Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 10

Author: Stout, Tom, 1879- ed
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 1126

USA > Montana > Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II > Part 10

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At Benton, Illinois, December 28, 1910, Mr. Arnold married Miss Ruth Steves, daughter of Henry L. and Amelia (Reeder) Steves, the latter a resident of Boston, Massachusetts. Her father was a Metho- dist minister and died at Benton, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Arnold have two daughters, Mary, born Sep- tember 2, 1913, and Ruth Jane, born October 16, 1916.

WILLIAM WITT came to Montana in 1911, was a homesteader and rancher for several years, has been very active in civic affairs in Stillwater County since it was organized, and is cashier of the First National Bank of Columbus.

He was born in Scott County, Iowa, February 5, 1881. His father, Chris Witt, was born in Ger- many in 1855 and came to the United States at the age of nineteen, settling in Scott County, Iowa. He was married there, and has followed farming as an occupation. He and his wife now reside at Holstein in Ida County, Iowa, and he is retired with a good competence for his remaining years. Politically he is a democrat. His wife was Anna Steffen, who was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, in 1857. Of their children, Herman, the oldest, is a farmer at Kingsley, Iowa; the second is William; Henry, the third, is a farmer at Columbus, Montana, as is also the next, Adolph; Alma is the wife of Frank E. Ewoldt, a contractor at Holstein, Iowa; while Ella, the youngest, is still at home with her parents.

William Witt attended public school at Holstein and completed the sophomore year in the high school there. He was in the Dennison Normal and Busi- ness School at Dennison, Iowa, during 1900-01, and on leaving there worked in a store at Holstein a year, for two years was in the Leader Department Store at Appleton, Minnesota, continued his mer- cantile experience at Graceville, Minnesota, and while there became bookkeeper in the First National Bank of Graceville, and before coming to Montana was promoted to assistant cashier.

Mr. Witt came to Columbus in 1911 and home- steaded 160 acres. He has been identified with the First National Bank of Columbus as cashier since 1913. The bank was established under a national charter in 1909. Its financial position is a most substantial one. The capital is $25,000 and the sur- plus $25,000. The officers of the bank are J. L. Fraser, president; Grant S. Irwin, vice president ; and William Witt, cashier and a director.

Mr. Witt has been public administrator for Still- water County since the county was organized in 1913, serving his third term. He was the first secretary of the Stillwater Club, is a democrat, and is affiliated with Stillwater Lodge No. 62, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Mr. Witt owns ranch lands to the extent of 1,700 acres in Stillwater County. He is also a director in the Old Faithful Oil and Gas Company.

In 1915, at Columbus, he married Miss Emma Lou

HISTORY OF MONTANA

Briggs, daughter of D. F. and Katie (Woodson) Briggs. Her mother lives at New London, Missouri, and her father, now deceased, was a Missouri farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Witt have one son, William Briggs, known as "Billy," born October 18, 1917. Mrs. Witt finished her education in a seminary in Missouri.

H. J. REESE, county clerk of Park County, has been, a resident of this northwest country for nearly twenty years, having come here soon after he left the army as a volunteer soldier in the Spanish- American war.

Mr. Reese was born at Maryville, Missouri, No- vember 17, 1879. His remote ancestry was Ger- . man. His great-grandfather was a native of Hesse, Germany. Mr. Reese's paternal grandmother was a member of the Evans family and was a Dangh- ter of the American Revolution. Joseph Reese, father of the county clerk, was born at Port Ma- tilda, Pennsylvania, in 1855, was reared and mar- ried there, and in 1878 moved to Maryville, Mis- souri, where he is still living, now practically re- tired. Until 1918 he held the office of county sur- veyor for six years. He is a republican and a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity. Joseph Reese mar- ried Nancy E. Woodring, who was born at Port Matilda, Pennsylvania, in 1857 and died at Mary- ville, Missouri, in 1899. H. J. Reese is the oldest of their children. Allen, the second in age, is sta- tion agent for the Ogden Short Line Railway at Meridian, Idaho. Nancy is the wife of Dr. G. A. Windsor, proprietor of the Park Hospital at Liv- ingston, Montana.

