Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 169

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 169

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).

Mrs. Crutchfield, ninth and youngest of her father's children, has been a resident of Montana nearly thirty years. At Hamilton she is a member of the Woman's Club, the Delphian Society, the Epis- copal Church, Leona Chapter of the Eastern Star, the Royal Neighbors, and is also a member of the Hamilton School Board.

Mrs. Crutchfield was the mother of seven chil- dren: Virginia, the oldest, died at the age of two . years. Inman Payne served as an American soldier on the Mexican border eight months, then attended an officers' training camp, and spent twelve months overseas. He was wounded in the leg at the battle of the Argonne, and during 1919 was a convalescent in the Walter Reed Hospital at Washington, D. C. Charles Manson, Jr., is in the automobile business at Minneapolis. Mary Hardin was a graduate of the Hamilton High School in 1918 and lives with her mother. Lena Robb died at the age of two months. Miss Jack Massie is a senior in the Hamilton High School, while Virginia Denoon is in the second year of her high school work.

MALCOLM GILLIS became a resident of Butte over thirty years ago, and as a result of his previous experience in the mining district of Northern Michi- gan he readily found employment with the old Butte & Boston Mining Company, and later with the Bos- ton & Montana Mining Company. Afterward he engaged in business as a merchant, for two terms was postmaster of Butte, and for many years has wielded an influence amounting to leadership in pub- lic affairs and in the republican party.

Mr. Gillis was born at Morris, Canada, April 30, 1862, son of Neil and Jessie (Campbell) Gillis. His parents were born in Scotland and were married at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. Neil Gillis settled at Cape Breton in 1852, was a farmer there, and subsequently moved to Lake Linden, Michigan, and spent his last years at Butte, where he died in December, 1905.

Malcolm Gillis' memories of his early boyhood are associated with the state of Michigan. He at- tended district and high schools there, and soon after he was eighteen years of age went to work for the Quincy Mining Company. He was also em- ployed in the machine shops of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company, and therefore when he came to Montana in 1889 he was equipped with a con- siderable practical and technical experience in min- ing operations. After a brief residence at Anaconda he moved to Butte in December, 1889. He was in the service of the Butte & Boston Mining Com- pany fifteen years, and then with the Boston & Montana Mining Company until he went into busi- ness for himself. In later years, however, he never lost his interest in his former associates in the mines, and made their welfare a subject of his direct influence and action. He performed a valu- able service to the miners of the Northwest in their contest' with the American Federation of Labor.

In partnership with F. A. Chase, Mr. Gillis en- gaged in the hay, grain and coal business at Butte, beginning with a total capital of $2,000 and with a small plant and equipment. The business prospered and grew, but eighteen months later Mr. Gillis sold out to accept appointment as postmaster of Butte to succeed George W. Irwin, deceased. Mr. Gillis

600

HISTORY OF MONTANA

was a personal friend of the late President Roose- velt and was appointed postmaster by Mr. Roose- velt when president. In 1911 he was reappointed for a second term by President Taft. Mr. Gillis has been associated on terms of intimacy with many of the prominent men of the republican party in Montana. For three terms he was elected chairman of the County Central Committee of Silver Bow County. He is a former secretary of the Good Roads Congress of Montana, and has held all the leading offices in the Engineers' Association. Mr. Gillis for years has been a devoted follower of the national sport of baseball, and in 1909 he sold his interest in the Butte baseball team, of which for a year he was president and owner. Mr. Gillis is a member of the Butte Chamber of Commerce, is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a member of Bagdad Temple of the Mystic Shrine, has filled all the chairs in his Lodge of Odd Fellows, is a past exalted ruler of Butte Lodge of Elks, and is a member of the Presbyterian Church.

At Lake Linden in Northern Michigan in 1891 he married Miss Bertha Schlichting, a native of that city, daughter of Herman and Margaretha (Osean) Schlichting. They have two children: Herman Donald, born at Butte in 1892, and finished his edu- cation in the State Agricultural College at Mon- tana; and Clara Lucile, born at Butte in 1894, graduated from Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Massa- chusetts, in 1916, and is employed by the govern- ment in the Bureau of Standards in Washington, District of Columbia.

