Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 154

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

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HERMAN STRASBURGER, city treasurer of Butte, has had many interesting associations with the life and affairs of Montana, including the fact that he was born in the old mining town of Virginia City nearly fifty years ago.

Mr. Strasburger is a son of Isadore Strasburger, who was born near Warsaw, Russia, in 1838. The Strasburgers were long a noted family in Warsaw, and some of them were scientists of distinction and were associated with the management of the famous Botanical Institute, one of the distinguishing fea- tures of the old capital of Poland. Isadore Stras- burger came to the United States in 1854. From New York City he went to Ohio, then to Kentucky, to Missouri, and in 1859 arrived on the site of the present city of Denver. He was a merchant and dealer, and his business for many years identified him with pioneer mining communities. From Colo- rado he returned to the East for a time, and in May, 1863, was one of the early arrivals at Ban- nock, while on the 6th of June of the same year he located at Virginia City, and in that crude and rough mining center opened a stock of merchandise under a tent. He remained active as a merchant at Virginia City for twenty years, and eventually owned a large and flourishing establishment. In 1883 he transferred his mercantile enterprise to Bozeman and in 1885 to Butte. In the beginning he sold dry goods, but for the last fifteen years of his career was a furniture dealer. He died at Butte in 1904, and is well remembered as one of Mon- tana's real pioneers and a distinctly useful and public spirited citizen. He was a republican voter and in

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

1866 he became affiliated with Virginia City Lodge No. 2, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. The wife of Isadore Strasburger was Rachel Cohen, who was born at New Orleans in 1850 and died at Butte in June, 1908. They had a family of five children : Nettie, a teacher of music at Dulnth, Min- nesota; Eva, wife of A. W. Lignell, a Duluth archi- tect ; Herman; Edgar J., city engineer and commis- sioner of public works at Butte; and Rod E., a mining man at Butte.

Herman Strasburger was born September 6, 1871, and spent his early life at Virginia City. His edu- cation was acquired in the schools of Virginia City, Bozeman, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and at the high school in Butte. He also attended Deer Lodge College. Mr. Strasburger inherits from his an- cestors a love of study, and has mastered many branches of knowledge. For several years under private tutors he specialized in bookkeeping, the German and French languages, and mining engineer- ing, and for eighteen months was a student of law.

Meanwhile, at the age of seventeen, he put forth his efforts in practical business. He was first em- ployed in a clothing store at Butte, and became man- ager of the M. P. Sipnle Clothing Company. He next took charge of the W. W. Wishon men's fur- nishing establishment for one year, and for six months was bookkeeper for Dave Goldberg, a rail- road broker and commission agent. Leaving Mon- tana he took charge of a large mercantile estab- lishment in Park City, Utah, and wound up its af- fairs during the next year. On returning to Butte he was associated with his father in the furniture business until 1899 four years of which were spent at the bench as a cabinet maker, after which he spent a year as bookkeeper with the Boston-Montana Mining Company, and the following two years as manager of the McRae Strasburger Harness Com- pany. Mr. Strasburger has helped originate and manage several distinctive enterprises in Butte com- mercial district. In 1901 he organized the Safety Fuse Ignition Company, manufacturers, and had ac- tive charge of the plant for three years. In 1904, for a year he had charge of the Pipestone Hot Springs, and then under Pat Boland had the chief responsibility of the county assessor's office. After that he engaged in mining at Bear Gulch in Madi- son County, and was also managing director of the Empire Exploration Company. After an interval of a year, during which he was recovering from an in- jury received in a railroad accident, Mr. Stras- burger again took charge of the Pipestone Springs, and continued their management until the fall of IgII. He then located on a ranch he had previously bonght nine miles north of Whitehall, on the White Tail Creek, and employed his time buying and sell- ing cattle until April. 1013, when he sold his ranch and cattle. For the sake of his wife's health Mr. Strasburger then spent three months in Los Angeles and three months at Prescott, Arizona. On his re- turn to Montana he was engaged in contracting and building at Whitehall for a year and then became secretary of the first commercial organization of Whitehall. From there he returned to Butte, and was secretary and general manager of the Monarch Sales Company, underwriters, and also secretary and treasurer and part owner of the Mountaineer Welding Company. From 1916 until the fall of 1918 he was manager of the Vignoles-Rail Chair Company. Mr. Strasburger was elected city treasurer in the spring of 1919, but he still has many im- portant business responsibilities.

