Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 172

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

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

was also the president of the Dayton State Bank, both being strong and influential financial institu- tions. He was active in all matters affecting the Flathead Valley during all the years of his resi- dence here, and related many interesting stories. Among these he told of.one occasion when Indians had committed depredations in Missoula County. Mr. Harrington was instrumental in capturing and bringing them to justice, three of the criminals being hung. Three escaped, and it took three years of good work to capture and bring them to justice. While hunting and fighting Indians in Arizona Mr. Harrington had learned how to deal with them, and his services were now most valuable to the authori- ties in their efforts to round up the criminals.

While living in Butte Mr. Harrington was mar- ried to Mrs. Nellie Hathaway, who was born in Idaho, the daughter of William and Mary (Ed- wards) Richards. By a former marriage Mrs. Har- rington became the mother of a daughter Elizabeth, and an adopted son, James. Three children were born unto Mr. and Mrs. Harrington, John, Viva and Nellie. All of these children have been edu- cated in the public schools of Kalispell. John is assisting in the operation of the home ranch. James, who also is helping to operate the ranch, married Rosa Lerch, and they have two children, J. V., Jr., and Hilda. Viva, who possesses a remarkable sing- ing voice, is specializing in music and is now a student in the Chicago Conservatory of Music study- ing both instrumental and vocal. Nellie, who has attended school in Spokane, is now a student in the Kalispell High School. Elizabeth is the wife of J. W. Harrington, of Alberta, Canada.

Politically Mr. Harrington was an earnest sup- porter of the democratic party, while fraternally he was a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Religiously he was an earnest member of the Presbyterian Church, as is also his wife, of which they are generous supporters. Mr. Harrington was a great believer in travel as an educational agent, and made a number of pleasant and interesting trips. In 1913 he and the family took a trip to Liverpool, England, Swansea, Wales, London, Eng. land, and Belfast, Ireland. Mr. Harrington by cease- less toil and endeavor gained a marked success in business affairs, won the respect and confidence of men and was recognized as one of the distinctivety representative citizens of his community.

BOWER BROTHERS RANCH. The ranch known as "Bower Brothers' Ranch" lying in the western part of the Judith Basin country, east of Wolf Butte and south of the High Wood Mountains on Surprise Creek, in what was then Magher County, Montana Territory, was established by A. W. and J. E. Bower in 1880. In the spring of 1881 their brother G. C. . Bower joined them.

All were born in Pleasant Valley, Dutchess County, New York. All came to Montana by way of Bis- marck and the river route to Fort Benton, the head of navigation on the Missouri, at that time a thirty- days' trip from New York. The country was full of game and Indians, although the Indians had been ordered to their reservations.

The firm, afterwards incorporated, continued in business for twenty-seven years or until 1907, build- ing up one of the largest and best sheep ranches in Montana. Their wools were much sought for by the large manufacturing houses of the East.

A. W. Bower went East to live. J. E. Bower makes his home in Helena, is a director in the Union Bank & Trust Company, while G. C. Bower became a resident of Great Falls. He is a thirty-second

degree Mason and president of the Great Falls Dairy Products Company.

LESLIE HENRY HAMILTON. It is said that this well known Great Falls capitalist, banker and busi- ness man started his career in Montana forty years ago with only about $500 in capital which he in- vested in a flock of sheep. He was in the sheep industry through various ups and downs, and even- tually saw his flocks "grazing on a thousand hills." He has had his home in Great Falls for many years, and his executive ability, his means and influence have been sought by many of the leading enterprises of that locality.

Mr. Hamilton was born on his father's farm in Windham County, Vermont, December 6, 1852, son of Joseph Henry and Abigail ( Mather) Hamilton. His parents were also natives of Windham County, and of old New England ancestry. His father, who died in 1899, at the age of seventy-two, was educated in the common schools of Vermont and spent his active career as a farmer in the Green Mountain State. He was honored with several local offices. was a member of the Congregational Church, which he served as deacon, and cast his first votes for whig candidates and later was a republican. He came out to Montana several times during the '90s, visiting his son in the Judith Basin, His first wife died in 1860, at the age of twenty-six. Of her five children Leslie H. is the oldest, and four are still living. The father married for his second wife Abi- gail Cross, and had three sons, two of whom are living.

