Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 118

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 118

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Mr. Marlowe is a democrat, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at Missoula, and is affiliated with Missoula Lodge No. 13, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Hell Gate Lodge No. 383 of the Elks, Covenant Lodge No. 6 of the Odd Fellows, the Royal Highlanders and the Western Montana Bar Association.

His home is at 105 University Avenue. June 12, 1907, at Hamilton, Montana, he married Miss Nellie V. McMurray, a native of Missouri. They have two children : Thomas N. Jr., born July 23, 1910, and Eleanor Katherine, born July 17, 1912.

WILLIAM T. STODDEN was chosen mayor of the City of Butte in the spring of 1919 not on the basis of previous experience and activity in politics, but merely as a man of undoubted qualifications for the position, as an old resident of the city, and one of its sturdy and efficient workers in the great mining industry. His administration has realized all the most sanguine expectations entertained of it.

Mr. Stodden was born at Redruth, Cornwall, England, July 22. 1867, and as a native Cornish man represents mining as a family tradition. His father, Roger Stodden, spent all his life at Redruth, where he was born in 1832 and died in 1916, and during his active career was a steam engineer. He was a conservative in politics. For sixty years he held an active membership in the Methodist Epis- copal Church, and every office open to lay mem- bers was given him. He married Catherine Eade, who was born at Redruth in 1831 and died there

HI Stodden

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in 1917. A brief record of their children is as follows: John Henry, who died at Kedruth at the age of twenty-one; Richard, a janitor in the pub- lic schools at Butte: Mary Catherine, of Plymouth, England, widow of William Williams, a miner ; William Thomas; George, a miner who died at Redruth at the age of forty-three; Fred, also a miner, who died at Redruth aged forty-one.

William Thomas Stodden went to work in the mines of Southwestern England at the age of ten years. Up to that time he had attended a few terms of country school, and later advanced his education by work in some of the night schools. He was nineteen years of age when he came to the United States in 1886, and from that date has been a resident of Butte. Here by study in night school he specialized in steam engineering, and one of the factors in his success has been a constant effort to improve his individual abilities. During 1886-87 Mr. Stodden leased and operated a mine. In 1887 he went to work at the East Colusa Mine, now the Leonard Mine, and continuously for over thirty years was identified with that great landmark in the Butte mining district. He began as a com- mon miner and gradually qualified himself for the post of steam and electrical engineer. Mr. Stodden resigned in May, 1919, to take up his new duties as mayor of Butte.

Mr. Stodden is a member of the Engineers' Union and the Rotary Club, is a republican, and is affil- iated with Damon Pythias Lodge of Knights of Pythias, Butte Lodge No. 240, Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks, and Butte Camp No. 1153 of the Woodmen of the World. He owns a modern home at 1819 Garrison Avenue.

In 1889, at Centerville, Montana, he married Annie Jenkin. She was born, reared and educated in England and came to this country in 1888. Mrs. Stodden died in 1915, the mother of nine children: W. T., Jr., an electrical engineer living at Meader- ville, Montana; Flora, wife of Harold DeMain, an automobile mechanic living at 1820 Grand Avenue in Butte; Leslie, a steam engineer living at home; Percy, employed as a tax collector for the City of Butte; Montana, wife of John Werner, of 1915 Harrison Avenue, and an employe at the original mine of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company ; Doris, wife of Lee Hankin, an employe of the Oregon Short Line Railway living at Kemmer, Wyo- ming; Cecil, a city employe of Butte; Winfield, a chauffeur; and Wilbur, who is still continuing his education in the public schools. Mr. Stodden is proud of the fact that several of his children were participants in the great war. Leslie enlisted in 1917, serving one year, and was connected with the Base Hospital of Camp Dodge. Percy enlisted at the beginning of the war, was sent to the Mexican border and saw twenty-two months of service, be- ginning as a private and finally promoted to ser- geant. Mr. Stodden's son-in-law, Harold DeMain, enlisted shortly after his marriage, was sent to camp in Kentucky and was promoted to first ser- geant. In April, 1918, Mr. Stodden married Mrs. Hattie (Smith) Bowden, a native of Minnesota.

J. BRUCE KREMER, a prominent member of the Butte bar, was born at Louisville, Kentucky, Septem- ber 26, 1878, a son of Charles Lawrence and Anne Lee (Hendricks) Kremer. He was liberally edu- cated, attending the University of Virginia, and graduating in 1898 from the University of Louis- ville Law Department. He was admitted to the Ken- tucky bar the same year and has practiced at Butte since 1901. He is senior member of Kremer, Sanders & Kremer.

