Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 36

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 36

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On June 19, 1905, Mr. Coppo was married at ·Pocatello, Idaho, to Miss Elizabeth Ray, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Ray. Mr. Ray was one of the pioneer miners of Virginia City, Nevada, from whence he later came to Butte, and there he died, but Mrs. Ray survives him and is living at Butte. Mrs. Coppo died on December 5, 1913, with- out issue. On August 24. 1915, Mr. Coppo was married to Mrs. Blanche (Bagley) Sullivan, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Bagley of Butte, where Mr. Bagley is engaged in mining. Mr. and Mrs. Coppo have a daughter, Mary Montana, who was born on April 5, 1917. By her former marriage Mrs. Coppo had three children, namely: Gertrude Ann, who was born in 1904, is attending the Butte Business College, and Glenn Joseph, who was born in 1906, and Blanche, who was born in 1908, are both attending the Mckinley High School. Mr.

Ed. Fabian,

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Coppo enjoys the complete and absolute confidence of his business associates. Integrity has been the watchword of his whole career and is the funda- mental attribute of his character. He is honest with himself and with all men, and sincere in word and deed.

JOHN B. RITCH. The career of John B. Ritch in Fergus County has extended over a period of thirty-five years, during which time he has been a prospector, miner, range-rider, cattleman, public offi- cial and repository of big business interests. At present he is one of the prominent and influential business men of Lewistown, with extensive connec- tions in commercial and financial circles.

Mr. Ritch was born December 31, 1868, in North Carolina. He was but fifteen years of age when he left the parental roof and made his way to the State of Texas, where he secured employment on a cattle ranch and subsequently rode the open range in the Lone Star State. His advent in Montana oc- curred in 1885, in which year he entered the Judith Basin of Fergus (then Meagher) County in the role of a range rider, later engaging in mining and the newspaper business. He was elected clerk of the Tenth District Court, a position in which he served for eight consecutive years. Since then he has been variously connected with big business interests, making his headquarters at 409 West Main Street, Lewistown. His home here is at 310 South Fifth Avenue. Mr. Ritch is a demo- crat has wielded some influence in the ranks of his party in Fergus County.

In 1902 Mr. Ritch was united in marriage with Miss Minnie Rehder, and to this union there have been born two children : Myrtle Judith and John B., Jr.

EDWARD FABIAN was a man whose good, honest work and citizenship contributed many things of value to Fergus County, and his name is one to be held in long and respectful memory in that com- munity. His family still live near Lewistown, and one of the sons made a brilliant record in the famous Rainbow Division during the World war.

Edward Fabian was born in Alsace Lorraine, France, October 12, 1850, a son of Blaise and Frances (Schnebelen) Fabian. He was the second in a family of seven children. He acquired his education in France, and at the age of twenty entered the army and served during the Franco- Prussian war of 1870-71, battling against Prussian aggression in that war as did his son nearly fifty years later. He lost a finger in one battle.

After the war he worked in his father's vineyard until 1880, when he came to the United States on a steamship to New York City and thence went by rail to Bismarck, Dakota, and by steamer reached Montana at Fort Benton. From there he crossed overland by ox team to Marysville, where his brother Alexander was mining. He spent about a year in that locality and then moved to Helena, working in the grocery store of Charles Lehman. On July 22, 1882, Mr. Fabian married Anna Mary Laibacher. She was born in Switzerland February 20, 1854. After their marriage, which was celebrated in Helena, they worked for M. Beach on a farm until October, when Mr. Fabian went back to the mines at Helena.

In July, 1883, they took their belated wedding trip, making a visit to France, where he remained until 1884, and then returned to Montana, his wife joining him about a year later. He was on the sheep and cattle ranch of Mr. John Brooks on Salt Creek until his wife returned in 1885, and then for

a time he was in the employ of Mr. Frank Day. In 1886 Mr. Fabian bought a home on the Kendall Road near Lewistown, and turned his talents to the art of gardening, a business in which he excelled. He raised large quantities of fresh produce and fruit for the Lewistown markets and was actively engaged in that business and acquired a competence until his death on June 12, 1915. He first had a log house on his little farm, but in 1914 constructed a modern home, which he was permitted to enjoy only a short time but which his widow and family still occupy. He was a member of St. Lco's Catholic Church.

