Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 57

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 57

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Born in Germany in 1827, Henry Guthard came to the United States with his mother in 1833, and was reared and educated in Washtenaw County, Michigan. Indians were then plentiful in that re- gion, the vast forests through which bears, wolves and other wild animals roamed at will, being their happy hunting ground. After reaching man's estate he bought a tract of heavily timbered land near Saline, and immediately began the almost seemingly impossible task of hewing a farm from its primitive wildness, laboring with persevering diligence and courage. Succeeding well in his efforts, he con- tinued a resident of Washtenaw County until his death in 1901, at Saline. He was a democrat in politics, and an ardent supporter of the Congrega- tional Church, with which he was identified by membership. His wife, whose maiden name was Kate Bieber, was born in Germany in 1834, and in 1846 came with her brother Henry to the United States; settling in Michigan, where she spent her remaining days, dying at Saline in 1902. Seven children were born to them, as follows: John, engaged in farming at Saline, Michigan; Libbie, unmarried, lives at Saline; Emma, who died at the age of forty years, was wife of the late Carl Bick- well, a publisher; Mary, wife of Prof. Herman Weihe, an instructor in one of the schools at Mil- waukee, Wisconsin; Katie, wife of John Heininger, a farmer in Saline, Michigan; Charles H., of this sketch; and Clara, wife of Rev. James Rilling, pastor of a Congregational Church at Van Wert, Ohio.

Receiving his common and high school education in Saline, Michigan, Charles H. Guthard subse- quently entered the employ of a lumber company, and for three years after celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of his birth worked in the pine woods. The following six years he was employed as a farm hand, and having thus gained a practical knowl- edge of the different branches of agriculture was for five years engaged in general farming on his own account. Deciding to make a change of oc- cupation, Mr. Guthard opened a hardware and implement store at Saline, and managed it success- fully from 1897 until 1908. Going from there to Denver, Colorado, he embarked in what at that time was a new business, and for a vear sold auto- mobiles in that city. Locating in Cody, Wyoming,

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in 1909, Mr. Guthard remained there two years, selling automobiles the first half of the time, and managing the Cody Trading Company the last year. Making his advent in Billings, Montana, in 19II, he was here engaged in the antomobile business for four years, selling cars until 1915.

In the latter year Mr. Guthard organized the Northwestern Auto Supply Company, which is now incorporated, its officers being C. H. Guthard, presi- dent; Rockwood Brown, vice president; and E. C. Guthard, manager, secretary and treasurer. The company's plant and offices are situated at 425-7 North Broadway, occupying one of the principal business buildings of the city, it being a large brick structure, three stories in height, with a basement. As previously mentioned, the firm does a whole- sale business only, handling automobile accessories on an extensive scale, its trade covering Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. The com- pany has branch shipping honses at Great Falls, Montana, and at Pocatello, Idaho, where a very large business is carried on, although the main office is at Billings, and in the supervision of these three houses Mr. Guthard has fifty-two trustworthy men in his employ. He is also interested in the agricultural advancement of Montana, having a two-fifths interest in a ranch of 12,000 acres located near Toluca. He owns a modernly constructed residence at No. 205 Wyoming Avenue, where he and his family enjoy life to the utmost.

Mr. Guthard is a republican in politics, and a Presbyterian in religion, being a faithful member of that church. Fraternally he is a member of Billings Lodge No. 113, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; of Billings Chapter No. 6, Royal Arch Masons; of Aldemar Commandery No. 5, Knights Templar ; of Algeria Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; and of Billings Consistory, being a thirty-second degree Mason. He also belongs to the Billings Midland Empire Club.

At Saline, Michigan, in 1892, Mr. Guthard mar- ried Miss Lonisa Schroen, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Schroen. Her father, a retired farmer, still resides in Saline, Michigan, but her mother has passed to the higher life. Mr. and Mrs. Guthard have two children, namely: Edgar C., a graduate of the Billings High School, now manager and secretary and treasurer of the Northwestern Auto Supply Company, married Ada Sleeper, of Billings, and has one child, Jean, born May 15, 1918; and Raymond, now, in 1919, a senior in the Billings High School.