H. J. Reese was educated in the public schools of his native town, graduating from high school in 1897. In April of the following year he en- listed in Company E of the Fourth Missouri Volun- teers for the Spanish-American war. With his command he spent his time in Camp Alger, Camp Mead and finally Camp Weatherill, at Greenville, South Carolina. He was mustered out February 10, 1899. Early in the following year he arrived at Phillipsburg, Montana, and spent two years with the Granite Bi-Metallic Consolidated Mining Com- pany. In 1902 he came to Livingston, and was in the service of the Northern Pacific Railway Com- pany until 1915 as clerk in the freight department. In the latter year he was appointed city clerk of Livingston, filling that office until January 1, 1919. With a growing popularity as a citizen and with exceptional qualifications for the office, he was chosen county clerk in November, 1918, and began his duties for a term of two years January 1. 191Q. Mr. Reese is a republican and is affiliated with Livingston Lodge No. 32, Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons, Livingston Camp of the United Spanish War Veterans, Livingston Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the Gateway City Band, his instrument being the clarionet. He re- sides at 219 South Seventh Street.

Mr. Reese married Miss Della McCreary at Phil- lipsburg, Montana, in 1901. Her mother, Mrs. Wil- bert . McCreary, lives at Salt Lake City, Utah. Mr. and Mrs. Reese have three children: Edith, born May 16, 1903, a freshman in the Park County High School; Mildred, born December 26, 1907, and Jo- seph, born August 22, 1910, both in the public schools of Livingston.

THOMAS C. INGHAM is well known in several communities both in Montana and Minnesota as a grain dealer, and is manager of the Occidental Ele- vator Company at Roberts, where he has lived sev- eral years.

He was born at Bradford in Yorkshire, England, April 16, 1891. His father is Arthur Ingham, who was born at Knersborough, Yorkshire, in 1863. There is a record of members of the Ingham family running back 400 years showing that every genera- tion has contributed members to the business of contracting and building. Thomas Clayton Ingham's grandfather, Thomas Ingham, was a contractor and railroad builder. He was born at Tickhill, Lancashire, England, and died at Bradford. Arthur Ingham grew up and married in England, learned the trade of contractor and builder, and on com- ing to the United States in 1883 located at Minne- apolis. He has been back to England several times, though calling Minneapolis his home. He is a re- publican and a member of the Episcopal Church, belongs to the Sons of St. George, and for eight years was an English soldier.

The mother of Thomas C. Ingham was Ann Clayton, who was born in Yorkshire in 1866 and died there in 1891, soon after the birth of her only son and child, Thomas Clayton. Arthur Ingham afterward married Lonisa Surr, who was born in Yorkshire. Their children are: Marjorie, wife of Herbert Welcome, of Minneapolis, who served as an electrician in the American army with the ex- peditionary forces in France; Irene, who is mar- ried and lives at St. Paul, Minnesota, where her husband is a Government employe; Lois and Emily both with their parents.

Thomas C. Ingham remained in England after his mother's death, attended the public schools of Bradford and a technical college through a four years' course. He graduated in 1908, and in that year came to Minneapolis, where he followed the building trade until I911. He then engaged in the grain business at Leeds, North Dakota. He started in at the very bottom, learning the industry by ex- perience. His first employers were the Cullen Ele- vator Company. Later he was appointed their manager at Cooley, North Dakota, was then sent to Norwich, North Dakota, as manager for the Norwich Farmers Elevator Company two years, subsequently transferred his headquarters to Wil- ton, North Dakota, and had charge of three ele- vators for a period of two years. In the fall of 1917 he came to Roberts as manager of the Occi- dental Elevator Company.

Mr. Ingham is a republican, a member of the Episcopal Church, is affiliated with the Sons of St. George and is a member of Star in the West Lodge No. 40, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

In 1915, at Minneapolis, he married Miss Gretchen Vogl. They have one son, Robert James, born March 5, 1918. Mrs. Ingham was born at Farm- ington, Minnesota, was educated in the public schools there, is a graduate of the Minneapolis High School and attended the University of Minnesota. Before her marriage she was a teacher of music. She is one of the active workers in the Episcopal Church at Roberts.

Mrs. Ingham's father is Otto Vogl, who was born in New York State in 1855, a son of Franz Vogl, who was a native of Bavaria, Germany, and after coming to the United States established his permanent home in Wisconsin, where he was in business and died at Columbus in that state in 1896. Otto Vogl was reared in Wisconsin, came to Min- nesota when a young man, and conducted a cloth- ing store at Faribault, where he married, and at other places in Minnesota. Since 1893 he has made his home at Minneapolis. At present he is a sales- man with the Finch, Van Slyke, McConville whole- sale dry goods house of St. Paul. He is a republi- can and an Odd Fellow. Otto Vogl married Laura

1193841

HISTORY OF MONTANA

McKune, who was born at Morristown, Minnesota, a daughter of Lewis McKune. The McKunes came to Massachusetts about 1630 from England. Mrs. Ingham is descended through her mother's ances- tors from a Revolutionary soldier named Lewis. Her maternal grandfather, Lewis McKune, was captain of Company G of the First Minnesota In- fantry, enlisting in 1861, and was killed at the Second Battle of Bull Run. He was a native of Pennsylvania and a pioneer farmer and merchant at Morristown, Minnesota. He was also one of the first members of the State Senate of Minne- sota. Captain McKune married Laura Corse, a native of Pennsylvania, who died at Morristown, Minnesota. The children of Otto Vogl and wife are three in number: Frances, wife of M. J. Cul- lem, a resident of Leeds, North Dakota, and a grain buyer; Harry, a traveling salesman living at Minneapolis, who married Marguerite Close; and Mrs. Ingham.

