Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 61

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 61

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Chandler C. Cohagen attended public school at Pierson, Iowa, graduated from the high school at LeMars in that state in 1906, and from that year until 1912 was employed in all the practical de- tails of construction and architectural work, com- ing in the meantime to Billings with his parents in 1907. In 1912 he went east and entered the col- lege of architecture in the University of Michi- gan, graduating in 1915 with the degree Bachelor of Architecture. While in university Mr. Cohagen became affiliated with the Kappa Psi social fra- ternity, the Alpha Rho Chi professional fraternity, and the Tau Sigma Delta honorary fraternity.

On returning to Montana in 1915 he organized the firm of McIver, Cohagen & Marshall, archi- tects. Their offices were established at Great Falls, but in 1916 they also established an office at Billings, and the offices at Great Falls were sold in Sep- tember, 1917, when McIver & Marshall went to the war. Mr. Cohagen now practices with headquar- ters in the Electric Building. His firm has de- signed the Natural Science Building of the State University at Missoula, the Deaconess Hospital at Billings, and many schools and private residences.

Mr. Cohagen is a member of the Christian Church and superintendent of its Sunday School, is treas- urer of the church and is affiliated with Billings Lodge No. 113, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Scottish Rite Consistory, the Masonic Club, Star Lodge of Odd Fellows, and is a member of the Rotary Club and the Billings Midland Club.

His own modern home is at 131 Lewis Avenue. September 18, 1917, at Billings, he married Miss Flora Brown, a daughter of John and Addie (Riggs) Brown. Her father was a farmer in Missouri and is now deceased. Her mother is living at Billings.

EVERETT E. LOFGREN. By his commendable work both before and since his admission to the bar Everett E. Lofgren has gained a reputation and won the confidence of both the members of his profession and the public and is enjoying a good practice at Billings.

He was born in Brown County, South Dakota, April 6, 1891. His father, Frank G. Lofgren, is still living in Brown County. He was born in Sweden in 1847, was reared and educated in his native country to the age of twenty-one, and in 1868 went to Germany. While in that country he was employed in the construction of the Kiel Canal. In 1882 he came to the United States and settled out on the Dakota frontier, in what is now Brown County, and steadily for over thirty-five years has prosecuted his industry as a farmer. He is a re- publican and a member of the Lutheran Church. Frank G. Lofgren married Anna Carlson. She was born in 1857, in Chisago County, Minnesota, and

died in Brown County, South Dakota, in 1906. They were the parents of a large family of nine children : Ella Victoria, wife of George Alex, a farmer of Claremont, South Dakota; Matilda, wife of George Swenson, a gas engine expert living in Fargo, North Dakota; Charles Walter, who is in the United States Navy; John F., a farmer at Broad- view, Montana; Oriel, unmarried and living at Claremont, South Dakota; Everett E .; Clinton G., who was with the United States Army of Occupa- tion in Germany; Francis, a farmer at Watauga, South Dakota; and Arthur D., a musician living at Fargo.

Everett E. Lofgren attended the rural schools in his native county, graduated from high school at Langford in 1908, and then spent two years in the state college at Brookings, South Dakota. He had an experience as a school teacher in Brown County · for three years and in 1912 came to Billings. While studying law he paid his way as a stenographer, spent one year in the offices of Judge F. B. Reyn- olds, another with C. F. Gillette at Hardin, and two years in the county attorney's office. Mr. Lof- gren was admitted to the bar in 1916 and has al- ready acquired a good civil and criminal practice. His offices are in the Yellowstone National Bank Building.

Mr. Lofgren is a democrat and served as deputy county attorney during 1917-18. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, is secretary of Billings Aerie No. 176, Fraternal Order of Eagles, and a member of Billings Camp, Woodmen of the World.

On April 12, 1916, Mr. Lofgren married at Helena, Montana, Miss Agnes Butler. Her mother is Mrs. Jane Butler, who resides at Toston, Montana. Mrs. Lofgren is a graduate of the Billings Business Col- lege

ROBERT J. HANLEY, M. D. A well trained, earnest and sincere physician and surgeon whose work has already attracted attention, Doctor Hanley has been a resident of Billings since 1916.

