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 92
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 92
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 92
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 92
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 92
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 92
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 92
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Politically, Mr. Connell is a Democrat and he and his wife belong to the Royal High- landers, in which order she has held office for three years.
When following the trail from Walla Walla to Cheyenne at a point about seventy-five miles east from where Boise, Idaho, now stands, Mr. Connell with thirty men, one hundred and fifty head of horses and six thousand cattle was held up by the Nez Perce tribe and for nine days the fight raged fiercely. It was the pur -. pose of the Indians to get possession of the stock but Mr. Connell succeeded in driving them into a large basin among the hills and there held them until the Indians were re- pulsed. This was in 1876, the same year of Custer's downfall. Two years later, he had the same experience with the Bannacks and again succeeded in escaping with his entire band un- injured.
On his mother's side, Mr. Connell traces his lineage from John Garr, a German of prominence, born November 17, 1657, in Fran- conia. He was a lineal descendant of the Garrs who were honored with a crest by the Great Emperor Charles Fifth in 1519. Even at that time this family was spoken of as an
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old, good and prominent family. John Garr was a devout Lutheran before his death and his eldest son, Andreas Garr, at the head of a small band migrated to America and settled in Virginia. Mr. Connell has in his possession a volume of the Garr genealogy which con- tains over twelve thousand nine hundred and twelve names of descendants of John Garr.
JOHN A. MILLER, a rancher and stock raiser of the Yellowstone valley, residing one and one-half miles southwest of Billings, was born in Barron county, Kentucky May 24, 1863, the son of John A. and Mary (Harvey) Miller, both natives of Kentucky, and both of Monroe county. The father was reared on a farm and later engaged in the furniture and undertaking business, in which he was inter- ested at the time of his death. His father came from Germany and first located in Virginia; later moving to Kentucky. He was a promin- ent and wealthy Kentucky farmer. The mother of our subject, reared on a farm, died when quite young. Her father was of Irish descent and was born in North Carolina. Her mother was of German descent, and she and her hus- band were early settlers of the state of Mary- land.
Our subject, John A. Miller, was educated in Kentucky, but at the age of seventeen he left home and went to Johnson county, Mis- souri, where he remained about one year, re- siding with his uncle, and in 1882 came to Butte, Montana, engaged in the employment of Foster & Murphy, in the grocery business. Until the spring of 1885 he remained in Butte, coming then to what is now Yellowstone county, where he worked for wages on various stock ranches. He finally purchased a ranch where he now lives, and where he has resided fourteen years.
In March, 1896, he was united in marriage to Sarah Van Houten, a sister of John Van
Houten. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have three chil- dren : Lillian, Cecil and Joseph H. Our sub- ject has one brother, William, and one sister, Mrs. Henrietta Hamilton.
Mr. Miller owns a half section, is president of the Surburban Ditch Company and is a stockholder in the creamery.
GEORGE SPROULE, a prominent farmer and stockman, residing nine miles northwest of Red Lodge, Carbon county, was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, November II, 1863. His father, Andrew J., was a native of Scotland, coming to Utah in the late 50's, where he died in 1885, aged fifty-four years. the mother, whose name was Lovatt, was born in England and married in Salt Lake. At present she is a resident of Union county, Oregon. She is now a Mrs. Stocker.
In the beautiful Salt Lake Valley our sub- ject was reared, and there secured a common school education. When fourteen years of age he left home, faced the world for himself, and came to Deer Lodge, Montana, where he worked in the construction of the Northern Pacific railroad. Following that he drifted eastward to the Black Hills, and here he passed about three years freighting. From there he came to Butte, Montana, passing six or eight months in that locality, and from there radiat- ing to different points until the spring of 1881, when he went to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and contracted timber supplies on the Canadian Pacific railroad, drifting west as far as Griffin Lake, B. C. In 1884 he abandoned railroad work and went to Vancouver, B. C., for a trip, returning to Montreal for the same pur- pose. Following a year passed in the east he went to Wyoming, where he worked for a year on the C. & N. W. At the termination of that period he returned to Butte, and finally, in 1893, came to Red Lodge, and squatted on
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his present location, containing 160 acres, and on which he has since resided. On this land he has about 120 head of cattle and horses.
In October, 1886, he was married to Miss Olivia Clark, a native of Utah. Her father, Cyrus, is still a resident of that state. The mother died some years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Sproule have four children : George, Ada, Geneva and Buelalı. Politically our subject is an Independent.
