Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 19

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 19

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Thomas G. Armstrong attended rural schools in Clinton County, New York, but at the age of thirteen left his books and studies and began doing for himself. He lived on a farm in Clinton County four years and then went to the mining district of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan at Houghton and for three years was an employe of the Calumet Hecla Mining Company. The next stage of his progress brought him to the Red River Valley of North Dakota, where he was clerk in a store at Hunter two years. Mr. Armstrong arrived on the scene of his permanent career at Big Timber, Montana, in November, 1888. For the next eight years he was employed by the pioneer mercantile firm of Hatch Brothers & Company, then spent two years in the sheep business and ranching, and for eight years was with the H. Bliss Hardware

HISTORY OF MONTANA

Store. He was a primary factor in establishing the Big Timber Supply- House in 1907. This com- pany does an extensive retail and wholesale trade in groceries, hardware, farm implements and other supplies. The offices, plant and warehouses are located on Anderson Street. The business is in- corporated with Mr. Armstrong as president, W. S. Widdicomb, vice president, and J. W. Kirkwood, secretary and treasurer. Mr. Armstrong also owns a 320 acre grain ranch in the Gibson district of Sweetgrass County. He has a modern home in Big Timber.

Politically he is identified with the democratic party and is affiliated with Hunter Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Big Timber Camp No. 10610, Modern Woodmen of America.

He married at Livingston, Montana, in 1894, Marie Anderson, a native of Ontario, Canada. They have two children, Nina and Dick. The daughter is a graduate of the Montana State College at Bozeman and the wife of A. D. Burkett, chemist for a cement plant at Trident, Montana. Dick enlisted in June, 1918, and the following August, after completing his training in camp, went overseas with the Expeditionary Forces to France.

CHARLES H. DRAPER, publisher of the Picket- Journal of Red Lodge, is a native Montanan, has made his paper the medium of news and history in Carbon County for a number of years, and through a knowledge of the experience of his honored father, Frank W. Draper, probably knows as much of the real history of men and events in Carbon County as any other individual.

Frank W. Draper, his father, was born in Ticon- deroga County New York, February 4, 1854, and a few years later his parents, Hiram and Mehitable (Le Crane) Draper, moved west to Illinois and settled at Belvidere. Hiram Draper, also a native of New York State, entered the Union army and lost his life in a battle in 1863. Frank W. Draper grew up in Belvidere, graduated from the high school and at the age of seventeen went with other members of the family to Edgar, Nebraska. He taught there for a year or so and in 1874 went to Sioux City, Iowa, and shortly afterward started for California. From that time forward he had a life of hardship and adventure, and was vitally identi- fied with many of the fundamental activities of the Northwest. About three years after he started for California he was on the way by prairie schooner from Denver to the Black Hills of Dakota, where he became a pioneer furniture merchant in partner- ship with a Mr. Pepper. Not long afterward he sold his interest and engaged in the drug business for eighteen months. His next experience was as wagon boss for a large freighting company doing business between Bismarck and the Black Hills.

Frank W. Draper drove to Miles City, Montana, in 1880, and took charge of the Diamond R wagon train, which performed a large part of the trans- portation service out of Miles City in those days. The following winter was one remembered by the oldest inhabitant for the severity of the cold and the excessive snow, when livestock by the thousands perished on the ranges. Traffic and transportation had to be maintained in spite of such conditions and Mr. Draper and his men suffered untold hardships in keeping up the service. Later in that year Mr. Draper moved to Junction City and opened a retail liquor store and a few months later went to Ben- son's Landing, four miles from where Livingston now stands. Centers of business and industry in those days were seldom permanent, and in order to keep up with rapid changes and fluctuations Mr.

Draper huilt a house in sections, which enabled him to move without loss and inconvenience. When Clark, now Livingston, was started, he was almost immediately on the ground with his section house, and that house is recorded in history as the first building erected there. He continued in business at Clark or Livingston until the fire of 1885 destroyed his property. His next move was to Cooke City, then a lively place, but on November 6, 1886, the smelter shut down and the business and population of the camp dwindled away. The Drapers remained at Cooke City until August, 1887, when he trans- ferred his residence to Nye. This camp had to move when its site was found to be included within the Indian Reservation. The next move proved to be the last one for Mr. Draper. He located at Red Lodge and in partnership with Doctor Macomber opened the first drug store of the town. He sold out his interest in that a year or so later and spent one summer on the ranch, and eventually took up farm- ing and ranching as his regular work. He was liv- ing on the ranch when death came to him on July 10, 1901, and removed one of the best loved and most honored citizens of Carbon County.