He was born at O'Neill, Nebraska, September 15, 1890, and in the paternal line is a direct descend- ant of the O'Sullivan Bere, a prominent character in Irish history. His father, Timothy Hanley, was born in Ireland in 1842, and was about eleven years of age when his parents came to the United States and settled at Hancock in the Northern Peninsula of Michigan. He was reared there and became a miner, but in 1875 moved to Nebraska and took up a ranch at O'Neill. He spent the rest of his days in Nebraska and died in 1907. He was a democrat and a Catholic. At Hancock, Michigan, he married Mary (Driscoll) McCarthy. She was born in Ireland in 1842 and is still living at O'Neill, Nebraska. Her first husband was James McCarthy, a native of Ireland. He was a miner and died at Hancock, Michigan. By this marriage there were two sons, both physicians, P. H. and James L. Mc- Carthy. Both are graduates of the Creighton Medi- cal College at Omaha, Nebraska, and P. H. Mc- Carthy is a physician and surgeon at Butte, Mon- tana, while his brother is practicing his profession at Goldfield, Nevada. Timothy Hanley and wife had four children: Jerry P., living on the home ranch at O'Neill, Nebraska; William, a rancher at O'Neill; Genevieve, who is a primary teacher at Butte, Montana ; and Robert J.

Dr. Robert J. Hanley acquired his education in the public schools at O'Neill, graduating from high school in 1909, did one year of college work at Creighton University in Omaha, and then took the full four years' course in the medical school of that university, graduating M. D. in 1914. He is a mem- ber of the Phi Beta Pi college fraternity.

J. d. Andour

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Doctor Hanley for one year was an interne in St. Joseph Hospital at Tacoma, Washington, and with that training and preparation began his professional work at Billings in 1916. He special- izes in surgery. His offices are in the Security Building and his home in the Hedgemere Apart- ments.

Doctor Hanley is a democrat, a member of the Catholic Church, Billings Aerie of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and Billings Lodge Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Billings Midland Club. In 1916 at Billings, he married Miss Kathryn Smith, a daughter of James and Margaret Smith, who live at Tipton, Indiana. Her father is a farm owner. Doctor and Mrs. Hanley have two children: Robert, Jr., born June 2, 1917, and Mar- garet Mary, born May 2, 1918.

THOMAS ASH SNIDOW came to Billings in 1891 and soon afterward invested his modest capital in a flock of sheep. With the sheep industry through all its ups and downs he has been continuously identified for over a quarter of a century. However, that is only one of many things which give him a distinctive place in the history of Billings and Mon- tana. One of the largest land owners and leading financiers of the city, he has consistently for many years promoted its wholesome and well rounded de- velopment and is regarded as one of the men chiefly responsible for the premier position Billings now enjoys in Eastern Montana.

While thoroughly identified with Montana, he has exhibited much loyalty to his native State of Missouri, his home ranch being known as Missouri Ranch, and he also built a large business structure in Billings known as the Missouri Building. He was born near Madison in Monroe County, Mis- souri, January 31, 1863. His paternal grandparents were William and Chloe (Frely) Snidow, both of German parentage. William G. Snidow was born in Virginia in 1795 and in 1837 he took his family across country with ox teams to the State of Mis- souri, settling in Monroe County. He developed a farm out of the prairie and woods of that locality, and besides his success as a farmer he became known as a man of leadership in local affairs, was a demo- crat and active in the Baptist Church. He died in Monroe County, Missouri, in 1866.

The oldest of his children was James Martin Snidow, who was born in Virginia September 21, 1825, and was twelve years of age when he went to Missouri. He bought a farm of his own in Monroe County in 1854. and during subsequent years became noted for his great enterprise, pro- gressiveness and skill as a farmer, horticulturist, and stock raiser. He always patronized new inven- tions in farm machinery, and was a breeder of the best horses. He was sound in religious doctrine as a Baptist and was a thorough going democrat, but never active in public office. He died June 28, 1908. He married Miss Martha Ash on October 16, 1853. She was born in Indiana April 11, 1832, a daughter of George and Naomi Ash, natives of Kentucky, where her father was born in 1800 and her mother in 1803. The Ash family came out of England and settled in America in colonial times. From Ken- tucky they moved to Indiana in 1831 and subse- quently were early settlers of Monroe County, Mis- souri, where George Ash died in 1863 and his widow in 1891. Mrs. James Martin Snidow died August 2, 1895, the mother of ten children. Besides Thomas Ash another son has become well known in Montana, James P., vice president and manager of the State Bank of Huntley.

