Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 149

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 149

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).

In politics he is a republican and in religion is a member of the Presbyterian Church. He is also affiliated with Mystic Tie Lodge of Masons at Whitehall. In 1916, at Seattle, he married Miss Effie Cordz, a daughter of S. A. and Sadie Cordz, residents of Seattle. Her father is a retired busi- ness man. Mrs. Maclaren is a graduate of the University of Washington, and holds the degree Master of Chemistry. To their marriage were born two children : Jean, born April 2, 1917, and Donald, born March 27, 1919.

HARVEY D. FISHER has been a resident of Mon- tana for over thirty years and was one of the early iron workers to establish in that business at Mis- soula. For a period he was also a practical farmer and rancher, and in later years has developed a large and important real estate, loans and insur- ance business at Missoula.

Mr. Fisher was born at Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio, July 26, 1862. His parents were both na- tives of Germany. Philip Fisher, who was born in Darmstadt, Germany, in 1825, came to the United States in 1842 and spent his life at Wooster, Ohio, where he was a business man, farmer and property owner. He died at Wooster in 1892. Politically he expressed his convictions as a republican. His wife was Anna M. Stevens, who died at Wooster at the age of seventy-six. Their children were all born in Wayne County, Ohio: Charles A., deceased; Mary, deceased ; Amelia, of Toledo, widow of Dan A. Brown, who was a meat packer; Henrietta, of Toledo, widow of Joseph Prentice, a prominent man in financial affairs; Josephine, of Chicago, widow of Lee LaRue, who was a cattle buyer for Armour & Company; Edward S., of Mansfield, Ohio, traveling representative for the Mansfield Machine Works; Flora, of Stevensville, Montana, widow of George W. Dickinson, who was a settler in Ravalli County in the early eighties, and a pioneer farmer ; Frank, who died in childhood: Ida L., unmarried and living at Wooster, Ohio; George A. and James P., monumental granite and marble cutters at

Wooster; Emma T., of Chicago, widow of John Healey, an attorney; George A. Fisher, for the last ten years has served as mayor of Wooster.

Harvey D. Fisher is a graduate of the public schools of Wooster, Ohio. He left school at the age of sixteen and for three years served an appren- ticeship at the iron moulders' trade with the firm B. Barrett & Sons at Wooster. As a journeyman he worked in various factories and shops at Mount Vernon, Mansfield and Canton, Ohio, and in 1889 came to Montana and established the Missoula Iron Works. This was one of the earliest indus- tries of its kind in the town and he conducted it until 1894.

Mr. Fisher next chose the vocation of farming. He bought a farm near Stevensville in the Bitter Root Valley and lived there and handled his acreage until 1906. In that year he returned to Missoula to open an office and engage in real estate, insur- ance and loans. He has a large personal and business acquaintance over western Montana, and has developed a very prosperous business. His offices are at 113 East Main Street, while his mod- ern home is at 320 South Fourth Street, West. Besides his residence he owns several other dwell- ings and considerable real estate in Missoula, and has a ranch of 200 acres in the Jocko Valley in Missonla County. He is a republican voter and a member of the Chamber of Commerce at Missoula.

December 25, 1894, at Stevensville, he married Miss Mary E. Julian, daughter of Benjamin F. and Hattie (Copening) Julian. Her mother now lives at Victor, Montana, and her father, who died at Missoula, was an early farmer in this state. Mr. and Mrs. Fisher have two children: Ada E., wife of Elden Torr, an automobile dealer at Missoula; and Ethlyn M., born in 1902, and is a student in the Missoula County High School.

ELMER JOHNSON came to Montana about six years ago, a young and well recommended stranger, and organized and has since been cashier of what is now the First National Bank of Stevensville.

Mr. Johnson, who has acquired and has been given many other interests and responsibilities in that com- munity, was born at Worthington, Minnesota, Nov- ember 10, 1884. His father, August Johnson, born in Sweden in 1859, came to this country when a young man, was married at Worthington, Minnesota, and followed farming for some years. For ten years he was a section foreman on the Burlington Railroad, with home at Round Lake, Minnesota. He conducted a meat market at Kimbrae and Dundee, Minnesota, until I911, and since that year has been a resident of Montana. He took a homestead of three hundred twenty acres at Chester, and was actively engaged in raising stock and now owns four hundred eighty acres there. He is a republican, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is affili- ated with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. August John- son married Anna Christina Hanson, who was born in Sweden in 1864. They had four children : Elmer ; Adelia, a milliner at Bremerton, Washington; Lil- lian, who died at the age of twelve years; and a son that died in infancy.

