An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 14

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 14

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

mining, a sort of a half-way line between these two, was very perilous. But these bold and en- during men had come to California for a pur- pose, and when the gold had gone from the sur- face of the earth and down beyond the reach of the great hydraulics to some extent, they did not hesitate for a single day to follow it down, down, down to where the heat is so considerable to-day in some places that even the miner can hardly endure to lay his hand upon the rocky floors and

JOSEPH C. TEMPLETON, B. S., Professor of Science and Mathematics in Montana University, is a native of the State of Missouri, his birth occurring May 6, 1858.

Professor Templeton is of Scotch descent. As early as 1730 some of his ancestors emigrated from Scotland to this country and settled in Pennsylvania and South Carolina, heing among the first settlers of the latter State. They were prominently identified with the early history of the Colonies and were participants in the Revolution and also in the war of 1812. In the latter war our subject's grandfather was wounded. His father, John Wesley Templeton, was born in North Carolina in February, 1820; and his mother, whose maiden name was Mary Frances Crittenden, was a native of Virginia, her grandfather, Pryor Crittenden, having been a Revolutionary soldier. The Crittendens were of English origin, but came from the north of Ireland to Virginia at an early date. Pro- fessor Templeton's father was by occupation a farmer and merchant, and his life was one that was in every way above reproach. Both he and his wife were earnest Christians and were devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which church the Templetons have belonged for many years. He died in 1889, in his sixty- ninth year ; his wife in 1892, in her sixty-fifth year. Their family was composed of three daughters aud two sons, the son Joseph C. being the third born.

In the academy at Elkton, Kentucky, Professor Tem- pleton received his early education. He hegan teaching in the country schools in 1876, and taught school and went to school alternately for several years. Then he entered the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, where he graduated in 1885 with the degree of B. S. After his graduation he accepted the position of assistant teacher of mathematics in Glasgow Normal Col- lege, Kentucky, and soon was promoted to teach the class of higher mathematics. He continued thus occu- pied for two years and a half. Then he resigned his po- sition there in order to come to Montana and take charge of the Miles City public schools. He was at the head of the public schools in Miles City from January, 1888, until 1890, at which time he came to Helena to take the Pro- fessorship of Natural Science and Higher Mathematics in the Montana University, which was then just starting.

walls of his sombre world. Of the thousands and tens of thousands who thus boldly descended into the earth, how few now survive! Only a solitary man in each ten thousand I should say ever came up and back to the world with the coveted gold on his broad shoulders. When yon look you find such types of physical and mental strength as John Mckay, Senator Hearst, Senator Stewart, Senator Jones, all old miners who have come back to ns up ont of the earth,

Ile and Mrs. Cummins, also a professor of the university, now have the entire management of the inside work of the school.

From the time of teaching his first school when a hoy up to the present time, Professor Templeton has been constantly studying or teaching. As the years passed by and he graduated in the National Normal University, one of the greatest educational institutions in the country, he became an enthusiast in his profession and has not been satisfied with anything less than the best methods of reaching, to which he has given so much study. For sev- eral years he has been a very efficient worker in teachers' institutes and has been highly complimented for his en- thusiastic efforts in this line. A prominent educator said of him: "Professor Templeton is fully abreast with the current of educational thought. He is a gentleman, a scholar and a Christian, and, what is no less to the point in his relations with his fellow man, he so impresses all with whom he comes in contact. As a gentleman, he is courteous, discreet, refined, tactful ; as a scholar, thorough, progressive, cultured, enthusiastic; as a Christian, earn- . est, consistent, manly." The above, coming from one who is thoroughly acquainted with the Professor and who is a close observer, serves as a most excellent index to his character and stamps him as a man most eminently fitted for the high profession which he has chosen for his life work. Professor Templeton has been very successful in the lecture field. Among his popular lectures are the fol- lowing: "Social Fog and Sunshine," "Victor Hugo," "Thomas Carlisle," "Lord Tennyson."

In 1886 Professor Templeton married Miss Margaret Enlow, a native of Bridgeport, Ohio, and a daughter of John Enlow, a merchant of Bridgeport. They have three children, Eugene, Joseph Tower and Ruric Ruskin.