Thomas A. Snidow grew up on his father's Mis-

souri farm, and the work of the farm was made to fit in with his duties and privileges at school. He was about twenty-two years old when in the spring of 1885 he went out to California and then followed his initial contact with the life of the Far West. For fourteen months he worked on a California ranch, then bought and raised a crop of wheat on a section of land, and on selling his property began cutting cordwood for a lumber company. He was also fireman of a hoisting works, and saw a great deal of the experience of lumbering, ranching and other industrial development in different parts of California. He returned to the old home in Missouri at the close of 1888 and the following year bought a farm in Randolph County, that state, and put in a crop. He also did some buying and selling of livestock.

In April, 1891, Mr. Snidow again started for the West, was for a few months engaged in the ice business in Castle, Montana, and in July, 1891, came overland to Billings, where in October he invested his savings in 855 head of sheep. Their sale a little later so encouraged him that he bought 1,500 head and removed them to Big Horn County in Wyoming and in the spring of 1893 increased his flock by 700 more. Old timers in the ranching industry need not be reminded of the conditions of the following months. During the extreme cold of the following winter he lost about 900 sheep and the financial panic did the rest, taking away prac- tically all the earnings and savings of a number of years of hard work and thrift. That was a critical time in his career, but he stood the test well. In the spring of 1894 he removed with what remained of his sheep to Yellowstone County south of Bil- lings and formed a partnership with P. B. Moss, who furnished 700 head of sheep and a ranch for range. They became equal partners in the enter- prise, all the active operation devolving upon Mr. Snidow. Then followed years of hard work, the closest attention to business, and by 1900 he had re-established his credit and his financial position.

In October of that year a partnership was formed with the First National Bank of Billings, of which Mr. Moss was president, resulting in the organiza- tion of the Snidow Sheep Company, with Mr. Moss president and Mr. Snidow treasurer. Mr. Snidow became sole proprietor of this business in 1907. At that time he was running approximately 77,000 head of sheep and had 400,000 acres of land under lease on the Crow Indian Reservation. He sold out his interest in the business in May, 1911. In October, 1909, he and three other men had bought the stock of the H. P. Rothwell Livestock Company of Roth- well, Wyoming, afterward known as the Owl Creek Land and Livestock Company. In 1908 he had also bought a two-thirds interest in the Basin Cattle Company in Big Horn County, a company owning several thousand head of Hereford cattle and a number of the highest bred Belgian Percheron and Shire horses.

Mr. Snidow still owns 6,000 acres of ranch lands in Montana. His home ranch is about thirty miles west of Billings on the Northern Pacific Railroad and also on a fine highway over which Mr. Snidow makes frequent trips in his automobile. This is the Missouri Ranch, and while conducted for profit it is in a larger sense a model institution that ren- ders service to the entire agricultural and stock husbandry interests of the state. It is the home of the finest specimens of sheep, Duroc hogs, horses and poultry. A large amount of the land is under irrigation, and with the aid of irrigation Mr. Snidow has for years produced bumper crops of oats, wheat, alfalfa and sugar beets.

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Mr. Snidow also has a great variety of financial and business interests. Reference has already been made to the large fireproof theater, hotel, office and store building at Billings erected by him and named the Missouri Building. He helped organize the Huntley State Bank in 1905, and is its president. He is also president of the Boyd State Bank, which he organized and opened for business March 5, 1919, with a capital of $20,000. He is president of the American Land and Live Stock Company of Billings and president of the Billings Gas Company and has been identified with a number of other financial and industrial corporations. In recent years his capital and enterprise have gone far afield. Asso- ciated with William Woods of Billings, he is an operator in the oil fields of the parish of Caddo near Shreveport, Louisiana, where he and Mr. Woods own 120 acres now being developed. He has developed another lease in the same vicinity, where one well has been brought in of 500 barrels capacity. He has another lease of 480 acres. He is also interested in a prominent petroleum field in Lee County, Kentucky.

