Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 55

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 55

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this country. Accordingly, large numbers of the hardy Swiss have crossed the Atlantic and sought homes in' the great West of the United States. And here their descendants have been numbered among the most intelligent, patriotic, industrious and upright of our great and wonderful cosmo- politan population. The subject of this sketch can look back with satisfaction to his ancestry, who were of this hardy stock and he has in himself emulated the splendid qualities which characterized them.

The paternal grandfather of the subject of this ·sketch, John Jacob Straszer, was born at Zurich, Switzerland, in 1804, and in 1851 immigrated to the United States, settling in St. Louis, Missouri, where .he carried on the business of carpenter and con- tractor. In 1879 he returned to Switzerland on a visit, and while there was taken sick and died. His son George was born at Zurich in 1845 and accom- panied his parents on their immigration to the United States in 1851. He was reared in St. Louis, and there followed the vocation of a tinsmith. His death occurred at Webster Grove, Missouri, in 1912. He was a stanch republican in his political faith and took an active part in the civic and po- litical affairs of his community. He served as deputy United States marshal for three terms and also held county and city offices. At the time of his death he was city marshal of Webster Grove. He was a veteran of the Civil war, and a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church and of the Masonic fraternity. He married in St. Louis Mary L. Zimmerman, who was born in that city in 1843 and who now resides at Webster Grove. To them were born five children, as follows: Albert George is a driver for the National Park Laundry of Liv- ingston; Lillie E. is the wife of W. C. Urban, chief rate clerk for the Missouri Pacific Railway at Web- ster Grove, Missouri; Walter C. is the immediate subject of this sketch; Ada Lee is unmarried and is a teacher by vocation; Charlotte Marie is the wife of Louis B. Burns, county surveyor of Miami County, Indiana.

Walter C. Straszer was born at Manchester, Mis- souri, on August 6, 1873, and received his educa- tion in the rural schools of St. Louis County. At the age of thirteen years he began working for a commission firm of St. Louis, with which he re- mained a year, and then spent three years in a grocery store. During the following four years he worked for the St. Louis Street Railway Company. In 1898, at the outbreak of the Spanish-American war, Mr. Straszer enlisted in the First Missouri Regiment of Volunteer Infantry and was sent to the camp at Chickamauga Park. He was discharged with the rank of corporal at St. Louis in 1899. He then went to San Francisco, California, and during the following year devoted himself to learning the mechanical details of the laundry business. In 1900 he came to Butte, Montana, and until 1912 was connected with the laundry business in that city. In the latter year Mr. Straszer came to Livingston and established the National Park Laundry, an en- terprise which has proven successful even beyond his expectations. The plant was first located on Park Street, but grew to such proportions that larger space was needed and the laundry was moved to 202-4-6 South Main Street. Every facility in the way of up-to-date machinery is provided for the proper handling of the work and today this laundry has the reputation of being the leading house of its kind in this section of Montana. The National Park Laundry is incorporated, with the following officers: W. C. Straszer, president ; K. A. Straszer, vice president; F. E. Green, secretary and treasurer.

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Politically Walter C. Straszer is a stanch republi- can and takes an intelligent interest in the trend of public affairs, though he is not a seeker after public office. He holds membership in Livingston Lodge No. 32, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; Livingston Lodge, Knights of Pythias; the Living- ston Chamber of Commerce; and the Commercial Club and the Railway Club.

In 1901, at Butte, Montana, Mr. Straszer mar- ried Kate A. Griffin, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Griffin, the former of whom was a railroad contractor. Both of these parents are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Straszer have two children, George, born in 1903, and Allouez Marie, born in 1907.

Success has crowned the efforts of Mr. Straszer as the legitimate result of unflagging industry and perseverance, coupled with integrity and a genial disposition, and he has justly won and retained the esteem of his fellow citizens.

EDWARD C. JONES, who came to Livingston in July, 1906, has steadily practiced law since that date and has formed some influential connection in his pro- fession. He is the present county attorney of Park County.