Professor Templeton is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and is, in politics, a Prohibitionist. IIe has made some speeches in favor of the principles of his party, aud was its candidate for Lieutenant Governor of the State of Montana. It was, however, reluctantly that he accepted the nomination, as he was opposed to having a State ticket and did not canvass the State, but is a thor- ough temperance man and would do anything to aid in successfully wiping out the great evil. Since coming to Montana he has made some inves ments in miues.

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

our old men now. Look upon them with your hat in your hand. They are our heroes, our very few survivors; they and a gray old com- rade here and there along the foothills of the Sierras, or blown at rare intervals up and down the world, are all that is left to all now of our sixty times six hundred who descended into the earth a quarter of a century ago and battled there for years.

" My own experience in the underground world of California was brief and bitter; so bit-

GEO. L. TRACY, a representative Helena business man, was born in Utica, New York, in 1844. lle is a descend- ant of the Norwich, Connecticut, family of Tracys. They came West in 1855, and he secured his business education in Chicago, first in the old house of H. W. Hinsdale & Company, and later was with Reid, Murdoch & Fischer. For twenty-eight years he was a commercial traveler.

In 1819 Mr. Tracy came to Montana as a pioneer rep. resentative of a Chicago house, and for nine years traveled through Montana and other portions of the Northwest and became thoroughly acquainted with every business, house of any note throughout this part of the country. In 1887 he established his present business at Helena. Since that date he has handled all kinds of groceries at whole- sale direct from the manufacturers, importers and pack- ers to his customers in Montana, Idaho and eastern Washington. He has offices in Helena, Butte and Spo- kane, in charge of competent salesmen, and covers the whole country by traveling men. From the start his business has been a success. He is widely and favorably known throughout the States mentioned and has by the most honorable business methods secured the good will of the people with whom he has so long dealt.

Mr. Tracy is a thorough business man, a courteous and agreeable gentleman, and is a Knight Templar and Thirty-second Degree Scottish Rite Mason.

THOMAS E. CRUTCHER, an attorney of Helena, is a na tive of Kentucky, born February 22, 1839, in Hardin county. His ancestors emigrated from Wales to the col- ony of Virginia in the seventeenth century. James Crutcher, the great-grandfather of the subject of our sketch, emigrated from Virginia to Kentucky shortly after the close of the Revolutionary war, two of his sons, Anthony and John, having fought in that war. John, the younger of the two, lived to the age of ninety-one, and is well remembered by our subject. Isaac, one of the younger sons of James Crutcher and the grandfather of Thomas E., was boru in Kentucky, as was also his son, Burr H., the father of Thomas E. His mother, whose name before marriage was Hester Brandenburg, was a descendant of the noble family of that name in Germany. Her ancestors were also early settlers in Virginia, whence

ter that reason was almost overthrown, and I dwell upon it now only with pain and terror. " In the winter of 1854 I was employed to push a tub along a wooded track underground. It was a new tunnel; everything about it new, experimental. The mouth of the low, narrow tunnel opened ont toward the sun and the swift, clear Klamath river. I was employed because I was so small. The two men worked on their kness and breasts. On the fifth day the hillside slid in and one of the men was crushed. The

the family removed to Kentucky. The subject of our sketch was the sixth of eleven children born to Burr H. Crutcher and Hester, nee Brandenburg, his wife, only five of whom are now living. His mother died in the fall of 1857, aged seventy-nine years. His father is still living. at the age of eighty-nine.

Our subject was reared to manhood in his native State, prepared for college under a private tutor, and grad- uated at Centre College in his native State, in the class of 1861, just at the breaking out of the great civil war. His sympathies from the beginning were strongly with the South, but out of deference to the wishes of his father, who was an intense Unionist, he refrained from taking part in the struggle until 1864, becoming a member of Cowan's Mississippi battery, and giving his support to the South- ern cause until the conflict was ended. Among the en- gagements in which he participated were those of Frank- lin and Nashville, escaping without a wound.

