Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 181

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 181

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The most active part of his career as a rancher was between 1899 and 19II. He owned two ranches, one of 6,800 acres and one of 4,650 acres He sold the larger ranch in 1911 and at the same time dis- posed of the bulk of his sheep. In April, 1919, he sold his other ranch property. At times he ran from 200 to 2,000 head of cattle, and from 2,000 to 6,000 head of sheep were under his ownership. He was one of the organizers of the Clear Range Sheep Company, and was a director and manager of that company for two and a half years. Since 1912 Mr. Johnston has been chiefly engaged in the buying and shipping of wool, and through him immense quantities of the staple has gone to eastern and other markets.

Mr. Johnston has never been interested in poli- tics or public office. He is a past master of Diamond City Lodge No. 7, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, is affiliated with Harlowton Chapter No. 822, Royal Arch Masons, is a member of Helena Consistory of the Scottish Rite and Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and with his wife is affiliated with Martha Chapter No. II of the Eastern Star. For the past thirty-three years he has been a mem- ber of Castle Mountain Lodge No. 16 of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a past noble grand. Former Governor Norris appointed Mr. Johnston a member of the State Board of Stock Commissioners, and he performed the duties of that office for six years, having been reappointed by Gov- ernor Samuel B. Stewart.

January 24, 1912, Mr. Johnston married Dorothy Cookson, a native of England. They have two chil- dren, Isabel Mary and John Cartwright.

JOHN H. SHOBER. A venerable, honored and highly respected citizen of Helena, John H. Shober won distinction not only as the pioneer attorney of the city, but as one who in his active days kept in touch with the living issues and affairs of the day, and was prominently identified by membership with the legislative bodies of three Middle Western states, Minnesota, Dakota and Montana. Having accomplished a satisfactory work, accumulating a

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competency, he is now living retired from his pro- fessional labors, enjoying at his pleasant home, 112 East Lawrence Street, all the comforts of life. A son of George H. Shober, he was born Jannary 5, 1832, in Loudoun County, Virginia, where his im- migrant ancestor settled in colonial times on com- ing to this country from his native country, Switzer- land. His paternal grandfather, Simon Shober, was born either in Maryland or Loudoun County, Vir- ginia, where he spent the greater part of his life, and where his death occurred.

Born in 1792 in Loudoun County, Virginia, George H. Shober was there reared, educated and married. He taught school 'as a young man and was later en- gaged in agricultural pursuits, and was also a mill owner. He was a veteran of the War of 1812, in which he assisted in the defense of Washington, District of Columbia. Subsequently removing to Ohio, he taught school and farmed in Jefferson County for a time, and was later a resident of Dodge County, Minnesota, his death occurring there at Mantorville, in 1869. He was a democrat in poli- tics, a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, and belonged to the German Reformed Church.

George H. Shober married Susanna Sandbower. who was born in Loudoun County, Virginia, and died in Mantorville, Minnesota. Six children were born into the household thus established, as fol- lows: Herod; Sophia, who died in 1918 in South Dakota; John H., the special subject of this sketch; Elizabeth and Sarah, both of whom died in Kansas, and Mary, whose death occurred at Mantorville, Minnesota. Herod, the eldest child, born in Lou- donn County, Virginia, was a farmer by occupa- tion and followed his chosen work in Ohio, Minne- sota and in Iowa, where he spent the last years of his life. He married Melvina Scott, a life-long resi- dent of Iowa, and they became the parents of four children, one of whom, Hattie M. Shober, became the wife of Col. Cornelius B. Nolan, a prominent attorney of Helena.

John H. Shober, who makes his home with Colonel and Mrs. Nolan, received his elementary education in the rural schools of Greene County, Illinois, and afterward read law at Jacksonville, Illinois, and in Iowa and Minnesota. Going to the Territory of Minnesota in 1854, he was there admitted to the bar in 1857. Prior to that time, in 1855, he was appointed clerk of Dodge County, and served in that capacity for two years, at the same time being clerk of the District Court, a position to which he was appointed by Chief Justice Welch. The pioneer lawyer of that county, he continued in practice there until 1858, when he settled in Bonhomme County, Dakota, and as a lawyer met with success. Influential in public affairs, Mr. Shober was a member of the First Territorial Legislature of Dakota, and presi- dent of the council of that body, and as an active member of the Second Territorial Legislature was chairman of the judiciary committee.

