An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 19

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 19

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In 1874 Mr. Esler married Miss Ophelia Johnston, a daughter of Colonel J. A. Johnston, of Helena. They have two children, Frances M. and Alfred M., Jr., whom Mr. Esler had the great sorrow of losing May 25, 1894.

Mr. Esler was made a Mason in Boonville, New York, when he was twenty-one, and has ever since remained a member of the fraternity. He has been a Republican all his life, has always taken an active interest in politi- cal matters, and has served his party well. He was elected a member of the Territorial Legislature of Mon- tana in 1866. That year there were only two Repub- licans in the House, and the laws passed by the Legisla- ture were so noxious that, through the efforts of Senator Sanders, the whole action was annulled by the United States Congress. In those exciting times a man ran a

full! and he had exhibited some proof of this, too. It seems that an ox-bow lost its key and was about to relieve the ox from the yoke in the crowding and confusion of the team while the thirsty oxen all tried to drink at the same time; that, seeing danger to his family in this, he rushed in, and, having no key to hold the bow in place even after he had restored it to the

great deal of risk in being a Republican, and it required no little courage for Mr. Esler to maintain his position and act and vote according to his convictions, but he proved himself equal to the occasion. Since that time many changes have taken place, both in the times and in the opinions of men. Mr. Esler now has a nice home in Helena, is surrounded with all the comforts and luxu- ries of life, and he and his family are held in high es- teem by their fellow citizens of Helena.

COL. JAMES SULLIVAN, Helena .- The State of Montana is indebted to the Emerald Isle for many of her best and most progressive citizens : prominent among these is the subject of the present sketch, Col. James Sullivan.

In 1848, when only five years of age, young Sullivan's parents landed as emigrants from Ireland in the city of Boston. Like a majority of those seeking our shores at that time, his parents were possessed of but limited means. The public schools of Boston, however, afforded an opportunity for a good rudimentary education. A Yankee training, gratied upon good Irish stock, is a pretty sure basis upon which to build a successful man. After acquiring a common-school education, Mr. Sullivan engaged in business in his adopted city of Boston, and, meeting with a good measure of success there, tried his- fortunes in the still larger field offered in the city of New York.

Life, however, was too slow in the old cities of the East, and opportunities for advancement were hedged about by too many hindrances, so that in 1878, Mr. Sulli- van, then in the full prime of manhood, and with a busi- ness experience gained in the two great cities of Boston and New York, resolved to try his fortunes in the rapidly growing West. He came to Helena, Montana, at an op- portnne time. Mining and real-estate interests were then in a very progressive stage of development. With shrewd Celtic wit, a Yankee training and a business exper- ience gained at "the Hub," Mr. Sullivan's success might have been readily forecast. As his means allowed, he made fortunate investments, both in real estate and min- ing properties.

After judiciously selecting and acquiring valuable city property, he did not sit down and wait for it to enhance in value by the expenditure of other men's capital in im- provements, but went resolutely to work on the erection of costly business blocks on his own ground.

In 1887, associated with Senator Power, he built what is known as the "Gold Block." This was the first block

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

yoke, he stooped and clutched up from the shal. low bed of the stream what he thought was a long, yellow pebble or stone. His story was that he used that key right along; that it was in use when gold was found in California. Some of his smart neighbors had seen this; one of them, a blacksmith, had actually hammered it in shape at one time when it had become bent and had fashioned it after the shape and fashion of an ordinary iron key.

"Plenty like it? Be gad, Sir; I could 'a picked up a blue bucket full!" and this was always Uncle Billy's end of this pretty story.

erected in Helena with passenger elevators and other modern improvements. Mauy elegant buildings have since been constructed here, but the "Gold Block " was so well planned, that it has always been well occupied, and the United States Court rooms now occupy the entire upper story. In the year following the building of the "Gold Block," Mr. Sullivan and Senator Power, his associate in many real estate ventures, erected the "Dia- mond Block," another improvement worthy of Helena enterprise. Col. Sullivan is also a large holder of realty, both improved and unimproved, in many other sections of the city and county. Like most of Montana's capita- lists, Col. Sullivan is also interested in the development of the mineral wealth of the State. He is president and principal owner in the Bowler Mining Company, and has many other valuable mining properties.

