Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 50

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 50

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The home life of Mr. Waite was ideal and here were shown the lovable characteristics of the man. The happiest days of an active, vigorous life were spent surrounded by his wife and children. His place in the home and the community will always remain unfilled. The hundreds who gathered to pay a last tribute to their former friend felt that each had sustained a personal loss. His life was a con- tinual benediction, and his death marked the close of a noble, beautiful career.

ALBERT W. GATES for a number of years has been associated with and an influential factor in a group of prominent business interests at Lewistown. He is one of the executive officials of the Montana Lumber Company and is interested in a number of affairs both local and state.

He was born in Warren, Ohio, October 15, 1873, the only child of Albert R. and Alice (Weeks) Gates. His parents were also natives of Ohio. His mother died in 1874. Albert R. Gates afterward became prominent and well known in Montana. He was a traveling salesman when he came to Montana in 1877, making the journey by rail to Ogden and thence by stage to Butte. For a time he was associated with George Tracey at Helena in the commission and brokerage business, han- dling groceries. In 1888 he built the Grandon Block in Helena, which was afterward remodeled into the Grandon Hotel, of which he was proprietor until his death. He was also a prominent Mason in this state, being a member of Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena. He was also a member of the Montana Club, the Lodge of Elks

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at Helena, and in politics a republican. He died in 1904, at the age of sixty-two.

Albert W. Gates received his early education in the schools of Des Moines, Iowa, and is a grad- uate of the Shattuck Military Academy at Fari- bault, Minnesota. In 1892, when nineteen years old, he went into the Bankers Life Insurance Com- pany of Des Moines, was later with the Green Bay Lumber Company at Des Moines, Iowa, for a num- ber of years, and in 1900 established his headquar- ters at Missoula, Montana, as traveling salesman for the Missoula Lumber Company. He has put in almost twenty years in the lumber business and is an expert in practically every phase of the busi- ness. In 1905 Mr. Gates came to Lewistown. He began his work for the Montana Lumber Com- pany as bookkeeper, later was first assistant gen- eral manager, then secretary, and is now secre- tary, treasurer and director. The Montana Lum- ber Company is an organization that has retail lum- ber yards in nearly twenty Montana towns. He is also secretary and treasurer of the Montana Home Building Company, and a stockholder and one of the organizers of the Lewistown Brick and Tile Company.

He is a man of public spirit and willing to be identified in all movements for the general welfare. He was one of the organizers and member of the executive committee of the Boy Scouts at Lewis- town. He was also one of the founders of St. James parish of the Episcopal Church and has been a vestryman since its organization. He is a char- ter member of the Judith Club, is affiliated with Lewistown Lodge No. 37, Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons, Lewistown Chapter No. 14, Royal Arch Masons, Lewistown Commandery No. 14, Knights Templar, and Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena. Politically he is an active repub- lican.

November 5, 1903, he married at Livingston, Montana, Miss Carrie J. Atkinson, a native of La- fayette, Indiana. They have one son, Albert J.

JOSEPH M. WOLFSKILL. The primary business in- dustry of Stillwater County is farming and ranch- ing, and in the development of those basic resources Joseph M. Wolfskill of Molt has taken an active part for a number of years. Mr. Wolfskill still has a large ranch, noted for its Shorthorn cattle, but as a resident of Molt he is also proprietor of the leading hardware and lumber business of that town.

Mr. Wolfskill represents an old and prominent pioneer family of the State of Missouri. Several generations ago his ancestors came out of Germany and were settlers in colonial Virginia. Mr. Wolf- skill's great-grandfather, John Wolfskill, was born in Virginia and became a physician and surgeon. Early in the nineteenth century he moved west to the territory of Missouri, and his father also went to the western frontier and is buried at Salisbury, Missouri. Dr. John Wolfskill practiced for many years in the Missouri River Valley and died at Bedford, that state.

The grandfather of Mr. Wolfskill was George W. Wolfskill, who was born in Howard County, Missouri, in 1820, just about the time Missouri en- tered the Union. He spent most of his life in that state, but in the days of '49 went out to California and was absent about ten years. He returned by way of the Isthmus of Panama, traveling with a pack mule, proceeding around by sea to New York City and finally returned to his home in Missouri. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity and a

very active member of the Methodist Church. He died at Bedford, Missouri, in 1904. His wife was Margaret Elizabeth Harvey, who spent all her life in Missouri.

