Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 166

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 166

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

active in the cigar business at Great Falls for over twenty years, until he retired in June, 1918.

His first important office in local affairs was his election as alderman from the Third Ward in 1904. He was re-elected in 1906, 1908, 1910, 1912 and 1914. He served altogether for eleven years, until he was elected mayor in 1915. He was re-elected in 1917, and gave two terms of efficient administration of local municipal affairs. He was elected to the Leg- islature in the fall of 1914, and served in the four- teenth session, being a member of the city affairs and publicity and other committees.

Mr. Fousek is a democrat and is one of the most influential men in his party in this part of the state. For the past thirteen years he has been treasurer of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and Modern Woodmen of America.

November 22, 1892, he married Miss Anna Havlick, a native of LeSueur County, Minnesota. They are the parents of six children: Mamie, Lydia, Albert E., Lewis, Benjamin and Blanche. Mamie is now a student in the Montana State Normal School at Dillon. Lydia is a Red Cross nurse and has been on duty with the American army at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The son Albert E. while a high school boy enlisted in the Second Montana National Guard Regiment in the spring of 1917, and on December 24, 1917, arrived in France as a member of Company D, One Hundred and Sixty-third Infantry with the Forty-first Division. He saw nearly a year of active service in France, and was granted an honorable discharge with the rank of sergeant at Fort Russell, Wyoming, March 15, 1919.

MARK DEFOREST DEARBORN. Possessing ambition, courage and perseverance in the realm of commer- cialism, Mark Deforest Dearborn of Roundup has made a success of his life and is now engaged in booming the realty values of his community and county under the firm name of Mark D. Dearborn. He was born in Waverly, New York, March 16, 1886, a son of Deforest and Emma (Davenport) Dear- born. Mr. Dearborn traces his ancestry back to Henry W. Dearborn of Massachusetts, who served as a general in the United States army, succeeding General Hull during the War of 1812, and was sec- retary of war under President Jefferson. Fort Dear- born, about which the great metropolis of Chicago has grown, and Dearborn Street of that city are named for Gen. Henry W. Dearborn.

Deforest Dearborn was born at Janesville, Wiscon- son, July 5, 1856, and his wife was born in New York state and died in 1906, aged thirty-nine years. They were married at Waverly, New York, and became the parents of two sons and one daughter, of whom Mark D. Dearborn was the eldest. Brought to New York state when a child, Deforest Dearborn was educated in its public schools, and his first position was with the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and he rose from brakeman to passenger conductor, but left that road in 1898 and went to McAlester, Okla- homa, to engage with the C. O. & G. Railroad. Later he went to Denison, Texas, with the M. K. & T. Railroad, and was engaged in construction work for some time. Still later he was with the Fort Worth & Denver Railroad at Amarilla, Texas, and while living there joined the Order of Elks, and he also belongs to the Order of Railroad Conductors. In politics he is a republican.

Mark D. Dearborn secured a public school edu- cation at Rochester, Buffalo and Geneva, New York, and Denison, Texas, and also attended Harshaw Academy in the last named city for three years, completing his courses at a business college. He

then became cashier for a leading commercial house of Denison, Texas, leaving it to assume the duties of assistant postmaster at Sherman, Texas. Still later he was with the Rockwell Lumber Company of Denison and Midland, Texas, as bookkeeper and cashier, leaving that concern to become treasurer and accountant with the Denison Cotton Mill Company. In 1909 he came to Roundup, Montana, as cashier of the Roundup Coal Mining Company. In 1912 he engaged with the Studebaker Company at Spo- kane, Washington, assistant manager of its automo- bile department, but returned to Denison, Texas, to become accountant for the Southwestern Security Company. On October 1, 1914, he located perman- ently at Roundup as cashier for Frank M. Wall, general merchant, leaving him to go with the Roundup Merchandise Company as cashier, and held that position until he embarked in a real estate and loan business under the firm name of Morrow & Dearborn. Mr. Dearborn is now largely interested in the oil development of this section and is mak- ing a specialty in handling and selling oil properties in the entire district. He is trustee for a syndicate' headed by L. A. Moran of Texas, which is drilling with standard rig and equipment in one of the sub- divisions of the City of Roundup. In 1917 Mr. Dear- born was appointed city clerk of Roundup, and in April, 1918, was elected mayor of the city, and has given it a very business-like and efficient adminis- tration. Mr. Dearborn belongs to Unity Lodge No. 71, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, to the Roundup Club and to the Literary Club, and is appreciated in all. The First Congregational Church of Roundup holds his membership and receives his hearty support.

