Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 33

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 33

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

went with the Helena Record at Helena, Mon- tana, for nine months, leaving that paper to take a position as "sports" editor on the old Butte Eve- ning News, which had just been established by F. A. Heinze, the copper king, and remained with it until in September, 1904, when he accepted the position of athletic director and professor of Eng- lish at the Colorado Agricultural College at Fort Collins, Colorado. While he was with that institu- tion he had signal success in his work, and among other honors won by him, his baseball team was twice champion of the state, or during 1905 and 1906. In the fall of 1906 he returned to Butte and became associate editor of the Evening News, and while in that position promoted nearly all of the large athletic contests held in Butte, from 1906 to 1908. In September, 1908, Mr. McIntosh accepted the position of athletic director and instructor in English at the Montana State College at Bozeman, and remained there as such until the spring of 1911, when he became editor of the Republican Courier, a daily newspaper of Bozeman, but left it in 1912 and came back to Butte and became a partner in the Cadillac State Agency. He sold part interest in this in 1913 and became mining and financial edi- tor of the Butte Daily Miner, holding that posi- tion until the spring of 1916, when he resigned and became secretary of the Silver Bow Employers As- sociation, and was so successful in handling indus- trial problems that a number of other communi- ties organized similar organizations for handling these problems following the methods of Mr. Mc- Intosh. In 1917 there was a coalition of all of these units into the Associated Industries of Mon- tana, of which Mr. McIntosh was unanimously chosen for general manager, and still retains that important position. It is part of his duty to repre- sent Montana twice annually at the National In- dustrial Conference held at New York City. It is the chief aim of Mr. McIntosh to establish and maintain industrial harmony by bringing employ- ers and employes into a better understanding of each other's problems. Mr. McIntosh maintains offices at Nos. 305-6 and 7 Lewisohn Block.

In his political faith Mr. McIntosh is a repub- lican. He belongs to the Episcopal Church. The Silver Bow Club and the Butte Chamber of Com- merce also hold his membership. He is still con- nected with the Montana Cadillac Company as its vice president, and he owns a modern residence at No. 1119 West Park Street.

On October 22, 1902, Mr. McIntosh was united in marriage with Miss Mary Fleming at Colum- bus, Georgia. She is a daughter of Dr. Malcom and Anna (Meigs) Fleming, the former of whom was a physician and surgeon who died in Virginia. Mrs. Fleming survives and lives at Columbus, Georgia. Mrs. McIntosh was graduated from the San Antonio, Texas, High School. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. McIntosh are as follows: Mary, who was born in August, 1908; John H., who was born in June, 1910; Bayard, who was born in January, 1912; and Anna, who was born in June, 1918.

Few men are better suited for their work than Mr. McIntosh. Well educated and carefully trained, belonging to the aristocratic class by birth and early association, he can fully appreciate the stand of those whose capital has placed them above the ruck and stress of industrial striving; while his own struggles early in his career and his subsequent close . association with young men in the making have given him a practical working knowledge of the problems of the employes and the dire need for their advancement. His training in law enables

him to act in accordance with established ordi- nances and to plead with both sides so convincingly and authoritatively as to bring about an understand- ing when no one else could do so. A student of men and their impulses, Mr. McIntosh early learned how to govern both and bring out of those with whom he came in contact the best in them, and to develop latent talents in a most remarkable man- ner. All of his former work has developed his ownl resources and made of him a leader of men in the greatest of games-life-in which, because of his fairness, his insight into human nature and his sympathy, he has been chosen to act as both direc- tor and arbitrator, and through his services not only are better understanding relations established between the two classes, capital and labor, but the public is a participant in the results.

JOHN O. HELSING was connected with the building 'of some of the pioneer railroads through Montana and the Northwest, and has led an exceedingly active life, much of it on the open range as a stock man. A few years ago he retired from his ranch and is now enjoying the comforts of a good home in Lewistown.