Mr. and Mrs. Fabian had five children: Helen Elizabeth, who died in infancy, Charles Edward, the soldier son, Joseph Alexander, Henry, and Freda. Charles Edward enlisted October 5, 1917, and was made a part of the Fourth Division in December, 1917, serving with the Thirty-Ninth Infantry. He left for France in April, 1918, and was placed with the Second Army Corps and saw much of the hard fighting along the Marne. In September, 1918, he was placed in the Motor Dispatch Division, and after the signing of the armistice went with his command to the Rhine in Germany and is still with the Army of Occupation.

JAMES H. JORDAN. Those Americans who can trace back to colonial ancestry have every reason to be proud of their lineage, and of the fact that members of their family have been associated with the constructive work of their country in all of its periods. This wonderful nation did not spring into being over night, but is the outgrowth of a series of epochs and of the character of the people of each. Without the heroism, sagacity, broad vi- sion and shrewd judgment of the country's foun- ders and developers there would not today be any mighty United States of America, but a couple of straggling colonies over which warring European nations would be wrangling. Therefore each one who does have the right to claim one or other of these forebears does so with gratitude, and as he matures and gains proper appreciation of his privi- lege, tries to so shape his life and policies that in the epochs to come his descendants may in turn point back with pride to him.

Long before the American colonies threw off the yoke of the mother country and laid the founda- tion of the present government, representatives of two families, the Jordans and the Chases, came to the shores of the New World from Ireland, and from the dates of their several landings took an aggressive and effective part in the history of their adopted country. Their descendants are worthy of them and what they accomplished, and one of the present day who has the blood of both in his veins is James H. Jordan, at Laurel, Montana, whose mother was born a Chase.

James H. Jordan was born in Vernon County, Wisconsin, April 20, 1866, a son of R. W. Jordan and Sarah M. (Chase) Jordan. R. W. Jordan was born in Connecticut, where the family had lived for several generations, in 1830, and he died in Butler County, Iowa, in, 1877. Growing up in his native state, R. W. Jordan learned there to be a farmer and followed that calling all of his life. In 1855 he sought better opportunities for his growing ambition in Vernon County, Wisconsin, of which he was a pioneer, but as that section de- veloped his inclination led him further west, and in 1872 he went to Butler County, Iowa, where he rounded out his useful life. From the organi- zation of the republican party Mr. Jordan found in its principles a reflection of his own, and gave

Vol. 11-9

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it his hearty support. Early joining the Congre- gational Church, throughout his after life he lived up to its creed and contributed generously of his means and time to further its influence. As a Mason he was equally well known, and in every respect measured up to the highest standards of American manhood. His wife was born in Orleans County, New York, in 1835, and survives him, now making her home in Vernon County, Wisconsin. Their children were as follows: Warren A., who was a farmer, died at Lenox, Taylor County, Iowa, aged thirty-six years; Rosa, who married G. C. Bishop, a retired farmer of Vernon County, Wis- consin ; John S., who is manager of a lumber yard, lives in North Dakota; and James H., whose name heads this review.

When he was only twelve years old James H. Jordan left the parental roof to become a clerk in a grocery store at Dubuque, Iowa, where he remained until 1886, then returning to Vernon County, Wisconsin, where he was engaged in farm- ing for eighteen years, and he was then in North- ern Wisconsin for eighteen months. For the sub- sequent four years he was engaged in conduct- ing a mercantile business at Retreat, Vernon Coun- ty, Wisconsin, and then, in 1910, came to Laurel, Montana. It was his connection with the Govern- ment, for which he did general surveying, that brought him to Laurel, and this growing commu- nity so appealed to him that when, three years later, he severed his relations with the surveying department he arranged to go with the Northern Pacific Railroad Company so as to remain in this part of the country, continuing with the latter for four years. For the next year he was a member of the sales force of a mercantile establishment, and then was called upon to assume the duties of the office of city clerk, to which he was elected in 1917 and re-elected in 1918, with offices in the city hall. Mr. Jordan has had experience in pub- iic office, as he was township clerk at Sterling, Vernon County, Wisconsin, for three years, in all of his campaigns being the candidate of the re- publican party, for, like his father, he has always cspoused its teachings. Both by inheritance and1 conviction he is a member of the Congregational Church. Not only is he a member of Laurel Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, but is now past grand of it, and he also belongs to Laurel Canıp, Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Jordan has demonstrated his faith in the future of Laurel and Yellowstone County by investing in a comfortable modern residence at the corner of Fifth Street and Wyoming Avenue, and a 320-acre ranch nine miles southeast of Laurel.