DOMINICK Fox. It is not strange that the people of the little republic of Switzerland should come to the United States and establish homes, for our in- stitutions are similar in many respects to their own, and they do not have such a hard time adjust- ing themselves here as do the emigrants from other countries of Europe, born and reared under condi- tions which are just about the antithesis of our own. The ports of entry to our republic have ever been open to the Swiss and they have been coming to our country for two centuries or more, and their substantial homes now adorn the hills and plains of the farming communities all over the Union, while there is' scarcely a city of note where they are not found engaged successfully in business. They have been loyal to our institutions and have proven to be splendid citizens in every respect. Thus they have aided us in pushing forward the civilization of the western hemisphere and we have helped them in ma- terial ways, giving them every opportunity, which they have not been slow to grasp, being people of thrift, tact and energy.

Among the successful and well known citizens of Western Montana is Dominick Fox, who was born in Switzerland, the son of Aloise and Mary (Reich- mat) Fox, of whose family of twelve children he is the eleventh in order of birth. He was reared in his native land and secured a good practical education in the schools of that country. At the age of twenty- two years he decided to cast his lot with the New republic across the sea, and on landing in this coun- try he at once come to Butte, Montana. During the first three years he was employed in the smelters. but he had larger visions of his future career here and he came to the Flathead Valley. He filed on a homestead located nine miles northwest of where Kalispell now stands, though at that time the In- dians roamed without molestation over the spot where later that prosperous city was founded. Mr. Fox had married at Butte just before coming to the new country, and he and his wife bravely and ener- getically set to work to carve them a home out of

the wilderness. They made substantial improve- ments and not only created a fine farm for them- selves, but were of incalculable help to many other early settlers in the Flathead country. They have been witnesses of practically all of the development of this section of the state and have in a quiet and unostentatious manner contributed as best they could and in many ways to the progress of civili- zation here. They acquired 320 acres of fine land, which they devoted to general farming and stock raising. A number of years ago they sold their homestead ranch, but having decided to again engage in farming they bought a farm near Columbia Falls, where they lived eight years. Eventually, however, they decided to dispose of their farm land in order that they might take life a little easier. They moved to Kalispell, where they had purchased a fine modern home, and there they are now living in comfort and ease, enjoying the rest which their years of toil so richly entitle them to.

Through the years which embrace the early settle- ment of the Flathead country Mr. and Mrs. Fox bore their part in every movement for the advancement of their community. They were especially inter- ested in the welfare of the public schools and were influential in their promotion. They have continued their old habits of hospitality and it is a common saying that "the latch string of the Fox home always hangs on the outside." Mr. Fox is still enjoying vigorous health, and he enjoys nothing better than a day with a hook and line at a nearby stream or lake. He is an unusually successful fisherman, and for a number of years he has in the summer time pre- served fish by smoking and which in the winter .time is considered quite a delicacy. Mrs. Fox relates that she was the first white woman in her neighbor- hood when she first came to the Flathead country, and that the Indians frequently camped near her home and held their war dances there, at which time she says their war whoops were not particularly re- assuring to her. However, she never allowed fear to conquer her. She persisted in being kind to the red men, who were always welcome to food when- ever they called at her cabin, and in return the Indians never molested them. The nearest town at that time was Demersville, while the county seat then was Missoula, some 150 miles distant. At that time Missoula County reached clear to the Cana- dian line. With all of their extraordinary experi- ences Mr. and Mrs. Fox never regretted casting their lot with their adopted country, and they surely have honored the county of their citizenship.

While living in Butte Mr. Fox was married to Magdalena Spani, who also was a native of Switz- erland and who, during her girlhood days, was a playmate of Mr. Fox back in their Swiss home.

Religiously Mr. and Mrs. Fox are adherents of the Roman Catholic Church at Kalispell. In his political views Mr. Fox is broad, preferring to give his vote and his support to those men and measures which in his opinion will most benefit all the people. Quiet and unassuming in manner, Mr. Fox is genial and approachable, and because of the material success which he has earned and the fine qualities of his character he enjoys the confidence and esteem of the entire community.

DANIEL FRANCIS MOONEY, present deputy sheriff of Beaverhead County, is prominently interested in ranching around Dillon, and is the son of a Montana pioneer, Edward Mooney, whose history has been identified with Montana for nearly forty years.

