Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 51

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 51

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Mr. Howard and family reside in a modern home on South Tracy Avenue. He married at Bozeman in 1900 Miss Aline Anceney, who was born at Den- ver, Colorado, where her parents were early settlers. She was of French ancestry. They have two chil- dren : Lillian Josephine, born in 1903. now a mem- ber of the junior class of St. Vincent's Academy at Helena ; and Charlie Louise, born in 1905, a student in the public schools.

THOMAS B. EDWARDS. The Anaconda National Bank of Anaconda is one of the most stable and conservative banking institutions of this part of the state and its condition reflects credit upon its officers and community alike. Its capital stock is $100,000, its surplus, $30,000, and its deposits, $1.517.486.16. C. Yegen is its president; Thomas B. Edwards is its vice president and manager and M. A. Fulmor is its cashier.

Thomas B. Edwards is one of the best known financiers of the state and since his association with the bank, it has shown a healthy increase in de- posits and other business, and gained prestige in the community. Mr. Edwards was born at Rood- house, Illinois, October 12, 1872, a son of George

W. Edwards and grandson of Isom Edwards. The Edwards came from Wales and the name is purely Welsh or Gaelic. The ancestors were a maritime people. Cader Edwards, the emigrant, was born in Wales and became an educated man and a great reader, and when about forty years of age came to the new world, landing at Baltimore, Maryland. There he married a young woman by the name of Margaret or Maggie Noblett and went to what was then the extreme frontier of Virginia. Later he drifted southwest along the frontier until the close of the French and Indian war, 1762-3, and was a member of the Evan Shelby Set- tlement in what later became the extreme north- eastern corner of Tennessee. Here the outbreak of the American Revolution found him, an old man with a large family, but he volunteered and served during that war, participating with Isaac Shelby in the battle of King's Mountain, in which five of his sons and sons-in-law were engaged. Dying at the close of the war, he directed his wife to take the family to the new settlement in Kentucky, and in the fall of 1783 they landed in the Blue Grass sec- tion of Kentucky, and from them have sprung the large Edwards family of the United States.

Isom Edwards, grandfather of Thomas B. Ed- wards, was born in Kentucky in 1799 and died at Roodhouse, Illinois, in 1878, where he was a pioneer and took up a large amount of land becoming an extensive farmer. All of his sons but one were in the war between the States, they being as fol- lows: Thomas, who did not serve, Isom, Presley, James and George W. The only brother of Thom- as B. Edwards' mother, Jordan Frame, was killed while serving in this same conflict.

George W. Edwards, father of Thomas B. Ed- wards, was born at Roodhouse, Illinois, in 1841, and died at the same place in 1907, having lived in that neighborhood all his life and been engaged in farming. He was a democrat and a Baptist, and lived up to his ideals in politics and religion. During the war between the States he served in an Illinois infantry regiment and was in Florida under Gen. Max Sigel. He married Julia Jackson, born in Kentucky in 1843, who died at Roodhouse, Illinois, in 1878. Their children were as follows: George Mcclellan, who is a farmer of Illinois; Dora, who married Joseph Mirts, a farmer of Car- rington, Missouri; James L., who is a farmer of Roodhouse, Illinois; Thomas B., whose name heads this review; Mary Jane, who married a Mr. Mc- Farland, a farmer of Illinois; and Fred, who is a farmer of Garnet, Kansas.

Thomas B. Edwards attended the rural schools of Greene County, Illinois, and a private school of Sullivan, Missouri, and then became a student of the Steelville Normal Business Institute at Steel- ville, Missouri. Subsequently he studied law in the offices of several attorneys of St. Louis, Mis- souri, and was admitted to the bar, following which he was engaged in practice in that city from 1900 until 1902. In 1903 Mr. Edwards came to Mon- tana and for some years was associated with the mercantile interests of Yegen Brothers at Billings, during the last four years being manager, but in 1913 he went to Vallier, Montana, where he organ- ized the Vallier Mercantile Company and for three years was its manager. In January, 1917, Mr. Ed- wards came to Anaconda to become vice president and manager of the Anaconda National Bank. This bank was established in 1904 by Yegen Brothers of Billings as a private institution, and nationalized in 1907. It is located at No. 212 East Park Avenue, and the building was re-modeled in 1917 so that it is now equipped with all modern facilities and ap-

Whitfield Shipley

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pliances for conducting a high grade banking busi- ness, and is one of the finest in the city.