The next generation of the family was repre- sented by John James Wolfskill, who was born near Bedford in Livingston County, Missouri, in 1847, and spent all his life in the northern part of the state as a farmer. For fifteen years he farmed in Linn County, but with that exception he lived in Livingston County and died there in 1904. He was a democrat, was honored with several township offices, was active in civic affairs, and was most widely known, in fact had a state-wide reputation 'for the pure bred Hereford cattle and Percheron horses which he raised on his farm. He was on the official board and for many years a steward in the Methodist Episcopal Church. John James Wolf- skill married Margaret Elizabeth Harris, who was born in Howard County, Missouri, in 1850, and died in Livingston County, Missouri, in 1900. Their children were six in number: Martha Jane, who is the wife of Thomas Wells, and they live on the old Wolfskill homestead in Missouri; Flora Grace is the wife of David P. Reece, a farmer near Samp- sell in Livingston County; Lulu who died at the age of five years; Joseph M., who is the only mem- ber of the family in Montana; Charles, a farmer near Bedford, Missouri; and William H., who died at the age of two years.

Joseph M. Wolfskill was born April 1, 1878, while his parents were on a farm near Meadville in Linn County, Missouri. He grew up and received his education in the rural schools of Livingston County and spent three years in the State Normal School at Kirksville. On leaving school in 1898 he became a farmer in Livingston County, but in 1900 came to the Northwest. For six months he was billing clerk in the railway office at Sheridan, Wyoming, and in 1901 arrived at Great Falls, Montana. The following four years were spent with the Neil Creek Cattle Company, and for another three years he was a farmer in the Gallatin Valley. Mr. Wolf- skill became identified with the Lake Basin country in 1908 when he homesteaded 160 acres, and this is still a part of his numerons possessions. His farm and ranch now constitute 480 acres, and he makes a specialty of breeding pure-bred Shorthorn cattle. For his prominence in this industry Mr. Wolfskill is president of the Shorthorn Breeders' Association of Acton, Montana. He still gives his personal supervision to his farm and ranch, but has not lived in the country since the spring of 1917.

He moved to Molt in 1918 and has a fine modern home there. He established the first store in the town, building a large structure for his hardware stock and also conducts a fully equipped lumber yard. It is one of the best concerns of its kind in the eastern part of Stillwater County. Mr. Wolf- skill is also a director in the First National Bank of Molt and is president of its Commercial Club.

When he was twenty-one years of age he was elected recorder of Livingston County, Missouri, on the democratic ticket. The following year he re- signed this office to remove to Wyoming. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Bill- ings and is affiliated with Corinthian Lodge No. 72, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Laurel.

Mr. Wolfskill married Miss Lucinda L. Houx at Chillicothe, Missouri, in 1898. She is a daughter of George L. and Florence (Cox) Houx, the mother now deceased and the father a retired farmer at Chillicothe. Mr. and Mrs. Wolfskill have one daughter, Lucile, born June 17, 1916.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

WILLIAM H. CASTO, JR., superintendent of the leaching plant of the Anaconda Copper Mining Com- pany, is a product of the West, and through the medium of the great corporation with which he is connected, is given an opportunity to prove the worth of the sons of the younger states of the Union. He was born at Soldier, Idaho, April 29, 1889, a son of William Henry Casto, and a grand- son of William Henry Casto, who died at Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1890. During his younger years he was a hatter, but later in life engaged in farming in Salt Lake County, Utah. The Casto family came to the United States from Spain during Colonial days.

William Henry Casto, father of William H. Casto, Jr., was born at Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1848, and in 1863 came to Montana in company with his uncle John Casto, who reared him. Later he went to the Wood River Country in Idaho to engage in min- ing, and was thus engaged at Soldier when his son was born. Still later he moved to Hailey, Idaho, where he owned and operated a mine, moving in 1898 to Custer, Idaho, and was also engaged in min- ing at that point. When he retired, he went to Stanley, Idaho, where he still resides. He is a dem- ocrat, and while living at Custer, Idaho, was on the school board, but aside from that did not enter public life. Mr. Casto was married to Blanche Parrott, born in 1865, died at Hailey, Idaho, in 1895. Their children were as follows: Raymond R., who lives at Salt Lake City, Utah, where he is engaged in assaying; Carrie, who married David Williams, a farmer of Stanley, Idaho; William H., Jr., whose name heads this review; Frank, who is in the United States Army; and Elmer, who is an automobile machinist of Detroit, Michigan.