Elmer Johnson was educated in the public schools of Round Lake and Kimbrae, Minnesota, spent one year in the preparatory school at McAllister College at St. Paul, and in 1902 graduated from the Worth- ington High School. His experience in bank work and management has been continuous since he left school. He was bookkeeper with the State Bank of Dundee, and from that post was promoted to cashier. He continued with the Dundee State Bank until

530

HISTORY OF MONTANA

1913, when he came to Stevensville, Montana, and with associates organized the Farmers State Bank. In 1915 a new charter was taken out as the First National Bank. Mr. Johnson has been cashier and practically the manager of the bank since 1913. M. E. Wooster, of Stevensville, is president and J. G. Howe, of Stevensville, is vice president.

Mr. Johnson is also treasurer and director of the Farmers' Co-operative Association of Stevensville and is part owner of the Stevensville Drug Com- pany. During the war he was county food admin- istrator, and was also chairman of the local Liberty Loan committee, and gave Stevensville an enviable record in oversubscription to those loans. He is clerk of the School Board, is a republican in politics, is a trustee of the Presbyterian Church and affiliated with Garden Valley Lodge No. 14, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Stevensville, and Dundee Camp, Modern Woodmen of America. Besides his modern home on Pine street Mr. Johnson owns a farm near Stevensville of a hundred and sixty acres.

He married in 1910, at Owatonna, Minnesota, Miss Lydia C. Sahler, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William J. Sahler, the latter now deceased. Her father is a retired farmer living at Owatonna. Mrs. Johnson is a graduate of the Owatonna High School. They have two children, Lillian, born June 15, 1911, and Maurice, born October 3, 1912.

EDWARD CASON DAY has been United States dis- trict attorney for Montana since his appointment in October, 1918, by President Wilson. The vigor and efficiency with which he has handled this office reenforce and give permanency to the reputation he has long enjoyed as one of Montana's foremost law- yers and public men.

Mr. Day, who came to Montana a year after the state was admitted to the Union, had practiced law and had served as a legal editor for six years. He was born in Harrison County, Kentucky, March 20, 1862, son of Alfred and Mary Frances (Cason) Day. Both the Day and Cason families came from England and established their homes in Virginia during the seventeenth century. Alfred Day and wife were both born in Harrison County, Kentucky. His father and grandfather both bore the name of Lewis, and the Days migrated from Virginia to Kentucky in 1782. Lewis, Jr., married Miss Hawk- ins, who died of the cholera in the '40s. The mater- nal grandfather of the district attorney was Edward Cason, who also bore an honored name in the early affairs of Kentucky. Alfred Day for many years was a farmer and served several terms on the county board of magistrates in Harrison County. He died at Cynthiana in that county in 1912.

Edward Cason Day, one of three children, ac- quired his early education in the graded city school of Cynthiana, graduating from high school in 1878. He completed his literary education in Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Virginia, receiving his A. B. degree in 1880 and three years later his degree in law. He studied law in Kentucky under the direction of Judge Quincey Ward, who later be- came a justice of the Kentucky Superior Court. He was admitted to the Harrison County Bar in 1882 and in 1884 was admitted to the bar of Ohio and practiced at Cincinnati until 1887. From 1887 to 1890 Mr. Day lived at St. Paul, Minnesota, where he was connected with the editorial board of the well known firm of law publishers, the West Publishing Company, having charge of editing the law reports issued by that company. That was an experience of inestimable value and gave him a knowledge of legal decisions and the vital principles of law such as 110 attorney ever secures through his individual practice.

Mr. Day identified himself with the Montana bar

in 1890, and for the first six years lived at Living- ston, and since 1896 has been a resident of Helena. At Livingston he practiced with Judge J. A. Savage and in Helena was successively a member of the firm Cullen, Day & Cullen, organized in January, 1897, Carpenter, Day & Carpenter, and now for many years past as senior member of the firm Day & Mapes.

