Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 124

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 124

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John L. Campbell received his early education in the public schools of Wabasha, and graduated from high school there in 1908. Soon afterward he en- tered the University of Minnesota Law School at Minneapolis, and received his LL. B. degree in 19II. He is a member of the Delta Chi law fraternity. For several months after graduation he remained at Wabasha, and in December, 1911, came to Missoula, and here for a year or so he was in the law office of A. L. Duncan, a prominent lawyer. When Mr. Duncan went on the bench January 1, 1913, as judge of Department No. I of the Fourth Judicial Dis- trict, Mr. Campbell opened a law office of his own in the Duncan-Peterson Block, and in the past five years has handled a large civil and criminal prac- tice. He was first appointed city attorney May I, 1916, and was reappointed to that office in 1918. He is a republican, a member of the Episcopal Church, and affiliated with Missoula Lodge No. 13, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Western Sun Chapter No. II, Royal Arch Masons, and Covenant Lodge No. 6 of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows. He also belongs to the County and State Bar Associations and the Missoula Chamber of Com- merce.

Mr. Campbell and family reside in a good modern home at 820 South Fifth Street, West. He married at Winona, Minnesota, April 23, 1913, Miss Mary R. Tower. Her mother, Mrs. Laura R. Tower, lives at Winona, where Mrs. Campbell was born. She is a graduate of the Winona High School, and for two years before her marriage was a kinder- garten teacher in Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Camp- bell have one son, John T., born January 28, 1918.

MRS. NELLIE CRONIN SULLIVAN. One of the most competent county officials Butte has ever had is Mrs. Nellie Cronin Sullivan, incumbent of the office of county auditor.

Mrs. Sullivan was born at Jackson, Michigan, and has spent most of her life in the Northwest. She attended public school at Tacoma, Washington, and at Butte, being a young girl when her parents came to Butte. She is a member of the Knights and Ladies of Security and resides at 4 South Montana Street.

Her father, Daniel Cronin, was born at Queens- town, County Cork, Ireland, in 1852. His father was a coast guardsman at Queenstown, and late in life he and his wife came to the United States and both died at Jackson, Michigan. Daniel Cronin ran away from home at the age of ten years and as a stowaway crossed the Atlantic Ocean to New York City. Though he became dependent upon his own efforts he acquired a really excellent education in New York, was married in that city, and from there moved to Jackson, Michigan, where he fol- lowed his trade as a steam and gas fitter. In 1888 he located at Tacoma, Washington, and about 1894 settled at Butte. He was one of the early men at his trade in this city, and followed his profession until his death in 1896. He was a democrat. Daniel

Cronin married Mary A. McMahon, who was born at Newry in County Armagh, Ireland, and was a small child when her father died, She is still living, a resident of Butte. She was educated in Glasgow, Scotland, and came to New York City with her brother Frank McMahon, living in the East until after her marriage. She had three children, Mrs. Sullivan being second in age. Frank, the oldest, an employe of the Anaconda Copper Mining Com- pany, finished his education in Butte, and resides at 413 North Main Street. Dan Cronin, the youngest of the family, is a foreman with the Anaconda Copper Mining Company and lives at 832 Waukesha Street in Butte.

Mrs. Sullivan has two talented children. John F., born December 1, 1900, graduated from the Butte High School in 1918 and is now employed in the office with his mother as deputy county auditor. The daughter, Florence G., born July 21, 1902, and a pupil in a young ladies' seminary at Los Angeles, is studying for the moving picture profession, and her talents have secured for her much favorable attention in that field.

MAJOR HUGO H. SWANBERG, of Missoula, has the distinction of having served in two American wars, having been in the Philippines twenty years ago, and held the rank of major in the World war.

Major Swanberg, who is one of the most loyal and patriotic Americans, is a native of Sweden and spent his youth in that country and was back there after his service in the Philippines. Major Swan- berg, who has a prosperous real estate and insurance business at Missoula, was born at Helsingborg, Sweden, March 22, 1882. He was educated in the public schools and University of Lund and came to the United States in 1898. He had hardly landed , on these shores when he enlisted with his brother Charles Swanberg for service in the Spanish-Amer- ican war. His brother was all through that war and also through the World war, and was one of the few optical experts in the United States Navy dur- ing the struggle with Germany. Charles Swanberg is still an officer in the service of the Government in the navy. Hugo H. Swanberg joined the Twenty- Second Infantry in the Eighth Army Corps, and was in the Philippines under General Fred Funston. He saw some of the sharp fighting against the Filipino insurgents under Aguinaldo, and was with Funston when that great Filipino chieftain was captured. He held the grade of sergeant at that time. After his release from the army Mr. Swanberg returned to Sweden in 1902, and while in his native country grad- uated from the Bendtz Business College at Malmo. In 1904 he was again on United States soil, and soon afterward enlisted in the regular army. He was at Fort Crook, Nebraska, Fort Benjamin Harrison, In- diana, and was assigned to duty as a general recruit- ing officer. This work required much travel all over the country. In that capacity he arrived in Mon- tana in 1911, and soon afterward leaving the army. engaged in the real estate and insurance business at Missoula.