William H. Casto, Jr., was educated in the public schools of Hailey and Custer, Idaho, the prepara- tory school of the Utah Agricultural College at Logan, Utah, from which he was graduated in 1907, and the University of Idaho at Moscow, Idaho, from which he was graduated in 1912 with the degrees of Bachelor of Science and Mining Engineer. In 1912 he began to work for the government as sur- veyor in the Forest Preserve Department, and in the fall of that year engaged in mining at Mackay, Idaho, for a short period. For a month he was millman for the Utah Copper Mill at Garfield, Utah, and then followed mining in Idaho until 1913 when in May of that year he came to Anaconda to become assistant in the testing department of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. The value of his varied experiences was recognized and the young man was promoted, first to be a solution foreman, then gen- eral foreman of the leaching plant, and finally to be superintendent of this plant, which position he still holds. His offices are at the leaching plant of the Washoe Reduction Works, two miles east of Anaconda. Mr. Casto has 120 men under his su- pervision and is a very competent member of his profession. He is an independent in his politics. The Roman Catholic Church holds his membership and he also belongs to Anaconda Council No. 882, Knights of Columbus, of which he is a third degree knight. Professionally he maintains connections with the American Institute of Mining and Metal- lurgical Engineers. His residence is at No. 321 West Fifth Street, Anaconda.

In 1016 Mr. Casto was married at Anaconda to Miss Marie Marcille, a daughter of Joseph and Charlotte (Brainerd) Marcille. Mr. Marcille was a steam engineer for the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, but is now deceased. Mrs. Marcille re- sides with Mr. and Mrs. Casto. Mrs. Casto is a graduate of the Anaconda High School and the

Spokane Business College of Spokane, Washing- ton. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Casto is Blanche, who was born March 30, 1917. Like others occupying positions of trust and responsibility with the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, Mr. Casto stands very high in his community, and while his responsibilities are of so engrossing a character as to prohibit his giving personal attention to politics, he can be counted upon to render efficient aid in promoting and supporting any measure calculated to prove of lasting benefit to Anaconda or Deer Lodge County, and is justly numbered among the worth-while men of this region. Mrs. Casto, both as girl and matron, has become well known at Ana- conda, and she enjoys an enviable social prestige for which she is well fitted.

JAMES E. LOGAN. A brainy, wide-awake man, full of push and energy, James E. Logan occupies a place of importance among the leading business men of Billings, as sales manager of the North- western Division of the Great Western Sugar Com- pany, holding a position of great prominence and responsibility. A son of R. M. Logan, he was born November 16, 1879, at Rock Bluff, Nebraska. He comes of distinguished stock, being a lineal descend- ant of James Logan, the immigrant ancestor of that branch of the Logan family to which he belongs, who served for several years as William Penn's private secretary, and later had the distinction of being the first provinical governor of Pennsylvania. It is needless to add that he was a Quaker in re- ligion.

R. M. Logan was born in 1854 in Steubenville, Ohio, and received his education in that place and in Philadelphia. In early manhood he spent a year in Marion County, Iowa, teaching school while there and devoting all of his leisure time to the study of law. Going from that place to Nebraska, Mr. Logan lived for a year in Rock Bluff, after which he practiced law in Ainsworth, Nebraska, until 1893, meeting with good success. Removing with his family to Delta, Colorado, in that year, he resumed his law practice, continuing until the present time, although he is now practically retired from the profession. Taking an active part in poli- tics, he is prominent in the democratic ranks, hav- ing been among the leaders of his party in the po- litical and civil affairs of Nebraska, and chairman of the democratic state committee of Colorado for a number of years.

R. M. Logan married, in Marion County, Iowa, Irene Welch, who was born in Knoxville, Iowa, in 1856, and of their union three children were born, as follows: James E., the subject of this sketch; John Wesley, a cattleman in Utah; and Bessie, wife of B. F. Reed, who is engaged in the practice of law in Denver, Colorado.