He was a charter member of the Knights of Pythias and Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Livingston and the Woodmen of the World at Red Lodge, was a stanch republican and a factor in local politics, and is remembered as the first school trustee at Red Lodge, hiring the first school teacher in 1888.

September 13,, 1882, he married Miss Matilda Martin. In the absence of ministers in the Mon- tana of that day the ceremony was performed by Judge Braden. Mrs. Draper was born in Germany, where her father died, and she came to this country with her mother, two sisters and two brothers in 1874, locating at Sioux City, Iowa, and later going to Miles City, Montana, with friends. She is now living at the home ranch four miles northwest of Red Lodge. She is the mother of six children : Irwin Albert, also on the home ranch; Alvin, his twin brother, who died in infancy; Edwin W., a rancher at the home place; and Charles H .; and twin sisters who died at birth.

Charles H. Draper was born at Nye City, Montana, March 25, 1888. He acquired a limited education in the rural schools of Carbon County, the public schools of Red Lodge, and took the preparatory and the regular collegiate course at the State College at Bozeman, where he graduated in 1912. He is a member of the Sigma Chi College Fraternity.

Since leaving college Mr. Draper has been con- tinuously in journalism. He bought an interest in the Carbon County Journal in 1912, becoming its editor and manager and in 1913 acquired all the property. The Carbon County Journal was estab- lished June 26, 1909, at Joliet, and was moved to Red Lodge January 1, 1912. It is a democratic paper and the official organ of Carbon County, going to most of the homes of that county and also having a large circulation in surrounding counties. The offices of the plant are at 211 Broadway. In October, 1918, Mr. Draper also acquired the Red Lodge Picket, consolidating the two under the present name of Picket-Journal. The Picket was established in 1888, one of the early papers of Montana. Mr. Draper now has the best equipped and most conveniently arranged printing and publishing plant in the Mon- tana weekly newspaper field.

He is a democrat, though never an aspirant for public office, and served four years as chairman of the Democratic County Central Committee. He is a vestryman of the Episcopal Church and is affiliated with Star in the West Lodge No. 40, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Bear Tooth Lodge No. 534 of

Chas. H. Draken

HISTORY OF MONTANA

the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is a member of the exclusive local social club known as the Inquiry Club, and is on the governing board of the Red Lodge Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Draper owns his modern home at 511 North Hauser Avenue.

May 14, 1914, at Kalispell, he married Miss Meryl A. Fitch, daughter of John H. C. and Lena J. (Babcock) Fitch. Her parents still live at Kalis- pell. Her father is a pioneer druggist of that town. Mrs. Draper is a graduate of the Flathead County High School and finished her education in the State College at Bozeman. To their marriage have been born two children: Richard John, born September 2, 1916, and Gayle Adele, born April 15, 1919.

DANIEL MARTIN CROWLEY. The type of business ability and citizenship represented by the late Dan- iel Martin Crowley is a distinctive contribution to any community. The city of Lewistown was the place honored by his residence for many years, he was one of the earliest settlers there and had the honor of erecting the second frame building on the site.

Mr. Crowley, who died January 19, 1906, was very successful in business and joined his success with traits of kindness and generosity that made him popular wherever known. It is said that one of the largest concourses of people ever witnessed in that community followed his body to its last resting place. Mr. Crowley was born at Brasher Falls, New York, January 17, 1856, being the third of nine chil- dren of John and Mary (Hurley) Crowley. His parents were natives of Ireland and came to America on their wedding tour, where John Crowley spent the rest of his life as a farmer.

On his father's farm Daniel Martin Crowley lived to the age of nineteen. He had a common school education. In 1875 he started for the Northwest, and for several years worked in lumber camps and in other occupations in Minnesota. He came to Mon- tana in 1879, and with his brother John was associated in ranching near Townsend. He came to Lewistown about 1881. As one of the original settlers he took up a homestead, and rapidly acquired interests that made him one of the big men financially and other- wise in this section of the state. He was perhaps most widely known because of his success in devel- oping strains of horses for the track. Some of the fastest and best horses ever produced in Montana were bred or trained in his stables. He also owned several ranches, was a stockholder in the Electric Light and Telephone Company at Lewistown, and his investments covered almost the entire state. He served as deputy sheriff of Fergus County, but otherwise took no prominent part in politics except to aid the republican party and his friends.

