Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 17

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 17

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Desirous of further advancing his education, Mr. Bigelow entered Mount Hermon Academy, widely known as Moody's School, near Northfield, Massa- chusetts. Leaving that institution in 1909, he came to Montana with an engineering corps, and for six months assisted in the construction of that branch of the Northern Pacific Railway that extends from Livingston to Wilsall. Going then to Salt Lake City, he remained there as statistician for the Utah Copper Company until 1911, when he went to the Pacific Coast, visiting California and Oregon. Com- ing to Billings, Montana, in September, 1911, Mr. Bigelow was bookkeeper and cashier for a time, first for W. H. Donovan and later for W. H. Mc- Cormick. Resuming his duties as a statistician, he was in Butte with the Butte and Superior Copper Company for a time, and then at Great Falls, Mon- tana, with the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. In April, 1914, Mr. Bigelow returned to Billings, where he has since resided, his home being at 807 North Thirtieth Street. He is carrying on a substan- tial business as manager of the Bigelow Mercantile Agency, and is likewise employed as an accountant. He is a republican in politics, a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, and belongs to Erie Lodge No. 161, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Ma- sons.

On November 24, 1910, Mr. Bigelow married, in "Billings, Miss Mabel Johnson, a daughter of Orange Chapin Johnson. She was born at Rochester, Min- nesota, and received her education in Iowa, being graduated from the Lake Mills High School, and later completing a business course at the Capital City Commercial College in Des Moines. A member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, she takes an active interest in church work, and was general sec- retary of the Young Women's Christian Association, a position that she also filled while a resident of Salt Lake City. At the present time she is vice president of the Billings Young Women's Christian Association. Mrs. Bigelow is of English descent. Her immigrant ancestor, Lawrence Johnson, who was born in England in 1758, came to America in 1776 with a company of British soldiers, and sub- sequently surrendered to Washington at Philadel- phia, and afterwards fought with him for the inde- pendence of the Colonies. William Meslar Johnson, Mrs. Bigelow's grandfather, was born in Ithaca, New York, in 1815, and died January 15, 1871, from pneumonia. Orange Chapin Johnson was born in

HISTORY OF MONTANA

Whitesville, New York, in 1850. Going to Minne- sota in early life, he was engaged in the lumber business at Rochester a number of years, and since coming to Billings in 1907 has been here similarly employed, being with the Thompson Yards, Incorpo- rated. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His wife, whose maiden name was Louise McDaniel, was born and reared in Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Bigelow have one child, Donald Edward, born February 16, 1912.

HENRY FRANCIS SEARS learned the printing trade when a boy, worked as a printer when he first came to Bozeman more than thirty years ago, but finally gave up his trade and profession to become a farmer, and while he is very busy as proprietor and manager of the Republican Courier at Bozeman, he is still interested in the practical side of agri- culture and has a first class farm in Gallatin County. Mr. Sears was born in Kent County, England, October 16, 1866. His father, Thomas H. Sears, was born in the same county in 1845, was reared and married there, and was a country gentleman and owner of a valuable estate. He sold his life interest in that estate in 1870 and crossed the ocean and settled at Brantford in the Province of Ontario. After that he lived retired and died in Ontario in 1909. He was educated in the famous Eton Preparatory School of England. Thomas H. Sears married Blanche Knowles, who was born in Kent County, England, and died at Brantford, Ontario, in 1911. They had a large family of children. Thomas H., the oldest, is representative for a type foundry at Toronto, Canada; Blanche Marian is deceased; Charles J. is a real estate broker at Boze- man, and Henry Francis is the next in age. Isabella, Florence and Edith are all deceased. Margaret is the wife of Frank Alderson, a farmer and linotype operator at Bozeman. Mrs. Alice Thomas still lives at Brantford, Ontario, and Edwin, the youngest of the family, is a cigar maker at Elmira, New York.

Henry Francis Sears secured his early education in the public schools of Brantford, Ontario. When thirteen years of age he began working in a print- ing shop at Brantford, and at fifteen went to Buffalo, New York, and completed his apprenticeship as a printer and followed his trade there as a journeyman one year. He was at Detroit two years, and in 1885 arrived at Bozeman and was soon working in the office of the Bozeman Chronicle and also with the Courier. For six years he was a printer in these establishments, and then left the printing shop al- together for nearly ten years and devoted that time to farming in Gallatin County. In 1900 Mr. Sears and J. H. Dawes established the Gallatin County Republican. They conducted this paper until 1905, when they consolidated with the Avant Courier, thus establishing the present Republican Courier. In 1905 the Republican Courier Company was incor- porated, and in succeeding years Mr. Sears bought all the other stock and is sole owner of the publica- tion.

