Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 161

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 161

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J. L. Hartman received his early advantages in the public schools of Ohio, and after he was thirteen years of age attended school at Chanute, Kansas. He lived on his father's farm to the age of twenty-one, and on March 9, 1887, coming to Montana, located at Thompson Falls. The following year he was a brakeman with the Northern Pacific Railway. Leav- ing the railroad service he became a timber con- tractor, and for about twenty years most of his time was spent in the lumber districts of Western Montana. He then located on his ranch and began farming, which he continued until I911, when he sold most of his ranches. He now owns 160 acres

of valuable irrigated land on Trout Creek, and has much real estate, including a modern home at Thompson Falls, two dwelling houses in the same city and a dwelling at Plains. When he left his ranches in 1911 he retired to Plains, but not being satisfied to have no regular business he established a stage route from Plains to Camas and from Plains to Elmo. He sold that two years later, and in the fall of 1914 was elected sheriff of Sanders County. Mr. Hartman was re-elected in 1916 and 1918, and has given an administration of his office of which his friends are deservedly proud.

While living on his ranch Mr. Hartman also served on the School Board at Whitepine. He is a re- publican in politics, is affiliated with Ponemah Lodge No. 63, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Plains Lodge of Odd Fellows, and is a former mem- ber of the Modern Woodmen of America.

In 1886, at Fredonia, Kansas, he married Miss Ida Cowen, daughter of David and Caroline (Har- ney) Cowen. Her parents are now deceased. Her father was a farmer in Kansas and afterward in Missouri.

WILLIAM H. SHIPLEY for the past eleven years has been superintendent of public schools at Plains. He has spent the greater part of his active life as a teacher and school administrator but has also had a varied experience in business and other affairs.

Mr. Shipley was born at Boscobel, Wisconsin, April 27, 1875. He is of English ancestry, the Ship- ley family having first settled in the State of Dela- ware. His father, John T. Shipley, was born in Pennsylvania in 1849 and as a young man went to Branch County, Wisconsin, and is still living in that section of the Badger State. For over forty years he has been a leading merchant at Boscobel and is still active and looking after his business affairs every day. He has served as member of the town council many years and in politics is a democrat. John T. Shipley married in Grant County, Wisconsin, Mina Josephine Miles, who was born in Kansas in 1854. William H. is the oldest of their children. Cora is the wife of George W. Rice, a traveling salesman living at Onalaska, Wisconsin. Albert and John T., Jr., are both traveling salesmen and live at Madison, Wisconsin. Josephine is the wife of John R. Muffley, Jr., a printer at Rochester, Minnesota. Walter Evan, the youngest, is a busi- ness man of Madison.

William H. Shipley attended school at Boscobel, graduating from high school in 1894. He then ac- quired a year of experience teaching in rural schools of Crawford County, Wisconsin, and for two years was principal of the graded schools at Seneca, that county. For another two years he was principal of the Lynxville schools in Crawford County. Leav- ing school work, Mr. Shipley engaged in the mercan- tile business at Hurlbut in Crawford County, Wis- consin, but at the end of two years sold out and entered the State Normal College at Whitewater, Wisconsin, graduating in 1903. He did a year of post-graduate work in the University of Wisconsin, and from there came to Montana and took special studies in the Montana State College at Bozeman during 1906. During that year he was also principal of the Irving School at Bozeman. Mr. Shipley had charge of the department of physics and chemistry in the Gallatin County High School at Bozeman in 1907, and in 1908 came to Plains as superintend- ent of schools. The splendid school system of this town owes much of its advancement to the wise guidance of Mr. Shipley during the past eleven years. Plains has two school buildings, a staff of ten teachers, and an enrollment of 200 scholars. Mr. Shipley owns a modern home at Bozeman. He is

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a member of the State Teachers' Association, is past master of Ponemah Lodge No. 63, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and is a republican and be- longs to the Methodist Episcopal Church.

In 1897, at Boscobel, Wisconsin, he married Miss Katherine M. Roan, daughter of Martin W. and Mary (Fitch) Roan, both deceased. Her father was a farmer in Crawford County, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Shipley have two children: Leila M., born July 16, 1900, is a graduate of the Plains High School and is now in the second year of the State University of Montana at Missoula; Josephine, born December 1, 1906, is in the eighth grade of the gram- mar schools at Plains.