Mr. Edwards is an independent republican. He belongs to the Christian Church of which he is an elder. Fond of outdoor sports he belongs to the Anaconda Anglers Club, and spends his recreation period in hunting for big game in the Rocky Moun- tains, but this is naturally restricted on account of his multitudinous duties. For some years he has been a member of the American Bankers Associa- tion. He is vice president and half owner of the Stoup Hardware Company of Billings. Mr. Ed- wards owns a modern residence at No. 105 East Seventh Street, Anaconda.

In June, 1901, Mr. Edwards was married at St. Louis, Missouri, to Miss Lillie Anderson, a daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. James Anderson, both of whom are deceased. Mr. Anderson was a farmer of Cal- houn County, Illinois, for a long period. Mr. and Mrs. Edwards have no children. A man of excel- lent education, Mr. Edwards has found it more con- genial to use his knowledge in business enterprises than to confine himself to the restrictions of the most exacting profession, and his success proves that his judgment in this respect was sound. Since coming to Anaconda he has taken a business man's interest in its growth and both personally and through the medium of his bank, is responsible for much of the expansion recently shown here.

JOHN KASTELITZ, one of the leading general mer- chants of Bear Creek, owns and operates one of the most important establishments of its kind in Car- bon County. He was born at Zogorje, Austria, which is now a portion of the new country of the Jugo Slavs, June 29, 1878, a son of Jacob Kastelitz, born at the same place as his son in 1847, where he spent his life, his calling being that of a farmer. During the war between Austria and Turkey he was a soldier. The Roman Catholic Church held his membership. He was married to Jennie Fotur, also born at Zogorje in 1847, and died there in 1918. The children born to Jacob Kastelitz and his wife were as follows: John, whose name heads this re- view; Mary, who married John Sustersich, a farmer of Zogorje; and Frank, who resides at Zogorje, is engaged in mining.

John Kasterlitz attended the public schools of his native place until he was thirteen years of age, at which time he left school and learned the trade of a shoemaker, following it for two years. He then went to Northern Austria, and made ties for the railroad for a time, and for six years was en- gaged in contracting for ties and stakes. In 1901 he came to the United States and for the subsequent eighteen months was engaged in the same line of business in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. He then went to Pueblo, Colorado, and for four months worked in the smelters, and then began working in the coal mines of Wyoming, being thus engaged for three years. In 1906 he located permanently at Bear Creek, Montana, and for seven years was engaged in coal mining leaving this line of work to become general manager for the Slavonic Co- operative Mercantile Association, holding that posi- tion for four years, when he bought the business and has since operated it as a general store. It is located on Main Street, and a very large business is carried ou, especially with the miners. In addi- tion to his business, Mr. Kastelitz owns his resi- dence, which is on the edge of town, and a ware- house for storing his stock of goods. Politically he is a democrat. The Roman Catholic Church holds his membership. He belongs to Bear Creek

Lodge, Knights of Pythias; Bear Creek Aerie, Fraternal Order of Eagles, and the Slavonic Society.

In 1910 Mr. Kastelitz was married at Red Lodge, Montana, to Miss Frances Semrow, born in Austria, where she was reared and educated. Mr. and Mrs. Kastelitz have the following children: John, who was born in 1911; Frank, who was born in 1912; Mary, who was born in 1913; Eddie, who was born in 1914; and Silvery, who was born in 1917.

BENJAMIN F. MOULTON, chairman of the Board of County Commissioners of Fergus County, has until recently been too busied with his extensive interests as a rancher to give much time to public affairs, though his qualifications for official life are widely recognized among his friends and ac- quaintances up and down Montana, where he has lived for over thirty-five years.

Mr. Moulton was born in Waldo County, Maine, and his people were identified with the Pine Tree State for several generations. His birth occurred February 28, 1867. His parents, Elkanah H. and Melissa (Tasker) Moulton, were also natives of Maine. His father died at the age of eighty-seven and his mother at seventy-seven. Their four chil- dren, three sons and one daughter, are all living, Benjamin being the third in age. His father was a farmer and quite a prominent stock man, rais- ing and exhibiting Durham cattle, and standard bred trotting horses, and his stock frequently ap- peared and won premiums at county fairs in New England. He was a republican in politics and a member of the Masonic Order.