On September 22, 1908, Mr. Dearborn was mar- ried to Hazel C. Sanders, born at Denison, Texas, a daughter of William P. and Corina (Wright) Sanders, natives of Wisconsin, who are both now deceased. They had three children, two of whom survive, Mrs. Dearborn being the eldest. Mr. and Mrs. Dearborn have three sons, namely: Mark De- forest (IV), Ralph William and Wright Sanders. Mr. Dearborn is well balanced and sensible. By training and instinct he is fitted for the business he is now developing, and already he has registered astounding results in the development of the realty values of this region. In his official life he has been equally successful, and his constituents are prolix in their testimonials with reference to his effectiveness and careful attention to details.

JAMES GUNOLF ALEXANDER. Though his father was a prominent and successful lawyer James Gunolf Alexander early showed a preference for commercial affairs, and in the comparatively brief period of fifteen years since he left high school has been identified with banking. He is now cashier and managing officer of the Security State Bank of Judith Gap, and since coming to Montana has ac- quired numerous interests and holdings that serve to make him an important man of affairs in this section of the state.

In the paternal line Mr. Alexander is of Scotch ancestry. The Alexanders on coming from Scotland settled in New York. His grandfather, John Alex- ander, was born in that state, and was one of the early pioneers around Northfield, Minnesota, where he developed a farm and became widely known as an importer of Belgium horses. A man of promi- nence in his locality, he was a representative to the State Legislature of Minnesota during the '6os. He died at Northfield in 1888. His wife was a native of Norway.

In the same year that his grandfather died James

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

Gunolf Alexander was born at Elkton, South Da- kota, November 13, 1888. His father, John P. Alexander, is one of the veteran members of the South Dakota bar. He was born at Northfield, Minnesota, March 9, 1857, grew up in that locality, and was graduated with the second class from Carleton College in Northfield. He received both the degrees A. B. and LL. B. In 1879 he removed to Canon Falls, Minnesota, where he began practice and where he was married in January of that year. From Canon Falls he moved to Groton, South Dakota, then Dakota Territory, about 1882, from there went to Elkton in 1888, and since 1907 has been a resident of Brookings, South Dakota. He is still active in the law, and one of the few members of the South Dakota bar who practiced continuously for forty years in the state. The firm of Alexander & Alexander, lawyers at Brookings, is composed of John ' P. Alexander and his son John C. The father has always been a strenuous democrat in his political affiliations and has served as county judge in South Dakota. He is a member of the Congregational Church and he is affiliated with the Masons and Odd Fellows. Judge Alexander married Adeline Chamberlain, who was born at Scranton, Pennsylvania, in January, 1864. She died at Brookings in 1917, the mother of two sons, John C. and James G.

James G. Alexander acquired his early education at Elkton, graduating from high school in 1905, and immediately entered the First State Bank of Elkton. It was his ambition to become a banker, and in the early years he regarded his work as an opportunity to learn the business more than as a source of income. When he left the Elkton Bank in 1907 he was bookkeeper. Then after four months as bookkeeper with the First National Bank of Bala- ton, Minnesota, he accepted an opportunity to acquire metropolitan banking experience as bookkeeper with the Northwestern National Bank of Minneapolis. January 1, 19II, the Citizens State Bank of St. Peter, Minnesota, was organized and opened by N. H. Olson and Mr. Alexander, the latter filling the post of assistant cashier. For the past ten years he has been an associate of Mr. Olson in the banking busi- ness. In December, 1914, he came to Judith Gap, Montana, and in the same month became cashier of the Security State Bank of Judith Gap, and has since been given the chief responsibilities of man- agement. The bank was established in October, 1909, under a state charter, and its present officers are : N. H. Olson, president; Dr. E. M. Gaps, vice presi- dent; Knute Husted, vice president; James G. Alex- ander, cashier. The bank, whose home is in a modern building on Main Street at the corner of Third Avenue, has a capital of $20,000, surplus and profits of $15,000, average deposits of $250,000, and is an institution well qualified by resources and the personnel of its management to render a perfect banking service to the community.