Mr. Jones is still a young man in years, and the better part of his career is still ahead of him. He was born in Vernon County, Missouri, Decem- ber 2, 1879. His paternal ancestry was from Wales. His father, J. W. Jones, was born in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, in 1850. When he was ten years old, in 1860, his parents, George W. and Abigail (Duff) Jones, both natives of Huntingdon County, moved to Cleveland, Ohio. While at Cleve- land George W. Jones enlisted in an Ohio regiment, the Tenth Cavalry, and served four years in the Civil war. He had previously served in the war with Mexico. Soon after the close of the Civil war, in 1866, he took his family to Vernon County, Missouri, and spent the rest of his life as a farmer there. He died in Cedar County, Missouri. His wife, Abigail, had died in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. J. W. Jones received most of his education while at Cleveland. After moving to Vernon County, Missouri, in the spring of 1866, he became a farmer, and in 1911 he came to Mon- tana, locating at Wilsall and was mail carrier be- tween Wilsall and Lat. He died in Park County, April 1, 1918. Politically he was a democrat and was a member of the Christian Church and affili- ated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. J. W. Jones married Agnes B. Dade, who was born in St. Clair County, Missouri, in 1853 and is now living in Lat, Montana. Catherine, the oldest of their children, is the wife of W. W. Pepper, a farmer and stock raiser at Lat; Edward C. is the second in age; Mariamme is the wife of R. L. Monroe, of Paul, Idaho; Jacob M. and Robert D. are both farmers at Lat; while Florence E. is the wife of Everett Durham, a farmer and stockman at Menard, Montana.

Edward C. Jones spent his early career in the atmosphere of his father's farm in Vernon County, Missouri, attended country schools, and also the high school at Schell City, Missouri. For four years he gave all his time and energy to farming and began the study of law in the office of Scott & Bowker of Nevada, Missouri. He was admitted to the bar in 1904 and remained in the Scott & Bowker office until January, 1906. In July of that year he came to Livingston and embarked in a general civil and criminial practice. His offices are in the Miles-Krohne Block. Mr. Jones was elected county attorney in 1918 and began his duties Jann- ary 6, 1919. He is a member of the Park County

Bar Association, is a democrat, is affiliated with Zephyr Camp of the Woodmen of the World at Livingston, is a member of the Chamber of Com- merce, and is a director in the Montana Mining Company.

His home, which he owns, is at 305 South Seventh Street. Mr. Jones married at Nevada, Missouri, in July, 1906, Miss Eulalie Scott, daughter of Charles R. and Mary (Dixon) Scott, both now deceased. Her father was a lawyer. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have three children: Alma E., born Marclı 23, 1907; Mildred Virginia, born June 23, 1912; and Eulalie, born December 4, 1917.

BYRON LEE PAMPEL, M. D. When Governor Stewart in April, 1918, called Doctor Pampel to membership on the state board of health, a worthy recognition was made of the services of one of the most vigilant and skillful members of the medical profession in Montana. Doctor Pampel has prac- ticed at Livingston for twenty years and is a man of the highest standing in civic as well as profes- sional circles.

He was born at Salem, Nebraska, July 4, 1873, and came to Montana soon after completing his medical education. His grandfather, Christian Leonidas Pampel, was born in France in 1810. As a young man he settled in the Miami Valley of Ohio, and spent his active life there as a farmer. He died at Sydney, Ohio, in 1880. His wife was a Miss Harris, a native of New England, who died in Southern Ohio when about sixty-five years of age. George W. Pampel, father of Doctor Pampel, was born in Sydney, Ohio, in 1843, and left that community when a young man, going to Nebraska, where he was a flour miller. He married at Salem, Nebraska, and in 1878 moved to Centralia, Nemaha County, Kansas, where he was a merchant until 1901. Since then he has lived practically retired from business in Kansas City, Missouri. He is a democrat, a Mason and a member of the Congre- gational Church. George W. Pampel married Nel- lie E. Davis, who was born in Vermont in 1846 and died at Kansas City in 1916. Doctor Pampel is the oldest of four children. All the others live in Kan- sas City, both daughters, Carrie and Althea, resid- ing with their father. The son, Heber D., third in age, is an architect in Kansas City.

Doctor Pampel is a graduate of the Centralia, Kansas, High School, and is also an alumnus of the University of Kansas at Lawrence. He received his A. B. degree in 1895, and then entered the medi- cal department of Nebraska State University at Omaha, graduating M. D. in 1898. For one year he was interne in the Douglas County Hospital at Omaha, and in the spring of 1899 arrived at Liv- ingston and began his busy career as a physician and surgeon. In 1902 he attended the Post-Grad- uate Medical School at Chicago and the spring and summer of 1908 were spent in the New York Post- Graduate School. He is a member of the county and state medical societies and the American Medi- cal Association. His offices are in the Miles-Krohne Block.

Doctor Pampel is a democrat, is affiliated with Livingston Lodge No. 32, Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons, Livingston Chapter No. 7, Royal Arch Masons, St. Bernard Commandery No. 6. Knights Templar, Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena, Zephyr Camp No. 151, Woodmen of the World, and belongs to the Royal Highland- ers. He is a member of the Livingston Chamber of Commerce and a stockholder and director of the First State Bank of Livingston.

