Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 30

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

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Walter O. Downing was seven years old when he was brought to Montana by his mother and step- father in 1882. They made the journey from Harrisonville, Michigan, by railroad as far as Junc- tion City, and thence overland by team and wagon to Fort Maginnis, Montana. They located twelve miles southeast of the present City of Lewistown, then in Meagher County, now Fergus County. In this frontier district Mr. Downing spent his boy- hood and youth. His first schooling was at the hands of a school teacher employed in the home of Mr. Weldon. Later, with four other children, he was taught in the home of a neighbor, and then attended a log schoolhouse, the teacher being Miss Anna M. Weidert, now the wife of George J. Wiedeman of Lewistown. When thirteen years old Mr. Downing went to work for a firm of carpenters and con- tractors to learn the carpenter's trade. He also cooked for the outfit to pay his board. During winters he managed to get in a term or two of school. He also rode the range during the spring

and fall roundups, and while attending school he also spent three months working for his board for the late J. I. Corbley, county commissioner. He also had some experience with the pioneer freighting organization carrying goods between Billings, Fort Benton, Great Falls and Lewistown.

It is evident that Mr. Downing even as a boy had an object and an ambition. Though his earnings were meager, he managed to save enough to pay for a three-months term at the Agricultural College at Bozeman. He remained in that college for two years, working for his board at the college during the last eighteen months. On leaving college with an equipment of general and scientific training he re- turned to the homestead and worked on the home ranch as a farmer and stock man until 1912. In that year he located in Lewistown and engaged in the real estate, loan and insurance business, and has since made the name Walter O. Downing Com- pany one of especial prominence in its line.

Mr. Downing is a member of Lewistown Lodge No. 456, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and Judith Lodge No. 30, Knights of Pythias, and in politics is a republican.

September 19, 1904, he married Katherine D. Wood, of Auburn, Illinois. She died January 12, 1912, the mother . of one daughter and two sons, named Dorothy, Dell O. and Walter K. On November 22, 1916, Mr. Downing married Antoinette R. Vogt.

MARION E. BUCK, general superintendent of the Montana Power Company, was born at Danvers, Illinois, on November 4, 1877, a son of Benjamin A. Buck. The birth of Benjamin A. Buck took place near Baltimore, Maryland, on November 12, 1844, and he comes of a long line of upright ancestors, all of whom were worthy descendants from the founder of the family in the American colonies, who came to this country from Holland in the seventeenth century.

At the time the original Buck reached Maryland he with other pioneers had his choice of land, and he took a pride in keeping it in the family, making arrangements to have the title to it pass from father to son without interruption until the gen- eration to which Benjamin A. Buck belonged, when changes in conditions made it expedient to dispose of the homestead. When the family was first founded in this country its members were Episco- palians, but about the time of John Wesley's visit to the colonies they embraced Methodism.

Students of biography are struck by the fact that in nearly all old-established families appears the tradition that when immigration was made here from some of the countries of the old world three brothers made the trip together, although often- times they separated after their arrival. The Buck family is no exception to this almost universal rule, for in the old family Bible, which bears the date of 1726, and on whose pages, brown with time and soiled by the handlings of many generations, is furnished proof of this tradition. One of these brothers, was John Buck, born in 1693. John Buck was, noted in his day as an extensive landed pro- prietor, and he lived to the age of seventy-seven years. His son was Benjamin Buck, born in Mary- land, and his son, John Buck, was the grandfather of Benjamin A. Buck. The birth of John Buck took place in Maryland in 1767, and he died in 1849, having been very prosperous and accumulating a large amount of land, which was divided among three sons, each one receiving sufficient to make him independent, as did the one daughter of the family.

Benjamin M. Buck, father of Benjamin A. Buck,

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was born in 1794 and died in 1877, both events tak- ing place on the old homestead. All of his life was spent upon this property until the outbreak of the war between the states, when he left it for a brief period. During that conflict he lost some of his holdings, which were never recovered, and the family fortunes, like those of so many others in the South, were impoverished. In 1826 he was married to Miss Sarah H. Hobby and they became the parents of six children, namely: Catherine, John S., W. H., Arabella, Benjamin A. and Sarah. In political opinions he was a whig until the be- ginning of the war, after which he affiliated with the democratic party. A devout Methodist, he lived up to the highest conceptions of his faith.

