An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 105

Author: Miller, Joaquin, 1837-1913. cn
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis pub. co.
Number of Pages: 1216

USA > Montana > An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 105

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Soon after he landed in New York Mr. Temple secured a position as elerk, and subsequently was in business for himself there. In 1857 he removed to St. Louis, and was engaged in business in that city until the Civil war broke ont. While in New York, in 1851, he had married Miss Elizabeth Josephine Moultona, a native of that city and a daughter of Irish parents, and in 1861, accompanied by his wife, he crossed the plains with a mule team to Colo- rado. Upon his arrival there he located in Central City. For two years he was engaged in freighting. In 1863, laying in a sufficient supply of provisions to last them a year, he fitted out an ox team and came to Montana- There were fifteen well-armed men in the company with which he traveled, and, although they were troubled by the Indians to some extent, they succeeded in making the journey in safety, and on the 3d of August landed at Al- der Gulch.

Arrived in Montana, Mr. Temple at once engaged in mining and met with a good degree of success. He em- ployed as high as twenty-two men in his claim and in three years took out about $50,000. After that he pur- chased the ranch on which he has since resided, 320 aeres, located three miles west of Sheridan. His principal farm produets have been hay, grain and stock. Some of his first crops were destroyed by grasshoppers, but by per- severing industry and economy he was finally prospered, and now in his old age is comfortably situated. The little log cabin that was on the ranch when he purchased it gave way in 1874 to a more comfortable log house, and in 1881 he built the frame dwelling in which he now re- sides.

Mr. and Mrs. Temple became the parents of one child, Mary Jane, born in New York. She is now the wife of Iliram Brundridge, and resides in California. Mrs. Tem- ple's death occurred in California, January 4, 1893. On account of her failing health Mr. Temple had taken her to that sunny land, hoping that a change of climate would be beneficial, but it proved of no avail and she died there. Ilis home is now presided over by Mrs. Ann Frew, daugh-

This knowledge of glaciers would explain many puzzling problems about "bed-rocks," " bars," " cross channels" and "ancient rivers."

On the supposition that the gold was brought down by streams of water, it is difficult to ex- plain how so much of it got upon high bars and why the most of it was left on the north and

ter of Hiram Brundridge and widow of William R. Frew. Mr. Frew died August 10, 1892, leaving her with five chil- dren, William R., Ellen, May, Alice and George Kenneth, all of whom make their home with Mr. Temple.

Mr. Temple was reared an Episcopalian, and is a mem- ber of the church at Sheridan. In polities he has always been a Democrat. During the excitement caused by the road agents at Alder Gulch in an early day, Mr. Temple allied himself with the Vigilants and did his part toward putting a stop to the murders and robberies that were being committed. He was a witness to the hanging of seven of the desperadoes. By his kind heart, his genial manner and his many sterling traits of character he has won the respeet and esteem of all who know him.

B. F. SEC, one of the prominent farmers and stock raisers of the Bitter Root valley, and a Montana pioneer of 1864, was born in Marion county, Missouri, November 22, 1829, being of German descent. Ifis ancestors located in Virginia, in the Colonial days. George See, the great- great-grandfather of our subjeet, served in the Revolu- tionary war, and lived to attain the age of 105 years. The paternal lineage down to our subject have been natives of Virginia, and is recorded as follows: Great-grandfather, George See; grandfather, Frederick See; and father, George Sec. The last named moved to Missouri in 1826, and was there married in that year, to Malinda Garner, a native of Kentucky and a daughter of John Garner, one of the early pioneers of that State. Mr. and Mrs. Sec reared, in Missouri, a family of nine children, six of whom still survive. The father died in 1885, at the age of sixty- seven years, and his widow departed this life two years afterward.

Benjamin Franklin Sec, our subject, received his educa tion in the private schools. In May, 1850, he erossed the plains with ox teams to California, and, although many of the emigrants that year were troubled with the In- dians, the party of which he was a member arrived safely at their destination on August 20th, of the same year. Mr. See began the life of a miner in El Dorado county, and in 1851 was a member of a company who, at a great expense, tried to dam the Mokelumne river, but were unsuccessful. Afterremaining in California eleven years he returned to Missouri, with only a few hundred dollars, but with much experience. He was there married Jan- uary 31, 1861, to Miss Margaret Jones, a daughter of Calvin Jones, a native of Kentucky. In the spring of 1864, a son, Franklin, was born to them in that State.