Mr. Helsing was born in Sweden December 31, 1862. He was the youngest in a family of four daughters and two sons, and was a small child when his father died. At the age of nine years he came to the United States with his mother and a sister. They landed at Quebec, thence went to Chicago, and two months later he accompanied his sister to Lake City, Minnesota. For some five or six years he lived in the family of Fred Winters, a farmer in Minnesota, working for his board and clothing and attending school as opportunity offered. His next experience was as a farm hand at Wheatland, Dakota, spending about two years there. He then returned to Minnesota and went to work in the railway shops of the Northern Pacific at Brainerd. That was his first experience in railroading. After about two years in the railway shops at Brainerd he came to Montana, then the terminus of the rail- way, and did railway construction work. In the fall of the same year he moved to Reed's Point, about forty miles west of where Billings now stands, and subsequently was at Gardiner, or the present site of that town, which had then been laid out along the proposed route of the railroad. He helped construct some log houses on the site. Then with Mr. Plummer, a railway contractor, he came on to White Sulphur Springs, where he went to work for Charles Cook. He spent the summer of 1882 putting up hay, and he also operated the first self- binder brought into the Deep Creek Valley. In the fall of 1882 he came into the Judith Basin with Barr Smith, a well known horse man, and worked on the range with Mr. Smith for about three years. He was then employed by the prominent Judith Basin pioneer, William Berkin, one summer, and about that time he took up a homestead of 160 acres. He rode the range for about three years, and subse- quently, with E. S. Smith, bought 160 acres and engaged in stock ranching. They were associated two and a half years, and upon the dissolution of their partnership Mr. Helsing took over the land and continued cattle and horse ranching until 1900, when he sold his ranch property and moved to Lewistown.

Prior to and preparatory to his settling down to the permanent life of the farm and ranch, Mr. Helsing married Miss Olive Lyons, a native of Iowa. Mr. Helsing is affiliated with Lewistown Lodge No. 37 of the Masonic Order and in politics is inde- pendent.

J. O. Helsing 1

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EDMUND WRIGHT, a resident of Montana over thirty years, is one of the best known men in Fergus County, where his name has figured prominently as a public official, business man and rancher and in connection with many civic and social affairs at Lewistown.

Mr. Wright was born at Penn Yan in Yates County, New York, December 14, 1869, a son of Edmund and Sarah (Walton) Wright. His father was born in England in 1827 and died December 26, 1913. His mother was born December 6, 1833, and died April 30, 1914. Edmund, Sr., was eight years old when brought to America by his parents, who located in New York state. He received his education in the public schools and learned the cabinet maker's trade. Four of his brothers enlisted and served all through the Civil war in the Union army, and he himself tried to get into the service but was rejected on account of physical disability. However, he was able to serve his community in the capacity of deputy sheriff during the war. For many years he served as superintendent of the Birdsell Manufacturing Com- pany, and after 1887 lived retired. He was a repub- lican in politics.

Edmund Wright, Jr., was fifth in a family of eight children, five of whom are still living. He acquired his early education in the public schools of Yates County and attended a business school at Elmira, New York. He was only eighteen years old when he came to Montana in 1887, and has witnessed every phase of the development of Lewistown from a pioneer village to the present time. For three years he was employed as bookkeeper in the Bank of Fergus County, and after that for many years was in one of the offices of the courthouse, at first as deputy county clerk and recorder two years, then deputy clerk of the District Court four years, and in 1896 was elected clerk of the District Court. His admirable administration of the office called for a second term in 1900, and when he retired in 1904 he had put in nearly fifteen years as an official servant. Since then Mr. Wright has been engaged in the real estate, loan and general insurance busi- ness, and in 1910 he organized the Wright Land & Investment Company, of which he is president. This is one of the large corporations of Fergus County and owns and operates 1,200 acres of im- proved land five miles from Lewistown, using the land as the basis of a general farming and stock raising proposition.

Mr. Wright was a charter member of Lewistown Lodge No. 456, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, which he has served as exalted ruler; is also a charter member and past chancellor of Judith Lodge No. 30, Knights of Pythias, and was one of the organizers of the Judith Club at Lew- istown. Politically he is a republican and has been a stanch factor in the party for many years.

In May, 1890, Mr. Wright married Lizzie M. Gud- gell. She was born at Chillicothe, Missouri. They have two sons, Frank A. and Robert G. Frank is a graduate of the law department of the Uni- versity of Michigan and served one term as county attorney of Fergus County. He married Catherine Breitinger and they are the parents of two daugh- ters. Robert is in charge of the insurance depart- ment and the city department of the Wright Land & Investment Company. He is also treasurer of the company.

HARRY H. AUSTIN is a member of the Big Tim- ber bar, and came to Montana after fifteen years of successful practice in his native State of Minne- sota.