While the Republican Courier is a comparatively new paper the Avant Courier was established fifty years ago, in 1869. It was first published as the Pick and Plow. In 1871 Major Anderson obtained control and gave it the name Avant Courier, and continued its publication until its consolidation in 1905. This is therefore one of the very oldest papers in Montana. Mr. Sears is publishing a column of items each week from the files of thirty-five years ago, and probably no other paper in the state can do this. He has a well equipped plant and offices

at 241 West Main Street, and the mechanical facil- ities are adequate not only for the printing of the paper but for a large commercial and job printing business.

Mr. Sears is a republican, a member of the Episcopal Church, is affiliated with Bozeman Lodge No. 463, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Bridger Camp No. 62 Woodmen of the World at Bozeman, Eureka Homestead No. 415, Brotherhood of American Yeomen, at Bozeman, is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and the Bozeman Typographical Union.

Mr. Sears owns a farm of 175 acres seven miles east of Bozeman and has other real estate both in the city and county, including a modern home at 415 Third Avenue, South. Mr. Sears married at Bozeman in 1889 Emma Bradley, daughter of John and Elizabeth Bradley, both now deceased. Her father was a Pennsylvania miner and farmer. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Sears: Clyde R., a graduate of the Gallatin County High School, now in the confectionery business at Whitehall, Montana; Frank, also a graduate of the County High School, a linotype operator in his father's office; Edith, a graduate of the County High School, who attended the Montana State College one year, and is the wife of G. C. Davenport, an automobile salesman at Bozeman; Thomas H. who is a graduate of high school and a student in the Montana State College; and Harry, who died April 29, 1919, at the age of twelve years.

CHARLES E. HARTLEY when he came to Montana was a young man with a college education but no special business training beyond his experience as a teacher. He learned the laundry business in this state, and starting with modest capital and small equipment has developed at Hamilton the only steam laundry plant in Ravalli county, and with a wide scope of service beyond the limits of that county. It is the Bitter Root Steam Laundry of which he is proprietor and owner.

Mr. Hartley was born on a farm in Webster County, Missouri, February 25, 1878. He is of Eng- lish ancestry and his people were colonial settlers in some of the southern states. His grandfather, Jesse Hartley, was born in Tennessee in 1803. In 1840 he took his family to southern Missouri and was one of the first settlers in Webster County, where he homesteaded. In the course of years he developed a fine farm of four hundred acres. Jesse Hartley was remarkable for the substance of his achievements and also for the length of his life. He died January 28, 1908, in Webster County, Mis- souri, at the age of a hundred and five.

Robert Hartley, his son, father of the Hamilton business man, was born in Tennessee in 1838, and was two years of age when his parents moved to Webster County, Missouri. The old homestead in Webster County is still his home. He has spent his active life as a farmer, and during the Civil war was a soldier on the Union side. He saw much of the border warfare, participating in the campaigns against Price and Quantrill, and was also in the great battle of Wilson Creek. He was a republican and an active member of the Baptist Church. Robert Hartley married Jane Murrell, who was born in North Carolina in 1848. A brief record of their children is as follows: I. A., a farmer and orchard owner at Escandido, California ; Minnie M., wife of N. M. Lowder, a banker at Elkland, Mis- souri; Jesse George, who runs the old home farm of his parents; Charles E .; Floyd O., a hardware merchant at Ozark, Missouri; Hester, wife of Joseph Jackson, a farmer of Webster County, Missouri;

HISTORY OF MONTANA

Mabel, wife of Olaf Peterson, a paint, oil and general merchant, and a painter by trade, at Ham- ilton, Montana; and Ezra, a clerk in a store at Marshfield in Webster County, Missouri.

Charles E. Hartley secured his education in the rural schools of his native county in Missouri. For four years he attended the Southwest Baptist College at Bolivar, Missouri, graduating with the class of 1900. He was a member of the Athenian Society in college. Before graduating he had taught one year in Webster County, and after getting his diploma he went back to the same school as its principal.

