Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 147

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 147

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While his field is general practice, he is attorney for the Northern Pacific Railroad, Swift & Com- pany, The Mountain States Telegraph & Telephone Company, the Murray Hospital, the National Life Insurance Company of Montana and several other corporations.

He is a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Silver Bow and Country clubs, and on November JI, 1914, married Miss Hallie Boucher, a native daughter of Butte.

AUGUST REICHLE. Known as a prompt, courteous, efficient business man of Butte for a quarter of a century, August Reichle has given a just name and reputation among Montanans to the Atlantic Buf- fet, of which he is proprietor.

Mr. Reichle has had an interesting career since coming to Montana. He was born at Stuttgart, Germany, the capital of Wurtemberg, a son of An- drew and Elizabeth Reichle. He was liberally edu- cated, attending a technical college at Stuttgart and graduating as a civil engineer. At the age of nine- teen he came to America, landing in New York, and thence traveling by an emigrant train from New York to Glen's Station, Beaverhead County, Mon- tana. This journey lasted nine days. He came to Montana to join his older brother William, who had already become well satisfied with the Mon- tana country and was a prosperous rancher and stock raiser, merchant and postmaster in Beaver- head County. The postoffice when first established was known as Willis and later the community was named Reichle. William Reichle was a homesteader in the valley, and August on arriving helped his brother improve the land with buildings.

August Reichle had the characteristics of indus- try, thrift and economy so frequently found in Americans who came from Germany, and out of his early wages and savings he bought 160 acres, and when his brother. William moved to Butte to engage in the hotel business Angust remained in charge of the ranch and the postoffice at Willis. He was postmaster there five years.

When he came to America he did not altogether sever the ties that bound him to Germany. There remained behind the sweetheart of his youth, Eu- genia Retter, who was a native of Ludwigsburg, Germany, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Ret- ter. After August Reichle had made some satis- fying progress in Montana and had the dignity of postmaster of Willis he returned east as far as Boston, where he met his betrothed, and they were married in that city. She came to Montana with him, and was soon introduced to the community at Willis and was doing her part as a homemaker.

In 1895 the family moved to Butte. Four chil- dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Reichle: Paul A., Helen, Walter and Martha. The children have been carefully educated and as young people show the results of their training and also the inheritance of integrity of character. Both sons completed their education in the Gonzaga University of Spo- kane, Washington, and graduated with the A. B.

degree. Paul made a splendid record as a student, receiving three gold medal scholarship honors. Walter during his college career received two medals for general excellence and in oratory. Paul Reichle married Miss Mame Collins, and is now cashier of the South Side Bank of Butte and has two children, Jean and John Paul. Walter was one of the young patriots of Montana who volunteered their serv- ices during the war with Germany. He entered the officers training camp at Camp Taylor, Ken- tucky, was given a thorough training in the artil- lery branch of the service, received a commission as second lieutenant, and was appointed as a training instructor and is still held in reserve though not in active duty. He was ready for overseas work when the armistice was signed. He is now asso- ciated with his father in business. The daughter, Helen, a graduate of the Butte High School, and who also specialized in music in St. Vincent's Con- vent at Helena, is likewise a partner in her father's business. Martha is in the third year of her high school work at Butte.

The Reichle family are devout members of the Catholic Church at Butte. The sons, Paul and Walter, are fourth degree Knights of Columbus and members of the Elks. Politically they vote in- dependently, supporting men and measures they con- sider best suited to local, state or national needs. It has been a matter of great satisfaction to Mr. Reichle that as a young man he cast in his lot with America, that his affairs have prospered in Montana and that he has reared two sons every inch Americans.

JOSEPH L. ASBRIDGE has gained more than state- wide recognition in his office of United States mar- shal. Although a true American citizen, loyal and devoted to its institutions, his birthplace was in Eng- land and he is a member of an old and prominent family of the mother country. His grandfather, John Asbridge, more familiarly known as "Jackie," was born in Cockermouth, England, in 1790. He was known in his native land as a gentleman, a position in America relative to a capitalist, and he died at the place of his nativity in about the year 1784.

Joseph Asbridge, a son of John and the father of Joseph L., was born in Cockermouth, England, in 1822. He was there reared, educated and mar- ried, and all of his children were born there. He was engaged in the wholesale and retail hardware business throughout the entire period of his indus- trial career, and in the place of his birth he now lies buried, although his death occurred in London, while there on a visit, in 1872. He was a conservative in politics, and a member of the Church of England and of the Masonic fraternity. Joseph Asbridge was an ardent sportsman, a devotee of both hunting and fishing.