After the war he resumed the study of law, which he had begun previous to his enlistment in the army, and in 1867 was admitted to the bar, having been pardoned by President Andrew Johnson in 1866, and restored to all civil and political rights. He began his professional career in Kentucky, practicing at Owensboro in that State, and while there was elected City Attorney of Owensboro, in which capacity he served two years. He resigned his po- sition there and removed to Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1873, at which place he was married to Miss Alice O. Balfour, a direct descendant of Col. Felix Oswald of Rev. olutionary fame. lle acquired a lucrative practice in Vicksburg, taking but little part in politics, thongli he was elected a delegate to the national Democratic con- vention which met in St. Louis in 1888. His health fail- ing him in Mississippi, he removed to Helena in 1889 arriving here during the time the constitutional conven- tion was in session, where he has since continued his practice.

In 1893 he was elected Judge of the Police Court of the city of Ilelena. He is a member of Knights of Pythias and Elks and several other benefit societies. While at Vicksburg he served as Vestryman for several years of the Episcopal Church, and is a member of that church in IIelena.

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

water came in. My head was caught up be- tween two timbers, lifting my face above the water. I could hear the man groaning, till the water reached where he lay-then was the end. But as one of the men was out of the tunnel getting timbers and I happened to be near the month of the tunnel with my tub at the time of the slide, I was dng ont by the man who escaped

EDWARD WONES KNIGHT, second vice-president of the First National Bank of Helena, and one of the represent- ative business men of this city, was born in Madison county, Indiana, May 21, 1838, a lineal descendant of James Knight, who landed at Plymouth in the Mayflower, The Knights were among the early settlers of Frederick and Baltimore, Maryland, and Mr. Knight's brauch of the family later became settlers in Kentucky, Mississippi and Indiana. Among them were men of integrity and worth who were connected with all the early history of the country. Mr. Knight's father, Henry William Knight, was born in Brookville, Indiana, in 1812; was married in 1834 to Miss Mary E. Martin, a native of Lawrenceburg, Indiana, born in 1818. They became the parents of six children, Edward W. being the second child and oldest sou. The mother died in her thirty-second year, and the father lived to be sixty-two. Both were worthy members of the Presbyterian Church, and for many years he car- ried on a hardware and tin business.

During the early boyhood days of Edward W. Knight his parents resided in Louisville, Kentucky, where he re- ceived his academic education, and where he was for a time employed as bookkeeper in a bank. Later, having inherited from his mother several thousand acres of land in Virginia and Kentucky, the care and disposal of this property led him into a study of law, particularly in land cases. He was for two years engaged in making disposi- tion of this property, and in the meantime he read law under the instructions of Judge Hanser, of Kentucky. After this he continued his studies under a Scotch bar- rister and banker, and became interested in the purchase of a large quantity of school land in Wisconsin. In 1858 he began a regular law course at Louisville, Kentucky, and after completing it he entered upon the practice of his profession.

In 1859 Mr. Knight was married at Falmouth, Ken- tneky, to Miss Theodosia Hauser, a native of that place and daughter of Hon. Samuel T. Hauser. For a time after their marriage he resided on a farm near the city, and practiced law in that circuit. Later he became in_ terested in the organization of the First National Bank of Helena, and in 1873 he came to Helena to aid in its management. Up to 1876 he served in the capacity of bookkeeper and assistant teller, and from 1876 up to the present time he has filled the position of cashier in the institution While residing at Falmouth he served two terms as Mayor of the city. Upon his arrival in Montana

on the same day. I set this down as one exam- ple in a thousand that almost any surviving miner might narrate from his underground life in California. But it was from these small be- ginnings that the great hydraulics, tunnels, drifts, shifts, and underground cities of California and Nevada grew. It is some comfort however to know that experience and improved machinery

he at once became identified with her growth and de- velopment and has embraced every opportunity offered to that end. While so doing he has acquired a very wide and favorable acquaintance, his reputation extending throughout the whole State. He has the honor of having been the second Mayor of Helena. He has been for many years a member of the Board of Education, and while acting in that capacity has had much to do with shaping the educational affairs of the city, the educa- tional standard and advantages of Helena being equal to any of the Western cities. He helped to organize the first electric-light company, of which he was elected president, and he also aided in the organization of the Board of Trade. He is now a stockholder in the present electric light and gas company in the city.

