Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 179

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 179

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Nancy Tarter was one of the twelve children of Andrew and Alfa (Haunschel) Tarter, of Scott County, Virginia. The Tarters (some of the fami- lies wrote their names Darter) were of Scandinavian extraction, and traditionally they traced their de- scendants from the ill-fated Greenland settlements and relief expeditions, c., 1410. The Haunschels and their relatives, the Wetzels, settled in Western Virginia. Living on the frontiers, the Haunschels were mostly exterminated during the Indian wars.

Michael Wininger was married in 1859. The following year he purchased a farm on which he resided for forty-five years. They raised six boys and four girls. McClellan was the oldest, and at the age of fourteen the father was taken with asthma, which rendered him incapable of attending to business for six years. During this time Mc- Clellan managed the farming operations successfully. There was never a mortgage on anything and all bills were duly paid. And the old farm is still owned by the 'family. Of the brothers, Stephen D. resides in Montesano, Washington; I. H. Wininger in Glasgow, Kentucky, and Chris M. in Oakland, California.

From early boyhood Mcclellan Wininger had a desire for books and study. Most of his spare time was given to reading history, travels and the sciences. After he became of age he took several courses in the Normal School and Business College, and taught school four years in his native county. He came to Helena, Montana, in 1887, and worked a while along civil engineering lines. Through polit- ical influences he was appointed one of the guards of the U. S. prison at Deer Lodge, which position he held till April, 1889, when he came to Flathead Valley.

There was an Indian scare at the time, but of no serious consequences. The trouble was mostly caused from whiskey. The Indian when sober is generally peaceable. Later, in September, 1890. Sheriff Houston with. seventy-five volunteers, of which posse McClellan Wininger was secretary. made a raid on the Indians for the purpose of ap- prehending a few miscreants who were afterwards captured and legally executed. This was the last of what might be termed Indian troubles in the valley.

In 1891 he assisted A. A. White and others in ob- taining the Kalispell townsite and was associated with the right of way department of the Great Northern Railway Company, when the line was located through the valley.

MCUtininger

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

Mr. Wininger is a lawyer by profession and was admitted to the bar in 1893. During the panicky years he settled the business of the defunct Globe National Bank of Kalispell. This settlement resulted in a partnership and business relations with V. Simp- son of Winona, Minnesota. The business was prin- cipally loaning money and farming. The loans amounted to about $36,000. The Acme Dairy Farm comprised 1,200 acres of land and several smaller tracts. There were thirty-five milch cows, about two hundred head of cattle in all, mostly Shorthorn. about 20 per cent registered. They propagated thoroughbred Poland-China hogs, over a hundred per year. The greatest number of horses was thirty- six head, some registered Percherons. The grain crop amounted to about 3,000 bushels per year. The largest amount invested was $55,400.

Some loans were made to Coats and Preston, lum- bermen at Lakeview. The enterprise was not a suc- cess. Coats retired from the business. Mr. Preston was accidentally killed in the logging department. It devolved on Mr. Wininger to take the outfit. , Im- provements were made and the business put on a financial basis. Owing to cheap timber and close competition the profits were small. Common lum- ber sold at $7 per thousand. The entire cut during the summer was sold as low as $8 per thousand. The yearly cut stacked in the yard amounted to about $34,000. The cost of the plant, with logs for the next season and lumher on hand, aggregated a $65,000 investment. During the progress of this operation, 1904, the Great Northern Railway Com- pany removed their line. And in reparation the railroad company purchased the mill, lumber on hand and the standing timber within two miles thereof. The amount received covered all the ex- penses and left a profit of about $16,000 for the five years' experience in the lumber business.

Mr. Wininger took an active part in progressive farming. He was secretary of the Farmers' Board of Trade, a farmers' organization affecting a better- ment of conditions. He first built and promoted the farm telephone lines. In October, 1905, he headed a committee of farmers and investigated the sugar beet industry in Utah and Idaho with the object in view of growing them in this valley. It required irrigation and labor that the farmers here were unwilling to furnish. After the death of Mr. Simpson the farming enterprise was settled, in 1906, the junior partner realizing something over $16,000 profits for the eight years' transactions.