His residence is a modern home at 216 South

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

Yellowstone Street. Doctor Pampel married Miss Lois Fagaly at Billings in 1903. They have two children : George, born June 17, 1904, and Dorothy, born June 13, 1911.

HARRY BRICE BLAIR thirty years ago was a ranch hand in the Shields River Valley of Montana. Un- til very recently he was directly interested as an owner in the lands of that famous region. As a rancher he did his part in developing an important section of the state, and is also remembered for his leading part in developing the first telephone system covering a vast stretch of country between Livingston and Myersburg. For the past ten years Mr. Blair has been in the automobile business at Livingston, at first as a sales agent and garage proprietor, and now entirely as an automobile sales- man. He has developed an organization that is hardly second to any in the state in the volume of sales.

Mr. Blair, long regarded as one of Livingston's most successful business men, attributes his suc- cess to a faculty and habit which in a colloquial term is best described as "plugging" along." In terms of real service to the world and humanity such an ability seems more than possession of the most brilliant qualities and talents.

Mr. Blair was born on a farm at Eola, Illinois, September 15, 1868. His paternal ancestors came from Scotland and were early settlers in Pennsyl- vania, where his father, James A. Blair, was born in 1843. James A. Blair married the mother of Harry B. Blair in Iowa, where he lived several years. He afterward established his home on a farm at Eola, Illinois, and in 1896 retired from the farm and lived at Aurora until his death in 1911. During the Civil war he was employed by the Government as a vet- erinarian. He was always a republican in poli- tics. For his second wife he married Nettie Fow- ler, who is living at Batavia, Illinois. His chil- dren, however, were all by his first wife, Harry B. being the youngest of eight. A brief record of the others is as follows: Belle, wife of H. E. Mc- Dowell, a banker at Clay Center, Nebraska; Hattie, who married James Barclay and both are now de- ceased; Louise, wife of Edwin Woodworth, a re- tired rancher in California; Elmer, who was a stock- man and died at Myersburg, Montana, at the age of thirty-two; Erve, a resident of Long Beach, Cali- fornia, and a stock raiser having a large ranch on the Clementes Island in Southern California; Ella, wife of J. K. McMurdo, a rancher at Clyde Park, Montana; Frank, who has a large ranch at Clyde Park and lives at Bozeman.

Harry B. Blair attended school at Aurora, Illi- nois, graduating from high school in 1885. In 1887 he arrived at Livingston, Montana, and the next two years he worked for wages on ranches at White Sulphur Springs. In 1889 he began a modest business for himself raising cattle on the South Fork of the Smith River in Meagher County, and in 1893 he entered the sheep industry. Mr. Blair homesteaded in 1891 in order to secure a base for his livestock operations, and he rapidly developed large herds of cattle and sheep, acquiring an ex- tensive domain of deeded and leased lands, and was a notable figure among the stockmen of the Shields Valley until 1910. In the fall of 1918 he sold all his ranches, about 5,000 acres. During all these years he has been a leader in promoting the best welfare of his section of Montana as an agricultural dis- trict. He placed no obstacles in the way of sub- dividing the old cattle domain, and for years has advocated intensive farming and the introduction of high grade stock raising.

Before he left the ranch he was instrumental in

developing a complete telephone system for the Shields River Valley and by 1907 the independent system had 250 miles of telephone line covering the district between Livingston and Myersburg.

In 1909 Mr. Blair entered the automobile business at Livingston, and the following year moved his home to that city. He established a garage and began handling the Reo and Dodge cars. The first year his sales totalled $15,000, and in less than ten years he was doing a business approximating $200,000 annually. In 1917 he sold his garage, and his business offices at 219 South Main now repre- sents a complete auto sales and service station, han- dling the Reo, Dodge and Franklin cars.

Since coming to Livingston Mr. Blair has also been active in public affairs. He was elected in 1912 a trustee of the schools and has been a direc- tor of the Park County Chamber of Commerce and for two years was president of the Commercial Club. He has also served as president of the Ad Club, and is a member of the Park County Auto- mobile Association. He belongs to the Railway Club, is a republican, is affiliated with Livingston Lodge No. 32, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Livingston Consistory of the Scottish Rite, Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena, and Liv- ingston Lodge No. 246 of the Elks. He is a stock- holder in the First State Bank of Clyde Park. Mr. Blair owns a modern home at 307 South Fifth Street and another dwelling on South P Street.

