Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 175

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 175

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While he was one of the hard working members of his profession at Twin Bridges he took a deep interest in local politics as a republican, was elected a member of the Legislature in 1910, was chosen mayor of the city in 1912, and also served as chair-

man of the Twin Bridges School Board and as a member of the City Council. He is active in the various medical societies, is a Mason, Elk and Mac- cabee, and is affiliated with several social organiza- tions at Helena.

October 20, 1897, at Marysville, he married Adele M. Dillon, daughter of a pioneer family of Marys- ville, Patrick B. and Mary Dillon. Doctor and Mrs. Jordan have two children, Arthur and Eliza- beth.

SIDNEY MILLER, who is registrar of state lands of Montana, has been a resident of Montana through- out the period of statehood and six months prior to that period, and has long been prominent in official affairs in Lewis and Clark County.

Mr. Miller was born on a farm in Andrew County, Missouri, March 2, 1866. His father, Frederick T. Miller, who for a brief period in the '60s was en- gaged in the freighting and transportation business to Virginia City, Montana, was born in Callaway County, Missouri, in 1832. He early moved to Northwest Missouri, locating on a farm in Andrew County, but had many interesting experiences and travels in the West. He first went out to California in 1852, followed placer mining in that state, and 'also worked in the mines around Jacksonville, Ore- gon. He spent seven years in the far West and enjoyed more than the average success of miners. He then went back to Andrew County, Missouri, married. and for a year or two engaged in the overland freighting business at Denver, Colorado. It was in this period of his career, during the early '6os, that he brought a load of supplies up to the pioneer mining camps of Montana, selling his goods and his outfit at Virginia City. He then returned to Andrew County, Missouri, and was satisfied with the quiet environment and duties of a farm. He died in Andrew County in 1898. He was a demo- crat and a member of the Christian Church. Fred- erick T. Miller married Christina Kelley, who was born in Andrew County in 1842 and died there in 1908. They were the parents of four children : Elvina, wife of Louis E. Nuckles, a farmer in An- drew County ; Sidney; Andrew O., who lives on the old homestead farm in Missouri, and Clifford C., also an Andrew County farmer.

Sidney Miller attended the rural schools of An- drew County and graduated in 1886 from the Stan- berry Normal School at Stanberry, Missouri. Dur- ing the next year he taught at Union Star, Missouri, and then took a special course in shorthand at Stan- berry, and put his newly acquired art to use as an employe of the Tootle-Housa Dry Goods Company, now Tootle, Wheeler & Motter Company, at St. Joseph, Missouri.

Mr. Miller came to Montana in March, 1889. For the first two years he was an employe of John T. Murphy, a Helena grocer, and then for a year was with an abstract company. For nearly thirty years Mr. Miller has been an efficient and capable public servant. From 1892 to 1900 he served as deputy county clerk and recorder of Lewis and Clark County. He was elected chief of that office in 1900, re-elected in 1902, and serving through 1904. In the meantime, in the fall of 1904, he was elected clerk of the District Court for Lewis and Clark County and his four-year term in that office began January 1, 1905. From 1909 to 1913 he was deputy assessor, and in the latter year was appointed by Governor S. V. Stewart as registrar of state lands, with offices in the State Capitol. Mr. Miller is a democrat.

He and his family reside in a modern home at 835 Breckenridge Street. He married at Helena in

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1894 Miss Loretta Finnerty, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Finnerty, deceased. Her father was a New York State farmer. Mrs. Miller died at Helena in 1910, the mother of two children, Sidney Fred and Ethel Loretta. The son, after graduating with the A. B. degree from the University of Wisconsin, enlisted in 1918 and served overseas in France a year, being with the Machine Gun Company of the Twenty-Seventh Division. He was mustered out in May, 1919, and is now a student of law at Harvard University. The daughter, Ethel, is in the eighth grade of St. Vincent's Academy at Helena.

BERT E. WILEY, M. D. Talent, inclination, phys- ical and mental equipment, all combine to point the way of Doctor Wiley to specialization and unusual success in the field of medicine and surgery. He came to Montana in 1903 and in 1917 located at Helena, where he is the eye, ear, nose and throat specialist in the Helena Clinic, comprising Drs. Brooke, Lanstrum, Wiley, Jordan, Horsky and Treacy, an organization that probably combines a greater range of abilities in the medical profession than any other in Montana.

