Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 136

Author: Stout, Tom, 1879- ed
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 1126

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

he was resident physician of Saint Margaret's Hos- pital at Hammond, Indiana. In 1913 he began the practice of medicine at Chicago, Illinois, and re- mained in that city a year, leaving there in 1914 for Butte, Montana, where he has since been en- gaged in a general medical and surgical practice. His offices are at Nos. 19 and 20 Owsley Block, and he maintains his residence in the same building.

Doctor Lhotka has never married. He is inde- pendent in his political views. High in Masonry, he belongs to Silver Bow Lodge No. 48, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Bagdad, Temple Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Butte; and Butte Consistory No. 2, in which he has been made a Thirty-second Degree Mason. He belongs to the Silver Bow Medical Society, the Montana State Medical Society, the Cook County Illinois Neurological Society and the Society for the Study of Crime of Chicago, Illinois.

The success of Doctor Lhotka is not the result of any happy chance; luck has played no part in his advancement. At the beginning of his career he was compelled to meet and overcome obstacles few men meet with, but these, however, succumbed to his determination and indomitable persistence and the force of his ability well applied, and he may today take a pardonable degree of pride in the fact that he owes his present position and pros- perity solely to his own industry and effort.

JAMES HUGH BROWN, president of the Moun- taineer Welders Supply Company, is one of the aggressive young business men of Butte and a native son of the city, he having been born at No. IOII South Wyoming Street on November 5, 1885. His father, James Brown, was one of the earliest settlers of Montana, and a man well known in the pioneer history of Butte. James Brown was born in Penn- sylvania during 1837, and was reared in his native state, where he remained until he reached the age of eighteen years, but then went to Dubuque, Iowa, and for a time attended school in that city, com- pleting the educational training he had begun in Pennsylvania.

After completing his schooldays, James Brown began working as a teamster for Hugh Kirkendall, a government supply contractor, during the war be- tween the states, and Mr. Brown remained with him during this war. At the close of the war Mr. Brown went into Kansas and spent a year, but owing to a plague of grasshoppers was not successful in his farming operations which he had undertaken. In the meanwhile his former employer had come to Montana and was engaged in contracting and team- ing, and he induced Mr. Brown to join him, and they did a big freighting business, running between Corinne, Utah, and Helena, Montana. Within two years Mr. Brown was taken into the business, the firm becoming Kirkendall & Brown, and it was main- tained until 1893, with headquarters at Butte, Mon- tana. Mr. Brown was also interested in handling grain, coal, fuel and wagons upon an extensive scale. He owned and operated one of the pioneer mercan- tile establishments at Butte, and assisted in build- ing the Great Northern and Northern Pacific rail- roads, holding some very important contracts with them. His business interests kept on expanding and he included in his operations the freighting of ore from the various mines, among his routes being that from the Champion Mines to the mills located at Deer Lodge, Montana, and from the Clark proper- ties out of Dillon, Montana. In short James Brown was one of the most effective and extensive builders of the prosperity of this part of Montana, and his firm controlled one of the largest freighting busi-

nesses in the whole northwest. As this part of the country became settled, however, Mr. Brown became dissatisfied, for he is essentially a pioneer, and so he went to Nome, Alaska, and is now largely in- terested in placer mining for gold. He is an inde- pendent republican, and was a candidate for sheriff of Silver Bow County during its early history.

James Brown was married to Ida Cooper, who is now living with her son, James Hugh Brown. She was born in lowa in February, 1857, but was reared and educated in Missouri. Her father was born in Pennsylvania in 1822, and died at Memphis, Missouri, in 1890. He was a school teacher and went as a pioneer into Scotland County, Missouri, and was elected a judge of the District Court, serv- ing for many years in that capacity, and at the same time he acquired extensive agricultural in- terests, becoming one of the most successful men of that region. He reared ten children, and among them were the following: O. G. Cooper, who died at Anaconda, Montana, in 1915, but was a resident of Great Falls, Montana, and had been one of the extensive sheep growers during the pioneer days of that industry in the state, and he also carried on a large teaming business between Fort Benton and Helena; Milton, who came to Montana with the second party who traversed the Bozeman trail into the state, settled at Choteau, and became an extensive sheep grower and freighter, but now resides at San Diego, California; Edward, who was also one of the pioneers of Montana, was associated with James Brown for a number of years as a solicitor of his many interests, and is now one of the prominent physicians and surgeons of Chicago, Illinois ; Frank, who twenty years ago was one of the heaviest sheep growers in Montana, later lived at Glasgow, Montana, but is now retired and is a resident of San Diego, California; and Charles, who came as a pioneer into Montana and was asso- ciated with James Brown for a time, later going to Choteau, still later to Glasgow, having heavy sheep interests in the vicinity of both cities, but finally sold out and retired and is now making his home at Los Angeles, California. The Cooper family is credited with having a representative on the historic "Mayflower." The Browns, originally of Scotch-Irish stock, were founded in this country during Colonial days, settlement being first made in the New England Colonies.