FRANK DALLIN, proprietor of the Montana Tent and Awning Company, is one of the prosperous and enterprising business men of Butte, and one who stands very high among his associates because of his honorable methods and prompt service. He was born at Springville, Utah, on May 19, 1885, a son of Cyrus Dallin, also a native of Utah, born at Lehi City, that state, in 1857. His death occurred at Eureka, Utah, in 1907. Reared at Springville, Utah, Cyrus Dallin attended its schools and lived there until after his marriage, when he went to Idaho and did some ranching as one of the pioneers in that industry there. During the pioneer days of Montana he came to Deerlodge County, and followed mining in the old Cable Mine, being one of the first to work it. Becoming very prominent in politics, he held the offices of constable, road supervisor and others of a local character, and never lost his interest in civic affairs. He belonged to the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

Cyrus Dallin was united in marriage with Ella Fuller, born in Springville, Utah, in 1859, who died at Thousand Springs, Idaho, in 1893, having borne her husband the following children: Mabel, who married William Hardy, now deceased, a railroad man, later became the wife of Earl Bradshaw, and they live at Salt Lake City, Utah, where he has a laundry delivery business; Frank, who is the second in order of birth; Guy, who is a veteran of the great war, was trained at Camp Lewis, became a sergeant, and was mustered out in the spring of 1919, following which he went to Seattle, Washing- ton, where he is now employed in a shipyard; and Ella, who married A. W. Young, of Salt Lake City, Utah, where he is employed in Walker's Bank of that city.

Frank Dallin attended the Eureka High School through the freshman year, and then, when between the ages of seventeen and eighteen years, he left school and enlisted in the United States navy, serv- ing from January, 1903, to May, 1906, along the coast in Atlantic and Mexican waters and among the West Indies, and also along the Pacific coast. He was at Panama several times. Entering the service as a third class apprentice, he was mustered out as a first class seaman. After receiving his honorable discharge he returned to Utah and fol- lowed mining until 1909, in which year he became fireman for the Rio Grande Railroad, with head- quarters at Salt Lake City, Utah, and held that position until 1912. For the next year Mr. Dallin was engaged in mining at Park City, Utah, and then, becoming interested in the tent and awning business. he went to Los Angeles, California, and learned the trade, located at Butte, Montana, in 1915, and alter- nated working at his new trade and mining for a year. Then, in 1916, he established his present busi- ness, under the caption of the Montana Tent & Awn- ing Company, and since then has developed it into the leading business of its kind in Silver Bow County. The offices and plant are located at 17

North Arizona Street, Butte. Mr. Dallin is a re- publican. Formerly he belonged to the Odd Fellows. His modern residence, which he owns, is at 1125 Stewart Street.

In the spring of 1913 Mr. Dallin was married at Salt Lake City, Utah, to Miss Eva Mitchell, a daugh- ter of William and Minnie (Thayer) Mitchell, and they have one daughter, Dorothy Romana, who was born on April 3, 1914.

Mr. Dallin is a real American, his family having been established in this country by his great-grand- father, Tobias Dallin, born in England in 1807, who died at Springville, Utah, in 1892. While living in England he owned and operated a large ship rigging establishment at Liverpool, but after he came to the United States he lived in retirement. His son, the grandfather of Frank Dallin, was John Dallin, and he was born at Liverpool, England, and died at Springville, Utah, in 1917. During his younger days he was a sailor, and it was through his influence that Frank Dallin decided to enlist in the navy. As a young man he accompanied his father to the United States, and located at Spring- ville, Utah, where he was married to Mary Llewel- lyn, a native of Wales, who died at Springville, Utah. At first after coming to Utah John Dallin was a railroad contractor, but later, during their pioneer period, he engaged in merchandising at Silver City and Nanti, Utah. His next venture was conducting a summer resort on the lake at Geneva, Utah, but he finally settled at Springville, Utah, where the re- maining years of his useful life were spent in honor- able retirement.

Frank Dallin is still in the very prime of vigorous manhood, and yet he has had many experiences and learned through them to take a broad view of life, realizing that different surroundings produce other conditions from those of his immediate vicinity. His business is now absorbing him, but with his varied knowledge and keen judgment, especially with refer- ence to men and their motives, he no doubt will in time interest himself in public affairs, and when he does it is safe to predict he will act in the same capable manner that has characterized him hitherto.