On February 17, 1894, at Macon, Illinois, Mr. Blair married Miss Thirza Van Dorn, daughter of J. W. and Hattie (Wagner) Van Dorn. Her par- ents reside at Livingston, her father being a retired rancher and president of the First State Bank of Livingston. Mr. and Mrs. Blair have two children, Mildred and Halsey. Mildred is a graduate of the Livingston public schools and is the wife of J. W. Crosby of Livingston. Mr. Crosby enlisted in Sep- tember, 1917, was sent overseas with the Ninety-first Division on July 1, 1918 and participated in the great fighting of the Argonne Forest, where he lost his right leg. He was a sergeant. The son, Halsey, is a young business man of Livingston, now in part- nership with his father.

WILLIAM J. STREVER, one of the accomplished and successful lawyers at Billings, knows life and affairs from the standpoint of a thoroughly educated man, a teacher, farmer and rancher, and did not take up the law until he was nearly forty years of age. Mr. Strever was born at Boulder, Colorado, July 27, 1873, son of Lloyd G. and Abby Amelia (Geer) Strever. His paternal grandmother was Esther Crandall, a native of England, who died in Michigan.

Lloyd G. Strever was born in New York State in 1840, and about 1843 his parents moved to the vicinity of Lansing, Michigan, where he grew up on a farm. In 1861 he enlisted in the Sixteenth Michigan In- fantry and served all through the war, participating in thirty-nine great battles. He was with the army of the Potomac at Antietam, Gettysburg, Wilder- ness, Cold Harbor, Siege of Richmond and Appo- mattox, and was mustered out with the rank of lieutenant. After the war he went directly to Central City, Colorado, and engaged in gold mining until 1870, when he took up livestock raising and farm- ing near Boulder. He died on the old homestead at Berthoud, Colorado, July 8, 1907. He was a repub- lican, a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the United Brethren Church. His wife was born in Stark County, Illinois, in 1852. They were married at Jamestown, Colorado, and she died at Billings, Montana, May 18, 1915. She was the mother of five children: Charles Dell, a machinist with the Union Pacific Railway at Laramie, Wyo-

William Atreve.

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ming; William J .; Lura E., who died at Berthoud, Colorado, the wife of H. P. Dennis, who is now a farmer on the Billings Bench, seven miles northeast of Billings; Elmer L., a livestock man and auctioneer at Billings ; and Arthur Edwin, who died at Boulder City, Colorado, at the age of twenty-one.

William J. Strever acquired his early instruction in the rural schools of Boulder and Laramie County, Colorado, took a preparatory course in Fort Collins College, and in 1901 graduated from the State Agri- cultural and Mechanics Arts College at Fort Collins, spending two years in mechanical engineering and two years in a business course. For two years he taught school at Boulder, another two years at Lusk, Wyoming, and for six years was profitably en- gaged in farming and stock raising in those two states. Mr. Strever studied law for two years in the State University of Colorado at Boulder, and in 1912 entered the State University of Montana, law department, graduating in 1914. In the spring of that year he located at Billings, and during five years has discovered an increasing demand for his services as. a lawyer. His offices are in the Hart-Albin Building.

Mr. Strever is a republican, a deacon in the Con- gregational Church, member of the Yellowstone County and State Bar associations, and is a charter member of Billings Lodge No. 113, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and a member of Billings Camp of the Woodmen of the World.

August 3, 1904, at Gillette, Wyoming, he married Miss Pearl Reed, a daughter of Henry L. and Hen- rietta (Hargraves) Reed, the latter now deceased. Her father is a retired stockman at Omaha, Ne- braska. Mr. and Mrs. Strever have three children : Lura Belle, born May 12, 1906; Henrietta Reed, born February 15, 1909; and Edith Corinne, born April 4, 1910.

GEORGE W. Cook is a veteran Montanan, has been a rancher, public official, and in many ways identi- fied with the life and affairs of Fergus County and Lewistown for thirty years. He is now president of the Cook-Reynolds Real Estate & Loan Company.

Mr. Cook was born at Malone, New York, August 30, 1853, a son of Chauncey and Lucretia J. (Hobbs) Cook. His father, born in Vermont in 1810, lived from early infancy in New York State, where he was a farmer. He died in 1855. He was a whig in politics and a very active member of the Presby- terian Church. He had a local reputation as a singer and gave this talent largely to his church. His wife was born in New York State in 1814 and died in 1892. They had eight children, two of whom died in infancy and three are still living. George W. Cook is the youngest child. His mother married for her second husband Amasa A. Rhoades and had two children by that marriage.

George W. Cook attended the public schools at Malone, his native town, and also attended the Academy at Barre, Vermont. At the age of eight- een he taught his first term of winter school, and followed that occupation for several years, alter- nating between the school room and the farm. He also farmed for himself, and teaching and farm- ing constituted his work until 1880.

