Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 114

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 114

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Mr. Tregloan is a stanch republican in politics and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His fraternal relations are with the Livingston Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

In 1886, at Hazel Green, Wisconsin, Mr. Treg- loan was married to Mrs. Esther (Cox) Austin, the daughter of John and Eliza (Cundy) Cox. To Mr. and Mrs. Tregloan have been born the follow- ing children: Jane, who is a graduate of Oberlin College, at Oberlin, Ohio, married May 1, 1912, Clifford Helgeşon, a farmer at Clyde Park, Mon- tana, and they have two children, Esther Elizabeth and Thomas Clifford; Homer, who is a graduate in the civil engineering course at Princeton Uni- versity and is assisting his father on the ranch, married November 27, 1913, Marguerite Thomas, and they have one child, Jean Armour.

In summing up the chief events in the life of the subject it has been the aim to avoid fulsome en- comium; yet there has been a desire to hold up for consideration those facts which have shown the distinction of a true, useful and honorable life- a life characterized by perseverance, energy and well defined purpose. In doing this we are but reiterating the dictum pronounced upon the man by the people who have known him long and well. He enjoys a wide acquaintance throughout the southern part of the state, and it is undoubtedly true that in this region no man enjoys to a greater degree the universal esteem of the people than he.

JOHN R. HALEY. It is oftentimes considered by those in the habit of superficial thinking that the history of so-called great men only is worthy of preservation and that little merit exists among the masses to call forth the praises of the historian or the cheers and appreciation of mankind. A greater mistake was never made. No man is great in all things and very few are great in many things. It is not a history of the lucky stroke which benefits humanity most, but the study and effort which made the lucky stroke possible. It is the prelimi- nary work, the method, that serves as a guide for others. Among the citizens of Southern Montana who have achieved success along steady lines of action is John R. Haley, of Wilsall, a man who richly merits the confidence and esteem which all freely accord him, for he has taken a deep inter- est in the development of the locality and always

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stands ready to do his full share in the work of progress.

John R. Haley was born in Sommerset, Pulaski County, Kentucky, on December 31, 1886, and is a son of John P. and Elizabeth Jane (Shepard) Haley. John P. Haley, who is now a resident of Wilsall, was born at Sommerset in 1845 and was reared and married there. He engaged in the mercantile business, which commanded his attention until 1898, when he came to Montana, locating first at Liv- ingston, and then coming to his ranch of 640 acres, located about fourteen miles west of Wilsall. It is irrigated land and he devotes it to the grazing of high-grade cattle and horses. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Improved Order of Red Men. His wife was born in 1851, in Sommerset, Kentucky. She bore her husband the following children: Thomas, who is a ranch owner at Boise, Idaho; Iola was the wife of John B. Newell, but both are deceased; Elizabeth Pearl first married Oliver Morgan, who was a rancher and a clerk in the recorder's office, and who died in I911, and later she became the wife of William D. Bell, a real estate broker; William is a rancher at Bozeman; and John R.

John R. Haley was educated in the public schools of Sommerset, Kentucky, and the rural schools of Gallatin and Park counties, Montana. Until eighteen years of age he remained with his father, but at that time, ambitious to be independent, he went to Bozeman and entered the employ of the Wilson Company, drygoods and gentlemen's furnishings, with whom he remained for two years. During the following three years he worked in Kopp Com- pany's meat market at Bozeman, followed by a year of farming. In 1911 he came to Wilsall and bought an interest in the livery business of his father- in-law, James McClarty. The firm, which is known as McClarty & Haley, keeps a good line of horses for general purposes, and also conducts a dray line. They carry a general line of feed and handle practically the entire coal and ice trade of the city. They are also agents for the Continental Oil Company. Mr. Haley is a stockholder in the United States Building and Loan Association of Butte. He is a man of sound and conservative business judgment and has been prospered in a satis- factory manner since coming to Montana.

In 1912 Mr. Haley was married to Anna May McClarty, of Wilsall, and they have one child, Mar- garet Willeta, born on March 31, 1913.

WILLIAM A. DAVIS. The prosperity and substan- tial welfare of a town or community are in a large measure dne to the enterprise and wise foresight of its business men. It is progressive, wide-awake men of affairs that make the real history of a community, and their influence in shaping and di- recting its varied interests is difficult to estimate. William A. Davis, head of the well-known seed honse at Bozeman bearing his name, is one of the enterprising spirits to whom is due the substantial growth of the city whose interests he has at heart. With a mind capable of planning, he combines a will strong enough to execute his well-formulated purposes, and his great energy, keen discrimina- tion and perserverance have resulted in material sticcess.

