Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 135

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 135

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The paternal grandfather of Robert E. Pond was Aaron Pond, who was also born at Granville, Ohio, and died there before the birth of his grandson, hav- ing been a merchant all of his mature years. The Pond family is of Scotch-English descent, repre- Vol. 11-31

sentatives of it coming to the Massachusetts Colony long before the American Revolution, and helping in the establishment of Granville, Massachusetts. When some of them went to Ohio, they named their new place of settlement Granville, in honor of their old home.

Robert E. Pond was reared and educated in the public schools of Granville, and was graduated from its high school in 1901, following which he attended Denison University at Granville until he completed the sophomore year. He then took a two years' course in the Ohio State University at Columbus, Ohio, from which he was graduated with the class of 1906, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. Mr. Pond is a member of the Greek Letter Col- lege Fraternity Phi Gamma Delta.

In 1906 Mr. Pond engaged as a civil engineer with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- vania, and held that position until 1910, when he went to Chicago, Illinois, and was in the advertis- ing business until 1915. During the latter year his services were secured by the Goodyear Tire & Rub- ber Company as a salesman for their Chicago branch, and he was connected with that branch for two years, when he was transferred to the factory at Akron, Ohio, as a staff man to the department manager on truck tires. After two years Mr. Pond received further promotion and was sent on June I, 1919, to Denver, Colorado, to take charge of the service department of his company in that city, and on November 1, 1919, came to Butte as manager of the local branch of the company. This branch is located on the corner of Iron Street and Nevada Avenue. Mr. Pond has under his supervision thirty- three employes. He is an independent republican. In his religious faith he is a Presbyterian. His social connections are those he maintains as a mem- ber of the Rotary Club, the Silver Bow Club and the Butte Country Club. He maintains his residence in the Goldberg Apartments.

On January 9, 1913, Mr. Pond was married at Chi- cago, Illinois, to Miss Josephine L. Dolman, a daugh- ter of William L. and Armildia (Dunkle) Dolman, residents of Pasadena, California. Mr. Dolman is a retired banker. Mrs. Pond was graduated from the Loring School for Girls at Chicago, and from the Hillside School for Girls at Madison, Wiscon- sin. Mr. and Mrs. Pond have two daughters, namely: Jane Elizabeth, who was born on April 13, 1915; and Barbara Dolman, who was born on Oc- tober 20, 1917.

Mr. Pond is a young man of great initiative and executive ability, and understands how to handle men. His long connection with his present company has resulted in his promotion to increasing respon- sibilities and added prestige, and although he has not long been a resident. of Butte, he has already made himself felt in the life of the city, and is recognized as a valuable addition to the community.

WILLIAM E. CURRY. It is not given to every man to develop not only keen business instincts and put them to practical use, but also to turn to remun- erative uses inventive talents, and yet that is just what William E. Curry, vice president and manager of the Mountaineer Welders Supply Company of Butte, Montana, is doing. He has invented, patented, and his company is using generating cells that pro- duce both oxygen and hydrogen gasses of unusual purity, and he is also conducting the affairs of the concern of which he is vice president in so efficient a manner as to make it one of the sound financial institutions of this part of the state, and one of the leaders in its line of industry.