Leslie H. Hamilton received his early impressions of life on his father's rugged and rather stern farm in Vermont. He was eight years old when his mother died. He lived at home until reaching his majority, and then for several years did some con- tract work getting out timber and cordwood. His chief employer in that work was the father of the late Gen. Nelson J. Miles. In March, 1878, Mr. Hamilton left home for the West, traveling by rail as far as Winnemucca, Nevada, and thence taking a stage sixty miles north to the Hoppin Brothers sheep ranch near Camp McDermott. He worked on that ranch herding sheep and building fence and later had charge of the feed lots, looking after about 1600 sheep and ninety head of cattle. In July, 1879. the Hoppin Brothers sent him to Bannack City, Mon- tana, with 5,000 head of sheep consigned to a well known Montana French miner, Abail Bazette. When he turned over the sheep to Mr. Bazette, Mr. Hamil- ton remained in his employ as superintendent of the Bazette sheep interests. He also did some mining. In April, 1880, he bought a team and journeyed into the Yellowstone Valley and on to the Judith Basin. At that time he had as working partners Albert Barney and John Stoutenberg. They formed a part- nership under the name Barney, Hamilton & Stout- enberg to engage in the sheep business. They bought their first thousand head of sheep in the fall of 1880. In 1888 Mr. Hamilton bought the interests of Mr. Barney, and in the meantime Stontenberg had sold his share to Rev. Jacob Mills. Mills and Hamilton continued the partnership under the name of the Sage Creek Sheep Company, and in 1890 the company was incorporated with Mr. Hamilton as president, Mr. Mills, vice president, and Mrs. Hamil- ton, secretary and treasurer. This became one of the biggest sheep outfits in the Judith Basin. The com- pany had 26,000 acres of land, which in 1908 they sold to the Cotton Wood Coal Company for $260,000. At that time they also had 50,000 head of sheep on the range, and these were also sold.

In the meantime, in 1891, Mr. Hamilton had moved

Mas Millie Harrington

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

his home to Great Falls. He was one of the organiz- ers of the Bank of Fergus County at Lewistown, the oldest state bank in Montana, started in 1887, and he is still a director of that institution. He was one of the organizers of the Commercial National Bank of Great Falls in 1913, and since 1916 has served as its president. In 1908, after selling his sheep and ranch properties, Mr. Hamilton took his family to Boston in order to afford his children the advantages of the best institutions of learning in the East. He remained there three years, and on returning to Great Falls in 1911, where he had retained many valuable property, interests, he built the Standard Garage, which was the largest and best equipped garage in the state. He sold his auto- mobile business in 1914. Mr. Hamilton was one of the founders of the Deaconess Hospital at Great Falls, and put up the first building and has always been one of the stanchest supporters of the insti- tution. He is president of its board of trustees. Mr. Hamilton is one of the large stockholders in the Montana Flour Mills Company, which operates three mills, one at Lewistown, Harlowton and Great Falls, besides a chain of elevators. He is a stockholder in the Montana Lumber Company, the Montana Power Company, and has interests in banks and business undertakings too numerous . to mention. Mr. Hamilton is a republican, without official record, and is a member of the Congregational Church. During the war he saw his two sons go into the service, and at home he took a leading part in the various campaigns for war funds and was especially active in behalf of the Red Cross.

Mr. Hamilton married Miss Elizabeth Montgomery at Sage Creek in the Judith Basin on August 10, 1887. She was born at Newport, Vermont. To their marriage were born five children. Julia Bell, born February 6, 1890, is a graduate of the LaSalle Semi- nary in the East, and is the wife of Julius C. Peters, a Great Falls attorney, and the mother of three chil- dren. Henry Montgomery the oldest son, born December 6, 1892, was educated in the public schools of Great Falls, in the Phillips Exeter Academy, and graduated from Dartmouth College in the class of 1914. Before America entered the war with Ger- many he made application for service with an ambu- lance corps in France. In April, 1917, he enlisted in the American Field Service, and for five months was on ambulance duty on the French front and for five months on the Italian front. He then enlisted in the French army, choosing the light artillery, and was sent to the French Artillery School at Fon- tain Bleau, graduating November 1, 1918, with the rank of aspirant. For three months he was with the Army of Occupation in Belgium and Luxem- burg, and received his honorable discharge at Paris February 15, 1919. Abigail Mather, the third of the children, was born in July, 1894, was educated in Vassar College, and is now the wife of William Heron, and they live in Florida. They have one daughter. Harley Alexander, born in March 18, 1895, was educated in the Great Falls grammar and high schools, the University of Wisconsin and the University of Minnesota, and on June 28, 1918, en- listed in the United States Infantry. He was as- signed to duty with Company C of the One Hundred and Fifty-ninth Regiment. After a very brief period of training he left Camp Kearney in California and went overseas in July, 1918. He saw service in the great battle of the Argonne and was wounded October 5, 1918, and as a result of his wounds died and was buried at the American Field Hospital No. 4 at LaGrange-aux-Bois on October 7, 1918. Leslie H. Hamilton, Jr., the youngest of the chil- dren, was taking a course in banking at the Uni-