He married for his first wife Rebecca Fisher, who was born near Cockermouth, England, in 1827, and died there in 1865. Their children were: John, who died in the City of London in 1911, where he had been engaged as a ship broker; Joseph L., the present United States marshal; and Robert, who died from the effects of an accident when but eight years of age. For his second wife Joseph Asbridge married Fannie Rapley, who still resides in Cock- ermouth, aged eighty-two years. There were no chil- dren by this second union.

Joseph L. Asbridge was born at the ancestral home of the family at Cockermouth January 9, 1860. Cockermouth, located in Cumberland County, is his- torically known as the birthplace of the poet Wads- worth, and this old town also sent a representative to the first English parliament which was formed

Joseph L asbridge

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during King John's reign. Joseph L. Asbridge was reared and educated in Cockermouth, later attend- ing the old St. Bees grammar school, which was founded in the seventeenth century.

Leaving his native land for the United States, Mr. Asbridge arrived in the City of Billings, Mon- tana, June 1, 1883, and established his home in what was then Fergus County, on Willow Creek, west of the Town of Roundup. There he homesteaded 160 acres, and in a short time became an extensive cattle and sheep raiser and organized the firm of High- tower, Asbridge & Battams. The ranch was known as the Lazy X, so named because the letter X did not stand in true, straight lines. Mr. Asbridge left this ranch in 1915, and as a democratic representa- tive was elected to the State Legislature from Fer- gus County, serving as a member of the twelfth ses- sion. While a member of that governing body he was largely instrumental in introducing a bill es- tablishing a grain laboratory at Bozeman for testing seeds. Although this bill became a law, it met with strong opposition from seed houses outside of the state, who had previously used Montana as a dump- ing ground for poor grades of seed. During this ses- sion Mr. Asbridge was also actively interested in the organization of the County of Musselshell, and in 1912 he was elected the first state senator from Musselshell County and served during the thirteenth and fourteenth sessions.

At the time of his appointment as United States marshal Mr. Asbridge came to Helena and took the oath of office May 5, 1915, this being a recess appoint- ment. He was reappointed January 11, 1916, by President Wilson, and the appointment was con- firmed on that date by the United States Senate. On March 16, 1920, he was again reappointed for four years, the appointment being confirmed by the Senate, and he took the oath of office on April I, 1920. He has offices in the Federal Building. While living in Musselshell County he also served eight years as a member of the State Board of Sheep Commissioners. He is a member of the Judith Club of Lewistown, was a member of the Billings Club while living in that city and conducting his ranch, and is a member of the Pioneers of Eastern Mon- tana. During his school days Mr. Asbridge played halfback on the St. Bees-Rugby team, also occupied the same position with the Cockermouth team, and in his earlier life was a splendid athlete. He was also a member of the Cumberland County team and often assisted the Northumberland County team. He has a record for a quarter mile run in fifty-three seconds and the mile run in 4.46, and this early ath- letic training has helped him to retain his physical vigor during all of his subsequent life. He is still an enthusiastic sportsman with the rifle, and takes great pleasure in all out-of-door sports. While on his ranch near the Town of Roundup he put in twenty years in the saddle.

Mr. Asbridge's present home is at 609 North Jack- son Street, Helena. He was married on the 10th of July, 1893, at Billings, to Miss Celia A. Ring, a daughter of Capt. E. P. Ring, deceased. He was a veteran of the Civil war and resided at Lake Park, Iowa. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Asbridge, namely: Joseph, who was accidentally shot and killed on his father's ranch when but thir- teen years of age; Vern, who enlisted for the World war as a private in 1917, served fourteen months in France with Company B, One Hundred and Sixty- Third Infantry, was mustered out as a sergeant, and is now engaged in ranching near Somers, Montana; Hazel, attending the State Normal College at Dil- lon; Frances, who died on the ranch when fifteen years of age; and Robert, who died in Billings when but two years old.

The mother of these children died in Billings in 1901, and on the Ist of October, 1908, Mr. Asbridge was married in that city to Miss Aimee P. Coates, who was born in Pennsylvania She is a member of an old Quaker family of English descent which was established in this country during colonial times. She is a graduate of Swarthmore College in Pennsyl- vania. Three children have been born of this union : Dorothy, who was born December 10, 1909; Robert, born January 23, 1912; and Ruth, who was born June 15, 1913.

