An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 89

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 89

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Mr. Petritz was married July 1, 1882, iu Butte City, to Miss Louisa S. Kloefel, a native of the State of Wisconsin. They have eight children, of whom six are living, namely : Frank J., William E., Genevieve S., Madaline J., John G. and Louis J.

In politics, Mr. Petritz affiliates with the Democratic party. Ile is a member of St. Peter and St. Paul Society, the A. O. U. W., the National Union and the Young Men's Institute.

IION. JAMES McDONEL, another one of the early pio- neers of Montana, and a man who has been for a number of years a prominent factor in the town of Phillipsburg, was born in Wisconsin, January 3, 1843.

Mr. MeDonel is of Irish extraction. His father, Ed- ward McDonel, was born on the Emerald Isle, and emi-

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the Pennsylvania line. Captain Whitaker in his elaborate and appreciative Life of Custer (Life of General George A. Custer, by Frederick Whitaker; p. 3) tells us that he descended from one of the Hesssian soldiers surrendered by Cornwallis to Washington at Yorktown; and that the name was then spelled Kuster. Be this as it may, our work keeps us mainly within the lines of Montana. Yet he was no stranger here. Ile had battled for this land long and bravely before this last campaign, and knew the Yellowstone, Little Missouri, Big Horn and Little Horn rivers as if he had been born and reared on their wild banks.

President Grant, having done his best to turn the care and guardianship of the Indians over to the officers of the regular army. seems to have been finally disgusted with his failure to do so and left things all at loose ends, and the Indian

grated from there to America, bringing with him his wife and two children, and locating in Grant county, Wiscon- sin. Wisconsin was then ou the frontier. There he cleared up a farm and spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1861. His widow survived him till 1887, being eighty years of age at the time of her death. Both were devout members of the Catholic Church and their lives were characterized by houesty, industry and sim- plicity. They had five children, James M. being the third born. All are living except one, Edward. IIe enlisted in the Union army, was wounded iu the battle of Chickamauga, was takeu prisoner, and died in Libby prison.

The subject of our sketch was reared on his father's farm and received his education in the primitive log schoolhouse near his home, and when he started out to do for himself he worked for wages as a farm hand. In 1864 he formed one of a large company that crossed the plains with mule teams to the far West, Nevada being their objective point, which they reached in safety. This journey was to him a delightful one. Game of all kinds was plenty and the novelty of the trip suited exactly his adventurous young spirit. After his arrival in Nevada he worked in the mines for wages eight months. At the end of that time he directed his course toward Moutana, coming by way of Salt Lake. He traveled by stage until after passing Ogden. There, on account of the deep snow, they were obliged to lay over a week. Thence they continued their journey by stage, but in rather un- pleasant and unromantic manner. At the latter place the United States mail was tied up in a cowhide aud dragged

agents grew more greedy than ever. One of his cabinet officers, Belknap, was detected in trad- ing Indian agencies to adventurers for profit. It was a dreadful humiliation to Grant. He hoped, it would seem, that his officers of the army would sympathize with his misfortune. But, when Custer, a favorite, told of having seen in private hands some sacks of grain which bore the brand of an agency, and was summoned to Washington from the front to testify before the Congressional Investigating Committee, the president would not see him. He went so far as to allow his Secretary of War to forbid his joining his regiment in the great campaign against Sitting Bull, which had been all winter in preparation. At the end of the unhappy Bel- knap affair he had set out for the upper Mis- souri, where his wife was and where his regi- ment waited, but the Secretary of War stopped