Mr. Kremer is looked upon as one of the coming

men of influence and power in the democratic party, a position he already holds in Montana. In 1920 he presided at one of the two Jackson Day Banquet dinners following the meeting of the National Com- mittee of the democratic party in Washington, and on that historic occasion he was described as "a gifted talker in a party of gifted talkers." He has been a member of the Democratic National Commit- tee since 1908 and at one time was secretary. He was secretary of the Democratic National Conven- tion in 1916 and also chairman of the Democratic Speakers Bureau in the western division in the na- tional campaign of that year. He is at present vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Mr. Kremer is a member of the Silver Bow, Country, Montana, Silver Bow Democratic clubs and National Democratic Club of New York and Rocky Mountain Club of New York.

OWEN D. SPEER, superintendent of the city schools of Deer Lodge, is a graduate of the University of Montana but had his first experience as a teacher in his native State of Michigan.

Mr. Speer was born in California Township, Branch County, near Coldwater, Michigan, October 25, 1888. He is a member of an old American family, his great-great-great-grandfather John Speer coming in 1789 with wife and two children and settling in North Carolina. Mr. Speer's grandfather, James Stewart Speer, was born in Pennsylvania in 1818, moved early in life to Ohio, and in 1863 settled on a farm in California Township, Branch County, Michi- gan. When he retired from his farm he moved over the Michigan line to Fremont, Indiana, where he died in 1905. He was a whig in early life but later a republican. David Speer, father of the Montana educator, was born in Ohio in 1858 and spent the greater part of his life in Branch County, Michigan, as a farmer. He died in California Township in February, 1916. Politically he was a prohibitionist and was an elder in the Reformed Presbyterian Church many years. He married Helen Rebecca Duguid, who was born in Branch County, Michigan, in 1861, and is now living at Missoula, Montana. James Beryl, the oldest of their children, is registrar of the State University of Minnesota; Ella died in infancy and Clinton at the age of ten years; the fourth of the family is Owen D .; Bruce died in infancy ; Lillian is a graduate of the Michigan State Normal College at Ypsilanti, and is a teacher at Superior, Montana. while Lucile, the youngest, is also a graduate of the Ypsilanti Normal and is a teacher at Bonner, Montana.

Owen D. Speer spent his early life on his father's farm in Southern Michigan, attended a rural school there and graduated in 1907 from the high school at Fremont, Indiana For two years he taught in his native county and in 1009 came to Missoula, enrolling as a student in the State University. He received his A. B. degree in 1915, but in the meantime had been superintendent of schools at Deer Lodge during the year 1912-13, and has had active charge of those schools for the past six years. The city schools of Deer Lodge number four, with a staff of eighteen teachers and 450 scholars.

Mr. Speer for three years served as a member of the Executive Board of the State Teachers' Associa- tion and is a member of the National Education Association. He is an independent in politics, is secretary of the Board of the Presbyterian Church, and a trustee, is a member of the Deer Lodge Cham- ber of Commerce and is affiliated with the Sigma Nu college fraternity.

Mr. Speer and family reside at 604 Missouri Avenue. He married at Deer Lodge in 1916 Miss

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Ruth Stetson, daughter of H. E. and Harriet (Smith) Stetson, residents of Deer Lodge. Her father is office manager of the Bonner Mercantile Company. Mrs. Speer is a graduate of the Library School of the University of Wisconsin, having a degree in Library Science. To their marriage were born two children, David O., born August 14, 1917; and Martha Haskell, born December 14, 1918.

WILLIAM OTHNIEL BOHART. The name of William Othniel Bohart, of Bozeman, does not need to be in- troduced to the readers of this work, for he has been intertwined with the history of Montana for a num- ber of years. The splendid success which has come to him is directly traceable to the salient points in his character. With a mind capable of planning, he com- bined a will strong enough to execute his well-formu- lated purposes, and great energy, keen discrimination and perseverance have resulted in the accumulation of a handsome property, which places him among the substantial citizens of Gallatin County. He carries to successful completion whatever he undertakes, and his business methods have ever been in strict con- formity with the ethics of advanced business codes, so that he has ever enjoyed the confidence and esteem of all who know him.