JOHN R. SWEARINGEN. An influential and highly respected citizen of Yellowstone County, John R. Swearingen, of Billings, president of the Mon- tana Sash & Door Company, has achieved distinc- tion in the business life of the city, and by reason of his ability, tact and integrity has gained a leading position in industrial manufacturing and mercantile circles of this section of the state. A son of Abraham T. Swearingen, he was born February I, 1861, in Bine Earth County, Minnesota.

His paternal grandfather, John Swearingen, was a native of Illinois, and in the Prairie State grew to a vigorous manhood. Casting his lot early in life with the pioneers of Minnesota, he settled in Martin County, and there established the first flour mill erected west of Dubuque. He continued a resident of that county until his death at Fairmont at the venerable age of ninety-two years. On the paternal side he came of Dutch ancestry, the Swear- ingens from whom he was descended having emi- grated from Holland to America in colonial days.

He married a Miss Brown, who was also a native of Illinois.

Abraham T. Swearingen, a native of Illinois, was born in Champaign County in 1829. He attended the pioneer schools of his day, and while yet a boy was initiated into the mysteries of farming as then carried on, very little machinery being then in use. Going to Blue Earth County, Minnesota, when a young man, he began life for himself as a farmer, and in the pioneer task of putting his land under cultivation met with good success. In 1880 he removed to West Union, Iowa, where he started in an entirely different line of business, opening first a furniture store and later becoming a lumber dealer at Perry, Iowa. In the latter in- dnstry he met with good results, and continued a resident of Perry until his death in 1915. During the Civil war, almost immediately after its out- break, he offered his services to his country, en- listing in the Ninth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, 'and with the exception of the time he returned to his home to defend his family from the last Indian ontbreak in that locality served until the surrender of Lee on April 9, 1865. A republican in politics, he was ever loyal to the interests of his party. He married Amy Allen, who was born in New York State in 1834, and died at Perry, Iowa, in 1914, at the good old age of eighty years. They had but one child, John R., of whom we write.

After leaving the public schools of Blue Earth County, where he was born, John R. Swearingen continned his studies at West Union, Iowa, taking a preparatory course under the tuition of Prof. S. S. Ainsworth, head of a private school. When but sixteen years old he entered the service of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Rail- road Company, with which he remained six years as telegraph operator. In 1879, at Perry, Iowa, he embarked in the Inmber business, beginning in a very humble position in the yard and gradually worked his way upward until he had managed the details of the business. In 1882 Mr. Swearingen bonght the yard in which he had formerly been employed, and for twenty years carried on a sub- stantial business as a dealer in lumber. Selling out in 1902, he was associated with the Huttig Manufacturing Company at Muscatine, Iowa, for four years, serving as its vice president. In 1906, still retaining his connection with the company, he came to Billings, Montana, as manager of its branch house, a responsible position that he filled most ably and satisfactorily. He subsequently organized the Montana Sash & Door Company, which was incorporated Jannary 20, 1911, with the following named officers: J. R. Swearingen, president, and R. C. Cardell, secretary and treasurer. This com- pany is carrying on an extensive and remunerative business in sash, doors and interior finishing mate- rial, and does all kinds of mill work, either plain or decorative, its plant and offices being advantageonsly located at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Broad- way. From this plant its products are shipped to all parts of Eastern Montana and Northern Wy- oming, its trade being large and constantly grow- ing. Mr. Swearingen has other property interests of value. owning a commodious residence at 301 Clark Avenue, and at Judith Basin has an immense ranch, containing 1,350 acres of good land. He has been actively identified with various other enterprises, but his present business has reached such proportions that it requires his entire time and attention, and he has been forced to dispose of his other interests, although he is one of the directorate of the Billings Gas Company.