Coming to Montana in 1864, Mr. Shober spent the winter at Montana City and then engaged in mining at Nelson Gulch, just outside of Helena. Locating in Helena in September, 1865, he became one of the foremost attorneys of Lewis and Clark County and continued in the active practice of his profession until 1917, when he retired from active business cares. In 1865 and again in 1867 Mr. Shober was elected district attorney for the Second District of Montana, which at the first election included Edger- ton, Jefferson, Choutean and Gallatin counties, but did not include the latter named county at the sec- ond election. He also served in 1895 as a member

of the fourth session of the Montana State Legis- lature.

During his earlier life Mr. Shober was a democrat in politics, but since 1896 has been independent, vot- ing for the men and measures he deems best, re- gardless of party restrictions. Fraternally he is a member of Helena Lodge No. 3, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, with which he united at its formation in 1865, and of which he was the first treasurer, serving in that capacity two years. He is an ex-member of the State Bar Association, the County Bar Association and the National Bar Association. He has never married, but makes his home, as above stated, with Colonel and Mrs. Nolan.

HON. JOHN A. MATTHEWS, who became an as- sociate justice of the Montana Supreme Court in 1919, possessed every qualification for his present responsibilities based on long experience as a law- yer and public official and former judge of the Dis- trict Court.

Judge Matthews has spent most of his life in Montana and knows the people and the state as a native son. He was born at Mankato, Minnesota, February 1, 1876. He represents an old American family, one that was transplanted from England to Connecticut early in the seventeenth century. His great-great-grandfather, Aaron Matthews, was a civil engineer by profession and spent all his life at Camden, New York. The great-grandfather, Ly- man Matthews, also lived at Camden and followed surveying and civil engineering as his vocation. Judge Matthews' grandfather was Aaron Matthews, born at Camden, New York, in 1800. He was the third member of the Matthews family in as many generations to follow the profession of civil engi- neering. Some time before the Civil war he estab- lished his family at Priest Church, Virginia, and died there in 1876. His wife was a member of the Hibbard family of New York State.

T. L. Matthews, father of Judge Matthews, was born in Camden, New York, Jannary I, 1847. He spent his early life at his father's home at Priest Church, near Washington, D. C. A Northerner, thoroughly identified in sympathy with the Union cause, he left the uncongenial environment of North- ern Virginia and went to Minnesota, where in 1861, at the beginning of the war, he enlisted in the Twenty-eighth Minnesota Infantry. He was a gallant Union soldier throughout the war and par- ticipated in the battles of Gettysburg and other campaigns of the East. After the war he returned to Minnesota and became a farmer at Mankato. From Minnesota he moved his home to Glendale, Montana, in 1877. At Glendale he became a fore- man in the smelters and was also assigned the peculiarly hazardous responsibility of bringing to Glendale the company payrolls of the Hecla Mining Company from Bannock and Virginia City. These duties as a special messenger he performed with complete fidelity to his trust, thongh frequently ex- posed to danger from the highwaymen who infested the roads of Montana. In 1882 he removed to Marysville, this state; was in the hardware business there until 1886, and then established his home and business at Helena. For a time he had charge of the hardware department of the Kleinschmidt Brothers department store, and then engaged in the retail meat business. His first market was on Fifth Street at the corner of Rodney Street, and eventually he had three successful markets operat- ing, the other two being on Broadway and Main Street, and these are still doing a private business in the capital city. He also established another

Samuel Listacker

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

market on Park Avenue. T. L. Matthews remained active in business at Helena until 1907, when he re- tired and removed to Spokane, Washington, where he died February 9, 1917. He was a republican and a Baptist. T. L. Matthews married Kate W. Pryse, who was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, and is now living at Spokane. They were married in Minnesota. Of their children only two are living: Edna and Judge John A. Matthews. The former is the wife of Henry G. Duerfeldt, a druggist at Spokane.