In 1887 Mr. Jordan was united in marriage with Miss Marcia Wightman, a daughter of Andrew B. and Melinda (Austin) Wightman, farming peo- ple who became pioneers of Wisconsin. Mr. Wight- man is now deceased, but his widow survives and makes her home in Clark County, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Jordan became the parents of the fol- lowing children: Hazel, who married C. E. Gil- breath, lives on Mr. Jordan's ranch; Ruby, who married H. T. Winters, a ranchman, and they live near Laurel; and Lin, who is attending the Laurel High School.

The advancement of Mr. Jordan is somewhat remarkable for he is essentially a self-made man, and his educational opportunities were exceedingly limited. Possessing, however, natural ability and quickness of perception, from childhood he has been able to make his own way, and make that way a good one, and those who have come into contact with his methods recognize that they are

practical and effective. His record as city clerk is clean and satisfactory in every way, and he is able to take care of a large amount of the busi- ness of the municipality, applying to the affairs ot his office the same alertness that has characterized him all his life. Both he and his wife are popular socially and have gathered about them a congenial circle of friends. As has been mentioned above in this article, it is such men as Mr. Jordan who can claim to be real Americans, and of him it can also be said that like his ancestors he is worthy of the land which gave him birth.

ARTHUR C. KNIGHT, M. D. Holding prestige in the ranks of his profession by reason of superior natural ability, aided by a thorough training, wide experience, an acute comprehension of human nature and broad sympathy, Dr. Arthur C. Knight, is firmly established in the confidence of the people of Phil- ipsburg. Although engaged in practice here only since the beginning of 1919, Doctor Knight has shown himself such a thorough master of his call- ing as to win an appointment as surgeon for the Bimetalic Mining Company, the Philipsburg Mining Company, and the Gem Mining Company. During the great war he was one of the medical men who left an excellent practice to serve his country, and returned to private life with an honorable record as a soldier and patriot.

Doctor Knight was born in Harrison County, West Virginia, August 24, 1881, a son of John C. Knight, grandson of Valentine Knight, and great- grandson of Gustavious Knight. The Knights orig- inated in England, from whence representatives came to the American Colonies and settled in Vir- ginia. Gustavions Knight was born in Virginia and became a pioneer of what is now Harrison County, West Virginia. During the War of 1812 he served his country as a soldier. His son, Valentine Knight was born in Virginia in 1826, in what is now Har- rison County, West Virginia, and died there in 1909, having been a farmer all of his life.

John C. Knight, father of Doctor Knight, was born at Byron, Virginia, in 1853, and now lives near Clarksburg, West Virginia. He was reared on a farm at Byron, but after his marriage settled on a farm in Harrison County, where he has been occupied with agricultural pursuits all of his life. He is a democrat, but not active in politics. The Baptist Church has held his membership for many years. John C. Knight was married to Aldena Queen, who was born in Lewis County, Virginia, in 1858, died near Clarksburg, West Virginia, in 1888. Their children were as follows: Doctor Knight, who was the eldest born; and Ernest E., who is assistant state superintendent of schools lives at Charleston, West Virginia.

Doctor Knight attended the public schools of his native county, the State Normal School at Glen- ville, West Virginia, from which he was graduated in 1902, and then, after he had taught school for two years, became a student of the West Virginia University at Morgantown for two years. He then entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, Maryland, from which he was graduated in 1909 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and a member of the Greek Letter Fraternity Phi Beta Pi, and he is also a member of Pi Kappa Alpha.

In 1909 Doctor Knight entered the Montana State Hospital at Warm Springs as assistant physician, and six months later was made assistant superin- tendent, and held that position until 1913, when he was appointed by Governor Stewart as state super- intendent of the hospital, and continued as such for a year. Doctor Knight then entered upon a general