He is secretary-treasurer of the Beaty's Sporting Goods Company; secretary-treasurer of the Butte Copper Links Company ; secretary and managing di- rector of the Empire Exploration Company; is also

active in the management of the Vignoles-Rail Chair Company; and is president of the West Butte Min- ing Company.

Mr. Strasburger is a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. He joined the Masonic order at Whitehall and is now affiliated with Summit Valley Lodge, Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons, at Butte, and is a member of the Silver Bow Club. He resides at the Touraine Apart- ments, 226 West Silver Street.

In 1906 he married Miss Carrie Lou Lindley, daughter of Charles D. and Catherine (Fitzhugh) Lindley.

G. W. CRAVEN is an electrical engineer of twenty- two years' experience, and for the past fifteen years has divided his services between his duties with the Montana Power Company of Butte and as professor and vice president of the Montana State School of Mines.

Mr. Craven was born at Helena, Montana, April I, 1871, being one of the older native sons of Mon- tana. His father was the late Rev. R. M. Craven, a Montana pioneer of revered memory. R. M. Craven was born at Walterboro, South Carolina, in 1841, son of James Craven, and descended from the Scotch Cravens who were colonial settlers in the Carolinas. James Craven spent his life in Sonth Carolina as a farmer and married a native of the State of Maine and of colonial New England stock. R. M. Craven grew up in his native state, and served as a Confederate soldier with the Second Volunteer Regiment of South Carolina throughout the war period. He also entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and it was as a missionary that he came to Montana, arriving in the Prickly Pear Valley on June 28, 1868. It was his distinction to be the first ordained minister of that church in Montana, and he carried the message of the Gospel and performed the services of his office all over the territory. He was an enthusiastic Montanan, believed in its great possibilities and resources, and was greatly beloved by all classes of citizens. For many years he was called upon to preach memorial services not only for the Con- federate dead but also for deceased Union soldiers. For over fifty years he was member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and in politics a democrat. He died at Columbia Falls in June, 1919. His wife was Mary E. Frazier, who was born in Ohio in 1843, and is still living in Prickly Pear Valley and Lewis and Clark County. G. W. Craven is the oldest of her three children. Ina E. is prin- cipal of the Pingree School at Ogden, Utah. W. S. Craven, a resident of Utah, connected with the State Highway Commission, enlisted in 1917 and as cap- tain of the Twenty-third Engineers spent eleven months overseas. He received his honorable dis- charge at Camp Lewis in July, 1919, with the rank of major in the reserve corps of United States Engineers.

G. W. Craven acquired his early education in the schools of Bozeman, graduating from its high school in 1892. During one year he was a student in the Chauncey Hall Preparatory School at Boston, and for five years was a student of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of Boston. He graduated with the degree Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in June, 1898, having given additional time to mechanical engineering. Returning to Mon- tana, he joined the technical staff of the Boston- Montana Consolidated Silver Mining Company at Great Falls, and that corporation immediately sent him to Salt Lake City on construction work for the Highland Boy Company's smelter at Murray, Utah. In 1899 he was transferred to Butte, and continued

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with the Boston-Montana Company until 1905, hav- ing in the meantime been promoted to chief en- gineer of construction. He resigned to become iden- tified in 1905 with what is now the Montana Power Company of Butte, and in the same fall accepted additional responsibilities as professor of mathe- matics and mechanics in the Montana State School of Mines. He still continues his work as consulting engineer for the Montana Power Company. As vice president of the Montana State School of Mines he has offices in the Administration Building. Mr. Craven is owner of a modern garage at 215 Sonth Main Street and has a residence with every im- provement and equipment at 951 Caledonia Street.

He is a member of the Montana Society of En- gineers, and the National Association of Stationary Engineers, and also holds first class license from State of Montana. Since early youth he has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In Masonry he is past master of Mount Moriah Lodge No. 24, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, past high priest of Deer Lodge Chapter No. 3, Royal Arch Masons, past commander of Montana Commandery No. 3 Knights Templar, and a member of Bagdad Temple of the Mystic Shrine.