Judge Matthews was only an infant when his parents came to Montana, and most of his boyhood was spent in Helena, where he attended the public schools, graduating from high school in 1896. He pursued his law studies in the University of Mich- igan, graduating LL. B. in 1899, and in the same year returned to Helena and took his first cases in law. He practiced at Helena one year, another year at Butte, and then moved to Townsend, where he maintained his home interests and looked after a large and profitable law practice until 1913. From March, 1913, to December 1, 1919, he served as judge of the District Court for District No. 14, compris- ing Broadwater, Meagher and Wheatland counties. He was appointed to this office by Governor Stewart, and it was Governor Stewart who also named him as an associate justice of the Supreme Court to fill out an unexpired term. Before going on the bench Judge Matthews served almost continuously as county attorney of Broadwater County from 1902 to 1913, the only interruption to his consecutive serv- ice being the two years from 1910 to 1912. He was elected five times to that office. Judge Matthews still owns a modern home in Townsend. He is a member of the State and American Bar associa- tions, is active in the First Baptist Church of Helena, and is affiliated with Valley Lodge No. 19, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Townsend; Townsend Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows ; Helena Lodge No. 193, Benevolent and Protec- tive Order of Elks, and Townsend Camp No. 365, Woodmen of the World.

At Helena in 1899 Judge Matthews married Mabel Rollins, daughter of J. A. and Mary E. (Johnson) Rollins, the latter a resident of Portland, Oregon. Her father was a merchant and died at Helena. Judge and Mrs. Matthews have a family of five children : Persis, a graduate of the Townsend High School; Thaddeus B., also a graduate of the high school at Townsend and is remittance clerk in the Union Bank at Helena; Winifred, a student in the Townsend High School; John Norman and Mary Elizabeth, attending the grammar schools of Town- send, where the family still reside.

PHILIP GREENAN. A college education is no prerequisite to success in business and public affairs since there are any number of men, prominent and successful from every standpoint whose acquaint- ance with schools was of the briefest character. A case in point is that of Philip Greenan, adjutant gen- eral of the State of Montana, and long prominent in politics, military affairs and in labor interests of this state.

His first twelve years were spent in Ireland, where his parents, Peter and Anne (Finnegan) Greenan, lived all their lives in County Monaghan. All the formal schooling Philip Greenan ever had was in Ireland.

He came to America with some relatives, and as there were no child labor laws in operation in 1881 he found employment in a rubber factory at Mill- ville, Massachusetts. Three years later, in 1884, he went West, and for another three years worked in the smelters at Leadville, Colorado. The following

year he was in Denver and in 1888 came to Mon- tana and was put on the payroll of the great smelter at Anaconda. He was a resident of that city for ten years, and enjoyed a growing popularity among his fellow employes at the smelter.

His first active experience in military life came in 1898, when he was a member of Company K from Anaconda sent to the Philippines. He saw some of the strenuous campaigning during the insurrection and was wounded in a skirmish March 23, 1899, but soon left the hospital and rejoined his command. He remained in service until mustered out at San Francisco and then returned home to Anaconda and resumed work at the smelter for a year.

Mr. Greenan was elected as a democratic candi- date in 1900 to the office of clerk of Deer Lodge County, and two years later was re-elected. When his term of service expired in March, 1904, he re- sumed his place at the smelters, and continued for another five years at that occupation.

On March 4, 1909, Governor Norris called Philip Greenan to the responsibilities of the state office of adjutant general. Soon afterward he removed his home to Helena and has served continuously as ad- jutant general for ten years. He had many exact- ing responsibilities during the period of the World war, and great credit is due his department for its aid in protecting Montana's quota of enlisted men and other resources.

General Greenan's family consists of his wife, Bridget Dorian Greenan and their one son, Philip Gregory. The only other child died in infancy. Mrs. Greenan was born in Wisconsin, coming to Montana when a young girl. Mr. and Mrs. Greenan are mem- bers of the Catholic Church and he is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World.

General Greenan is one of the most popular of the state officials and is a man of undoubted ability. He has supplied the deficiencies of his early school advantages by judicious reading and has made him- self a real authority on military technique and or- ganization.

SAMUEL C. WALKER. Deeds are thoughts crys- tallized, and according to their brilliancy do we judge the worth of a man to the country. which produced him, and in his works we expect to find the true index to his character. The study of the life of the representative American never fails to offer much of pleasing interest and valuable instruc- tion, developing a mastery of expedients which have brought about most wonderful results. The subject of this review is a worthy representative of that type of American character and of that progressive spirit which promotes public good in advancing in- dividual prosperity and conserving popular inter- ests.