ROBERT ANDREW was born in Banf- shire, Scotland, November 15, 1853, the son of James and Jane ( Fraser) Andrew, both na- tives of the shire where our subject was born. Robert had eight brothers and four sisters, Alexander, David, and Frank came to this country and the former is now a retired stock- man at Great Falls, Montana. The early edu- cation of Mr. Andrews was rather meager as he left home at the age of thirteen, going to sea as a cabin boy. He shipped on an emi- grant vessel plying between Glasgow and New Zealand. After one year in this capacity he left the vessel at New Zealand and went to work on the Elder Lea Sheep Station, con- tinuing there until 1879. Then he sailed for San Francisco and in 1880 we find him freight- ing and farming in the Missouri valley, near where Townsend is now located. Two and one-half years later, he moved to White Sul- phur Springs, on Smith river, in partnership with the late Doctor Paibery in sheep raising and they continued together until 1887. Then he removed to Fish Creek in the Musselshell Valley and continued there for fifteen years. He first leased the Everett and Blakely ranch. known as the Antelope Sheep ranch, and later bought it together with four thousand head of sheep. In 1890, Mr. Andrew sold this prop- erty and purchased a ranch twelve miles up the river from Livingston. He still owns this ranch and also a half interest in four thousand
acres on Fish Creek. At this latter ranch he has a very large bunch of sheep and is quite extensively engaged in sheep business. In October, 1905. Mr. Andrew removed with his family to Livingston and purchased the Kaines livery barn and since that time he has given his attention personally to the conducting of this establishment, it being the largest of its kind in the state. Mr. Andrew takes great pleasure and pains in providing the finest rigs, the most trustworthy horses and careful drivers, and this is building for him a reputation among travel- ing people second to none in this part of the state.
In the fall of 1887, Mr. Andrew married Miss Ann McRae, a native of Peliehead, Scot- land. She came with her parents to Canada when young and then came west to Fish Creek in 1881, being the first white woman in that section and having come in over the first pas- senger train on the Northern Pacific to Big Timber. Hers was one of the first marriages in Musselshell valley.
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew are both members of the Presbyterian church, while politically he is a Republican. In fraternal affiliations Mr. Andrew is associated with the Knights of Pythias and the Brotherhood of American Yeo- men. He has won splendid success financially in Montana and enjoys a first-class standing in Park county as well as elsewhere wherever he is known.
DANIEL McINTOSH, a ranchman living seven miles northwest of Red Lodge, Mon- tana, was born in Bethel, Pennsylvania. April 8. 1871. His father, Henry, was a native of Scotland, born in 1830. In 1870 he came to the Keystone State, where for some years he followed coal mining. He came to Red Lodge August 3. 1889. He died January 8, 1901. The mother of our subject was Catherine ( At- chison) McIntosh, born in Scotland. She is now a resident of Red Lodge.
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Our subject is the fourth of seven children, four of whom still live. All of them, with the exception of a sister in Wyoming, make their home in Montana. Our subject was educated in Angus, Boone county, Iowa, where his par- ents had removed when he was a child. At the age of seventeen he went to work in coal mines, and this he followed until the family moved to Timber Line, Montana, in 1888. There he passed less than a year, going to Red Lodge, where he mined until 1895, and then he purchased his present ranch of 160 acres, . or, rather he bought a squatter's right and improvements. Until August 3, 1905, he re- mained on this property before he was enabled to file on it. The land is devoted mainly to hay and stock. He is able to support fifty head of stock on the land.
November 26, 1891, he was married to Jannette Hay, who, like himself. comes of Scotch parentage. She was born in Pennsyl- vania and reared in Fort Dodge. Iowa. She came to Red Lodge to visit a sister. Politically our subject is a Democrat, but not a politician in the modern acceptance of the word.
C. W. HENDERSON. The wonderful feats accomplished by the old time cowboys will never be fully told, and so astounding are many of them that their recitation brings incredulity to the hearer, yet, to those who have been through those wonderful days when men followed the trail from Old Mexico to Canada are aware of the reality of these things. What stupendous things could the stampede breakers do, and did do time and again! How the skill of man would handle and corrall the wild herds and take them to the desired points!