versity of Pennsylvania, where he died at the age of nineteen.

ADAM STIMPERT is a past master in the agricul- tural implement and machinery business. During his hard working youth on an Illinois farm he learned to appreciate good implements, though there were few of them at his command. Nearly twenty- five years ago he engaged in the implement business in Illinois, and in 1911 transferred his field of opera- tions to Great Falls, where he is now sole proprie- tor of the largest implement and machinery house in Cascade County.

Mr. Stimpert as a local business man and booster of Great Falls has, many interests outside his home community. While in the Legislature he originated the constructive measure by which Montana voted an appropriation to acquire a state owned elevator system for the benefit of the Montana grain growers. Mr. Stimpert is a member of the board of managers of the State Terminal Elevator Commission, and has given much of his time from his business to the investigations and the other preliminary efforts look- ing toward the establishment of the first state owned elevator.

Mr. Stimpert was born on his father's farm in Woodford County, Illinois, January 9, 1869, a son of Theobald and Charlotte (Muller) Stimpert. His parents were both natives of Germany. Theobald Stimpert came to New York in the early '50s, met and married Charlotte Muller in that city, after- ward lived at Boston, and from there moved west to a farm in Woodford County, Illinois. He had much of his land cleared and was on the high road to prosperity when death overtook him in the prime of life, in 1871, at the age of forty-three. His widow survived him and passed away on the old Illinois homestead in 1903. Of their eight children four are still living, Adam being the youngest child.

Adam Stimpert was only two years old when his father died. The work of the farm had to be car- ried on somehow, and as soon as old enough Adam Stimpert did his share in the duties. He attended local schools only for a few terms, and at the age of thirteen his mother called his education finished and required his continuous presence and work in the fields. At the age of sixteen he and an older brother rented the homestead, and after his mar- riage Mr. Stimpert took his bride to the home farm and remained there until the spring of 1896.

In that year he moved to Benson, Illinois, and engaged in the farm implement and machinery busi- ness. He had the technical talents and qualifica- tions that made this an appropriate field for his energies, and his aggressiveness soon showed that he had chosen wisely. For several years he was trav- eling representative for the Huber Manufacturing Company in Northern Illinois, and later became a traveling man for Reeves & Company, handling their machinery in Illinois. In 1911 this company sent him to Montana, with headquarters at Great Falls. Mr. Stimpert has been a steadfast enthusiast with respect to the opportunities and advantages of Great Falls ever since locating here. His alertness to new opportunity soon caused him to sever his connection with Reeves & Company and buy the old established Judd Implement Company, which started business at Great Falls in 1895. Mr. Stimpert has since been sole proprietor of this business, and has extended its scope from an exclusive retail to both a whole- sale and retail farm implement concern.

Mr. Stimpert has been a democrat in his political affiliations, and on that ticket he was elected a mem- ber of the State Legislature in 1916. During the following session he introduced a bill providing for

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a state owned terminal elevator, and after the pas- sage of the bill and when the first board of man- agers was under consideration, he was appropriately selected for one of the board. His appointment was made April 8, 1919. Mr. Stimpert is also a. member of the International Association of Rotary clubs and is affiliated with Euclid Lodge No. 58, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Great Falls Chapter No. 4, Royal Arch Masons, Black Eagle Commandery, Knights Templar, Helena Consistory of the Scottish Rite, and Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena. He is a member of the Christian Church and is identified with all the local organizations for better business, better government and better general development of the community of Great Falls.