June 30, 1903, at Butte he married Miss Marthell Arnold daughter of William H. and Susan ( Mc- Ginley) Arnold, the latter now deceased. Her father is a resident of Butte, a retired merchant tailor, and for many years incumbent of the office of justice of the peace. Mrs. Craven is a graduate of the Butte High School. To their marriage were born : Dorothy, on May 1, 1904, and Eleanor, on August 7, 1907.

FRANK A: CRASE. The local demands of a city as large as Butte are very heavy and of sufficient importance to engross the attention of some of the most energetic of the business men of the state. Each line has its own representatives, and all of them are kept busy meeting the requirements and solving the problems now more than ever com- plicated, especially in the coal trade. The local consumption of this commodity is immense, and daily increasing with the speeding up of the various industries located in Silver Bow County, combined with the needs of individual consumers, and one of the largest retail concerns in the coal business here is the West Side Coal Company, of whom Frank A. Crase is president and treasurer, the remainder of the stock and offices being in the hands of his wife and daughter.

Frank A. Crase was born at Rockland, Ontonagon County, Michigan, on July 2, 1867, a son of William Crase. The birth of William Crase took place in Cornwall, England, on the estate of Lord Bassett, his father, grandfather of Frank A. Crase, being head gardener of the Bassett estate. He was born and spent his entire life in Cornwall, England. William Crase came into the world in 1833, and he left it in 1912, passing away at Calumet, Michigan.

When he was eighteen years old William Crase came to the United States, leaving Cornwall, Eng- land, where he had been reared and educated, ac- companied by his bride, and they settled at Copper Harbor, Michigan, where the youthful husband car- ried on copper mining for a time, but later pros- pected for copper in the iron regions of Michi- gan Still later he went to Rockland, Michigan, and was there engaged in mining until 1878, when he moved to Keweenaw County, Michigan, and until 1882 was engaged in mining at the old Central Mine. For the next three years he was engaged in mining in Marquette County and Ishpeming, Michigan, but in 1885 he returned to Keweenaw County and was made foreman on the surface for the Copper Falls

Mining Company, which position he held for three years. Once more he returned to the old Central Mine, but left it in 1803, when he moved to Calumet, Michigan, where he lived in honorable and well- earned retirement until his death. He was one of the pioneer miners of Michigan, and experienced many hardships incident to the time and locality. At one time Mr. Crase crossed Lake Gogebic with Capt. James Dunston and his wife, the latter being the first white woman who ever made the crossing. They were prospecting for copper, and she accom- panied her husband on the journey into the wilder- ness. From the time he cast his first vote William Crase was a republican, and he never swerved from his adherence to the principles of that party. The Methodist Episcopal Church held his membership, and benefited from his efforts in its behalf. His wife bore the maiden name of Caroline Richards, and she was born in England in 1832. Her death occurred at Ishpeming, Michigan, in 1882. She and her husband had the following children born to them: Silena, who is deceased; William T., who is also deceased; Caroline, who married Alexander Collins, yard foreman for the West Side Coal Com- pany, and they reside at No. 1233 West Copper Street, Butte; Richard H., who is deceased; James J., who lives in Houghton County, Michigan, is a stationary engineer; Edward Charles, who is solici- tor for the West Side Coal Company, lives at No. 605 West Silver Street, Butte; Frank A., whose name heads this review; Minnie and George A., both of whom are deceased.

Frank A. Crase attended the public schools of Michigan, and received the equivalent of a high school course. He left school when fifteen years of age, having been very quick at his lessons, and began to be self-supporting as a caretaker of ma- chinerv in the mines of Keweenaw County, Michi- gan. In that connection he learned the machinist trade and worked at the old Central Mine until 1894, but in that year left Michigan and arrived at Butte, Montana, on August 17th, and until 1905 was occupied working at his trade.

During the period he was working as a machinist he was making a wide acquaintance and gaining a knowledge of conditions with the view of going into business for himself, so that when he founded the firm of Gillis & Crase he was at once able to control an excellent trade, and one which justified the in- corporation of the business in 1907, when it became the West Side Coal Company. The yards and of- fices are located at No. 520 North Excelsior Avenue. Mr. Crase is president and treasurer of the com- pany; Edith Crase, who is Mrs. Crase, is the vice president ; while Ethel Crase, their daughter, is the secretary. This company owns and operates one of the largest retail coal yards in the State of Montana. In addition to his other interests Mr. Crase owns a comfortable modern residence at No. 521 North Excelsior Avenue. In politics he is a republican. Having been brought up in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he early connected himself with it. and has remained a faithful member ever since. He belongs to the Silver Bow Club of Butte.