The family from which the subject of this re- view springs is of Welsh origin, his emigrant ancestor having come from that rock-ribbed little country to Canada. The subject's grandfather, William Davis, was born in Ontario, Canada, and died at Ingersoll, province of Ontario, in 1881. He followed the vocation of farming in that province

all his life. He married Miss Swazie, also a native of Ontario, and among their children was Samuel Davis, father of the immediate subject of this sketch. He was born in 1832 in Niagara, province of Ontario, Canada, and died at Detroit, Michi- gan, in January, 1911. He was reared to manhood and married in his native province, but eventually he came to Buchanan, Michigan, where he followed his trade, that of a carpenter and builder. Later he returned to Ontario, Canada, where he followed his trade until his removal to Detroit, Michigan, in 1882. He spent the remainder of his days there in that vicinity. He was a stanch republican in politics.

Samuel Davis married Hannah Baker, who was born in 1842 in South Bend, Indiana, and now resides in Bozeman, Montana. To them were born the following children: The first child, a girl, died at the age of three years; Almira is the wife of James E. Geedy, a farmer at Delhi, Ontario, Canada; Nellie became the wife of Dr. David Stoval, late of Detroit, now deceased, and she now lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan; Katie is the wife of Charles E. Scott, a dealer in real estate at Port- land, Oregon; Noah died at the age of fourteen years; Samuel is a member of the police force of Detroit, Michigan; Hall died in infancy; James H., who was in the furniture business at Detroit, Michi- gan, died at the age of twenty-nine years; William A. is the next in order of birth; Florence died at the age of four years; and May died at the age of two years.

William A. Davis, who was born at Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada, November 3, 1877, received his education in the public schools of Detroit, Michi- gan. At the age of seventeen years he entered Smith's Business College at Detroit, completing the course there in 1894. Then for a short time he was employed in an art store, but soon afterwards accompanied the family on its removal to Birming- ham, Michigan, where his parents located on a farm. The subject remained there until he was twenty-one years of age, when he became employed by the Jerome B. Rice Seed Company of Detroit, with whom he was identified for twelve years. Starting at the very bottom of the ladder, he worked his way through various promotions until at length, in February, 1911, he was sent to Boze- man as the company's representative, having for six years been a field representative for the com- pany. The advent of the Rice Company in Boze- man was the starting of the seed pea growing indus- try in Montana. Mr. Davis at all times enjoyed the fullest measure of confidence on the part of his employers and in return he gave them his very best efforts. On December 20, 1911, he severed his relations with the Rice Company and during 1912 he was engaged with a ranching enterprise. In the spring of 1913 he organized the William A. Davis Seed Company, which was incorporated and of which Mr. Davis was the president. In March, 1916, the company was reorganized, under the title of The William A. Davis Company, with the fol- lowing official personnel : President and treasurer, William A. Davis; vice president, R. J. Hutton, of Detroit; secretary, B. C. Parker. The company has built up a phenomenal business and is now numbered among the big seed concerns of the country. They have erected a fine big warehouse on South Wallace Avenue, designed and arranged specially for the handling and cleaning of various seeds, particularly peas. Immense quantities of their seeds are shipped to Wisconsin and New York State, while many shipments are made to Eng- land and France. The active head and manager

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of the company is, as might naturally be supposed, Mr. Davis, who thoroughly understands every phase of the seed business and whose business ability and indefatigable energy has borne fruit in the enviable position which the company now occupies in local business circles.

Politically Mr. Davis gives his earnest support to the republican party and he is a member of the Presbyterian Church.

On August 21, 191I, at Shenandoah, Iowa, Mr. Davis was married to Bettie I. E. Renstrom, a native of Iowa and a graduate of the Shenandoah Normal College. To them have been born two children, William Arthur, Jr., born August 25, 1912, and Maribel Elizabeth, born July 4, 1915.

G. B. LONG has been a leading rancher in Sweet- grass County for over ten years, and is now filling the office of sheriff, to which he was elected as a re- publican in 1918. Sheriff Long has been on his own responsibilities so far as making a living was con- cerned since early boyhood, and has been a farm hand, farmer, cowboy, independent rancher, and, while his activities have been satisfactory from a financial standpoint, he has also won the confidence and trust of the best people of every community where he has lived.