January 14, 1892, Mr. Stimpert married Miss Jescena Seggerman, a native of Woodford County, Illinois, and a daughter of Henry Seggerman. To their marriage were born five sons, only two of whom have reached mature years. Walter, born September 3, 1894, early in the war with Germany enlisted in the aviation department at San Diego, was trans- ferred to Dallas, Texas, and then to Waco, and was promoted to first sergeant November 11, 1918, armis- tice day, receiving his honorable discharge soon afterward. The son Frederick D., born April 7, 1899, was a member of the Students Army Training Corps of the University of Montana at Missoula, and was granted his discharge from that organization after the cessation of hostilities.

GEORGE E. GROVER. The greatest results in life are often attained by simple means and the exercise of the ordinary qualities of common sense and per- severance; but practical industry, wisely and vigor- ously applied, never fails of success. The everyday life, with its multiform duties, affords every oppor- tunity for the acquisition of experience of the best kind, and its most travel-worn ways provide an earnest worker with ample scope for effort and im- provement. This fact having been realized by George E. Grover, the well-known stone and marble worker of Great Falls and one of the most highly esteemed citizens of that locality, he seized the small opportunities that he encountered on the Labyrinthine road of life, permitting no obstacles to bar his ad- vance toward the ultimate goal of success-never attained by the inert, craven and ambitionless plodder.

George E. Grover is a full-blooded Yankee by both ancestry and birth, his nativity having oc- curred at Brandon, Vermont, on August 27, 1868, and he is the son of Samuel T. and Julia (Manley) Grover, both also natives of Vermont. The father, who was born in 1841, is still living, his wife having died in 1877, at the age of thirty-five years. They were the parents of two children, the subject of this sketch and a sister. Samuel T. Grover spent his boyhood days on his parent's farm, securing his education in the district schools. At the outbreak of the Civil war in 1861 he enlisted in Company G, Twelfth Regiment, Vermont Volunteer Infantry. taking part in all the campaigns, battles and varied experiences of the command up to the time when he was taken sick with typhoid fever. On his re- covery he was granted an honorable discharge and returned to his home. There he first engaged in farming, but later teamed for a number of years, until his retirement. Politically he is a republican and fraternally is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, being a past commander of the post to which he belongs.

George E. Grover remained on the paternal farm- stead until he was fourteen years of age, when he

learned the marble business at Proctor, Vermont, one of the great marble-producing centers of the coun- try. In 1888 he went to Chicago, Illinois, where he was in the employ of the Vermont Marble Company up to 1903. In that year he came to Great Falls and engaged in the monument business, in connection with which he also opened a department for the production of cut stone for building purposes. He has been eminently successful in this enterprise and has supplied some of the most beautiful monu- ments now found in our cemeteries. In both design and execution the product of his marble shop will compare favorably with the best work seen anywhere in the West. He has supplied dressed stone for a number of the best buildings of this community, and in all his contracts he has given thorough satisfac- tion, for one of the cardinal principles of his creed is to turn out only such work as will pass the most rigid inspection. As a result he has won not only a large share of the local business in his line, but also has gained that which is of more real value, the confidence and good will of all who have had dealings with him.

On April 16, 1892, Mr. Grover was married to Anna M. Thompson, who was born at Neenah, Wis- consin, and they have two children, Ethel, the wife of E. J. Higgs, and Marjorie Jane.

Politically Mr. Grover gives his support to the republican party, and has taken a keen interest in local public affairs. In April, 1917, he was elected alderman from the Third Ward and was re-elected in 1919. Fraternally he is a member of Cascade Lodge No. 34, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; Great Falls Chapter No. 9, Royal Arch Masons; Black Eagle Commandery No. 8, Knights Templar, of which he is a past commander. He is also a member of the Great Falls Chamber of Commerce, in which he has taken an active part in assisting in the furtherance of every movement for the upbuilding and advancement of Great Falls. Genial and ap- proachable in manner, he has gained a host of ac- quaintances, all of whom are his friends, for he has proved himself deserving of the friendship of all good men.