JUDGE PATRICK JAMES WHITTY. While for the past five years he has performed some important official duties at Butte as police magistrate, Judge Whitty's career from boyhood has been identified with the mining industry, and he was a mine worker when he first came to Butte more than thirty years ago.

Judge Whitty was born in Schuykill County, Penn- sylvania, May 30, 1858, and had a public school edu- cation. He was a boy worker in the mines of Penn- sylvania and in 1887 came into the mining district of Montana. He has performed all the labor in- cident to mining precious minerals, from under- ground worker to shift boss and superintendent 'of mines. He was elected police magistrate of Butte in May. 1915, and was re-elected in 1917. He has also held the offices of assistant city clerk, deputy clerk and treasurer of Silver Bow County. Judge Whitty and family are members of the Church of the Immaculate Conception.

June 26, 1880, at Williamstown, Pennsylvania, he married Miss Mary Ann Courtney (sister of the late Senator Courtney, one of the framers of the Constitution of Montana). They have two children. Mary Frances is the wife of Bernard Noon, a prom- inent Butte attorney. Margaret is the wife of Wil- liam Harrison Shannon, also a resident of Butte.

JOHN D. MCDONALD. The gentleman whose life history is here taken under consideration is one of the strong, sturdy characters who have con-

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tributed largely to the material welfare of the com- munity where he lives, being a business man of more than ordinary sagacity and foresight, and as a citizen, public-spirited and progressive in all that the term implies. He is ranked as one of the lead- ers in business circles in Great Falls and one of the most representative citizens of that community, and yet a plain, unassuming, straightforward gentleman whom to know is to admire and respect.

John D. McDonald was born in Green Valley, Glengary, Ontario, Canada, on January 23, 1865, and is the son of Donald S. and Mary ( McLach- lan) McDonald. Donald McDonald was born in Canada and died in 1914, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. He was engaged in the lumber business and was one of the pioneers in that industry in Alcona County, Michigan. There he engaged in farming and stock raising, which occupied his at- tention until his death. Politically he was a sup- porter of the democratic party and his religious membership was with the Roman Catholic Church. His wife, who was born in Scotland, passed away in Michigan, May 14, 1920, at the age of eighty-four years. Of the seven children born to them two are still living.

John D. McDonald received his education in pri- vate schools and early learned the meaning of labor, for at fourteen years of age he found employment in a mill, piling staves, at a wage of fifty cents a day. During the following summer he picked ber- ries and then spent the following winter in a lumber woods. After spending the following summer driv- ing teams, Mr. McDonald became a clerk in a general merchandise store, where he remained until 1893, the summer of which year he spent in Chicago. In the fall of that year he came to Great Falls, Montana, and engaged as a clerk with Strain Brothers. Two years later, in 1895, Mr. McDonald engaged in busi- ness on his own account, opening a boot and shoe store, and he has been so engaged continuously to the present time. He carries a large and well selected line of shoes, and his store is today con- sidered one of the leading honses of the kind in Great Falls. Because of the quality of his goods, the fair- ness of his prices and the courteous and prompt service he extends to his customers, he has built up and retains a large and satisfied list of patrons.

Politically Mr. McDonald is a democrat, but is not a seeker after public office, though while a resi- dent of Michigan he served five successive years as township clerk. Fraternally, he is a life member of the Great Falls Lodge No. 214, Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks.

On February 4, 1901, Mr. McDonald was married to Anna Dolliver, who was born in Gloucester, Mas- sachusetts. To them have been born five children, three sons and two daughters, namely: John D., Jr., Mary, Lydian, Donald P. and Joseph. Mr. and Mrs. McDonald are justifiably proud of the school record of their eldest child, John, who in May, 1919, won the state declamatory championship in the annual contest between the high schools of the state. The Great Falls Daily Tribune of May 19, 1919, had the following mention of this event: "Great Falls high school is rejoicing that for the second time in two consecutive years students from the local school have won state honors in the declam- atory contest. Thursday night, at the State Uni- versity in Missoula, John McDonald of this city and Eloise Wilson of the Gallatin County high school won the title of state champions in declamation in their respective classes, following the elimination of nearly half a hundred of the picked speakers in the state. John McDonald, who is a prominent member of the junior class at Central high school here, is sixteen years of age and is the son of Mr.

and Mrs. John D. McDonald. His subject was 'The Cremation of Sam McGee,' the famous poem by Robert W. Service."