through the snow by a mule, and the passengers followed behind on foot, over the rugged mountain ranges and pleasant valleys, where the beautiful snow lay on an aver- age about four feet deep; and in due time Mr. McDonel and party reached Virginia City, arriving in March 1865. Here he at once secured work in the mines at $5 per day, and continued thus employed until June. He afterward mined at Blackfoot and Jefferson Gulch, but without success at either place. Next we find him at MeClellan Gulch, where again he worked for wages, re- ceiving $7 per day at this place. He, however, was not satisfied to continue long as a wage worker and the fol- lowing spring we find him out on a prospecting tour. Finally he returned to Blackfoot City and purchased a claim on Carpenter's Bar, where he and two others took out $2,000 in two months. After this he and two part- ners went to Deer Lodge river and built a toll bridge near Gold creek, the bridge costing about $2,000. The first five weeks the toll received at the bridge amounted to $1,500. They all retained their interest in this bridge for five years, and after that Mr. McDonel was its sole owner for two years longer. At the end of this time he removed to Pioneer and purchased placer-mining ground, but the expense of operating his mines was so great that they did not pay. Ilis next move was to Pike's Peak. After working for wages there four months, he purchased an interest in a livery stable, in which he continued until the camp went down. During that time he made some money. Then he returned to Pioneer, where he conduct- ed a livery business for six years. In 1879 he came to Phillipsburg and here for five years longer he was in the

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him. Custer appealed to the president. Ilis letter goes right to the heart and shows the man. Terry's posteript to his letter shows also some- thing of his faith in Custer's capacity as a soldier. The two epistles, which are reproduced in this connection, had the desired effect, and Custer took the field with his regiment in due time.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF DAKOTA, SAINT PAUL, MINN., May 6th, 1876. Adjutant General,

Division of Missouri, Chicago.

I forward the following :--

To His EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT (through Military Channels):

I have seen your order, transmitted through the general of the army, directing that I be not permitted to accompany the expedition about to move against hostile In lians. As my entire regiment forms a part of the proposed expedi-

livery business, selling out at the end of that time. We next find him at Granite. He platted that town, sold town lots, erected the first business house in the place, and in various ways aided in its growth and development. For two years he was in the saloon business there. Al- though he prospered financially at Granite, he was obliged on account of failing health to seek a change of location. Accordingly he came back to Phillipsburg. Here he continued in the saloon business six months longer. Then he sold out and from that date up to the present time he has been engaged in real-estate business, ranch- ing and stock-raising. He owns 320 acres of fine farm- ing land within half a mile of Phillipsburg, and he also owns city property and a number of valuable mining claims.

Of recent years Mr. McDonel has been prominently connected with public affairs. He affiliates with the Democrat party and has been chosen to fill various posi- tions of prominence and trust. He served two terms as Justice of the Peace and two terms as Mayor of Phillips- burg, and in 1892 was elected to represent Deer Lodge county in the State Legislature. He introduced the bill creating the county of Granite. As a member of this honorable body he rendered efficient service in bringing about the organization of Granite county, and he also took an active part in the passage of the "anti-scalper" bill, which was intended to prevent the public from being defrauded by irresponsible railroad ticket-scalpers. Ile also took an active part in the passage of all bills locating the several State institutions, such as the State School of Mines, State University, State Normal School, Orphans' Asylum, School for the Deaf and Dumb and State Re- form School.

tion, and as I am the senior officer of the regi- ment on duty in this department, I respectfully but most earnestly request that while not allowed to go in command of the expedition, I may be permitted to serve with my regiment in the field.

I appeal to you as a soldier to spare me the humiliation of seeing my regiment march to meet the enemy, and I not to share its dangers. (Signed) G. A. CUSTER, Bvt. Maj. Genl. U. S. Army.

In forwarding the above, I wish to say ex- pressly, that I have no desire whatever to ques- tion the orders of the President, or of my military superiors. Whether Lient. Col. Custer shall be permitted to accompany my coluinn or not, I shall go in command of it.

I do not know the reasons upon which the orders already given rest; but if those reasons do not forbid it, Lieut. Col. Custer's services would be very valuable with his command.

(Signed)

TERRY, Commanding Department.

S. V. KEMPER, another one of Butte City's enterpris- ing and successful men, has by his own pluck and energy won his way to the front. He is truly a self-made man, and is eminently deserving of some personal mention in this work, devoted to a portrayal of the lives of Mon- tana's representative men. A sketch of his life is as follows:

S. V. Kemper was boru in St. Joseph, Missouri, June 21, 1855. His ancestors were of German origin, and may be traced back 269 years to Johann Kemper of Münsen, a village in Siegen in the province of Westphalia abont sixty miles southeast of Cologne, in Germany. Some of them settled in Fauquier county, Virginia, about the year 1714. They were substantial planters. Several of the family participated in the Revolutionary war, and one of them subsequently became Governor of Virginia. Grandfather William Kemper was born in Virginia, and was there married to a Miss Rogers, of Scotch descent. They removed to Kentucky at an early day and were among the pioneer planters of that State. He was a Baptist of the strictest kind, lived an honorable and upright life, and died at the advanced age of eighty-four years. He and his good wife reared a family of eleven children, of whom Thompson Kemper, the father of our subject, was born in Kentucky in 1806. Thompson Kemper was married in Virginia in 1845 to Miss Lucy Ann Smiley, a native of Nelson county, that State. IIer people had long been residents of the Old Dominion, her father being of Irish descent and her mother of Scotch. Thompson Kemper and his wife had three sons and a daughter, and all the sons, James W., Edward W. and Simeon Vandeventer, are now residents of Butte City. The mother has been a Methodist from her girlhood

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The Indians,-poor delnded children! one cannot help pitying them at this time-had been greatly wronged previously, as the Belknap investigation showed; but their present wrong grew from themselves, their weakness and their foolish following of their demons or prophets. Sitting Bull, as we have seen, had massed his forces, as the spring and summer came on, at the mouth of the Yellowstone, on the tributaries of the Big Horn river, in what is now Custer county. General Crook, coming up from Fort Fetterman, had been handling him roughly, as was his habit when sent on such work. But he remained only one day on the victorious field and then returned to his base of supplies. The date of Crook's victory and the fatal day when

days. Some time after marriage the father joined the same church, of which he remained a consistent mem- ber the rest of his life, filling various official positions, such as Class-leader, Sunday-school Superintendent, etc. Early in his life he had been a teacher. In 1871 he came with his family to Montana, where he resided until the time of his death in 1891. The mother is still living, now in her seventy-fourth year.

S. V. Kemper received very limited educational ad- vantages in his youth, but he has all his life been a student and has acquired a broad knowledge of men and affairs. He has collected a valuable library, and even now takes delight in belonging to a select literary club. While he is well posted on general topics, he has made a specialty of mathematics, ethics and the philosophy of theology. He has led an exemplary life and takes pride in his reputation as a man of good moral character.

Mr. Kemper was sixteen at the time his father moved to Montana. They came by rail to Corinne and thence by wagon to Radersburg, near which place they took claim to a tract of land, and tried hard for five years to make a living by farming. It was up-hill work, however, for the grasshoppers destroyed their crops for three successive years and they were at their wits' end to know what it was best to do. S. V. worked out for wages, shearing sheep, mining and doing carpenter work; but there was not much money in this, and he was on the alert for some- thing better.

About this time the subject of this sketch became con- vinced that Butte City had in store for it an era of great prosperity, and he accordingly came hither in 1877 and purchased forty acres of land near the town and started a market garden. Soon the rest of the family joined him here, and they carried on the business quite success- fully for five years. The smoke from many smelters of

Custer and his comrades fell are only a few days apart; and the two battle-grounds are almost within "a stone's throw," so to speak, of one another. Crook, owing to a milder climate on his side of the mountains, had set out from Fort Fetterman, in Wyoming, March 1st, while Terry and Custer took up their march from Fort Lincoln, Dakota, later. Crook had a force of seven hundred meu, sixty wagons and four hun- dred pack mules. With his usual modesty he says but little, although he destroyed an Indian town, filled with supplies and munitions of war after beating the Indians in battle. The fight lasted five hours. Crook had four killed and many wounded. He burned one hundred and twenty five lodges.

the town interfered with their industry, and the rapid growth of the place indnced them to subdivide their land and put it on the market as the Kemper addition. From this start he launched out extensively into the real-estate business, rapidly acquired property, and soon took rank with the most enterprising and influential men of the city. Later, in partnership with Mr. Lawlor, he platted the Lawlor & Kemper addition on the west side of the city. They paid $17,000 for eight acres, and the first year sold enough lots to pay for the whole tract and still had $30,000 worth of property left. He and his brother had the good fortune to locate the famous Ground Squirrel mine, which they subsequently sold for $230,000.