Since his death his extensive business interests have been capably managed by Mrs. Crowley, who still resides in Lewistown. She shared with her late husband in generous plans and helpfulness toward her community and was very prominent in the various war auxiliary movements in recent years. The Crowleys as a family are active in the Catholic Church.

Mr. and Mrs. Crowley were married at Lewistown August 23, 1898. Her maiden name was Annie E. Glancy. Her father, John Glancy, came to Montana in 1886 and was a successful rancher in the Judith Basin. Mrs. Crowley has two sons, Charles J. and Glancy D.

CLYDE H. LORANCE, president of the Lorance Vul- canizing and Tire Company at Billings, is one of the progressive and enterprising young business citi-

zens of this flourishing center of commercial activity, who has recognized the trend of the times, taken cognizance of his opportunities and established him- self in a line of effort in which his inherent abilities have been given full play in the working out of success and the development of a prosperous enter- prise. He was born at Beatrice, Nebraska, Novem- her 7, 1890, a son of O. P. and May B. (Bradley) Lorance.

William H. Lorance, the grandfather of Clyde H., was born in 1828, in Tennessee, and was there edu- cated and reared to young manhood, when he went to Missouri and was there married. For a time he was engaged in agricultural pursuits in that state, but subsequently pushed on to the frontier of Ne- braska, in 1865, and was a pioneer in the vicinity of Brownville, adjoining which town he owned a farm. In addition to developing a productive farm- ing property he carried on extensive operations as a contractor, and was also successful in his activities as a quarryman, being a man of industrious habits and natural abilities. In 1893 he retired from active labor and took up his residence at Auburn, Ne- braska, where he served as justice of the peace and rounded out an honorable career, his death occur- ring in 1912. At that time he was the last surviving Mexican war veteran of Nemaha County. Nebraska. Mr. Lorance was an active and general supporter of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was a stanch democrat in his political allegiance. He mar- ried Mary Owen, a native of Missouri, who died at Brownville, Nebraska, and they became the parents of the following children: John H., who is con- nected with a packing company at Kansas City, Missouri, as a machinist ; Doctor B. F., a successful practicing physician at Auburn, Nebraska; Thomas Arthur, of Houston, in charge of the buying for the silk department of the largest department store of that city or vicinity, and he lost his wife in the great Galveston flood while a resident of that city; O. P .; Ed, a boilermaker of Omaha, Nebraska ; William I., a large ranchman of Alliance, Nebraska ; Belle, the wife of Rev. Clyde Metcalf, a Methodist Episcopal minister with a charge at Visalia, Cali- fornia; Ethel, the wife of Tom Reeves, owner of a vast sheep ranch, with 20,000 head of sheep, at Flag- staff, Arizona; and Hope, who married a tonsorialist of Los Angeles, California.

O. P. Lorance was horn in Gentry County, Mis- souri, July 2, 1863, and was reared and married in Nebraska. He was brought up as a farmer's son, but soon made his way to the big cities, and for eighteen years was identified with the big packing firm of Swift & Company at South St. Paul, Minne- sota. In the spring of 1914 he came to Montana and settled on a farm in Yellowstone County, purchas- ing one-half section of land. On this he carried on operations until the year 1917, when he took up his residence at Billings, where he is now secretary and treasurer of the Lorance Vulcanizing and Tire Company. Mr. Lorance belongs to Billings Camp, Modern Woodmen of America, and the Billings Midland Club, is independent in politics, and a mem- her of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married Mary B. Bradley, who was born at Grass Lake, Michigan, in 1871, and of their children, Clyde H. is the only survivor.