Doctor Wiley was born in New Brunswick, Can- ada, June 9, 1876. His grandfather, John Wiley, was born in the north of Ireland in 1812, was a. cabinet maker by trade, and spent most of his life in New Brunswick. He died at Fredericton, that province, in 1882. He married a Miss Todd in Ire- land, a native of that country. Three of their chil- dren are still living: Sarah, wife of A. B. Ather- ton, a retired surgeon of San Diego, California; Grace, wife of Henry Good, a clergyman, living near Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and John M.

John M. Wiley was born at Fredericton in 1852 and is still in business as a druggist in that city, an occupation he has followed many years. He is a conservative in politics and a member of the Methodist Church. John M. Wiley married Mar- garet Macdonald, who was born in New Brunswick in 1856. Doctor Wiley is the oldest of their four children: Sarah is the wife of William Cooper, a lumber dealer at Kansas City, Missouri; Harold is a druggist at Missoula, Montana, and Margaret is the wife of a real estate and insurance man at Fred- ericton.

Bert E. Wiley acquired a public school education at Fredericton, graduating from high school in 1892, and in 1896 completed his literary education in the University of New Brunswick. He took his medical course at McGill University in Montreal, receiving his degree M. D., C. M. in 1901. He was a member of the Delta Upsilon college fraternity. After practicing for a year at Fredericton Doctor Wiley came west to Montana in the spring of 1903 and for nearly fifteen years practiced medicine with his home at Kalispell. In the early years he was associated with his uncle, the late Dr. A. D. Mac- donald. Determining to specialize, Doctor Wiley went abroad in 1909, and for two years availed him- self of all the splendid opportunities for study and clinical work on the subject of the eye, ear, nose and throat. Part of that time he was house surgeon in the London Central Ear, Nose and Throat Hos- pital, also in the Royal Ophthalmic Hospital, and spent six months in post-graduate work in Vienna. Returning to this country in 1911, he continued his work along special lines in Kalispell for six years, and in 1917 removed to Helena, becoming associated with the firm of which he is a member today. His partners are all men of the highest ability and he handles the work of the firm in eye, ear, nose and throat.

Doctor Wiley is a republican, is affiliated with

Kalispell Lodge No. 42, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Kalispell Chapter No. 13, Royal Arch Masons; Cyrene Commandery No. 12, Knights Templar; Helena Consistory No. 3, of the Scottish Rite, and Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of the Montana Club of Helena and the Helena Rotary Club. He married at Helena in 1918 Mrs. Grace (See) Scott, a native of Cincin- nati, Ohio, who has resided in Helena for the past fifteen years.

H. SOL HEPNER was the first boy to receive a high school diploma from the Helena High School and graduate with the class of 1885. Some ten years later he opened an office and began making his abilities and services known as a lawyer. He has been steadily engaged in a growing practice as a lawyer nearly twenty-five years, and has long en- joyed an enviable rank at the Helena bar.

Mr. Hepner was born in Russia, at Tzaritzin, February 25, 1869, son of Barnett H. and Bertha (Maizel) Hepner. The business qualifications and the fine character of Barnett Hepner are well attested in Helena. In his early career in Russia he did considerable railroad contracting. Leaving his wife and children behind, he came to America in 1871, living in Pennsylvania and for several years in Colo- rado. In 1879 he opened a clothing store at Helena. He was one of the early merchants of that city and gave his personal supervision to his business until his death in 1908. He had sent for his family, who arrived and joined him at Helena in 1882. Of the three children H. Sol is the only son. The daughters are Jennie, wife of Louis Weigel, and Luba, wife of Sylvain Levy.

H. Sol Hepner was thirteen years of age when he came to this country. In the meantime he had made good use of the opportunities afforded by the Imperial Pro-Gymnasium at Tzaritzin, Russia, and continued his education in the public schools of America, rapidly becoming proficient in the Eng- lish language. After graduating from high school as above noted he went to work in the Montana National Bank, and gave dutiful attention to his responsibilities there for several years. In 1889 he entered the law school of the University of Mich- igan, and was gradnated two years later. He was admitted to the bar in 1892 and after working in several law offices began practice at Helena. Mr. Hepner still occupies his offices in the Union Bank Building, where his clients have sought his profes- sional services for many years. He has enjoyed political honors, and has rendered service in every office he has held. From 1897 to 1899 he represented his home county in the State Legislature and in 1909-10 was county prosecuting attorney for Lewis and Clark County. He was a candidate for the dis- trict bench in 1900. He served as city attorney of Helena during 1911-12. Politically he is a demo- crat.