Daniel Francis Mooney was born at Chester, Pennsylvania, April 26, 1886. Edward Mooney, his father, was born in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1852,

Dominick Fox Magdalena Forse

601

HISTORY OF MONTANA

and came to the United States in 1873, at the age of twenty-one. For several years he was satisfied with the life of the Eastern states and was em- ployed as section foreman for the Baltimore & Ohio Railway at Chester, Pennsylvania. In 1880 he came out to Montana, locating at Feely, and was the first section foreman of the Utah Northern, now the Oregon Short Line Railway. In 1885 he estab- lished his home at Red Rock, where he continued his work as section foreman, but in 1898 left rail- roading to devote all his time to his growing farm- ing and ranching interests in Rayans Canyon. He is one of the men who have been prospered by many years of attention to the agricultural and stock rais- ing resources of the state. He still owns 3,000 acres, but since 1916 has lived retired at Dillon. He is a republican in politics and a member of the Catholic Church. Edward Mooney married Miss Kate Do- herty, who was born in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1854. Lizzie, the oldest of their children, is the wife of W. F. Henneberry, a rancher at Dillon; Edward died when three years old; Daniel F. is the third in age; Katie died at the age of two years, and Nellie, the youngest, is the wife of W. S. Trask, proprietor of a garage at Jerome, Idaho.

Daniel Francis Mooney acquired his early educa- tion while living on his father's ranch in Beaverhead County. Later he attended the College of Montana at Deer Lodge and was graduated in 1902. He found adequate outlet for his energies and enterprise on his father's ranch until 1916, and operated that ex- tensive property, raising cattle for beef. He owns individually 1,600 acres of Rayans Canyon and man- ages this as a grain and hay farm.

A resident of Dillon since 1916, he has served as deputy sheriff and taken a prominent part in repub- lican politics, serving on the Republican Central Committee of Beaverhead County and as a member of its executive committee. Mr. Mooney is affiliated with Dillon Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his family reside in a comfortable modern home at 310 South Dakota Street.

He married at Butte in August, 1917, Miss Lucy Morris. She was born at Trout Creek, Montana, was educated in the public schools of Whitehall, and is a member of the Methodist Church and is affi- liated with the Ladies of Woodcraft of the Modern Woodmen of America and the Women's Guild at Dillon. Mr. and Mrs. Mooney have one son, Francis, born June 10, 1918.

Mrs. Mooney is a daughter of Matthew Morris, who was born in England and was a Montana pio- neer, locating in the vicinity of Whitehall as early as 1879 and being one of the pioneer ranchers in that vicinity. Mrs. Mooney's mother was Annie Wil- liams, a native of England, and she is still living at Fishcreek, Montana.

LIVINGSTON MARBLE AND GRANITE COMPANY. Among the most important of the local industries which have had much to do with the growth and prosperity of Livingston, one of the leading enter- prises is the concern whose title forms the caption to this brief review. Starting modestly a dozen years ago, the company has enjoyed a steady, healthy growth through the years, until today its products are known over the entire west. A fine quality of granite and expert technical knowledge on the part of those who handle it are the elements which have gained this company the enviable reputation which it now enjoys, and those who are mainly responsible for its success are entitled to specific recognition in a work of the character of this one.

D. E. Ayres, president of the Livingston Marble and Granite Company, was born in Iroquois County,

Illinois, on May 23, 1862, and is a son of D. H. Ayres. The family is an old one in America, the subject's paternal ancestors having come from Ger- many and located in Pennsylvania in colonial days. D. H. Ayres was born in 1831 in Hamilton County, Ohio, where he was reared and where he married. He followed farming all his life. Some time in the '50s he moved to Iroquois County, Illinois, being a pioneer of that locality, and in 1869 became a pioneer settler of Bates County, Missouri, where he lived the rest of his days, his death occurring there in 1897. Before leaving Hamilton County, Ohio, he married Mary Wise, also a native of that county, born in 1833, and who died in Bates County, Missouri, in 1899. Their children now living are as follows : John I., a farmer in California; Mark, who operates a broom factory in Bates County, Missouri; D. E .: Oliver Ulysses, a contractor and builder in Bates County, Missouri. D. H. Ayres was a republican in politics, and his religious membership was with the Methodist Episcopal Church.