Benjamin A. Buck remained on the farm with his father, who had been disabled by an accident, until he was twenty-five years of age, first attend- ing the common schools and later one of the high schools of Baltimore, Maryland. In 1870 he came to the West with his brother-in-law, H. M. Kennedy, who owned a large tract of land in McLean Coun- ty, Illinois, and remained with him for four years. For a time subsequent to his leaving his brother- in-law Mr. Buck clerked in a general store at Danvers, and then for two years conducted a simi- lar business of his own, also at Danvers. .

In 1876 Benjamin A. Buck was married to Libby A. Estes, a daughter of William and Amanda (Goodrich) Estes, and soon thereafter moved to Dwight, Illinois, in 1882, embarking in a hardware business in that city and conducted it until he re- tired in 1905, after a very successful and reputable business career. Not only did he carry on his busi- ness in an energetic and satisfactory manner, but he gave an intelligent and effective support to civic affairs, and was one of the valued members of the Congregational Church. When he died at Dwight in 1908 the whole community mourned his passing, and Livingston County felt that it had lost one of its most representative men. The children of Ben- jamin A. Buck and his wife were as follows: Marion E., who was the elder, and Agnes B., who married H. B. Johnson, assistant electrical super- intendent of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company at Great Falls, Montana. Mrs. Benjamin A. Buck survives her husband and makes her home with her son.

After passing through the common schools at Dwight, Illinois, Marion E. Buck became a student of its high school and was graduated therefrom in 1892. He then entered the University of Illinois at Urbana, Illinois, and completed the junior year in 1895. In that year he came to Colorado, and en- tered as an apprentice the employ of the Telluride Power Company at Telluride. For the first eighteen months he and Ralph D. Mershon worked on a special high tension investigation, the latter repre- senting the Westinghouse Electrical Manufactur- ing Company. The results of these months of in- vestigation established the fundamental principles for high tension transmission and methods of con- struction in vogue today.

In the fall of 1897, after the completion of this experimental work, Mr. Buck was called to Provo, Utah, and constructed the first 40,000 volt trans- mission line in the United States, for the Telluride Power Company. Two years later Mr. Buck came to Montana for L. L. Numm then general mana- ger of the Telluride Power Company, who had asso- ciated himself with John F. Cowan in Butte in a water power development on the Madison River. Still later a company was incorporated under the name of The Power Company, and Mr. Buck was a member of its executive construction staff. The

first development work on the Madison River was done in 1900, and during the building of it Mr. Buck took an active part, and the company was enabled to commence serving power to Butte in- dustries through a connection with the Butte Elec- tric & Power Company. Mr. Buck was operating engineer for The Power Company until 1905, when the property was purchased by the Butte Electric & Power Company, and he was retained by the pur- chasers as operating engineer and superintendent of construction.

From 1905 until 1908 Mr. Buck carried out the reconstruction of the dam on the Madison River and built the No. 2 development. In 1910 he came to Butte to take charge of the operations of the then enlarging system of the Montana Power Com- pany, under M. Hebgen, general manager, and F. M. Kerr, general superintendent. During the lat- ter part of 1914 Mr. Buck began the construction of the electrification of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, and was engaged in this work continuously until May 1, 1917, during which period he completed and put into operation this 440 mile section from Harlowtown, Montana, to Avery, Idaho. The appreciation of Mr. Buck's services by his company was genuine, as was shown by his appointment in October, 1915, as general superin- tendent of the Montana Power Company, together with subsidiary companies, which very responsible position he still holds, discharging its onerous re- sponsibilities with dignified capability. The offices are located in the Montana Power Building, at No. 40 East Broadway.

Like his ancestors before him Mr. Buck is a democrat, and stanch in his support of his party, but has never cared to go before the public for sup- port for an office. He belongs to Virginia City Lodge No. 390, Benevolent and Protective Order Elks, which he joined in 1902; the Silver Bow Club; and the Montana Society of Engineers. He maintains his residence at No. 1156 West Platinum Street.

In 1899 Mr. Buck was married at McAllister, Montana, to Miss Gertrude L. Bronner, a daughter of S. M. and Catherine Bronner, the latter of whom is deceased. The former is still living and makes his home at Pokagon, Michigan, being now a retired farmer. Mrs. Buck attended the Montana State College at Bozeman, specializing in the domestic science branch, and is a skilled housekeeper and efficient homemaker, as well as a cultured lady. Mr. and Mrs. Buck became the parents of the following children: Dorothy Alice, who was born June 10, 1900, was graduated from the Butte High School in 1918, and is now attending Reed Col- lege at Portland, Oregon; and Edwin R., who was born August 18, 1903, is attending the Butte High School.

