Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 47

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 47

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Mr. Williams married at Sacred Heart, Minne-

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sota, May 13, 1905, Miss Mary Opdahl, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. T. J. Opdahl of Sacred Heart. Her father is a retired farmer. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Williams are four in number, Orville, Ruth, Marvin and Marjorie. Orville is in seventh grade, Ruth, in sixth and Marvin, in the second grade of the public schools at Columbus.

FRANK H. COONEY is the president of Cooney Brokerage Company of Butte. This business was founded twenty-five years ago by Mr. Cooney and his brother, and from year to year they have devel- oped their facilities and organization to a perfect service between many prominent manufacturers and the wholesale houses in Montana and other portions of the Northwest. The annual volume of business for a number of years has run into the millions.

Frank H. Cooney has been a resident of Montana nearly thirty years. At the age of fourteen he was being paid four dollars a month as delivery boy in a grocery store in Ontario. Those who know him now in his comparative matu ity of nearly fifty years recognize as one of his dominating character- istics an unlimited capacity and desire for hard work. It was hard work that brought him his early knowledge and experience of business, and the success of the Cooney Brokerage Company has been largely due to the fact that he has climbed steadily from the very bottom of the commercial scale.

He was born at Norwood, Ontario, December 31, 1872, son of John W. and Mary (O'Callaghan) Cooney. His father was a native of New York State and his mother of Ireland. Frank H. Cooney is one of four brothers, all of whom have gained prominence in business affairs. His educational advantages were confined to the parochial schools of Ontario, and besides the experience already noted as delivery boy in a grocery store he worked for a time with his father, who was in the nursery busi- ness. He was not yet nineteen years of age when he came to Butte in July, 1891, and during the next three years did much to equip himself for inde- pendent effort as an employe in a retail grocery store and afterwards in the wholesale department of the Davidson Grocery Company.

In 1894 he and his brother Howard C. established the firm Cooney Bros., and in 1896 incorporated as the Cooney Brokerage Company, merchandise brokers. While the business headquarters of this firm are in Butte, Mr. Frank H. Cooney is a resident of Missoula, and for a number of years has owned and managed extensive farm and livestock interests in the Bitter Root Valley. He is a member of the Elks Club of Missoula, the Silver Bow Club at Butte, the Country Club of Missoula, and the Knights of Columbus, and is a democrat.

December 27, 1899, he married Miss Emma May Poindexter, daughter of P. H. Poindexter of Dillon, Montana. . They are the parents of seven children : Francis H., John Philip, Mary Margaret, Walter Poindexter, Tyler Thompson and Virginia Eliza- beth, twins, and Gage Rodmon.

ALMON CLARK SPENCER, of Billings, is a native of Montana, having been born at White Sulphur Springs in Meagher County March 16, 1879. His family originated in England, but was founded in the Province of Ontario, Canada, prior to the American Revolution, and Spencerville, Canada, was named for an ancestor of Judge Spencer, and the latter's grandfather was born in the Province of Ontario.

His father, Almon Spencer, was born in Ontario in 1838, where he resided until 1865. He then removed to Helena, Montana, where he was engaged

in the mercantile business until the early '70s, being associated in his enterprise with T. C. Power, former United States senator from Montana. He was for a long time also engaged in conducting a butchering and mercantile business at Diamond City, being one of the early residents of that pioneer settlement. He later removed to White Sulphur Springs, being the first merchant to locate at that place. The business he there established has con- tinued ever since, and is now operated under the name of Anderson, Spencer & Company. Shortly before his removal from Canada to the United States he was married to Margaret Ann Stitt, also a native of Ontario. The children of this marriage are Gideon Kennedy, a merchant and banker of White Sulphur Springs; Irene, wife of C. F. Schaffa- zick, of Spokane, Washington, manager and part owner of the Columbia Store Company, operating stores at Denver, Salt Lake City and Spokane; Herman W., -of Los Angeles, California, who is connected with J. B. Long & Company, one of the largest cattle concerns operating in the Northwest; and A. C. Spencer, the subject of this sketch. The father died at Long Beach, California, in the spring of 1909, and the mother at White Sulphur Springs early in the year 1915.