William E. Curry was born at Chippewa Falls,

480

HISTORY OF MONTANA

Wisconsin, on March 16, 1886, a son of William Curry. The Curry family is of Scotch-Irish descent, the founders of it in the American colonies locat- ing first in New England, from whence they later migrated into Canada, and it was in that dominion, Province of Ontario, City of Pembroke, that Wil- liam Curry was born in the year 1841. He grew up at Pembroke and became a very highly educated man, going through a number of well known semi- naries, but at the same time he was of a practical turn of mind and learned the carpenter trade, not caring to depend wholly upon his educational at- tainments for support. However, it was through the exercise of his mental faculties rather than by physical labor that he justified his existence and made a name for himself as an earnest, self-sacri- ficing Christian. Mr. Curry went into Northern Michigan as a missionary of the Congregational Church to the Indians, and remained there until 1878, laboring among them, not only teaching them the gospel, but endeavoring to awaken in them a desire to be useful members of their tribe. In 1878 he was transferred to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and while living there acquired ownership to a farm, which he operated. Still later his services were sought as agent by a railway company, and he was stationed at Spring Valley, Wisconsin, until 1904, when he returned to Chippewa Falls to look after his agricultural interests in its vicinity. It was while living there that this excellent man was stricken down with paralysis in 1908, which necessitated his abandonment of any kind of strenuous life, and in 1913 he came to Butte to make his home with his son, and died in this city during 1917. In politics he was an independent republican and was chosen as a justice of the peace for two terms while he was a resident of Spring Valley, Wisconsin. A very earnest member of the Congregational Church, he organized the society at Spring Valley, to which he oftentimes ministered as a lay preacher. His wife bore the maiden name of Delana Aiken Curry, but as far as the family history could be traced no re- lationship could be discovered between the two fam- ilies. She was born in the Province of Ontario, Canada, in 1841, and died at Chippewa Falls, Wis- consin, in February, 1918. Their children were as follows : James, who is a farmer of Duluth, Min- nesota; Bertha married Samuel Mars, a farmer of the neighborhood of Elk Mound, Wisconsin, and she died in 1900, at Spring Valley, Wisconsin ; Frank, who is a barber by trade, has charge of the gov- ernment-owned elevator at Duluth, Minnesota; Wil- helmina, who married Lawrence Mckay, foreman of the stamp mill of Anyox, British Columbia, Can- ada; Duncan Ellsworth Howard, who is a mining engineer of Duquesne, Arizona; William E., whose name heads this review; Walter H., who is em- ployed in the Timber Butte Mills as assistant super- intendent, is a resident of Butte, Montana; and Mar- garet Eloise, who is unmarried, is a teacher of do- mestic economy in a select school at Astoria, Oregon.

William E. Curry was reared and educated in the public schools at Spring Valley, later attending the Chippewa Falls High School, from which he was graduated in 1906. During the summer subsequent to his graduation he was employed in a grocery store at Chippewa Falls, and in the late fall of that year came to Butte, Montana, his arrival here dat- ing from November 9, 1906. For the next five years he was employed by the Brophy Grocery Company, which started him as a clerk in the order depart- ment, and then promoted him until he became fore- man of his department.

In 1910 he returned to Wisconsin to visit his par- ents, and while there learned about the oxy-acety-

lene welding and steel cutting business which was at that time practically in its infancy. The possi- Bilities of this business so attracted him that he went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and learned its de- tails, and returning to Butte that same year was successful in interesting A. H. Schaal in his ideas. Having secured some capital, Mr. Curry returned to Minneapolis to go into the matter more ex- tensively, and when he felt he had mastered the busi- ness he came back to Butte, and on February 16, 1911, opened a little shop and began what was then really an experiment. In 1917 Mr. Curry bought his partner's interest, the business in the meanwhile having, during 1914, been incorporated as the Moun- taineer Welders Supply Company. At that time an electrolytic oxygen and hydrogen gas manufactur- ing plant was added. The generating cells used in this plant are of Mr. Curry's own design, and pro- duce both oxygen and hydrogen gas, ranging from 99.6 per cent to 99.8 per cent pure. This gas is stored in cylinders and shipped all over Montana and neighboring states. It is placed in the cylinders at a pressure of 1,800 pounds to the square inch. When the welding plant was established in 1911 it was the only one of its kind in the whole state, but since then of course many others have sprung into existence, especially after Mr. Curry had passed through the experimental period and demonstrated the practicality and efficiency of this method. As the other feature of manufacturing oxygen and hydrogen was developed the original plant was sold, and the company now devotes itself to the produc- tion of the gasses, in this being the original and only plant of its kind in the state, and in the handling of oxy-acteylene welding and all welders' supplies being the supply station for the welding plants of Butte and its vicinity. The plant and offices are lo- cated at No. 408 South Main Street, Butte. The officers of the company are as follows: James H. Brown, president; William E. Curry, vice president and manager; and H. L. Winchester, secretary and treasurer.

Mr. Curry organized the original company with a capital stock of $4,500, and now the costly equip- ment of the plant alone represents an investment of $33,000, and this expansion has come very largely through Mr. Curry's own efforts and his convincing faith in the future of his undertaking, which won confidence and secured capital at a time when an- other man might not have been able to get financial backing for his enterprise no matter what its ulti- mate prospects might have been.

Mr. Curry was married at Prairie Farm, Wis- consin, in 1913 to Miss Anna Marie Teigen, a daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Teigen, now residents of Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Mr. Teigen is engaged in harnessmaking. Mrs. Curry was gradu- ated from the Superior Normal School at Superior, Wisconsin, and was engaged in teaching school at Prairie Farm at the time of her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Curry have one son, Hugh Donald, who was born November 17, 1916.