Mr. Hartley came to Montana in 1901 and ac- quired his practical knowledge of the laundry busi- ness at Missoula. In the spring of 1905 he removed to Dillon, where he managed a laundry for two years. Then with his experience and modest capi- tal he came to Hamilton and bought a small hand laundry. Since then he has extensively remodeled and re-equipped the plant, has introduced steam and other mechanical appliances and now has a large and modern plant. He owns the building in which the business is conducted at the corner of Main and First streets.

Out of his prosperity he has acquired a modern home at the corner of Fifth and State streets, also another dwelling adjoining his residence, and two other city lots. Mr. Hartley is an independent re- publican, is treasurer of the Baptist Church, a mem- ber of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce and affiliated with Ionic Lodge No. 38, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Hamilton Chapter No. 18, Royal Arch Masons, Crusade Commandery No. 17. Knights Templar, Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena, Ravalli Lodge No. 36, Knights of Pythias, and Pine Cone Camp No. 754, Woodmen of the World.

January 14, 1904. at Missoula, Mr. Hartley mar- ried Miss Anna Svoboda, daughter of John and Frances (Dolinski) Svoboda. Her parents are resi- dents of Missoula and her father is a retired laun- dryman. Mr. and Mrs. Hartley have two children : Zelma, born February 25, 1905, and June, born June 8, 1911.

JOHN WILLIAM CHAPMAN, president of the Meyer and Chapman State Bank of Red Lodge, is one of the oldest residents of the northwest, and its fertile valleys and rugged mountain sides constitute almost the breath of life to him. As an old time cowboy and cattle man he was associated with some of the newest country opened to settlement in Wyoming and Montana, and recalls many of the noted names of pioneer characters of that time. .

Mr. Chapman, who still retains extended ranching and farming interests, was born at Springfield, Illi- nois, May 15, 1850, the only son and child of William and Artie Anasa (Riddle) Chapman. The Chapmans are an English family but have been in America since colonial times. William Chapman was born in 1827 and was one of the early farmers of Central Illi- nois. He died at Springfield, that state, in 1851. His wife was born in the territory of Iowa in 1833. and soon after his death she removed to Oregon in 1851, settling in Douglas County. She became the wife of William Merriman, who died in Jackson County, Oregon. She died at Medford, Oregon. in 1917.

From the facts just related it will be seen that John W. Chapman had his first conscious recollec- tion of his mother's home in Oregon. He grew up there in the country, attended the rural schools of Douglas County to the age of sixteen, and then hired out as a cowboy. He was employed by some of

the first cattle outfits ranging stock in the vicinity of Virginia City, Nevada. He made his first ac- quaintance with Montana in 1878, when he was run- ning cattle on the Tongue River near Miles City. In 1879 he settled on a ranch on Tongue River but a year later went to the vicinity of Cody, Wyoming, and had his ranch headquarters there for twenty-two years. In that time he acquired extensive interests as a cattle man, and had under lease or individual ownership great tracts of land. Mr. Chapman has been a resident of Red Lodge since 1904. He still owns about 2,000 acres of grain and stock land situ- ated in Wyoming and in Carbon County and the Big Horn country of Montana.

Mr. Chapman was associated with the late W. F. Meyer and Paul Britsche in founding the Meyer & Chapman Bank, and became its president upon its reorganization as the Meyer & Chapman State Bank on December 1, 1912. Frank Lyle is vice president and the cashier is Fred Alden. This is one of the largest banks of Carbon County, with a capital of $50,000, surplus and profits of $28,000 and deposits averaging $500,000. The bank owns and occupies part of the most conspicuous business building in Red Lodge, a substantial two-story banking and office structure at Broadway and Eleventh streets. Mr. Chapman is also president of the Hardin State Bank at Hardin and president of the Bank of Belfry. His home is the most commodions and attractive residence in Red Lodge, surrounded with well kept grounds. Politically he acts independently and has never sought any public office. Mr. Chapman mar- ried Miss Alpha Chapman at Canyonville in Douglas County, Oregon, in 1882. She was a native of that county.

J. S. SOLBERG made a definite choice of Big Timber as his home thirty years ago. He was the pioneer shoemaker and harness dealer in that town, followed his regular trade for many years, but is now proprietor of the leading men's furnish- ing goods store in Sweetgrass County.