Samuel C. Walker was born in Winchester, Fred- erick County, Virginia, on September 27, 1842, and is the son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Wilson) Walk- er. Samuel Walker was a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1808, and his death occurred in 1887, at the age of seventy-nine years. His widow, who sur- vived him a number of years, was born in Win- chester, Virginia, in 1813, and died in 1898, at the age of eighty-five years. Of the nine children born to their union, but two now survive, the subject of this sketch and Eva, who married William Smith, of McGheyville, Virginia. Samuel Walker accom- panied his parents on their removal from Pennsyl- vania to Virginia when he was a mere child, and he secured his education in the schools of Virginia. He pursued his studies along theological lines and was ordained as a minister of the Baptist Church. Though he was deeply interested in his church and

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religious matters, he never preached, as his services were in constant demand in other lines of effort. He was a millwright by trade and was also engaged in the mercantile business at Fairmount, Virginia (now West Virginia), where he remained until 1854, when he removed to Clarksburg, now in West Virginia, and engaged in the hotel business, with which he was connected up to the time of his death. Politically he was a supporter of the democratic party.

Samuel C. Walker received his education in the public schools of Clarksburg, Virginia, where he was reared. He earned his first money in hoeing corn, for which he was to receive thirty-seven and a half cents a day, but up to the present time he has not been paid for that work. At the age of eighteen years his studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the war between the states, and he en- listed in Company E, Twelfth Regiment, West Vir- ginia Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the close of the war, receiving an honorable dis- charge in July, 1865, at Wheeling, West Virginia, with the rank of a lientenant major. He had a noteworthy military record, having participated in all the battles, skirmishes and campaigns in which his regiment had a part, including the first battle of Winchester, Lynchburg, Cedar Creek, Opequon, Gettysburg, and then, on July 6, 1864, was ordered back from Shen- andoah Valley to rejoin the Army of the Potomac, with which army he took part in the battle of Hatcher's Run. It was there that General Grant ordered General Sheridan to drive General Lee back, thus preventing him from getting supplies. Sheri- dan drove the Confederates back to Petersburg, thence to Richmond and on to Appomattox Court Honse, where Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865. Grant was twenty-five miles away, but was sent for and hurried to receive Lee's surrender. When he arrived Lee said, "I presume you don't know me." Grant replied, "I do; we both served in the Mexican war." Then followed a short conversation, con- sisting principally of reminiscences of former days, followed by General Lee tendering his sword to General Grant. The latter generously declined to receive it, adding also that Lee's officers could retain their side arms. During the conversation Lee stated that his men were totally withont rations, when Grant apologized for the delay and asked how many rations were required-if 25,000 would be sufficient. Lee replied that 12,000 would suffice. On the day the Confederate army was disarmed Grant rode over to Lee's headquarters, but, not being recog- nized, he was denied admission and was compelled to call for the officer of the day. Grant and Lee then walked over to a nearby hill and engaged in con- versation for over an hour. The incidents just re- lated were all witnessed by the subject of this sketch.

In the spring of 1866 Mr. Walker went to Balti- more and entered the employ of a wholesale hard- ware company as traveling salesman, in which ca- pacity he served for fifteen years. In 1881 he en- gaged in farming in Barbonr County, West Virginia, which occupied his attention up to 1893, when he was appointed United States immigration inspector of Chinese and kindred nationalities, being first located in the Puget Sound District, State of Washington. Later he was transferred for three years to Los Angeles, California, but in November, 1906, was assigned to duty as United States immigrant in- spector at Havre, Montana, where he has remained on duty for the past fourteen years.

Politically Mr. Walker gives his support to the democratic party, though he is not in any sense a

seeker after the honors of public office. He is deeply interested in fraternal affairs, being a member of the Masonic Order and the Grand Army of the Republic, his membership in the latter organization being in Custer Post at Tacoma, Washington. In 1867 he was made a Master Mason in Acana Lodge No. 110 and a Royal Arch Mason in Adiniram Chap- ter, Baltimore, Maryland, holding his membership in these two Masonic orders for a number of years and then demitting and now holding membership in Havre Lodge No. 55 and Royal Arch Chapter at Havre, Montana.

