Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 146

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 146

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City Council of Helena, and became president of that body. In 1889 he was elected a member of the first house of representatives of the new state. He has served as president of the Helena Board of Trade, took a prominent part in securing the fine new high school building for the city, and was president of the association formed to build a statue to Montana's pioneer vigilante and statesman, Wilbur Fisk San- ders. He was also a member of the board that pur- chased the grounds and buildings for the State Hos- pital for the Insane. Mr. Holter built the Holter Block in Helena, the home of the A. M. Holter Hardware Company. For many years he has been an interested member of the Montana Pioneer So- ciety, of which he is a past president, is a Knight Templar Mason and has been treasurer of Helena Commandery for forty-nine consecutive years. He is a member of the Lutheran Church.

In 1867, at Chicago, he married Miss Mary Pauline Loberg, also a native of Norway. Their oldest child is Norman B., now vice president of the A. M. Holter Hardware Company. Clara H. is the widow of Percy H. Kennett. Edwin O. Holter graduated from Yale University in 1894, from the law depart- ment of Columbia University, and is a practicing lawyer in New York City. Albert L. is a Helena business man and has gained prominence in the republican party of the state. The next child, Austin M., died at the age of five years. Aubrey M. gradu- ated from Yale University in 1905 and is an official of the A. M. Holter Hardware Company. Percy W., the youngest, graduated from Yale in 1907, and died at Helena November 23, 1908, at the age of twenty-three.

NORMAN B. HOLTER continuously for nearly thirty years, ever since completing his university education, has been identified with the great business of Helena known as the A. M. Holter Hardware Company and is vice president of that corporation.

Mr. Holter is a son of A. M. Holter, who is president of the company, and whose long and hon- orable business career in Montana is reviewed else- where. Norman B. Holter was born at Helena February 8, 1868, was educated in the local public schools, and attended college at Columbia Univer- sity, New York City. He graduated with the degree Mining Engineer in 1891, but his career has been one of practical business rather than professional. He returned to Helena and joined his father and by successive steps has acquired his present responsi- bilities as vice president.

Mr. Holter is also a director in the Federal Reserve Bank at Minneapolis. Is a director in the Montana Flour Mills Company, and is president of the Holter Company, which handles general prop- erty interests in Montana.

Mr. Holter is a member of the Delta Psi college fraternity, and in Masonry is affiliated with Helena Lodge No. 3, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Helena Chapter No. 2, Royal Arch Masons, Helena Commandery No. 2, Knights Templar, Helena Con- sistory No. 3 of the Scottish Rite, and Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is a member of the Rocky Mountain Club of New York City and the Montana Club of Helena, and is a member of Helena Lodge No. 193 of the Elks.

In 1900, at Helena, he married Miss Florence Jefferis, who was also born at Helena, daughter of Charles M. and Sarah (Bell) Jefferis. Her mother is still living at Helena, where her father died sev- eral years ago. Charles Jefferis was a Montana pioneer of the '6os, and served several times as sheriff of Lewis and Clark County. He was an influential republican in his section of the state.

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Mr. and Mrs. Holter have three children : Marion, born in July, 1904; Richard M., born in November, 1905; and Norman J., born February I, 1914.

PHILLIP CHARLES GOODWIN came to Montana at the age of eleven years, has been a Butte business man throughout his active career, and has figured promi- nently in both state and local politics.

Mr. Goodwin, who is president of the Sheehan & Goodwin Company, general insurance and real estate at Butte, was born at Columbus, Nebraska, February 17. 1872, son of Phillip and Rosa (Quinn ) Goodwin. His father was a baker by trade, and in May, 1883, the family settled at Butte. Phillip C. Goodwin finished his education in the public schools of Butte, and then entered the employ of the Butte Miner and for twenty-two years was in the circu- lation department of that great institution of Mon- tana journalism. Besides his prosperous real es- tate and insurance business Mr. Goodwin personally owns some valuable farming land in Montana.

Twice he has been a candidate on the democratic ticket for state office, though each time his can- didacy fell in a year marked by abnormal strength of the republican party. He was candidate for state auditor in 1904 and for state treasurer in 1908. From 1905 to 1909 Mr. Goodwin served as city treasurer of Butte. On March 1, 1916, he was ap- pointed postmaster of Butte, and has given a splen- did administration to the growing business of the local office.

Mr. Goodwin served twice as chairman of the Democratic Committee of Silver Bow County.