WILLIAM BAKER RODGERS came to Montana and began the practice of law more than a quarter of a century ago. During that time one of the most important honors and remunerative positions in the profession have been accorded him. He is a for- mer United States district attorney for Montana. For many years he has been counsel for the Ana- conda Copper Mining Company. His home is at Anaconda, but as counsel for this corporation he maintains his chief offices in Butte.

Mr. Rodgers was born in Coles County, Illinois. His paternal ancestors were Scotch-Irish and set- tled in North Carolina in colonial days. One or more of the family were Revolutionary soldiers. Mr. Rodgers' grandfather, John W. Rodgers, was a native of Alabama, but early in the nineteenth century moved to Illinois and became a pioneer farmer in Coles County, where he died. His wife was Lovisa Balch, a native of Kentucky. John White Rodgers, father of William B., was born in Illinois in 1828, and spent his active life as a farmer in Coles County, where he died in 1884. He was a very zealous and devout Presbyterian and an elder in the church for many years. Politically he voted as a republican. His wife was Margaret Elizabeth Gellenwaters, who was born in Illinois in 1838 and died in Coles County in 1887. They had five chil- dren. The oldest, James Farnsworth, was a gradu- ate of Rush Medical College at Chicago and prac- ticed medicine for many years, he died at Bowling Green, Kentucky, in August, 1918. The only daugh- ter, Mary Livonia, is the wife of Dr. L. W. Bun- nell, a physician and surgeon at Trenton, Missouri. The three younger sons, William B., Hiram W. and. Henry G., are all well known Montana lawyers, the first at Butte, the second at Anaconda and Henry G. at Dillon.

William B. Rodgers was educated in the rural schools of Coles County. He grew up on his father's farm, attended Lincoln University at Lincoln, Illi- nois, and then entered Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tennessee, graduating in the law depart- ment and with the LL. B. degree in 1891. In Uni- versity he was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity. Soon after graduation Mr. Rodgers came to Montana, practiced at Phillipsburg one year, and in 1892 was elected county attorney, moving his home and office to Deer Lodge in January, 1893. He was county attorney two years. In 1894 he was chosen joint representative for Deer Lodge and Missoula counties, being elected on the republican ticket. He was a member of the important legis- lature of the fourth session, and there served as a member of the committees on judiciary, ways and means, state board and offices, code, and other committees. Mr. Rodgers continued his practice at Deer Lodge until 1897, when he accompanied the county seat on its removal to Anaconda in that year. In the fall of 1897 he was appointed assist- ant United States attorney for the Montana dis- trict. In 1898 he was appointed United States attor- ney, and for four years had charge of all the liti- gation in the Federal Courts of the state. On re- tiring from that office he resumed private practice

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at Anaconda, and soon afterward was made local counsel for the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. In 1909 he was promoted to general counsel for this corporation, with headquarters at Butte, where his offices are in the Hennessey Building.

During 1901-02 Mr. Rodgers was president of the Montana State Bar Association, and for six years he was vice president from Montana of the Amer- ican Bar Association. He has always been a stead- fast republican in politics, is affiliated with the Pres- byterian Church, and is a member of Deer Lodge Lodge No. 14, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Deer Lodge Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and Deer Lodge Commandery of the Knights Templar, also Helena Consistory No. 3 and Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena. He is a member of Mon- tana Lodge No. 13, Knights of Pythias, at Ana- conda, and belongs to the Anaconda Club, the Silver Bow Club at Butte, the Lambs Club at Helena, the Anaconda Country Club, and the Rocky Mountain Club of New York City.

June 17, 1896, at Petersburg, Illinois, Mr. Rodgers married Miss Alice Jeannette Knowles, daughter of W. D. and Elizabeth (Shepard) Knowles, both now deceased. Her father was an Illinois farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers have one daughter, Margaret Elizabeth, nineteen years of age.

LAWRENCE S. GROFF, deputy United States mar- shal for the District of Montana, has a remarkable knowledge of men and of world geography, and though he is a native son of Montana and has had many of his life interests here, Mr. Groff may be said to be at home anywhere and possesses that rare faculty of being equal to any emergency. He is always ready for duty and has seldom gone into anything without seeing it through.