With his wife and child Mr. See again made the trip across the plains with ox teams, At the Platte river the

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east sides of gulches; but these are just the places where glaciers would melt most and leave most of their freight. When we remember that a glacier is a river of ice running very slow, that speed is nothing when we have time enough, that these rivers of ice have frozen into them the loose rocks along their courses, that they

Indians succeeded in stealing the horses of the entire company, but the trip was made in safety with ox teams, and they arrived in Virginia City, Montana, in the month of August. With a number of others Mr. Sec went to the Big Hole river, purchased 160 acres of land, erected a cabin, and began life in the wilds of Montana. They were thirty-five miles from Virginia City, where they secured their supplies. He sold hay at that place for $50 a ton. In the spring of 1865, at the outbreak of the Last Chance Gulch excitement, Mr. Sec engaged in freighting to that place and also conducted a dairy, receiving $1.50 per gallon for his milk and $1.50 per pound for butter. He received from $12 to $25 a day for hauling freight. In the following July he went to the Blackfoot country, purchased a claim on Carpenter's Bar, afterward sold the same for $75 and resumed the freighting and dairy busi- ness. Hle next followed mining at Washington Gulch, and during the following winter was engaged in hunting deer in Boulder valley. On one occasion he saw ap- proaching him six deer, at which he shot, but missed his aim. The deer lay down in the brush, and by walking around on the bluff above them he succeeded in shooting the entire number, having used only a small squirrel gun. In the following spring Mr. See returned to California Gulch, where he again resumed dairying and freighting. The miners made him the custodian of their gold dust, and at one time there was more gold in his cabin than one man could carry. In 1867 he located on a ranch in the Bitter Root valley, where he was among the very first settlers, and where at that time the Flathead Indians were plentiful, but not troublesome. Mr. Sec found a ready sale for his products at Helena and Virginia City, but after remaining there twelve years he gave the ranch to his son Franklin, and purchased his present farm on Skalkaho river. He now owns 400 acres of fine farming land, where, in addition to general farming he raises a fine grade of Short-horn cattle and Norman horses. In 1883 he built a good residence on his place, where the pioneer now resides with his family in the enjoyment of well-earned peace and plenty. Mr. Sec still owns an interest in the Mineral Hill, Moss Back, Lent and Arkax- sas mines, which contain gold and silver. They assay as high as $27 in gold and $60 in silver to the ton. Oar subject is also the owner of the Eureka Hot Springs, Io- cated ten miles above Grantsdlale, on the Sleeping Child creek. The curative properties of the waters of these springs have been tested and are considered of great value in a remedial way.

were at times hundreds and thousands of feet deep, that as they slid along they would break off projecting rocks and grind all beneath them to powder, that they would carry along with them everything ground and unground and de- posit them wherever the ice of the glacier melted, we have important facts to help in min-

Mr. and Mrs. Sec have had nine children born to them in Montana, as follows: Samuel Clay, William, Henry D., George C., Maggie, Mary, Alice, Kittie and Armstrong Custer. Mr. Sec has lent a willing hand in all enterprises for the benefit of the county. When the Indians made the raid on the settlers of the Bitter Root valley, he was not slow to volunteer with his neighbors for the protec- tion of their homes, and was at the Lo Lo to aid in a fight with the Nez Perces. The prompt action taken by the settlers turned the Indians aside, and averted the danger. In his early history Mr See was a Whig; afterward be- came a stanch Democrat, but recently, not being pleased with the actions of his party on the silver question, joined the ranks of the People's party. Ile has acquired a good reputation for integrity, has the respect and good-will of all old Montana pioneers, and is well and favorably known in the entire Bitter Root valley.

HIORACE AGARD SHOEMAKER, of Billings, is a native of "York State" and a lineal descendant of the Thurston family, who trace their ancestry back hundreds of years, in European countries. and whose family tree has pro- duced many individuals prominent in religions, educa- tional, political and medical branches in the old countries, and later many eminent men and women in the United States. Mr. Shoemaker is a man of fine physique, genial in social life, well educated and has that peculiar mag- netism that wins friendship readily. He quickly reads personal characteristics in the expression of a stranger, is a gentleman of warm friendly attachments and very determined in his convictions, a devont advocate of morals, temperate in his habits and uncompromising in his oppo- sition to evil in all its phases.