In September, 1893, he married Miss Nora Lynch, of Butte. They have five children, Geraldine, Cath- erine, Rose, Dorothy and James. Geraldine is the wife of William E. Chapman, a civil engineer and county surveyor of Beaverhead County.

LEE MATHEW VAN ETTEN. Preparatory to his admission to the bar, Lee Mathew Van Etten had an exceptionally. varied experience in mining en- gineering and saw a great deal of the west, includ- ing Montana. He is one of the prominent lawyers of Butte, and a recognized authority on Public Land Law.

He was born at Nunica, in Ottawa County, Mich- igan, September 24, 1871. He attended public school in his native state, and later for two years, while employed by the Pullman Company in Chicago, attended a night school maintained by that cor- poration. Leaving Chicago, he went West to Cali- fornia, and for eighteen months was an employe of the Union Iron Works and helped build the famous United States battleships Oregon and Olympia, the latter Admiral Dewey's flagship at Manila Bay, and the former making the remarkable cruise around Cape Horn and joining the battle fleet that shattered the Spanish flotilla at Santiago Bay. For two years Mr. Van Etten lived on a ranch in the state of Washington, and then came to Mon- tana and was a student for two years in the Pres- byterian College at Deer Lodge. During his sum- mer vacations he followed surveying. Following that he attended school three years in the Sheldon Jackson Institute in Utah, and for a year was en- gaged in mining in that state. Mr. Van Etten grad- uated from Valpairaiso University in Indiana it 1901, and on returning to Montana engaged in min- ing for three years. He took his law course in the University of Michigan, where he spent three years and graduated in 1907. Mr. Van Etten began prac- tice at Butte in the fall of 1907, and has been one of the busiest lawyers of the city since then.

On April 1, 1912, he was appointed United States

commissioner and was reappointed to that office in 1916. He is a republican in politics, and is a past noble grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and has sat in the Grand Lodge. September 15, 1909, he married Maidie Rife, of Dillon, Montana.

Mr. Van Etten is a son of Samuel and Hannah (Maycroft) Van Etten. His father also had a career of exceptional experience. He was born in Tompkins County, New York, April 6, 1827, and died March 28, 1891. When nine years of age he ran away from home, and worked driving a horse along the towpath of the Erie Canal. The prin- cipal reason he left home and took this work was to get money to purchase tea for his mother. The very first earnings he invested in tea and took it home. Later he learned the carpenter's trade. He was promoted from his work on the towpath to captain or master of a canal boat, but left that service about the time of the Mexican war, and going to New York enlisted in Company K of the Eighth Regiment of United States Regulars. With his command he sailed to Vera Cruz, Mexico, and marched with the victorious forces of General Scott to the City of Mexico, being present at the time of the surrender. He returned north after the war to New Orleans, thence to Jefferson Barracks, Mis- souri, and on receiving his discharge returned east by way of Chicago and Michigan. While in Mich- igan he became strongly attracted to the country, though for several years he lived in New York and resumed his work on the canal. Finally he went west to Michigan, took up a homestead, and spent the rest of his active life as a farmer. In 1861 he was an early volunteer to put down the rebellion, serving as a private in Company H, Fourth Mich- igan Cavalry, a regiment that earned a high rec- ord through the war. He was in the service three years and three months. He married in Michigan Miss Maycroft, who was of English parentage.

JESSE RANKIN WHARTON during a residence at Butte of nearly forty years has at many points been a leader in affairs, and always sincerely and deeply interested in movements affecting the vital welfare of the community. For nearly thirty years he has had a thoughtful part in the management and oper- ation of Butte's public utilities.

Mr. Wharton was born at Greensboro, North Carolina, November 4, 1857, son of John Calvin and Rebecca Jane Wharton. His ancestors were Scotch Irish and settled in North Carolina about 1720. His family has therefore been stanchly American for two centuries.

Jesse R. Wharton attended the Greensboro Acad- emy in his native state, and his boyhood was passed in a period of peculiar depression and lack of oppor- tunity, when North Carolina was recovering from the disasters brought by war. In 1872, at the age of fifteen, he went to work as clerk in a book store, continuing until 1875. Before coming to Montana he had a thorough training in banking, serving as teller in the National Bank of Greensboro from 1875 to 1882.