Benjamin F. Moulton spent his boyhood days on his father's farm and acquired a common school education in his native county. He left Maine and came West, and in the spring of 1883 reached Bill- ings, Montana. From there he went to Flat Wil- low, then in Meagher County, now Fergus County, and was connected with the Montana Sheep Com- pany, which a few years later sold their sheep herds and stocked up with cattle. Mr. Moulton was with this livestock corporation about four years. He then located a tract of Government land on Mc- Donald Creek and engaged in the stock business for himself, handling sheep, cattle and horses. He still owns about 2,100 acres of land and has it highly improved with buildings and other facilities and equipment. In June, 1918, he disposed of his sheep, and his farm is now devoted entirely to cattle, the famous White Face or Herefords, and the Per- cheron horses. He has about 225 head of Herefords and forty head of Percherons.

Several years ago Mr. Moulton bought a home in Lewistown in order to establish his family con- venient to better school facilities. He lives in Lewistown during the winters but his summers are spent on his ranch about forty miles from that city. He was appointed a member of the Board of County Commissioners in 1916, and was elected for a regular term of six years in 1917, and has been chosen chairman of the board. He is a re- publican and is affiliated with Lewistown Lodge No. 456, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Mr. Moulton married Julia Smith, a native of Iowa, and they have three children, two daughters and one son, Lucy, Clara and Edwin. Lucy is the wife of Mark Teters, of Montana.

WHITFIELD SHIPLEY, now retired at Lewistown, was the practical coal mining expert who opened up many of the pioneer deposits of coal and lignite in Montana, and from an experience covering nearly forty years probably has more first hand informa- tion and history of coal mining in Montana than any other living man.

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He was born in England October 9, 1859, a son of Robert and Ellen (Taylor) Shipley. His parents spent all their lives in England, where his father was a gardener. He died in 1870 and the mother at the age of fifty-two. Whitfield was the eleventh in a family of twelve children, only three of whom are still living.

Whitfield Shipley learned mining in the old country and in 1877, at the age of eighteen, came to America, landing at New York City and first going to the coal district around Brazil, Indiana. He was soon employed by the Northern Pacific Railway as a coal mine prospector in the Dakotas. In the spring of 1880 the same company sent him on to Montana, and he located a bed of coal seven miles west of Miles City, at the Town of Lignite. Here he opened the first coal mine for the company. He also went over the proposed line of a railroad toward Washington, and made locations for a number of coal mines. Later returning, he located the coal at Timber- line, to which a branch road was constructed. He also opened the mine where Red Lodge now stands, this being the pioneer coal mine for general use in Montana. Mr. Shipley's experience also covers other phases of mining. He was at Maiden in pioneer times, working in the Spotted Horse quartz mines, the Maginnis mines, and then went to Belt and opened the coal mines there. His last practical work as a miner was done in Fergus County. He established himself on a tract of Government land and did coal mining and farming in combination until 1919. In that year he sold his ranch and has since lived quietly retired in Lewistown, Mr. Ship- ley is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and in politics is a democrat.

On December 29, 1889, he married Mary Ann Couch, a native of South Wales. She is a daughter of Thomas and Maria (Victory) Couch, both natives of Devonshire, England. She is the second child In a family of eleven children, of whom six are living. Her father is still living in Peterboro, On- tario, at the age of ninety-six.

MAJ. WILLIAM OSTERHOUT WHIPPS. By the im- portance of his duties Maj. William Osterhout Whipps is one of the most distinguished of Montana sons who shared in the World war.

Major Whipps, who is a son of William C. and Annie E. Whipps, of Kalispell, was born at Helena, January 25, 1888, and was three years old when his parents removed to Kalispell. The brilliant qualities of his mind were evidenced when he was a boy in school. At the age of seventeen he graduated at the head of his class from the Flathead County High School, the following year he spent in the Shattuck Military Academy at Faribault, Minnesota, and was graduated at the age of eighteen at the head of his class and with the highest marking received by any student that has ever passed through that institu- tion. His scholastic career was completed in Co- lumbia University in New York, where he spent six years, and at the age of twenty-four graduated, hav- ing specialized in engineering. On returning from the east he was associated with his father in the mercantile business at Kalispell four years. In 1914 he went to Texas to engage in the Bermuda Onion industry in the southern part of that state. On account of unsettled conditions on the Texan border and the difficulty of getting Mexican laborers he sold his interests and returned to Montana. For about a year he was engaged in the laying out and building of roads in Flathead County.