While so much of his time has been taken up with the duties of public office, Mr. Day is one of the best grounded lawyers in the state, and has a master- ful knowledge of the law and its application and has won some of the hardest fought battles in the courts of the state. He is also a popular public speaker, and has interested himself in a broad program affecting educational, religious and general welfare movements. During the war Mr. Day served as state chairman of the Red Cross, Young Men's Christian Association and United War Work drives, was chairman of the State Speakers Bureau of the Council of Defense, and in these movements dis- tinguished himself as an organizer and executive. His first important political honor was an election to represent Lewis and Clark County in the Lower House of the Montana Legislature from 1898. How- ever in 1892, two years after coming to the state, he had been nominated on the democratic ticket for the office of attorney general. He was again elected to the Legislature in 1913 and 1915. Mr. Day is the present city attorney of Helena, for the term 1919-20, and had previously held that office from 1905 to 1907.

Mr. Day is one of the most prominent Masons in Montana. He served as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Masons in 1898, in 1909 as Grand High Priest of the Royal Arch Chapter of the state, in 1900 as Grand Commander of the Knight Templar Commandery, and in 1915 as Sovereign Grant In- spector General of the Scottish Rite, thirty-third de- gree. He is also a Past Potentate of Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine and has been president of the board of trustees of the Masonic Home of Montana since its creation in 1909. He is a Past Exalted Ruler of the Livingston Lodge of Elks. Mr. Day is a member of St. Peter's Episcopal Church at Helena, is Chancellor of the Diocese of Montana and has served as a member of the board of man- agers of St. Peter's Hospital. He has been one of the most prominent members of the Montana Club at Helena since its organization, and is a member of the Chi Phi college fraternity. He has also served as president of the Rotary Club and is a member of the state committee of the Young Men's Christian Association. Mr. Day is unmarried.

IRBY LAMBARD for a man of his years had a wide and varied commercial experience. He began his career as a bank employe, but on coming to Mon- tana worked on a ranch for a time, and by steady promotion has attained the post of manager of the Victor Commercial Company, the largest house en- gaged in general merchandise in and around Victor.

Mr. Lambard was born at Gainestown, Alabama, December 8, 1890. His ancestors were English and were colonial settlers in Maine. The grandfather, Jesse Lambard, was born at Augusta, Maine, and as a young man settled at Gainestown, Alabama. He was a skillful pilot on the Alabama River for sev- eral years. He died at Gainestown when the father of Irby Lambard was a child. His wife's maiden name was Mary White, a native Georgian. Their son, J. S. Lambard, was born at Gainestown, Ala- bama, in 1844, and spent all his life in that com- munity, where he died in August, 1918. As a youth- ful soldier he entered the Confederate army at the beginning of the war, and fought for the lost cause

Edward @ Day

531

HISTORY OF MONTANA

four years. Some of the battles in which he partici- pated were Gettysburg, Shiloh, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge and Fredericksburg. Several times he was taken prisoner, but managed to escape from his captors. Except for this period of soldier life he spent his career as a farmer and planter and was a very prominent leader in community and political affairs. He was a democrat, an active sup- porter of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a member of the Masonic fraternity. J. S. Lambard married Elizabeth Gilmer Smith, who was born at Petersburg, Virginia, in 1850. She is now living at Victor, Montana. A brief record of their children is: J. S., a real estate broker at Okmulgee, Okla- homa; Lela, wife of C. H. Warren, a real estate and insurance man at Cleveland, Texas; Irma, who died at Gainestown at the age of seventeen; Eliza- beth, a graduate of the State Normal College at Livingston, Alabama, a former teacher at Maubilla, Bonsecour and Mobile, Alabama, and now book- keeper for the Victor Commercial Company; Rich- ard E., proprietor of the home plantation at Gaines- town, Alabama; Flora, living with her brother Irby at Victor; William J., who is associated with his brother Richard in a general store business at Gainestown; and Irby.

Irby Lambard began his education at Gainestown, but from the second to the seventh grade was schooled at Mobile. He also attended the Mobile Military Institute three years. He began earning his own living at the age of fifteen by work in the City Bank & Trust Company, now the First National Bank of Mobile. He was with that institution six years, and during that time acquired a very thorough commercial and banking training. He rose to the position of general bookkeeper before he left. On coming to Montana in 1911 Mr. Lambard worked on a ranch at Darby for two and a half years. He then entered the Farmers State Bank at Victor as assist- ant cashier and was with that institution four years. He began with the Victor Commercial Company as bookkeeper, and since February 1, 1919, has had the responsibilities of its management. This business is a subsidiary branch of the Missoula Mercantile Com- pany. Practically all the people who make Victor a trading place do business in the large department store on Main street. Besides general merchandise the company also deals in hay and grain, owning a large elevator of fifty thousand bushels capacity.