RUTH SHERIDAN. The Sheridan family have been influential people at Big Timber for twenty years. The late John E. Sheridan was a widely known Montana newspaper man, who came to the Northwest while in the service of the regular army of the United States. Two of his sons served with honor and credit in the World war. Several other of the children have made for themselves posi- tions of usefulness in their respective communi- ties. His daughter Ruth is now county clerk and recorder of Sweetgrass County and has shown ex- ceptional ability in handling the affairs of that office.

John E. Sheridan was born at Portland, Maine, in 1861, of ancestors who came from Ireland and settled in Maine in colonial times. He grew up in Portland, learned the printer's trade, and in

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the regular service of the United States army came to Montana in 1888 and was stationed at Fort Assiniboine. He also lived for a time at Barker in Cascade County, and going to Belt he founded the Belt Valley Times, which he edited until 1899. In that year he founded the Big Timber Pioneer and made of that one of the most influential papers in Southern Montana. It is republican in politics and enjoys a large circulation in Sweetgrass and surrounding counties. John E. Sheridan died at Big Timber in 1906. He was a republican in poli- tics and a member of the Catholic Church. At Helena, Montana, he married Miss Augusta Roth, who was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and is now living at Big Timber.

Miss Ruth Sheridan, the third of their children, was born at Belt, Montana, and was educated in the public schools of Big Timber. She completed her junior year in high school and has become widely known in the town and surrounding coun- try. For a time she was employed in the Big Tim- ber postoffice and in 1918 was appointed deputy county clerk. In the fall of that year her name appeared as candidate on the republican ticket for county clerk and recorder and January 6, 1919, she began a term of two years in that office. Miss Sheridan is a Catholic and active in the republican party.

Her oldest brother, Albert, enlisted in April, 1918, and was sent overseas in June and was with the Expeditionary Forces in France. Her younger broth- er, Philip, fifth in age among the children, enlisted in October, 1917, and was with the American forces sent to Siberia, going overseas in July, 1918. The second of the family is Mary Sheridan, who is a graduate of the Big Timber High School, attended summer normal school at Dillion several terms, and is a teacher at Lehigh. The next younger than Ruth Sheridan is Rachel, who is a graduate of the Big Timber High School, attended the Rassuss- man Business College at St. Paul, Minnesota, and is employed as a stenographer at Big Timber. Esther, sixth in the family, is a junior in the Big Timber High School, while Leah is in the sopho- more year and Naomi, the youngest, is in gram- mar school.

NOBLE M. WALKER is president and general man- ager of the Judith Hardware Company at Lewis- town, a business whose service he entered as a clerk less than twenty years ago. He is a native Montanan, and is a member of a family around which revolve many of the most interesting and important associations of the pioneer as well as the modern history of the state.

Pioneering has been a characteristic of the Walker family for several generations. The Walkers are of Scotch-Irish origin, one ancestor coming to this country from Ireland and his wife from Scotland. Their home was in Virginia, and they followed Daniel Boone into the bloody ground of Kentucky. David Walker, grandfather of the Lewistown mer- chant, was born in Adair County, Kentucky, July IO, 1802. He grew up and married there, and in 1827 settled in Sangamon County, Illinois, where he was one of the first farmers to break the soil of the corn belt. In 1835 he joined the tide of emigration to the Territory of Iowa, locating near West Point in Lee County, long before there was a town of that name. At West Point he spent the rest of his years, a successful farmer, a citizen of much public spirit, and was responsible for much of the early religious influences of his commu- nity. He was a charter member of the first Pres- byterian Church organized in the Territory of

Iowa, and was a member of it until his death, which occurred at West Point, September 1, 1876. He was a ruling elder in his church for twenty-five years. David Walker was the father of several well known citizens of Montana, including the late J. C. Walker, A. M. Walker, H. L. Walker, and also two daugh- ters, Mrs. William Hardenbrook and Mrs. John E. Pyle.