He was born in Blue Earth County, Minnesota, December 27, 1881. His paternal ancestors were

from Scotland. His grandfather, Reuben Austin, was born in New York State in 1809, and when about middle age he moved west and became a pioneer farmer in Rock County, Wisconsin. Dur- ing the 'zos he went out to Minnesota, and again did pioneering as a farmer in Blue Earth County, where he died in 1900. Orville H. Austin, father of the Big Timber lawyer, was born in Oneida County, New York, in 1837. He spent his early life in Rock County, Wisconsin, where he mar- ried and where he followed the business of car- penter and builder. In 1876 he moved to Blue Earth County, Minnesota, followed his trade there, but since 1900 has lived retired at Minneapolis. He is a very staunch democrat in his political affilia- tions and a member of the Masonic fraternity. Orville H. Austin married Loretta Earl, who was born in Rock County, Wisconsin, in 1846. Charles, the oldest of their children, was a telegraph opera- tor and died in Blue Earth County, Minnesota, in 1893. Viola, whose home is in Minneapolis, is the wife of Dr. E. C. Anderson, who is well known to the medical profession in Montana, having prac- ticed at Billings, Anaconda and Missoula, and from the latter city joined the medical corps of the army, rose to the rank of major, and his last professional services with the army were rendered at New York City. Frank L. Austin is cashier of the Thomp- son State Bank at Thompson Falls, Sanders Coun- ty, Montana. Della is the wife of John Costin, a mine operator in the Iron Range of Minnesota at Virginia. Joseph Earl is a graduate of the Univer- sity of Minnesota Law Department and is practic- ing law at Chisholm, Minnesota. Winnie, the sixth of the family, died in infancy, and the youngest is Harry H.

Harry H. Austin acquired his early education in the public schools of Good Thunder and Mankato, Minnesota, graduating from the Minneapolis High School in 1902 and then entered the law depart- ment of the University of Minnesota. He received his LL. B. degree in 1905. He is a member of the legal fraternity Delta Chi. Mr. Austin began his practice at Chisholm, Minnesota, in 1905, and de- veloped a fine business as a lawyer there. He served as city attorney, also as a member of the school board, and still has property in Minnesota. He came to Big Timber in December, 1918, and is already busy with a general civil and criminal practice, his offices being in the Masonic Building. He helped organize the Sweetgrass County Good roads Association and is its secretary and treas- urer. He is also a member of the Big Timber Chamber of Commerce and on the board of direc- tors. He is a republican in politics, and a mem- ber of the State Bar Association of Minnesota, and is affiliated with Chisholm Lodge No. 1334, Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks.

In 1909, at St. Paul, he married Miss Clyde Pen- nington, a daughter of Wellington and Bertha (Reed) Pennington. Her father, who was in the livery business, died at St. Paul in 1910. Her mother now lives in New York City. Mrs. Austin is a graduate of the St. Paul High School and the State Normal at Winona, Minnesota. To their mar- riage were born three children: Don, born August 23, 1910; Barbara, born April 5, 1913; and Joseph, born June 24, 1918.

REV. D. P. MEADE, pastor of St. Philip's Catholic Church of Philipsburg, is one of the earnest and scholarly men of his church, and one who is greatly beloved. He was born in County Limerick, Ireland, February 17, 1888. His preliminary education was received in the national school at Ballintubber, County Limerick, Ireland, following the completion of which

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he became a student of St. Andrew's Academy at Kilfinane, County Limerick, Ireland, and for two and one-half years took a classical course. The fol- lowing seven years were spent by him at St. Pat- rick's Seminary, at Thurles, County Tipperary, Ire- land, in acquiring a philosophical and theological course, and he was ordained to the priesthood on June 14, 1914.

Soon after his ordination, Father Meade came to the United States and to Montana, and spent his first few weeks in the state at Walkerville, when on November 5th of that same year he arrived at Philipsburg to assume charge of the parish of St. Philip, and here he has since continued. This parish was organized in 1889, and is the first to be estab- lished in Granite County. The present church edi- fice at Philipsburg, was erected in 1892, but the first services were held at Granite. The parish now includes Southern Cross, Deerlodge County, and Father Meade ministers to the needs of 400 Cath- olics. The parsonage adjoins the church, which is on the corner of Carney and Franklin streets.