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practice in which he was very successful, but as before stated left it to serve his country, and was commissioned a first lieutenant on September 17, 1917, was called to active duty, January 16, 1918, spending six weeks in the medical officers training camp at Camp Greenleaf, Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. From there he was sent to Camp Wadsworth, with the Third Pioneer Infantry at Spartansburg, South Carolina, but was detached from it on June 15, 1918, to serve on the camp examining board. On Sep- tember 19, 1918, he received his promotion to a captaincy, and was ordered overseas as a casual officer, arriving at Brest, France, on November 22, 1918, after the signing of the Armistice. Doctor Knight was immediately assigned to base hospital No. 214, and there assisted in putting the wounded sol- diers in such shape as to enable them to return to the United States. He returned to his own country with a detachment of sick and wounded, landing in New York City on February 9, 1919, and was mustered out of the service on February II, following which he came back to Montana, and accepting the appointment of surgeon to the three companies above referred to, located at Philipsburg, where he is also engaged in a general practice, with offices on Broadway. Doctor Knight is a republican. Brought up in a religious home atmosphere, he early joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. Well known in Ma- sonry, Doctor Knight belongs to Mount Mariah Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Butte, Montana; Butte Consistory in which he has taken the thirty-second degree; and Bagdad Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine of Butte. He is also a member of Butte Aerie No. II, Fraternal Order of Eagles, and the Maccabees, also of Butte. A believer in professional co-opera- tion, Doctor Knight belongs to Silver Bow County Medical Society, the Montana State Medical So- ciety, and the American Medical Association.

On April 9, 1911, Doctor Knight was married at Butte, Montana, to Miss Mathilde Le Roy, a daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Le Roy, residents of Brooklyn, New York, where Mr. Le Roy is an accountant. Mrs. Knight died March 2, 1917, leav- ing a daughter, Dorothy C., who was born June 25, 1915.

Doctor Knight's success is not the result of any happy chance; luck has played no part in his ad- vancement. At the beginning of his career he was compelled to meet and overcome the same obstacles which arise in the path of every young practitioner. These, however, succumbed to his constant study, his indomitable perseverance and the force of his ability, well applied, and he may today take a par- donable pride in the fact that he owes his present position and prosperity solely to his own industry and effort.

JOHN CHARLES MAGUIRE. The visitor to Butte is liable to be impressed by the miles of well paved streets, but he may not know that the credit for this high class of work is due to John Charles Ma- guire, general paving contractor, who has done prac- tically all of the paving at Butte, Missoula and Lew- istown since 1913. He is essentially a product of the West, having been born at Ogden, Utah, on September 14, 1882, a son of John Maguire. The birth of John Maguire occurred in County Done- gal, Ireland, in 1843, and his death at Ogden, Utah, in 1902. His father, grandfather of John Charles Maguire, came to the United States from County Donegal, Ireland, about 1857, and settled first in Vermont, from whence he moved to Iowa, where he owned and operated a farm on the Grand River. In 1867 he came West to Utah, and was engaged

in a mercantile business at Ogden, where his death occurred. He was a democrat. A life long mem- ber of the Roman Catholic Church, he was active in religious affairs in each community in which he resided. His wife bore the maiden name of Conwell, and she, too, died at Ogden, Utah.

John Maguire was a veteran of the war between the states, in which he enlisted in 1865, and follow- ing his honorable discharge he returned to his fa- ther's farm on Grand River, Iowa. When his par- ents went to Ogden, Utah, Jolın Maguire accom- panied them, and, like his father, engaged in mer- chandising, but later engaged in mining and handling real estate, developing into one of the successful pioneers of that city. Also like his father, he was a democrat, and served as a member of the City Council of Ogden. By inheritance and conviction he was a Roman Catholic. For some years he be- longed to the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and was at one time president of the local lodge at Ogden, and he also belonged to the Catholic Knights of America. John Maguire was united in marriage with Mary McGuire and she survives him and lives in Butte, Montana. Mrs. Maguire was born in County Roscommon, Ireland, in 1845. She and her husband had children as follows: Philip, who was an accountant, died at San Francisco, California, when he was thirty-five years old; Sarah, who mar- ried Con Smith, a rancher, lives at Boulder, Mon- tana; Agnes, who married Fred W. Burns, a mine operator, lives at San Diego, California; Mary, who married Dr. R. C. Monahan, a physician and sur- geon of Butte, Montana; Alice, who is unmarried, lives at Butte with her mother; John Charles, whose name heads this review; Nellie, who lives with her mother, conducts an X-Ray laboratory; Grace, who is also with her mother, is engaged in teaching in the Butte public schools; and Charles, who lives at Butte, is a salesman for the L. S. Cohn Cigar Company.