Preferring to cast his vote according to his per- sonal estimate of the candidates, Mr. Curry has con- tinued to be independent in politics. The Methodist Episcopal Church holds his membership. He owns a comfortable modern residence at No. 1143 West Platinum Street, Butte, where he maintains his home. A man of broad vision, Mr. Curry has justi- fied every confidence placed in him and his under- taking and now ranks among the truly successful men of his state and generation.

ALBERT CHARLES WILHELM, one of the leading florists of Butte, and a man of high business stand-

481

HISTORY OF MONTANA

ards and good citizenship, was born at Cleveland, Ohio, on June 13, 1882, a son of Charles Wilhelm and grandson of Charles Wilhelm. The Wilhelm family came from Germany to the United States at a very early day, becoming pioneers of Cleveland, Ohio. It was in this city that Charles Wilhelm was born, and he died there in 1885, having been the first cooper of the city. During the war between the states he served as a soldier in the Union army.

Charles Wilhelm, the younger, was also born at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1848, and he is a resident of that city today. There he was reared, educated and married, and became one of the carly mechanical engineers of Cleveland, but is now retired. In his political faith he is a strong republican, and fra- ternally he belongs to the Knights of Pythias. His wife bore the maiden name of Mary Hackwit, born at Berlin, Germany, in 1851, a daughter of Albert Hackwit, born in Germany about 1825. He came to Cleveland in 1866, but had been a resident of the United States from 1853. His death occurred at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1900. For many years he was engaged in the manufacture of paper. Like the elder Charles Wilhelm, he served in the Union army during the war between the states. Mrs. Charles Wilhelm was reared and educated in Cleveland. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wil- helm were as follows: May, who is unmarried, is a florist and resides with her parents; Albert Charles, who is the second in order of birth; George, who is assistant city engineer, lives at Cleveland, Ohio; Gertrude, who is married, lives at Cleveland; Anna, who is also married, is a resident of Cleveland; Lillian, who is married, is also a resident of Cleve- land; Harold, who is a resident of Cleveland, served in the United States Navy during the World war as a mechanic on the "West Virginia," and has been in the service for the past ten years; Oliver, who died at Cleveland in 1918, was a mechanic; Melville, who is attending a Cleveland high school; and an unnamed danghter who died in infancy.

Albert Charles Wilhelm grew up at Cleveland and was there graduated from the high school course in 1900. He began work as a florist with the J. M. Gasser Company of Cleveland, and learned his trade in their employ. In 1901 he came to Butte, and for seventeen years was connected with the Butte Floral Company, leaving it as manager. Mr. Wil- helm then, in 1918, opened his own establishment at No. 47 West Broadway, operating under the name of the Columbia Floral Company, which is incor- porated and has the following officers: A. C. Wil- nelm, president and manager; C. R. Leonard, vice president ; and N. F. Leonard, secretary and treas- urer. Although this is a new company, Mr. Wil- helm has so expanded it that it is now one of the leaders in its line in Western Montana, and con- trols an immense trade. This company handles all of the output of the Columbia Gardens, the "beauty spot" of the state.

Mr. Wilhelm is a republican. He belongs to Putte Lodge No. 240, Benevolent and Protective Or- der of Elks; Butte Aerie No. 1I, Fraternal Order of Eagles; Butte Lodge of Moose; the Silver Bow Club; the Silver Bow Country Club; the Butte Business Men's Club; the Butte Advertising Club ; the Florists Telegraph Delivery Association, and the Society of American Florists, the last two named being national organizations.

In 1909 Mr. Wilhelm was married at Butte to Miss Viola Frost, a daughter of Mrs. Mary Frost, who is now a resident of Seattle, Washington. Mr. and Mrs. Wilhelm have no children. They reside in the Mueller Apartments on West Granite Street, Butte. Mr. Wilhelm not only thoroughly under-

stands his trade, but is an excellent business man, and as a citizen he has won the respect of his asso- ciates by his interest in forwarding civic improve- ments and bringing about general reforms. His standing is unquestioned and he deserves the pros- perity which he now enjoys, for it has come through his own, unaided efforts and untiring industry. He is one of the men who has centered upon one line of industry and not scattered his energies over a diversified territory. Having a love for flowers, he enjoys his work and is a recognized expert in grow- ing and handling plants and blossoms.