In 1894 Mr. Crase was married at Calumet, Michi- gan, to Miss Edith T. Robert, a daughter of John F. and Henrietta (Brunn) Robert the former being a direct descendant of Colonel Robert who served in the American Revolution, and was married to a sister of LaFayette. John F. Robert was superin- tendent of a mine in Michigan, but later came to Butte, Montana, and at the time of his death in 1909 was secretary of a mining company of this city. Mrs. Robert died on January 4, 1920.

Mr. and Mrs. Crase became the parents of the fol-

4 % O'Connor

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lowing children: Ethel, who is secretary of the West Side Coal Company, attended the Montana College at Deer Lodge, Montana; and Frederick Robert, who is attending the Butte High School. Mr. Crase is an excellent type of the self-reliant man who has made his own way in life. While he has been forging ahead, overcoming obstacles and laying the foundations for his present flourish- ing business, he has not neglected other things, but has always taken a sincere and dependable interest in civic matters as a private citizen, and has cheer- fully and effectively given his support to those meas- ures and movements which in his estimation would prove beneficial to the majority.

THOMAS F. O'CONNOR. The career of Thomas F. O'Connor, of Great Falls, is too well known to the readers of this work to need any formal introduc- tion here, for he has been prominently identified with the business life of the community for nearly a decade. He enjoys distinct prestige here, his prac- tical intelligence, mature judgment and sound busi- ness sense winning for him the confidence and good will of all with whom he has come in contact.

Thomas F. O'Connor, who successfully conducts well-ordered undertaking parlors at 701 Central Avenue, Great Falls, was born in Ralls County, Missouri, on January 3, 1869, the seventh in order of birth of the nine children born to Thomas and Mary (Flanagan) O'Connor. Thomas O'Connor was born in County Cork, Ireland, and his death occurred in 1904, at the age of seventy-eight years. In young manhood he came to the United States, the trip being made in one of the typical slow-going sailing ships of that day. His first permanent location was in Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania, where he became a stone cut- ter and contractor, which business he carried on there for some years. Subsequently he located in Ralls County, Missouri, where he engaged in farm- ing and stock raising, in which he was fairly suc- cessful. There he spent his remaining years and died. Though he took an intelligent interest in all public events, he never cared for public office. He was a democrat in his political views, and in religion he was.a communicant of the Roman Catholic Church His wife was born in County Louth, Ireland, and came to the United States in a sailing ship when eighteen years of age. She located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she met and married Thomas O'Connor. She is now living in Great Falls, at the ripe old age of ninety-one years.

Thomas F. O'Connor spent his boyhood days on the paternal farmstead up to 1898, when he took the course in the Barnes Embalming School, Chicago, where he was graduated in 1899. His first location was at Butte, Montana, in 1900, where he was as- sociated with E. H. Sherman in the undertaking business for about two years. Then for about five years Mr. O'Connor was engaged in stock raising, following which he located in Townsend, Broadwater County, and there conducted a successful undertak- ing business up to June, 19II, when, desiring a larger field for business, he came to Great Falls and has since been engaged as a funeral director here. His offices on Central Avenue are well arranged for funeral parties when desired, and every facility is afforded for the comfort and accommodation of patrons. Since locating in Great Falls Mr. O'Con- nor has received his full share of patronage. Be- cause of .his courteous ways and sound common sense exercised in performing the exacting duties devolving upon him he enjoys the esteem and con- fidence of all who have had dealings with him.

On October 22, 1892, Mr. O'Connor was married to Catherine Leake, who was born in Ralls County,

Missouri, and they are the parents of two children. William, the first born, who is now twenty-five years of age, enlisted in September, 1917, in the U. S. Army, and in July, 1918, he was sent overseas. His first service was in France, and then stationed at Cologne, Germany, having seen service in prac- tically all the front lines. The other child is Mar- garet I.