Mr. Alexander is a member of the State Bankers Association and the American Bankers Association. Other important interests he has acquired since com- ing to Montana are as president of the First State Bank of Coffee Creek, Montana, as a member of the Montana Development Association, as a stock- holder in the Southern Minnesota Mortgage Invest- ment Company, and as a stockholder in the Judith Gap Land Company. Mr. Alexander owns a ranch of 520 acres four miles south of Judith Gap, devoted to grain raising. He has other real estate in Judith Gap, including a fine modern home, one of the best in the city, located at the corner of Louis Street and Fourth Avenue.

His standing as a citizen is indicated by the fact

that he is the present mayor of Judith Gap. Politi- cally he is a democrat, is a member of the Catholic Church, is a third degree Knight of Columbus, affi- liated with St. Peter Council No. 1509 at St. Peter, Minnesota. In October, 1912, at St. Peter, he mar- ried Miss Florence Burg, daughter of Albert and Catherine Burg, her mother still living at St. Peter. Her father, who died there in December, 1912, was a retired farmer and an early settler of Minnesota. He died at the age of sixty-five. Mrs. Alexander is a graduate of St. Peter High School, and gradu- ated as a trained nurse from St. Mary's Hospital of Minneapolis. To their marriage was born one child, Charles, on June 5, 1914.

HERBERT M. PEET. It is the progressive, wide- awake man of affairs who makes the real history of a community, and his influence as a potential factor of the body politic is difficult to estimate. The examples such men furnish of patient purpose and steadfast integrity strongly illustrate what is in the power of each to accomplish, and there is always a full measure of satisfaction in adverting in even a casual way to their achievements in advancing the interests of their fellow men and in giving strength and solidity to the institutions which tell so much for the prosperity of the community. In every life of honor and usefulness there is no dearth of incident, and yet in summing up the career of any man the biographer needs touch only those salient points which give the keynote to his char- acter. In the life history of Herbert M. Peet are found evidences of a peculiar characteristic that always makes for achievement-persistency-and as a result of such a life he has become one of the best known and most highly esteemed citizens of Montana, and as such is eminently entitled to rep- resentation in a work such as the one in hand.

Herbert M. Peet was born in Shongo, Allegany County, New York, on April 22, 1892, and is the son of Edgar J. and Bertha (Graves) Peet. The father was born in Allegany County, New York, on October 12, 1870, and died on September 10, 1898. In his early days he had been employed as a tele- graph operator, but later became manager of the estate of Edgar Peet. He died at the comparatively early age of twenty-eight years. He was a member of the Knights of the Maccabees and in politics was a democrat. Mrs. Bertha Peet was born in Alle- gany County, New York, on April 11, 1875. By her union with Mr. Peet she became the mother of three sons, Herbert, Harold and Mark.

Herbert M. Peet attended the rural school at Shongo, New York, and the common schools at Canisteo and Belmont, New York, in his youth, but at the age of eleven years he began to learn the "art preservative" in the office of the Genesee Times at Genesee, Pennsylvania, where he remained until thirteen years of age, and during this period he was given the opportunity of attending school. He then went to work for the News at Whitesville, New York, but some time later went to school at Wells- ville, and at the same time put in as much time as possible on the Wellsville Reporter, a daily paper, his service on this paper extending through his high school course and terminating in 1909. During these early years Mr. Peet had been gaining some valuable experience, both in the technical side of the printing trade and also in the other phase of news- paper writing. In 1909 he removed to Boston and entered the employ of the Jamaica Printing Com- pany, continuing for about two years, when at the age of nineteen years, he returned to New York state and became editor of the Whitesville News. In 1913 Mr. Peet was the democratic candidate from

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his district for the Assembly, and as an evidence of his popularity it is worthy of note that he was defeated by only 1,700 votes in a district that nomi- nally was republican by about 5,000 plurality. In March, 1916, Mr. Peet sold the Whitesville News and went to Kittanning, Pennsylvania, where he became city editor of the Daily Times, but in Octo- ber of that year, at the urgent request of Bert C. White, state senator from Fergus County, Montana. he came to Great Falls, Montana, and became editor of the Montana Equity News. In 1917, he became secretary to Mr. White and legislative correspondent for the Equity News.

