Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 104

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 104

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James F. O'Connor received his primary educa- tion in the rural schools of Harrison County, Iowa, spent three years in the Woodbine Normal School in that state, and took his law course in the Uni- versity of Nebraska at Lincoln. He was gradu- ated LL. B. in 1904 and the following year came to Montana and began practice at Livingston, where he has been connected with much of the important civil and criminal litigation. His offices are in the postoffice building.

Much of his time, however, has been taken up by public duties and business responsibilities not directly connected with his profession. For a num- ber of years he was president of the Livingston School Board. Governor Norris appointed him judge of the Sixth Judicial District and he filled the unexpired term for 1912-13. At his appoint- ment he was the youngest district judge in the state. In 1916 he was elected a member of the Legislature and during the session of 1917 was speaker of the House. During 1918 for six months he was special counsel to the Federal Trade Com- mission at Washington, District of Columbia, that being his patriotic service during the war. Judge O'Connor is an influential democrat in the state, is affiliated with Livingston Lodge No. 246, Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks, was a member of the State Bar Association and is a Catholic in religion.

Besides his official relations as president and

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director of the Northwestern National Bank, presi- dent, director and stockholder in the Livingston Enterprise, he owns a cattle ranch of 640 acres on Shields River in Park County and has a half interest in a 5,000 acre sheep ranch in Ravalli Coun- ty. His home is at 227 South Yellowstone Street.

Judge O'Connor married Miss Kate Adams at Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1898. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Adams, are both deceased, her father having been a farmer. To their marriage were born two children: Miles James, now a fresh- man in Mt. St. Charles College at Helena, and Geneva, a member of the junior class of the Park County High School.

ALBERT K. SMITH, of Rapelje, is one of the many young men who are swinging the larger respon- sibilities of business and industry in Montana today. Mr. Smith had his business training in the City of Minneapolis, and since coming to Montana has been identified with ranching on a large scale and also with merchandising, and is manager of the oldest mercantile business at Rapelje.

He was born at Minneapolis, October 30, 1887. His grandfather, John William Smith, was a na- tive of Scotland, and on coming to America lo- cated at Boston, where he became a newspaper publisher. He died there more than thirty years ago. Wallace B. Smith, father of Albert K., was born in Boston in 1861, grew up at Rockland, Maine, and as a young man went to Minneapolis. He had a long and active career at railroading, spending thirty-three years as superintendent for the Chicago & Northwestern lines. Though still a resident of Minneapolis, he has acquired and developed extensive interests in Montana. In 1911 . he went into the district north of Gibson in Sweet- grass County and homesteaded a ranch, bought more land, and now has 579 acres, constituting a grain and stock ranch. He has always been a re- publican in politics. Wallace B. Smith married Sarah McBain, who was born in Scotland in 1867 but was reared in Minnesota. They have two chil- dren, Grace I. and Albert K., the former a. mem- ber of the home circle at Minneapolis.

Albert K. Smith graduated from the Minneapolis High School in 1907. He attended the University of Minnesota Law Department and received his law degree from that institution in 1909. While in university he was a member of the Zeta Psi Greek letter fraternity. For ten years he has been closely identified with commercial lines. After leaving the university he was a railroad man at Minneapolis and for 11/2 years was city salesman there for Armour & Company. In I911 he began ranching on his father's land near Gibson, Montana, and he has since acquired 320 acres of his own in that vicinity. He gives his supervision to his ranching, and in 1916 he removed to the site of the present Town of Rapelje, before the railroad was built. He is interested in the Lake Basin Trad- ing Company and is manager of its general store at Rapelje.

He has become a permanent resident of the town, owns a modern home, is secretary of the Rapelje Cemetery Association, is on the board of trustees of the Congregational Church, is a demo- crat, and is affiliated with Big Timber Lodge of Masons.

At Minneapolis in 1910 he married Miss Mar- guerite Carr, daughter of W. H. and Martha (Blake) Carr. Her mother is still living at Minne- apolis. Her father was a wholesale meat mer- chant and died at Minneapolis. Mrs. Smith is a graduate of the Mankato Normal at Mankato, Min-

nesota, and finished her education in the University of Minnesota. To their marriage have' been born two children: McBain, born October 10, 1914, and Wallace Bertram, born June 28, 1916.