In 1917 Mr. Swanberg entered the Officers Train- ing Camp at the Presidio in California and was com- missioned captain. He was assigned to duty with the Ninety-First Division, assisting in organizing that unit. He was promoted to the rank of major commanding a battalion which included some of the first drafted men of Montana. He commanded this battalion at Camp Lewis and afterward was made an instructor of replacement troops, being on duty at Camp Meade, Maryland, and Camp Pike, Arkansas, where he commanded a battalion of replacement troops. Major Swanberg received his honorable

Nellie Salwar.

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discharge March 27, 1919, and has since resumed his real estate business at Missoula. His offices are at 129 Higgins Avenue.

Major Swanberg, who is unmarried, is a republi- can, is affiliated with the Lutheran Church, and is a member of Missoula Lodge No. 13, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Indianapolis Chapter No. 5, Royal Arch Masons, Pike Consistory of the Scottish Rite at Little Rock, Arkansas, and also of Alamin Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Little Rock. He formerly belonged to Lodge 183, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Omaha, and is member of Hell Gate Lodge No. 383, Order of Elks, at Missoula. As an old soldier he is affiliated with the Spanish- American War Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the American Legion. He is individually owner of much real estate both in and around Missoula.

THOMAS ALLEN FITZGERALD, M. D., came to Mis- soula in 1892. His work as a physician and surgeon has been continued for more than a quarter of a century in that community and has brought him pres- tige among the front rank of Montana physicians.

Doctor Fitzgerald was born in the Province of Ontario, Canada, January 29, 1868. His grandfather, James Fitzgerald, was born in County Kildare, Ire- land, in 1809, and was a pioneer farmer and merchant in Ontario, where he died in 1854. He married Miss Fisher, who was born in Ireland in 1811 and died in Ontario in 1887. Their son James Fitzgerald was born in Ontario in 1837, and spent his life in that Province as a merchant. He died at Toronto in 1901. Politically he was a Conservative, was a mem- ber of the Church of England, and the Masonic fraternity. He married Anna Carsor., born in New York City in 1844, and is still living in Ontario. They had a large family of children: J. C .; Sidney, a retired resident of Ontario; J. H., living retired at Missoula; Doctor Fitzgerald; Lottie, wife of J. A. V. Preston, a county official living at Orangeville, Ontario; George, a surveyor, living in Toronto; Ger- trude, living with her mother in Ontario; J. Howard, who is connected with the meat packing concern of Libby, McNeil & Libby at Portland, Oregon; and Perry Edgar, a traveling salesman with headquarters at New York City.

Thomas Allen Fitzgerald was educated in the rural schools of his native province, attended high school at Port Hope, and then entered Trinity Col- lege at Toronto, where he was graduated with the Doctor of Medicine degree in 1888. During the first four years of his professional career he practiced in the western part of Kansas a year and for two years was located at Sonth Niagara Falls. He came to Missoula when it was a young and growing town, and has few associates who have been in practice at Missoula for a longer period than himself. He was county physician in the early days, and at pres- ent again occupies that office. Doctor Fitzgerald is a member of the Western Montana, the State and the American Medical associations. His offices are in the Montana Building, and his modern home is at 301 South Fifth Street, West.

Doctor Fitzgerald is an independent in politics and is a vestryman of the Episcopal Church at Missoula. He is a charter member of Hell Gate Lodge No. 383 of the Elks.

In 1900, at Missoula, he married Mrs. Mary Ethel (McGruder) Metzrodt. She was born at Cheyenne, Wyoming. Her father, a rising young attorney, was killed in Wyoming by the cattle rustlers, whose enmity he had incurred by his vigorous stand for law and order. Doctor and Mrs. Fitzgerald had two daughters: Florence, who died at the age of six years; and Nora, born September 14, 1912.

JOHN J. TOBINSKI, M. D., a well known physician and surgeon of Missoula, had only fairly begun his professional career here when he was commissioned an officer in the Medical Reserve Corps and was on duty in several American training camps during the late war.