Ilis mother, whose name before marriage was Mariah Thurston, was a daughter of Levi and Abigail (Newton) Thurston, of Nichols, New York, and born in Keene, New Hampshire, May 19, 1797, and was married to Dan- iel McDowell Shoemaker, November 24, 1818, in Owego, New York. Her husband was born at Water Gap, Del- aware county, Pennsylvania, February 24, 1795, a son of Daniel and Anna ( McDowell) Shoemaker, of Shrouds- burg, same State. He was a farmer and later resided in Nichols, New York, where he died November 26, 1873; and she died December 26, 1874, -- both earnest and effi- cient workers in the Methodist Church. He was Steward and Clerk of the Board of Church Trustees of the Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church for forty years, which church edifice he was the chief mover in building, in 1824. His house was the Methodist itinerant's home. The first

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ing. Hence the botilders, gravels, sands and gold are found on the bars and benches, and in the gulches where they opened out into valleys; for there the glaciers would melt and drop their loads. The ice would melt most on the north and east sides of the glaciers, where the sun strikes the warmest on the mountain sides op-

quarterly meeting on his circuit was held in his large corn honse, and at his residence sixty dined and forty staid over night! Going thirty miles in a big wagon or on horseback to attend such meetings was common in those days. With the hard work of spinning for the manufacture of all the sheets used in domestic life and of all the wearing apparel for the family, the scouring of floors, etc., it is no wonder that the mother became an in- valid long before her death.

Their children were four in number, as follows:

Iliram Warner Shoemaker, born February 5, 1819, mar- ried October 25, 1850, to Ellen Scott; was Sheriff of Tioga county, New York, four years; also express messenger and mail agent, and gained credit in all the positions he held.

Elizabeth Nyce Shoemaker, born June 21, 1821, taught school for twenty years, and married, November 24. 1878, Rev. Francis M. Chubbuck, of Hooper's Valley, New York, who was born in Orwell, Pennsylvania, March 16, 1813. IIe served under General Banks in the late Civil war, and died May 15, 1890.

Lyman Thurston Shoemaker, the youngest child, born in 1833, married Elizabeth Little, of Kingston, Wyoming valley, Pennsylvania, in 1857, leaving two daughters, Ellen Reeves, of Port Jervis, New York, and Elouise Carlisle, of Brooklyn, same State. For sixteen years be- fore his death, in 1874, at Port Jervis, he was a scientific engineer, running between Port Jervis and Jersey City.

Ilorace Agard Shoemaker, born February 22, 1831, ed- ucated at Wyoming Seminary, was connected with the Erie Railroad and North Branch Canal for fifteen years, generally in the capacity of civil engineer; an intelligent, scientific farmer now in Nichols, Tioga county, New York; an educated Methodist and a prominent corres- pondent for various periodicals. Hle spent eighteen months surveying a railway line from Columbia, South Carolina, into the mountains of east Tennessee, whence he was recalled to the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railway by Superintendents Post and Riddle, and placed in charge of filling Cascade Gulf, between Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, and Deposit, New York. IIe remained with the Erie company fifteen years, always holding re- sponsible positions. IIe was married October 8, 1856, to Esther Lyons Comfort, who was born February 15, 1834, a daughter of James and Mary (McKune) Comfort, of Ilarmony, Pennsylvania. She was educated at Wyoming (Pennsylvania) Seminary, taught school several years and was an earnest Christian, and died February 7, 1891. Their children are three in number, viz .:

posite; and there they would drop the most gold, as we find it in Montana. There are ex- ceptions, easily accounted for by the shape of the gulches.

Glaciers were the mills of God which ground out the gold of most of our placers. They ground slow but they ground on and on through

Iliram Ralph Shoemaker, A. M., who was born May 30, 1859, graduated in the classical course in the Potsdam State Normal and Training School in 1879, and as A. B. at Syracuse University in 1884; ordained Deacon at Can- adaigua, New York, October 10, 1886, and became a mem- ber of the Central New York Methodist Conference, same year, at Mottville, New York; married, December 29, 1886, to Margaret Katherine Schneider, who was born October 6, 1863. a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Zae- ger) Schneider, of Syracuse, New York; their children are Esther E., born April 22, 1888; and Caroline M., born February 27, 1890.

