Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 46

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 46

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H. L. Cummings received his education in the public schools of Peru, New York, and at the age of eighteen began earning his living as driver of a team and at other employments. In 1874 he went to

Blackbrook, New York, was a farmer and in the lumber business, and in 1886 established himself in business at Lake Placid, where for three years he was a merchant and then a carpenter and builder. He came west to Livingston in 1904 and for two years continued the carpenter's business, after which he established a livery and coal business and black- smith shop. He conducted this under the name H. L. Cummings & Son for eight years. Owing to the increasing patronage of his establishment due to the importance of the automobile industry, he has since concentrated his attention on a modern garage at the corner of Lewis and Third streets. He owns the building, 80x100 feet, and does a gen- eral garage and repair business. He handles acces- sories and is local representative for the sale of the Chevrolet car.

Mr. Cummings is a republican, is a trustee of the Methodist Church at Livingston, a member of the Livingston Chamber of Commerce and a stockholder in the Park Milling Company and in the Park Cream- ery Company. He is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge at Lake Placid, New York. Mr. Cummings owns a modern home at the corner of Third and Lewis streets.

In 1879, in Clinton County, New York, he mar- ried Miss Elizabeth Allen, daughter of Frank and Dina (Watson) Allen, both now deceased. Her father was an iron worker. Mr. and Mrs. Cummings have four children. Lyman H., the oldest, was born in New York state in 1881, and for a number of years has been associated with his father in business. He married Rosanna Merrill and has two children, Franklin and Mae. Christina, the second child of Mr. and Mrs. Cummings, is the wife of E. H. Newell, a merchant at Livingston. Loretta married William Shorthill, a street car conductor at Portland, Ore- gon. Martha, the youngest of the family, is a junior in the Park County High School.

C. H. Cummings, older brother of H. L. Cummings, was born at Peru, New York, February 19, 1853, had a public school education there, became a con- tractor and was superintendent of a lumber yard at Blackbrook and Lake Placid, New York. On com- ing to Livingston in 1904 he moved to a ranch twelve miles south of town, but in the spring of 1919 sold this property and is now engaged in the real estate business at Livingston. His home is at 515 Lewis Street. He is a democrat, a member of the Metho- dist Church and a Mason. C. H. Cummings married at Peru, New York, in 1873, Miss Sarah Ormsby, daughter of Bradford and Clara (Line) Ormsby, both of whom died at Peru, New York, where her father was a farmer. Mrs. Cummings died at Liv- ingston in 1908 and all her children died in infancy. In 1909 Mr. Cummings married Mrs. Sarah (Dur- gan) Westcott, a daughter of David and Mary (Mc- Kee) Durgan. Her father was also a farmer at Peru, New York. C. H. Cummings has reared an adopted son, William, taking him when he was a year old. He finished his education in the State Ag- ricultural College at Bozeman and is now engaged in ranching at Reed Point, Montana.

A. A. SHEUERMAN who has been a resident of Butte for about ten years has built up and developed an important and extensive business with that city as his headquarters in theater advertising. Mr. Sheuerman has been in the advertising business off and on since early youth, and has an extensive nic- quaintance with newspaper and other advertising mediums in the Northwest.

He was born at The Dalles, Oregon, January 17, 1886. His father J. Sheuerman, who was born in Germany in 1857, came to this country when a

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young man, and was married in The Dalles, where he lived for a number of years and was in business as a buyer of hides and wool. He continued in the same line at Pendleton, Oregon, after 1889, and since 1900 has had his home at San Francisco. He still conducts his business as a wool buyer in the dis- trict around Pendleton, Oregon, and Walla Walla, Washington. As a young man he enlisted and served for a time in the regular army, participating in some Indian compaigns in the West. He is a democrat and a member of the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. J. Sheuerman married Matilda Wolf, who was born in this country in 1861 and died at Portland, Oregon, in 1896. Her father Bernard Wolf was a native of Germany, was a hide and wool buyer at The Dalles, Oregon, many years and died in that city in 1898. J. Sheuerman and wife had two children, A. A. and Carrie. The latter is the wife of Emile Cerf, a merchant of San Francisco.