Judge Spencer attended the public schools at White Sulphur Springs and the Helena High School, from which institution he graduated in 1898. He was for one year a student in the University of Minnesota, and thereafter entered the Law D'epart- ment of the University of Michigan, from which he was graduated in 1902, after a three-years' course, with the degree of Doctor of Law. From that time until the spring of 1904 he was engaged in the general law practice at White Sulphur Springs, being associated with N. B. Smith, who has since retired from the practice.

In 1904 Mr. Spencer removed to Red Lodge in Carbon County, where he was associated in a gen- eral law practice with the late Sydney Fox, who thereafter served as judge of the same district over which Judge Spencer now presides. Upon the death of Judge Fox in the spring of 1913 Mr. Spencer continued in private practice by himself until June I, 1915, when he was appointed judge of the Thir- teenth Judicial District, comprising the counties of Yellowstone, Carbon and Big Horn. In the gen- eral election of 1916 he was elected to the same office for a term of four years. Prior to his eleva- tion to the bench he served as county attorney of Carbon County and city attorney of the City of Red Lodge.

In the fall of 1917 he removed from Red Lodge to Billings, where he now resides at No. 3410 Second Avenue, North. In addition to his home he has acquired a wheat ranch a few miles north of the city, thereby entitling him to be classed as an "agriculturist." He is also a stockholder in the Anderson-Spencer Mercantile Company above mentioned, and in the Central State Bank of White Sulphur Springs.

Judge Spencer was married in July, 1915, at Deer Lodge, Montana, to Miss Emma Johnson, daughter of George Johnson, a prominent stockman of that locality. There are no children of this marriage.

Politically Judge Spencer is a staunch supporter of the democratic faith, to which his father became a convert shortly prior to his death, he having been a republican until the election of 1896. His father was one of the pioneer Masons of Montana, and he has followed the ancestral footsteps in this direc- tion to the extent that he is a member of Diamond City Lodge No. 7, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Carbon Chapter No. 20, Royal Arch

C. Co. Planen

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Masons; Aldemar Commandery No. 5, Knights Templar, of Billings; and Algeria Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Helena. He is also a member of Beartooth Lodge of Elks No. 534; the Billings Golf and Country Club; and the Billings Midland Club. He is like- wise an active member of the Montana State Bar Association, and the Yellowstone County Bar Asso- ciation.

His distinguishing characteristic as a trial judge is his extreme fearlessness and his determination to follow what he conceives to be the law, regardless of the personality of the parties interested or the effect of his decision. He is in no sense a "policy jurist." The natural result of this course of pro- cedure, coupled with his excellent judicial tempera- ment, is a most enviable record in the office which he occupies, and the percentage of cases in which he has been reversed upon appeal is most remark- ably small.

ALBERT E. PLATZ. Occupying a place of promi- nence in the business life of Yellowstone County, Albert E. Platz, of Billings, has achieved success in the various lines of industry with which he has been associated, his keen foresight and tenacity of purpose having proved his chief assets while working his way upward to a leading position among the grain dealers of the state and in financial circles. A son of the late Albert E. Platz, Sr., he was born at Racine, Wisconsin, June 10, 1876.

His grandfather, Frederick Platz, was born, in 1808, in Alsace, France, where he worked with his father in the leather industry during his earlier years. Immigrating to the United States, he located in Racine, Wisconsin, where he established a tan- nery, which he operated until his death in 1884. A pioneer of Wisconsin, going there long before . there were any railroads in the state, he watched the development of the country with great interest and performed his full share of the required pioneer labor.

Albert E. Platz, Sr., was born at Racine, Wis- consin, in 1841, and as a young man learned the tanner's trade with his father. Removing with his family to La Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1878, he embarked in the leather business as a manufacturer of harness, and having build up a lucrative busi- ness continued thus employed during the remainder of his active life, passing away in 1908. A re- publican in politics, he served in various local offices. He attended the Congregational Church, and was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows. During the Civil war he enlisted as a sol- dier, but being skilled in the manufacture of leather was sent home from the army to work at his trade in order that he might supply the Government with such leather goods as might be needed by the soldiers. His widow, whose maiden name was Margaret Heck, is now a resident of La Crosse. Three children were born into their household, as follows: Minnie, who died in La Crosse at the age of thirty years; M. F., also of La Crosse, is secretary of a syrup company; and Albert E.