Joseph C. Walker, father of Noble M. Walker, was born at Springfield, Illinois, March 30, 1830, and died at Lewistown, June 8, 1908, in his seventy- ninth year. When he was five years old his par- ents moved to West Point, Iowa, where he grew up. He served with the Union army during the winter of 1862-63, being at Corinth, Mississippi. He then returned to Iowa, and at West Point in April, 1863, married Miss Ruby` A. Mason. She was born in Ohio and was taken as a child to Iowa by her parents. Two hours after their mar- riage Joseph C. Walker started overland, accom- panied by his bother, Alexander M. Walker, and Dr. Allen Hardenbrook, bound for California. They had wagons drawn by ox teams. At Denver the news reached them of gold discoveries in Mon- tana, and Joseph C. Walker and three companions sold their outfit and mule teams and traveled to Montana, reaching Alder Gulch, June 9, 1863. The Walker brothers had some experience in mining in Alder Gulch, not without profit, but soon bought a sawmill and became pioneer lumber manufac- turers. In December, 1864, they sold their mill and all returned by stage coach, to Atchison, Kan- sas, which was then the nearest railway point, the trip requiring thirty days. From Atchison, Joseph C. Walker took his gold to the United States mint at Philadelphia and received a statement dated January 21, 1865, apprising him that the bullion value of his shipment was $8,903.89. Joseph C. Walker and his brother acquired an outfit of wagons and teams and in the spring of 1865 re- turned to the West, after four months of travel reaching the present site of Deer Lodge. Mrs. Walker accompanied him on this return trip. Soon afterward they settled at Helena, which was then only a placer mining camp, and there again engaged in the sawmill business. Besides lumbering they also operated freighting outfits between Montana points and Nevada. In 1874 Joseph C. Walker was elected a member of the Territorial Legisla- ture from Lewis and Clark county, and served as sheriff of that county for three years. In August, 1883, he moved with his family to Fergus County and engaged in ranching and stock growing. Sev- eral years before his death he sold his ranch and moved to the City of Lewistown. At the time of his death he was vice president of the Montana Pioneers Society. He and his wife had three chil- dren, Maggie Montana, Noble M. and Joseph A.

Among the many tributes paid to this noble Mon- tana pioneer the following editorial is exception- ally worthy of quotation: "The man who lives an upright and noble life, who has made trails into a new country in order that others may come, and who lays out his course in such a way that friends may follow in his footsteps with assurances that they are traveling the right road, who commands

the respect of every acquaintance-he is a man whose name takes a prominent place in history. Such a man was J. C. Walker of Lewistown, a brother of A. M. Walker of Anaconda. A pioneer of Alder Gulch, a member of the Territorial Legis- lature, sheriff of Lewis and Clark county, in the '70s, a prominent ranch and cattle owner, J. C. Walker made for himself a name of which any man should be proud. Montana's band of sturdy

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trail blazers is being decimated, and within a few years more all of their names will be enrolled upon the history of the state as the argonauts who have done a glorious service to humanity and have passed to the other shore."

Noble M. Walker was born August 20, 1872, while his parents . were living at Helena, Montana. When he was a few months old, in 1873, his mother took him on a long stage journey of 600 miles from Helena to Corinne, Utah. During the summer of 1880 he and his mother left Helena by stage for Fort Benton, going down the river by boat and making a river journey to Bismarck. When Mr. Walker was eight years old his parents moved to Wisconsin, and the education begun at Helena was continued in the public schools of Eau Claire. After two years his parents returned to Butte, where he attended public schools. In 1883, when eleven years old, he earned his first money as a messenger boy for the United States Telegraph Company at Fort Benton. In the fall of 1883 he removed to Judith Basin with his parents, and became actively associ- ated with his father on the ranch as a cowboy. He rode the range for his father and for other outfits altogether for twelve years. After his father closed out the cattle business he continued a sheep raiser for about three years, and in 1903 he re- moved to Lewistown and went to work as a clerk for the Montana Hardware Company. After three years with that firm he then became a life insur- ance salesman and in 1905 entered the service of the . Judith Hardware Company, rapidly going through successive promotions from clerk until he was elected general manager in 1912, and president and general manager in 1916. The Judith Hard- ware Company is one of the largest firms of its kind in the Judith Basin, and much of its growth and prosperity in recent years can be directly credited to Mr. Walker's genius as a merchant.