Doctor Tobinski was born at Calumet, Michigan, September 3, 1892. The family originally came from Poland. His grandfather is still living at Calumet, Michigan, where he was an early settler. Frank To- binski, father of Doctor Tobinski, was born at Cal- umet in 1869, was a miner there in early life and aft- erward manager of a department in a grocery store. On coming west he spent a few months in Arizona. and in 1912 located at Butte, Montana, where he is manager of the hardware department of T. J. Ben- nett's store. He held several local offices while in Calumet, is a republican, and a member of the Catho- lic Church. Frank Tobinski married Margaret Sulli- van, who was born in Calumet in 1870. Agnes, the oldest of their children, is the wife of Windfall G. Haines, who served in France about a year, being in the St. Mihiel and Argonne battles, and was re- cently mustered out and has resumed his residence at Butte; Mary, twin sister of Agnes, is the wife of Daniel Palfryman, buyer for the Lutey chain of stores at Butte; Dr. John J .; and Basil, who was born February 8, 1901 and is a student in the Butte High School.

Doctor Tobinski graduated from the high school at Calumet in 1911, spent two years in the medical department of Marquette University in Milwaukee, and completed his professional education in the Chi- cago College of Medicine and Surgery, graduating in May, 1915. He is a Phi Beta Phi. From July, 1915, to January, 1916, Doctor Tobinski was an in- terne in the Northern Pacific Hospital at Missoula. Since then he has engaged in a general medical prac- tice. His offices are in the Montana Building and his home is at 544 South Third Street, West.

October 8, 1917, Doctor Tobinski was commis- sioned a first lieutenant in the Medical Reserve Corps, was trained at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, from there was sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, thence to Fort Lo- gan, Colorado, back to Fort Sill and during the in- fluenza epidemic was on duty with the Student Army Training Corps at Oklahoma University at Norman. He was then at Fort Sill until mustered out February 13, 1919.

Doctor Tobinski is present county physician of Missoula County. He is independent in polictics. During 1917-18 he served as secretary and treasurer of the Western Montana Medical Association, and is also a member of the State and American Medical associations. He is physician for Missonla Aerie No. 32 of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, is a third degree Knight of Columbus, is affiliated with Missoula Coun- cil No. 1021, and is a member of Hell Gate Lodge No. 383 of the Elks. February 11, 1918, at Lawton, Okla- homa, he married Miss Edmee Deschamps, daughter of Gaspard and Denise (Cyr) Deschamps, now resi- dents of Missonla. Her father owns extensive ranch lands, and was one of the early day ranchers in Mon- tana. Mrs. Tobinski is a graduate of St. Mary's at Notre Dame, Indiana. They have one son, John Francis, born February 27, 1919.

JOHN MILLS ORVIS is president of the Orvis Music Company, Incorporated, the leading business han- dling musical instruments and musical merchandise in Missoula county.

Mr. Orvis, who has been a resident of Montana for over twenty years, was born in Kenosha county, Wisconsin, Jannary 5, 1858. His paternal ancestors were Welsh and settled in the New England colonies

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in 1642. He therefore can claim an ancestry of more than two centuries of sterling Americans. His grandfather, John M. Orvis, was born in Vermont in 1791, for many years had a blacksmith's shop at Brattleboro, Vermont, and on coming west spent some time in Cleveland and in 1844 settled in Keno- sha county in what was then Wisconsin territory. He had served as a soldier in the War of 1812. He died at Salem, Wisconsin, in 1863. John M. Orvis married Anna Larabee, who was born in Vermont in 1792 and died at Salem, Wisconsin, in 1884.

Charles W. Orvis, father of the Missoula mer- chant, was born at Brattleboro, Vermont, in 1816 and went to Wisconsin the same year as his father, in 1844. He was also a blacksmith by trade, and he and his father conducted one of the first shops in Kenosha county. The greater part of his life, how- ever, he spent as a farmer. Charles W. Orvis went to California in 1850, and spent four years among the placer mines, with a fair degree of profit. The records of Salem township in Kenosha county, Wis- consin, make note of his name as one of the Cali- fornia gold seekers of 1850. He died in Kenosha county in 1882. He was a democrat in politics, a Universalist in religious belief, and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Charles W. Orvis married Bethia Selleck. She was born at Brockville, Ontario, Canada, in 1825, but was reared in St. Lawrence county, New York, her people hav- ing been colonial settlers in New York. She died in Kenosha county, Wisconsin, in 1915. John Mills is the oldest of her children. Adelaide is the wife of Hugh Cooper, whose people were Wisconsin pioneers. He was a retired farmer at Waterford, in Racine county, until his death in January, 1920. Flora, who has never married, was for some years a school teacher and gave her undivided attention to her mother for forty years, and is still living at Salem in Kenosha county. Charles Seymour is a retired resident of Hamilton, Montana, where he was in the musical merchandise business for many years, until he sold out his store to his brother John in January, 1919. Harry F. is a carpenter and builder and also conducts a summer resort at Camp Lake, Kenosha county. Levi C. is a retired farmer at Salem, Wisconsin, while Justin K., the youngest of the family, is a successful Chicago lawyer and lives in Austin, Chicago.