Completing his early studies at the La Crosse High School, Albert E. Platz entered Lake Forest University, remaining in that school two years,. until 1899. The following two years he worked for his uncle, William Platz, a leather manufacturer and dealer. Changing his occupation in 1901, Mr. Platz assumed charge of the lumber department of a mining company at Black Lake, Idaho, in the Seven Devils mining district, and was there for five years. Returning then to Wisconsin, he located at La Crosse, and for a year was employed as a

traveling salesman. Coming to Billings, Montana, in 1909, Mr. Platz established himself in the lumber business, having his headquarters at Huntley. Dis- posing of his lumber interests in 1916, he embarked in the grain business, becoming president of the Treasury State Grain Company, which owns a chain of five elevators in Montana, they being located as follows: Red Lodge, Fox, Roberts, Boyd and Coombs. Mr. Platz is kept busily em- ployed, his offices being located in the Lincoln Hotel Block. In addition to his grain interests he is serving as vice president of the Rapelje National Bank and of the Huntley State Bank. He owns a residence at 1020 North Thirty-first Street, and has a financial interest in one of the business build- ings of Billings. Fraternally he is a member of Billings Lodge No. 113, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and socially belongs to the Billings Midland and Empire Club. Politically he is an independent republican.

Mr. Platz married, in 1913, at La Crosse, Miss Emma Gund, a daughter of Henry Gund, a promi- nent business man of La Crosse, and his wife, Eleanor (Johnson) Gund. Mr. and Mrs. Platz have no children.

C. O. HALGRIMS. A prosperous merchant of Broad- view, noteworthy for his good citizenship and many excellent traits of character, C. O. Halgrims is actively identified with both the mercantile and agricultural affairs of Yellowstone County, own- ing and managing a general store, and supervis- ing the management of his homestead property, which is located three miles west of his store. A son of Ole Halgrims, he was born in Dane Coun- ty, Wisconsin, September 7, 1865. His grand- father, Ole Halgrims, spent a large part of his life in Norway, where he was a farmer and tim- ber owner. After his retirement from active pur- suits he came to the United States and spent his last days in Dane County, Wisconsin, passing away at the venerable age of seventy-two years.

Ole Halgrims was born and brought up in Hal- engdal, Norway, his birth occurring in 1829. Be- coming familiar with the various branches of agri- culture when young, he took up farming for his . life work. Coming to this country in 1843, he settled in Rock County, Wisconsin, and subse- quently there took up land and engaged in the pioneer labor of clearing and improving a farm from the wilderness, doing the work with oxen. In 1882 he removed with his family to North Da- kota, becoming a pioneer settler of Trail County, where he continued his work, taking up a home- stead claim and again redeeming a farm from its pristine wildness. Very successful in his under- takings, he continued his agricultural labors until his death, which occurred in Mayville, North Da- kota, in 1907. He was affiliated with the republi- can party, and a member of the Lutheran Church. His wife, whose name before marriage was Anna Kopsing, was born at Eggdal, Norway, in 1832, and died on the home farm, at Mayville, North Da- kota, in 1914. They were the parents of five chil- dren, as follows: Barbara, wife of Andrew Ander- son, a farmer at Mayville, North Dakota; Thomas, for many years a farmer, died in Trail County, North Dakota, at the comparatively early age of forty-eight years; H. O., occupying the old home- stead in North Dakota; Ingery, wife of C. Gullicks, a retired farmer of Mayville; and C. O., the sub- ject of this sketch.

Having received his preliminary education in the public schools of Mayville, North Dakota, C. O. Halgrims has since materially added to the

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knowledge there obtained by intelligent reading, keen observation, and broad experience. Living with his parents until nineteen years old, he was well trained in the various branches of agricul- ture under his father's (instruction, and subse- quently, as clerk in a store at Mayville, became familiar with the art of buying and selling. Start- ing in life on his own account, Mr. Halgrims was engaged in mercantile pursuits at Sharon, North Dakota, for fifteen years. Coming from there to Montana in 1908, he took up a homestead claim of 160 acres lying three miles west of Broadview, and in its improvement has found both pleasure and profit. In 1914 he bought a store in Broad- view, the purchase including the building in which it is housed, and in partnership with his son Thomas has since been successfully engaged in the mer- cantile business, having built up an extensive and remunerative trade, extending over a radius of fifty. miles, his customers coming from far and near. He does a general business, his store being advantageously located on Main Street, and be- ing the leading one of the kind in this section of the county. In politics Mr. Halgrims is a stanch republican, and fraternally he is a member of the American Order of United Workmen and of the Brotherhood of American Yeomen.