Politically Mr. Swearingen is a strong republican.

Funellbacher

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Fraternally he is a member of Perry, Iowa, Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; of Almyra Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; of Perry Commandery, Knights Templar : of Zagazig Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; and of Des Moines, Iowa, Consistory, being a thirty-second degree Mason. Socially he belongs to the Billings Golf and Country Club.

Mr. Swearingen married first, in 1881, at West Union, Iowa, Miss May Redfield, who was born in that town in 1861, and died at Oelwein, Iowa, in 1882. Their only child, Mabel, a graduate of Saint Catherine's Hall at Davenport, Iowa, married A. Peddecord, a traveling salesman, residing in Perry, Iowa. Mr. Swearingen married for his second wife, at Perry, Iowa, in 1886, Miss Florence Cardell, a daughter of Leander and Emma Cardell, and of this union one child has been born, Irene, wife of George Arnott, Jr., of Billings, a well known attorney. Mrs. Arnott is a woman of cul- ture and refinement, who has had excellent educa- tional advantages, having heen graduated from the National Cathedral at Washington, District of Columbia.

J. W. SNELLBACHER, a prominent member of the Billings bar, has spent all his life in the West, was formerly a teacher, and came to Montana in the service of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company.

He was born at Plattsmouth in Cass County, Ne- braska, October 4, 1883. His father, Michael J. Snellbacher, was born in Germany in 1841, came to this country when a young man, and, a black- smith by trade, established the first blacksmith shop at Plattsmouth, Nebraska. He was in business there the rest of his life and died December 30, 1891. He was a republican, served as a member of the City Council, was active in the Lutheran Church and was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. At Plattsmouth in 1882 he married Amelia Margaret Lau. She was born in Germany March 23, 1863, and is now living at Colby in Thomas County, Kansas. J. W. Snellbacher is the oldest of the five children of his parents. Claude Philip, born May 13, 1885, is a farmer at Colby, Kansas; Henry Fred, born October 19, 1886, is also a farmer in that vicinity; Margaret, born May 14, 1889, is the wife of L. C. Howard, a rancher and stock raiser at Miles City, Montana; Lulu, born May 20, 1890, is the wife, of William Ehler, a farmer at Hollyrood, Kansas. The mother of these chil- dren married for her second husband George Ullrich, who died at Plattsmouth, Nebraska, in 1901. By this union there were six children: George, born July 21, 1895, served as a corporal with the American Ex- peditionary Forces; John, born July 21, 1895, is a member of the United States navy and in the spring of 1919 was stationed at Gibraltar; Philip, born October 4, 1896, was in the spring of 1919 with the army at Camp Funston, Kansas; Augusta, born July 4. 1898, is employed in the postoffice at Miles City, Montana ; Lena, born September 6, 1899, is a teacher at Colby, Kansas; and Lavina, born June 20, 1901, is still at home with her mother.

J. W. Snellbacher acquired his education in the public schools of Plattsmouth, attended the high school at Colby, Kansas, graduated from the Colby Academy in 1908, and as a means of paying his way through school he taught in Thomas County for four years. For two years he was also principal of the high school and graded school at Brewster, Kan- sas. In 1910 Mr. Snellbacher entered the law de- partment of the University of Michigan, graduating LL. B. in 1913. He then came to Anaconda, Mon- tana, and was in the service of the Anaconda Copper

Mining Company 11/2 years. For a short time he had a law office in San Francisco, but on August 1, 1913, located at Billings and has rapidly achieved prestige as a successful lawyer. His offices are in the Staple- ton Building.

Mr. Snellbacher is a republican in political affilia- tions, is a member of the Congregational Church, and in Masonry belongs to Ashlar Lodge No. 29, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Billings Chapter No. 6, Royal Arch Masons, Billings Commandery No. 9, Knights Templar, and Billings Consistory of the Scottish Rite.