A. A. Sheuerman acquired his education in the public schools of Pendleton and San Francisco, graduating from the Pendleton High School. At the age of sixteen he went to work earning his own living. The first year he was employed in different capacities with the Pendleton East Oregonian and Pendleton Tribune. That constituted his earliest experience in the newspaper business. Then for six months he worked for Bare Bros. in their furniture store in San Francisco and another six months worked in the scouring mill of a San Francisco wool plant. Mr. Sheuerman was circulation manager for several well known northwestern newspapers, being with the Pendleton Tribune a year and a half, with the Walla Walla Statesman three months and the Pendleton Tribune six months. For three months he was business manager of the Baker City Herald in Oregon, and during that time owned a half interest in the paper. The next year he spent as advertising salesman for the Portland Journal, and for one year covered seventeen western states as a traveling representative of the Pendleton Woolen Mills. He then rejoined the staff of the Portland Journal as advertising salesman, but after six months began selling theatrical advertising on the Orpheum and Sullivan & Considine circuits in the Northwest. He has been engaged in theater advertising at Butte since November 1, 1909. His offices are in the Phoenix Building. He is also haif owner and vice president and director of the Hippo- drome Company, lessees of the People's Theater of Butte.

Mr. Sheuerman is a member of the Butte Adver- tising Club, Silver Bow Club, and is past president of Baron de Hirsch Lodge No. 420, Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, and a member of Butte Lodge No. 240 Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Politically he is independent. Mr. Sheuerman, who resides at 16 North Clark Street, married at Butte August 31, 1910, Miss Esther R. Cohn, daughter of M. G. and Emma (Kuhn) Cohn, residents of Butte. Her father is a retired commission merchant. Mrs. Sheuerman is a graduate of the Butte High School.

ELMER J. Mo. It is generally conceded that Elmer J. Mo has done an enormous amount of constructive work in Sweetgrass County, supplying the faith, enthusiasm and also the pioneer example and enterprise by which a large and important sec- tion of fertile Montana lands have been colonized, developed and brought to the front as an agri- cultural proposition.

Mr. Mo by profession is a banker. In fact he began life as an accountant. He is a master of technical business detail as well as a master execu-

tive. He was born at Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, Octo- ber 12, 1884. His father, Hans Mo, is still living at Sleepy Eye, was born in Norway in 1849 and came to the United States in 1865. He worked as a farm hand at Hanska, Minnesota, and for several years was employed in a store at Sleepy Eye. In 1881 he became vice president of the State Bank of Sleepy Eye, and now for many years has been president of that institution. He has also served as mayor of his home town, is a republican, a very active worker in the Lutheran Church and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Ancient Order of United Workmen. Hans Mo married Annie Stockstead, who was born in Norway in 1854. Elmer J. is the oldest of their children. Rolf has been in the Big Timber country since 1916 as a rancher. Pearl is the wife of Saxe Somer- ville, who was with the Expeditionary Forces in France. Alice is a talented young woman, a graduate of Rockford College in Rockford, Illinois, finished her education in the Minneapolis School of Dramatic Art and is now engaged in chautauqua and lyceum work with the University Lyceum Players.

Elmer James Mo graduated from the high school of his native town in Minnesota in 1903, spent six months in a commercial school at Mankato and for three months studied law in the night school of the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis. For two and a half years he was employed by Ross & Davis as utility man in that firm's chain of banks in North Dakota. His work was somewhat in the nature of traveling auditor. In 1908, when he was twenty-four years of age, he was employed by another firm to organize a bank at Crandall, South Dakota. He also served as accountant for the Williston Drug Company at Williston, North Dakota. On returning to Sleepy Eye he was assistant cashier of the State Bank of that town during 1910-II.

Mr. Mo arrived at Big Timber October 19, 1912. For a year and a half he was assistant cashier in the Citizens State Bank and in January, 1914, organ- ized the Scandinavian American Bank of Big Timber. For one year he was its cashier and then until January I, 1917, was vice president, when he sold his banking interests. In the meantime he had made this one of the strong and reliable institutions, a bulwark of financial opportunity. He had been working to realize an ideal in the development of what is known as the Gibson country around Gibson and Melville, and gave much of his time to the development of a large ranch in that vicinity. His operations have broadened in real estate, the loan and insurance business until he is now head of one of the largest organizations of the kind in the southern part of the state. He has brought hundreds of farmers to this section of Montana, and many thousands of acres have been sold through the medium of his influence and business organization. He individually owns 2,000 acres of ranch land in Sweetgrass County. He has an office building on McLeod Street, and also a modern home on the same thoroughfare.