Having acquired the rudiments of his education in Nebraska, in the public schools of Omaha and Ainsworth, James E. Logan accompanied his par- ents to Colorado, and was graduated from the Delta High School with the class of 1898. Desirous of entering the legal profession, for which he was well fitted, he entered the Hastings Law College at San Francisco, California, and there continued his stud- ies for 31/2 years. Returning to Colorado, he was employed in mining and ranching at Delta for some time. In the meanwhile, in 1903, Mr. Logan became associated with the Amalgamated Sugar Company of Logan, Utah, as a student and chemist. In 1904 he accepted a position at Eaton, Colorado, as book- keeper for the Great Western Sugar Company, and later was promoted to the cashiership. Continuing with the company, he subsequently served as cash-

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ier of two of the branches of that organization, one being located at Brush, Colorado, and the other at Fort Morgan. In 1906 Mr. Logan became cashier for the company at Billings, Montana, and shortly after was promoted to assistant secretary. In 1915, upon the reorganization of the company, he was again promoted, being made sales manager of the Northwestern Division of the Great Western Sugar Company, and has since performed the duties de- volving upon him in that capacity with character- istic ability and fidelity. Mr. Logan's offices are just south of the city limits of Billings, and in addition to having charge over two factories in Mon- tana he has supervision of one in Wyoming. He owns a pleasant home in Billings, at 309 North Thirty-second Street, and has a well-kept ranch in Colorado.

Mr. Logan has various business interests aside from those connected with the sugar company, be- ing president of the Billings Mutual Building and Loan Association, which he organized in 1908; president of the Logan-Wilson Mercantile Company of Long Beach, California; and as a member of the Billings Park Board has been very influential in the starting and building of city parks and play- grounds, enterprises of lasting benefit to the city and of which he may well be proud.

Politically Mr. Logan is a republican, and active in party ranks. Socially he belongs to the Billings Midland Empire Club, and to the Billings Club. Fraternally he is a member of Ashlar Lodge No. 29, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons ; of Algeria Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Helena, Montana; of Helena Consistory; and is a thirty-second degree Mason. He is also a member of Billings Lodge No. 394, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

In April, 1906, at St. Joseph, Missouri, Mr. Logan was united in marriage with Miss Alta Wilson, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. W. Wilson, residents of St. Joseph, where Mr. Wilson is connected with the Nave McChord Wholesale Grocery. Mr. and Mrs. Logan have three children: James E., Jr., born April 30, 1907; Marie Irene, born May 17, 1909; and Bettie, born December 20, 1915. All of the children were born in Billings.

WILLIAM M. ABEL, a resident of Montana over thirty-five years, is a pioneer market man of Lewis- town, and as a member of the firm Abel Brothers commands and directs some very extensive resources in and around that city, the firm being extensive ranch proprietors and stock raisers in addition to their retail meat business.

William M. Abel was born February 23, 1868, at Nassau on the Rhine in Germany, a son of William and Margaret (Jung) Abel. His parents were also born in the same Rhine District, where the father followed farming. He came to America in 1890 and spent the rest of his life in Montana, where he died in 1906, at the age of sixty-seven. His widow is still living at Lewistown:

William M. Abel was the oldest of five children, two sons and three daughters. He grew up in his native land, and 1884, at the age of sixteen, crossed the ocean by steamship to New York City and reached Helena, Montana, March 16th of that year. He spent some time at Helena, working in markets and grocery stores, and in 1891 arrived in Lewistown after a journey by railway and stage. Here he en- tered the livestock, meat and produce business, asso- ciated with his brother John under the firm name of Abel Brothers. They have sold meat and other products to the community for over a quarter of a century, and out of their well earned prosperity

have accumulated 880 acres of fine ranch and farm- ing lands devoted both to the production of stock and grain.

Mr. Abel is affiliated with the Independent Order of Foresters and the Woodmen of the World, and in politics is a republican, though often independent and supporting the best man regardless of party. In 1892 he married Margaret Kraus, a native of Wisconsin. Their five children are named William, Eleanor, Edna, Elsie and Frank, all of whom were born in Montana.

JAMES LIVINGSTON MARTIN since locating at Lewistown has made himself a factor in that com- munity's business and civic affairs, and is now serv- ing his second term as clerk of the District Court.