What wonderful experiences with wild beasts, wild herds, and wily Indians, where the sur- vival of the fittest was the law that made civil- ized man triumph! Reared in this from the time that he could steady himself in the saddle
and brought next to every kind of vicious and wild brute that roams on the plains, Mr. Hen- derson has acquired a wiliness and adroitness in handling such creatures that has given him a reputation far and near as one of the best riders that ever graced the great state of Mon- tana. His ability to conquer and tame wild horses and handle them successfully is a skill and achievement that few men acquire in this life. Perhaps the fact that he first saw the light on the broad heaving Atlantic while the scur- rying ship tossed with the hand of the rolling billow's might left an inspiration in his life that has carried him all through these days and years of restless activity safe and sound and still the master of every animal that has felt the touch of his hand. At any rate, Mr. Henderson is a type of the regular old- fashioned cowboy, fast passing away, and ex- emplifies the cunning, skill, and achievements of that most unique class in American history in no ordinary light. And, too, he may well take a pardonable pride in what he has accom- plished and today he is one of the stanch citi- zens of the county. His ranch is situated eigh- teen miles south from Birney and he devotes himself to general farming. His birth oc- curred when his parents were en route from the old country to the United States, the date being March 17, 1857. Patrick Henderson, a native of Mayo, Ireland, was his father and he was distinctly a military man, having served in the English army, being a veteran of the Rebellion, and meeting his death in the regu- lar army, Seventh Cavalry, in a skirmish with the Sioux Indians in the Black Hills. He mar- ried Emily Byrons, born in Queens county, Ireland. She was the companion of her hus- band until her death in Fort Arbuckle, Color- ado. Our subject spent his early boyhood at Fort Arbuckle in the Indian territory, and there commenced to ride as soon as he could hang on to the saddle, being about seven. He soon went to Texas with Jack' Burnett's outfit, then back to Colorado, and for four successive years
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thereafter he was regularly over the trail. Two years were spent riding to old Mexico, New Mexico and Arizona being, when seventeen, in the bloody fight with the Indians, and then he turned north till he finally landed in Cus- ter county. In 1885 he decided to remain in Montana and soon thereafter he was with the S. H. outfit breaking horses. In 1877 he was foreman of their horse outfit and after some years at that he traveled to various sections of the country. Finally in 1901 he located the ranch where he is now living and took up life as an agriculturist.
In 1894, Mr. Henderson married Miss Fannie Ebaugh, a native of Illinois and the daughter of William Ebaugh, a famous me- chanic and blacksmith in the state of Ohio. To Mr. and Mrs. Henderson one child has been born, William Patrick, and also they have one daughter, Clara Thompson, Mrs. Hender- son's daughter by a former marriage.
CHARLES MAHR, a prosperous rancher of the Yellowstone valley, and a pioneer of that territory, resides at Billings, four and one- half miles southwest of the town. He was born in New York City, November 7, 1850. His father, Conrad Mahr, a native of Ger- many, came to New York in 1831, where he worked for William Gould & Son forty-five years, and where he still lives. His mother, Mary (Ficke) Malır, was also born in Ger- many, where she married and accompanied her husband to the United States.
Our subject was educated in the excellent public schools of New York, and on leaving there May 14, 1870, went to Omaha, Nebraska, where he enlisted in Company M, Second U. S. Cavalry, under Captain Mix. He served as a soldier ten years, including his Civil War serv- ice. From Omaha he went to Fort Laramie, Wyoming, in the spring of 1874, and from there to the Black Hills in the
fall of that year, and in 1875 to Fort Waske, Wyoming. From there he came to Montana and
assisted in building Fort Custer. He would have been in the Cus- ter massacre on the Little Big Horn, liad he not been ordered back to Fort Waske, as that point had been left unprotected. He assisted in burying the dead after the battle with Sit- ting Bull on the Little Big Horn. He also as- sisted in the erection of the Custer monument. He was honorably discharged from the army at Fort Custer in 1880. He then opened a restaurant at Custer, but was subsequently burned out and lost all his property.
In January, 1888, he came to his present location in Yellowstone county, where he has a fine irrigated ranch of 125 acres.
About thirty years ago he was united in marriage to Miss Maggie Black, a native of Colorado, in which state she was reared and educated. Thence she removed to Red Canyon, in Wyoming. She was with her husband five years during the terms of his enlistment. Her father, Martin Black, was one of the pioneers in Colorado, going at an early day to U'tah. He was killed at the Mountain Meadow massacre.