On May 21, 1891, in Vernon County, Wiscon- sin, Mr. Halgrims was united in marriage with Miss Emma Johnson, a daughter of Peter and Bergetha Johnson, both of whom have passed to the life beyond. Mr. Johnson, a farmer in Ver- non County, was a republican in politics, and filled many official positions during his active years. Mr. and Mrs. Halgrims have three children, namely : Thomas, a graduate of the Mayville, North Dakota, High School, and now in business with his father, married Clara Van Cleve, and has two children, Thomas, Jr., born in October, 1916, and Helen, born in March, 1918; Bergetha, wife of Fred Fort- ney, a machinist of Harlowtown, North Dakota, and having supervision of the construction of roads in Wheatland County, that state; and Adeline, now married to Victor Luhfeldt, of Broadview, Mon- tana.

HENRY S. MENDENHALL is a building contractor, . is still owned by his only daughter Miss Ida May and since coming to Montana has operated extensive- ly on his own account, building and selling homes. He is one of the leading men in his line.

Mr. Mendenhall represents an old English family, resident in America for many generations and was born at Winslow in Pike County, Indiana, February 16. 1879. His father, Joseph F. Mendenhall, was born in Marion County, Ohio, in 1843, grew up there and in Indiana, was married in Pike County of the latter state, and was a contractor and builder and also a farmer. In 1885 he moved from Pike County, Indiana, to Christian County, Missouri, and in 1889 to Stone County in the same state. He lived there until his death at Hurley in 1909. He was active in civic affairs in Stone County, serving as justice of the peace, was a republican voter and a leading member of the Christian Church. He was all through the Civil war as a Union soldier, going in in 1861 and was a commander of mounted scouts under Sherman during the march to the sea. Joseph F. Mendenhall married Henrietta Deadman, who was born at Wins- low, Indiana, in 1853 and died at Hurley in Stone County, Missouri, in 1917. A brief record of her children is as follows: J. H., owner of a garage at Laurel, Montana; Henry S .; Grace, who died aged eight years; Clara, wife of Samuel Robinson, a farmer at Crane, Missouri; Ada, who died in in-

fancy; J. F., a railroad employe in Crane, Missouri; and Harry B., a farmer at School, Missouri.

Henry S. Mendenhall received his education in the rural schools of Christian and Stone counties, Missouri, and lived at home with his father until he was twenty years of age. After that he farmed for himself in Stone County, spent two years work- ing for the Iron Mountain Railway in Missouri and Arkansas, and from that turned his attention to contracting and building. His experience in that line covers a number of the western states. He moved from Missouri to Texas, and from there moved to Billings in 1913, where he continued as a journeyman for several years, and since 1916 has been in business for himself. Some of the leading residences and business buildings of Billings are products of his skill. He put up the school house in District No. 26. All the residences erected by him since coming to Billings have been sold. His own home is at 108 Custer Avenue.

Mr. Mendenhall is a member of Crane Camp of the Modern Woodmen of America and is a republi- can. He married Miss Vollie E. Ailshie at Galena, Missouri, in 1899. Her parents were James and Mary (Deshazer) Ailshie, the latter deceased, while her father is a farmer at Hurley, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Mendenhall have two children, Earl Ross, a high school student, and Ava, who is in grammar school.

L. H. SPRING, who is county agricultural agent for Ravalli County at Hamilton, has had a widely diversified and practical experince in Northwestern agriculture. He is a graduate of the Oregon College of Agriculture and was business manager of ranches in Eastern Oregon before he took up his present work as expert counsel and adviser to the agricul- tural interests of Ravalli County.

Mr. Spring was born at Rockford, Illinois, Feb- ruary 7, 1885. His paternal ancestors came from England and were early settlers in New York. Grandfather William Henry Spring was born in New York State in 1815 and was a pioneer in Northern Illinois in 1846. Locating at Lindenwood near the present City of Rockford he bought a farm and lived on it until his death in 1887. That farm Spring. William Henry Spring married Mary E. Warren, a native of New York State, who died at Lindenwood, Illinois, in 1910 at the age of eighty- seven.