James Brown and his wife had the following children born of their marriage; James Hugh, whose name heads this review; and Marie Hannah, who is an architect of unusual ability, and makes her home with her mother and brother.

After completing the courses of the common schools of Butte, James H. Brown entered its high school and remained until the close of the junior year, leaving school to serve an apprenticeship as a patternmaker at the Montana Iron Works of Butte, where he remained from 1903 until 1907. Following that Mr. Brown was occupied with carrying on a cement contracting business from 1907 until 1912, and during that period was in charge of the Chicago, Milwaukee & Saint Paul Railroad's cement work, and constructed the large culverts and the tunnel known as the Pipe Stone tunnel, twelve miles south of Butte. He was the first superintendent of the Montana Concrete Company at Logan, and also had charge of the cement construction work of the Three Forks Portland Cement Company's plant at Trident, Montana, for seven months. In 1912 Mr. Brown became assistant engineer at the plant of the Butte-Duluth Mining Company east of Butte, and was promoted to plant manager, remaining in that position until the mine went into the hands of

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a receiver on March 16, 1915, and he was then made custodian of the property, with Charles Everett as receiver, and Mr. Brown was occupied with these duties until in May, 1916, when he went to Alaska and was associated with his father during that sum- mer. He returned to Butte in the spring of 1917 and bought the welding department of the Moun- taineer Welding Company and organized the Butte Welding Company, which he sold in 1918, and in February of that year bought an interest in the Mountaineer Welders Supply Company, of which he is now president and manager of the sales depart- ment, his associates in the business being W. E. Curry, who is vice president and general manager, and H. L. Winchester, who is secretary and treasurer.

The plant and offices of this company are at No. 408 South Main Street, Butte. The company was incorporated in 1914, and its business is now con- fined to the manufacture of oxygen and hydrogen gasses, it being the only plant in Montana producing them, and the handling of oxy-acetylene welding and cutting apparatus and all welders' supplies, it being the supply station for the welders of Butte and its vicinity. This plant is thoroughly equipped with the modern machinery necessary for a successful con- duct of the business, and represents an expenditure of $33,000. The gasses are forced into cylinders at a pressure of 1,800 pounds to the square inch, and these cylinders are shipped to all parts of Montana and into neighboring states.

Mr. Brown is not married, his mother and sister living with him in his modern residence at No. IOII South Wyoming Street, Butte. In his political con- victions he is a republican. He belongs to the Presbyterian Church. Although the son of a rich man, Mr. Brown has made his own way, and his prosperity is the result of individual efforts directed by a superior intelligence. He is a practical man who understands his business and attends to it personally. Too energetic to be willing to delegate his responsibilities to others, he so arranges his affairs as to be able to handle the problems presented to him promptly and efficiently, and, under his ca- pable care, his department is showing very gratifying advances with each season. As a citizen Mr. Brown can always be depended upon to do his full duty by his community, which has a special claim upon him as it is also his birthplace, and he is living up to the standards of business achievement raised by his father and uncles, whose prosperity is recorded in the annals of pioneer Montana.

LESLIE R. MARGETTS. The men who are prominent in promoting the industrial prosperity of Montana and in advancing the mining interests of Butte are invariably men of much ability and strength of character and in the front rank of that class stands Leslie R. Margetts, who is actively associated with the operations of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company as superintendent of the Washoe Sam- pler, a position which he is ably filling. A son of Philip Margetts, Jr., he was born October 31, 1881, in Salt Lake City, Utah, of English ancestry. His grandfather, Philip Margetts, Sr., was born and reared in England, and there married a Miss Bate- man. Soon after that important event he immi- grated to the United States, settling as a merchant in Salt Lake City, where both he and his wife spent their remaining days, his death occurring in 1913, at the age of four score years.