In 1882, Col. Sullivan became a member of the A. O. U. W., and has ever been a most active and enthusiastic worker in that charitable and progressive order. His clear head and business sagacity were early recognized by bis brothers in this association. He was soon called to fill the leading positions in the local branch of the order, and has served as Grand Master and Grand Re- ceiver, and is now Grand Recorder of the A. O. U. W., for the State of Montana.

During his whole life, the Colonel has been a strong, · out-spoken and consistent Democrat. Whilst not an aspir- ant for political honors, the Colonel could not refuse his party's call to the Mayoralty of the city, which position he filled with credit to himself and his party, and as a safe guardian and promoter of the city's interests: his record will speak for itself. When in 1886, Hon. S T. Hauser became Governor of the State, be selected Mr. Sullivan as a member of his staff and issned him a Col- onel's commission.

The Colonel was married in 1867, to Miss Mary E. Young, a native of New Jersey, daughter of Aaron Young. One son, an only child, Algernon James Sulli- van, came to bless this union. The young man now

"Couldn't you have picked up a red bucket- full, Uncle Billy, just as well?" asked my doubting father once. But Uncle Billy Vaughn looked almost angry and did not answer.

It is needless to say, neither of the three ex- peditions found the Bine Bucket Diggings that summer of 1852; nor did ever any of the many that went in the same quest for years after.

In the spring of 1853, at my father's " house- raising,"-a cabin made of hewn logs and reared by the gathered settlers,-one man sat on a stump with his arm in a sling, and directed the men. This man was John Dimond. He had

assists in his father's office. Mrs. Sullivan died in 1884, and the Colonel true to the memory of his first love, has since remained a widower.

In closing this simple sketch of a well rounded charac- ter and successful business man, may we not pause a moment to study the lesson it teaches.

It is needless to say that Colonel Sullivan is a self-made man. All noble characters with God's help are self-made. "Every man is the architect of his own character, as well as his own fortune." "Honor and fame from no con- dition rise ; act well your part, there all the honor lies." But there is a lesson in such a career for every American boy, behe native or foreign born. Follow the young Irish lad from his landing, an emigrant, at five years of age, in the city of Boston, to his present position of affluence and influence, and yon have an object-lesson, plain and practicable It is not 'luck or influence or inherited wealth that make such men as Colonel Sulli- van, but work, persistence and pluck.

CHARLES O. REED, a prominent business man of Helena, is president of the Reed & Craig Company, dealers in gentlemen's furnishing goods and manufacturers of shirts. Of his life we make record as follows:

Charles O. Reed was born in Miami county, Ohio, April 21, 1845. His ancestors were Hollanders who settled in Philadelphia previous to the Revolution; and his father, George Browning Reed, was born in IHillsborough, Ohio. George B. Reed was a schoolteacher in early life, later became a contractor and builder and also owned and op- erated a farm. ITe was twice married. Ilis first wife, whose maiden name was Neoma Le Fever, was of Irish and French descent. She died at the age of thirty-four years, leaving two children, one of whom was Charles O.

('harles O. Reed was educated in the public schools, and remained on his father's farm until he was twenty- four years of age. In 1867 he married Miss Martha Wilson, a sister of the Wilson brothers, of the well-known business firm of Chicago. Mrs. Reed was a most amiable woman, a devoted member of the Methodist Church, and

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been out after the Blne Bneket Diggings and had come back with an Indian bullet in his shoulder. Dimond's Peak, near where the battle was fought and his friends are buried, takes its name from this man and incident.

Next in the order of discovery, and still pointing toward the top of the Rocky Mount- ains in the north, then remote and unknown

was noted for her generosity and hospitality. She died in 1892, leaving two children, Charles Erwin and Hugh Browning.

After his marriage Mr. Reed removed to Chicago, where he was for seventeen years employed as superin- tendent of a large shirt factory. In August, 1887, he re- moved to Milwaukee, and was associated with his brother in the same business, and still retains his interests there. He organized his present firm in Helena in 1890. This is the first and only shirt factory in the State. In 1890 Mr. Reed went to California and made some investments in land in Tulare county, near Porterville, which he is de- voting to the production of grapes and lemons.

Mr. Reed was reared in the faith of the Presbyterian Church, of which his parents were members, but he is now a Methodist and an official member in the church. During all the early history of the Republican party he was one of its strongest supporters. He has some opinions in relation to the currency of the country that are in ac- cord with the views held by the Populist party. The great civil war had reached its zenith when Mr. Reed attained his eighteenth year, and at that time he tendered his ser- vices to his country, and was put on garrison duty at Washington, D. C., where he remained until the war closed and peace reigned.