C. C. JAMESON is a Montana merchant, well known both at Livingston and Bozcman, and has been a factor in the management and development of the noted Golden Rule Syndicate of stores, represented in eleven stores in Montana towns and cities. Mr. Jameson is now a partner in the McCracken & Jameson Company, Incorporated, owning the Mc- Cracken-Jameson store at Bozeman.

He was born at Marshfield, Webster County, Missouri, April 25, 1882. His ancestors came from Scotland, and were colonial settlers in Georgia. His grandfather, Milton Jameson, was born in 1819, served as a Confederate soldier, and spent his active life in Southern Missouri. He died in Webster County, that state, in 1895. B. C. Jameson, father of the Bozeman merchant, was born in Georgia in 1862, and when he was five years of age his parents moved to Webster County, Missouri, where he spent the rest of his active life as a merchant. Since 1917 he has lived retired at Springfield, Mis- souri. B. C. Jameson is a republican and a mem- ber of the Baptist Church. He married Mary E. Britton, who was born in Missouri in 1861. W. R. Jameson, their oldest child, is connected with the Springfield Creamery Company at Springfield, Mis- souri, being general road man for this corporation, a $200,000 company. J. E. Jameson is connected with the Upham-Gordon wholesale shoe house in Spring- field. The next is C. C. Jameson. Mary is the wife of Charles W. Dyer, a farmer of Springfield, Mis- souri, while Mabel and Bessie, the youngest of the family, are still at home, the former being employed in a wholesale silk and millinery house and the latter a stenographer.

C. C. Jameson attended rural schools in Webster County, Missouri, and spent two years in the high school at Marshfield. Since leaving school his ex- perience has been entirely in commercial lines. For three years he worked in a dry goods store, and in 1902 completed a business course in the Draughan Business College at Springfield. The next two years he covered an extensive territory in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, representing the Martin Manufacturing Company, makers of work clothing. He then took charge of the clothing store of W. W. Moore at Bolivar, Missouri, for a year and a half, and on severing his Missouri connections he joined the Golden Rule Syndicate at Livingston. For three months he was assistant manager of one of the stores at Bozeman, and then for two years was manager of A. Braton's women's ready to wear store. After that he was general manager and buyer for the Golden Rule department store at Livingston until June 1, 1919. He returned to Boze-

man as manager and one-third owner of the Boze- man department store.

Mr. Jameson is a republican, a member of the Baptist Church, and still retains his fraternal affiliations with Bolivar Lodge No. 56, Knights of Pythias, in Missouri.

January 3, 1917, at Billings, Mr. Jameson mar- ried Miss Lois Skinker, daughter of Judge C. H. and Minnie (Gravely) Skinker of Bolivar, Missouri. Her father is a distinguished Missouri jurist who for the past fifteen years has served as judge of the Eighteenth Judicial District, being first appointed by Governor Hadley of Missouri. Two of the most noted criminal trials in the Middle West in recent years came before him. One was the Stanley Ketchel murder case and the other the Keet baby kidnapping case. Mrs. Jameson attended the Mis- souri State University at Columbia two years and another year at Drury College, Springfield, Missouri.

J. RALPH SCOVIL. The name of Scovil is one of the best known ones in industrial circles not only at Butte, but throughout Western Montana, this promi- nence having been given it by the united activities of J. Ralph Scovil and his father, John Scovil, both of whom are excellent and very successful business men. J. Ralph Scovil is proprietor of the Unique Cleaning and Tailoring Company, and his father is connected with a number of large concerns at Butte and other cities, and is recognized as the leading laundryman of Montana.

J. Ralph Scovil was born at Anaconda, Montana, on November 15, 1892, a son of John Scovil, and grandson of L. N. Scovil, the latter a native of Mid- dletown, Connecticut, where he was born in 1809. He died at Springville, Utah, in 1890. The Scovil family was founded in the American colonies prior to the Revolution, coming here from England, and becoming prominent in the New England settle- ments.