John Charles Maguire attended the public schools of Ogden, and completed the sophomore year of the Ogden High School, and then for the subse- quent year was a student of the Intermountain Busi- ness College, from which he was graduated in 1899. Mr. Maguire then went to work with his uncle, Don Maguire, a mine owner in northern Utah, and remained with him for two years, leaving him to go into the office of the general foreman of the Union Pacific Railroad Company at Ogden. A year later, so satisfactory was his record, he was pro- moted to be passenger yard foreman at the Union Station, Ogden, and held that position for two years. For the subsequent eighteen months Mr. Maguire was at Goldfield, Nevada, mining both over and un- derground, and in this way learning the business, and then, in the winter of 1906, he came to Butte, and worked in the old Parrot Mine, and also in the office of the Great Northern Railroad. Once more he returned to Ogden, and during 1907 was in the Sierra Madre district as a contract miner engaged in driving a tunnel. In 1908 he formed a partner- ship with V. P. Strange, and from then until 1913 was engaged in a general contracting business, which was incorporated in 1909 as the Strange- Maguire Paving Company, and gained a well-merited celebrity in paving work. In 1910 Mr. Maguire had charge of the paving contract at Klamath Falls, Oregon, and during 1911 and 1912 had charge of a similar contract at Missoula, Montana. In the spring of 1913 he severed his connections with the Strange- Maguire Paving Company and located at Butte, since which time he has been an independent con- tractor of paving work. In addition to his con- tracts at Butte, Missoula and Lewistown, Mr. Ma-

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guire has operated at Pocatello, Blackfoot, Idaho Falls, Rexburg and Saint Anthony, Idaho. His offices are conveniently located at No. 615 Daly Bank Building, and his residence is at No. 1260 West Gold Street, Butte. He is an independent democrat. Like all of the members of his family he is a Roman Catholic, and he belongs to Ogden Council No. 777, Knights of Columbus, of which he is a third degree knight; Ogden Lodge No. 719, Benevolent and. Pro- tective Order of Elks, the Silver Bow and Country clubs of Butte, and the Judith Club of Lewistown, Montana. Mr. Maguire is a member of the Pacific Highway Association and is vice president of the Silver Bow National Bank, and is otherwise inter- ested in this region.

On January 7, 1911, Mr. Maguire was married to Miss Constance Smurthwaite, a daughter of C. A. and Margaret (Hope) Smurthwaite, residents of Salt Lake City, Utah, where Mr. Smurthwaite is a wholesale dealer in grain. Mrs. Maguire was graduated from the Ogden High School. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Maguire are as follows: Constance Patricia, who was born on August 29, 1913, and Frances Donna, who was born on Decem- ber 27, 1917. Mr. Maguire is one of the influential men of Silver Bow County, and well known through- out a wide region as a sound and dependable citizen, and one worthy of the highest consideration. His various contracts stand as a monument to his skill and reliability, and his connection with any project insures it proper completion, for he will not tolerate anything but the best of workmanship and a living up to the spirit as well as the letter of a contract.

FREDERICK A. BELL, assistant cashier of the Em- pire Bank & Trust Company of Lewistown, has had a thorough training as a banker and was for- merly identified with large northwestern banks at St. Paul, Minnesota.

He was born in St. Paul, May 15, 1883, a son of Frederick and Maria (Huxtable) Bell. His father, who was born in Durham, England, in 1858, came to this country when nine years of age with his mother and was reared and educated in St. Paul. He was for some years connected with the Nayes Brothers & Cutler, wholesale druggists house of St. Paul, and later with the Ryan Drug Company of that city. Later he became a paint dealer and several years ago retired and is now living, at the age of sixty-one, at Tacoma, Washington. His wife was born in New York State and died in 1885, at the age of twenty-five. Her two children were Frederick A. and Edward, the latter dying in infancy. Frederick Bell, Sr., is a democrat and a member of the Masonic fraternity.

Frederick A. Bell received his education in the public schools of St. Paul, including the high school, and at the age of seventeen went to work for the American Exchange Bank of St. Paul. Subsequently he was with the Second National Bank of St. Paul and then returned to the American National Bank, the successor of the American Ex- change Bank. On the score of ability and hard work he was advanced to the position of paying teller, and continued his duties until 1910, when he was made a deputy in the office of the county treasurer of Ramsay County. Mr. Bell came to Lewistown and on January 2, 1911, became teller with the Empire Bank and Trust Company, and since October 14, 1917, has been assistant cashier.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 36

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