Clyde H. Lorance attended the public schools of the Twin Cities, St. Paul and Minneapolis, in Min- nesota, as well as a private high school, but at the age of eighteen vears put aside his studies to embark in business affairs. For a time he followed the vocation of surveying and was subsequently employed in the Stock Yards at South St. Paul for one year, following which he spent four years in the

HISTORY OF MONTANA

employ of the Wells Fargo Express Company at St. Paul. In 1914 he accompanied his parents to Mon- tana and settled with his father on the farm in Yellowstone County, where he remained until 1917, the year of the organization of the Lorance Vul- canizing and Tire Company. Under his capable and energetic management this business has grown to large and important proportions, and the business house, at No. 3012 First Avenue, North, has been the scene of enlargement and additions, both as to building and stock. In addition to doing a large business in the line of vulcanizing tires, the firm sells new automobile tires, solid rubber tires, auto- mobile accessories and gasoline, and its business has shown a consistent, healthy and gratifying increase since its inception. Mr. Lorance has shown himself a business man of marked attainments, and has already established himself in a substantial place among the leaders of the younger generations en- gaged in commercial pursuits at Billings. Mr. Lorance is independent in his political views, and his only public office has been that of constable, which he filled while a resident of Acton, Montana, he then being engaged in farming with his father. Mr. Lorance has made the most of his opportunities for investment, and is the owner of three handsome and valuable ranches, an irrigated tract of forty acres at Warden, Montana; a dry farming tract of 160 acres at Custer, Montana; and an irrigated farm of 100 acres at Fishtail, Montana. Mr. Lor- ance belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church and is a member of the Billings Midland Club.

In 1911, at St. Paul, Minnesota, Mr. Lorance was married to Miss Perlie Marie Kimball, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Kimball, the latter of whom resides at Billings. Mr. Kimball, who is deceased, was for a number of years clerk of the Modern Woodmen of America at St. Paul, and later en- gaged in ranching in Yellowstone County, Montana. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lorance: June, born June 28, 1915; and Jean, born in 1917. -

DON C. TAYLOR, superintendent of schools at Hamilton, is an educator whose work has brought him favorable attention not only in Montana, but in other states of the northwest and southwest. He began teaching in his home state of Michgan, and has made education his life work.

Mr. Taylor was born in Allegan County, Michi- gan, December 1, 1876. In the paternal line he is of Scotch-Irish ancestry, while his mother's family were English colonial settlers in Massachusetts. The Taylors first settled in New York. The grandfather of the Hamilton educator was John Taylor, who was born near Ogdensburg, New York, lived many years there and afterward became a pioneer in northern Wisconsin. He was a stone mason and farmer, and died at Augusta, Wisconsin, at the age of forty-five.

Joel W. Taylor was born in New York in 1843, and at the age of sixteen moved to Allegan County, Michigan. That district of southern Michigan was then heavily covered with the finest quality of pine timber, and for a number of years he was actively engaged in lumbering, until the center of the mill- ing industry was transferred to other fields. After that he remained as a farmer in Allegan County and died there on July 4, 1895. For ten years he held the office of township supervisor, was a re- publican in politics, an active supporter of the Methodist Episcopal Church and affiliated with the Knights of Maccabees. Joel W. Taylor married Emma Crawford, who was born in Barry County, Michigan, in 1845, and died in Allegan County in

1910. Don C. is the oldest of their children. Joel Clare is a train dispatcher with the Michigan Cen- tral Railway at Holland, Michigan. Burke W. is an employe of the Dodge Brothers Motor Com- pany at Detroit. Florence is the wife of John Prak- ken, office manager for the Bush & Lane Piano Company at Seattle, Washington.

Don C. Taylor grew up on his father's farm in the rural schools of Allegan County. He spent three years in the preparatory department of Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and afterward took the regular four years' course in Hope College, graduating with his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1905. In the meantime he had taught four years in the rural schools of his native county. In Sep- tember, 1905, Mr. Taylor went to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he was principal of the Second Ward School for six years. From the southwest he went to the northwest, and for a year followed commer- cial occupations in Spokane. In 1912 he became superintendent of schools at Murray, Idaho, re- maining there two years, and for five years was superintendent at Mullan in Idaho .. Mr. Taylor ac- cepted his present responsibilities as superintendent of schools at Hamilton in July, 1919. The local school system under his supervision comprises three schools, a staff of twenty-five teachers and an en- rollment of six hundred scholars.

Mr. Taylor has been a member of the National Education Association since 1908 and also belongs to Montana State Teachers' Association. He is a republican, a member of the Presbyterian Church and is junior warden of Mullan Lodge No. 50, An- cient Free and Accepted Masons. His home is on South Third Street in Hamilton.