John Mills Orvis acquired his early advantages in the rural schools of Kenosha county, and attended the State Normal School at Whitewater through the junior year. He had worked on his father's farm, and after finishing his education he taught school in Kenosha county nearly every winter for ten years. The rest of the year he spent in farming. After leaving the school room he was a merchant at Tre- vor in Kenosha county until he came to Montana.

Mr. Orvis first visited Montana in 1896, bringing his wife here for her health. He located in the state permanently in 1897. His home for two years was at Helena, where he was in the employ of A. P. Curtin, a piano dealer, and also with the Singer Sewing Machine Company. In 1902 Mr. Orvis opened his music store at Missoula, and the business is now in point of continuous existence the oldest establishment of its kind in that city. He began in a small way on North Higgins Avenue, but a year later located at 115 West Cedar Street, where his splendid establishment is located today. Since early in 1919, as above noted, he has also operated the former store of his brother at Hamilton. Mr. Orvis handles pianos, phonographs and all kinds of musi- cal merchandise, and also has a sewing machine department. He owns considerable real estate in

Missoula, including his own modern home at 320 South Sixth Street, West.

He took considerable interest in politics back in his home county in Wisconsin, where he served as town clerk, town treasurer and assessor in Salem Township. He is an independent voter and forty- two years ago he joined Salem Lodge No. 42 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He still has his affiliations there. At Missoula he is affiliated with Hell Gate Lodge No. 383 of the Elks and Camp No. 5329 of the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica. He is also a member of the Missoula Chamber of Commerce.

In 1887, at Fairfield in Rock County, Wisconsin, Mr. Orvis married Margaret Clowes, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Clowes, both now deceased. Her father was a pioneer blacksmith in Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Orvis have three children: Ethel, born March 4, 1888, is a graduate of the Missoula High School and finished her education in Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois, and the State Uni- versity of Montana at Missoula. She is the wife of J. G. Reinhard, who is connected with the Orvis Music Company at Missoula. Helen, born April 23, 1894, is a graduate of Brunot Hall at Spokane, Washington, and married Albert Arnett, a cattle man and rancher at Shell, Wyoming. John M., Jr., born April 24, 1899, is a student in the University of Montana, and also assists his father in business.

JOSEPH E. LLAFET since coming to Montana in 1913 has rapidly promoted himself in the line of mer- chandising and is now manager of one of the largest branch stores in Montana of the merchandise cor- poration J. C. Penney & Company of New York.

Mr. Llafet, whose home and activities are at Mis- sonla, was born at Richmond, Missouri, June 6, 1879. He is of French ancestry. The original spelling of the name is d' Lafayette, and the stock was the same as that from which General Lafayette descended. The Llafets were colonial settlers in Georgia. Mr. Llafet's grandfather, Thomas B. Llafet, was a native of Georgia and a pioneer farmer near Rich- mond, Missouri. He was a southerner and entered the Civil war on the Confederate side. He was killed in the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas. He married Sarah Boone, who was born in Missouri in 1828 and died at Milton, Oregon, in 1888. Their children were: Lawrence; Eva, a resident of Mil- ton, Oregon, where her husband, the late Willis A. Bannister, was a banker; Anne married James P. Gant, a farmer near Richmond, Missouri, and both are now deceased; Sarah lives in Mississippi, widow of George W. Warring, who was a carpenter and builder.

Lawrence Llafet was born November 3, 1847, at Richmond, Missouri, in the same house in which his son Joseph E. also first saw the light of day. He was reared and married at Richmond, was a farmer in that locality for many years, and since 1911 has lived retired at St. Joseph, Missouri. He entered the Civil war in 1864 on the Union side, and served during the last months of hostilities. He is a demo- crat and a member of the Odd Fellows. Lawrence Llafet married Ruth Lee, who was born near Rich- mond, Missouri, January 14, 1852. Their family consists of the following children: Walter L., a carpenter and builder at Kansas City, Kansas ; Wil- liam, a resident of St. Joseph; Joseph E .; Estella, wife of E. E. Curtis, a traveling salesman with home at Denver, Colorado; Samuel, an employe of the Santa Fe Railway offices at Kansas City, Missouri; and Mamie, unmarried.