WILLIAM T. SWEET, SR., was one of the very first settlers at Boulder, conducted its first store, and in many ways was a notable Montana pioneer.

He was born at Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1838, son of a Baptist minister, and of an ancestry that came originally from Wales and became established in America during the very early colonial period. William T. Sweet, Sr., was reared and educated in Southern Ohio, and May 28, 1862, enlisted as a private in Company B of the Eighty-Seventh Ohio Infantry. He was taken prisoner and paroled Sep- tember 28, 1862. Afterwards he served eighteen months in the navy on the gunboat Gazelle and eventually enlisted in Company F of the One Hun- dred and Ninety-Second Ohio Regiment and re- mained with that command until the close of the war. He proved a brave and gallant soldier and was in the battle of Gettysburg and many other historic campaigns of the war.

As is usually the case after any great conflict he with so many others was not content with the re- stricted conditions of his former life and sought adventure in the then Far West. He started for Montana in 1866, coming by way of St. Louis and up the Missouri River, being six weeks making the trip from St. Louis to Fort Benton. For the first six months in Montana Territory he worked for Col. Charles Broadwater, driving a bull team from Fort Benton to Helena. In 1867 he opened a general store at the old Town of Boulder under the firm name of Sweet & Higley. He owned the land where the Town of Boulder now stands, and platted and laid out the original townsite. He kept a station for stages and trading outfits, and his was the leading business concern of the place for a number of years. Subsequently he embarked in the stock raising industry and became a rancher on an ex- tensive scale. His various occupations made him a prominent figure and he was instrumental in or- ganizing the Old Settlers' Club, of which he re- mained a member until his death. A democrat in politics, he was elected on his party ticket county treasurer, clerk of the District Court, and for a number of years was also a justice of the peace. He died in Boulder in 1917, having lived retired for several years. Both as a Mason and as a mem- ber of the Episcopal Church he lived up to high ideals and was a very fine man in every respect.

At Boulder, in 1868, he married Emily Iola Cook, who was born at Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1840, and died at Boulder, Montana, in 1897. Her parents, Capt. and Mrs. Hiram Cook, were also pioneers who came to Montana after the close of the Civil War by way of St. Louis and the river route to Fort Benton.

Eight children were born to William T. Sweet and wife: Nellie, who married Frank Bernatz, a farmer and postmaster of Dixon, Montana, where she died in 1910; Chester W., who lives at Bozeman and is manager of the Montana Flour Mills Com- pany and mayor of that city; Ralph W., who is a mining engineer at Tonopah, Nevada; Blanche E., who died at Boulder in 1905, the wife of B. F. Beck-

482

HISTORY OF MONTANA

with, now a salesman for the National Wholesale Grocery Company, living at Seattle, Washington ; Mary, who married P. P. Roberts, a contractor and builder at Butte; William T., Jr., whose record follows; Shelby C., associated with his brother in the wholesale fruit and produce business at Butte; and Catherine, who married E. J. Finnerty, fore- man of the Jones Fruit Company at Butte.

WILLIAM T. SWEET. Many of the business houses of Butte have extended the field of their opera- tions until it spreads out over a goodly portion of the state, and one of these is the wholesale fruit and produce concern conducted under the name of Sweet & Lewis, of whom William T. Sweet of this notice is the senior member. Mr. Sweet belongs to one of the pioneer families of this region and is a man widely and favorably known all over Western Montana.

William T. Sweet was born at Boulder, Montana, on August 13, 1886, a son of William T. Sweet, Sr., whose story as a Montana pioneer is given above.

William T. Sweet, the younger, was educated in the public schools of Boulder, Montana, being grad- uated from its high school in 1903, following which event he began working for the Great Northern Railroad Company as stenographer at Havre, Mon- tana, and held that position for a year, when he went to Great Falls, Montana, and held the same position with the same company for another year. In 1906 Mr. Sweet came to Butte and was employed by Ryan & Virden Company as cashier for ten years, rising to be secretary of the company. In 1916 Mr. Sweet went with the Jones Fruit Com- pany as a salesman, and soon thereafter was ad- vanced to be its manager, and held that position until January 1, 1919, when he assisted in organiz- ing the firm of Sweet & Lewis. The warehouses and offices of the company are located at No. 726 South Arizona Street, and they do a wholesale busi- ness in fruits and produce, having already become the leading concern of their kind in Western Mon- tana. The members of the firm are William T. Sweet, S. C. Sweet and F. C. Lewis.