On March 26, 1907, he took over the business of the Farmers Mercantile Company and operated it for three years, but with not much success. He closed out the business and constructed a building called Wininger Block, which he now owns and in which he resides in Kalispell.

Retiring from the strenuous life at the age of fifty, he devoted his time to the study of the sciences, history and travels. For several years he has been an associate member of the Society of Psychic Research, and has perused the theories of the various religions of the world. He is a firm believer of the evolution of all animal life. He works upon the theory that human life has been millions of years in developing from the lowest forms of vitality to the present condition and that the individuality will continue after corporal ex- tinction. He has a library of several thousand select volumes of books. There are specialties on biology. botany, geology, mineralogy, astronomy, etc. There is a fine collection of mineral specimens, relics, etc., where prospectors and those interested are welcome to investigate.

JOHN METCALF. History and biography for the most part record the lives of only those who have attained military, political or literary distinction, or who in any other career have passed through ex- traordinary vicissitudes of fortune. But the names of men who have distinguished themselves in their day and generation for the possession of those quali- ties of character which mainly contribute to the suc- cess of private life and to the public stability-of men who, withont brilliant talents have been exem- plary in all their personal and social relations, and enjoyed the respect, esteem and confidence of those around them-ought not be allowed to perish, for all are benefited by the delineation of those traits of character which find scope and exercise in the com- mon walks of life. Among this class of citizens in Flathead County is John Metcalf, formerly an active and successful ranchman and efficient public official who is now retired from active life and living in the Town of Kalispell. His life history has been distinguished by the most substantial qualities of character and has exhibited a long and creditable career of private industry, performed with modera- tion and crowned with success, and he today occu- pies an enviable position in the esteem of the com- munity.

John Metcalf is a native son of the old Hoosier State, having been born in Kosciusko County, In- diana, the son of Joseph and Sarah Metcalf. He was reared in his native community and received a good practical education in the public schools of his native county. Subsequently he moved to Iowa. where he engaged in farming for many years and in which his labors were rewarded with a fair measure of success. Eventually he came to Montana and located at LaSalle, where he conducted farming operations and also operated a dairy until 1916, when Mr. and Mrs. Metcalf decided that the time had come when they ought to retire from the labors and responsibilities of ranch life and enjoy the rest which their years of activity had entitled them. Coming to Kalispell, they bought a modern, comfort- able and attractive residence on Wyoming Street, where they are now living.

John Metcalf was married to Margaret Eleanor Henry, a native of Marion County, Iowa, and the daughter of John and Sarah (Johnston) Henry. Mrs. Metcalf received her elementary education in the public schools of her home community, com- pleting her studies in the Iowa Central University at Pella. She is a woman of more than ordinary cul- ture, being a close reader and intelligent thinker on the questions of the day, and she has clearly defined opinions on the great issues which have held a vital relation to the American people. She has for many years been an active and enthusiastic member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, now holding a life membership in that society, and she was the first president of the society at LaSalle, Montana. She rejoices in the fact that she has been one of that great army of white-ribbon women through whose efforts principally John Bar- leycorn has been dethroned and sent to his doom. She has instilled in her children the same principles of righteousness and justice which she has herself been working and praying for through the years.

To Mr. and Mrs. Metcalf the following children have been born: Joseph, Miles J., Morris, John H., Sarah S., S. D., R. M., E. Grace, V. P., I. E., F. F. and two who died in infancy. Joseph, who lives at Skapoose, Oregon, was married to Daisy Lyons, of Pleasantville, Iowa, and they have three children, Leanore, Mary and Guy; Miles J. was married to Grace Warnock, and they have two children, Mel-