For over a year during the World war Mr. Hep- ner practically sacrificed his private practice and de- voted his time and abilities to the Government. The President appointed him in January, 1918, a mem- ber of District Exemption Board No. 1 for Mon- tana, with jurisdiction over twenty-six county and City of Butte local exemption boards. Elected chairman, he gave his time to this exacting service until the close of the war and received his honor- able discharge March 31, 1919. In the various war auxiliary movements, such as the Liberty Loan. Red Cross, Young Men's Christian Association, United War Work and other drives, he was also extremely liberal with both time and personal means, serving on all of these as captain of teams.

Mr. Hepner is one of the prominent Masons of

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

the State of Montana and has also been active in other fraternal organizations. In October, 1919, he attained the distinctive honor of the thirty-third degree in Scottish Rite Masonry. He served as grand master of the Grand Lodge of Masons in Montana in 1903-04, is a past grand patron of the Order of the Eastern Star, is past thrice illustrious grand mas- ter of the Royal and Select Masters, and is a past potentate of Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He has also held the position of head adviser in the head camp of the Pacific Jurisdiction of the Wood- men of the World, is a past exalted ruler of Helena Lodge No. 193 of Elks, and is a past noble grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

June 6, 1899, Mr. Hepner married Josephine Israel. Mrs. Hepner is a native of Newark, New Jersey, who came to Helena in 1879 with her parents. She has also taken an active part in fraternal affairs, having been honored by being elected worthy grand matron of the Grand Chapter, Order of Eastern Star of Montana. On March 20, 1920, a second chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star was or- ganized in Helena and by unanimous vote was named Josephine Hepner Chapter. She has served in various civic capacities and is one of the best known and most beloved women in the state. At present she is vice president of the Montana Chil- dren's Home Society and is actively connected with and on the board of directors of the Civic Club of Helena, and was the first woman ever appointed on the Public Library Board of Helena. Mr. and Mrs. Hepner have two children, Claire Algeria, born in 1900, and Harold Steffan, born in 1904. The daugh- ter is now a junior in Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois, while the son is in the junior class of the Helena High School.

WILLIAM WELLMAN is now living retired at White Sulphur Springs, but has been very closely asso- ciated with the development of this region, and the Wellman addition to the city was made by him from a small ranch he owned on the outskirts. Prior to his retirement he was actively engaged in a harness business, and is held in the highest esteem by his fellow townsmen as a good citizen and upright man.

William Wellman was born at Quincy, Illinois, March 25, 1844, a son of William and Sophia Well- man, the former of whom was born in Germany in 1819, and died in 1902, at the age of eighty-three years, and the latter, who was also a native of Germany, was born in 1822 and died in 1905. They were married in Germany, and nine children resulted of their union, six of whom are now living, William Wellman being the fourth. The first child was born while the parents were crossing the ocean on a sailing vessel from Germany to the United States. They landed at New Orleans, Louisiana, and came up the Mississippi River to Quincy, Illinois, where the father worked at his trade of blacksmith, and there died. He was a democrat in politics, and a Roman Catholic in religions faith.

William Wellman, the younger, attended the pub- lic schools of Quincy, Illinois, and since leaving school has improved himself by self-instruction. He learned the harnessmaking trade in his native city, and leaving it in 1868, found employment at his trade at Ottumwa, Iowa, for about five years. His next change brought him further west to Freemont, Nebraska, where he spent six years, and then spent about two years at Denver, Colorado. Albuquerque, New Mexico, next attracted his attention, but he only remained there for six months, and then re- turned to Fremont, Nebraska. In 1883 he came to Montana Territory, and was at Bozeman for six

months, and for the same length of time at Helena and Miles City, and then he located permanently at White Sulphur Springs, embarking in the harness business, carrying it on until his retirement in 1917. In politics he is a democrat, although not bound down by party ties, as he prefers to choose his own man.

On February 2, 1891, Mr. Wellman was married to Nellie Weaver, born in Clay County, Missouri. On September 17, 1892, Mrs. Wellman bought eighty acres of land adjoining White Sulphur Springs, later adding seventeen acres. This property the Wellmans have divided into town lots, on which comfortable residences are being built. Both Mr. and Mrs. Well- man are excellent people and they deserve the high esteem in which they are held.