George Winthrop Shoemaker, who was born in Owego, New York, June 8, 1862, graduated in the four-years classical course in the Potsdam State Normal and Train- ing School in 1883, and is now a physician and druggist in Billings, Montana. For many years he was a prom- inent edneator in his native State, was principal of the Academy in Port Jervis, New York, in 1883-84, and in Montana was the principal of the Billings schools for two years, and forced to give up teaching on account of im- paired health. He was married June 26, 1886, to Alice G. Swift, who was born December 19, 1864, in Potsdam, New York; she also is a graduate of the State Normal and Training School, at that place. Their children are Har- old, Ralph, Ilorace A., Jr., Martha G. and Gertrude E.

Martha Elizabeth Shoemaker, born in Owego, New York, October 2, 1864, graduated in two courses at the State Normal and Training School at Potsdam, and is now principal of the high school at Bozeman, Montana. She also has taught at Billings, this State, and in Wind- sor, Broome county, Middleburg, Schoharie county, El- mira and Rochelle, New York, and in Mont Clair, New Jersey. She was nominated by the Republican party in September, 1894, for the office of Superintendent of Schools, for Yellowstone county, Montana, for a two-year term, and the prospects are bright for her election, for she naturally has superior talents as a teacher and as a social entertainer, making all her pupils her permanent friends,

WILLIAM ZOSEL, one of the prominent farmers and horse-raisers of Deer Lodge county, Montana, and now a resident of Deer Lodge, was born in Saxony, Germany, in 1850.

His parents, William and Caroline (Digh) Zosel, emi- grated with their family to America in 1855. The father was a manufacturer of linen cloth in the old country, but after coming to America settled on a farm in Missouri and now resides at Canton, that State, he and his wife being

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countless ages, and our placers are their tail- ings. We, however, have some placers not produced by glaciers. The Nevada creek placer mines are a noted example of placers produced by the ordinary action of weather and water. They extend along the base of the mountain for miles, and were formed by the decomposition of

each about seventy years of age. At the time they left Germany their family consisted of five children, William being the third, and afterward four other children were born to them. All are still living except one.

William was reared on his father's farm in Missouri, remaining at home until six months before he attained his majority, his educational advantages being somewhat limited. After leaving home he secured employment as a farm hand, at first receiving $20 per month and board, and later having his wages increased to $25. In 1872 he came to Montana, in company with William Biggs, bring- ing in a herd of cattle for John S. Pemberton and R. S. Kelly, for whom he worked the first winter, at $40 per month, boarding himself. From the fall of 1873 he was foreman of the Pemberton horse and cattle ranch until he began business for himself, receiving $100 a month.

In 1879 he returned East, and on the 18th of December married Miss Lonise Iletzler, a native of Canton, Mis- souri. Immediately after his marriage he brought his wife to Montana and filed a homestead claim for 160 acres of railroad land, five miles and a half east of Deer Lodge. On this tract of land they built a little home and began life independently. He raised grain on his own land, and on the free range near by he kept his horses and cattle, and as the years rolled by his honest industry was rewarded with success. Soon he turned his attention to raising fine trotting horses, in which he has met with excellent suc- cess, selling his colts for from $100 up to $500 each.

Mr. Zosel and his partner, Mr. John Randolph, located a number of mines. The Carbonite Extension they sold for $10,000, and the Bonanza, a good silver property, Mr. Zosel still owns. Their mines are located in what is called the Zosel district because of its proximity to his farm.

In 1892 Mr. Zosel built a nice residence in Deer Lodge, where he and his family have since lived, he having moved to town in order to secure good educational ad- vantages for his children. His family is composed of nine bright and interesting children, all born in Montana except Mattie E., who was born in Canton, Missouri, in 1884, their names being as follows: Clara L., Alma May, Mattie E., Mary Belle, John D., William II., Louis C., Charles P. and Annie Marguerette.

Mr. Zosel's parents are members of the Lutheran Church, in which faith they reared their children, and he and his wife are both members of this church. He is also identified with the I. O. O. F. and the A. O. U. W. Politically he is quite independent in his views.

the granite which forms the slopes of the monn- tain. This granite is full of gold veins and is itself rich in gold, and decomposes rapidly ; and the materials are washed down by rains and snow. The gold is found in all parts of it from grass roots to bed-rock. Gold is also found in the sands of streams which have been washed

JACOB E. VAN GUNDY, a prominent citizen of Deer Lodge and a Montana pioneer of 1865, dates his birth at Cincinnati, Ohio, October 9, 1834.