Politically Mr. O'Connor gives his support to the democratic party, and his religious faith is that of the Roman Catholic Church. Fraternally he is a member of Great Falls Lodge No. 214, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Loyal Order of Moose and the Knights of Columbus. He is also a mem- ber of the Montana Funeral Directors' Association. Personally Mr. O'Connor is a man of pleasing and attractive address and is a popular member of the social circles in which he moves.

REV. CHARLES FREDERICK CHAPMAN, rector of Saint John's Episcopal Church of Butte, is recog- nized as one of the scholarly men of his profes- sion and through his efficiency and genuine sin- cerity he has not only been able to develop his parish and expand the scope of its influence, but also has been instrumental in bringing about some much needed reforms in civic affairs. He was born at Piedmont, West Virginia, on April 17, 1872, a son of Dr. Ephraim Chapman, grandson of Edwin Chap- man, and great-grandson of William Chapman.

William Chapman was possessed by the same spirit of adventure which animated Daniel Boone, and followed the latter Indian fighter and fron- tieersman into Kentucky from his native State of Vermont. Still later he went into what was then a part of the Northwest Territory, but is now the State of Ohio, and there he acquired land and be- came one of the pioneer farmers of Jackson County. His son, Edwin Chapman, was born in Ohio, where he was married and where he lived for a number of years. The pioneer instinct of his father lived again in him, however, and he finally left Ohio for Missouri, acquired land and was engaged in de- veloping it when he was stricken with typhoid fever. His wife came down with the same disease, and both died before the birth of Charles Frederick Chapman. In politics Edwin Chapman was a whig.

Dr. Ephraim Chapman was born on a farm in .Jackson County, Ohio, in 1838, and died at Keyser, West Virginia, on March 25, 1882. Growing up in his native county he was engaged in teaching his district schools for some years after reaching his majority. At the death of his father he was ap- pointed administrator of his estate and after he had settled it he and his wife moved to Cumber- land, Maryland, where he embarked in a mercantile business. All his life he had been ambitious, desir- ing to become a professional man, and while at Cumberland found opportunity to realize his hopes and studied medicine with Dr. J. M. McCormick. Later he attended Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Washington Medical College of Baltimore, Maryland, from which he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Following his graduation Doctor Chapman located at Piedmont, West Virginia, which was a division point of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. When this division point was moved to Keyser, West Virginia, the greater number of the inhabitants of Piedmont flocked to the new place, Doctor Chapman going with them, and there he rounded out his practice, although death claimed him in the prime of life. Inheriting his father's political convictions, it was

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but natural that he became a republican. Both as a Mason and an Episcopalian Doctor Chapman lived up to the highest ideals of manhood.

Doctor Chapman was married to Julia Russell, born in 1839 at West Liberty, a suburb of Wheeling, West Virginia. She survives her husband and makes her home at Delaware, Ohio. Doctor and Mrs. Chapman became the parents of the following children : Elizabeth May, who lives with her mother ; Charles Frederick, who was second in order of birth; John Percy, who is a merchant of Delaware, Ohio, lives with his mother; and Lela Pearl, who is assistant librarian in the University at Delaware, Ohio, also resides with her mother.

After the death of Doctor Chapman, Mrs. Chap- man went with her four children to live in the home of her father, John Russell, at Berlin, Pennsylvania. For the six years the family lived there Charles Frederick Chapman studied so as to prepare him- self for a collegiate course, and when he was ready for it, removal was made to Delaware, Ohio, and he matriculated in the university there and was graduated therefrom in June, 1895, with the degree of Bachelor of Art. In the fall of 1895 he entered Bexley Hall Theological Seminary of Kenyon Col- lege at Gambier, Ohio, from which he was graduated in June, 1898, with the degree of Bachelor of Divinity. That same year he was ordained a deacon of the Episcopal Church and the year following was ordained to the priesthood. In the fall of 1898 he was in city missionary work at Cincinnati, Ohio, and continued in that field until May I, 1902, when he came west to Central City, Nebraska, and took charge of Christ Episcopal Church of that city. In the fall of 1906 he was placed in charge of the Church of Our Saviour at North Platte, Nebraska, and remained there until August 24, 1913, when he came to Butte, and since then has been rector of Saint John's Episcopal Church.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 154

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