Mr. Groff was born at Missoula, July 6, 1882, son of Joseph H. and Matilda C. (Shirell) Groff. His father was a Montana pioneer and had a long and most interesting career. He was born near Jef- ferson City, Missouri, in 1843, was educated in the public schools of his native state, and as a youth joined the Confederate army at the outbreak of the Civil war. Most of his service was in the western border country and exposed to singular risks and hardships. He was under Capt. Joe Shelby, also under the command of General Marma- duke and of the great guerrilla leader Quantrill. He was at the battle of Wilson's Creek, at Lone Jack, and many campaigns through southern Mis- souri, Arkansas and Kansas. At the battle of Lone Jack he was one of a party commanded by Cole Younger, later a famous character in 'American criminal history, detailed to capture a hotel occupied by a number of Federal troops. Under the pro- tecting fire of his comrades Cole Younger, with some kindling wood and a can of kerosene, made a bold dash to the west side of the hotel, and undis- turbed by the bullets raining about him cooly kindled a fire which with a favoring wind soon drove the Federals out of the building. After the battle of Lone Jack Mr. Groff was under the command of General Shelby until the close of the war. He was mustered out at Stockton, Missouri, in 1865. His military ardor being unsatisfied, he then went south and joined the Texas Rangers. He helped fight the Kiowa Indians in Oklahoma, also the Nav- ajo tribes in Texas and New Mexico. After leav- ing that service he returned to Missouri, was mar- ried, and his wedding trip started with his bride in a cavalcade of ox teams from Stockton, Mis- souri, up to Omaha, Nebraska, and then across the plains by the Platte River route to Ogden, Utah, and on to Tillamock, Oregon. He engaged in min-

ing and prospecting about two years in Oregon, and then came overland to the district where the city of Missoula now stands. At that time only six log cabins had been built at Missoula. He be- came prominently known among the pioneers of Montana as a freighter and also conducted a gen- eral store at Missoula. He ran his freight trains between Missoula and Fort Benton, also to Deer Lodge, Butte and Helena, and continued in that business until 1873. On leaving Missoula he moved to within four miles of Corvallis, and continued freighting from Corvallis to and from Fort Ben- ton and also established a general merchandise store. His was one of the first log buildings con- structed in the Bitter Root Valley. A man of great enterprise, he also helped develop the farming and cattle ranching interests of the valley, his chief partner being his father-in-law, Jacob Shirell. They ranged their cattle in the Bitter Root Valley and the Milk River country, and also south and east of the Great Falls locality. At that time the near- est accessible point to a railroad was at Cheyenne, Wyoming. Their market beef was driven overland to Cheyenne, thence shipped by cars to Chicago. The last shipment by way of Cheyenne was made in 1879. The Groffs had their share of experience with the outlaws and cattle thieves of the day. At one time Joseph Groff and Scott Shirell soon after leaving their ranch headquarters observed three distinct flashes of fire, and soon afterward the appearance of a gang of cattle thieves who tried to stampede the herd. A sharp engagement en- sued, and before the fire of the resolute and deter- mined cattle men the thieves withdrew. Joseph Groff was one of the volunteer participants in the campaign against the Indians which culminated in the historic battle of Big Hole in 1876. However, he was detailed to lead the command and look after the safety of his family, taking his wife and three children to old Fort Owens. He witnessed the hanging of the noted horse thief Pete Matt at Stevensville in 1878. Joseph Groff continued in the general merchandise and stock business in the Bit- ter Root Valley until 1882. His wife, who was born in Cooke County, Tennessee, died in 1882, a few weeks after the birth of her youngest child, Lawrence. There were five other children, three sons and two daughters, and four are still living. After the death of his wife, Joseph Groff took his family overland to Fort Benton, there boarded a steamboat and went down the Missouri River to Yankton, Dakota territory and thence by railroad to Versailles, Missouri. He lived in Missouri the rest of his life and died in September, 1909. He had become a member of the Masonic Order at Stockton, Missouri, at the age of twenty-one.

Lawrence S. Groff was a very small infant when his father returned to Missouri. He received his education in High Point, Missouri, but while still a boy came back to Montana and at Hamilton found employment in the famous racing stables of Marcus Daly. He was there from 1896 to 1897, and during 1898 was a messenger boy at the Daly home, and then became coachman for the Daly establishment in the Bitter Root Valley. In 1899 he went with the racing stable of the late Senator Stanford at Palo Alto, California, and in the spring of 1900 was given the responsibility of taking Senator Stan- ford's string of famous horses to Hartford, Con- necticut, where the stock was sold.