L. N. Scovil went first to Ohio and later to Provo, Utah, and during the war between the states he returned to the land of his forefathers, and for a time was connected with the London "Times." He became a republican, and until his death voted the ticket of that party. In the creed of the Mormons he found expression for his religious faith, and was one of the leading members of the Mormon colony at Springville, where he made his home in later years. The grandmother of J. Ralph Scovil bore the maiden name of Hannah Marsden, and she was born near Liverpool, England, in 1839, and died at Springville, Utah, in July, 1907. Her father was William Marsden, also a native of England, and he died at Parawan, Utah, in 1887, to which place he came from Burlington, Iowa, and he was both a farmer and merchant and a very successful man. The following children were born to L. N. Scovil and his wife, Hannah (Marsden) Scovil: John, who became the father of J. Ralph Scovil; S. S., of Salt Lake City, Utah; Sylvia, who is the widow of John Roylance, lives at Springville, Utah; Mina, who is Mrs. E. J. Wignal, of Salt Lake City, Utah; Clara, who is Mrs. Engene W. Raymond, of Salt Lake City, Utah; and Jennie, who is Mrs. Walter R. Dusen- berry, of Salt Lake City, Utah.

John Scovil, father of J. Ralph Scovil, was born at Provo, Utah, on January 30, 1863, and until he was thirteen years old attended the public schools of Springville, Utah, but then began to be self-support- ing, working first as a teamster. In 1884 he came to Anaconda, Montana, and for a time was con- nected with the Upper Works as watchman and later timekeeper, and still later became manager

HISTORY OF MONTANA

of the milk ranch in the vicinity of Anaconda. All this time he was looking for work suited to his capabilities, and entered upon what was to be a re- markably successful business career when he be- came a driver for the Anaconda Laundry Company. After gaining some knowledge of the laundry busi- ness through this connection he established a laun- dry of his own under the name of the Montana Laundry at Anaconda, and conducted it so success- fully that in 1899 he sold it at a good profit and came to Butte. From the time he became a resi- dent of Butte to the present day Mr. Scovil's opera- tions have been so remarkably successful as to chal- lenge admiration and stimulate emulation .. Begin- ning with the purchase of the pioneer Union Laun- dry, Mr. Scovil forged ahead, acquiring possession in part or as sole owner of the C. O. D. Laundry, the Troy Laundry, the Palace Laundry and the Taylor Laundry, in time so consolidating them that he is now operating them under the names of the C. O. D. Laundry, capitalized at $200,000, and giv- ing employment to 100 persons, and the Taylor Laundry, capitalized at $150,000, and giving employ- ment to seventy-five persons, the former being the largest laundry in Montana. In addition to his im- mense laundry interests John Scovil is president of the Unique Cleaning and Tailoring Company of Butte; president of the Scovil Realty Company, In- corporated, of Butte; and president of the Ward- robe Cleaning and Tailoring Company of Great Falls, Montana. He owns his own residence at Butte, an apartment house, the Lennox Hotel, two brick blocks, the building occupied by the Unique Cleaning and Tailoring Company, the site of the Speedway Stables, twelve dwellings and a farm, all at Butte; the building occupied by the Wardrobe Cleaning and Tailoring Company at Great Falls, Montana; an apartment house of fourteen apart- ments, a business block and a modern brick dwelling at Salt Lake City, Utah, and a dwelling at Spring- ville, Utah. John Scovil is a republican. He be- longs to the Butte Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club, the Silver Bow Club and the Country Club, and is a Knight of Pythias.

In 1891 Mr. Scovil was married at Anaconda, Montana, to Miss Mary J. Keith, a daughter of Mrs. Jane Keith, who died at Anaconda in 1901. Mrs. Scovil was born at Corinne, Utah, in 1873, and died at Anaconda on May 30, 1900, leaving one son, J. Ralph, whose name heads this review. On June 12, 1901, Mr. Scovil was married to Miss Lalia G. Walton, a daughter of John and Henrietta (Smith) Walton, of Butte. Mr. Scovil has no children by his second marriage.

After completing the eighth grade of the Butte Public Schools, J. Ralph Scovil entered Shattuck Military Academy at Faribault, Minnesota, where he completed the junior year, and he completed his collegiate work at the Princeton Preparatory School in 1912. Following this he entered the University of Pennsylvania, and left it in 1913. Mr. Scovil then took a business course at the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce, and was graduated there- from in 1914. He belongs to the Greek Letter Fra- ternity Phi Sigma Kappa.

In 1914 Mr. Scovil returned to Butte and took charge of the Unique Cleaning and Tailoring Com- pany, Incorporated, the leading business of its kind in Butte, with premises at No. 128 West Granite Street. This company was incorporated in 1908, and Mr. Scovil's father is its president.

