Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 134

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 134

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He was born in Bureau County, Illinois, February I, 1860, son of Stephen M. and Margaret ( McFar- lin) Webb. His father was born in New York State, and when a boy was taken to Illinois by his parents, Gilbert and Julia (Ingals) Webb. Stephen Webb was educated in New York and spent some of his early years in Marshalltown and Osage, Iowa. He was a wheelwright by trade. He enlisted as a Union soldier in the Fourth Iowa Cavalry and served a little less than a year. He then located at the Village of Dover in Bureau County, Illinois, and lived there the rest of his life. He died in 1904, at the age of sixty-three. His wife was a native of Ohio and died in 1910, aged sixty-two. They were married at Osage, Iowa. Their eleven children con- sisted of six sons and five daughters, and three sons and four daughters are still living, William H. be- ing the fourth child. His father was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and a republican voter.

William H. Webb acquired his education in the public schools of Dover, Ilinois. He learned the wheelwright trade from his father, and in 1890 came to Montana and at Choteau found work as a draftsman for a civil engineer. After about two years he was appointed first deputy county treasurer of Teton County in 1892, and held that post three

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

years. For one year he worked in the Post Traders Store on the Blackfoot Reservation, and for about six years followed various occupations in Spokane and other sections of Washington. Returning to Choteau, he was bookkeeper for a local firm, and at the death of his father went back to Illinois and lived there six years, working as a carpenter. In 1911 he returned to Choteau, Montana, and engaged in building contracting. In April, . 1917, Mr. Webb was appointed deputy county auditor and in 1918 was elected as chief of that office, beginning with his official term in 1919.

He is a republican in politics, a member of the Methodist Church, and is affiliated with Choteau Lodge No. 44, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and the Knights of Pythias.

March 2, 1910, he married Miss Permelia Stewart. She was born at Kasbeer, Illinois, and died Novem- ber 30, 1913. She left two children, Marion and Stephen E.

LESTER RALPH POLGLASE, a native of Butte and son of a Montana pioneer, in a comparatively brief career has made himself useful and influential in his native community. Mr. Polglase is deputy clerk of the United States Court at Butte.

He was born at Butte March 10. 1894. His father, Emanuel Polglase, was born in Cornwall, England, in 1843, was reared and educated there, and on com- ing to the United States about 1868 sought his for- tune in the mining district of the West. He lived for several years at Ruby Hill, Nevada, where he married and where he followed mining. He was also connected with the mines of Grass Valley, California, and in 1884 settled at Butte. The rest of his active life he spent with the Anaconda Cop- per Mining Company, first as a miner and finally as a watchman. He died in their service at Butte in March, 1915. Politically he was a standpat re- publican, and was an active member and supporter of the Episcopal Church. He was affiliated with Fidelity Lodge No. 8, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and also with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He married Annie Bauer. She was born near Frankfort, Germany, in 1852, and is still living at Butte. She was reared and educated in her native land and at the age of twenty, with two sisters, came to the United States. Both sisters are now deceased. One of them, Elizabeth, died in San Francisco. Annie Bauer lived for some time at San Francisco and afterward went to Ruby Hill, Nevada, where she married. Emanuel Pol- glase and wife had six children: Harry, a book- keeper at Richmond, California; William, an iron molder at McGill, Nevada; Edward, an iron molder at Redondo, California; John, who died at the age of four years; Roy, who died at the age of eighteen months ; and Lester R., the youngest.

Lester R. Polglase received a public school edu- cation at Butte and graduated from the Butte Busi- ness College in 1911, having specialized in book- keeping. A year later he went with the Finlen Hotel, the leading hotel of Butte, and was in its service as a clerk for five years. He then took up his present duties as deputy clerk of the United States Court, his offices being in Room 252 of the Federal Building.

Mr. Polglase is an independent republican and is affiliated with the Episcopal Church. July 14, 1916, at Butte, he married Catherine Madigan, a native of California. They have one daughter, Elizabeth Mary, born July 11, 1918.

EDGAR M. ANDRIEUX is manager and proprietor of the Home Independent Messenger Company of Butte.

This is a business that has been developed along original lines largely by Mr. Andrieux, and repre- sents a system that is deserving of much wider application than it has received so far as a means of solving the extensive problem of local delivery and transportation in towns and cities.

Mr. Andrieux came to this business after several years of experience in public offices in Butte, where he and his family have long been favorably known. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, September 7, 1882, but has spent most of his life in Butte.