In 1918 Mr. Snidow completed a home of almost unsurpassed beauty and comfort among the resi- dences of Billings. It is located at 820 Division Street, and stands in the midst of a large tract of well kept grounds 150 feet square. While inde- pendent in politics and not seeking office for the sake of office, Mr. Snidow has long been recognized as one of Billings' most useful citizens. He served four years as an alderman, but his chief municipal enthusiasm has been in behalf of a public park sys- tem. He has been a member of the Park Board of Billings since organization. In fact the first tract of ground formally laid out as a public parkway is situated on Division Street in front of his resi- dence, and was improved and beautified by his own manual labors in spare time evenings and mornings. Five other well laid out small parks in the city district are due to his foresight and planning. At the present time, however, he is planning his big work in that form of municipal advancement, re- volving about a tract of fifty-four acres situated north and west of town adjoining the Polytechnic Institute grounds. Mr. Snidow is president of the Hiland Homes Company, which has under develop- ment a large tract of 214 acres adjoining the city on the north and west, 'all platted and ready for incorporation within the city limits.

As these brief facts indicate Mr. Snidow has always worked for a Greater Billings, and coming generations will have much to owe him for his foresight and public spirit. He is a member of the Billings Midland Empire Club and the Billings Club. November 26, 1899, he married Miss Sallie L. Rodes. She was born in Monroe County, Mis- souri, a daughter of John C. and Virginia Rodes. Her father was a well known farmer and leader in public affairs in Shelby County, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Snidow had two children: Martha, who died in infancy, and Virginia, born October 17, 1903, now a junior in the Billings High School.

PRESTON B. Moss, a Montana resident of over a quarter of a century, was for many years execu- tive head and owner of the First National Bank of Billings. His later fame is destined to rest upon a specially conspicuous and substantial achieve- ment as a city builder. His capital, resources and individual enterprise have been deeply engaged in the projected and now building city of Mossmain, one of the most ambitious projects of city planning in the entire Northwest.

Mr. Moss was born at Paris, Missouri, September

28, 1863. His father, David H. Moss, who died at Paris in 1906, was for many years a lawyer and banker. He was born at Columbia, Missouri, in 1828, and was descended from a family that came from England to Virginia and thence moved west to Kentucky and later to Missouri. As the date of the birth of David H. Moss indicates, the family were identified with Central Missouri from earliest pioneer settlement. David H. Moss was a California forty-niner, going West during the gold rush and spending two years on the Pacific Coast. He was a democrat, a very active member of the Christian Church and belonged to the Masonic fraternity. His wife was Melville Hollingsworth, who was born at Paris, Missouri, in 1838 and died there in 1915.

Preston B. Moss acquired a public school educa- tion in his native town, attended the Kemper Mili- tary Academy at Boonville, Missouri, and on leaving school at the age of twenty had an active experience of six years in the lumber business at Paris. Mr. Moss came to Billings in 1892. For eighteen years he was owner and president of the First National Bank and gave that institution its enviable reputa- tion and standing among the banks of the state.

Since leaving the bank he has given the bulk of his time and energies and private resources to the building of the City of Mossmain, located in Yellow- stone County. The site of Mossmain is at the junction of the Great Northern, Burlington and Northern Pacific Railways, and is contiguous to the greatest freight distributing yard in the Northwest. The plans for that city represent a happy combina- tion of modern idealism with sound commercial judgment. Building cities by plan, and it might be said by wholesale, is something comparatively new in America, but several individual instances might be cited of such construction on a scale of splendid success and results. The plans for Mossmam were drawn by one of the most brilliant architects and city planners in the world, Walter Burley Griffin, formerly of Chicago, famous as the architect who won by international competition the first prize for the plans for the Federal Capital of Australia. The plans drawn by Mr. Griffin for Mossmain embrace every item of experience gained in recent years, and embody modern ideas but provide for every degree of comfort in individual homes as well as economic facilities and convenience in a town that will serve a great railroad center.