Father Meade belongs to Deer Lodge Council No. 1810, Knights of Columbus, of which he is a fourth degree knight; Division No. 1, Ancient Order of Hibernians at Butte, Montana, and is state chaplin of this order, elected at the State Convention in August, 1919. Practical in his application of moral- ity to civic needs, he is a valued member of the Commercial Club.

The father of Rev. D. P. Meade is Michael Meade, who was born at Ballintubber, County Limerick, Ireland, in 1858, and there he still resides, having been a farmer all of his mature years. He is a firm believer in the creed of the Roman Catholic Church of which he is a life-long member. His wife bore the maiden name of Ellen Hennessy, and she was born at Knocklong, County Limerick, Ireland, in 1859. Their children were as follows: D. P., whose name heads this review; Mary, who died at the age of twenty-one years, was a Sister of Mercy in Gran- ard, County Longford, Ireland; John, who lives with his parents at Ballintubber, Ireland, is a farmer; and Julia, who is also living with her parents.

JAMES M. SELF was brought to Montana when about seven years of age, grew up in this territory and state, and for nearly thirty years has been a practicing lawyer and has had much to do with the business, industrial and public affairs of the west- ern counties.

Mr. 'Self, who for the past twenty years has lived at Plains, was born in Nebraska City, Nebraska, October 25, 1865. Three days later, on the 28th of October, his father, James M. Self, died. The grandfather, Philip Jenkins Self, was born in Ken- tucky about 1800 and at an early day settled on a farm in Missouri. The Selfs are of English an- cestry and the family was first established in Vir- ginia. Philip J. Self died near Saline, Missouri, in 1871. His wife was a Miss Black. James M. Self, Sr., was born in Missouri in 1830 and by oc- cupation was a wheelwright. After his marriage he removed to Nebraska City, where he followed his trade and carriage making until his death. He was a democrat and a member of the Baptist Church. His wife was Melinda Batterton, who was born in Missouri in 1832 and died at Deer Lodge, Montana, in 1905. In 1872 she had come to Mon- tana with her brother, J. H. Batterton, and both were early residents of Deer Lodge. James M. Self, the lawyer, was the fifth and youngest of his father's family. Mary E., the oldest, died at Butte, wife of John P. Reins, who is owner of ranching

and mining interests and lives near Sheridan, Mon- tana; Mattie is the wife of C. E. Aspling, publisher of the Powell County Post at Deer Lodge; Eliza- beth married C. E. Freyschlag, formerly a merchant and banker at Philipsburg, Montana, now a resident of Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Nannie, who died young.

James M. Self acquired his early education in the public schools of Deer Lodge and graduated A. B. from the College of Montana of that city in 1889. He went east to take his law course in the law department of Yale University, graduating LL. B. in 1891. The following four years he practiced law at Butte and after that lived at Anaconda, Deer Lodge County, until 1900. He was deputy county attorney of Deer Lodge County before Deer Lodge and Powell counties were separated. Mr. Self moved to Plains, Montana, in 1900. In 1902 he was elected to represent that county in the eighth ses- sion of the Legislature, and was a member of the judiciary, state institutions, and public buildings committees. After his legislative term he prac- ticed at Missoula two years, and since the creation of Sanders County has been one of the leading lawyers of that section of the state, handling a large civil and criminal practice. However, for two years he lived at Thompson Falls and served as attorney for Ed Donlan in acquiring various rights for what is now the Thompson Falls Power Company. For one year Mr. Self was cashier of the Farmers and Merchants State Bank of Plains, but has since sold his interests in the bank. His law offices are in the First National Bank block and he owns a modern home and a ranch adjoining the town on the northwest. He is a member and clerk of the Congregational Church, and is a member of Ponemah Lodge No. 63, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and past master of Thompson Falls Lodge, and a member of the State Bar Association.

In 1898, at Plains, he married Miss Rowena Pierce, daughter of M. H. and Unity (Sapp) Pierce, now deceased. Her father was an early day rancher, carpenter and builder at Plains. Mrs. Self is also a graduate with the A. B. degree from the College of Montana at Deer Lodge.

WILLIAM HANNA has been identified with the business life of Montana for nearly thirty years, and since 1900 has been a merchant and citizen of Lewistown.