Mr. Solberg was born at Bergen, Norway, De- cember 29, 1863. His father, S. Solberg, spent all his life as a carpenter and builder. He was born in 1832 and died in 1885. He had served his regular term in the Norwegian army and was an active member of the Lutheran Church. His widow, Martha Solberg, still living at Bergen, was born in 1833. The oldest child, Oli, came to the United States and did farm work at Black Earth, Wiscon- sin, and died while making a voyage back home to his native country. J. S. Solberg is the second of the family, and his other brother, Martin, is a farmer at Huntsville, Alabama. The two younger children, Annie and Sophia, are both unmarried and live in Norway.

J. S. Solberg received his education and also served his apprenticeship at the shoemaker's trade in his native city. He was twenty years of age when he came to the United States in 1884 and he not only followed his trade but also did farming at Black Earth in Dane County, Wisconsin. In July, 1887, he arrived at Big Timber, Montana, and was soon busily working at his trade as a shoe- maker. At the end of three years, his services having come into demand in repairing harness, he established the first harness shop. He has the distinction of having made the first pair of shoes in Big Timber. He continued his shoe and harness business until 1907, when he broadened out his business enterprise by establishing a men's furnish- ing store. He owns both this store and its large and well selected stock on McLeod Street, and he also has a modern home on the corner of Anderson

I gr Chapman

HISTORY OF MONTANA

and Fifth Avenue. Mr. Solberg is a member of the Sons of Norway, is a Lutheran and a republican. At Melville, Montana, in 1891 he married Miss Hannah Bekken, a native of Wisconsin. Their oldest child is Selmer H., a graduate of the Mon- tana State College at Bozeman, who is now silent partner and active assistant to his father in the business. The second child, Oscar, has a place on the roll of honor of Montana's volunteers in the late war. He went overseas in July, 1918, and was killed in France September 29th. The three younger children are Stella, Lonis and Helen. Stella graduated from the State College at Bozeman and is now teaching in the high school at Virginia City; Louis attends the County High School in the sophomore class, while Helen is in the eighth grade of the grammar schools.

REUBEN J. LORD. Since coming to Montana, more than twenty years ago, Reuben J. Lord has been actively identified with the industrial interests of Billings, and as a successful contractor and builder has been an important factor in aiding the develop- ment and promoting the growth of this now pros- perous city. A son of the late Luther Lord, he was born July 5, 1859, in Surry, Hancock County, Maine. On the paternal side he comes of good old Scotch- Irish stock, being a lineal descendant of one of two brothers, John Lord and James Lord, who migrated from Londonderry, Ireland, to Maine in 1621, land- ing in Kittery, not far, probably, from the present site of the Portsmouth Navy Yard. His great grandfather settled permanently in Surry, Hancock County, Maine, and there Isaac Lord, the next in line of descent, spent his entire life, his birth oc- curring in 1741 and his death in 1820, during his years of activity having been engaged in farming and lumbering.

Born on the home farm in Surry, Maine, in 1816, Luther Lord received excellent educational advan- tages as a youth, and for upwards of forty years taught school in Hancock County. He was like- wise engaged to some extent in literary work, hav- ing been a book agent, and becoming widely known in his native county as editor of a newspaper. A whig in politics as a young man, he joined the republican party soon after its formation, and from that time until his death in 1883 was one of its stanchest adherents. Active and influential in public affairs, he served as county treasurer of Hancock County for nine consecutive terms, and for many years was town clerk and selectman of Surry, and also filled the office of justice of the peace for a long, long time. Uniting with the Baptist Church at the age of twenty-one years, he became very prominent in its affairs, and served many years as deacon.

Luther Lord married Priscilla Jellison, who was born in Mariaville, Hancock County, Maine, in 1834, and died in Surry, Maine, in 1883. Seven children were born to their union, namely: Edgar, a civil engineer, resides at Bar Harbor, Maine; Reuben J .; Isaac, deceased; Abbie, wife of Stephen H. Leland, of Lamoine, Maine, a retired custodian of the naval station of that place; Martin Luther, who was a con- tractor and builder at Berkeley, California, and died in April, 1919; Clara, living at Southwest Harbor, Maine, is the widow of Augustus Mayo, who was for many years prosperously engaged in mackerel fishing. and Maurice S., a contractor and builder at Columbus, Montana.