His father was Charles J. Andrieux, at one time a trusted associate and friend of such promi- nent leaders in Butte as Gen. Charles S. Warren, W. A. Clark, Marcus Daly, Jim Murray and other old timers who laid the foundation of the city. Charles J. Andrieux was a native of Paris, France, descended from a prominent French family, and had attained the rank of colonel in the French army be- fore coming to America. In this country he lo- cated at Chicago, where he married, and where for several years he was actively interested in demo- cratic politics. He made his first trip to Butte about 1879, and for several years was associated in the real estate business with John H. Curtis. Their office was in a log cabin where the Curtis Block now stands on West Park Street. He was employed to look after mining interests and other properties for some of the men noted above, and about 1885 he left Butte on a business mission of this kind, going east, and there his record abruptly ends. His family and friends have always believed that he was a victim of foul play. He was a democrat in politics and a member of the Catholic Church. Charles J. Andrieux married Celia De Mers, who was born in Montreal, Canada, in 1850 and is still living at, Butte. There were five children, Edgar M. being the youngest. Celia, the oldest, is the wife of T. J. Collins, an engineer with the W. J. Clark interests and a resident of Butte; Charles J., who lives with his mother and is an abstractor for the Anaconda Copper Mining Company ; Louis, who died at Butte at the age of forty in 1918, was manager of the Home Messenger Company; Oscar E. was manager of the Brown & Flannigan Company of Butte and died at Silver City, New Mexico, in 1913.

Edgar M. Andrieux attended the parochial schools of Butte, graduating in 1899, and from 1905 to 1909 served as deputy county treasurer for two terms and for one year was deputy county assessor. For four years he was cashier of the M. J. Medin Company of Butte, and in 1914 became associated with the Home Independent Messenger Company, of which he is manager and owner. This is one of the best developed organizations of its kind in the country, supplying . a general delivery service throughout Silver Bow County and particularly in Butte. The offices are at [ East Broadway.

Mr. Andrieux, like his father, takes an active in- terest in democratic politics and for the past eight years has been treasurer of the County Democratic Central Committee. He is a Catholic, a former mem- ber of the Knights of Columbus and is affiliated with Butte Aerie No. 11, Fraternal Order of Eagles. He and his family reside in a modern home at 123 West Aluminum Street. He married at St. Paul, Min- nesota, in 1913, Miss Mary La Riviere. Mrs. An- drieux was born at Mason City, Iowa.

J. D. WALLACE. Inheriting in no small measure the sagacity, forethought and the habits of industry and thrift characteristic of his honored Scotch an- cestors, J. D. Wallace, of Butte, is prominently asso- ciated with the transportation interests of the city as general agent of the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific

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Railway, a position for which he is amply qualified by knowledge and experience, and which he is ably filling. A son of William Wallace, he was born in Newberry, South Carolina, October 16, 1876, and educated in Florida. He comes of distinguished ancestry on both sides of the house, his great-grand- father, Andrew Wallace, the immigrant, having been of Scotch birth, while his great-grandfather on his mother's side was a cousin of Francis Scott Key, author of our national song, "The Star Spangled Banner."

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Andrew Wallace immigrated as a young man to the United States, locating in Virginia, where he married an attractive Southern girl, a Miss Patrick. Moving to Charles- ton, South Carolina, he embarked in mercantile pursuits, and through good management, thrift, and wise investments amassed a large fortune, owning aside from his mercantile property several valuable South Carolina plantations. His son William Wal- lace, Sr., was the next in line of descent.

William Wallace, Sr., was born in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1825, and died in that city in 1905. He was an attorney-at-law by profession, and quite successful. A veteran of the Confederacy, he served throughout the war, attaining the rank of colonel, and after he returned to Columbia, dur- ing the first administration of Grover Cleveland as President, he served as postmaster.

William Wallace, Jr., was born in 1854. in Colum- bia, South Carolina, where he lived until after his marriage, being engaged in the saw mill business. Moving from there to Newberry, South Carolina, he owned and operated a cotton plantation until 1878. when he removed with his family to Jacksonville, Florida. There as owner and manager of a saw till, he accumulated a large property, and since 1904 has been living retired from business cares. He married Mrs. Lena (Murdock) Adams, who was born in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1849. Her first husband, William Adams, of Jacksonville, Florida, was killed in a train wreck, leaving her with two children, William Adams, of Jacksonville, an employe of the Florida East Coast Railway, and Emma, wife of James P. Dodge of Saint Augustine, Florida, a jeweler. Mr. and Mrs. William Wallace have four children, J. D., the subject of this sketch ; Elise and Madge, teachers in the Jacksonville pub- lic schools and who live with their parents; and Helen, wife of W. W. Ware, of Washington, District of Columbia, a railroad employe.