Mr. Groff's next engagement was formed at New York City, where for a year he was with the New York Cuba Company. In 1902 he joined the Mer- chant Marine and in the next two or three years he traveled to nearly all parts of the civilized world.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

His ship touched at such famous points in world geography as Gibraltar, Liverpool, London, Shet- land Islands, Glasgow, Copenhagen, through the straits and seas of the north to Christiania, Nor- way, Kronstadt, Russia, the modern Petrograd, and while at Kiel, Germany, his ship, which was one of the few that had survived a recent storm, was anchored near Emporer William's yacht. He went through the Kiel canal of sixty miles into the North Sea, landed at the English harbor of so much inter- est to Americans, Plymouth, and from there cleared for Madeira, where the ship took on a load of wine, sailing for the Canary Islands and finally unloaded its cargo at Saint Thomas. Here they took on a cargo of rum for Trinidad and Port Au Spain. While there, by permission, Mr. Groff visited the famous leper colony of 400 people, thence back to Kingston, Jamaica, where a cargo of Panama hats and other supplies was taken on, and they sailed to San Domingo, Haiti, San Pierre, Havana, Cuba, where they reloaded with tobacco and cigars for New Orleans. At New Orleans Mr. Groff signed papers with the Pacific Steamship Company, and went with a cargo of machinery to South America, to Rio de Janeiro, and from there a cargo of fruit was taken back to New Orleans. After leaving the Merchant Marine Mr. Groff took a steamship to New York City, reaching there in May, 1904, after having traveled over twenty-four thousand miles. He finally returned to Montana in September, 1904, and soon afterward entered the train service of the Northern Pacific Railway at Missoula. The next stage in his adventurous career came in May, 1907, when he went to the great Bonanza gold district at Gold field, Nevada, remaining there prospecting and mining until 1908. He then resumed railroading, was conductor with the Great Northern at Havre, Montana, and in June, 1911, became yardmaster for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul. After about a year he went to Mexico City and was a conductor with the Mexican Central Railway from 1912 until the spring of 1913.

Mr. Groff was appointed a deputy United States marshal on May 10, 1915, serving until the spring of 1917. Then, about the time America entered the war with Germany, he was appointed to the United States secret service as a special agent, under the direction of Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo. The district to which he was assigned included Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and part of the state of Washington. Mr. Groff in 1918 re- turned to Montana and resumed his duties as deputy United States marshal for the district of Montana.

Less than forty years of age, Mr. Groff has lived on terms of intimacy with many of the great capi- talists and business men of America, and has tasted the joys of experience and adventure in all parts of the world. He is an esteemed member of Hell- gate Lodge No. 383 of the Elks at Missoula, Morn- ing Star Lodge No. 5, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Helena, the Scottish Rite Consistory No. 3 and Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine.

OLIVER V. MCINTIRE, while a resident of Mon- tana only a few years, has given conspicuous evi- dence of his initiative and business enterprise by establishing and building up. one of the largest mercantile houses in the western part of the state. He is head of the Pablo Mercantile Company at Pablo.

Mr. McIntire was born at Oakland, Illinois, Sep- tember 23, 1888, and inherits at least a part of his commercial genius. His grandfather, Oliver Mc- Intire, was a native of Ireland and an early settler in southern Indiana. A man of liberal means but

of even more decided enterprise, he was associated with the establishment of a number of business con- cerns and of two towns in southern Indiana. He spent the rest of his life in that state. John Ed- ward McIntire, father of the Pablo merchant, was born in Illinois in 1859, and, is now living at Terre Haute, Indiana. He was reared and married in Illinois, and for many years his home was at Oak- land, where he was a real estate operator. His keen judgment made him one of the first to open the great Illinois oil field west and southwest of Terre Haute, Indiana, at one time one of the rich- est and most productive oil districts in the Middle West. He has been an oil operator for many years, was very successful in that line, and now has ex- tensive interests in the wonderful new oil districts of Texas. He is a republican, a Presbyterian and a member of the Knights of Pythias. John Edward McIntire married Elsie Ellen, who was born at Oakland, Illinois, in 1859, and died at Terre Haute in 1917. Their family consisted of the following children: Jeannette, wife of B. C. Kirsch, a rail- road man at Terre Haute; Dada E., wife of E. R. Rowan also a railroad man, living at Pablo, Mon- tana; Ada, unmarried, who for the past fifteen years has been connected with Terre Haute's leading de- partment store, the A. Herze Mercantile Company ; Oliver V .; Edward B., who is clerk in a clothing store at Terre Haute, enlisted in 1917, and spent about a year overseas and at the signing of the armistice was at the front in the Motor Truck Division being mustered out in 1919, with the grade of sergeant; and Wanda Alice, wife of Maurice Hewitt, who is son of one of the largest coal oper- ators in Indiana, Maurice being a stockholder and interested in an automobile supply firm at Terre Haute.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 147

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