Philip Margetts, Jr., a native of Utah, has spent the greater part of his life in that state, although he is at the present writing a resident of Preston, Idaho. He married Henrietta Richards, a life-long

resident of Salt Lake City, her birth occurring there in 1855, and her death in 1909. Four children were born of their marriage, as follows: Henry, who died at the age of nineteen years; May, wife of Harry Ostler, a candy manufacturer of Salt Lake City; Nelson E., a colonel in the United States Army; and Leslie R., of whom we write.

Colonel Nelson E. Margetts served in the World's war, having on account of his knowledge of the French language been appointed as an aid to Gen- eral Pershing. For a year and a half he was with the French Army as military observer, and was afterward sent back to the United States to organize a regiment of field artillery, which he took to France and was on the way to the trenches when the armistice was signed. Colonel Margetts, who has seen service on the Mexican border as well as in France, is now in charge of the Army of Occu- pation at Coblentz on the Rhine.

Leslie R. Margetts was educated in Salt Lake City, attending the grade and high schools, and at the age of twenty-one years being graduated from its business college. Beginning work as a stenog- rapher, he was in the employ of the Utah Consoli- dated Mining Company until 1903, when he came to Butte, Montana. Immediately accepting a position as clerk with Taylor & Brunton, a firm which was operating a sampler which has since been taken over by the Anaconda Copper Mining Company and is known as the Washoe Sampler, Mr. Margetts has continued with the company until the present time. Proving himself capable and highly efficient, he has received several well merited promotions, and is now superintendent of the plant, which, with its offices, is between the tracks of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad and the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railroad, a most favorable location, it being on South Montana Street. He has thirty-five em- ployes under his supervision and is performing the duties of his responsible position with ability and fidelity.

Mr. Margetts married in 1912, in Butte, Miss Anne Boone, who was educated at a seminary for girls in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her father, Charles Boone, a retired railroad man, lives in Grand Rapids, but her mother, whose maiden name was Jane Geaves, died at a comparatively early age. Mr. and Mrs. Margetts have no children. Political- ly Mr. Margetts is independent, voting for what he deems the best men and measures. He belongs to the Butte Chamber of Commerce, and is a member of the Silver Bow Club. His home, a modernly built residence at 1040 West Platinum Street, is a center of social activity.

EDWARD F. O'FLYNN. Bringing to the practice of his profession great zeal, a well-trained mind, and the habits of industry characteristic of his Irish ancestors, Edward F. O'Flynn occupies a noteworthy position among the successful attorneys of Butte, where in partnership with his brother James, he has built up a substantial and lucrative patronage. He was born May 9, 1886, in Saratoga, New York, a son of P. H. O'Flynn.

Born in County Waterford, Ireland, in 1859, P. H. O'Flynn remained in his native country until after reaching man's estate. Coming to the United States in 1881, he spent a short time in New York City, from there going to Saratoga, New York, which was his home for a few years. Migrating with his family to Laramie, Wyoming, in 1886, he followed the trade of a blacksmith in that vicinity for eight years. Coming to Butte, Montana, in 1894, he has since been engaged in mining, being in the employ of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company.

JACOB SCHMIDT

MRS. MARGARET SCHMIDT

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He is an uncompromising democrat in politics, and a faithful member of the Roman Catholic Church. He married in New York State, Mary Ellen Bald- win, a native of Tramore, County Waterford, Ire- land, and into their household five children have been born, as follows: Edward F., the special sub- ject of this brief personal narrative; James, of Butte, in partnership with his brother Edward; Mary, wife of E. B. Mclaughlin, of Seattle, Wash- ington, feature writer for the "Seattle Times"; Patricia, librarian at the Public Library of Seattle, Washington ; and Margaret, a student in the Central High School of Butte.