He was born on a farm in Macon County, Missouri, April 13, 1878. His father, George Long, was born in Germany in 1821, and in order to escape military conscript he left Germany in 1841 and became a set- tler in Pennsylvania. He lived at Punxsutawney, that state, for sixteen years, married there, and was a farmer during the summer seasons and in winter helped raft logs down the Susquehanna River. In 1870 he moved to Macon County, Missouri. He was a farmer in that locality until his death in 1885. He was a very ardent democrat in politics, a member of the Lutheran Church and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. By his first wife he had six children: Margaret, living at Bellingham, Washington, widow of Henry Cress, a former rancher; John, who lives on the old home farm in Macon County; Joseph and Henry both farmers in Macon County, Missouri; Dave, also identified with the agricultural activities of Macon County; and Mary, wife of William Gwin- ner, a farmer in Macon County. For his second wife George Long married Jane (Baithgell) Sher- onghs, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1835. She died in Macon County, Missouri, in 1890. By this marriage there were two children: Emma, wife of Austin McGee, a farmer in Macon County, Missouri ; and G. B. Long. Mrs. Long by her first husband had four daughters : Mary, living at Novinger, Missouri, widow of John Nesbith, who was a brick moulder ; Caroline, wife of George Lowmaster, a farmer in Macon County; Sarah, wife of Frank Harrison, a Macon County farmer ; and Florence, deceased wife of John Long, mentioned above, her step brother.

G. B. Long lived at home with his mother to the age of twelve years, and then became a farm hand during all the summer months, and his work paid for his schooling during the winter season. In 1896, when he was eighteen years. old, he went to Springfield, Illinois, and worked on a farm there for twenty-two months. His arrival in Montana was in March, 1898. In Meagher County he spent two years on a ranch, acquiring all the arts of the cowboy, and for another six months he was employed in roundup work, which requires the great- est skill on the part of a cowboy. His employer during that period was Dr. G. H. Wilson. Mr. Long then bought a livery stable at Two Dot, Montana, and conducted it five years and nine months.

On October 1, 1907, he came to Sweetgrass County, buying a ranch on Deer Creek. He finally sold the ranch and in the spring of 1914 disposed of his cattle. He was active in that locality from 1907 to 1914, and since then has continued his operations as a cattle man and banker on an irrigated farm of 320 acres located 57/2 miles north of Big Timber.

Mr. Long also owns a modern home in Big Timber. Since his election to the office of sheriff he has given his time to the duties of his official position. He is a member of Doric Lodge No. 53, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Big Timber. Mr. Long married at old Big Elk in Meagher County, January 19, 1901, Mary Viola Nelson, daughter of Eli and Lovina (Shields) Nelson, residents of Butler, Missouri, where her father is a farmer.

JOHN HENRY HEIDELMAN, M. D. Through the greater part of his long and successful professional career Doctor Heidelman was a Government physician and surgeon under the Indian Bureau. In that serv- ice he first came to Montana about twenty years ago, and was physician on several Indian reserva- tions in this state. Doctor Heidelman since retiring from the Government work has been busied with a large practice at Ronan.

He was born at Madison, Indiana, September 29, 1866. His father, A. H. Heidelman, was born at Osnabruk, Germany, in 1829, came to this country when a young man and lived in Cincinnati, where he married, afterward removed to Madison, Indiana, and in 1876 settled at Indianapolis, where he lived until his death in 1912. He was a millwright and carpenter and followed his trade for many years. During the Civil war he was a Union soldier, serving in the Fortieth Indiana Infantry. He was all through that struggle, was in the division com- manded by Thomas and Rosecrans, and participated at Chickamanga, Lookont Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Knoxville campaign, and in fact in all the engagements of his regiment. He came out of the war almost totally deaf, and for many years drew a well deserved pension from the Government. He was a strong democrat in political affiliations and a member of the Catholic Church. A. H. Heidel- man married Elizabeth Ernest Glatt, who was born at Donnersdorf, Oldenberg, Germany, in 1829, and died at Indianapolis in 1915. They had nine chil- dren : Benjamin, formerly a carriagemaker and for a number of years employed on finishing work on passenger coaches for the Big Four Railway, now practically retired and following gardening at In- dianapolis; Catherine, wife of Frank Osfield, a butcher at Cincinnati; Josephine, wife of Michael Rieger, timekeeper in the freight depot at Indianap- olis; Louise, wife of Joseph Hoffstatter, who for many years has been in the furniture making busi- ness, and is a stockholder and overseer in a fac- tory at Indianapolis; Elizabeth, of Indianapolis, widow of Frank Muhlbacher, a tailor and grocer ; Andrew, a blacksmith at Memphis, Tennessee; Doctor Heidelman; Joseph, a machinist at Indianap- olis; and Mary, also a resident of the Indiana cap- ital.