Mr. Mo is president of the Sweetgrass Abstract and Audit Company. He was a member of the Legislature in 1919, being elected from Sweetgrass County in 1918. During that session he served as a member of the banks and banking, conservation of resources and fishing and game committees. He is a member of the Lutheran Church, affiliated with the Lodge of Elks at Watertown, South Dakota, being a life member, and also belongs to Big Timber Lodge No. 25, Knights of Pythias. In 1906, at Fergus Falls, Minnesota, he married Miss Alice Schlief, a native of Wisconsin. They have two

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children, Hazel, born November 5, 1912; and Rolfa, born June 6, 1916.

R. J. JOHANNES, whose connection with the coal business extends back over a period of twenty-three years, is a man of wide experience, keen apprecia- tion of values, thorough knowledge of the industry which he represents and excellent business judg- · ment. While he has been located at Billings only since 1918, the reputation which he established at Helena during his long career in that city preceded him to this city, where, as sales agent for the Kooi Coal Company and the Bear Creek Field, he occupies a position of importance in the coal trade and has added to the standing which is his by right of past achievements.

Mr. Johannes was born at Humboldt, Michigan, January 17, 1870, and is a son of Nicholas and Lena (Geitzen) Johannes. His father, born in Germany in 1823, was reared in that country and came to the United States in young manhood, his first location being at Port Washington, Wisconsin, where he married Lena Geitzen, also a native of Germany, born in 1839. Subsequently they removed to Humboldt, Michigan, where Mr. Johannes fol- lowed his trade of wheelwright, as he did also, later, at Ishpeming, Michigan, and finally at Helena, Montana, where he arrived August 15, 1880, and where he was the pioneer wheelwright of the city. He continued to be similarly engaged throughout the remainder of his life, and being an industrious man and good manager when he died in 1900 was possessed of a comfortable competence. He was a democrat in politics, and he and Mrs. Johannes, who died June 18, 1908, at Helena, were members of the Roman Catholic Church.

The only child of his parents, R. J. Johannes was educated in the public schools of Ishpeming, Michigan and the parochial school at Helena, Mon- tana, added to which was a course in the Helena Business College, which he left in 1888. In the meantime, during the summer months of the years 1886, 1887 and 1888, he had ridden the range as a cowboy. After leaving business college Mr. Jo- hannes secured a position in the Helena Post Office Department as a letter carrier, a position which he retained five years. In 1893 he entered the services of the Royal Milling Company of Great Falls, Montana, as salesman at Helena, and in this position gained valued experience in the art of selling goods. During 1894-5-6 he was salesman for the T. C. Power Company of Helena, the largest implement dealers in Montana, and in 1897 turned his attention to the coal business, conducting a retail and whole- sale yard at Helena until May 1, 1918. Mr. Johannes during this time came into contact with numerous large interests in the fuel industry, and as he gained experience became impressed with the opportunities open for a man of his knowledge and experience as a sales agent. In the year mentioned he re- ceived an attractive offer, and eventually disposed of his holdings and came to Billings, where, in September, 1918, he entered upon his duties as sales agent for the Kooi Coal Company for Mon- tana and North Dakota, and for the Northwestern Improvement Company of Red Lodge, Montana, the largest coal company in the Northwest. Mr. Jo- hannes covers with his sales the entire territory between Fargo, North Dakota, and Portland, Ore- gon, and his transactions are immense and im- portant in character. He is one of the best known figures in the coal trade in the state at this time and has innumerable acquaintances among the large operators. His offices at Billings are located at No. 210 Hart-Albin Building. He is a great be-

liever in the future of Montana lands, and at present is the owner of 165 acres of splendid ranch property on the Little Blackfoot River, which he operates as a stock ranch. In this direction, also, he has been successful, having managed his prop- erty with rare business shrewdness and admirable foresight. Mr. Johannes is a republican, but has not cared for the doubtful honors of public life, although he is quick to respond to any worthy appeal and stanchly supports all movements which show themselves worthy of his co-operation. He belongs to the United Commercial Travelers, and he and Mrs. Johannes belong to the Roman Catholic Church.