Mr. Van Gundy is of French and German descent. Ilis father, Christian Von Gundy, was born in Alsace, France (now a part of Germany) in 1779, and was married in that country to Miss Catharine Ringenberg, a native of the same town in which he was born. In 1829 they emi- grated to America, bringing with them their only child, Joseph. They rented a small farm of twenty-five acres, near the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, and the father was en- gaged in farming there up to 1840, at which time he found the farm too small to rendera support to his family, and moved to Campbell connty, Kentucky, where he pur- chased a much larger farm. On this property he resided up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1854, in the seventy-fifth year of his age.

Jacob E. Van Gundy was thirteen years of age when his mother died, and after her death he returned to Cincinnati to live with a married sister, and attended school there for a time. When seventeen years of age he began life on his own account as a farm hand at $9 per month, and continned farm work until he was twenty. In 1855 he went to California, making the trip by way of the isthmus of Panama and landing at San Francisco, from which port he went direct to the gold diggings in Sierra county. After mining a short time, and being unsuccessful, he secured a clerkship in a store and continued there until 1862. At that time he went to Washoe, Nevada, on a prospecting tour, after which he prospected for silver leads and tried quartz mining in Humboldt county, Nevada. Not meeting with snecess at that place, next we find him in October, 1864, at Silver City, Idaho, working for Marion Moore and Colonel Fagus, on the Oro Fino quartz mines, at $3 per day and board.

In April, 1865, he and six others fitted up a pack train of horses and started for Montana, making the journey along Snake river, and keeping guard every night to protect themselves from the hostile Indians. The his- tory of Mr. Van Gundy's early life in Montana is not unlike that of many other pioneers of the State -- going from camp to camp, lured on with the prospect of striking a rich find, and seemingly never discouraged. He first went to Virginia City, from there to Helena, and then to the Blackfoot country, finally locating a claim, from which, in the language of the miner, he made " grub." William Cherry and John Ulery were his c ).n-

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away from the places where the glaciers depos- ited it. There are golden sands and gravels thousands of miles away from all veins of gold. A few years since a great excitement was cre- ated in Missouri by the discovery of gold in the drift gravels of that State. Two years ago a company was formed to work a similar deposit in Dakota. Such deposits, so far away from the

panions at this time. He afterward owned other claims at various points, and continued mining without any very great success until December, 1869, when, as the ex- posure and hard work were making inroads upon his health, he was obliged to give up mining. Ilis next venture was in a saloon business at Beartown, where he bought out James Talbott's establishment for $700. In four days from that time came the Cedar creek stampede and all who could left Beartown. Thus Mr. Van Gundy soon found himself $1,500 in debt and had every reason to be discouraged. While he was making preparations to leave in August of the same year, the tide turned, and Beartown enjoyed another season of prosperity; so that by November of that same year he was not only able to pay his bills but also had $1,200 in cash. He continued in business there until 1873, when he sold out and paid $1,600 for a mining elaim in Phelan Gulch, which he operated during the summer of 1874 with fair success and for some time thereafter.

In the spring of 1874 Mr. Van Gundy formed a part- nership with Robert Fenner and established the Western Brewery at Deer Lodge. This partnership lasted until May 1, 1881, when our subjeet purchased Mr. Fenner's interest. The following year he made extensive improve- ments in the brewery and continued the business on a larger scale, selling his produet in Butte City and Ana- conda, as well as at Deer Lodge. In 1886 be sold a half interest in the establishment to Mr. Miller. In 1892 he leased Mr. Miller's interest, and has since been operating the brewery alone, finding a ready market for his beer in his home town and the various towns along the Northern Pacific Railroad.

Mr. Van Gundy is still interested in mining operations, having invested largely in this enterprise. Among other mines in which he is interested is the Mammoth quartz mine, which is said to be of great value. Mr. Van Gundy is also deeply interested in the material improve- ment of the town in which he lives. In 1887 he built a fine briek block, 46 x 80 feet, two stories, and located in the center of the business portion of the town. The first floor is used for business purposes and the upper story is elegantly finisbed and furnished and occupied by the West Side Club. He also built the comfortable and at- tractive residence here which he and his family occupy.

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An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 105

Author: Miller, Joaquin, 1837-1913. cn Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis pub. co. Number of Pages: 1216

Author: Miller, Joaquin, 1837-1913. cn
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis pub. co.
Number of Pages: 1216