In 1919 he built a modern home just outside the city limits of Billings. Mr. Snellbacher married at Billings June 22, 1918, Miss Inez Richtman, a daugh- ter of Jacob and Sophie Richtman. Her mother lives at Billings, and her father, who was a Union soldier in the Civil war, is deceased.

WALTER S. SMITH. One of the pioneer business men of Lewistown who is still actively engaged in mercantile pursuits, Walter S. Smith has lived long and continuously in Montana, and is one of the men who can speak from direct experiences of the days of the pack train freighting outfit, was himself a pioneer and was personally acquainted with many of the notable figures of the Northwest in the stirring and romantic days preceding rail- roads and when all this country was devoted to mining and stock raising.

He and his family have come a long way from their ancestral haunts. Mr. Smith was born in St. Albans Township, Somerset County, Maine, June 24, 1859, and Maine was also the native state of his parents, Benjamin R. and Eunice Elizabeth (Knight) Smith. His father was both a physician and farmer. During the Civil war he and his oldest son, Edmund, were Union soldiers. At the close of the war in 1865 he moved from Maine to Monticello, Wright County, Minnesota, and took an active part in the frontier life of that locality. He bought a farm and also practiced medicine, after taking a post-graduate course. At one time he owned 300 acres of land in Minnesota. Later he lived in Leavenworth, Kansas. He died at the advanced age of ninety years. He was a whig and later a republican in politics. His wife died at the age of sixty years. Their ten children, five sons and five daughters, made up a large family of whom five are still living, Walter S. being the eighth in age.

Walter S. Smith was about six years old when his parents moved to Minnesota, and he grew up in that frontier state. While attending the public schools during limited terms he work on his father's farm and in the spring of 1879, when twenty years of age, started out in the world to find what of adventure and reward it could bestow upon his ability. His first experiences were in the Black Hills of South Dakota. He made that journey by railroad as far as Bismarck and then by stage to Deadwood. With his brother S. R. Smith he engaged in the furniture business, also operated a hack line from Lead to Deadwood, and was in that locality about three years. He then came through to Coulson and saw that town moved on west to the present site of Billings. He and Dave Price with their teams of horses brought fifteen passengers from Lead to Billings. Among these passengers were P. P. Tooley, Mr. Fost, Mr. Gust- hurst and other noted men of the time in the North- west. During 1880-81 Mr. Smith was freighting between Miles City and Billings, and during the summer of 1882 he helped Paul McCormick put up hay for the Government at Fort Custer. In the

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fall of 1882 he assisted in moving the Town of Clark City on the Yellowstone River to the present site of Livingston. Thus he has helped at the birth of at least two important cities of Montana. He drove a stage line from Livingston to Bozeman during the winter and in the spring of 1883, con- ducted a freighting outfit between Bozeman and Helena and from Helena to Fort Benton, handling freight for Ford Brothers and for I. J. Baker & Company between Fort Benton and Fort McCloud and, returning from Fort McCloud, in the summer of the same year he also took freight to the Maiden Mining Camp, and in the fall of that year located a homestead near Maiden. He improved his land and became a cattle and horse raiser. In 1896 Mr. Smith returned to Lead, South Dakota, and once more engaged in the furniture business. Upon his return to Montana in the fall of 1898 he located at Lewistown, which city has been his home 110w for over twenty years. He is the pioneer furniture merchant of Lewistown. In 1916 he purchased 440 acres and started a ranch. This ranch is stocked with about seventy-five head of cattle and from ten to twelve horses.

Politics and office holding have never been an object of ambition with Mr. Smith. He served one term as alderman for the First Ward of Lewis- town. He is affiliated with Lewistown Lodge No. 37, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Hiram Chapter No. 15, Royal Arch Masons, and. is a past master of his lodge and past high priest of the chapter. He and his wife are members of Marie Chapter No. 36, Eastern Star, he being a past worthy patron and she a past matron. Mr. Smith is also a past chancellor of Judith Lodge No. 30, Knights of Pythias.