He had become interested in military affairs and had joined Company F of the State Militia at Kali- spell in 1908 or 1909. He became a lieutenant of the

company and when its services were required on the Mexican border in 1916 he accompanied the Second Montana Regiment. On his return he was in the engineering department of the Anaconda Copper Company at Butte, but still retaining his commis- sion in the militia he was called to Federal duty March 26, 1917. He opened a recruiting office in Butte. He was promoted to captain April 10, 1917, and assigned to duty as supply officer for the Second Montana Regiment. This regiment on being mus- tered into the National army became the One Hun- dred and Sixty-Third United States Infantry. Later Captain Whipps was detached from the regiment and made acting quartermaster at Fort William Henry Harrison, and was on duty there until December, 1917. He was then relieved and ordered to join his regiment in France. He reached England en route to France January 19, 1918, and was detained there and again detached from his regiment to serve as assistant quartermaster at Winchester, one of the principal American camps in England. In April, 1918, he was permanently transferred to the Quarter- master's Corps and assigned as disbursing officer for the Winchester District, embracing Southampton, Portsmouth and some other camps. His duties oc- casionally required his presence in London and Liver- pool. In December, 1918, he was ordered to London and assigned as chief disbursing officer for all Eng- land. This was one of the most responsible positions in the American Expeditionary Forces. He was still at work in that capacity as late as December, 1919, engaged in settling up the many accounts of the War Department with the English Government and all other accounts and contracts in England pertaining to the American War Department. He was relieved from duty as chief disbursing officer of England in December, 1919, and immediately assigned to duty in the American Graves Registration Service and placed in temporary command of the zone of Great Britain with headquarters at London.

In the fall of 1918 Captain Whipps was recom- mended for promotion, but the war being ended by the armistice he did not receive his commission as major until February, 1919. On being solicited to take the examination for a commission in the Reg- ular army he passed a perfect examination and was highly recommended by General Biddle and other high officers for a commission.

In the fall of 1916 Major Whipps married Rose Surgley. They have one child, William Surgley Whipps, born at Helena November 18, 1917.

HOWARD ZENOR BIELENBERG. While most of his time is now given to the management of his fine garage at Deer Lodge, Mr. Bielenberg is one of the most widely traveled and experienced citizens of that town. He has mined as far north as the Arctic Circle, has been south to the Equator, and the forty years since he was born at Deer Lodge have afford- ed him opportunity for a busy and unusual career.

He is a son of N. J. Bielenberg, an honored old resident of Deer Lodge and a man of similar variety of fortune and experience. His father was born in 1846 near the city of Hamburg, but over the line in Holland. In 1848 his parents came to the United States and settled at Davenport, Iowa, where he lived until he was seventeen years of age. He then learned the butcher's trade in Chicago, and in 1863 came to the Northwest frontier, traveling up the Missouri River, and arriving at Fort Benton, Mon- tana, in 1863. He followed his trade in Blackfoot City, then a thriving mining town, and was one of the first butchers in Helena. He bought a ranch on Dempsey Creek in Powell County, and still owns about 7,000 acres in that vicinity. Through many

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years he continued his trade and his business as a retail and wholesale meat dealer and originated the Butte Butcher Company, an organization still in existence, and in which he has financial interests. His home has been at Deer Lodge since 1873, and he was in the butcher business there until he sold out in 1909. Through half a century or more he has given much time to mining, and has operated at Butte, Helmville, Missoula, in Powell County, at Contact, Nevada, and in fact his interests and oper- ations in the gold, silver, copper, lead and placer mines might be said to cover every important min- ing district in the West. He is a man of indefat- igable energy, great enterprise, and through the ex- ercise of both physical and moral courage achieved more than ordinary success. He was the first man to drive cattle from Montana across to Cheyenne, the nearest railroad point. He is enjoying a serene existence, after the many trials and tribulations of pioneer days. He is a republican and a member of the Presbyterian Church, is affiliated with Helena Lodge of Masons and the Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena and has been a public spirited citi- zen of Deer Lodge many years. He was the origi- nator of the waterworks system of that town, and in other ways has promoted its development and upbuilding. He owns a large amount of real estate, and some years ago he erected one of the finest homes in the city on Milwaukee avenue. N. J. Bielenberg married Annie Bogk who was born in 1850 and died at Deer Lodge in 1918. Alma, the oldest of their children, is the wife of W. I. Hig- gins, a mine operator at Deer Lodge; Howard Z. is the second in age; Gussie died unmarried in 1891 ; she was a prominent member of the Woman's Club at Deer Lodge and as a memorial to her father built and gave to the club its handsome club building. Anne is the wife of M. C. Newlon, a monument dealer at Bakerfield, California. Claude N., the youngest of the family, is on his father's ranch at Dempsey.