Doctor Heidelman attended public school at In- dianapolis, where he lived from the age of ten. He was a student in high school and also at the college in Irvington, an Indianapolis suburb, one year. He entered the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery and graduated M. D. in 1891. For one year he practiced at Indianapolis and in 1892 en- tered the Indian service of the Government. The first year he was assigned to duty at Pipestone, Min- nesota, two years at Winnebago and Omaha, Ne- braska, and three years at White Earth, Minnesota.

John H. Heidelman M ..

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In December, 1899, in the course of his duties, he arrived in Montana, and for a year and a half was surgeon for the large Indian school at Fort Shaw. The next year was spent in the Bitter Root Valley, and in January, 1902, he was made surgeon and phy- sician at Jocko on the Flathead Reservation and later at Dixon. Doctor Heidelman resigned from the Indian service in April, 1918, and has since enjoyed a prosperous practice at Ronan, his offices and home being at D and Third streets.

For a number of years he served as a member of the School Board at Jocko. Governor Stewart appointed him examiner of the local draft board at Dixon during the World war. He is independent in politics, is affiliated with Missoula Lodge No. 13, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, is a Royal Arch Mason and an honorary member of the Modern Woodmen of America at Missoula. He belongs to the Alumni Association of the University of Cin- cinnati Medical School and is a member of the County, State and American Medical associations.

Doctor Heidelman is also interested in several banks, being a director and stockholder in the First National Bank of Ronan, a stockholder in the First National Bank of Jocko and the Farmers and Mer- chants Bank at Dixon.

In June, 1898, in the St. Paul Parsonage of the Episcopal Church, Doctor Heidelman married Miss Elizabeth Baker, a native of Oak Harbor, Ohio. Mrs. Heidelman is descended from the Lindsley and Green families, well known names in the colo- nial history of New Jersey and Virginia, and is eligible for membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution. Mrs. Heidelman is a grad- uate of Valparaiso University at Valparaiso, In- diana, and is an artist of much skill and taste. She painted many portraits while among the Flathead Indians, and also the wonderful scenery of the Flat- head Reservation has been a subject for her artistic brush. She is a trustee of School District No. 28 at Ronan. Doctor and Mrs. Heidelman have one son, John Paul, born November 13, 1899. He is now a student of the Ronan High School, and toward the close of the war was called by the draft and was drilled at Bozeman College.

FRED M. BROWN has occupied the office of county surveyor of Gallatin County for ten years, is now serving his sixth consecutive term, and both officially and otherwise has had a wide and varied experience in engineering and public work.

He is one of the few men of mature years who can claim Bozeman as their native city. He was born there November 20, 1881, when the town was in its pioneer stage of development. His grand- father was Joseph Nelson Brown, who was born in Illinois in 1815, and died at Oregon City, Oregon, in 1905. For many years he lived in Iowa, where he followed his trade as a carpenter and builder, and on retiring from business moved out to Ore- gon. J. N. Brown, father of the county surveyor, was born in Illinois in 1850, was reared and married in Iowa, and in 1870 settled among the pioneers in the Gallatin Valley of Montana. He pre-empted 160 acres, proved it up and lived on it for many years. He has been widely known as a brick manufacturer and for many years has followed the business of contracting for dirt roads. He has constructed many miles of highway in Gallatin County and is still engaged in that business. While he sold his original homestead he still owns a farm near Man- hattan. As a resident of Bozeman he has served as alderman and is a republican in politics. J. N. Brown married Ariminta McQuillan, who was born in Iowa in 1861. Fred M. is the oldest of their six

children. Edith is the wife of John Milloy, and they live in the Province of Saskatchewan, Canada. Everett, the youngest, is associated with his father's business at Bozeman.