On January 26, 1887, at Maiden, then a mining camp in the Judith Basin of Fergus County, Mr. Smith married Miss Marie Mier. They have one daughter, Eunice, who is married and the mother of two sons and one daughter.

E. C. SWEITZER. Proprietor of the leading dry goods establishment at Lewistown, with another successful branch at Harve, E. C. Sweitzer served a long apprenticeship as a mercantile clerk, and with accumulated experience and modest capital has won success where so many failed.

He was born at Galena, Illinois, February 24, 1870, son of Leo and Louise (Franz) Sweitzer. His parents were both born in Germany and came to this country with their respective parents when children. They are still living in St. Louis, Mis- souri. Leo Sweitzer learned the carpenter's trade and was a contractor and builder at Galena, Illinois. During the Civil war he enlisted for a three year period and after receiving his honorable discharge re-enlisted and continued fighting for the Union until the close of hostilities. After the war he carried on an extensive business at Galena until 1909, when he retired. He is an honored member of the Grand Army of the Republic and in politics a republican.

E. C. Sweitzer was the fifth in a family of six children, four of whom are still living. After getting his education in the public schools of Galena he found a position as clerk in a dry goods store, and in 1900 came to Montana. For two years he was manager of George Simon's store at Livings- ton, and then removed to Lewistown, where he en- gaged in the dry goods business as a member of the firm of Hart & Company. In 1910 he bought out Mr. Hart's interests and is now proprietor of the business conducted under his individual name. He is a master of all the details of buying and selling dry goods, and has made his store at Lewistown

a center for the trade of a large section of country. He established his branch at Havre in 1915.

Mr. Sweitzer is affiliated with Lewistown, Lodge No. 456, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is a member of the Rotary Club and the Judith Club and in politics is a republican. He is also a director of the Bank of Fergus County.

May 24, 1908, he married Stella Mackey. Their two children are Cecilia Louise and John Thomas.

HENRY NEILL, whose interests have identified him with Lewistown since 1910, is a Montana pioneer, and his own life has been a record in keeping with that of distinguished members of the family, in- cluding his brother, the late John S. M. Neill, who became a lawyer at Helena in 1881, was a former surveyor general of the state, and for many years proprietor of the Helena Independent.

The father of Henry Neill was Rev. Edward Duffield Neill, who was born in Philadelphia Au- gust 9, 1823, a son of Henry Neill, a Philadelphia physician. Edward Duffield Neill was educated in the University of Pennsylvania and graduated from Amherst College in 1842. He studied theology at Andover and Philadelphia and in early life was ordained a Presbyterian minister. His first work was at Galena, Illinois, and from 1849 to 1860 he was a minister at St. Paul, Minesota, then a frontier outpost of the Northwest. He built the first House of Hope in St. Paul. His fame as an educator and author is even greater than that at- tending his work as a minister. He served as superintendent of public instruction and as chancel- lor of the University of Minnesota in 1858-61. At the beginning of the Civil war he became chaplain of the First Minnesota Regiment and served as hospital chaplain until 1864. From 1864 to 1860, under appointment of President Lincoln, he was secretary to the president for signing land patents. In 1869 President Grant appointed him United States consul at Dublin, Ireland, where he remained until 1870. He was the founder and from 1873 to 1874 was president of McAllister College at Min- neapolis, and on leaving the chair of president he continued as a member of the faculty of that institu- tion as professor of history, literature and political economy. His long and useful life came to a close in 1893, at the age of seventy. He was a historian, and all modern histories of Minnesota are based upon the pioneer work he did, published in 1858 under the title "A History of Minnesota." He also brought out a work on the Colonial History of Maryland, on the Old Virginia Company of London, on the English Colonization of America, on the Founders of Maryland, on the Virginia Colony under James I, and in 1887 published a "Concise History of Minnesota."