Politically, Mr. Knight has affiliated with the Demo- cratic party all his life. He is not, however, au active politician, and has never been an office-seeker, but was in 1893 one of the Commissioners of Lewis and Clarke county, aud is chairman of the board. Both he and his wife have long been prominent members of the Presby- terian Church, he having served the church in various official capacities as well as having been for ten or twelve years the efficient Sabbath-school superintendent. He was made a Master Mason about the time he reached his majority and has been an enthusiastic Mason ever since, giving much of his time and attention to the order. He has advanced in its mysteries until he is now a Knight Templar in the York rite and has attained the thirty- second degree in the Scottish rite. IIe is Past Eminent Commander of Sir Knight Templars. He is also a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, a member of the Benevolent Order of Elks and the K. of P.

Mr. and Mrs. Knight have had eight children, of whom five are living, namely: Edward W., Jr., a graduate of Booneville College, Missouri, and now occupying the position of receiving teller in the First National Bank of Helena; T. H., a business man of Helena; Stella, wife of Herbert Nickerson, a business mau of Helena; Henry W., a student in the Military Academy of Missouri; and Barbara P., a member of the home circle. They occupy one of the most delightful homes in the beautiful city in which they live.

Such is a sketch of the life of one of Helena's repre- sontative business men, and although brief and imper- fect it serves as an index to his active and useful career.

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

have combined to make underground work far less perilous than of old.

" There are several mining camps in the Sierras that claim the distinction of having had the first great tunnel. But no man can say certainly where and when we first went 'underground. My recollection is that Grass Valley and the bean- tiful environs of Nevada City saw the miners first

HON. ROBERT C. WALLACE, who has long been inden- tified with Helena and who is ranked with her success- ful business men, was born Ayrshire, Scotland, Feb- ruary 26, 1837, a descendant of Lowland Scotch Presby- terian ancestors.

His parents, John and Agnes (Craig) Wallace, contin- ued to reside in Scotland nntil 1844, when they emigrated with their family of six children to America, and settled in Detroit, Michigan. In Detroit John Wallace, a physi- cian, practiced his profession until 1863, when he removed to Berlin, that State. At the latter place he still resides, having attained the ripe old age of ninety-one years. Ilis wife died in 1858, at the age of fifty-four.

Robert C. Wallace was seven years old when his par- ents located in Detroit. In the public schools of that city he received his education and after leaving school was employed as clerk in the store of G. &. R. McMillan, of Detroit, with whom he remained seven years. After that he spent five years in the employ of H. H. & R. F. Wright. In the summer of 1860, in company with one of his brothers, he opened a grocery in Detroit. But about this time the trouble between North and South arose, Fort Sumter was fired upon, and a call was made for volunteers to protect the old flag. He enlisted in the First Michigan Volunteer Infantry for a term of three months, and at the expiration of that time returned to his home and resumed business; but in 1862, when the call for soldiers became urgent, he again enlisted, this time in the Fifth Michigan Cavalry, with which he served until the close of the war. He participated in mauy of the battles of the Army of the Potomac, and on one occasion, in the spring of 1863, at a skirmish at Hawkhurst Mills, he was taken prisoner, was exchanged that summer and rejoined his regiment. He entered the ranks as a private, and for meritorious service was repeat- edly promoted, coming out of the army with the com- mission of Major.

The war over, Mr. Wallace secured a position as travel- ing salesman for a wholesale tobacco house, bnt remained with that firm only a short time. Then he accepted a clerkship on the steamers running between Detroit and Lake Superior, the Dubuque and Ontonagon. He was thus occupied until the spring of 1869, when he decided to seek his fortnne in the West. He accordingly came to Helena. Here he was successively engaged in mining, farming and clerking. While employed in the latter capacity he saved his wages, and in the spring of 1871

descend into the earth in any considerable bod- ies. And as this fine region was about the first to open the doors of the underworld and burst the rich coffers that had lain hidden there ever since the finger of God set them down on the day of creation, so it promises to be among the last to show any signs of decay. Indeed so far from declining in any way this place is walking

started a small business of his own. In 1873 he formed a partnership with James L. Davis, which partnership continued for a period of ten years, when Mr. Wallace purchased the interest of Mr. Davis, and from that time up to the present has conducted the business in his own name. Prosperity has attended him on every hand. Not only in his grocery business has he been successful, but also in his investments in mines and real estate. He owns both city and ranch property, among the former being the attractive residence which he and his family occupy and which was built by him.