Howard Z. Beilenberg attended public school at Deer Lodge, a military academy at Davenport, Iowa, and finished his education in the Helena Business College. At the age of twenty-one he began his independent career when he went north to Alaska, and as a gold prospector and miner was in the Nome rush and later made a trip within the Arctic Circle. He had more than the ordinary success in that northern country. He returned to Deer Lodge in 1901, but in 1902 went back to Alaska and re- mained there about five years. From 1907 to 1910 Mr. Bielenberg was interested in a ranch at Deer Lodge. He then traveled over the state about a year and on resuming his home at Deer Lodge in- vested his means in local real estate and established the garage on Main Street which he still owns and manages. This is the leading garage in point of service and equipment in Powell County. In 1911 Mr. Bielenberg made a trip to the Panama Canal Zone to look after some landed interests owned by his father there. Mr. Bielenberg owns a modern home at 509 Missouri Avenue, he is a republican and Presbyterian, and is affiliated with Anaconda Lodge No. 239 of the Order of Elks.

September 2, 1908, at Helena, Montana, he mar- ried Miss Annie Winkelman. Her father is the noted John Winkelman of Helena, an interesting pioneer character of the Northwest, born at Bey- reuth, Germany, came to the United States in 1869 and for ten years wore Uncle Sam's uniform in the regular army. He was with the army in Montana when some of the buildings were erected at Fort Benton and 'Fort Missoula. When he left the army after ten years of service he located at Bielenberg,

and has been continuously connected with some of the mercantile establishements of that city. He is a republican and Lutheran and Odd Fellow. He married Ellen Gibson, who was born in Sweden in 1854. Mrs. Bielenberg is the only child of her parents, and was liberally educated in the grammar and high schools of Helena, the Helena Business College, and is one of the most prominent Woman's Club members of the state. She is active in the Deer Lodge Club, which she has served as president, and is now chairman of the Literary Department, and in 1906 she originated and has been the first and only president of the Parent-Teachers Associa- tion of Deer Lodge. Mr. and Mrs. Bielenberg have three children: John Howard, born November 14, 1909; Nicholas I., born November 27, 1913; and Mary Ellen, born December 13, 1914.

LEONARD O. WALKER owns and conducts the lead- ing general store in his part of Carbon County, and is one of the substantial business men of Belfry, Montana. He belongs to good American stock, his ancestors having come to the American colo- nies some time antedating the Revolution, and lo- cated in New York State, where they continued to make the name of Walker synonymous with pro- bity, sagacity and intense patriotism. With the pas- sage of time members of this family have gone forth and been equally faithful in upholding its high standards in other states, gradually moving west- ward until Leonard O. Walker is now firmly es- tablished in Montana, although he was born in Sulli- van County, Missouri, December 9, 1867.

C. E. Walker, father of Leonard O. Walker, was born in New York State in 1829, and he died in Sullivan County, Missouri, in 1897. After grow- ing up in his native state C. E. Walker went to Sullivan County, Missouri, having been married in Illinois, and became one of the pioneer farmers of that region. During the Civil war he served in the Missouri militia, thus rendering a very effi- cient service to his country and state during a pe- riod of great stress. Although he and his wife were married in Illinois, she was a native of Sulli- van County, Missouri, where she was born in 1835, her maiden name having been Mary Weaver. She died in her native county in 1889. They had the following children: Frank, who is in the hardware business at Spokane, Washington; Ida, who mar- ried E. D. Beatty, a retired farmer of La Mar, Colorado; Leonard O., whose name heads this re- view ; Roy, who is a music dealer of Oklahoma City; and L. J., who is a farmer residing in Sullivan County, Missouri. C. E. Walker was a republican of the strongest type. A member and enthusiastic worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church, he was recognized as one of its pillars, and was missed in it, as elsewhere, when he died.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 51

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