OLY M. BEST came into the business life of the community of Dillon thirty-five years ago. He has been no laggard in business, has been a factor in upbuilding several of the larger companies repre- sented in the city, and is founder and president and manager of the Western Wholesale Grocery Com- pany and also an extensive sheep raiser.

Mr. Best was born in Kalamazoo County, Michi- gan, February 17, 1857. His paternal ancestors came from Holland and settled in Pennsylvania in colonial days. His father, Amos Best, was born in Schoharie County, New York, in 1833, and spent the greater part of his active life as a farmer in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, where he married. He lived re- tired at Vicksburg, Michigan, for several years and died there in 1913. He was a prominent member of his community, enjoyed the honor of several local offices, was a republican and a member of the Ma- sonic fraternity. His first wife was Mary A. Kim- ball, who died at Vicksburg, Michigan, in 1857. Amos Best married for his second wife Lyvah Morse, who was born in 1844 and died at Vicks- burg, Michigan, in 1916. She was the mother of three children: Raymond, a farmer at Fromberg, Montana; C. D., a former merchant and now city clerk at Port Angeles, Washington; and Ella, whose first husband was Henry Peet, and she is now the wife of Bird Williams, a shipyards worker at Seattle.

Mr. O. M. Best grew up on his father's farm, attended country schools in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, and at the age of sixteen was ready to make his own living. While employed as a grain buyer by a firm at Vicksburg, Michigan, he spent all his leisure time in learning the art of telegraphy. As a telegraph operator and agent he was connected with the Chicago & Grand Trunk Railway in Michi- gan and Indiana for ten years. It was as a rail- way man that Mr. Best came to Montana. Beginning in 1885, for two years he represented the Union Pacific Railway at Dillon as station agent, On leaving the railroad he was employed as book- keeper for L. C. Fyhrie & Company, merchants. When this firm sold its business in 1889 to the Bur- fiend Brothers & Company Mr. Best remained with the organization, and when the business was reor- ganized as the Montana Mercantile Company, Incor- porated, in 1890, he acquired an interest in the firm and was active in its affairs for a quarter of a century, until 1915. He still has some financial holdings in this well known Dillon concern.

In 1915 Mr. Best organized the Western Whole- sale Grocery Company. He is president and man- ager of the corporation, J. P. Best is secretary and treasurer, and A. L. Stone is vice president. While the business has been in existence only five years, it is the largest concern of its kind in that part of the state and supplies the bulk of the retail trade in Dillon, Madison and Beaverhead counties, the Big Hole Basin and Centennial Valley of Montana and also Lemhi County and portions of Clark and Fremont counties in Idaho. The company has two warehouses on Montana Street. The main office and warehouse is a two-story building with base- ment, 100 feet square with 30,000 square feet of floor space. The company has twelve employes.

Mr. Best is half owner and also secretary and treasurer of the Swartz Sheep Company, one of the leading firms handling sheep in the Madison Valley near Ennis. Mr. Best has at different times held offices in his home city and county, and has

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always taken a diligent participation in local af- fairs. He is the present county commissioner of Beaverhead County, and in the early days served two terms in the same office. For several terms he was a member of the Dillon City Council and has been a member of the school board. He was on the Beaverhead County High School Board when the school was organized and was chairman of the building committee when the schoolhouse was built. Mr. Best is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is affiliated with Dillon Lodge No. 23, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Dillon Camp, Woodmen of the World, and the Royal Highlanders.

He and his family live in a modern home at 235 South Idaho Street. He married at Climax, Michi- gan, in 1880, before coming to Montana, Miss Ida E. Pierce, a daughter of Horace and Julia (Pratt) Pierce. Her mother is still living at Climax, where her father, a farmer, died. Mr. and Mrs. Best have two children, Floyd, a dentist at Dillon; and Jud- son, owner of a candy factory at Dillon.

JAMES E. SPURLING has given fully forty years of his active life to railroading. For more than thirty years he has been in the service of the Northern Pacific Railway, is well known all over that sys- tem and is one of the prominent officials in Mon- tana, being division freight and passenger agent at Billings.

Mr. Spurling is a native of Iowa, born at La Grange, November 16, 1862. His paternal ances- tors came from Scotland and were colonial settlers in Virginia. His grandfather, William Spurling, was a native of Virginia, spent most of his life in that state as a farmer, and on retiring moved to Melrose, Iowa, where he died.