Mr. Wallace has always been affiliated with the Re- publican party. When Helena was incorporated he had the honor of being elected as her first City Treasurer. In 1883 he was elected to the Territorial Legislature, and served in that capacity. He was also elected Alderman of Helena, which office, however, he resigned in order to give his undivided attention to his own personal affairs. He was made a Mason in Detroit in 1864. Also he be- longs to the A. O. U. W., G. A. R., Loyal Legion, and C'aledonia Club of Helena.

In 1875 he married Miss Ellen M. Shaw, a native of Michigan and a daughter of F. B. Shaw. She died in 1890, leaving two children, a son and daughter, David R. and Margurette.

In his business life Mr. Wallace has met with satisfac- tory success. As a business man, a soldier and a citizen, his whole career has been characterized by the strictest fidelity, and to-day he is ranked with the leading men of Helena.

HON. HENRY M. PARCHEN, who is noted as one of Helena's most liberal and enterprising business men, is a native of Prussia, born June 13, 1839. His parents were George and Mary Parchen. They were members of the Lutheran Church, and both Mr. Parchen's father and grandfather followed the ocenpation of miller and were mill owners.

In 1848 Mr. Parchen's father and mother and their four children emigrated to America, and upon their arrival here they settled at Town Line, New York, fifteen miles east of the city of Buffalo. They continued to reside there until 1861, when they removed to Nebraska and pur chased a farm, and upon this farm the elder Mr. Parchen still resides, now in his eighty-eighth year. All his chil dren are still living.

The subject of our sketch was the youngest child in his father's family. Ile remained at home until he was

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

right along in the line, and almost if not quite at the head of California progress and improve- ment.

"But what mutations this place has seen. to be sure! There was a world of wild flowers, birds in abundance, glorious oak trees, grass. Then the placer miner came, washing up the buttercups by the roots, soiling cool, clear trout streams. The fishes turned on their sides and

fourteen, and up to that time his education was limited to the common schools. After he started out to do for himself he took a thorough course in a Bryant & Stratton business college, and after completing his course was employed as clerk in a general merchandise store in Buf- falo. In 1857 he went to Marshall county, Indiana, and accepted a position as bookkeeper for a mercantile and manufacturing company. In 1862 we find him in Colo- rado, serving as bookkeeper at the Planter's House in Denver. The following spring he became the lessee of the Massasoit House at Central City, Colorado, and for some time was engaged in the hotel business. On account of failing health, he sought a change of climate and ocen- pation, and we next find him with the mercantile firm of Erfurt, Busch & Co., of Virginia City, Montana, where he filled the position of book keeper until the spring of 1865. At that time, in company with Dr. Wernigk and Lonis Keysser, he opened a drug and grocery store in Helena, and in the fall of that same year he bought out the interests of his partners, and took W. S. Paynter into business with him. The firm of Parchen & Paynter did an extensive and successful business. In 1868 they dis- posed of the grocery department, and for nine years longer did a wholesale and retail drug business, and while their business operations were growing and profitable they met with heavy losses by fire both in 1869 and in 1874. In the meantime they had established a branch store at Deer Lodge City, and this branch of business was also destroyed by fire. These losses were most discour- aging to them, but Mr. Parchen undauntedly decided to continue business, and in 1874 purchased his partner's interest, and continued the establishment alone under name of H. M. Parchen & Co. Under his able management the business prospered until it became the leading wholesale and retail drug house in the State of Montana.

Mr. Parchen took a prominent part in the construction of three of the Northern Pacific branch roads from IIelena. He is a director and a large stockholder in the Helena Gas Company, the Helena Electric Company, and the Helena Electric Railway Company. He is also largely interested in mines and smelting works, and has by per- sistent business industry acquired a large fortune, to which he is most richly entitled.

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An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 14

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