Mr. Sweet is a democrat and an Episcopalian, like his estimable father, in whose footsteps he is proud to follow. He owns a ranch at Wilder, Montana, and maintains a summer residence there, his winter home being at No. 7211/2 Wyoming Street, Butte. One of the features of his ranch is its fine fish hatchery.

On September 19, 1909, Mr. Sweet was united in marriage at Boulder, Montana, to Miss Lula Thomp- son, a daughter of C. L. and Susan Thompson, the former of whom is deceased, having been in life a pioneer rancher and successful man of Boulder, Montana, where his widow still resides. Mrs. Sweet was graduated from the Jefferson County High School of Boulder. There are no children of this marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Sweet both belong to the Sons and Daughters of the Pioneers of Montana, and enjoy their association with this organization. Mr. Sweet is recognized as one of the alert, ag- gressive young business men of this region, and he and his associates in the firm of Sweet & Lewis are making commercial history in their conduct of this concern. All of them are experienced men in their line, and they have made no mistakes, but, being guided by their thorough knowledge of the possibilities and opportunities of their trade, have built up connections which are of the utmost value and which insure a continuance of the prosperity which has attended their efforts from the first. Not only is this success a personal gratification to the members of the firm, but it is a decided asset to

the business life of Butte and a source of pride to its citizens.

J. F. LHOTKA, M. D. The great Galen boasted "I have done as much to medicine as Trajan did to the Roman Empire in making bridges and roads throughout Italy," thus emphasizing with the great- est then known marvels of accomplishment his own benefactions to humanity. And yet, in the light of modern medical science, how little Galen did and how radically incorrect, remarkable as they were, proved many of his conclusions. To the medical profession the early teachers will ever continue great, but a physician or surgeon of the present day whose professional knowledge is not vastly broader, higher and deeper, could not hope to compete with his fellow practitioners.

Dr. J. F. Lhotka, of Butte, holds prestige in the ranks of his profession by reason of superior nat- ural ability, aided by a thorough training, wide ex- perience, an acute comprehension of human nature and broad sympathy, and he is firmly established in the confidence of the people of his community. Although engaged in practice here only since 1914, Doctor Lhotka has shown himself such a thorough master of his calling that he has been able to build up an excellent professional business, while as a citizen he has shown himself ready to do more than his share in behalf of the public weal.

Doctor Lhotka was born in Lukavec, Bohemia, Europe, on May 20, 1884, a son of John Lhotka, born in Bohemia in 1834. John Lhotka was a victim of military oppression during the great war, and was a martyr to his convictions, being courtmar- tialed for being on the side of the Allies, and lost his life on November 20, 1917. He had had an honorable record as a soldier, having served as cap- tain in the Austrian army during the war between Austria and Prussia in 1866, and also during the Franco-Prussian war in 1870-71. His life outside of his military service was spent in Bohemia, and he was in the employ of the Duke of Lichtenstein. His widow, who bore the maiden name of Bar- bara Jelinek, survives, and still makes her home in. Lukavec, Bohemia, where she was born in 1839. She and her husband had the following children : Joseph, who is a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, stationed in South Africa; Rudolph, who died during the great war while in the service of the Allied armies; Karel, who also lost his life in the same service; Frank, who, serving in the Allied armies, also made the supreme sacrifice for what he believed was right; Doctor Lhotka; Mary and Annie, both of whom are residents of the United States; and Amelia, who is still in Bohemia.

Doctor Lhotka first attended the schools of his native city, following which he became a student of the Gymnasium at Tabor, Bohemia, and there com- pleted his collegiate training. In 1902 he came to the United States and for the first two years he earned his living principally as a musician. He then returned to Bohemia and, entering the Bohemian University at Prague, took the regular medical course and was graduated therefrom in 1909 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. On account of his political opinions, which were contrary to those of the reigning house of Austria, he was compelled to flee, and chose the United States as a place of refuge. Upon his arrival in this country Doctor Lhotka made his way to Chicago, Illinois, and for a year was a teacher of Latin, Greek and other languages until 1910, when he matriculated in the medical department of the Valparaiso University at Valparaiso, Indiana, from which he was graduated in 1913. In the meanwhile, during 1912 and 1913,

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 135

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