Educated in the public schools of Florida, J. D. Wallace was graduated from the New Smyrna High School in 1894, and soon after entered the employ of the Florida East Coast Railroad Company, begin- ning as station baggage master, and after learning telegraphy was promoted in 1895 to station agent. From 1900 until 1903 he worked for the Jacksonville Terminal Company as train despatcher. Going then to Palmer Lake, Colorado, Mr. Wallace was tele- graph operator for the Denver & Rio Grande Rail- way Company until the big coal strike, when one- half of the operators were laid off, he being one of them. Going directly to Salt Lake City, he was employed at the Lucin Cut-off of the Southern Pa- cific Railroad until May, 1904. Locating in Butte on the first day of June, 1904. Mr. Wallace secured a position as telegrapher and clerk for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, and was afterward pro- moted to rate clerk. In March, 1908, he was offered a more remunerative position as rate clerk in Ana- conda for the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railway, and was subsequently made chief clerk and later promoted to the cashiership. In 1911 Mr. Wallace was advanced in position, the company transferring

him to Butte, in March of that year, and making him cashier. In November, 1911, he was again pro- moted, being appointed general agent of the road, succeeding the late J. W. Nangle. Mr. Wallace, who is the only official representative of the company in Butte, has his offices in the freight depot of the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railroad, on Utah Avenne, and under his supervision has twenty em- ployes.

Mr. Wallace married, in 1907, in Butte, Miss Lot- tie Williams, a finely educated young woman, who was graduated from the Butte High School and from the Butte Business College. Her father, for many years engaged in mining in Nevada, died in Butte, and her mother, whose name before marriage was Bessie Argall, is living in Butte, at 833 South Main Street. Mr. and Mrs. Wallace have one child, Bessie, born June 8, 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Wallace are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Fraternally Mr. Wallace is a member of Summit Valley Lodge No. 123, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, and of Deer Lodge Chapter No. 3. Royal Arch Masons. He and his family reside in a modernly built house at 909 South Main Street.

FREDERICK STOKES DECKER, JR., president and manager of Decker Brothers, general merchandise brokers of Butte, is one of the most aggressive and capable business men of the city, and through his efficiency his house has been developed into one of the leading ones of its kind in the Northwest. He was born at New Orleans, Louisiana, on December 26, 1875, a son of Frederick Stokes Decker and grandson of Allen M. Decker, born in North Caro- lina, where the Deckers settled upon coming to the American colonies prior to the Revolution. Allen M. Decker moved to New Orleans at a very early day and had there large steamboat interests. He died in that city prior to the birth of his grandson.

Frederick Stokes Decker was born at New Or- leans on June 13, 1851, and he died in that city on March 22, 1915, having spent his life in and about that city, where during his mature years he was as- sociated with the railroad development, and for a number of years served as general passenger agent of the Southern Pacific Railroad. In politics he was a democrat, and in religious belief, an Episco- palian. He married Mary Grace Harris, born on March 22, 1851, and she survives him and makes her home at New Orleans. Their children, all of whom were born in New Orleans, were as follows : Frederick Stokes, whose name heads this review; Grace, who was born on July 14, 1877, was married on April 12, 1916, to Norman Smith, a naval stores operator, and they live at Tampa, Florida; Allen M., who was born on January 31, 1879, is a merchant of Billings, Montana; Ethel, who was born No- vember 26, 1880, was married on September 15, 1919, to Griff C. Rogan, a real estate operator of Lakeland, Florida; Beverly H., who was born December 25, 1882, is a broker of New Orleans ; Alice E., who was born September 10, 1884, is liv- ing with her mother; Alma, who was born April 5, 1886, died on September 2, 1897: Hazel, who was born January 3, 1888, lives with her mother ; Walton, who was born October 19, 1801, is a broker of Great Falls, Montana.

Frederick Stokes Decker, Jr., was educated in the public schools of New Orleans, and was graduated from one of its high schools in 1892. He then en- tered the employ of the Illinois Central Railroad at New Orleans as a messenger boy, and was promoted and then went with the Southern Pacific Railroad as bill of lading clerk. Still later this road trans- ferred him to Algiers, Louisiana, as assistant cashier

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of their office at that point, and he remained there from 1896 until 1898.