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vin E. and Rodger; Morris was married to Jessie Reynolds, and they have one son, Lloyd; John H. was married to Serena Snyder, and they have four children, Raymond, John, Grace and Margaret E .; Sarah became the wife of S. D. Caffrey, and they have two daughters, Elsie and Gladys; Grace became the wife of Al Childers, and they have two children, Margaret E. and Frederick A .; V. P. was married to Susan McGregor, and they have two children, Bernard and Gertrude; I. E., who was married to Ida Bailey, is an ordained minister in the Christian Church, but is now 'a student in Spokane University at Spokane, Washington; F. F. is a veteran of the World war, having served eighteen months in France. He was one of the survivors of the ill- fated "Tuscania," and was a member of the Seven- teenth Company, Sixth Battalion, Twentieth Engi- neers. He was promoted to the rank of corporal and received his honorable discharge at the Wyoming Gamp. Mrs. Metcalf herself comes of illustrious lineage, being a descendant of Patrick Henry, one of the earliest and greatest of the American patriots, and because of this fact she is entitled to and enjoys honorary membership in that great society, the Daughters of the American Revolution. This order has a splendid chapter at Kalispell, named after the noted Flathead Indian chief, Inneas.

In matters religious Mrs. Metcalf has been a member of the Christian Church since the age of sixteen years, and is now identified with that society at Kalispell. Politically she is broad in her views. not being bound by party ties, but prefers giving her support to those men and measures which in her opinion will be of greatest benefit to the great- est number. Always calm and dignified, never de- monstrative, her life has been, nevertheless, a per- sistent plea, more by precept and example than by public action or written or spoken word, for the purity and grandeur of right principles and the beauty and elevation of wholesome character. She is a woman of many fine personal qualities and is held in the highest esteem by all who know her.

F. W. BUCKSEN was one of the first postmasters at Kalispell, and later until he retired, was a promi- nent merchant in that city. Mr. Bucksen is an old time Montana resident, for many years having been identified with the frontier outpost of Fort Benton, and was on the ground when Kalispell came into being.

He was born at Cumberland, Maryland, a son of William H. and Elizabeth (Rosenmerkle) Bucksen. The family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1870, and F. W. Bucksen second among four children, finished his education in the public schools of that city. In 1878 he came up the Missouri River from St. Louis to Fort Benton, Montana, at that time the farthest northern outpost of civilization in Mon- tana. He lived there until 1891, and knew inti- mately the activities and the historical personalities associated with old Fort Benton. When he first located there the nearest railroad was Corinne, Utah, and at Bismarck, North Dakota.

Mr. Bucksen came into the Flathead country in 1891, and for a time was in the Town of Demersville, until that pioneer settlement was moved and merged with the present City of Kalispell. Mr. Bucksen served as postmaster of Kalispell from 1893 to 1897, and after that engaged in general merchandising.

Mr. Bucksen is unmarried. He enjoys a large circle of friends, and for nearly thirty years has been looked upon as one of the men whose influence has counted most in behalf of every advance move- ment in this city. He has usually supported the democratic party in politics.

W. R. TWINING. While he now lives practically retired from business responsibilities, W. R. Twining for many years was a leading building contractor at Kalispell, and many of the substantial structures, business houses as well as homes that lend attractive- ness to the city are the product of his skill and business organization which he perfected and main- tained.

Well known among the citizenship of the Flathead Valley, Mr. Twining was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in 1855. His birthplace was on Neschaminey Creek, twenty miles north of Philadel- phia. The Twinings are one of the oldest of Ameri- can families, having come over from England at the time of the Mayflower. In Mr. Twining's library at Kalispell is an elaborate record of the family his- tory, compiled by Thomas J. Twining of Fort Wayne, Indiana. This volume shows 7,000 names in the Twining genealogy. During a residence of nearly three centuries in America many of the Twinings have achieved prominence in business, the professions and in politics. Of the present genera- tion perhaps the most notable is Nathan C. Twining, a distinguished member of the United States Navy, who during the World war was Chief of Staff to the Vice Admiral commanding the United States naval forces in European waters. Another member of the family is Arthur Twining Hadley, president of Yale University. The original Twinings were of Quaker faith, and the object of their immigration to America was to find a refuge for religious worship.

W. R. Twining, whose parents were Amos H. and Mary (Tomlinson) Twining, was educated in the public schools of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He married Emma Croasdale, who passed away in 1905. She was a daughter of Austin and Mary Croasdale. As a youth he learned the trade of carpenter, and made that trade the basis of his profession and business. Seeking the broader opportunities of the West, he came out to Montana and was one of the early building contractors to locate at Kalispell. A long record of important contracts handled by him in the valley might be compiled. He was superin- tendent during the erection of the Mcknight Block, one of the finest in the city. He also constructed the Buffalo Block, the office building of the Montana Power Company, the Dillon Hotel, a portion of Whipp's Block, and has also erected a number of buildings on his own account, including Stoop's Garage.