James E. Spurling was born after his father, James H. Spurling, gave his life to his country as a soldier of the Civil war. James H. Spurling was born in Virginia in 1826, was reared in that state, moved to Indiana, where he married, and shortly after his marriage settled at La Grange, Iowa, where he operated a sawmill. Though of southern ancestry he was strongly identified with the Union cause during the Civil war, and early in that tron- ble, in 1861, enlisted in the Sixth Iowa Infantry. He was with his regiment in a number of engage- ments, including the Battle of Fort Donelson, and on the great battlefield of Shiloh, April 6, 1862, he laid down his life. He was a republican in politics and a member of the Methodist Church. James H. Spurling married Ann Bevins, who was born at Jonesville, Indiana, in 1829, and died at Brook- ings, South Dakota, in December 1918, when nearly ninety years of age. She was the mother of two sons Edwin and James E. Edwin is a retired farm- er at Brookings, South Dakota.

James E. Spurling attended public school at Mel- rose, Iowa, but early realized the responsibilities of life, and leaving school at the age of fifteen went to work as a messenger in the Melrose depot of the Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railway. He was there a year, learned telegraphy, and as a telegraph operator was employed at different points through Iowa by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy until 1880. From Iowa he went to Minnesota and became a telegraph operator and station agent in the service of the Great Northern Railway. In 1881 he left railroading temporarily, and for six months was with the Langdon Shepherd Construction Com- pany in Canada. For the year following he was with the Utah Northern Railway in Idaho, and from that time until 1886 was in the employ of the Chi- cago and Northwestern Railway in Dakota terri- torv.

Mr. Spurling joined the Northern Pacific Rail- way in 1886. His first duties were in Dakota ter- ritory and his first experience in Montana was in 1891, when he was made agent at 'Butte. He re- mained there three years, and then returned to Jamestown, North Dakota, as agent until 1905. In that year he was made traveling freight agent, cov- ering a large territory east of the Missouri River. In 1907 he was appointed to his present important duties as division freight and passenger agent at Billings, his offices being at 2812 Montana Avenue.

In the meantime Mr. Spurling has acquired con- siderable business and property interests, being a director in the First National Bank of Molt, and secretary of the Montana Live Stock Company of Billings. He owns a modern home at 703 North Thirty-second Street. Mr. Spurling is a republican, is affiliated with the Rotary Club of Billings, the local organization of Hoo Hoos, and is a member of Jamestown Lodge No. 6, Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons, and Jamestown Chapter No. 6, Royal Arch Masons, in North Dakota.

In 1884, at Ironton, Wisconsin, he married Miss Tessie Mulholland, a daughter of Patrick and Mary (Trueman) Mulholland. Her parents are both de- ceased. Her father for a number of years was foreman in an iron foundry in Ironton, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Spurling have four children. Edwin C. is local agent for the Northern Pacific Railway at Terry, Montana, and is a graduate of the James- town High School. Martha is the wife of Joseph L. Markham, advertising manager for the Billings Gazette. Tessie married Thomas M. Murn, a lawyer at Terry, Montana. Margaret, the youngest of the family, is still at home.

HERBERT P. IMISLUND is a prominent Lewiston business man, the president of the Montana and Eastern Corporation, a large investment concern, handling the funds of outside capitalists invested in this state. The offices of the corporation are in the Imislund Building, at the heart of Lewistown's financial district.

Mr. Imislund is an old time Montana citizen, having been here for thirty years or more. He was born in Trempealeau county, Wisconsin, July 27, 1864. His parents, Peter H. and Annie (Ander- son) Imislund, were both natives of Norway. His father came to this country when a young lad, and the family were pioneers in Trempealeau county. He cleared up a tract of government land in that section of Wisconsin, and lived there until his death at the age of forty-eight. He was a republican voter. His widow survived until 1916, and was eighty years of age at the time of her death.

Herbert P. Imislund, second of four children, spent his boyhood days on his father's Wisconsin farm, attending school only during the winter ses- sions. Leaving home in 1889, he came direct to Billings, Montana, traveling by railroad and thence going by stage to Maiden, where for three or four years he worked as a farm hand with the N Bar Ranch and others. He then became a clerk in the general store of James Charters at Grass Range, and after about three years bought the business and continued it under his own name for some eleven or twelve years. Mr. Imislund while at Grass Range was also interested with B. F. Moulton in a large ranch raising sheep and cattle. After selling his store at Grass Range in 1906 Mr. Imislund came to Lewistown and has since given all his time to his business as an investment banker.