With the outbreak of the Spanish-American war Mr. Decker enlisted in the Fourth Louisiana Bat- talion and went to Mobile, Alabama, and from there to Miami, Florida, and still later to Jacksonville, Florida. He was stricken down with typhoid fever and was incapacitated from further service, and was mustered out in August, 1899, having been a quar- termaster sergeant during the period of his service.

Returning to the Southern Pacific Railroad, Mr. Decker was made a purser on their passenger steam- ers plying between New Orleans and Havana, and held that position for three years, leaving it to go into the freight forwarding business with Alfred H. Clement as a partner at New Orleans. He main- tained his interests in this concern until he came to Montana in June, 1912, joining his brother, B. H. Decker at Butte, to which city he had come in July, 1908, and established the Northwestern Brokerage Company, to which business Frederick S. Decker, Jr., succeeded in 1916. At that time the name was still the original one, but on January I, 1917, it was changed to the present one of Decker Brothers, of which Mr. Decker is president and manager ; Allen M. Decker is vice president; and Walton Decker is secretary and treasurer. This business has been in- corporated since July 3, 1908. The company carries on a general merchandise brokerage business, act- ing as agent for manufacturers and shippers of food supplies. The territory embraces the entire State of Montana, and this is one of the leading concerns of its kind in the Northwest, headquarters being maintained at Butte, with offices at No. 602 Utah Avenue, and branch offices at Great Falls and Bill- ings, Montana.

Mr. Decker is a democrat. He is a Mason and belongs to Mount Moriah Lodge No. 24, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Deer Lodge Chap- ter No. 3, Royal Arch Masons. The Silver Bow Club of Butte holds his membership and interest. Mr. Decker is unmarried, and resides at No. 602 Utah Avenue, Butte.

GEORGE W. MAGEE, of Choteau, has well earned a high place among Montana's lawyers. He was trained to the law back East before coming to Mon- tana. For a number of years few except his inti- mate friends knew that he was qualified for law practice. His time and energies were taken up with ranching and the newspaper business for many years.

Mr. Magee was born at East Douglas in Worces- ter County, Massachusetts, December 2, 1858, son of Thomas Nathaniel and Mary A. (Buffum) Magee. His mother was born in Massachusetts and died in 1863, at the age of thirty-one. Thomas N. Magee was a native of Vermont, and at the out- break of the Civil war enlisted in the Third Rhode Island Cavalry. He served part of the time under General Burnside, until severely wounded by a grape shot, which passed through his body. On re- covering he was granted a furlough and then re- enlisted, serving part of the time as recruiting offi- cer. While on his way to Washington to be mus- tered out in December, 1864, he was one of those who lost their lives on the North America, a Fed- eral transport, off Roanoke, Virginia. He and sev- eral hundred of his companions went down to a watery grave. Of his seven children five reached mature years, four sons and one daughter.

George W. Magee, fourth among his parents' chil- dren, was a small boy when he was orphaned, and he early learned the lessons of independence and self reliance. He acquired his education in Massa-

chusetts and Rhode Island, and studied law in Worcester, Massachusetts, with the firm Bacon, Hopkins & Bacon. The money necessary to com- plete his legal education he earned by teaching school. He taught his first term in Massachusetts at the age of sixteen. In 1880 Mr. Magee moved to Iowa and in 1881 came up the Missouri River on the steamer Helena to Fort Benton. in Some five or six years . he spent the freighting . business, and then went on a

cattle and horse ranch on

Birch Creek. That was the scene of his operations as a rancher until the spring of 1899. Mr. Magee bought the Dupuyer Acantha, a weekly newspaper published at Dupuyer. He published that journal and did much to improve and promote its influence for about five years. In the meantime, in October, 1899, he was appointed United States Commissioner and held that office for eight years. He sold his paper in 1904 and bought 500 acres of land adjoining the Town of Dupuyer. This land is well supplied with water from an irrigation canal, and is a highly val- uable and productive property. Mr. Magee rents it, and for the past fifteen years has given much of his time to his profession as a lawyer. He has served as justice of the peace and in the fall of 1898 was elected a member of the State Legislature, serving one term. In December, 1917, he was appointed county attorney of Teton County, succeeding Capt. Walter Verge. In November, 1918, he was regu- larly elected to that office. He is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World and in politics is a repub- lican.

In 1900 Mr. Magee married Catherine Laudin. He has two sons and one daughter, Harold, George and Marion. In December, 1915, Mr. Magee married Emma Longfellow, of Indiana.