He was born in Polk County, Missouri, April 26, 1877, a son of William A. and Clementine (King) Martin. His father, who was born in Tennessee in 1851, was taken while a child by his parents to Missouri, grew up in Polk County, acquired his education in the public schools, and spent his active life as a farmer and stock man. He died in No- vember, 1916. He was deeply interested in the cause of education and served as a member of the school board many years. He was a demo- crat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His wife was born in Wisconsin in 1856, and is still living in Polk County, where she and her husband were married in 1875. James L. Mar- tin was the second of seven children, five sons and two daughters, all living but one.

Mr. Martin spent his boyhood days on his fath- er's Missouri farm. He attended public schools, graduating from high school in 1898, and for a year taught. His first experience in business was as a merchant at Aspen, Colorado, and from there in 1904 he came to Lewistown and continued his successful career as a merchant until 1908. After that he took up the real estate and insurance busi- ness, but in the fall of 1912 was elected clerk of the District Court. He began his first term the first Monday in January, 1913, and was re-elected in the fall of 1916. Mr. Martin is a democrat, and is affiliated with Lewistown Lodge No. 450 Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks, and with Judith Lodge No. 30, Knights of Pythias.

February 2, 1908, he married Helma Elberg, a native of Wisconsin. They have one son, James W., born in 1910 and now attending school.

HARRY H. HOWARD was born in 1877 and the Boze- man Daily Chronicle, in 1882. When the Chronicle was ten years old and Mr. Howard fifteen their destinies were linked together in a bond that has not been dissolved for more than a quarter of a cen- tury. He is now manager and half owner of the Daily Chronicle plant, one of the best equipped newspaper and printing offices in Southern Montana.

Mr. Howard was born at Canyon City in Grant County, Oregon, August 24, 1877. His paternal an- cestors came originally from Scotland and were early settlers in the State of Missouri. On his mother's side Mr. Howard has an admixture of French and German ancestry. His father, Dr. J. W. Howard, was born in Missouri in 1843 and was a child when he accompanied the family on its long migration from Missouri to Grant County, Oregon In the same party and riding in another prairie schooner that made up the train was a young girl, Josephine Cozad, who afterwards became the wife of J. W. Howard. The latter was reared in Grant County, Oregon, was married in that state, was a graduate of Oregon University and for many years a successful physician and surgeon. He practiced

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at Canyon City, Oregon, and in 1886 removed to Dillon, Montana, where he practiced two years, and then for a number of years was one of the prom- inent men in his profession at Butte. Finally he retired and lived with his children at Great Falls until his death in 1907. He was a very active repub- lican and prominent in politics in different commun- ities. For one term of two years he served as coroner of Silver Bow County, was an alderman in Butte, and on one occasion lacked one vote of being nominated for mayor of that city. He was also affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His wife, Josephine Cozad, was born in Illinois in 1852, and is still living, making her home among her children. These children were seven in number: John H., in the piano business at Portland, Oregon; J. W., who shares almost a family talent for music and is a professional musician at Boston, Massachusetts ; Harry H .; L. L. and E. E., proprietors of a men's furnishing goods store on Main Street in Bozeman ; L. D., advertising manager of the Daily Chronicle; and E. C., a musician at Everett, Washington.

Mr. Howard learned typesetting and all the me- chanical features of printing, at the same time get- ting a knowledge of newspaper management and work in the editorial department. Since December, 1911, the Chronicle has been published as a daily. The firm is the Chronicle Publishing Company, Wil- liam M. Bole being president; James P. Bole, vice president and editor, and H. H. Howard, secretary, treasurer and manager. It is the official democratic paper of Gallatin County. The plant has all the modern facilities for printing a daily paper and do- ing general commercial and book printing.

Mr. Howard for many years has been devoted and has worked unceasingly for the welfare of his home city. Probably the chief object of his civic energy has been the fire department, which he has served as president for fourteen years. For several terms he has served as president of the Bozeman Cham- ber of Commerce, also as a member of the City Council four years, for two of those years was pres- ident of the Council, and on several occasions acted as mayor. Mr. Howard is a democrat, is affiliated with Bozeman Lodge No. 18, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Bozeman Camp, Woodmen of the World, Bozeman Lodge, Brotherhood of American Yeomen, and Bozeman Lodge No. 463 Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 50

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