Gleaning his preliminary knowledge of books in the parochial schools of Butte, Edward F. O'Flynn completed the course of study in the local high school, after which he worked for two years in a store of general merchandise. Entering then the University of Notre Dame, at Notre Dame, Indiana, he was graduated there in 1907 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. The following year he con- tinued in the law department of the same university, after which he read law for a year in the office of Anderson, Parker & Crabill in South Bend, Indiana. Being admitted to the bar in 1909, Mr. O'Flynn opened an office in Butte, and has since here established a general civil and criminal law practice. and has gained by reason of his professional knowledge and skill a place of prominence in the legal world. He is attorney for the Montana Power Company, and in addition to also representing the Mueller estates has an extensive probate practice, his offices being on the third floor of the Hirbour Building.

An active and influential member of the demo- cratic party, Mr. O'Flynn represented Silver Bow County in the twelfth session of the Montana Legis- lature, and served on various committees of im- portance, having been chairman of the insurance committee and a member of the judiciary and edu- cational committees. He introduced the bill, which became a law, stabilizing the insurance business of the state of Montana, and was father of the bill regulating the rate of interest for Montana, thus preventing usury. Possessing unquestioned busi- ness ability and judgment, Mr. O'Flynn has .ac- quired valuable mining interests, and owns not only a fine residence at 414 South Washington Street, Butte, but has title to a farm of 200 acres near Portland, Oregon. Religiously he is a member of the Roman Catholic Church and socially he belongs to the Silver Bow Club of Butte and to the Butte Country Club. Fraternally he is a member of Butte Council, No. 668, Knights of Columbus, being a third degree Knight.

At Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1910, Mr. O'Flynn was united in marriage with Miss Elsa Habing, a daughter of B. G. Habing, a prominent business man of Indianapolis, being associated with the mercan- tile agency of that city. His wife, Elizabeth (Brum- mall) Habing, died in 1911. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. O'Flynn four children have been born, namely: Mary Edna, born April 6, 1911; Elsie Marie, born January 16, 1915; Edward F., Jr., born March 6, 1917; and Patrick, born December 29, 1919.

JOHN W. KERR is one of the leading ranchers of Teton County and has been a resident of Montana and one of its progressive citizens over a quarter of a century.

He was born in New York State February 2, 1860, fifth among the twelve children, eight of whom are still living, born to H. W. and Mary (Willis) Kerr. His father was a native of Scotland and died in

1916, at the age of eighty-three. The widowed mother passed away at the age of eighty. H. W. Kerr was a carpenter by trade. From New York State he moved with his family to Owen Sound, Canada, and lived there the rest of his life.

John W. Kerr acquired his education in the public schools of Owen Sound and earned his first money there driving a butcher's cart. In 1884, at the age of fifteen, he went to Winnipeg, Manitoba, clerked in a grocery store about four years, and then found employment during the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway at Rat Portage in Western Canada. After some other experiences in the western provinces Mr. Kerr came to Montana in 1892. For several years he rode the range as a cowboy with the S. T. Cattle Company, when that business was owned by the firm of Sands & Taylor. Gradually he accumulated the capital necessary for ranching on his own account, and his progressive endeavors have given him a fine holding in Teton County near Farmington. He owns 1,280 acres, all of it irrigated land, with a fine home and every convenience and facility for modern stock raising. Mr. Kerr still has a large number of horses and has been breeding horses for a number of years. On account of the widespread drought in Montana during 1919 he sold in March of that year 600 head of promising cattle for $90 apiece.

Mr. Kerr is affiliated with Choteau Lodge No. 44, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Choteau Chap- ter, Royal Arch Masons, is a member of the Shrine, Algeria Temple of Helena, and he and his wife are both members of the Eastern Star. Politically he is a democrat.

April 19, 1897, Mr. Kerr married Miss Jennie Schmidt. She was born near Ford Creek, Mon- tana, and is a daughter of the late Jacob Schmidt, whose career as a Montana pioneer is recounted in the following sketch.

JACOB SCHMIDT, who died in 1907, was one of the earliest of Montana pioneers and was intimately associated with many of the historic characters in the settlement of the territory and state.