PAUL C. GAETHKE, proprietor of the Rocky Moun- tain Coal Company, is one of the substantial men and representative citizens of Butte, where he has been located since 1900. He was born at Staven- hagen, Germany, on September 1, 1862, and that city was also the birthplace of his father, Frederick Gaethke, and his grandfather, also Frederick Gaethke, a schoolteacher and a very learned man who died in the vicinity of Stavenhagen many years ago. The younger Frederick Gaethke was born in 1830 and died near the place of his birth in 1916, having spent his entire life in that vicinity. Like his father he was a very well educated man, having fitted himself for the same calling, but did not fol- low it, as he was made manager of the estate of Count von Plessen, which position he held until his death. He served in the German army during the rebellion of 1848. A Mason and a Lutheran, he lived up to the highest ideals of both organizations and was a most excellent man, and one who com- manded universal respect. He married Emma Stoerzer, born in Denmark and died at Stavenhagen, Germany, in 1918. Their children were as follows : Helena, who married Francis Pistorius, a colonel in the German army during the Great war and a customs official, who died in 1918, his widow now making her home at Berlin; Paul C., whose name heads this review; Ulrich, who is a professor in the University of Tuebinzan, Germany; and Gustav, who was a merchant, died at Berlin in 1915.

Paul C. Gaethke attended the University of Berlin for two years and the University of Goettingen for one year. He then became a student of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, from which he was graduated in 1884 with the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Mr. Gaethke then came to the United States and located at Bathgate, North Da-

Gro. Will

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

kota, was engaged in an ice business there until 1900, and then came to Butte and established the Rocky Mountain Coal Company, of which he is the sole proprietor, and which he has built up until it is one of the leading ones of its kind in Butte. The offices of the company are at No. 745 South Arizona Street, and he has yards adjacent to the offices and also along the Northern Pacific tracks. Mr. Gaethke owns a modern residence at No. 1035 South Arizona Street, as well as his office prop- erty and real estate at Seattle, Washington. In politics he is an independent. He belongs to the Mystic Toilers of Des Moines, Iowa, and the Sons of Hermann.

In 1891 Mr. Gaethke was married at Pierz, Min- nesota, to Miss Mary Schommer, a daughter of Peter and Kathryn Schommer. Mr. Schommer was a pioneer farmer of Rich Prairie, Minnesota, and was killed when a tree he was cutting down fell on him. His widow survives him and makes her home at Rich Prairie. Mr. and Mrs. Gaethke became the parents of the following children: Frederick, who was born in 1893, graduated from the School of Mines at Butte, Montana, with the degree of Min- ing Engineer and is efficiency engineer for the East Colusa Mine of the Anaconda Copper Mining Com- pany; Annie, who was born in 1896 at Pierz, Min- nesota, was graduated from the Butte High School, and is now the wife of John B. McNulty, who is in the automobile business in San Francisco, Cali- fornia, where they now reside; Frank, who was born in 1897, is a junior in the University of Michi- gan at Ann Arbor, Michigan; and George, who was born in 1899, is a sophomore in the medical depart- ment of the State University at Seattle, Washing- ton. Mr. Gaethke is one of the best business men of Butte, and is a very highly educated man, who takes a pride in keeping well informed upon all matters of interest.

ROBERT E. POND, manager of the Butte branch of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, is one of the reliable young business men of Silver Bow County. He was born at Granville, Ohio, on July 26, 1884, a son of Warner J. Pond, born at the same place as his son in 1838. He spent his life at Granville, and died there on October 2, 1914. In young manhood Warner J. Pond learned the coopering trade, but later went into a hardware business and so expanded his operations as to in- clude a general line of merchandise and developed into one of the leading merchants of Granville, but retired from active pursuits about 1909. He was a stanch republican and served as mayor of Gran- ville, was treasurer of the city, a member of the city council, and always took a very active part in local politics. In addition to his other interests Mr. Pond was a director of the Farmers Bank of Granville and president of the Granville .Building & Loan Association. The Presbyterian Church had in him a conscientious member and active and gen- erous supporter, and he was equally faithful in liv- ing up to the highest conceptions of Masonry and of the order of Odd Fellows. Warner J. Pond was married to Anna Eager, born at Alexandria, Ohio, in 1848, who survives him and makes her home at Santa Barbara, California. Their children were as follows : Henry W., who is a druggist of Chicago, Illinois; Robert E., who was the second in order of birth.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 134

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