Joseph E. Llafet attended public schools at Rich- mond, graduating from high school in 1898. For

HO Rourke

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one year he was in the grocery business at Vibbard, Missouri, and then sold out and established a gen- eral stock of merchandise in the same community, where he spent four years. After that he was con- nected with a general store in a clerical capacity at Kingston, Missouri, until the spring of 1913.

On coming to Montana Mr. Llafet entered the service of the J. C. Penney & Company, Incorpo- rated, at Great Falls, beginning as a salesman. At the end of one year his abilities had gained him such favor that he was promoted to assistant manager. In March, 1915, he was transferred to Missoula and opened the large department store of that corpora- tion on April roth. He has been manager from the beginning. The J. C. Penney & Company, Incorpo- rated, has headquarters in New York City, and main- tains 197 stores in twenty-five states. The Missoula business is at 123-125 East Main Street.

Mr. Llafet is also a member of the Missoula Chamber of Commerce, is a democrat, a deacon in the Christian church, and was twice chosen noble grand of the Lodge of Odd Fellows at Kingston, Missouri. He resides at 226 South Fourth Street, West.

December 1, 1903, at Vibbard, Missouri, he mar- ried Miss Mabel Jones, a daughter of William B. and Dora (Williams) Jones. Her father was a miller and died at Missouri, and the mother resides at Milan, that state. Mrs. Llafet is also a graduate of the high school at Richmond, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Llafet have had four children: Maurice E., born in February, 1905, and died in May, 1917; Carrie L., born December 24, 1907; Helen M., born February 12, 1911, and Marion, born November 25, 1916.

JOHN K. O'ROURKE enjoys a distinctive position among the public officials of Silver Bow County. He is now serving in his fourth term as sheriff of the county, and is the only sheriff who has enjoyed more than two terms from the people of that county

Mr. O'Rourke has been a resident of Montana more than a quarter of a century, and for a number of years was connected with the mining interests around Butte. He comes of a prominent Irish family of County Limerick, where he was bort, March 31, 1867. H's father, Michael O'Rourke, was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1819, and spent all his life in that country. He died in County Limerick in 1904. He was liberally educated, at- tending the noted college at Thuries, County Tip- perary, and was a class mate of the late Michael Cudahy, founder of the Cudahy Packing Company in this country. Michael O'Rourke was a farmer and an auctioneer in County Limerick, also served as clerk of court, and enjoyed a place of great in- fluence and prominence in the affairs of Southern Ireland. His influence in politics was due to his substantial business character and his genial per- sonality. He had a liberal education and in his younger life was prominent as an athlete, being the champion broad jumper of County Limerick. He married Catherine Kennedy, who was born in County Limerick in 1824 and died there in 1894. They had a large family of children, most of whom came to America : Thomas, for many years an em- ploye of the Street Railways of Chicago, died in that city in 1899; Elizabeth, who died in Chicago in 1901, leaving nine children, was the wife of John Collopy, a retired resident of that city, but for many years boss of the longshoremen on the Chicago waterfront; Mary and Margaret, both living at Chicago: Bridget, deceased; Hannah, a Dominican Sister at Evanston, Illinois; John K., who is seventh in the family; Annie, a Dominican Sister teaching

at Anaconda, Montana; Josephine and Michael, de- ceased ; Kathleen, unmarried, and living at Chicago; and Edward, who was an engineer at the smelters at Butte and died of influenza in 1918.

John K. O'Rourke acquired his early education in the National schools of County Limerick. He was twenty-one years of age when he came to the United States in 1888, and at once moved to Chi- cago. In 1889 he went south to Louisiana, and con- ducted a stock farm for thirteen months at Pon- chatoula. That was a profitable enterprise, but he was afflicted with the fever and ague prevalent in those low countries, and in 1891 had to return north. For a time he worked as baggageman with the Chicago & Western Indiana Railway, and was promoted to storage clerk. Then for several years in Chicago he was employed in the O. B. Green ship yard, and in 1895 came to Montana. Mr. O'Rourke worked at loading copper at the old upper works of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, was pro- moted to timekeeper in 1897, and in 1899 began seven years of service as timekeeper for the Mountain Consolidated mine at Butte. He left the mines to become proprietor of the Mullins House at Center- ville, and remained there for two years, until he was elected for his first term as sheriff in the fall of 1909. Mr. O'Rourke served as sheriff of Silver Bow County from 1909 to 1913, being re-elected in 1910. On retiring from office he resumed the hotel busi- ness as proprietor of the Northern Hotel on Front Street. In the fall of 1916 the people again called him to the office of sheriff, paying thereby a special tribute to the efficiency of his administration. He was re-elected in the fall of 1918.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 124

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