Othniel Bohart, as he is generally called, is de- scended from good old Holland stock, his progeni- tors having come from the land of dikes and tulips in the days of the colonies and settled in Pennsyl- vania. There the subject's grandfather, Peter Bo- hart, was born, and eventually he became a pioneer farmer in Indiana, locating near Otisco, where he died. Among his children was Peter H. Bohart. who was born in Indiana in 1843. In young manhood he moved to Missouri, being numbered among its pioneers, and there married. He lived in Ridgeley one year and then located near Graham, where he followed huckstering. In 1878 he went to Kansas and located on a farm near Leavenworth. Subse- quently he came to Montana and located about 21/2 miles north of Bozeman on a fine farm which he bought and which is now owned by the subject of this sketch. He also homesteaded 160 acres of land two miles east of the former tract. Unfortunately his health began to fail, and in the hope of restoring it he went to North Carolina. After a while he re- turned to Graham, Missouri, where he died in 1894. In politics he was a republican. He was a veteran of the Civil war, having enlisted in 1862 in an Indiana regiment of volunteer infantry, with which he served during the remainder of the struggle, being mustered out with the rank of captain. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which he gave earnest support.

Peter H. Bohart married Frances Olivia Libby, who was born in Maine in 1845, and who died in Bozeman in 1884. To these parents were born the following children: Pussie, who died in infancy; Robert H. is a farmer at Wardner, British Columbia ; F. L. owns a second-hand store in Bozeman; R. F. is a farmer at Wilsall. Montana: S. E. is a trader at Bozeman ; William O .; Ruby M. is a trained nurse and is now in a regular army hospital at Tacoma, Washington : Dove E. is the wife of Lee Wilson, a government veterinarian at Omaha, Nebraska.

Othniel Bohart was born at Rome, Missouri, on January 3. 1877. After completing his studies in the rural schools of Gallatin County, Montana, whither the family had moved, he attended the Montana State College, where he took a business course. Leav- ing school in 1897. he apnlied himself at first to such general work as he could find to do, but indecision was no part of his make-in, so he engaged with a butcher with the definite object of learning the busi-

ness. He was employed in a meat market in Toledo, Ohio, for two years, at the end of which time he returned to Montana, and from 1900 to 1909 was engaged in that business on his own account, and meeting with splendid success. He then relinquished that line and gave his attention to the breeding, raising and buying of pure-bred cattle. In order to properly conduct this business, which had prospered from the beginning, Mr. Bohart bought from his brother the old farm which his father had owned, 21/2 miles north of Bozeman, and which comprises 280 acres of fine irrigated land. Mr. Bohart makes a specialty of Brown Swiss and Guernsey cattle, and because of the quality of the animals which he has put on the market he has gained a reputation from Ohio to the Pacific coast. In 1918, at the National Dairy Show at Columbus, Ohio, Mr. Bohart exhib- ited a full herd of Brown Swiss cattle, which won three blue ribbons and many second and third prizes. In 1919, at the Chicago National Dairy Show, his cattle won all the blue and purple ribbons on bulls, this being the first and only dairy herd from Mon- tana to win these prizes. Besides his investment in the stock farm, Mr. Bohart owns eighty acres of city lots in Bozeman and 105 acres of land 31/2 miles southwest of Belgrade.

Politically Mr. Bohart is independent. Fraternally he is a member of Bozeman Aerie No. 326, Fraternal Order of Eagles; Eureka Homestead No. 415, Brotherhood of American Yeomen; and Bridger Camp No. 62, Woodmen of the World.

In October, 1904, at Graham, Missouri, William Othniel Bohart was married to Margaret E. John- ston, daughter of W. E. and Mary ( Robinson) John- ston. The father, who was a prominent ranchman and farmer at Graham, Missouri, died there. Mrs. Bohart graduated from the high school at Graham and from the Chillicothe ( Missouri) Normal Col- lege. Mr. and Mrs. Bohart have two children: Wil- liam Peter, born May 15, 1906, and Katherine Olivia, born January 21, 1909. Mr. Bohart has, because of his fine personal qualities, his unassuming ways and his wonderful success, won not only the admiration of his fellow men, but their sincere esteem as well.

C. D. SCOVILL is known to thousands of automobile owners in Southern Montana and along the Yellow- stone Valley. He has been in the. garage business for a number of years, formerly at Red Lodge and now at Columbus.