JOHN WASSON EDDY, one of Helena's prominent citizens, hails from the Buckeye State. He was born in Orwell, Ashtabula county, Ohio, December 4, 1835. The Eddys trace their ancestry back to Scotch and French origin. Samuel and Elizabeth Eddy were among the pilgrims who landed in Massachusetts in 1632. From them the great family of Eddys in America sprang. Both Samuel and Elizabeth Eddy lived to be over eighty years of age. John Randolph Eddy, the father of our subject, was born in Tolland, Connectient, and was in the early part of his life a fur merchant in New York. IIe married Miss Alice A. Mosier, a native of Long Island, of French Huguenot ex- traction. In 1832 the grandfathers on both sides of the family moved to Ohio, settling on the frontier and clearing and developing farms there. John R. Eddy also emigrated to Ohio at the same time his father and brother, Moore Eddy, did, and in that State he and his wife reared their family of four children: three daughters and one son, the latter being the subject of this sketch. John R. Eddy still lives in Ohio, having reached the advanced age of eighty-four years, and he has a sister who is now ninety- four.

Montana, come some unremunerative and frag- mentary bits of discovery along the upper Co- lumbia. Restless hordes of men surging up and down the wide and roomy world of the Colum- bia water-shed, seeking homes, gold, pasture lands, almost anything save life at the plow-tail, found gold almost anywhere, that is, the "color," from The Dalles to Fort Colville. We had

John W. Eddy grew up on his father's farm and receiv- ed his early education in a log schoolhouse. James A. Garfield was his early tutor, at the Hiram Eclectic Insti- tnte, at Hiram, Portage county, where they were warm friends, and where for a time they vied with each other in their penmanship. And it may be said in this connec- tion that Mr. Eddy afterward mastered the Spencerian system and became one of the best penmen in the United States, Professor Spencer himself conceding Mr. Eddy's superiority. Since then Mr. Eddy has written a poem dedicated to the memory of Professor Spencer. This poem was written while he was employed as bookkeeper in a banking office in New York. Another of his poems has since become world-wide in reputation, it having stamped its author as a genius. The title of this poem is the "Bookkeeper's Dream." Since then, and indeed all through his life, Mr Eddy has frequently indulged in poetic efforts, many of his writings possessing great merit.

After a few years spent as bookkeeper in Albany, he went to New York and entered a banking establishment, in which he remained until 1877. In the meantime he had become an ardent student of chemistry and took a special course in that science. He came to Helena to de- - vote his energies to mines and mining, and soon became interested in bringing capital to Montana to develop the mines. He has written for Eastern journals many articles on the mines of Montana, and in this way he has done much to create an interest in this industry and to bring moneyed men here. He is not only enthusiastic on the subject but is thoroughly posted, and his information is the most reliable. He held the position of local editor of the Helena Independent for one year. He became one of the first organizers of the Board of Trade of Helena, has been one of its most useful and active members and has been its secretary. To him belongs the honor of giving to Mon- tana the very appropriate pet name of the "Bonanza State." While Mr. Eddy has given much of his time to editorial work and has also practiced law for several years, still he makes mines and mining his principal bus- iness. He has built an elegant residence in Helena, is thoroughly interested in all that tends to the growth and development of the city, and expects to spend the rest of his life here.

Mr. Eddy's political views are in harmony with the principles advocated by the Republican party. He has served the city as Police Magistrate. IIe is prominently

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symptoms of the gold fever in the Oregon set- tlements, pointing up in that direction all along through 1854-5-6-7.

When teaching school not far from Vancou- ver, Washington, in 1858, I spent a vacation prospecting up the Lewis river, and found that considerable mining had already been going on there in a quiet way for years.

Bang! Boom! Away to the north like the great first gun of some fearful carnage, and near enough to Montana to be almost heard across the lines, came the crash and roar of the Fraser river gold discovery, and I closed the school. The scenes on the San Francisco wharves were beyond description. Men stood all night at the

identified with the A. O. U. W., in which order he has the honor of being Past Grand Master of the State of Mon- tana, and a member of the Supreme Lodge of the Order. When the Supreme Lodge of the State assembled at Helena, Mr. Eddy welcomed it with a poem written for the occasion, which was highly commented upon at the time. At the organization of the American Order of Home Protection, a beneficiary society similar to the A.O.U.W., only without a color line, Mr. Eddy was one of its found- ers, and was elected its secretary and now holds that po- sitiou.