Because of his high personal character and his genial manner, Mr. McDonald has won and retains the confidence and esteem of the people of Great Falls. He stands stanchly for the best things in community life, giving his support to every measure looking to the upbuilding of the community in any laudable way.

WALTER J. SEWELL. Among the men who have attained to deserved distinction among the honor- able business men of Butte is Walter J. Sewell, hardware merchant and public-spirited citizen. He was born in New Brunswick, Canada, on June 3, 1876, a son of George H. Sewell, and grandson of Thomas Sewell. The Sewell family came originally from Wales to the American Colonies, from whence they emigrated to Canada.

Thomas Sewell was born in New Brunswick, Canada, in 1816, and died in that province in 1880, having spent his entire life there, and' during all of his mature years he carried on farming. George H. Sewell was also born in New Brunswick, Canada, in 1841, and he died at Helena, Montana, in Decem- ber, 1913. He was reared, educated and married in New Brunswick, and there all of his children were born. In 1883 he began working for the Canadian Pacific Railroad, and was employed as a carpenter on bridge construction through British Columbia. In 1885 he came to Anaconda, Montana, and worked at the old smelter and then in different parts of the state as a miner and lumberman. With the discovery of gold in Alaska he went to the new gold fields and remained there for two years. Re- turning to Anaconda in 1898, he was employed as a carpenter in the Washoe Reduction Works until 1913. In the latter year he went with a crew of car- penters to Hurley, New Mexico, and was employed in the construction of a new smelter plant and for the Chino Copper Company for a year, when he was stricken with apoplexy. His son, Walter J. Sewell, went after him and brought him back to Montana, and after a short stay at Butte, took him to a hos- pital at Helena, where he died. He was a republican in his political faith, and a very active member of the Masonic fraternity.

Walter J. Sewell attended the parochial schools of New Brunswick, Canada, until he was twelve years old, when he began to be self-supporting and ob- tained employment rafting logs on the Saint John River and followed that for two years. For the subsequent years he was a clerk in a dry-goods store at Fredericton, New Brunswick, and then spent two years in a plumbing business. For five years he worked as a carpenter at Fredericton, and then, in 1898, went to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and spent two months. In May, 1898, he came to the United States and for six years worked as a journeyman carpenter at Butte. At the expira- tion of that period he began contracting and build- ing on his own account and was engaged in this line of industry for seven years, during that time erecting Saint Mary's Parochial School and Holy Saviour Parochial School and a number of resi- dences and other buildings. In 1911 Mr. Sewell en- tered the hardware business, establishing his present store at 221 East Park Street, which he has de- veloped into a very prosperous enterprise, and ex- panded his lines until he now carries hardware, paints, plumbing material, sporting goods and auto- mobile accessories. Mr. Sewell owns the building in which his business is located and a modern resi- dence at 524 Caledonia Street.

As a democrat Mr. Sewell casts his vote and ex-

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ercises his influence. He belongs to the Roman Catholic Church and Butte Council No. 668, Knights of Columbus, in which he has been made a Fourth Degree Knight. In addition to these connections he is a member of the Robert Emmett Literary Asso- ciation, the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Friends of Irish Freedom.

In 1901 Mr. Sewell was married at Seattle, Wash- ington, to Miss Agnes Kelly, a native of Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Sewell have the following children: Walter J., who was born on July 6, 1902, and Bar- 'bara, who was born on December 31, 1903, one of triplets and the only survivor, the others having died in infancy.

Mr. Sewell is a man who has advanced because he set a goal and worked steadily toward it. He is recognized as an honorable man and a citizen who is interested in the further development of large interests of Butte and Silver Bow County, and will- ing to do his full part toward bringing this about.

DANIEL R. FISHER. Throughout an active and interesting career duty has ever been the motive of action of Daniel R. Fisher, one of the representa- tive business men of Great Falls. He has performed well his part in life, and it is a compliment worthily bestowed to say that his locality is honored in his citizenship, for he has achieved definite success through his own efforts. He is thoroughly deserv- ing of the proud American title of self-made man, the term being one that, in its better sense, cannot but appeal to the loyal admiration of all who are appreciative of our national institutions and the privileges afforded for individual accomplishment. It is a privilege to meet a man who has had the courage to face the battles of life with a strong heart and steady hand and to win in the stern con- flict by bringing to bear only those forces with which nature has equipped him, self-reliance, self- respect and integrity.