Educated in the public schools of his native town, Reuben J. Lord at the age of nineteen years began his career as a teacher at Ellsworth, Maine, and served as principal of the schools one term. Going

then to Bar Harbor, he worked as an apprentice at the carpenter's trade two years, after which he started there in business on his own account, con- tinuing for a period of sixteen years. In the spring of 1899, realizing the great demand for skilled labor in the newer states of the far West, Mr. Lord fol- lowed the trail of the ever wide-awake emigrant to Montana, locating in Billings. Embarking in busi- ness as a general contractor, he has been busily employed ever since, his work being appreciated. Among the buildings which he has erected in Bill- ings is the substantial structure in which the Billings Industrial School is located and the attractive resi- dences of Frank O'Donnell, Frank Raedemher, Dr. W. A. Allen and others of equal prominence and beauty, including his own residence at 407 South Thirty-first Street.

At Mount Desert, Maine, October 14, 1882, Mr. Lord married Miss Julia M. Mayo, a daughter of the late Thomas Mayo. Her mother, whose maiden name was Lydia Smith, was born in Mount Desert, Maine, in 1834, and is now living in Billings, making her home with Mr. and Mrs. Lord. Mr. Mayo was for many years engaged in sea-faring work as cap- tain of a vessel traversing the ocean. Three children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Lord, as follows: Charles R., who died at the age of twenty years; Alice, who died in childhood, and Lida Grace, wife of LeRoy E. Torrence, assistant cashier of the Yegen Bank at Billings.

JAMES E. ELLIOTT, M. D. Former county health officer of Gallatin County, Dr. James E. Elliott is a Bozeman physician and surgeon, and a man of wide and varied experience and of splendid talents in his profession. His father was a doctor, and several other members of the family have earned a worthy place in the same profession.

His paternal ancestors came from England and were colonial settlers in Virginia. However, the family for several generations have lived in Indiana. James E. Elliott was born in Clay County, that state, July 20, 1883. His grandfather was Harrison B. Elliott, a native of Indiana, a pioneer farmer, and a leader in local politics. At one time he served as county commissioner. He died at Green- castle in Putnam County, Indiana, many years ago. The father of Doctor Elliott was T. A. Elliott, who was born in Indiana in 1851, was a graduate of the Medical College of Nashville, Tennessee, and for twenty-five years practiced his profession in Clay County, where he died in 1907. He was a democrat and a member of the Presbyterian Church. Dr. T. A. Elliott married Anna B. Collier, who was born in Indiana in 1859, and is still living at Kansas City, Missouri. The oldest of her children is Harry Elliott, a graduate of the Indiana Medical College at Indianapolis, a physician and surgeon at Brazil, the county seat of Clay County, Indiana, for over a year a captain in the Medical Reserve Corps and up to the spring of 1919 still on duty with the American Expeditionary Forces at Verdun, France. Dr. James E. Elliott is the second of the family. Mrs. Jennie Shaw is the wife of a Kansas City publisher. Frank is a resident of Dallas, Texas, joined the Officers Training Camp in 1908, was com- missioned captain and served until mustered out in 1919 and has since become an oil operator in Texas. John, the youngest of the family, is a dentist by profession at Kansas City, and was connected with the Dental Corps of the army during the war.

Dr. James E. Elliott attended rural schools in Clay County, Indiana, graduated from the high school at Poland in 1899 and soon afterward entered the Indiana Medical College at Indianapolis, where

HISTORY OF MONTANA

he graduated M. D. in 1904. He spent one year as an interne in St. Anthony's Hospital at Terre Haute, and has since come in contact with the most advanced ideas and methods of medicine and surgery by post-graduate work and attending clinics in Chicago and with the Mayo Brothers at Roches- ter, Minnesota. Doctor Elliott practiced medicine at Terre Haute, Indiana, for eleven years. He came to Montana in 1915, and has been permanently located at Bozeman since December, 1917, and has already built up a large and satisfactory general practice as a physician and surgeon. His offices are in the Story Block. His home is in the Evergreen Apartments. He served as county health officer in 1918. He is a member of the County, State and American Medical Associations. Doctor Elliott owns a ranch of 157 acres of irrigated land four miles north of Belgrade. He is a democrat in politics, a member of the Presbyterian Church and affiliated with the Knights of Pythias at Terre Haute.

In 1906, at Brazil, Indiana, he married Miss Kathryne Dietz, daughter of Emil and Anna Dietz, who now reside at Anaconda, Montana. Her father is a traveling salesman. Mrs. Elliott is a graduate of the high school at Noblesville, Indiana. They have one daughter, Kathryne, born December 8, 1909.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 17

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