In the spring of that year he came West, traveling by railroad as far as Sioux City, Iowa, thence by boat up the Mississippi to Fort Benton, thence by stage to Helena and then to Fort Logan. He worked on a sheep ranch near Fort Logan, was clerk and bookkeeper for J. W. Gaddis Mercantile Company at Fort Logan about two years and then engaged in the sheep business with Dr. W. Parberry. Their ranch was located on Dog Creek in Meagher

County, now . Fergus County. Mr. Cook was a sheep rancher from 1883 to 1893. In 1890 he was appointed receiver of the United States Land Office at Lewistown, and held that post until July, 1894. He was then elected county treasurer, and by re- election in 1896 served two terms. After retiring from office in 1898 he went into the real estate busi- ness with David Hilger under the firm name of Cook & Hilger. In 1903 he retired from this firm and was a grocery merchant a year. After that he resumed the real estate business by himself and in the spring of 1908 organized the Cook-Reynolds Company, which was incorporated the following year. This is one of the largest firms in this section of Montana handling real estate and loans.

Mr. Cook was elected the last mayor of the town of Lewistown on April 9, 1900, and on April 8, 1901, was chosen the first mayor of the City of Lewis- town. After about ten years of service he resigned as a director of the Empire Bank & Trust Company. He is a republican, is affiliated with Lewistown Lodge No. 37, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Lewistown Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Lewis- town Commandery, Knights Templar, and Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena. He also belongs to the Woodmen of the World.

On October 27, 1874, Mr. Cook married Emma H. Orvis. She was born in Ferrisburg, Vermont. To their union were born nine children, a brief record of whom follows: Elizabeth M., is the wife of Dr. A. J. Noble, of San Diego, California. Lillian E., is the wife of J. H. Stephens, present sheriff of Fergus County. Chauncey L. married Matilda Roethter. The next in age is Fanny S. William H. enlisted in July, 1918, was assigned to the Statistics Department of the army with the rank of second lieutenant and reached his overseas department at Brest, France, November 9, 1918, and has since been in charge of the filing department. Mary L. is the wife of Frank E. Doran, an auto- mobile dealer at Lewistown. Ruth P. was married to Peter S. Williams, a well known Lewistown lawyer. Verne M. is the wife of Thomas Baker, a ranch manager. The youngest of the family is Carro C.

EDWIN K. CHEADLE, a Montana lawyer with a quarter of a century's experience, has built up a reputation that has extended far beyond the limits of his home City of Lewistown. He is especially well known for his capable services of twelve years as judge of the Tenth Judicial District.

Judge Cheadle was born in Indiana, October 22, 1858, a son of Henry C. and Emma K. (Keyes) Cheadle, his parents both being natives of Ohio. His father was a Presbyterian minister, was edu- cated in Ohio, and had pastorates in that state, Indiana and Minnesota. Judge Cheadle was the oldest of five children, three sons and two daughters, four of whom are still living.

He acquired his early education chiefly in the public schools of Minnesota and in 1883 graduated from Carlton College at Northfield, Minnesota. He read law privately and has been a resident of Lewistown since the fall of 1893. He was admitted to the Montana bar at Helena in 1894. Much of his time since beginning practice has been taken up by public responsibilities. He served one term as county attorney of Fergus County. He was elected judge of the Tenth District in 1900, entering upon its duties in January, 1901. He was re-elected in 1904 and 1908, and gave twelve years to the judicial office. He is an honored member of the Fergus County Bar Association and the State Bar Asso- ciation and in politics a republican.

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June 26, 1890, Judge Cheadle married Ida Con- stance Wohlfahrt. She was born in Minnesota. Five children were born to their marriage, four of whom are still living: Henry B., Marie, Edwin K., Jr., and Constance. Henry B. Cheadle entered West Point Military Academy in March, 1900, and grad- uated in June, 1913. He was commissioned second lieutenant, ordered to Galveston, later took part in General Funston's expedition to Mexico, and saw active service at various points along the Mexican border under General Funston. For a time he was stationed in the Panama Canal Zone, at Camp Dodge, Iowa, and early in the great war went to France as a captain. Since his services overseas he has been stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and later at Columbus, Georgia, and now holds the rank of major. Major Cheadle married Beatrice Mix. Marie, the oldest danghter of Judge Cheadle, is the wife of Ernest Lorenz, of Oakland, California. The younger son, Edwin K., Jr., entered the Of- ficers Training Camp at Fort Slocum, New York, in 1915, was transferred to the Presidio in California, and is now a first lieutenant of Field Artillery.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 55

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