Mr. and Mrs. Mahr are the parents of eight children, Ben, Charles, Harry, Conrad, George, Amelia, Emma and Mary.
Recently Mr. Mahr purchased a ranch about four miles from Bridger, in Carbon county, of this state, and he expects to move there later.
GEORGE H. PHELPS has spent a half century in the west, most of the time in what is now the state of Montana and is therefore to be classed as one of the earliest pioneers of this country. While he has followed various occupations in different places, still so much of his time has been devoted to one calling that he can most emphatically be termed a miner.
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Every phase of this calling is familiar to Mr. Phelps and he has been successful more than the ordinary man, so that now he has the priv- ilege of looking back upon a career in which has been crowded much hardship and arduous labor while at the present he can spend the golden years of his life in comfort and com- petence. George H. Phelps was born at Jerusa- lem, New York, on September 26, 1834, and now lives at Jardine, Montana. His father, John Phelps, was born in Connecticut, came to New York state and settled in 1812, served in the war of 1812 and died in New York state in 1855. He married Harriet Mahurtur, who was of Pennsylvania Dutch stock. Our subject's paternal grandfather was a native of England. George H. was educated in Bran- ford, Yates county. New York, and in 1856 the year after his father's death, being then twenty-two years of age, he started west to Wisconsin. While on a trip up the lakes the boat touched at Detroit and gave him an op- portunity to vote for James Buchanan, being allowed under provisions of the Marine Act. In the spring of 1860, he went to Colorado and three years later went to Montana, landing at Bannack, April 15. 1863. Since that time, a period of forty-three years, Mr. Phelps has been a continuous resident of Montana. He joined the stampede to Alder Gulch and was there in the palmy days of those famous dig- gings. In March, 1864, he joined the Jim Stuart expedition, which consisted of seventy-four men and while on the trip they camped at the place where Livingston now stands. The company dwindled away until there were only fifteen left, and these men prospected stream after stream but while they found colors they sel- dom found gold in sufficient quantities to pay washing. They finally circled around and struck the Yellowstone and followed it until they came to the camp at Emigrant Gulch. Mr. Phelps continued prospecting and trading un- til the fall of 1876, when he struck a lead on Bear Gulch, where Jardine is now. He has
located and sold several good claims, the last being the Revenue Mine and Millsight, for which he received sufficient to make him inde- pendent the balance of his days. So many prospectors have struggled and labored since the days of forty-nine without success suffi- cient to grant them a competence for their declining days that it is very pleasant to notice in the career of our subject that, after years of hardship, he is provided with sufficient revenue from his labors to enable him to en- joy life properly. Since 1876, Mr. Phelps has been almost continuously in Jardine or the places adjacent thereto. He was at Cook City when the noted chief Joseph went through and is familiar with all of the early history of the territory and state.
Politically he is a Republican, takes an act- ive and keen interest in all matters pertaining to the welfare of the state and is a man who has many friends.
OLE H. ARTHUN, a leading sheep- raiser of the Yellowstone valley, now resid- ing nine miles south of Absarokee, on Butcher creek, was born in Norway, in October, 1881. His father, Helmert, also a native of the same country, is a farmer still living in Norway. The mother of our subject, Margaret ( Hare) Arthun, was born in Norway where she is at present with her husband.
Until he was sixteen years of age our sub- ject remained in Norway and was there reared and educated in the public schools in his vicin- ity. In 1897 he came to the United States and pushed on to Montana, locating near Butcher creek, Carbon county, where he found employment, and saved money. With this he purchased sheep, and he now has a fine band of 1,500. On White Bird Creek he secured a homestead in 1905, but at present he makes his home with Jacob Eik, on Butcher creek.
In May, 1905, our subject was united in
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marriage to Martha Eik, born in Norway, and coming to the United States with her parents when she was two years of age. Her father, Jacob Eik, Norway born, is a prosperous ranchman in Carbon county.