Along with a busy career he has not been unmind- ful of the public interests, and for four years was a member of the city council. He was also a member of the Carnegie Library Building Board. While on the city council he earned much credit by the influ- ences he directed toward ridding the city of unde- sirable characters. His public spirit has led him into every movement for the advancement and im- provement of the city. He and his wife give their political support to the republican party. Mr. Twin- ing is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

For his present wife he married at Spokane, Wash- ington, Mrs. Christine M. Lillevig, the widow of John P. Lillevig .. She was born at Minneapolis. a daughter of Andrew and Carrie Pedersen. She was eight years of age when her parents moved to Montana, and she grew up in Kalispell, finishing her education in the public schools of that city. By her former marriage she has a son, Carlyle, now a student in the Kalispell High School. Mr. and Mrs. Twining have a son, Walmsley Ridge, who was born January 10, 1915. During the World war Mrs. Twining took a very active part in the work of the Red Cross Chapter. She is a member of the Christian

MR. AND MRS. W. H. REITER AND HOME

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Science Church, belongs to Crescent Lodge No. 22 of the Rebekahs, and is color bearer of the Woman's Relief Corps. Mr. and Mrs. Twining own an attract- ive summer home on Bitter Root Lake, and the sum- mer season is passed altogether in that wonderful environment. They keep a motor launch, and Mr. Twining seldom neglects an opportunity to hunt and fish. As a boy those sports greatly attracted him, though he had but little opportunity to pursue the sport in the closely settled districts of the East. One of the chief sources of his enjoyment of Montana residence is the opportunity it gives for every pleas- ure and sport on the large scale possible in nature's wonderland.

AUGUST HELLER, a retired wholesale merchant and rancher at Kalispell, has spent nearly all his life close to the frontier, far out with the advance guard of civilization, and for years doing the work of the pioneer.

He was born at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, then a western outpost, son of Albert and Caroline (Myers) Heller. In 1861 the Heller family crossed the plains to California, going by covered wagon. Their first stop was at The Dalles, Oregon, thence to Portland, by sea to San Francisco, and on down the coast to San Pedro and establishing their home in Los Angeles. August Heller spent a number of his youthful years in Los Angeles, and while there acquired a fluent command of the Spanish language. He learned the butcher's trade, and on account of his knowledge of Spanish was engaged by a business man to go to Mexico and buy cattle. For a time he lived at Tombstone, Arizona, and met and knew many of the characters that made that locality famous. The original mines at Tombstone were located by the Sheflin brothers according to Mr. Heller. The Sheflins had been scouts with the United States army. One year after they had dis- covered the site an agent who was leaving the fron- tier said to Mr. Sheflin "I guess we will see your tombstone here when we come back." Afterward Mr. Sheflin decided to call the place Tombstone. Sheflin subsequently went to Alaska, engaged in mining, and while there was taken ill and on his deathbed requested that he be carried back and buried at Tombstone. His brother and friends car- ried out his wishes.

From Tombstone Mr. Heller went into Mexico as an interpreter for a noted cattleman of that time, John Slaughter. His next experiences were at Bishop Creek, California, where he worked in the butcher business, then returned to Los Angeles, and subsequently moved to Portland, Oregon. He and his father were the first meat packers to engage in business at Spokane. Mr. Heller helped drive the first cattle over the trails to the Coeur d'Alene coun- try of Idaho and from there came to Montana. The night following his arrival in Helena occurred the hanging of Con Murphy, a noted cattle rustler. Mr. Heller went on to Butte, worked at his trade, and at Bozeman bought a saddle horse and went to White Sulphur Springs, opening a butcher business at Neihart. He was at Great Falls, where Paris Gibson had just laid out a town, and was urged to purchase lots, but ridiculed the idea, being unable to foresee the development of the future and having no faith in the building of a railroad through there. Subsequently he filed on a ranch at Harlan, Mon- tana, and while there met David R. McGinnis, emi- gration agent for the Great Northern. He acquired two of the best ranches in the country, but after selling out moved to Fort Benton and resuming his trade followed along with the construction of the

Great Northern into the Great Flathead Valley, where he has since made his permanent home.