MISS MAY TRUMPER. To her duties as state super- intendent of public instruction Miss Trumper brings an experience of twenty years as a Montana edu- cator, and also a singular zeal and resolution and a broad vision as to the objects and responsibilities of the public school system and her own state office.

Miss Trumper was born at Jeffersonville, Ohio, a daughter of Samuel P. and Maria Louisa (Hidy) Trumper. She acquired her early education in the public schools of London, Ohio, and at intervals in her teaching career has kept in touch with advanced thought as expressed at some of the leading insti- tutions of higher education in the country. She did her early college work in Granville College in Ohio, and has also attended the Harvard University Sum- mer School, the University of California, and re- ceived her degree Bachelor of Science from Co- lumbia University in 1917.

Miss Trumper began teaching in rural schools in Madison County and afterward at Granville, Ohio, as an instructor in the high school, was principal of the high school at Bryan, Ohio, and in 1899 came to Montana and for several years was in the Flat- head County High School at Kalispell. She was elected and served eight years as county superin- tendent of schools of Flathead County, filling that office from 1907 to 1915. She was elected four times on the republican ticket. In 1916 she was elected state superintendent of public instruction, her of- ficial duties beginning in 1917 and her term closing in 1921.

By virtue of this state office she is also a member of the State Board of Education, the State Land Board and the State Board of Educational Ex- aminers. Her personal staff at the capital includes a deputy superintendent, two rural school supervisors. one high school supervisor, and one director of vocational education.

Since coming to Montana Miss Trumper has wit- nessed wonderful strides in the evolution of a com- plete educational program. While all of this is a matter of proper pride to Montana people, much yet remains to be done, not only in increasing the efficiency of the many splendidly equipped schools in the larger cities and more populous counties, but particularly in extending the facilities of popular education to remote districts. Miss Trumper since entering office has given this problem a great deal of thought and careful study, and has kept the im- perative needs of rural districts before the educa- tional authorities to the utmost extent of her influ- ence. Miss Trumper attends the Episcopal Church.

EDMUND CURTIS FOLLENSBY. While his business as proprietor of the Auto-Election Station at Helena is a very particular service widely appreciated by the owners of motor cars in the capital city, Mr. Follensby has a much broader technical knowledge

MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM WELLMAN, WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, MONTANA

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

of mechanics than that involved in the motor car industry. He has been a machinist since early man- hood, and has been called upon for some of the most exacting and difficult work of that profession.

Mr. Follensby was born at North Concord, Ver- mont, June 10, 1882, and is of the old New England ancestry. His grandfather was Frank Follensby, who died at Southboro, Massachusetts, in 1894. The father was Curtis C. Follensby, who was born at Southboro in 1854, was educated in his native town, and as a boy began earning his own living. His early experiences were in the lumber woods of New Hampshire and Vermont. He married at Sher- brooke in the Province of Quebec, and after his marriage lived at North Concord, Vermont, where he owned two sawmills. Both these plants were de- stroyed by fire, and in 1889 he bought a mill at St. Johnsbury, Vermont, in partnership with W. L. Rus- sell, who had married his sister, Lavina. Curtis C. Follensby was a very successful business man at St. Johnsbury, served as selectman of the town for many years, and took a deep interest in doing what good he could in a civic way to his community. He was an active member of the Masonic fraternity and a republican in politics. He died at St. Johns- bury October 10, 1914. His brother, Lorenzo Fol- lensby, served for twenty-four years as sheriff at Whitefield, New Hampshire. C. C. Follensby mar- ried Ellen Bailey, who was born at Sherbrooke, Quebec, January 13, 1849, and is still living at St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Edmund C. is the oldest of her four children. Maude E. holds a secretarial position in New York City. Bailey F. operates a mill and the extensive lumber business left by his father at St. Johnsbury. Isabelle F. is the wife of Ellsbree D. Locke, a traveling salesman, their home being, at 1762 Beacon Street, Waban, Massachu- setts.