He has also been active in local affairs, serving as alderman from the third ward by election in 1917, and in 1918 was elected president of the Lewis- town Chamber of Commerce. He served as a member of the War Industry Board and secre- tary of the Community Labor Board and is a mem- ber of the School Board of District No. I. Mr. Walker is a republican in politics, is affiliated with Lewistown Lodge No. 456 of the Elks, Judith Lodge No. 3 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Big Spring Camp No. 108 of the Woodmen of the World. He and his wife are very fond of music and share many other interests in com- mon.

August 26, 1898, Mr. Walker married Miss Jen- nie M. Harwood. She was born at Morton, Min- nesota, a daughter of John and Evelyn (Dodge) Harwood, and was the seventh of their ten chil- dren. Her father later became a prominent rancher in Fergus County. Mr. and Mrs. Walker have three children. Joseph Albert, born September 2, 1899, graduated from the Fergus County High School in 1918, and on October 9th of the same year was enrolled as a member of the Student Army Training Corps at the University of Mon- tana. He received his honorable discharge De- cember 18, 1918. Judith Adelaide, the second child, was born April 20, 1901, and was a graduate of the Fergus County High School. The youngest child is Marjorie Evelyn, born February 4, 1908.

ROBERT H. WATSON is a man of wide experience and varied business interests and is connected with several enterprises of Hall, including the operation of a large real estate service. He was born at Nash- ville, Tennessee, April 20, 1879, a son of Joseph

W. Watson. The Watson family was established in the United States by the grandfather of Robert H. Watson, who came to this country from Scot- land. Joseph W. Watson was born in Kentucky in 1828, and died at Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1907. Reared in Kentucky, Joseph W. Watson left his native state after reaching maturity and went to the vicinity of Booneville, where he was engaged in farming until after the close of the war between the North and South, during which conflict he espoused the side of the latter section and served in the Confederate army under General Price, being wounded in the right hand. Upon his return home from the war, he went into Indian Territory and was engaged in ranching near Ryan until 1907, when he retired to Wichita Falls. His political beliefs made him a democrat, and he was strong in his sup- port of the principles of that party. In the Baptist Church he found the expression of his religious faith and he gave that denomination a hearty and loyal support. Mr. Watson is survived by his widow who lives at Enid, Oklahoma. She bore the maiden name of Sarah E. Patterson, and was born near Booneville, Missouri. Their children were as fol- lows : John, who is in the harness business at Rush Springs, Oklahoma; Sarah, who married Robert Green, resides at San Marcus, Texas, where Mr. Green is engaged in ranching; Mary, who died at the age of six years; J. H., who is in a real estate business at Dallas, Texas; Elizabeth, who married Oliver Greathouse, now serving as sheriff of a Texan County; Mary, who married Jefferson Thomas, a railroad man, lives in Missouri; George W., who is a mechanic of Amarillo, Texas; James, who lives near Ryan, Oklahoma; Robert H., whose name heads this review; Lucy, who died in 1900; Fannie, who married Tom Johnson a rancher in the neighborhood of Enid, Oklahoma; and Alice who died in Oklahoma when thirty-five years old.

Robert H. Watson attended the public schools of Indian Territory and Kansas, and lived at home until he was seventeen years old. He then went to Medicine . Lodge, Kansas, where he worked as a cowboy, and was employed as such at Kiowa and Coldwater, Kansas. With the outbreak of the Spanish-American war, he served his country as a soldier, and then in January, 1899, enlisted for serv- ice in the Philippines to which he was sent, and where he remained for three years and eight months, during that period taking part in fifteen expeditions. He was acting quartermaster sergeant in the mounted constabulary scouts. Returning to this country in 1902, he was mustered out of the service at San Francisco, California, from whence he re- turned to Kansas and for the subsequent two years was in a restaurant business at Wichita, and Ray- mond, Washington, remaining in the latter city until he came to Hall, Montana. Since locating here he has invested quite heavily in local enterprises and is owner of a barber shop, ice cream and confec- tionery parlor, pool hall and telephone exchange, and conducts the leading real estate business of this section. Mr. Watson is one of the live business men. of Granite County, and whatever he undertakes he carries through to a successful completion. The republican party has in him one of its most force- ful exponents. Fraternally Mr. Watson belongs to Raymond Lodge, Loyal Order of Moose of Ray- mond, Washington; Raymond Aerie No. 1631, Fraternal Order of Eagles of Raymond, Washing- ton, and still retains his interests in these organ- izations. In addition to his interests at Hall, Mr. Watson is a stockholder of the Drummond Light & Power Company.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 30

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