J. Ralph Scovil is a republican like his father and grandfather before him. He affiliates with the Episcopal Church. The American Legion, the Rotary

Club, the Good Roads Association, the Rocky Moun- tain Rifle Club, the Butte Country Club, the Silver Bow Club and the Areo Club of America all have his membership. At present Mr. Scovil lives in the Werner Apartments on South Clark Street, although he did own a modern residence at No. 637 Colorado Street, but sold it when he enlisted for service dur- ing the great war.

On October 15, 1917, J. Ralph Scovil enlisted and was sent to Berkeley, California, to the government school of aviation, from whence he went to the North Island Flying Field at San Diego, California, and was mustered out as a flying sergeant of the first class and was in line for a commission at the time of the signing of the Armistice, when he would have been transferred to Riverside, California. The date of his discharge papers is March 1, 1919.

On April 7, 1916, Mr. Scovil was married at Butte to Miss Frances McDonald, a daughter of Doctor H. J. and Caroline (Le Mere) McDonald, residents of Butte, where Doctor McDonald is engaged in a successful practice. Mrs. Scovil attended the Haver- gal School for Girls at Toronto, Canada, for two years.

WILLIAM P. ADAMS, an implement dealer at ,Columbus, is a Montana pioneer, and thirty years ago was riding the range for various stock outfits in the Yellowstone Valley. He is one of the old timers at Columbus, and has had much to do with that town's progress and upbuilding.

Mr. Adams was born in Meigs County, Ohio, October 3, 1865. He belongs to the old Massachu- setts Adams family. His grandfather, John Adams, was born in Pennsylvania in 1782, and was an early settler in Meigs County, Ohio, where he followed the milling business. He died in Meigs County in 1875. John Quincy Adams, father of the Quincy merchant, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1829, and was a young boy when his parents moved to Meigs County, Ohio. He spent all his life in that county, from his father learned the trade of milling and engaged in that industry for many years. He died in Meigs County in 1899. He served as a member of an Ohio Regiment of Infantry during the Civil war, and in politics was a 'democrat. John Q. Adams married Emeline Peoples, who was born in Ohio in 1833 and died in Meigs County. Their chil- dren were: Mark A., who operates the old home flouring mill at Keno, in Meigs County; Joseph, who was a blacksmith, came to Montana in 1899 and died at Terry in 1914; Addison, who was a structural iron worker and died at Portland, Oregon, in 1914; William P., who is fourth in age; Emeline, wife of Mr. Brown, of Meigs County, Ohio; and Sybil, who is the wife of a Meigs County farmer.

William P. Adams grew up in the rural districts of Meigs County, attending country schools, and at the age of sixteen left home and went to Kansas, where he spent four years on a stock farm in Coffey County. From there in 1888 he came to Montana, and in that year became acquainted with the little hamlet of Stillwater, now the City of Columbus. As a cowboy he rode the range all over this dis- trict for twelve years. He then established the first livery and feed stable of any consequence at Columbus, and was active in that business until April, 1918. He still owns the stables, but now gives all his time to the implement business. He has a well equipped store on Pike Avenue, owns the building in which his business is conducted, and has many other property interests, including a modern home, two dwelling houses, and an interest in a ranch of 480 acres seven miles north of Columbus.

HISTORY OF MONTANA

Mr. Adams is well known in public affairs, having served as sheriff of Yellowstone County during 1906- 07. He is a republican, and is affiliated with Billings Lodge No. 394 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

At Columbus in 1896 he married Miss Maggie Lavelle, daughter of that splendid old pioneer of Columbus, Patrick Lavelle, concerning whom special mention is made on other pages of this publication. Mr. and Mrs. Adams have four children: Willie. born July' II, 1899, a graduate of the Columbus High School, and an employee of H. I. Grant's merchandise business at Columbus; Patrick, born November 11, 1900, now engaged on the County Survey; Dorothy, who has completed the first year of the high school; and Harold, a grammar school student.

O. T. RAGLAND during the past five years has become known as one of the most useful, ener- getic and public spirited citizens of Livingston, where he is serving as police magistrate and has built up a large and prosperous insurance agency. Mr. Ragland came to Montana following the ex- ample of other members of his family, who re- sorted here as a matter of health and climate.

His business career for many years centered in Southern Illinois and he is a native of Kentucky, born in Ballard County, April 19, 1855.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 10

Author: Stout, Tom, 1879- ed Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Chicago, American Historical Society Number of Pages: 1126

Author: Stout, Tom, 1879- ed
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 1126