In 1889 Mr. Kemper took an active part in the organ- ization of the Citizens' Building and Loan Association, the first association of the kind in the city, and is now secretary of the State League of Local Building and Loan Associations, and a member of the Executive Com- mittee of the United States League of Building and Loan Associations. In 1891 he was active in securing the organization of the State Savings Bank of Butte City, in which institution he is a stockholder and director. In 1892 he organized the Brownfield-Canty Carpet Company, which does a large wholesale and retail carpet trade in Butte City. Mr. Kemper is president of this company. Since 1891, however, he has been practically retired from active business. He still has large holdings in Butte City, among which is the business block adjoining the library building and numerous residences in various parts of the city. He is one of the owners of the Silver Bow raisin vineyard in Tulare county, California, and is secretary of this company.

Mr. Kemper was married November 19, 1880, to Miss Sallie B. Shields, of Highland, Kansas, and they have

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His letter touching this matter is as follows: FORT RENO, March 22.

We cut loose from the wagon train on the 17th inst., and scouted the Tongue and Rosebud rivers until satisfied that there were no Indians upon them; then struck across the country toward Powder river. General Reynolds, with part of the command, was pushed forward on a trail leading to the village of Crazy Horse, near the month of Little Powder river. This he at- tacked and destroyed on the 17th inst., finding it a perfect magazine of ammunition, war ma- terial and general supplies. Crazy Horse had with him the northern Cheyennes and some of the Minneconjous, probably in all one-half of the Indians off the reservation. Every evidence was found to prove these Indians in copartner- ship with those at the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies, and that the proceeds of their raids upon the settlements had been taken to those agencies, and supplies brought out in re- turn. In this connection I would again urgently recommend the immediate transfer of the Indi- ans of those agencies to the Missouri river. I am

children as follows: William Arthur, Mary Blain, Sarah Virginia and Helen Elizabeth. Mrs. Kemper is a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church. The family residence is on West Copper street in the Lawlor and Kemper addition, one of the beautiful residence portions of the city.

Politically, Mr. Kemper is an independent Democrat, and fraternally is identified with the A. O. U. W. and a P. O. S. of A.

WILLIAM E. BANCROFT, a veteran of the civil war, and now Commander of the Frederick Winthrop Post, G. A R., Missoula, dates his arrival in Montana in 1867. Of his life we make record as follows:

William E. Bancroft was born in Hartford, Connecti- cut, December 9, 1838. His father, James M. Bancroft, a native of Massachusetts, was born in 1812; his mother, whose maiden name was Catharine Chappin, was born in Westfield, Massachusetts. In 1839 his parents removed to New Hampshire, where the father spent the greater part of his life. He lived to be sixty-two years of age. By occupation he was a farmer and blacksmith. His first wife, the mother of William E., had three children, her death occurring when our subject was three years old. By his second wife Mr. Bancroft had four children.

William E. Bancroft was reared in New Hampshire, and had attained his twenty-second year when the civil war burst upon the country. April 22, 1861, in response to President Lincoln's call for volunteers, he enlisted in the First New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry; May 22, he enlisted in Company F, Second New Hampshire Vol- unteer Infantry. In his regiment he was promoted as Sergeant and served in it until April 27, 1864, at which

satisfied that, if Sitting Bull is on this side of the Yellowstone, he is camped at the mouth of Powder river. We experienced severe weather during our absence from the wagon train, snow falling every day but one, and the mercurial thermometer on several occasions failing to register. GEORGE CROOK, Brigadier-General.

As usual, there was a great difference of opinion as to the strength of the Indians. Crook, after this battle with Crazy Horse in March, put the Indians far below the estimated number. They had been reported as twenty thousand strong. He cut this estimate down to about two thousand, which, as nearly as can be found out, was not far wrong. It may here be stated that the number of Indians is, though not always intentionally, greatly exaggerated.

Crook retraced his steps and rested at Fort Fet- terman till May, when with a force of about 500

time he was commissioned Second Lieutenant of the First United States Volunteer Infantry. In July of that year he was promoted to First Lieutenant, and in this office he served until the close of the war, his discharge being at Leavenworth, Kansas, November 25, 1865. He participated in both the battles of Bull Run, the battles of Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, Williamsburg, Gettysburg, and many minor engagements. In the second fight at Bull Run he was wounded in the neck, and from the effect of the injury thus sustained he was in the hospital at Washington five months.