Mr. Scovill was born at Dawson in Nemaha County, Nebraska, March 16, 1879, and is Scotch in the paternal line and German through his mother's ancestry. His father, Oscar F. Scovill, was born in Pennsylvania in 1846, and has spent his life in many localities, and many times yielded to the urge of adventure to seek new scenes. He grew up on the Nebraska frontier, was a pioneer liveryman in Nemaha County, and is now living retired at Potter, Nebraska. He is a republican and an Odd Fellow and for three years was with a Nebraska regiment of infantry during the Civil war. He married Ollie Shockey, who was born in Nemaha County, Nebraska, in 1861 and died in that county in 1900. Their children were: Charles P., a barber in Nebraska ; C. D. Scovill; Tuddie B. and Ted, twins, the former the wife of Harry Warner, a merchant at Potter, Nebraska, and the latter a mechanic em- ployed in his brother's garage at Columbus.

C. D. Scovill attended rural schools in Nemaha County, Nebraska, and at the age of twelve became self-supporting. For two years he worked on a farm in Nemaha County and at the age of fourteen gained his first experience in business with a lumber and hardware house at Nemaha. He began as yard man,

Golun R Moyle

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was with the firm four years and the last two years. was manager of the Edwards & Bradford Lumber Company's plant at Nemaha. The headquarters of this firm were at Sioux City, Iowa.

Mr. Scovill came to Montana in 1905, and at Boze- man hired out for one season to a transportation company, spending most of his time in the Yellow- stone National Park. For another season he was on construction work during the building of the short line railroad to Belfry. He then moved to Red Lodge, for nine months was employed by Olcott & Nutting in their retail lumber business, and then followed eight years of active connection with the harness and saddlery business. He sold out that business and built the Motor Inn at Red Lodge, the first garage in that town. He sold the garage in the fall of 1916 and then moved to Columbus, where he built the Scovill Garage. This is a thoroughly modern and complete plant, comprising a two-story building 50x140 feet, and with a perfect service as a garage. He also handles automobile accessories and is local distributor for the Dodge, Reo and Buick cars.

Mr. Scovill is a republican and a member of Yel- lowstone Lodge No. 85 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Columbus. He owns a modern home in the town. He married at Red Lodge in 1906 Miss Louise Kienitz, daughter of Michael and Wilhelmina Kienitz, who live on a farm near Avoca, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Scovill have four children: Harold, born in June, 1907; Henry, born in 1912; Lois, born in 1913; and Kenneth, born August 12, 1918.

CHARLES F. ROTHWELL, an old time Montana resi- dent, long identified with the Yellowstone Valley, is a business associate of Mr. C. D. Scovill in the Scovill Garage at Columbus.

He was born in Kendall County, Illinois, June 5, 1859, son of William H. and Hattie (Haywood) Rothwell. His father was born at Manchester, England, in 1833, came to the United States in early manhood, was a farmer in Illinois, moved to the vicinity of Grafton, Nebraska, in 1878, and finally went to Booneville, Arkansas, where he lived for twelve years and where he died in 19II. He spent all his active career as a farmer. He was a repub- lican and a member of the Baptist Church. His wife, who was born at Manchester, England, in 1843, is still living at Booneville, Arkansas. William H. Rothwell and wife came to America on the same ship and were married in Illinois.

Charles F. Rothwell attended rural schools in Ken- dall County, Illinois, and lived on his father's farm to the age of twenty-one. He was then in the loco- motive works or shops of the Chicago & North- western Railway at Chicago for three years, and in 1883 he arrived in Montana, taking his first employ- ment from the Northern Pacific Railway Company as a stationary engineer at Glendive. He was there two years, and then went on the range as a cowboy. He followed that interesting and arduous occupation for fifteen years, chiefly in Custer County. He was a merchant at Rosebud for two years until his store was burned, and in 1897 he identified himself with the Town of Columbus, where for ten years he was a general merchant, and then in the furniture and undertaking business until 1916, when he sold out and has since been associated with Mr. Claude D. Scovill in the garage business.

Mr. Rothwell has served as a member of the coun- cil at Columbus, is secretary and treasurer of the Columbus Cemetery Association, owns a modern home in town and has other property interests in- cluding a ranch of 160 acres on Pershing Creek. He is a republican, and is affiliated with Yellowstone

Lodge No. 85 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Columbus Camp No. 7409 of the Mod- ern Woodmen of America.

At the Crow Agency in Montana in 1891 Mr. Rothwell married Miss Gertrude Steele, daughter of W. H. and Mary (Selby) Steele, the former a car- penter. Her parents reside at Sage Creek, Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Rothwell have four children: Howe C., who was born in 1893, is a civil engineer and is now connected with the drainage works in the Lake Basin and lives in Stillwater County; Bertha May, wife of Wesley Blackaby, an electrician for the Mon- tana Power Company, living at Columbus; Craig S. and Helen, both high school students, the former in school at Bozeman and the latter at Columbus.