His first work in Butte was as teller in the bank of Donnell, Clark & Larabee and of W. A. Clark & Brother. He was associated with those early Butte banking interests from 1882 to 1888.

Mr. Wharton served as manager of the Silver Bow Water Company from 1888 to 1890, as mana- ger of the Butte Electric and Silver Bow Electric Light Companies from 1890 to 1892, and from the latter date until 1918 was manager of the Butte Electric Railway Company. He is a director in that corporation and also is a director and finan-

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cially interested in the Plainsmont Land Company, the South Park Mining & Realty Company, the Arizona Realty Company and the Trail Creek Water Company.

As a young man Mr. Wharton had some military training as a private in the Guilford Greys, a Nation- al Guard Company in North Carolina. Though born and reared a southerner, he is a republican in poli- tics, is affiliated with Butte Lodge No. 22, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and is a member of the Silver Bow Club, Butte Country Club, Rocky Moun- tain Club of New York, is president of the News- boys Club at Butte, a director of the Associated Charities, is president of the Butte Young Men's Christian Association, and a member of the Rotary Club and Liberal Culture Club. The early religious influences thrown around him were Presbyterian, and he has always been loyal to that church and is a ruling elder in his home church at Butte.

March 9, 1886, at Butte, Mr. Wharton married Dorcas Elizabeth Noyes, daughter of Thomas and Mary Ann Noyes, who came from Cushing, Quebec. To their marriage were born four children: Jesse Noyes Wharton, deceased; Carolina P., wife of Ed- gar Wild; Carroll Clark Wharton, deceased; and John Calvin Wharton, unmarried.

CHARLES RANSOM LEONARD, who has just rounded out thirty years of residence in Butte and mem- bership in the bar of that city, gained national dis- tinction as a lawyer a number of years ago while chief counsel for Augustus Heinze in the prolonged litigation with the amalgamated copper interests, known as the "copper war." In his home state Mr. Leonard has not only enjoyed the well merited successes and triumphs of the bar but public honors, and is known as a man and leader to be trusted, a brilliant lawyer and a gifted personality.

Mr. Leonard had earned his first successes in the law in his native state of Iowa. He was born at Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa, December 3, 1860, son of Nathan R. and Elizabeth (Heizer) Leonard. His parents, who lived for many years at Bntte, were widely known both in Iowa and Mon- tana. His father for a number of years was presi- dent of the School of Mines at Butte.

Charles R. Leonard was educated in the public schools, received his A. B. degree from the State University of Iowa in 1881, his Master of Arts degree the same year, and graduated from the law school of the University in 1883. He practiced law at Creston, Iowa, for several years, and came to Butte in 1890. He soon won a reputation as a lawyer whose abilities and industry were adequate for the most difficult problems of his profession. His services were engaged by several corporations and eventually he became chief counsel for Augus- tus Heinze and at the end of the historic litigation represented Mr. Heinze's interests in the settle- ment negotiations at New York. Mr. Leonard still represents a number of mining companies in Butte as attorney and director, and has also given much time to affairs outside his profession.

Mr. Leonard is a republican. In 1892, two years after coming to Montana, he was a candidate for the Legislature, but was defeated in that election. In 1894 he was elected a member of the Montana State Senate from Silver Bow County, serving un- til 1898. He was the Montana member of the Re- publican National Committee from 1897 to 1899. Mr. Leonard was chairman of the Temporary Mon- tana Tax and License Commission which submitted its recommendations on tax matters to the Legis- lature of 1919.

Mr. Leonard has been generous of his time and

efforts in behalf of the broader interests and wel- fare of his own profession. He has been a work- ing member of committees of the Montana Bar Association, and was honored by that association as president for two years. He is affiliated with the Masonic Order and the Woodmen of the World. He is also a member of the Silver Bow and Coun- try Clubs of Butte, and the Montana Club of Helena. For eight years he was a member of the State Board of Education.

August 10, 1887, Mr. Leonard married Miss Alice Sample, of Carthage, Illinois. On May 28, 1901, he married Fanny Sutphen Jones of Lancaster, Ohio. His three children, by his first marriage, were Frank, Margaret and Alice.