Daniel R. Fisher was born in Humansville, Polk County, Missouri, on the sixth day of July, 1878, and is a son of Oliver W. and Euphemia (Robin- son) Fisher, both of whom are still living. Oliver W. Fisher was born in Ohio in 1842, and was there reared and educated. In young manhood, fired by the stories of fortune to be found in the great West- ern Eldorado, he started overland with cow teams for California. The journey was a long and tire- some one and was not without its thrills, one of which was an attack by Indians near Salt Lake. After his arrival in California he engaged in pros- pecting and teaming. Meeting with only ordinary success in California, Mr. Fisher returned to Ohio by way of the Isthmus of Panama, landing at New York City. Later he went to Canada, where he was engaged in the operation of a flour mill, and while living there he was married. Some time later he returned to the States, locating first in Kentucky, whence he went to Missouri, locating at Orleans, where he ran a mercantile business and operated a grist mill for some time. Later he located at Hu- mansville, where he also engaged in the flour mill and mercantile business. He was one of the or- ganizers of the Farmers and Merchants Bank, of which he became president. He also operated a flour mill at Bolivar, Missouri. He became inter- ested in construction work as a contractor, erecting many bridges on the line of the Kansas City, Clin- ton & Springfield Railroad. He also established a sawmill and lumber business at Winona, Missouri, and afterward took over the Cordy-Fisher Lumber Company at Birch Tree, Missouri. Later he moved to Springfield, Missouri, and established a sawmill at Fisher, Louisiana, where he established and laid out a town site. He was one of the organizers of

the Louisiana Central Lumber Company and a num- ber of other lumber companies in the South, includ- ing a number of large sawmills at different points.

In 1906 Mr. Fisher came to Montana, locating at Bozeman, where he had a mercantile establishment and also constructed a large flour mill at Belgrade, Montana. He became interested in a string of thirty elevators and was numbered among the larg- est handlers of grain in this part of the state. He helped to organize the Gallatin Trust and Savings Bank at Bozeman, and became president of the Fisher Mercantile Company, which had stores lo- cated at Bozeman, Missoula, Red Lodge and Great Falls, under the name of the Golden Rule Stores. In 1912 Mr. Fisher removed to Seattle, Washington, having established at that place the Fisher Flour Mills, with a daily capacity of 6,000 barrels of flour, making it the largest flour mill west of Minneapolis. He was also interested in the organization of one of the largest lumber companies in the West, oper- ating its own mill. He is also financially interested in a number of banks in Washington. Among the companies in which he is interested is the Snoqual- mia Falls Lumber Company, which has at Sno- qualmia Falls one of the largest and most complete lumber plants in the world. Associated with Mr. Fisher in all these industries are his five sons, Will P., Burr, O. D., Daniel R. and O. W., Jr., and his daughter, Lulu, the wife of W. W. Warren. He is a republican in his political views, and is a member of all the different bodies of the Masonic order, in- cluding the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite.

Daniel R. Fisher was reared and educated at Hu- mansville, Missouri, after which he became a student in Colorado University. He was also a student in Wentworth Military Academy at Lexington, Mis- souri. His first employment was in a lumber camp in Southwestern Missouri, near Birch Tree, where he worked in the capacity of bookkeeper in a store operated by his father. He then went to Boulder, Colorado, and assumed the management of a store owned by Fisher Brothers, himself and brothers being the co-partners in the enterprise. Later he went to Missoula, Montana, where he helped to or- ganize the Fisher Mercantile Company.

Some time afterward he went to Red Lodge, where he was in charge of a large mercantile es- tablishment for a time. In 1902 he came to Great Falls, where he operated the Fisher Mercantile Com- pany's store for about a year, following which he located at Belgrade, Montana, and served as man- ager of the Gallatin Valley Milling Company. In 1916 Mr. Fisher returned to Great Falls in order to be better in touch with a string of about thirty elevators operated by the Gallatin Valley Milling Company. This is a large enterprise and requires administrative ability of a high order, but Mr. Fisher has demonstrated his ability in no uncertain way and enjoys a well-earned reputation as a strong, sensible and shrewd business man. He was made president of the Farmers Bank of Belgrade at the time of its organization, holding that office until he changed his residence to Great Falls. He is a direc- tor of the Gallatin Trust and Savings Bank and is vice president and general manager of the Gallatin Valley Milling Company. He is also secretary and treasurer of the Chambers-Fisher Mercantile Com- pany at Bozeman.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 161

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