D. E. Ayres received such an education as was afforded in the rural schools of Bates County, Mis- souri, and remained on his father's farm until he was twenty years of age. He then learned the marble and granite cutting trade, which vocation he followed at different places in Missouri and for a time was engaged in that business at Butler, that state. In 1905 Mr. Ayres came to Montana, locating at Livingston, where he followed his trade until 1907, in which year he went into the monument busi- ness on his own account. At that time he bought all his marble and granite from eastern quarries, but it was soon afterward discovered that right here at home in Park County lay unlimited deposits of the finest granite in the world, and from that time the success of the enterprise was assured, for, from the fact that the granite is found largely in the form of granite boulders, it is more cheaply obtained than is possible in the quarries of the east. The business grew rapidly and in 1917 the Livingston Marble and Granite Company was incorporated, with D. E. Ayres as president, Irene L. Ayres, secretary and treasurer, and E. M. Ayres, manager. In 1915 a splendid plant had been erected at 117 East Park Street, equipped with all modern machinery for cut- ting and polishing, but eventually the work outgrew the old plant. To this another large addition was made in the summer of 1919. The company owns and controls 970 acres of granite land, situated at Gardner, Park County, the source of supply being thus practically unlimited. This is of the finest quality of monumental granite, coming out in various shades, and takes a beautiful polish. The company also handles the best New England granites, the extra dark from Quincy, Massachusetts; the dark from Barre, Vermont; the light carving granite from Concord, New Hampshire; the marble which withstands all climates from Rutland and Proctor. Vermont ; the regal blue marble from North Caro- lina; Italian marble from Carrara, Italy, and also red and dark granite from Scotland, as well as the red and blue from Sweden.

Politically D. E. Ayres is a republican and fra- ternally is a member of Zephyr Lodge No. 151. Woodmen of the World; Silver Tip Camp, Modern Woodmen of America, and Livingston Lodge, Knights of Pythias. He is also a member of the Livingston Chamber of Commerce and the Living- ston Club.

In 1885 at Butler, Bates County, Missouri, D. E. Ayres married Mary DeAtley, the daughter of J. T. DeAtley, who was a successful farmer and who is now deceased, as is his wife. To Mr. and Mrs. Ayres have been born the following children :

602

HISTORY OF MONTANA

Ernest M., who died on March 18. 1919, at Living- ston, was manager of the plant of the Livingston Marble and Granite Works; Nora is the wife of W. A. Boles, a rancher in Paradise Valley, Montana ; W. E. is a rancher at Shields River Valley, near Livingston; Ethel died in 1912, aged twenty-one years; Thomas J., who is a marble polisher in the plant at Livingston; Ruth is the wife of W. E. Bayne, a farmer near Livingston; Irene is secretary and treasurer of the Livingston Marble & Granite Company; Roy, who is a traveling salesman for the granite company, enlisted in November, 1917, as a yeoman in the United States Navy, and was mus- tered ont in May, 1919; Chester A., is also an em- ploye of the granite company; Mark died at the age of eleven years.

ROBERT S. OLIVER, superintendent of the dust treat- ing plants at the Big Stack of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, is one of the energetic young men who have assisted in developing this mighty cor- poration and become such important factors in the life of Anaconda. He was born at Escanaba, Michi- gan, June 22, 1880, a son of John F. Oliver, and grandson of John Oliver, born at Aberystwithe, Wales. John Oliver came to the United States about 1854, settling in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, on a farm, being the head of the first Welsh settlement in the country west of Chicago. He died at Gene- see, Wisconsin, before his grandson, Robert S. Oliver, was born.

John F. Oliver was born at Aberystwithe, Wales, in 1844, and was brought to the United States by his father in 1854, and was reared near Milwaukee in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. In 1862 he went to Escanaba, Michigan, and was engaged in a whole- sale and retail coal business for thirty-five years, dying there in 1914. He belonged to the Episcopal Church. The first Master Mason who lived in Northern Michigan, John F. Oliver was very active in his order. When he came to this country the events which resulted in the organization of the republican party were vital and before the public, and from its birth he supported that party. The. maiden name of his wife was Harriet Baldwin. They were married at Escanaba, Michigan, where she still resides, but she was born at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1849. Their children were as follows: Catherine, who married H. M. Stevenson, manager of the Mt. Fleecer Timber Company, of Butte, Montana; Clin- ton B., who is conducting his father's coal com- pany at Escanaba, owned by his mother; Col. L. W. who is colonel in the cavalry branch of the reg- ular army, was graduated from West Point Military Academy, and is now stationed at Washington, Dis- trict of Columbia, on special detail as a member of the general staff; Robert S., whose name heads this review, and Annie, who married N. B. Briscoe, a major in the regular army, who has just returned from France after serving in the great war.