He is a republican and is affiliated with Lewis- town Lodge No. 37, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Hiram Chapter No. 15. Royal Arch Masons,

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and Lewistown Lodge No. 456, Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks.

On June 12, 1901, he married Margaret Charters. She was born near Portage, Wisconsin. They have one daughter, Lillian Judith.

GEORGE ARNOTT, JR. Well equipped for his chosen profession not only by his native talent and ability, but by his acquired knowledge of legal lore, George Arnott, Jr., of the well-known firm of Snell & Arnott, is numbered among the successful lawyers of Billings, where he has established a fine practice. A native of Illinois, he was born August 9, 1885, in Paxton, where his father, George Arnott, Sr., resided for upwards of thirty years. Of French Huguenot stock on the paternal side, the family from which he is descended fled with thousands of other Huguenots from France to Scotland in 1685. Later one of Mr. Arnott's ancestors became cele- brated as a physician, and in that capacity was serving Napoleon Bonaparte when he was banished to the Island of St. Helena. The immigrant an- cestor of the Arnott family crossed the Atlantic shortly after the close of the Revolutionary war.

James Arnott, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Orange County, New York, in 1810, and during his earlier life was there em- ployed as a tiller of the soil. In 1869, following the tide of migration westward, he located in Ford County, Illinois, becoming a pioneer of Paxton, where he bought land and engaged in farming dur- ing the remainder of his life, dying there in 1895. His wife, whose maiden name was Agnes Coulter, was a life-long resident of New York state, her last years having been spent on the home farm in Orange County.

George Arnott, Sr., was born in Greenwich, New York, May 1, 1849, and was there brought up and educated. Going with his father to Illinois in 1869, he subsequently bought land in Paxton, and was there successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits for thirty-three years. Removing then with his family to Missouri, he purchased land in Tarkio, and there lived retired from active pursuits until 1910, a period of eight years. In 1910 he came to Montana, where he has large landed interests, own- ing a ranch of 1,000 acres at Judith Basin and 5,000 acres at Big Hole Basin, in Beaverhead County. He is a resident of Billings, where he has a modernly built home. He is a republican in politics, and an influential member of the Congregational Church. He married Susie Gray, who was born in Penn- sylvania in 1852, and to them seven children have been born, as follows: James, a ranchman, died in Belden, Nebraska, aged twenty-seven years ; Le Roy, who manages the large ranch at Big Hole Basin; Jessie, wife of George E. Snell, of the firm of Snell & Arnott, at Billings; Mary, who married Frank Sande, proprietor of a laundry at Ther- mopolis, Wyoming, died in Billings, Montana, March 17, 1916; George, Jr .; Ed, a ranchman at Windham, Montana; Annabelle, now, in 1919, a sophomore at the University of California, in Berkeley.

Receiving his preliminary education in the public schools of Paxton, Illinois, George Arnott, Jr., con- tinued his studies in the preparatory department of Tarkio College, in Tarkio, Missouri, remaining in that institution three years. Going from there to Ann Arbor, he entered the University of Michigan, and was there graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1908. In July, 1908, Mr. Arnott settled in Billings, and having become junior member of the law firm of Snell & Arnott has since been ac- tively and prosperously employed in legal work,

with offices at Nos. 310-12-14 Securities Building, and a pleasant home at No. 302 Clark Avenue. By means of thrift and good judgment he has acquired title to valuable land, owning a ranch of 400 acres in the Yellowstone Valley, and a half interest in a ranch of 430 acres in Fergus County. He is like- wise a stockholder in the Billings Gas Company, of which he is the treasurer.

Mr. Arnott married, in 1913, at Billings, Miss Irena Swearingen, who was graduated from the Na- tional Cathedral School, Washington, District of Columbia. Her parents, J. R. and Florence (Car- dell) Swearingen, are residents of Billings, Mr. Swearingen being president of the Montana Sash and Door Company. Mr. and Mrs. Arnott have one child, Florence, born March 6, 1916. Socially Mr. Arnott is a member of the Billings Club and of the Billings Golf and Country Club. Fraternally he belongs to Ashlar Lodge No. 29, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, and to the Billings Lodge of Perfection. He is also an active member of the Yellowstone County Bar Association and of the Montana State Bar Association.