Fred M. Brown received his early education in the public schools of Bozeman, graduating from high school in 1899, after which he spent two years in the State Agricultural' College. For one year he pursued a special course in civil engineering at the University of California, and then joined his father for two years. He operated the brick plant and also did contracting. During another two years he had some valuable experience as an employe of the United States Department of the Interior, en- gaged in reclamation work in Montana. Mr. Brown was elected county surveyor of Gallatin County in 1908. He entered upon his duties in January, 1909, and has been five times re-elected. He is an asso- ciate member of the American Society of Civil En- gineers. He belongs to the Bozeman Chamber of Commerce, is a vestryman of the Episcopal Church, is a past master of Bozeman Lodge No. 18, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and a member of Zoma Chapter No. 12, Royal Arch Masons, at Bozeman. Politically he is a republican.

Mr. Brown built his modern home at 822 South Third Street in 1908, and he also owns a ranch of 720 acres in the Sedan neighborhood. He married at Billings in October, 1904, Miss Mary Holland, daughter of John and Matilda Holland. Her mother is deceased and her father is a retired mining en- gineer living at Norris, Montana. Mrs. Brown is a graduate of the State Agricultural College at Boze- man. They have two children: Fred H., born June 9, 1905, and Esther, born September 19, 1909.

WALTER AITKEN was born in Streetsville, Ontario, Canada, on June 17, 1869, being the youngest of nine children of William and Janet Aitken. Mr. Aitken's parents were born, reared and married in Scotland, the father born in Alloa, Clackmannanshire, and the mother (Janet Macgregor) near Deanston, Perth- shire. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Aitken before they left Scotland, and the rest of the family were Canadian born, the parents emi- grating to Canada in the early '50s. The father died in 1878, and the mother died in New York City, in 1907. Both are buried in Mountain View Ceme- tery in Galt, Ontario.

Walter Aitken was taken by his parents to Galt when he was but a few months old. He was edu- cated in the public schools of that town and remained there until he was eighteen years of age, when he went to New York City, and while there was a stu- dent under private instruction. In 1889 he came to Montana and has been here ever since, except for occasional eastern visits. He settled on Shields River, Park County, and engaged in ranch and live- stock work and, as soon as old enough, took up a homestead near where what is now the Town of Clyde Park. He was a cowboy for eight years, off and on, riding the range in the Shields River, Mussel- shell .and Judith Basin countries. In 1895 he for- sook the range for newspaper work, doing his first reportorial work on the Livingston Post in the win- ter of that year. In the spring of the same year he established a weekly newspaper at Columbus, Mon- tana, the first newspaper in Stillwater County. In the fall of the same year he moved the plant to Big Timber and established the Big Timber Express, which he owned and edited until 1900, when he went to Kalispell and established the Bee for Marcus Daly. After the latter's death Mr. Aitken returned to Livingston and was editor of the Livingston Post for two years and of the Livingston Enterprise for

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four years. For eight years of his newspaper life he was secretary treasurer of the Montana Press Association, and upon his resignation in 1905 was elected an honorary life member of that organiza- tion.

While engaged in newspaper work Mr. Aitken had also been a student of the law, and in 1905 took the bar examination before the Supreme Court at Helena, was admitted to practice and in 1906 "hung out his shingle" at Belgrade in Gallatin Coun- ty. He remained there until 1915, and then moved to Bozeman, where he has a law office and enjoys a good practice. He is a past C. C. of the Knights of Pythias Lodge of Big Timber, a past W. M. of Belgrade Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Ma- sons, and a member of the Elks and Woodmen of the World. He is a former president of the Gallatin County Bar Association and is now vice president for Gallatin County of the State Bar Association. He organized the municipal government of Belgrade, and during the nine years of his residence there was continuously city clerk and city attorney. In poli- tics he is a democrat.

On May 22, 1898, Mr. Aitken was married at Livingston to Miss Florence N. Reese, daughter of T. G. and Mary A. (Carter) Reese, the latter now deceased. Mrs. Aitken's father came to Montana in 1882, spent many years as a rancher and stockman in the Paradise Valley, south of Livingston, and is now enjoying a retired life in Los Angeles. Mr. and Mrs. Aitken have two children: Florence R., born May 17, 1900, at Big Timber, who is in the second year of her work in the Montana State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, and is also assist- ant librarian of the Bozeman Public Library; Her- bert Macgregor, born December 26, 1903, at Living- ston, is a sophomore in the Gallatin County High School. The family reside in their own home at 310 South Black Avenne.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 114

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