In May, 1877, Mr. Walker was married to Emma D. Pickens, a native of Barbour County, West Vir- ginia, and to them have been born two children, Anna and James P. The latter, who resides at Richmond, Virginia, is a civil engineer in the em- ploy of the Atlantic Coast Line Railway, and is now in charge of extension work at Charleston, South Carolina.

In every phase of life's activities in which he has been engaged, Mr. Walker has endeavored to per- form his full part, and because of his high personal character, his industry and his success he has earned and today enjoys to a marked degree the confidence and good will of the people of his community.

The subject's eldest brother, Edward, was edu- cated in Virginia, and in young manhood went west, locating in Leavenworth, Kansas, where he engaged with Majors Russell and Waddell as a freighter. His route lay from there to Pike's Peak, with ox teams, the long and tiresome overland journey be- ing accompanied with constant danger from many sources. He was freighting with this firm when the Civil war came on, but he immediately quit work and rode horseback through Texas, Lonisiana, Mis- sissippi, Alabama, Georgia, Sonth Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia to Winchester in the latter state, where he enlisted in the Confederate army. He was commissioned a first lieutenant in Ashbay's Cavalry. He later died of yellow fever at Winches- ter.

Another brother of the subject, Henry S. Walker, became a man of considerable prominence in West Virginia, serving that commonwealth two terms as secretary of state. He was editor of the Wheeling Register for many years and became the founder of the Charleston Conrier at Charleston, West Vir- ginia.

HON. WILLIAM LAWSON HOLLOWAY is now in the eighteenth year of a consecutive service as an as- sociate justice of the Supreme Court of Montana. For a number of years the decisions of the conrt have largely reflected the sound scholarship, com- prehensive view and liberal spirit of Judge Hollo- way.

Judge Holloway began the practice of law during the early years of Montana's statehood, and was a resident and lawyer of Bozeman until he went on the Supreme bench.

He was born at Kirksville, Missouri, November 8, 1867. His ancestry is of sturdy English stock, and the Holloways were colonial settlers in Virginia. One member of the family was a delegate to the Federal Constitutional Convention of 1787. Judge Holloway's grandfather was John Holloway, who was born in Virginia in 1805, and in early life crossed the moun- tains into Kentucky, where he was a farmer, and later moved to Monroe County, Missouri, where he lived on a farm. He died at Moberly, Missouri, in 1895. Silas N. Holloway, father of Judge Holloway, was born in Kentucky, April 14, 1828. He lived there until he was about twenty years of age, and in 1847 vol- unteered for service in the Mexican war and joined

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the command of Gen. Phil Kearney. After his re- turn from the Southwest he located in Monroe County, Missouri, but soon afterward moved to Adair County, near Kirksville, in Northeast Mis- souri, and spent the rest of his active life as a farmer. He exercised much influence in the com- munity and for a number of times was honored by his fellow citizens with the office of probate judge of Adair County. He was a republican, for many years was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and was a member of the Christian Church. He died at Kirksville, September 19, 1895. Judge Holloway's mother bore the maiden name of Charlotte Alred. She was born in Monroe County, Missouri, February 14, 1833, and died at Hurdland in Northeastern Mis- souri, August 25, 1890. She was the mother of a large family of children, Judge Holloway being seventh among them. The oldest, Mary Ellen, born December 9, 1850, is the wife of Newton Corbin, a retired farmer at Kirksville, Missouri; Jennie, born August 28, 1852, lives at Cleveland, Ohio, widow of Dr. John A. Kerr, an osteopathic physician, who died in 1919; Perry D., born August 12, 1854, is a farm owner and minister of the Christian Church, living at Milton, Iowa; Thomas H., born October 25, 1856, is a farmer at Brashear, Missouri; Rosa B., born November 16, 1862, is the wife of E. E. Earhart, employe of a mercantile firm at Bozeman ; Andrew J., born July 18, 1865, is in business in Indiana; Olive, the next younger to Judge Hollo- way, was born April 14, 1870, and is the wife of Samuel Surrey, a farmer at Hurdland, Missouri; Alberta, born September 26, 1876, was a trained nurse by profession and was acting as head of an orphan school at Salt Lake City when she died August 28, 1918; Jesse, the youngest of the family, was born November 21, 1874, and died while a student in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor October 28, 1896.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 181

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