Charles B. Spring, father of L. H. Spring, was born in New York State in 1844 and was two years of age when his parents moved to Illinois. Before his marriage he bought a farm a mile northeast of Lindenwood, and that place with many modern im- provements is still his home. Charles B. Spring is a member and regular attendant of Union Church in his community and is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He married Helen M. Bulkley, who was born in 1851 at Rockford, Illinois. Her ancestry goes back to Lord Burkley, a conspicuous figure in the early maritime history of England. Her father A. J. Bulkley was born at Saratoga, New York, in 1828 and settled at Rockford, Illinois, as early as 1846. He was a farmer and a soldier in the Civil war. After the war he lived at Rockford, for many years held the office of city weigh master. He died at Rockford in 1905. A. J. Bulklev mar- ried Ann Maria Hobart, who was a member of one of the early colonial families, the "House of Fairbanks" of this country. She was born in Aroo- stook County, Maine, and died at Lindenwood, Illi- nois, in 1908 at the age of seventy-two. Charles B.

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Spring and wife had four children: L. H. Spring; Samuel, a farmer at Rockford; Wilbur, who occu- pies the homestead in Illinois; and R. C., a farmer at Mountain, Wisconsin.

L. H. Spring received his early education in the rural schools of Ogle County, Illinois, graduated from the Rockford High School in 1905, and as a means of defraying the expenses of his higher edu- cation spent two years working on a farm. He entered the Oregon Agricultural College at Cor- vallis, and graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Agriculture in 1910. As a youth he had been an observer and student of sound agri- cultural practice, and has re-enforced his experience by the best and most advanced methods of scien- tific farming. After leaving college he took charge of a ranch in eastern Oregon for eighteen months, and then managed another ranch for five years. In November, 1916, he returned to the Oregon Agri- cultural College, where he remained several months taking a general review and doing research work in animal feeding. Mr. Spring in June, 1917, went to work for the Wittenburg King Company of Port- land, Oregon, being agriculturist in their field de- partment and also buyer and contractor. He re- signed in January, 1918, to come to Hamilton, Mon- tana, and begin his duties as county agricultural agent. His offices are in the Chamber of Commerce Building.

Mr. Spring still retains his membership in' the Union Church at Lindenwood, Illinois. He is affili- ated with Ionic Lodge No. 38, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

In 1910, at Ontario, Oregon, he married Miss Maye Webster, daughter of William and Sarah (Stephens) Webster. Mrs. Webster lives with Mr. and Mrs. Spring. Her father, now deceased, was a business man at Fayette, Iowa. Mrs. Spring is a graduate of the Fayette High School and was a student in music for three years in the Upper Iowa University at Fayette. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Spring is Helen Margaret, born June 19, 1911.

WALTER E. BENNETT, passenger and freight agent for the Northern Pacific Railway at Livingston, is an old time telegraph operator and has a veteran's record in the railway service of the North and Northwest. He has been continuously with the Northern Pacific nearly thirty years.

He comes of an old colonial family in the State of Maine, of English origin. He was born at Guilford, Maine, September 12, 1861, son of E. W. and Agnes M. (Straw) Bennett. His parents spent all their lives in Maine. His father was born in 1832 and died in 1913, and followed the occupation of lumber- ing and farming. He filled several township offices as a democrat and was an active supporter of the Methodist Church. His wife was born in 1833 and died in 1911. Their two children were Walter E. and Fred, the latter dying when only eight years of age.

Walter E. Bennett graduated from the Guilford High School in 1879, and in 1883 graduated from the East Maine Conference Seminary at Buckport. Dur- ing the next two years while clerking in the store of H. Douglas & Company at Guilford he spent all his leisure hours mastering the art of telegraphy. In 1885, having attained considerable skill with the telegraph key, he entered the service of the Mil- waukee Railway as a telegraph operator, and until 1891 worked for that road at Algona, Clear Lake and Garner. When he joined the Northern Pacific in 1891 his first post as telegrapher was at Rosebud, Montana. Two months later he was moved from that station and given different assignments along

the Yellowstone Division. From 1892 until 1900 he was railway agent at Big Timber, then for three months was cashier in the offices at Butte, another three months was stationed at Belgrade, and in 1901 took up his present duties as freight and passenger agent at Livingston. He has entire charge of the railroad's business at Livingston.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 47

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