THOMAS M. COLLINS. The history of the loyal sons and representative citizens of Montana would not be complete should the name that heads this review be omitted. When the fierce fire of rebellion was raging throughout the Southland, threatening to destroy the Union, he responded with patriotic fervor to the call for volunteers, and in some of the bloodiest battles for which that great war was noted proved his loyalty to the government he loved so well. During a useful life in the region where he lives he has labored diligently to promote the inter-

ests of the people, while at the same time insuring his own welfare. He bore his full share in the great task of opening up the Flathead country to civiliza- tion, coming here at a time when the danger from Indians and wild animals was still a reality. Through the period of early development he was an im- portant factor in the improvement and advancement of material, civic and moral affairs.

Thomas M. Collins was born in Franklin County, Vermont, and is the son of Thomas and Margaret Collins. Early in life he was taken to Clinton County, New York, where he was reared, and he secured his education in the public schools of Chazy in that county. On July 29, 1861, when seventeen years of age, he enlisted at Burlington, Vermont, in defense of the Union. He enlisted as a musician and was assigned as bugler to Company H, Four- teenth Regiment, United States Infantry. This com- mand was assigned to the First Brigade, Second

Thomas M Collina mrs JIM Collins

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Division, Fifth Army Corps, and became a part of the great Army of the Potomac. Mr. Collins took part in sixteen major engagements, and in the seven days battle in the Peninsular, under General McClel- lan, he lost a brother, who was shot down at his side. On July 29, 1864, in front of Petersburg, Mr. Collins received an honorable discharge because of the expiration of his period of enlistment, and re- turned to his home in Ellenburg, New York. His next venture was as a sailor on the high seas, going on the Minerva Smith, a whaler, from New Bedford, Massachusetts. He made two voyages on the whaler, and then for six months he was a member of the crew of the revenue cutter Miami, which was stationed at Newport, Rhode Island. This boat had the distinction of having been used by President Lincoln as his pleasure yacht while in the presidency. Mr. Collins was next in the merchant service, going around Cape Horn to San Francisco. There, after six years service on the water, he quit the sea and went to Prescott, Arizona, where for a time he followed mining and prospecting. From there he went to Pioche, Nevada, where he also prospected and mined. He next located in the min- ing camp at Frisco, Utah, where he became superin- tendent of the noted "Cerro Gordo" mine. Some time later, after having devoted himself to mining and prospecting for eighteen years, he moved to Anaconda, Montana, where he was employed in the great smelter works for five years. He also engaged in the real estate business there, erecting houses and selling them, but he sold out there and moved to the Flathead country, where in 1886, he home- steaded a farm. Here during the years following he devoted himself to the improvement and culti- vation of this ranch, which he maintained at a high state of improvement, the residence and farm build- ings being of a substantial and attractive character, while he ever followed up-to-date and progressive methods in his operations. Eventually he sold out there and moved into the Town of Kalispell, where he bought a comfortable home and where he is quietly spending the evening of his life, in com- fortable enjoyment of that rest which he has richly earned.

While a resident of Frisco, Utah, Mr. Collins was married to Fannie Stewart, and to them were born five children, Charles Clinton, William Wilkie, Thomas M., Jr., Fannie J. and Harold. Mr. Collins suffered the loss of his first wife by death, and some years later he was married to Mrs. Edward True- man. Her maiden name was Margaret Anna Inglis, the daughter of William and Fannie (Wright) Inglis, of Bolivar, Missouri. In that place she was reared and educated until ten years of age, when she accompanied an aunt to New Mexico. Later she accompanied her to Denver, Colorado, thence to Laramie, Wyoming, and Deadwood, Black Hills, South Dakota. Some time later, in Nevada, she was married to Edward B. Trueman, a mine owner. Later they moved to Montana, where Mr. Trueman engaged in mining. They became the parents of four children, namely: Henry Edward, Bertha Idela, Raymond Inglis and Edward Benton. In 1883 they came to the Flathead Valley to engage in farming. They left Anaconda with 2,000 head of cattle and 500 head of horses, most of which were sold on the way. They became the owners of three ranches, a part of their land comprising the site of the future City of Kalispell, and at that time Missoula was the near- est postoffice. But little improvement had been effected in the Flathead country, settlers being widely separated, while Indians were frequent callers at the settlers' cabins and wild bears were numerous. The death of Mr. Trueman occurred about fifteen

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 172

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