In May, 1918, Mr. Peet enlisted in the United States army, and was assigned to the Eighth Divi- · sion, where he was made personnel sergeant in train- ing headquarters at Camp Fremont, California. He proved an efficient soldier and was on his way over- seas when the armistice was signed. Consequently he was returned to the home soil and was discharged at Camp Lee, Virginia, on December 13, 1918. In January, 1919, Mr. Peet returned to Helena, Mon- tana, where he again became secretary to Senator White. On June 1, 1919, he became president of the Harlowton Printing Company and editor of the Harlowton Press, with which he is still asso- ciated. The Press is one of the most important enterprises of Harlowton and is probably doing more to build up and promote the prosperity of this section than any other single element. Mr. Peet is a forceful and pleasing writer, with the neces- sary "punch" to emphasize what he has to say, and his influence in local affairs is generally acknowl- edged.

On June 30, 1919, at the first state convention of the American Legion, Mr. Peet was elected state historian, and on July 1, 1919, he was appointed by Governor S. V. Stewart a member of the Veteran Welfare Commission of the State of Montana, of which he later became chairman. In August, 1919, he was selected as editor-in-chief of the Montana Legionaire, the official organ of the American Legion for the State of Montana. Honors and responsibili- ties were thus heaped on him thick and fast, but he is fully capable of discharging his official duties to the entire satisfaction of all concerned.

Politically Mr. Peet is a stanch supporter of the democratic party. Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, having first been made a Mason in Andover Lodge, at Andover, New York, whence he demitted to Musselshell Lodge No. 69, at Harlowton, Montana. He is also a mem- ber of Harlowton Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and Palestine Commandery, Knights Templars.

On August 27, 1919, at Whitesville, New York, Mr. Peet was married to Marie Fortner, a native of Whitesville and the daughter of Lester J. and Bertha (Wildman) Fortner, the former of whom is a suc- cessful banker in Whitesville. To Mr. and Mrs. Peet one daughter has been born.

Mr. Peet is a man of pleasing personality, broad of mental ken and possesses to a marked degree those characteristics which beget esteem, confidence and friendship.

ANDREW THOMAS ANDERSON, clerk of the Four- teenth Judicial Court, ex-mayor of Harlowton, and one of the representative men of Wheatland County, is recognized as a typical westerner of the highest standard. He was born in the County of Haldimand, Ontario, Canada, August 31, 1861, a son of John and Janet (Geddes) Anderson. John Anderson was born at Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1809, and died in 1903, while his wife, born in New York state in 1819, died in 1908. They were married at Gault. Ontario, Canada, and had ten children, five of whom

survive, Andrew Thomas Anderson being the young- est of them all. When he was nineteen years of age John Anderson came to Canada in. a sailing ves- sel and landed at Quebec after being forty-nine days on the ocean. Securing land in County Haldimand, he developed a valuable farm and had the distinc- tion of being one of the pioneers of that district, and he and his wife rounded out their lives on this same farm. He was a member of the reform party, and held several important offices, including that of treasurer of the county. The Presbyterian Church held his membership.

After attending the public schools of his native county Andrew Thomas Anderson took a course in the Toronto Normal School, and for eight years was engaged in teaching school in Ontario. Then, in the spring of 1891, he came to the United States, and was a clerk in the store at Bigtimber, Montana, for about three years, when, having saved up some money, he went into the drug business at that place, and conducted it for six years. He then came to Harlowton as bookkeeper for a mercantile estab- lishment, and later assisted in incorporating the Union Mercantile Company, of which he was man- ager from 1903 until December 31, 1909, when he was appointed United States commissioner, which office he held until May 15, 1917, at which time he received his present appointment. Mr. Anderson was elected mayor of Harlowton in 1908 and re- elected in 1909. Although he was again elected in 1012, he refused to qualify, feeling that his occupancy of the office for two terms was sufficient service in behalf of the city. During the great war he served as chairman of the Wheatland County Draft Board, and cheerfully donated his services to his country as long as they were needed. Fraternally he belongs to Carbonate Lodge No. 39, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is past noble grand; Mus- selshell Lodge No. 69, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is past master, and he has the distinction of being the first man initiated in this lodge; Harlowton Chapter No. 22, Royal Arch Masons ; and Palestine Commandery No. 18. Knights Templar. Politically he is a strong republican and will continue to uphold the principles of that party. Like his father he is a member of the Presbyterian Church.