Mr. Johannes was married March 26, 1914, at Fort Benton, Montana, to Miss Clara Torkelson, daughter of Mrs. Kate Torkelson, of Madison, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Johannes reside in Helena, Montana.

WILLIAM WALLACE GAIL. One of the best known men in the state in advertising, newspaper and po- litical circles is William Wallace Gail of Billings. He was born at East Aurora, Erie County, New York, June 29, 1880, a son of Dr. William H. Gail, and grandson of Reverend Gail, a pioneer clergy- man of the Methodist Episcopal Church in West- ern New York. Doctor Gail was born at East Aurora, New York, in 1840, and he died at Buffalo, New York, in 1916, having spent his life in his native state. During the Civil war he gave his country a soldier's service as surgeon of the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth New York Volunteer Infantry, and upon his return home resumed his practice at East Aurora, continuing it from 1865 to 1912, when he retired. He was a graduate of the Albany Medical School, from which he 'se- cured his degree of Doctor of Medicine. Politi- cally he was a democrat. For years he was affili- ated with the Episcopal Church. He was well known as a Mason. The maiden name of his wife was Julia Wallace, and she was born in Scotland in 1846, and died at East Aurora in 1800. Their children were as follows: Florence M., who mar- ried James B. McCreary, who is a broker in stocks and bonds of Buffalo, New York, but during the great war went to France as a worker in the Young Men's Christian Association; Clarence W., who is with the American Ship Building Company and resides at Cleveland, Ohio; and William W., whose name heads this review.

William W. Gail attended the grammar and high schools of East Aurora, being graduated from the latter in 1894, and he later became a student of Cornell University, New York, from which he was graduated in 1905, with the degree of Bache- lor of Arts. In his senior year he was elected to the scholarship fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa. Early exhibiting literary leanings, Mr. Gail became edi- tor-in-chief of the Cornell Era, a literary monthly magazine, and he was also assistant in the de- partment of sociology and statistics at the uni- versity. In 1905 he won the Guilford English essay prize at Cornell.

In 1905 Mr. Gail went to Cripple Creek, Colorado, as a reporter on the Cripple Creek Times, and in 1908 was made its managing editor. The year following Mr. Gail left Cripple Creek for Colorado Springs to become telegraph editor and editorial writer on the Colorado Springs Gazette, and subse- quently was connected with the Evening Herald and Evening Telegraph, hoth of that city. On December 1, 1913, Mr. Gail came to Billings to become editor of the Billings Gazette, continuing in that position for three years, when he resigned

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to establish himself in a general advertising busi- ness under the name of the Billings Advertising Company, of which he is the sole proprietor. This business has grown until it is now one of the largest of its kind in Montana, its operations covering a wide field in this and other states. His offices are at 211-212 Stapleton Block. Mr. Gail carries on a general advertising agency and advertisement writing, and specializes on publicity work. In ad- dition to the work of his agency Mr. Gail is editor and manager of the Midland Empire Farmer, a monthly farm paper.

A stalwart republican, Mr. Gail is very active in politics, now serving as chairman of the Re- publican County Central Committee, to which office he was elected in the fall of 1918. When the Mid- land Empire Fair Association was organized the services of Mr. Gail were secured as publicity man- ager, in which capacity he has continued ever since. He is chairman of the publicity committee of the Billings Midland Club and vice president of the Rotary Club. He was one of the two representa- tives of the United States on the Resolutions Com- mittee at the International Rotary Convention held at Kansas City, Missouri, in 1918.

Mr. Gail has always been very active in athletics, especially in base ball and tennis. While at Cor- nell University he was an instructor in the gym- nasium, and after going to Cripple Creek he played semi-professional ball. At Colorado Springs he became playing manager of the Colorado Springs Ball Club, and served as such for five years. He has won numerous tennis championships, includ- ing the singles and doubles championship at Chau- tauqua, New York, in 1902, and the city champion- ship at Colorado Springs in 1913 as well as the city championship of Billings in 1917.