Mr. Heller married Miss Reta Heinze, a native of Germany. They have one daughter, Carrie Hel- ler, who was educated in the Kalispell High School, also in colleges at Spokane, and has been carefully reared at home and given the best advantages of school and the world of culture.

Mr. Heller is one of the progressive and public spirited citizens of the Flathead Valley, always ready to support forward movements. He gives his ballot to the man best fitted for office.

E. J. GREEN, auditor of Flathead County, and a ranchman of this region, is one of the representa- tive men of Montana. He was born in Kentucky, a son of J. B. and Mary C. (Taylor) Green. The Green family is of English origin, and the Taylors belonged to the same family as President Taylor and Governor W. E. Taylor of Kentucky. Of the nine children of his parents, E. J. Green was the third in order of birth. He attended the Southern Normal Schools of Huntington, Tennessee, and Bowling Green, Kentucky, and was graduated from the Bowling Green Business College. His brother, R. P. Green is now one of the leading educators of Kentucky, who specialized in mathematics and Greek and Latin. He was chosen by his fellow educators to be president of the Kentucky Educa- tional Association, and is recognized as one of the leading figures in the educational life of his native state.

E. J. Green was married to Florence Derington, a daughter of J. H. and Mary Derington, of Florence Station, Kentucky, and a niece of Judge Reed and J. D. Parks, a leading attorney of Paducah, Ken- tucky. Mr. and Mrs. Green became the parents of three children, namely: Mary Helen, who died when thirteen months old, Edward Derington and Florence Jean.

In 1909 Mr. Green came to Flathead County and became bookkeeper of the Farmers Protective Asso- ciation at Kalispell, holding that position until 1914, when he was elected county clerk and recorder on the progressive ticket, and was re-elected in 1916 on the republican ticket. In 1918 he was elected county auditor. Mr. and Mrs. Green and their chil- dren are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Kalispell. He is an Odd Fellow and she a Re- bekah, and both stand high in their orders. In addition to his other interests Mr. Green owns a valuable ranch six miles out of Kalispell and is a man of comfortable means. As a private citizen and public official Mr. Green measures up to the highest standards of American manhood, and is thoroughly reliable in every respect. During the late war he served as a member of the exemption board for his county, thus rendering valuable service to his Gov- ernment, and otherwise took part in the war work of this neighborhood. Both he and Mrs. Green stand very high in popular estimation, and have a host of friends to whom they dispense a delightful hospitality at their charming home.

W. H. REITER, who at the age of eighty-five is still enjoying life and with his good wife resides in an attractive home at Kalispell, is a pioneer of the great Northwest, having come to Idaho Territory in the '6os and was one of the first settlers in Kalispell.

Mr. Reiter was born at Niles, Ohio, September 8, 1835, son of Manassa and Eliza (White) Reiter, his mother being of English ancestry. Her Grandfather White was employed by the English Government to make banknote paper.

W. H. Reiter spent his boyhood at Niles, and his

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father's home was only two doors from that of the disappointments. It is because the men who have Mckinley home. W. H. Reiter and the late William achieved a permanent success in Montana have come here with a definite purpose, that of becoming valua- able factors in the communities in which they locate, and have let nothing stand in the way of reaching their goal, that the state has advanced so rapidly. One of the well worth-while citizens of Augusta, who exemplifies in his life and prosperity the facts set forth in the above, is Earl Ogden, cashier of the Peoples Bank of Augusta and a rancher upon an extensive scale. Mckinley were playmates and schoolmates. Mr. Reiter recalls some of the early efforts of William Mckinley at speech making. Mr. Reiter was sev- eral years older and frequently would stand behind Mckinley and prompt him. Mckinley's father was an ironmaker at Niles and his business was ruined because of the competition of foreign products dur- ing the free trade regime. It was this, asserts Mr. Reiter, that gave William McKinley his lifelong ardor for the protective principle, eventually re- sulting in the famous Mckinley Tariff Act of the gos, the most complete expression of protective principles in American economic history.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 179

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