The war over, Mr. Bancroft returned to his home in New Hampshire, and the following spring came west as far as Atchison, Kansas, where he remained until July, 1866. Ile then started across the plains with a mule out- fit. While on the plains he and his party had all their mules stolen by the Indians. With the aid of Govern- ment mules they continned their way to Fort Beaufort, where they purchased cattle, and in that way completed their journey to Salt Lake City. At the latter place they spent the winter of 1866-7, and in the spring they came on to Helena, arriving here in July. Mr. Bancroft mined at Canyon creek and on the Missouri river until Decem- ber, 1869, but did not meet with flattering success, and from there came to Cedar creek in Missoula county. Upon his arrival in Missoula county, he and his two com- panions had only a dollar in money and their provisions were nearly exhausted. It was with difficulty that they got through the winter. In March they secured a con- tract to build a log cabin for a Frenchman, and while they were at work on it Mr. Bancroft became snow-blind. It was a month before he recovered his sight. While he

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he came back, and on the 15th of June was near the scene of his battle in March. General Gibbon was also coming from Fort Ellis; so that Montana soil felt the tread at this one time of the best part of our army, and all trending to this one center, Sitting Bull's camps on the Rosebud and Big Horn rivers. The total force of the three converging columns was abont three thousand, meu and officers. Did the deluded Indians number more? I think not so many.

On the seventh of June General Crook fought Sitting Bull, as said before, a stone's throw from where Custer fell. He beat the Indians badly, as usual, and, after resting a short time on the field of battle, turned back to his base of sup- plies, having made forced marches with but four days' rations and none too many rounds of am- munition, in order to speedily meet the enemy.

Meantime, Gibbon and Terry and Custer

was recovering, one of the other men got sick, so the two came together to Missoula where they could be more comfortable. During their absence the third man, while still working away on the house, fell from one of the logs and broke his leg. The partnership was thus dissolved. When Mr. Bancroft got able he worked for wages. For a time he was employed on a farm which then included the lots he now owns and the ground where the court- house stands. There were then only a few houses in the town. After working out by the month for a few years, he engaged in the livery business where the Florence Hotel now stands, and there he did a successful business until the railroad was built. Ile was also for some time interested in a sawmill on the Rattlesnake river. In 1886 he purchased a wood-saw outfit, with steam power, the first outtit of this kind in Missoula, and in this busi- ness he has continued up to the present time, sawing the greater part of the wood used for fuel in the city. Ile built the residence he owns and occupies, and besides this owns several other pieces of property in Missoula.

During his residence in Missoula Mr. Bancroft has met all his obligations honorably. He has always been a straight out-and-out Democrat, has served his party well, and has been its choice for Assessor of Missoula county and Marshal of the city of Missoula, in both of which positions he performed his duty with the strictest fidelity. While a soldier in the army, in Maryland, in 1864, he was made a Master Mason, is also an Odd Fellow, and has served officially in both the orders, having repre- sented the I. O. O. F., in the Grand Lodge several times.

were down the Rosebud, while Crook was bat- tling with Sitting Bull on the head of the same little tributary of the Yellowstone.

After the consultation of Gibbon, Terry and Custer, and not yet having had communication with Crook, it was determined to advance at once up the Rosebud. Crook was supposed to be two hard days' march, or about eighty miles, distant. But Sitting Bull with all his force was immediately between him and Terry, Custer and Gibbon. At this point Terry sent the sub- joined communication to Sheridan:

" No Indians have been met with as yet, but traces of a large and recent camp have been dis- covered twenty or thirty miles up the Rosebud. Gibbon's column will move this morning on the north side of the Yellowstone for the month of the Big Horn, where it will be ferried across by the supply steamer, and whence it will proceed to the month of the Little Horn, and so on. Custer will go up the Rosebud to-morrow with

GEORGE CLINTON SWALLOW, M. D., LL. D., of Helena, was born in Buckfield, Oxford county, Maine, in 1817. Among the ancient families of Normandy was that of Sevalliou, some of whom emigrated to New Orleans, while others went to England with William the Con- queror. In that country the name was changed to Swal- low. Some of this branch of the family emigrated to New England in an early day, settling in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

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An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 89

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