He was born near Heidelberg, Germany, August 8, 1832, and acquired a limited education, attending a factory school in his home community for two hours a day. He served a four years' apprentice- ship at the tailor's trade, and worked his way across the Atlantic, reaching New York City in 1853. A few weeks later he was at St. Louis, and there he embarked on a steamboat en route for Fort Benton, then one of the few scattered outposts in the great Northwest country, which as yet hardly had a name except the vague description of "the Oregon coun- try." Neither the territory of Idaho nor of Mon- tana had yet been created. He reached Fort Benton in the spring of 1854. He was probably the pioneer tailor in Montana, and was employed by James Dawson until 1863. In that year he located at Deer Lodge and in the spring of 1864 opened a grocery store at Silver City in Lewis and Clark County. The county seat of Lewis and Clark County had its official home in his store. This was due to the fact that the late Col. W. F. Sanders as the chief official of the county carried the county seat around with him, and deposited the few books of record in Mr. Schmidt's establishment. In 1865 Mr. Schmidt re- moved to Helena and increased his store by the addition of a bakery. A year later he built the Over- land Hotel at Fort Benton, then returned to Silver City, and in 1867 was at Old Mission near the pres- ent location of the Ulm station on the Great North- ern Railway. For two years he engaged in the stock business there, and from 1869 until 1874 he

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had his ranch at St. Peter's Mission, twelve miles from Cascade. His next home was at Haystack Butte upon the south fork of the Sun River. Jacob Schmidt laid the foundation of his prosperity as a merchant, but his larger accumulations were through his enterprise as a farmer and cattleman. He ac- quired extensive ranching and property interest at Choteau in Teton County, and with his patented lands and leases was for a number of years one of the dominant factors in that locality.

He was the esteemed friend of many prominent pioneers and made his own influence and example an element in the establishment of law and order in the early territory. He was a democrat in poli- tics and affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and at one time was a member of the Grand Lodge of that order.

At Fort Benton on December 25, 1856, Jacob Schmidt and Miss Margaret Miller were married by Father Joseph. This was one of the earliest marriages recorded in the Montana country. Mar- garet Miller was a daughter of Jack Miller, a widely known pioneer of the West. Mrs. Margaret Schmidt died in 1917, and at that time was one of the oldest women pioneers of Montana. To their marriage were born twelve children, four of whom are still living: Julia, wife of Thomas Harris; Carroll, who married Clara Huntesberger; George, who married Rose Uphman; and Mrs. John W. Kerr.

SOREN NELSON. Standing prominent among the representative citizens of Butte is Soren Nelson, president and general manager of the Motor & Tire Sales Company, Incorporated, who began life on his own account with less than two dollars in his pockets, and has since by persevering industry, keen foresight and wise investments accumulated a hand- some property and gained a position of influence in the business life of the city. A native of Iowa, he was born, May 15, 1885, in Clinton, where the birth of his father, Thomas Christian Nelson, occurred in 1838.

When he was a boy of four years the parents of Thomas Christian Nelson went to Denmark, locating in Aalborg in 1843, where he grew to man's estate and was educated. Returning in 1861 to Clinton, Iowa, he married, and was afterward engaged in general farming for upwards of a quarter of a century. Going back to Denmark in 1887 he con- tinned his residence in Aalborg until his death in 1910. Active and prominent in civic and political affairs, he served as sheriff of Clinton County, being elected to the office on the democratic ticket, which he invariably supported. He served as a soldier in the war between Denmark and Prussia. He was a member of the Danish Lutheran Church, and be- longed to both the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons and to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Thomas Christian Nelson married in Clinton, Iowa, Ingar Marie Matson, who was born at Colling, Denmark, in 1846, and now resides in Aalborg, that country. Ten children blessed their union, as fol- lows: Ingar Marie, wife of Jens Christian Jensen, a contractor and builder in Nurre Sundby, Den- mark; Nels Peter, a farmer in the same town; Nels Christian, also of Nurre Sundby, is a contractor and farmer; Jens, a general contractor of Seattle, Washington; Maran Johanna, living in Denmark; Soren, the special subject of this sketch; Christina, residing in Denmark; Afrad Cilius, of Denmark, a noted artist and musician ; Nels, of Denmark, gen- eral manager of the large estate of Count Schim- melmen; and Arthur Henry, a very brilliant young

man, living in Denmark, where he has the general management of the Government Experimental Agri- cultural Station.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 136

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