HENRY STEPHEN MAGRAW, of Helena, state exami- ner and superintendent of banks, is prominently identified with the banking interests of Montana, the financial institutions of which he has control being in a flourishing condition. A son of the late Henry Slaymaker Magraw, he was born September 15, 1853, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. On the paternal side of the house he comes of honored Irish ances- try, his great-grandfather, John Magraw, a native of County Kilkenny, Ireland, having emigrated to the United States when young, settling first in Lan- caster County, Pennsylvania, as a school teacher, but spending the closing years of his life in West Nottingham, Cecil County, Maryland.

James Magraw, Doctor of Divinity, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Pennsylvania, and was there fitted for the min- istry. Subsequently settling in Cecil County, Mary- land, he established a homestead in West Notting- ham, and there founded the Presbyterian Church of which he had charge until his death. His wife, whose maiden name was Rebecca Cochran, was born in Cochranville, Chester County, Pennsylvania, and died on the homestead in West Nottingham, Mary- land.

Born in January, 1815, at West Nottingham, Cecil County, Maryland, Henry Slaymaker Magraw re- ceived excellent educational advantages, and after his admission to the bar in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, began the practice of his profession in Pittsburgh, that state. Following the pathway of the gold seek- ers, he went by way of the Isthmus of Panama to California in 1850, and there practiced law a year. Returning to Pennsylvania in the winter of 1852, he remained there as an attorney-at-law until 1863, when he purchased the old homestead in Cecil County, Maryland, on which he resided until his death, which, however, occurred February I, 1867, in Washington, District of Columbia, where he prac- ticed ław for many years, practicing in the United States Supreme Court.

A prominent member of the democratic party, he was influential in state and national affairs, and a firm friend of President James Buchanan. While a resident of Pennsylvania he served as district attor- ney of Allegheny County two terms, and as state treasurer for three consecutive terms of two years each. At the time of his death he was a member of the Maryland Legislature. He was affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, and belonged to the 'An- cient Free and Accepted Order of Masons.

The maiden name of the wife of Henry Slaymaker Magraw was Emily Hopkins. She was born in June, 1818, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, being a direct descendant of George Ross, who was one of the sign- ers of the Declaration of Independence, and had the distinction also of having been the first lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania. She died on the home farm in West Nottingham, Maryland, in March, 1870.

I.s. Maprawo

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

Four children were born of their union, as follows : Adam R., who died in 1908 in Germany, where his body was interred; Rebecca, who spent her brief earthly life on the homestead in Maryland, died in 1865; Henry Stephen, of whom we write; and Emily, twin sister of Henry S., married Samuel F. Rathvon, residing in Denver, Colorado, for the past thirty- five years.

Acquiring his preliminary education in the West Nottingham Academy and in the Chambersburg Academy at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, Henry Stephen Magraw continued his studies at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, completing his junior year. Leaving that institution in the fall of 1874, he remained on the parental homestead until 1880, when he went to Salida, Colorado, where he was engaged in forwarding freight for a year. The ensuing four years Mr. Magraw spent in the Bo- nanza mining camp, Colorado, where he lost all of his money. He subsequently spent a short time in Lead- ville, Colorado, from there going to Kansas with the locating corps of the Saint Louis and San Francisco Railway Company.

Coming to Helena, Montana, in November, 1887, Mr. Magraw was for two years agent for the Con- tinental Oil Company, and subsequently was vari- ously employed until becoming bookkeeper in the Thomas Cruse Savings Bank, a position he held for two years. He was subsequently engaged in the lumber business at Basin, Montana, for two years. Entering the State Savings Bank at Butte, Montana, in 1896. Mr. Magraw was there receiving teller for four years, gaining in the meantime knowledge and experience of value. Assuming charge of a logging camp for the Largey estate in 1900, he retained the position a year, and then, on account of impaired health, rested from all labor for a year. Subse- quently organizing the Sheridan State Bank at Sheri- dan, Montana, Mr. Magraw served as its cashier for seven years, and the ensuing four years was officer manager at Big Timber, Montana, for the Glass- Lindsay Land Company.

Returning to Helena in 1913, Mr. Magraw, who had been appointed by Governor S. V. Stewart state examiner and superintendent of banks, assumed the duties of his responsible position on March 1, 1913, his offices being in the State Capitol. Proving him- self eminently capable and efficient, he had the honor of being re-appointed to the same high office in 1917, and is now serving his second term in the same satisfactory manner. Finding that previous state ex- aminations of banks had been merely perfunctory, Mr. Magraw has established a new system of re- cording for the counties, and has revised and con- siderably elaborated the methods of accounting and reports for both counties and. banks, so that 110W when he receives or makes reports he has a thorough knowledge of the conditions of both, and the banks realize that there has been a real examination. When Mr. Magraw accepted his present position his office force consisted of three assistants and one clerk, a number that has since been increased to ten assistants and two clerks.