In 1900, in Allegan County, Michigan, he married Miss Lucinda Beery, daughter of Joseph and Mary (Pritchard) Beery. Her father was an Allegan County farmer and is now deceased. Her mother, member of one of the most prominent families of Allegan County, resides with Mr. and Mrs. Taylor. Mrs. Taylor is a graduate of the Allegan High School. To Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have been born five children: Marjorie, born May 31, 1901, now in her first year in the State University of Montana; Don Milan, who died at the age of ten and a half years; Joel Wilson, born August 26, 1904, a fresh- man in the Hamilton High School; Emerson B., born November 4, 1909, a student in the grammar school; and Don C., Jr., born February 21, 1915.

FRED L. GIBSON. In no profession is there a career more open to talent than is that of the law, and in no field of endeavor is there demanded a more careful preparation, a more thorough appre- ciation of the absolute ethics of life or of the underlying principles which form the basis of all human rights and privileges. Possessing all the requisite qualities of the successful lawyer, Fred L. Gibson, of Livingston, stands today among the eminent practitioners of his section of the state.

Fred L. Gibson was born at Dundee, Michigan, on September 20, 1874, the son of Matthew and Ellen (Carney) Gibson, the former of whom died in Madison County, Montana, in 1894, and the latter is now making her home with her son, the imme- diate subject of this sketch. Matthew Gibson was born in 1828 in Cattaraugus County, New York, but in his early youth the family moved to Southern Michigan, where he was reared. His permanent residence was in Monroe County, that state, where he followed the trade of a plasterer and where also he operated a farm. In 1888 he removed to Clermont County, Ohio, and he followed agricultural pursuits there until April, 1894, when he came to

N.a. Sim

no.

HISTORY OF MONTANA

Madison County, Montana, where his death oc- curred shortly afterwards. He was a democrat in his political faith and was a highly esteemed citizen. While living in Michigan Mr. Gibson mar- ried Ellen B. Carney, who was born in 1843 in Monroe County, that state, and to them were born two children, Fred L., and Guy, the latter of whom is now a farmer in Madison County, Montana.

Fred L. Gibson received his elementary educa- tion in the rural schools of Monroe County, Mich- igan, and in 1891 graduated from the high school at Owensville, Ohio. In 1894 he accompanied his parents on their removal to Madison County, Mon- tana, and during the following two years was en- gaged in teaching school. Then for the same length of time he operated a ranch, but these voca- tions did not satisfy his ambitious spirit, and he entered the law department of the University of Nebraska. At the end of a year he became the publisher of the Alder Gulch Times at Virginia City, which engaged his attention for about a year. In June, 1899, Mr. Gibson was admitted to the bar and entered upon the practice of his profession. In the spring of 1901 he removed to Forsyth, Mon- tana, and helped to organize Rosebud County, of which he was appointed county attorney, a position which he filled for two and a half years. Resigning that position in 1903, he removed to Livingston, where he has since resided and where he has re- ceived emphatic recognition as a lawyer of unusual ability and as a citizen of progressive and yet sound- ly conservative ideas. He has since coming to Livingston commanded a large share of the legal practice in the local courts and has been success- ful in both criminal and civil practice. On January I, 1917, Mr. Gibson formed a law partnership with Vard Smith, under the firm name of Gibson & Smith, with offices in the National Park Bank building.

Politically Mr. Gibson is a republican, and ever since reaching his majority has taken a live interest in public affairs. His abilities and public spirit were quickly recognized after he came to his state, and in 1899 he was elected to represent Madison County in the Sixth Legislature. In 1909 he rep- resented Park County in the Eleventh Legislature, in which he rendered effective service as a member of the judiciary and other committees. In 1918 the citizens of Park County again chose him to rep- resent them in the Legislature, where he again was assigned to some of the most important com- mittees of the House, including those on judiciary of which he was chairman, and revenues and taxa- tion. During 1907 and 1908 Mr. Gibson served as city attorney of Livingston and in 1911-12 was county attorney of Park County, his services in both positions being eminently satisfactory. He is deeply interested in educational matters and is now serving as a member of the county High School Board. He is a director of the National Park Bank. He is a member of the Park County Bar Association, the Montana State Bar Association and the American Bar Association.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 19

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