T. S. HOGAN. Endowed with excellent business and executive ability, T. S. Hogan, who now owns and occupies one of the most highly improved ranches of Yellowstone County, it being situated six miles south of Huntley, has achieved distinction as a man of affairs, having attained prominence not only as an attorney and a statesman but as a suc- cessful and progressive agriculturist. A native of Wisconsin, he was born at Chippewa Falls December 23, 1869, and was there reared and educated.

John Hogan, his father, was born in Tipperary, Ireland, in 1831. Immigrating to the United States in early manhood, he located first in Cleveland, Ohio, where he followed his trade of a stone mason for a time. Ambitious to better his fortunes and, to become permanently settled in life, he followed the pioneer's trail to Wisconsin in 1859, and having there obtained title to a tract of land was subsequently en- gaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred there in 1905. He was a faithful adherent of the democratic party, and a member of the Roman Catholic Church. He married, in Cleveland, Ohio, Bridget A'Hern, who was born in Waterford, Ire- land, and is now a resident of Aberdeen, Wash- ington. Seven children were born of their union, as follows: Mary, wife of James P. Sheehey, a cotton grower in San Antonio, Texas; P. R., who is engaged in the lumber business at Aberdeen, Washington; M. E., a lumber dealer in Troy, Mon- tana: J. C., a well-known attorney of Aberdeen, Washington; William, who resides at Spokane, Washington, where he has extensive mining in- terests ; Amelia, wife of D. J. Manning, a prosperous farmer of Hysham, Montana; and T. S., the special subject of this brief personal notice.

Acquiring his elementary education at Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, T. S. Hogan was graduated from the high school with the class of 1886, and for three years thereafter taught school in his native county. Migrating westward in 1889, he spent a year in Aberdeen, Washington, being variously em- ployed while there. In 1890 he became a resident of Montana, and for a year did general work in the mines at Butte. In 1891 Mr. Hogan began work in the silver belt, at Anaconda, Montana, and subse- quently was for three years employed in refining gold and silver for the Anaconda Company.

Taking an active part in public affairs, Mr. Hogan was elected secretary of state in 1896, and served most faithfully in that capacity for four years, his residence during that time having been in Helena.

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In 1901 he returned to Butte, and, having been ad- mitted to the Montana Bar in 1900, while secretary of state, he began the practice of law, which he had read to advantage in early manhood, and continued in practice there for four years. Removing to Billings, Yellowstone County, in 1905, he there con- tinned the practice of his profession seven years, building up an extensive and lucrative patronage. In the meantime Mr. Hogan purchased 4,000 acres of land lying six miles south of Huntley, and has since devoted his time and attention to its improve- ment, having one of the finest and most valuable grain and stock ranches in the county.

An independent democrat in politics, radical in his views, and honest in the expression of his opinions, Mr. Hogan is influential in matters con- cerning the public, and for four years served as state senator, from 1914 until 1918. While thus occupied he was a member of several committees of importance, including among others the judiciary, capital and labor, agriculture and insurance. He also introduced the Workmen's Compensation Law, which has been incorporated on the statute books of Montana. Ever loyal to his constituents, he looked after their interests while in the senate with rare fidelity, using the same good judgment in the management of public affairs that he did in his private dealings.

At Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, in 1893, Mr. Hogan was united in marriage with Miss Kathryn Donovan, a daughter of John and Mary (Manning) Donovan, pioneer settlers of Chippewa Falls, where both spent their last years, dying on the farm they redeemed from its original wilderness. Six children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Hogan, namely: Emmett V., born April 24, 1897, was graduated from the Billings High School, after which he continued his studies at the State University in Bozeman, and now has charge of all the stock on the home ranch; Mary T., born in 1900, is a graduate of the Billings High School; Fred T., born in 1902, assists his father on the ranch; Ruth, born in 1904; Maurine, born in 1906; and Helen, born in 1909.

JOHN E. CLIFFORD, who came to Montana in 1886, has at many times been in close touch with the larger affairs of the state in its commerce and industry, and has been an interesting witness and participant in important phases of state history. Mr. Clifford has been a leading figure in state politics for a number of years, and is at present serving his sec- ond term as state parole commissioner.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 104

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