JOHN R. MOYLE, who came to Montana at the age of seventeen, has had a varied and successful business experience at Butte, and today is at the head of one of the most complete general insurance organizations in the entire state.

Mr. Moyle was born at Iron Mountain, Michigan, June 5, 1885. He is of English ancestry. His grandfather, William Moyle, spent all his life as a farmer at Helseton, England, where he died at the age of eighty years. The father of John R. Moyle is William Moyle, Jr., who has been a resident of Butte for many years. He was born at Helseton, England, in 1849, was reared and edu- cated in his native county, and in 1872 came to America and for five years was a gold miner in California. On returning east he first visited Butte in 1877, remaining about a year. After that he went to the Northern Peninsula of Michigan, was a merchant at Calumet two years, and after that did merchandising at Iron Mountain until 1902. He then returned to Butte and was active as a mer- chant in the city until 1917, and is now living prac- tically retired. He is a republican, a member of the Episcopal Church, and a former member of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows. William Moyle married Elizabeth Reynolds, who was born in Illi- nois in 1859 and died at Iron Mountain, Michigan, in 1891. Of their six children John R. is the youngest. William, the oldest, is owner of a meat market at Butte; Bennett is in the insurance busi- ness with his brother; Libby is the wife of William Temby, a farmer in the State of Washington; Gar- field died at the age of nineteen, and Mamie died at the age of eight years.

John R. Moyle attended the grammar and high schools of Iron Mountain through the sophomore year in the latter, and at the same time acquired a thorough knowledge of business, working in gro- cery and meat markets. After coming to Butte in 1902 he spent two years in the mercantile house of P. J. Brophy Company, and in 1904 entered the service of Andy Daum, superintendent of the West Colusa Mine. He spent seven years with him, learning the trade of carpenter and following that employment at the mine. Mr. Moyle engaged in the insurance business in 1911 as state manager for the North American Accident Insurance Company of Chicago. While he still has the general agency for that company, he has developed his business along all the lines of general insurance, including life, accident, health, automobile, bonds and also real estate. Since 1917 Mr. Moyle has also been a prominent figure in Montana mining circles. He is president and one of the chief stockholders of the Butte & Plutus Mining Company, operating in the Butte district; is president and a large stock- holder in the Scratch Awl Mining and Developing Company, operating at Philipsburg; and is presi- dent and a stockholder in the Jefferson Mines Com- pany, operating near Whitehall.

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Mr. Moyle's offices are in the Phoenix Building. He owns a modern home at 1149 Caledonia Street and much other local real estate. He is a republican, a member of the Episcopal Church, and is affiliated with Butte Lodge No. 240 of the Elks and the Silver Bow Club.

In 1906, at Butte, he married Alice Montana Mas- terson, daughter of John W. and Dessie (Davis) Masterson. Her parents for the past ten years have lived on their ranch at Henrys Lake, Montana. Her father was a Butte pioneer and for many years an engineer for the Anaconda Copper Mining Com- pany, and also an early lumberman. He is a veteran of the Civil war and a member of the Grand Army. Mrs. Moyle is a graduate of the Butte High School and the Butte Business College. To their marriage were born two children, Hallie Panline in 1907, and Dorothy Reynolds in 1909.

ROY E. AYERS, judge of the Tenth Judicial Dis- trict, is enjoying honors and responsibilities fitly bestowed in recognition of his capable services as a lawyer at Lewistown during the past fifteen years, Judge Ayers is a native son of Fergus County and represents the second generation of Montana citizens.

He was born on his father's farm in Fergus County November 9, 1882, a son of George W. and Mary (Sullenger) Ayers. His father, who was born in Keokuk County, Iowa, May 7, 1860, has for many years been a prominent ranchman in Montana. When a small child he accompanied his parents overland with ox teams and wagons to Oregon, grew up in that state and received his education and had his carly experiences in stock ranching. He married in Oregon Mary Sullenger, a native of that state. They were married at Hepner, and Judge Ayers is the oldest of their family of three sons and three daugh- ters. In 1882 George W. Ayers moved to Meagher County, now Fergus County, Montana, homesteading on Spring Creek, near where Lewistown now stands. Here he accumulated extensive interests as a sheep and cattle man, and the business is operated under the name of the Ayers Ranch Company. George W. Ayers was made a Mason in Oregon, and is a char- ter member of Lewistown Lodge No. 37, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He is also affiliated with Lewistown Lodge No. 456, Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks, and is a democrat in politics.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 118

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