Robert S. Oliver attended the public schools of his native place, and was graduated from its high school in 1899, following which he spent a year in the West Indies with the Army of Occupation im- mediately succeeding the Spanish-American war, holding a clerical position with that force. He then went to the Michigan College of Mines at Houghton, Michigan, and was graduated therefrom with the de- gree of Engineer of Mines, and a member of the Greek Letter fraternity Sigma Rho. In 1903 Mr. Oliver began to make practical use of his technical knowledge and was assistant engineer of the Tri- Mountain Mining Company on the copper range of Michigan, remaining with that concern for eighteen months. He then came west to Utah and for a year

was engineer for the Continental Alta Mines at Alta. From there he went to Southwestern Idaho to become superintendent of the Addie Consolidated Gold Mines, and continued this connection for two years. His next change was when he went to Bing- ham Canyon, Utah, as a miner, soon being made engineer, then foreman and finally superintendent and manager for the Utah Apex Mining Company, with which he remained until 1911. On October 20th of that year he came to Anaconda and started in the testing department of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, rising rapidly through varions stages of engineer of the light and water depart- ment, foreman of the then new 3,000-ton leaching plant, head of the research work on aluminum in- vestigation, head of the tailings disposal, superin- tendent of the public utilities department, his present very responsible position, where he has charge of seventy-five men. His offices are in the Stack Build- ing of the Washoe Reduction Works, two miles east of Anaconda. Having been reared a republican, Mr. Oliver has adhered to that party, but has confined his support of it to exercising his right of suffrage. He is a member of the Episcopal Church. A Mason, he belongs to Canyon Lodge No. 13, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Bingham Canyon. He is also a member of the American Institute of Min- ing Engineers, the Anaconda Club and the Ana- conda Country Club. His residence is at 415 West Park Avenue, Anaconda.

In 1908 Mr. Oliver was united in marriage at Salt Lake City, Utah, with Miss Hattie Pike, a daughter of Dr. W. R. and Mary Pike. Mrs. Pike is deceased, but Doctor Pike resides at St. George, Utah, having retired from practice as a physician and surgeon. Mrs. Oliver is a graduate of the Brigham Young University of Provo, Utah. Mr. and Mrs. Oliver have three children, namely: Helen, who was born July 4, 1910; John, who was born March 31, 1913, and Harriet, who was born August 4, 1917.

JAMES B. GNOSE. Not readily deceived in men or misled in measures, James B. Gnose, of Anaconda, is eminently fitted by natural ability and training to represent his district in legislative halls, where he has displayed vision, courage and initiative, and been able to bring about some important legislation for his state. In addition to his pre-eminence as a member of the Upper House of the State As- sembly, Mr. Gnose is one of the substantial business men of Anaconda, conducting here one of the lead- ing mercantile establishments. He was born at Mill- hausen, Indiana, January 3, 1865, a son of James Gnose, a native of Pennsylvania, who died in Mill- hausen, Indiana, in 1899, having been taken there in childhood. By occupation he was a millwright, and was also engaged in farming. From the time of the organization of the republican party, James Gnose was one of its strong supporters, and he never neg- lected an opportunity to live up to his convictions, not only with reference to civic matters, but also those of religion, and found expression for them through the medium of the Lutheran Church, of which he was a consistent member. He married Catherine Snell, born at Millhausen, Decatur County, Indiana, who died at Zenas, Indiana, December 23, 1918. Their children were as follows: Delia, who married Henry Osman, lives at Elwood, Indiana, Mr. Osman now being in a transfer business, although until he lost his arm in an accident he was in the traffic department of a railroad; Senator Gnose, who was the second in order of birth; Ira, who is asso- ciated with his brother, Senator Gnose; William, who is in the United States army; Charles, who is.

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 169

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