Edmund Curtis Follensby was reared in a good home and had every encouragement to make the best of his talents and abilities. His education was completed when he was about sixteen years of age, concluding with a course in the high school at St. Johnsbury. For two and a half years he was an apprentice machinist in the factory of the E. and T. Fairbanks Scale Factory. Another six months were spent with a shop at St. Johnsbury which made a specialty of repairing all kinds of' sawmill machinery. His work as a machinist had an interesting variation when he was employed for six months in the woods of Vermont operating a portable sawmill for his father's estate under the name of the Russell, Fol- lensby & Peck Lumber Company. In order to master motor mechanics he entered an automobile electric station at Worcester, Massachusetts, remaining there a year, and then for one winter resumed the opera- tion of the portable sawmill plant in Vermont. When the mill ceased operation he spent three months in the factory of the Stanley Motor Carriage Com- pany of Newton, Massachusetts, and was then sent on the road by the company as a service man. He was in that work a year, and his duties brought him to Montana June 1, 1906. Resigning from the Stanley Company, he went with the Morris Mining Company at Pony for two years. During the win- ter of 1908-9, with headquarters at Glendive, he drove a Stanley steamer on the mail route for the Yellowstone Stage Company. Late in 1909 he made a business trip to Spokane, and the following winter was spent at Radersburg, Montana, where he set up a number of Fairbanks-Morse gas engines and In- gersoll-Rand air compressors at the mines. From the spring of 1910 until the mines shut down in the fall Mr. Follensby operated a hoisting engine on the hill at Butte for the W. A. Clark interests. The Vol. II-40

Ingersoll-Rand Company then employed him at Vir- ginia City to set up an air compressing plant and sawmill, and after putting both of these into opera- tion he left in the spring of 1911 and came to Helena, soon afterward going to Radersburg, where he in- stalled a hoisting plant operated by gasoline for the Ohio Keating Gold Mining Company. During the summer of 1911 he was again in Helena, and in the early fall became an engineer for the Power Heat- ing Plant of the State Capitol, and held that posi- tion for seven years, until May 1, 1919.

At that date Mr. Follensby opened his auto-electric station, the plant and offices being in the Empson Building. His thorough technical knowledge and broad experience give him the highest qualifications for the service which his station affords. It is not proper to describe it as an ordinary automobile repair shop. The work is rather that of a thorough overhauling, with expert mechanics and facilities for renewing and overhauling the batteries, all the electric generating and starting ignition systems, also the motor, transmission and rear axles, and the plant has facilities for charging batteries on cars without removing them. It is the only business of its kind in Helena and the largest in Western Mon- tana. A complete stock is kept of starting and gen- erator brushes, ignition contact arms, coils and bat- teries.

Mr. Follensby is a democrat in politics and his home is in the Templeton Apartments on Main Street.

PETER SCHIERTS had a great deal of business ex- perience in his native state of Minnesota prior to coming to Helena in 1911, though up to that time experience was his chief capital and his money resources when he reached the capital city of Mon- tana amounted to only $2.40. In nine years he has made the best use of his opportunities and is now sole proprietor of the leading business of its kind in Lewis and Clark County.

Mr. Schierts was born in Wabasha County, Minne- sota, November 28, 1878. His father, Joseph Schierts. and his grandfather, Frank Schierts, were both na- tives of Vienna, Austria, the former born in 1839 and the latter in 1810. Frank Schierts received his early education and was married at Vienna, Austria,. and came to the United States in 1854, settling on a farm in Wisconsin. Later, in 1861, he homesteaded in Wabasha County and lived on his homestead until he retired. Joseph Schierts has been a resident of Wabasha County, Minnesota, since 1856. He was married there and worked as a day laborer to the age of twenty-one. He then homesteaded 160 acres, bought other land and acquired a large farm of 680 acres. He sold that and retired into Wabasha in 1900, where he is still living. His father died at Wabasha in 1892. Joseph Schierts is a Catholic and a democrat in politics. His wife was Elizabeth Roller, who was born in Germany in 1844. Their children are: Frank, a farmer in Wright County, Minnesota ; Mary, who married Frank Graff, a farmer, and both died at Wabasha; Annie is the wife of Henry Tus- haus, a cattleman and farmer in Wabasha County; Kate is the wife of Theodore Peters, a retired farmer and auctioneer at Kellogg, Minnesota; John is a teamster at Wabasha; Joseph is operating a lumber yard and furniture store at Kellogg, Minne- sota; Peter is the seventh in the family; George, the youngest, is an attorney at Anandale, Minne- sota.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 175

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