Mr. Lambard is a democrat and affiliated with Victor Lodge No. 43, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. At Hamilton, Montana, February 15, 1914, he married Miss Hazel Waddell, daughter of John F. and Clara (Knowles) Waddell. Her parents are still living on a ranch near Darby, Montana, where they settled in 1883, being among the first comers in that locality. Mr. and Mrs. Lambard have two children, Massey S., born November 7, 1914, and Richard Irby, born Septem- ber 26, 1917.

ROY M. CORLEY has been postmaster of Stevens- ville since the beginning of the Wilson administra- tion. He is an old resident of the town, and has figured prominently in business and ranching activ- ities in that vicinity.

Mr. Corley was born at Corley, Iowa, October 12, 1882. His grandfather was a native of Dublin, Ire- land, born in 1813, and as a boy ran away from home and came to America. He spent many years of his life as a farmer in Illinois, and died near Joliet in that state in 1888. His son S. S. Corley was born at Joliet in 1845, and though very young at the time served four years as a Union soldier of the Civil war. After the war he and his brother John B. Corley moved to Iowa, and they founded

and named the town of Corley in that state. S. S. Corley was a successful farmer there for a number of years, and in 1883 moved to Dunlap, Iowa, where he was in business as a contractor and builder. In 1895 he brought his family to Montana and settled at Stevensville. Here in addition to farming and stock raising he did some contracting. He was an esteemed old timer of the community and his death in November, 1916, was widely regretted. Politically he was a democrat. S. S. Corley married Helen G. Franklin, who was born in New York State in 1857 and died at Stevensville, Montana, in April, 1904. She was the mother of seven children: Mabel, a resident of Stevensville, is the widow of Frank L. Bean, a young American soldier who lost his life in the Argonne battle in France in 1918; Mary, wife of Leonard Goodwin, county attorney of Ravalli county, residing at Hamilton; Roy M .; Martin J., a contractor and builder at Tacoma, Washington, as is also his brother Clyde C .; Ruth, wife of Dr. R. H. Hoskins, a physician and surgeon at Astoria, Ore- gon ; and James A., a stockman at Stevensville.

Roy M. Corley lived in Iowa until he was thir- teen years of age and acquired his early education in the public schools of Dunlap. He graduated from the high school of Stevensville in 1900 and spent one year in the Butte Business College. His first important business experience was in the purchasing department of the Anaconda Copper Mining Com- pany at Butte, where he remained one year, then for another year was in the stock business at Stev- ensville, spent a year in the cattle division of the stockyards at Omaha, Nebraska, and up to IgII was successfully engaged in the lumber business at Stev- ensville. In addition to his duties as postmaster, in which he is now serving his second term, by appoint- ment from President Wilson, Mr. Corley owns and operates a fine stock ranch of five hundred forty acres on the Burnt Fork Creek. He also owns a modern home at the corner of Second and Pine streets. He is a democrat in politics and is affiliated with Stevensville Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Hamilton Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and Stevensville Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows.

In 1909, at Missoula, he married Miss Berna C. Marks, daughter of S. S. and Adelaide (Hoke) Marks, residents of Stevensville. Her father is a justice of the peace and police magistrate. Mr. and Mrs. Corley have two children: Helen, born July 19, 19II, and Marion, born March 23, 1919.

H. C. GROFF has had a busy career in western Montana for thirty years. He was a school principal at several towns in the state, has been extensively engaged in farming and stock ranching for a num- ber of years, is a former state senator, and is also cashier of the Farmers State Bank at Victor.

Mr. Groff was born at Tillamook, Oregon, Janu- ary 4, 1869, and by virtue of birth belongs to the pioneer element of the northwest. His ancestors were Holland Dutch and pioneer settlers in Penn- sylvania. His grandfather, Thomas Groff, was born in Virginia, and was an early settler at Excelsior, Missouri, where he died in 1873. J. H. Groff, father of the Victor banker, was born at St. Louis, Mis- souri, in 1832. He possessed the thorough pioneer instincts and enterprise. For several years in his young life he was a merchant at Stockton, Missouri. During the Civil war he was on the Confederate side and was a soldier four years, being captain of a company. He participated in the battles of Pea Ridge and Wilson Creek and many other campaigns. In 1865, at the close of the war, he came to the northwest and established and operated one of the pioneer hotels at Boise, Idaho. In 1868 he moved to