In 1886 Mr. Anderson was married to Miss Jessie Hall, born in London, England. Mr. and Mrs. An- derson have two children, Mame Alberta and Andrew Geddes. Mr. Anderson is a man who pos- sesses vision, courage and initiative. He early learned to work for knowledge and hold on to what he learned. He looked into the future with all a man's keenness of vision and made his plans so as to have his efforts yield him the fullest measure of profit, and at the same time he has so ordered his life as to give more than the ordinary measure of service to his community.

WILLIAM ALLEN CHESSMAN. The distinction of William Allen -Chessman is not so much his long life and residence in Montana as his forceful and valuable participation in the business, civic and municipal history of Helena.

Now living at the age of ninety, he was born at Weymouth, Massachusetts, August 19, 1830, son of John and Lucinda (Wild) Chessman. The founder of the family was George Chessman, who came from England about 1700 and located at Braintree, Massachusetts. He married Jane Duran. The heads of the successive generations were: Clifford Chessman, a native of Braintree, who moved to Weymouth and married Lydia Orcutt; Hosea Chessman, who married Olive Shaw; Josiah Chess-

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man, who married Susannah Kingman ; John Chess- man, who married Lucinda Wild, and William Allen Chessman.

William Allen Chessman attended common school at Weymouth, and learned and followed the trade of shoemaker for two years before going West.

Mr. Chessman is one of the rare few who were among the original California forty-niners. In that year he embarged on a sailing ship at New York, went around Cape Horn, and reached San Francisco December 20, 1849. He is still a member of the So- ciety of California Pioneers. For a number of years he was interested in placer mining in that state, and on coming to Montana in 1865 continued mining. He bought some placer mines, subsequently some water ditches, and built a bed rock flume in Last Chance Gulch. At a cost of about $30,000 he equipped his plant with a hydraulic appliance. The water supply for the use of the mines around Helena came from different sources. July 1, 1889, the owners of the varions ditches and water rights were consolidated under the Helena Consolidated Water Company, with Mr. Chessman as president. June 11, 1898, the company was reorganized as the Helena Water Com- pany and in September, 1911, the property was bought by the City of Helena. Thus he had a very prominent part in developing the present public water system of the capital. Mr. Chessman served several years as vice president of the Peoples Na- tional Bank, and at one time was a director of the Montana National Bank.

He served in five sessions of the Territorial Legis- lature, being a member of the extraordinary session of the House convening April 14. 1873, at Virginia City, then the capital; was a member of the eighth session of the House, which convened also at Vir- ginia City, January 5, 1874; attended the ninth ses- sion, beginning January 3, 1876, at Helena; and for two terms was also a member of the Territorial Council, the thirteenth session, beginning January 8, 1883, and the fourteenth session, beginning January 12, 1885. Mr. Chessman is an original republican. He cast his first presidential vote for General Scott as a whig in 1852 and several years later joined in the movement to establish the republican party. Mr. Chessman was initiated as a Mason June II, 1874, and was elected worshipful master of Helena Lodge No. 3 four different times, in 1879, 1884, 1885 and 1886. He has taken all the other degrees except those of the Council and thirty-third Scottish Rite, and is a Mystic Shriner. He is an original member of the Montana Club, had an active part in its early management, serving once as president, twice as vice president and sixteen times as a member of the board of managers. For a long period of years Mr. Chessman has been identified with $ :. Peter's Episco- pal Church and is now senior warden. He is one of the two survivors and the only one left in Helena of the eight original incorporators of St. Peter's Hospital, which was incorporated June II, 1886. He has served continuously on the board since its incorporation. For twenty-three years Mr. Chess- man was connected with the Helena Fair Association as president or one of the managers.

At Galena, Illinois, February 4. 1875, he married Penelope V. Newhall. Her father, Dr. Horatio Newhall, a native of Lynn, Massachusetts, graduated from Harvard College with the class of 1817, fin- ished his work in the Harvard Medical School in 1821, and going to Western Illinois in 1826 was one of the pioneer physicians and surgeons at Galena, and because of his skill and his learning achieved a very prominent rank among the professional men in the Mississippi Valley. Mr. and Mrs. Chessman had four children: Susan Blanchard Chessman, Frank Newhall Chessman, William Allen, Jr., de-

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 166

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