GEORGE WV. CLEVELAND resides about eight miles southeast from Ekalaka, on Springbrook farm, where he is engaged in general farming. His birth occurred in Dav- enport. Iowa, on August 3. 1862. Jefferson Cleveland, his father, was born in Michigan and followed farming and railroad contract- ing until his death. He married Miss Annie Joyce, a native Kentuckyian and still living in Ekalaka. In the public schools of Sioux City, Iowa, our subject received his education and in 1877, days when the hills were infested still with Indians, our subject made his way to the Black Hills. He followed various employ- ments there, doing some freighting, until 1882. when he came on to Montana. His parents had accompanied him to the Hills, but he came alone on his first trip to Montana. He spent two years in traveling through the northwest, British Columbia, Alberta and various other parts, and finally in 1884 he came back to Mon- tana fully convinced that this is one of the best places to locate that he had found. For five years he was employed with the Deerhorn Sheep Company and was most of the time in the Sun river country. Then he returned to the Black Hills and later went on down to Nebraska. From that state he returned to Montana, settling on his present ranch. Since then he has been engaged in freighting, stock raising and farming and he has had good suc- cess in his labors. He has a good ranch and the improvements represent his hard labor and skill.
In 1889 occurred the marriage of Mr. Cleveland and Miss Mattie Miller, the daugh- ter of B. H. and Lucy (Paine) Miller, who
now reside in Hazelton, Iowa. The children born to this union are: Inez, Grover, George, Chauncey, Warren, Kyle, James, Frank, and Wealthy Fern. The first child was born in South Dakota, the second in Nebraska, the third in South Dakota, and the others all in Montana.
Mr. Cleveland is a distant relative of the well known statesman and ex-president of the United States, Grover Cleveland. He has shown himself a worthy pioneer of Montana and is among that class who have always done their part to move things to better improve- ment and advancement.
ROBERT O. MORRIS, one of the prom- inent ranchmen and leading citizens of the at- tractive Yellowstone valley, and well and fav- orably known throughout the community, re- siding at Roscoe, Carbon county, was born near Bradford, Pennsylvania, March 9, 1850. His father. William, was a native of the Em- pire State, going thence to Pennsylvania when a boy. They settled upon a farm on which he died. The mother, Eliza (Semans) Mor- ris, was born in Westfield, Pennsylvania.
Reared on a farm and educated in the pub- lic schools of his vicinity, in the Keystone State, our subject at the age of twenty-four years, entered the oil fields of the state on their first discovery. It is to be noted that this important "find" occurred on his father's place. He began rigg building, and worked up in every branch of the oil industry. In 1883 he came to Montana, locating twelve miles above Livingston, on the Yellowstone. In August, 1886, he went on the Rosebud river, within four miles of his present home. He was the first white settler on the Rosebud, and it was still an Indian reservation when he came there, remaining so . until 1892. He farmed and became one of the most extensive stock- men of this vicinity. He began locating oil
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lands in 1904, and formed a company to drill for the same, the Rosebud Oil Company. For this company he has located 1,500 acres. Al- though a corporation they have so far never elected officers, and our subject is the principal monied man in the enterprise, with which there are nine interested. December 1, 1904, they began drilling for oil, sinking 1,250 feet, when they lost their tools in the well. A new well was begun in December, 1905, and this is about 550 feet down, and oil has been struck. It is not yet in paying quantities, but is im- proving with depth.
In 1885 our subject was married to Nancy E. George, a native of Missouri, who came to Montana at an early day. Her father, John P., was a native of Germany; her mother, Sarah (Stewart) George, was born in Ken- tucky. Our subject's wife was married be- fore she became Mrs. Morris. She is highly esteemed in the community in which she re- sides. She is fond of horseback riding, and Roscoe postoffice was named after one of her favorite saddle horses.
GEORGE W. WELCOME. deceased. George W. Welcome was born June 17, 1853. at Prescott, New York, and died September 10. 1905, at Livingston, Montana. He was a pioneer of Montana and did much work for the development of the country and the ad- vancement of the state. He was well known as an aggressive, reliable and capable man. His father, Lewis Welcome, was born in Canada and married a Montana lady. George W. Wel- come at the home place received his education until eighteen when he traveled west to Min- nesota and settled first in St. Paul. Later, he moved to Donley and in 1878 opened a general merchandise store in that place. Three years later he came west, securing several contracts on the Northern Pacific. At the same time, he operated a restaurant in Billings. Later
he moved to Livingston, getting there before the railroad came in and opened a restaurant and a saloon and remained in this business until he was burned out in 1889. Then he moved to Horr, opening a hotel. In 1900 he removed to Jardine and built two stores and a saloon, also becoming interested in mining. In the same year, 1900, he sold the Keats mine to H. Bush, which was one of the first properties developed in the district.
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