He was born at Fergus, Ontario, Canada, August 15, 1866, son of William and Mary Jane Hanna. His parents were both natives of Ireland but of Scotch ancestry. His father came to Quebec when a young man by sailing vessel, and later moved into the wilderness of Ontario, locating near Fergus. He was a man of great industry and good business judgment, and acquired a tract of land which by slow and laborious effort was cleared and developed until it represented one of the best farms in that province. He cleared up 650 acres and had his farm well stocked with graded cattle and horses. He was active in the Presbyterian Church. William Hanna died April 15, 1909, at the age of seventy- four years, two months and three days, while his wife passed away December 15, 1914, in her seventy- seventh year. They were the parents of five sons, four still living, William being the third in age.

William Hanna spent his early life on his father's Canadian farm, attending school in winter and work- ing on the farm in summer. After finishing his high school course he came west to Montana, reach- ing Helena in the spring of 1890. Later he went to Great Falls and was employed in the shops of the Street Railway Company until the spring of

W. Hanna

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1893. He then followed his trade as a carpenter and helped build the Gilt Edge Cyanide Mill at Gilt Edge. Following that he was in the restaurant and meat market business until 1900, in which year he removed to Lewistown, and has since been sole owner of the Lewistown Feed and Seed Store, being the largest wholesale and retail dealer in hay, grain and poultry and feed in Montana.

Mr. Hanna is affiliated with Lewistown Lodge No. 37, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Lewistown Lodge No. 30, Knights of Pythias, of which he is a past chancellor commander, and is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, Judith Club and in politics is a democrat. 1

J. H. TROWER, is proprietor of the only cream- ery industry in Sweetgrass County, at Big Timber, is an expert dairyman and buttermaker, and has had a long and active experience in that business, though in point of years he is still a young man.

Mr. Trower was born on a farm in Lincoln County, Missouri, March 7, 1886. The Trower family has been in America since colonial times, coming originally from England. The grandfather, Henry Trower, was a native of Kentucky, and was an early settler in Lincoln County, Missouri, where he spent his last years. Henry A. Trower, father of the Big Timber business man, was born in Lincoln County, Missouri, in 1851 and spent all his life there as a farmer. He is now living at O1- ney in that county. Politically he is a democrat and is a member of the Presbyterian Church. His wife, Margaret Downing, was born in the same Missouri county in 1853 and died at Olney in 1899. They had a family of nine children. Anna is the wife of Joseph King, a farmer in Lincoln County; Mary is unmarried and lives at home with her father. Lula is the wife of Charles Kalb, an oste- opathic physician at Springfield, Illinois. The fourth child and oldest son is J. H. Trower. Isaac, the next of age, was in the army from October, 1917, until March, 1919. He was in the aviation department and was trained and in service at Wright Field, San Antonio, Texas, in the Carnegie Institute at Pittsburgh, at St. Paul and finally at Door's Field in Florida. Since leaving the army he has been helping his brother at Big Timber in the creamery. The sixth is Frank Trower, who runs the homestead farm at Olney, Missouri. J. E. Trower enlisted the day following the declaration of war with Germany and at this writing is still in the navy, being chief water tender. William Trower is a farmer at Corso, Missouri. Roy A., the youngest, was a participant in some of the hardest fighting of the war. He was with the Eighty-ninth Division, and was in the front line trenches in France from August 2, 1918, until the signing of the armistice. He was in the St. Mihiel drive beginning September 12th, and on the 12th of October was transferred to the Argonne sector and was in that forest until the close of the war. He was a corporal.

J. H. Trower while living on his father's farm attended the rural schools of Missouri and for five years he carried studies in the Kirksville State Normal. He left Kirksville in 1909 and then came to the Northwest, and in the University of Idaho at Moscow pursued a special dairying and butter making course, graduating in 1910. For two years he was assistant dairyman at the University of Idaho. Then for one year he had charge of the butter manufacturing department of the Schallen- ger Produce Company at Spokane, Washington. After this experience and training Mr. Trower came to Big Timber in 1914 and bought out an old cream-

ery, but re-established and reorganized the business with a complete new equipment in 1918. The cream- ery plant is located on First Avenue. Mr. Trower through his business has done a great deal to stimu- late dairy production in Sweetgrass County, and furnishes a market for the surplus milk and cream to all the farmers in the county. He manufactures large quantities of butter and ice cream, and the surplus finds a ready market at Butte, Anaconda, Livingston and other towns.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 33

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