Rev. Edward D. Neill married Nancy Hall, who was born at Snow Hill, Maryland, and died in 1895, at the age of seventy-two. They were the parents of five children, four sons and one daughter, Henry being the second in age.

Edward Duffield Neill had two distinguished brothers. One, John Neill, who was born at Phila- delphia in 1819 and died there in 1880, was a pioneer American surgeon, and his published works are part of American medical literature. He served as a surgeon and also as medical director for Pennsylvania in the Union army during the Civil war.

The other brother, who gained distinction as an American soldier, was Gen. Thomas H. Neill, who was born at Philadelphia in 1826 and died there in 1885. He graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1847, and up to the period of the Civil war was assigned to frontier duty.

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From 1853 to 1857 he was an assistant professor at West Point. He was promoted to captain in 1857, and helped muster and organize regiments early in the Civil war. In February, 1862, he was made colonel of the Twenty-Third Pennsylvania Volunteers. For gallantry at the battle of Malvern Hill he was brevetted a major. He commanded a brigade in the Maryland campaign and guarded the crossings of the Potomac in September and October, 1862. In November of that year he was commissioned brigadier general of volunteers. For his services in the battle of Chancellorsville he received the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel. He was in the battle of Gettysburg, and for gallantry at Spottsylvania was brevetted a colonel. He was acting inspector general in Sheridan's Shenandoah campaign, and at the close of the war received the brevets of brigadier general United States army and major general of volunteers. In 1869 he was made lieutenant-colonel of the First Infantry, and in 1871 was transferred to the Sixth Cavalry, and commanded that regiment on the frontier against Cheyenne Indians during the campaign of 1874-75. From 1875 to 1879 he was commandant of cadets at the United States Military Academy, and in the latter year was promoted to colonel of the Eighth Cavalry.

Henry Neill was born at St. Paul, Minnesota, April 15, 1855, and received most of his education at Minneapolis, and during his father's official duties in Dublin, Ireland, also attended school in that city. Instead of a profession he chose his oppor- tunities in keeping with the environment in which he was reared in the Northwest. His first regular employment was as a track hand in building the Ashland Central Railway in Wisconsin, now a part of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway. This took him to Duluth and later he went West to the present site of Fargo, North Dakota, which was then a tent town (1873). He spent the fall and winter at Fargo and in June, 1874, joined a survey- ing party which was commissioned to mark the international boundary line with monuments along the Forty-Ninth parallel of latitude. He was thus employed until September, 1874. He then proceeded to Fort Benton, where he left the expedition and came to Helena, Montana, and was employed as a measurer with a threshing crew operating one of the old style outfits in the grain fields of the Northwest. January 1, 1875, Mr. Neill was em- ployed as a teacher for the children of Michael Gunnett. In April of the same year he went to work for Len McFarland, surveying the Centennial Valley. This work was finished in the summer of 1876, the tract was given the name of Centennial Valley. He then returned to Helena and was employed as a guard at the United States prison, soon afterward being appointed turnkey and serv- ing in that capacity two and a half years. He then engaged with Joseph Hartwell in a saw mill, being afterward promoted to yard man and finally ac- quired a half interest in the mill with Mr. Hart- well. He continued in the saw mill and lumber business some six or seven years, and from that entered the contracting and building line. He con- structed the jail and courthouse at Glasgow, Mon- tana. Under Governor Robert Smith Mr. Neill served as land agent for the State of Montana, and held that office under three different governors. At the end of his third term he resigned and in. 1910 moved to Lewistown, where he acquired a tract of about 500 acres of land. He still owns 294 acres, most of it representing improved and high class farms. During 1917-19 Mr. Neill had this ranch under lease. Some of his land he has made into a subdivision near Lewistown known as

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 57

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