Politically Mr. Magraw is identified with the democratic party. Liberal in his religions views, he is an influential member and a trustee of the Uni- tarian Church. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, and a member of Sheridan Lodge No. 20, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, of Sheridan, Montana; and of Helena Consistory No. 3. He is likewise a member of the Sigma Chi college fra- ternity. At 214 North Ewing Street he has a pleas- ant home.

Mr. Magraw married, January 23, 1890, Eugunia Norton, daughter of Charles and Ursula (Smith) Norton, neither of whom are now living. Her

father was a grain buyer and elevator manager of Illinois, for many years carrying on an extensive business. On her mother's side, Mrs. Magraw is a direct descendant of Henry Sunster, the first president of Harvard University. Mr. and Mrs. Magraw have two children, Rebecca Ursula and Henry Slaymaker. Rebecca Ursula is the wife of John Uhl, of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, president of the Pennsylvania Tobacco Company, wholesale manufacturers of smoking and chewing tobacco. Mrs. Ulil, a woman of much culture, was graduated with honors from Miss Wolcott's School, a famous educational institution of Denver, Colorado. Henry Slaymaker Magraw, now living with his parents, en- listed in the World war in May, 1917, as a private in the Machine Gun Troop, Twenty-fifth United States Cavalry, and was afterward made second lieutenant in Field Artillery A. E. F., and served with the Fifty-second Ammunition Train, Thirty-first Bri- gade, First Army Corps. He was sent overseas, sail- ing from New York January 20th, took an active part in the Meuse and Argonne drives, and a few weeks after the signing of the armistice sailed tor home, landing in New York on January 23, 1919. He is a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, and is a thirty-second degree Mason.

THOMAS J. WALKER was admitted to the bar in 1902, has been a resident of Butte since 1888, and for nearly twenty years his work and interests have brought him a substantial reputation as a sound and able lawyer and thoroughly public spir- ited Montana citizen.

He was born at Plymouth, Pennsylvania, March 25, 1878, son of David and Ellen (Comerford) Walk- er. His father brought the family to Butte in 1890, and for many years was actively identified with the mining interests of the state.

Thomas J. Walker was about twelve years of age when he came to Montana, and completed his primary education in the public and parochial schools of Butte. He was also a student at All Hallows College in Salt Lake City and for three years pur- sued his classical course in Georgetown University, District of Columbia. He attended the University of Virginia, taking the law course, and was gradu- ated in 1902, and at once took up the labors of his profession in Butte. He was associated with the firm McHatton & Cotter for a time, later with Ed- win M. Lamb, and for the past several years has been senior member of the firm Walker & Walker, his brother being his partner. The firm handles a large corporation practice, and Mr. Walker in- dividually has acquired some valuable mining and other interests in the state.

Early in his professional career he was elected a member of the Legislature, representing Silver Bow County in the lower house in 1905. He was elected county attorney in 1908 and reelected in I910. He is a democrat, is a member of the Silver Bow Club and is affiliated with the Elks, the Eagles and Knights of Columbus.

June 7, 1905, he married Miss Maud Galen. Her father was a pioneer citizen of Helena.

FRANK COMERFORD WALKER has made a sound reputation as a corporation and general lawyer, and also as a leader in politics and public affairs, and has been in active practice at Butte since 1900.

He was born at Plymouth, Pennsylvania, May 30, 1886, son of David and Ella (Comerford) Walker. His parents settled at Butte in 1890 and his father became interested in the mining industry of the state. The son was educated in the parochial schools of Butte, attended the Jesuit Institution, Gonzaga University, at Spokane, Washington, three years,

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graduating in 1906, and took his law work at Notre Dame University in Indiana. He was admitted to the bar in July, 1909, and in the same year was ap- pointed deputy county attorney of Silver Bow County, filling that office with all the zeal and dis- cretion of a mature lawyer for three years. His first year in practice he was associated with Charles R. Leonard. He then formed a partnership with his brother, Thomas J., and the firm Walker & Walker is still one of the best known legal part- nerships in Butte. Mr. Walker was elected a mem- ber of the Legislature in 1913, serving one term.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 146

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