During the war, in 1863, the Young Men's Association of Albany offered a gold medal for the best national song. He became the successful competitor for the prize. The song was widely published by the papers, and a copy of it fell into the hands of Lieutenant Wilson of the Forty- third New York Volunteers. It was so highly appreci- ated by him that as a token of his thanks he took off his I adge and sent it to Mr. Eddy. It is needless to say that Mr. Eddy now treasures this badge and keeps it and the medal together as one of the pleasant mementos of that period of the country's history.

Mr. Eddy was married in 1879 to Miss Evelyn M. Ilar- vey, a native of New Jersey, born in 1856. Their union was a happy one, and four children were born to them, three of whom are still living, John W., Jr., Harvey A and Raymond Randolph. The little daughter, Esta Clara, died in her fourth year, and Mrs. Eddy died April 3, 1887. April 9, 1891 Mr. Eldy married Miss Noua A. Burtch, a native of Iowa and a lady of rare culture and refinement. Mr. and Mrs. Eddy are the center of a circle of very warm friends.

WILLIAM M. G SETTLES, junior member of the land and mining law firm of Nelson & Settles, Helena, Mon- lana is a native of Alabama, born at Opelika, Lee county, April 24, 1856. Ilis ancestors emigrated from England

ticket office in order to be first to get passage to the great new mines.

George Wright, of the only ship line, told me, years later, in London, that the wild and desperate gold-seekers threatened to hang him and his father for not carrying them to Fraser river fast enough; but that in less than three months they wanted to hang them both for not carrying them away from there fast enough! It had proved a Waterloo indeed to very many of them.

Then came Cariboo, William's creek: then, nearer home, Pierce City, and Ora Fino,-all the time getting nearer and nearer to the great rich heart of Montana.

to this country, at an early day, and were among the pioneer settlers of the South. His father, George M. Settles, a native of Georgia, married Miss Mary E. Hund- ley, who was born in Montgomery, Alabama, daughter of Alsa M. Hundley. The Hundleys had long been resi- dents of Virginia, removing from there to Georgia, where Mr. Hundley was reared. He was a school mate of Alex- ander Stephens, the latter's father heing their teacher. George M. Settles and his wife had three children, two daughters and a son, the son being our subject. His father enlisted in the Confederate army, and during his absence From home both the little girls and the mother died, and William went to live with his grandfather Hundley. After the war was over, and his father was married again and had purchased a farm in Alabama, and gone there to reside, young Settles was given his choice of going to live with his father or remaining with his grandparents: he chose the latter. His grandfather owned a flouring mill near Opelika, and in the mill, when not attending the academy of that place, William spent his boyhood days.

When he had reached his eighteenth year, both his grandparents having died, Mr. Settles started out to make his own way in the world. After teaching school several terms, he and a partner engaged in the grocery business in his native town, under the firm name of Settles & Company. While in business there, he served two years as Clerk of the City Council. This was in 1881 and '82. In the meantime he studied law under the in- structions of General George P. Harrison of Opelika, and was admitted to the bar there.

It was in 1883 that Mr. Settles emigrated to Helena, his arrival here being on the 13th of July, and his capital at that time consisting of $65 He accepted a position in the abstract office of Richard Lockey, and continued therein for over a year. Then he took charge of a gen-

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

CHAPTER IX.

THE GOLDEN ROAD TO MONTANA-ORO FINO-ELK CITY -- THE MOUNT IDAHO MINES A " RUSH."

HERE is a sort of Freemasonry among miners and all sorts of honest men of the gold mines. The men of the placer gold mines are and have been from the days of the modern Argonauts a sort of civilized advance army. They are men who have stepped to the front from out of the millions. It is their courage, enterprise and andacity of faith that has set them to the front; besides, they are generally men of good sense, good physique, good education. Travel-for they all had to travel much and have much intercourse with traveled men to reach the gold mines, whether in Arizona or Montana -- gave to even the rudest of them a sort of polish not found so general in any other large body of men on the globe. You can always find more sincere manhood and real politeness in a mining camp with its sprinkle of cattlemen, grangers and the like than in the average crowds of Lon. don and Paris.