532

HISTORY OF MONTANA

the Tillamook Valley of Oregon, where he engaged in farming. He became a Montanan in 1876 and established his home on a farm near Corvallis. In 1879 he returned to Missouri and spent the rest of his life on a farm at Iberia, where he died in 1912. He was a democrat and a very consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was also affiliated with the Masonic lodge. Captain Groff married Miss Matilda Sherrill, who was born in Tennessee in 1838 and died at Corvallis, Montana, in 1879. She was the mother of five children: Varina, wife of John Campbell, a farmer at Excel- sior, Missouri; Albert S., a stockman at Hamilton, Montana; H. C. Groff; E. F. Groff, a farmer near Victor; L. S. Groff, deputy United States Marshal at Butte.

H. C. Groff acquired part of his early education in the public schools of Corvallis, Montana. He was ten years old when his father returned to Missouri, and he attended school in that state, Mr. Groff for fourteen years was a teacher and school principal, most of his work being done in Corvallis, Grants- dale and Victor, Montana. In 1904, when he com- pleted his last school term, he began farming near Victor, and lived on his farm and gave his ranch interests his chief personal attention until 1910. He still owns two hundred and fifty acres in Ravalli County. This is irrigated land and consequently valuable and productive. Besides hay and grain he specializes in pure bred Shorthorn cattle. He is associated with his brothers under the firm name Groff Brothers, very extensively engaged in the live- stock industry.

The Farmers State Bank of Victor was organized in 1907, being opened for business on the first of April of that year. Since 1910 Mr. Groff has been cashier of this bank. H. J. St. John is president and John F. Wood, vice president. The bank has had a prosperous career. Its capital is twenty-five thou- sand dollars, surplus and profits of ten thousand dollars, and average deposits of two hundred and fifteen thousand dollars.

Mr. Groff was a representative in the State Legis- lature in 1909, and served as State senator from 19II to 1913. He is a democrat in political affiliations. He is a past master of Victor Lodge No. 43, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and member of Hamilton Chapter, Royal Arch Masons. Mr. Groff and family reside on their farm adjoin- ing Victor on the west. He married at Victor in 1902 Miss Julia Smith, daughter of William and Lottie (Tuxbury) Smith. Her mother resides at Victor .. Her father, now deceased, was an early farmer in this section of Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Groff have two children: Helen, born July 3, 1905, and Clayetta, born July 1, 1915.

WILLIAM PEARSON REYNOLDS, M. D. Soon after receiving his degree in medicine from the University at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Doctor Reynolds began his work in a Montana mining town. Most of his pro- fessional career for twenty years has been spent in the northwest. He is a physician and surgeon of prominence at Stevensville, and shares his practice with a talented wife, who is also a graduate physician from the same university as her husband.

Doctor Reynolds was born in Halifax County, Nova Scotia, June 17, 1868, of English ancestry. His father, John G. Reynolds, was born in Nova Scotia, in Halifax County, in 1834, and is still living there at the venerable age of eighty-five. His life has been spent in the quiet routine of farming. For many years he held the office of justice of the peace and other positions of local honor and responsibility. He was a member of the Canadian forces which put down the Fenian raid. John G. Reynolds married

Helen Athol, who was born in Halifax City in 1833 and died in the county of that name in 1910. She was the mother of four children: Francis, a farmer at Stewiacke, Nova Scotia; Wellwood, on the home farm with his father; Doctor William P .; and Mar- garet, a trained nurse living at home,

Doctor Reynolds attended rural high schools in his native county, graduated from the Halifax High School in 1887, and for four years was a teacher in Halifax and Colchester counties. As one step to- ward his professional career, Doctor Reynolds took the nurse's training course in the Massachusetts Gen- eral Hospital in Boston, and followed nursing as a profession to earn the money needed to complete his university course. He studied medicine in Dalhousie University at Halifax, graduating M. D., C. M. in 1900. Soon afterward he came to Montana and for eight years practiced at Aldridge, a prom- inent mining center. He then went back to Canada for two years, returned to Montana and practiced at the mining town of Aldridge for one year, next went to Lane, South Dakota, where he practiced five years, and in 1917 came to Stevensville, where he enjoys a large general medical practice, with home and offices at the corner of Main and Fourth streets. He is a member of the Northwestern Montana Medical Association and the American Medical As- sociation. Politically he is a republican, and is affi- liated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, being a trustee and also serving on the official board of the church. Fraternally he is a member of Livingston Lodge, Knights of Pythias.

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 149

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