As a speaker, both serious and humorous, Mr. Gail is known all over Montana, and is in great demand at banquets and conventions, as well as during political campaigns. When Billings enter- tained Colonel Roosevelt, October 5, 1918, Mr. Gail was chairman of the "Roosevelt Day" committee, and presided at the auditorium when "our great- est American" addressed 10,000 people, which oc- casion was his last public appearance. Mr. Gail also originated the movement which resulted in bring- ing Judge Hughes from Fargo, North Dakota, on a special train to speak at Billings, this perhaps being the first and only instance of the breaking of the itinerary of a presidential candidate. While at Colorado Springs he took a very active part in local affairs, being one of the organizers of the progressive party of Colorado in 1912. He man- aged the annual convention of the Montana State Newspapers Association at Billings in 1915, which was the largest in the history of the organization, as well as the most effective. He was a leader in the publicity work of the war activities of the state, acting as state publicity director for the first Young Men's Christian Association drive and was permanent chairman of the county publicity organi- zation of the Liberty Loan drives and the War Chest, and later of the War Loan organization. As one of the Four Minute Men speakers he did effective work in the various war drives. In fact during the period this country was in the war, Mr. Gail devoted the major portion of his time and energies to patriotic activities.

On March 25, 1905, Mr. Gail was united in mar- riage with Miss Virginia Irene Gunderman at Ithaca, New York. She is a daughter of John and Stella Gunderman, now residents of Billings, Mr. Gunderman being connected with the Billings Ga- zette. Mrs. Gail is a graduate of the Ithaca, New

York, Conservatory of Music. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Gail have been as follows: Wal- lace Henry, who died at the age of ten years; Wil- liam Morrison, who was born in 1909; and Robert Woodard, who was born in IgII. The family resi- dence is located on a ranch on the Billings Bench, four miles northeast of Billings.

JULIUS WILLIAMS, engaged in the farm loan and real estate business at Columbus, knows the north- western country as only a native son can, and has been a practical farmer, banker and real estate man in Minnesota, the Dakotas and Montana.

He was born at Sacred Heart, Minnesota, July 6, 1879. His father, Ole K. Williams, was born in Norway in 1849, and was four years old when his parents came to the United States and settled out on the northwestern frontier in Goodhue County, Minnesota. He grew up and married there and spent his active career as a farmer. In 1874 he moved to Renville County, Minnesota, and in 1907, having retired from the farm, moved to Taylor, North Dakota, where he resides today. He has been ac- tive in republican politics and was county com- missioner of Renville County several terms and also township clerk. He is a member of the Lutheran Congregational Church. Ole Williams married An- nie Simonson, who was born in Norway in 1843 and died at Taylor, North Dakota, in IgII. Their chil- dren were: Cornelius, engaged in the farm loan and real estate business at Bismarck, North Dakota; Em- ma, wife of Will Thom, a general merchant at Minneapolis ; Julius; Julia, a twin sister of Julius, is the wife of Christ Rechtfertig, a wholesale mer- chant at Minneapolis; Stan, a merchant at Warren, North Dakota; Ole, in the hardware business at Warren, North Dakota; Theolenia, wife of Edward E. Ziner, a rancher at Dunn Center, North Dakota.

Julius Williams lived on his father's farm in Ren- ville County, Minnesota, to the age of twenty. He attended common schools there and then for one year farmed independently and at the age of twenty- one moved to Rolla, North Dakota, where he engaged in the land loan business for five years. After that he was in the banking business at Taylor, North Da- kota, where in 1908 he established the Farmers and Merchants State Bank and was its president until 1914. Mr. Williams came to Montana in 1914 and for the first year was in the real estate and loan business at Billings and since 1915 his headquarters for an extensive business have been at Columbus. He is sole proprietor of the J. Williams & Company, Incorporated, with offices on Third Street, handling city properties, ranches and farm loans, one of the best equipped organizations of its kind in the Yellow- stone Valley. Through Mr. Williams' Company over 100,000 acres of land have been bought and sold since he came to Montana. He personally owns about 8,000 acres of ranch land in Stillwater, Yel- lowstone, Musselshell and Sweetgrass counties, also a dwelling house at Columbus and his own modern home.

While at Taylor, North Dakota, he served six years as a member of the town council. He is a republican, a Lutheran, and is affiliated with Still- water Lodge No. 65, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena, Billings Chapter No. 6, Royal Arch Masons, Aldemar Commandery No. 5 of the Knights Temp- lar, and Billings Consistory of the Scottish Rite. He is also a member of the Elks at Dickerson, North Dakota, and the Modern Woodmen of America at Taylor in that state. He is an active and pushing member of the Columbus Commercial Club.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 46

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