Being among the first in the new mines of Oro Fino in the spring of 1861, I found myself,

for reasons before set down, at once among friends and friends of the best; for these miners of Pierce City and Oro Fino were not only gentlemen of the class described but they were, many of them, old personal friends from north- ern California. It was the glorious old Yuba and Shasta days over again and they were very happy and hopeful.

Pierce City at this date was a brisk town, neatly laid out, built of hewn logs, brooks through the streets, pine trees here and there on the gently-sloping hillside to the sun, with white tents all around and up and down the mountain of dark woods to the east, red shirted men, mules, long lines of laden, braying mules, half-tame Indians with pack paniers, a few sol- diers off duty, crowds of eager people coming and going,-action, motion everywhere. The old days had come again, we all believed, and min- ers who had missed Fortune in other lands and laid blame onto themselves, resolved not to miss her favors now, if work could win them.

HON. DECIUS S. WADE .- Among the prominent names in Montana history is that of Decins S. Wade, who was born in Andover, Ashtabula county, Ohio, on the 23d day of January, 1835.

Jonathan Wade, the founder of the family in America, emigrated hither from England in 1632, and settled on the Mystic river, near Boston, at a place subsequently named Medford. Though not one of the " Pilgrim Fath- ers," he was of the same character and was actuated by the same principles. His descendants, among whom were two Colonial Governors of Massachusetts and Anne Brad- street, the first poetess of our country, were active men and women during all the Colonial period. One of them, James Wade, fought at Bunker Hill and through the Revolutionary war, and subsequently became a pioneer settler of Ohio, in 1821, with his wife, nee Mary Upham,

eral merchandise store at Timberline, for C. W. Hoffman & Company. In the spring of 1886, he succeeded Junius G. Sanders, as chief clerk in the Land Office, in which position he remained until February 1, 1890, when he re- signed in order to become a member of the land and min- ing law firm of Nelson & Settles. Mr. Nelson having had long experience in the United States Land Office, at Washington, D. C., and Mr. Settles being experienced in the local land affairs of Montana, gives them decided advantages in this department of law practice.

Politically, Mr. Settles is a Democrat. He has served his party as Assistant Secretary of the Montana State Central Democratic Committee. Since his arrival in Montana he has become identified with all her interests, and loses no opportunity to aid in the advancement of her welfare.

JEams Schade

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Oro Fino lay a brief half-hour's walk to the south at the foot of a steep, wooded mountain and in the forks of a creek of the same name and Rhodes creek. This Rhodes creek had been discovered by William Rhodes, of Siskiyou connty, California. He was a manly mulatto of great good sense and very honest. Oro Fino was a hastily-built place, having tumbled to- gether in great disorder with one narrow street and made np out of round logs and mud and brush. Compared with Pierce City it was a wild-looking place; but it was very orderly, very much in earnest, and preaching and Sunday- school here, as well as at Pierce City, came as regularly as the Sunday. There were a good many saloons in these towns, as well as np and down the creeks, but I recall no drankeness nor depravity of any sort. Women were scarce as yet, and of children there was the merest sprinkle. But many of these first men here were expecting their families on from Califor- nia and Oregon, and were not slow in their sup- port of church and school.

"As for myself, I had studied law while teach- ing school after returning to Oregon from Cal- ifornia a few years before, and having been admitted to the bar under Judge Williams, afterward President Grant's Attorney General,

and six sons and three daughters. His son, Benjamin F. Wade, was United States Senator for Ohio from 1851 to 1869, during a portion of which period he served as Vice- President. His son, Edward Wade, was for four terms member of Congress from the Cleveland district in Ohio. His son, Charles H. Wade, was born in West Spring- field, Massachusetts, December 8, 1798, was a farmer in Andover, Ohio, and married Juliet Spear, also a native of Massachusetts, who was born on April 13, 1806. She was the daughter of Joshua Spear, a soldier of the Revo- lution, a member of one of the early Massachusetts fami- lies, who became a resident of eastern Pennsylvania. They were the parents of Decius S. Wade, the subject of this sketch. The mother died at the age of sixty-nine years, on September 15, 1575; the father at the age of eighty-seven years, on June 11, 1885.

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An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 19

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