, and he has in his possession letters that he received from President Arthur in regard to the enter- prise. Previous to the opening a petition was circulated praying the government to lease the reservation land. Had this prevailed it would have resulted in shutting out all small owners, To President Arthur our subject wrote, ex- plaining the facts in the case. His letter WAS turned over to Secretary of the Interior Tel- ler, who favored the leasing of the lands. A man was sent from Washington to investi- gate conditions, and it was then decided to open the reservation. For this great credit is due Mr. McDonald.
At Billings. Montana, in November, 1891, our subject was united in marriage to Mary J. Clark, born in Lake county, Indiana, No- vember 30, 1855. Having received an excel- lent education in Indiana, she has proved a worthy helpmeet to her husband, and their home life is a most happy one, and always hospitable to guests. Her father Joseph A., was a native of Ontario county, New York, and was a cabinet maker and farmer. In 1837, he removed to Indiana, where he followed farming until his death in 1859. Her mother, Harriet (Story) Clark, was also a native of On- tario county. Mrs. McDonald had three broth- ers in the Civil War, one of whom died in the service. The other two reside in Indiana.
The maternal grandfather of our subject, Daniel Worth, was a member of the Indiana legislature in the twenties. He was converted and ordained as a minister of the gospel. He went to North Carolina where he sold a book entitled "Helper's Impending Crisis," and for this he was indicted and placed under bonds of $5,000. He later fled from the state, but subsequently paid his bondsmen. Had he not escaped the North Carolinians would undoubt- edly have hanged him.
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