Mr. Moss has his offices in the Masonic Temple at Billings. He is interested in the Northern Hotel at that city and is owner of the Billings Utility Company. Politically he is strictly independent. Mr. Moss is one of the prominent Masons of Montana, having affiliations with Ashlar Lodge No. 29, An- cient Free and Accepted Masons, Billings Chapter No. 6, Royal Arch Masons; Aldemar Commandery of the Knights Templar, of which he is past emi- nent commander, and is a past grand commander of the State Knights Templar. He is also affiliated with Billings Consistory and Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena, of which he is a past potentate.

In 1889, at Paris, Missouri, Mr. Moss married Miss Mattie Woodson, daughter of G. W. and Iantha (Jackson) Woodson. Her mother is living at Billings. Her father, deceased, was for a num- ber of years a merchant in Oregon. Mr. and Mrs. Moss are the parents of five children: Woodson, who is a graduate of the Phillips-Exeter Academy of New Hampshire, is in the cattle business with home at Billings. Miss Kula, at home, is a graduate of the Dwight College at Englewood, New Jersey, a school in which her younger sister, Miss Mel- ville, also finished her education. Preston B., Jr.,

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a graduate of the Billings High School, is now serving in the National Army, and David H. is a high school boy.

JUDGE F. B. REYNOLDS, who came to Billings. in April, 1909, was a lawyer and public official of dis- tinction in his home state of Michigan, and in Mon- tana has achieved a particularly high reputation as a lawyer. He has specialized in corporation and livestock cases, and such has been the quality of his work that he represents important interests in Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado, and also represents livestock interests in Chicago.

Ten years of absence have not caused the citi- zens of his old home community in Branch County, Michigan, to forget the quality of his citizenship and services. Judge Reynolds was born at Quincy in Branch County, Michigan, January 20, 1874. He is a son of Judge Norman A. and Emorette A. (Harding) Reynolds. His mother is descended in direct line from a brother of General Israel Putnam of Revolutionary fame. Judge Reynolds' career and that of his honored father have been almost parallel in politics, religion, war and profes- sional interests.

Judge Reynolds represents one of the oldest American families. His first ancestor in America was John Reynolds, who was born in England in 1612 and with his wife, Sarah, settled at Water- town, Massachusetts, in 1633. He finally located at Greenwich, Connecticut, where he died in 1660. The sixth child of John Reynolds was Joshua Reynolds, and he served as a member of the Connecticut Leg- islature. Judge Reynolds' Revolutionary ancestor was Joseph Reynolds, who at the time of the war for independence was living in Dutchess County, New York. During that war he was on a scout- ing expedition and was taken prisoner and con- fined in the hold of a British prison ship in New York Harbor. This Revolutionary soldier was a son of Caleb Reynolds and a grandson of Joshua Reynolds.

Judge Norman A. Reynolds, who lives surrounded by a wealth of affection and esteem at Coldwater, the county seat of Branch County, Michigan, was horn in Cayuga County, New York, May 28, 1843, and was reared a farmer's son, educated in dis- trict schools and academies. September 7, 1861, he enlisted in Company A of the Tenth New York Cavalry, and at the end of three years' re-enlisted and veteranized, and continued with the Army of the Potomac until honorable discharged August 8, 1865. He was promoted from the ranks through various grades to that of first lieutenant, and was acting captain of his company in the Battle of Gettysburg. He was wounded three times, receiv- ing his last wound at the fighting at Appomattox just before Lee's surrender. He was once cap- tured, but escaped before reaching prison. After the war he returned home, visited several states in the West, and on March 1, 1866, became a resident of Branch County, Michigan. He was a farmer near Quincy until 1876, and then sold the farm and after a diligent period of study was admitted to the bar in 1878. In the same year he was made Circuit Court commissioner and in 1880 was elected probate judge, serving three terms or twelve years. He retired from practice in 1903 and in that year was appointed by the governor a member of the board of control of the state public school and was re-appointed in 1905. He was also for one term mayor of Coldwater. He is a republican, active in the Methodist Church, a member of the Masonic fraternity and has long been one of the most in- fluential citizens of Coldwater. He married for his first wife Emma Dofferty. She died at Quincy,

Michigan, and both her children are deceased. In 1872 he married Emorette A. Harding, who was born in Allen Township of Hillsdale County, Michi- gan, in 1843.

Frank B. Reynolds was about three years old when his parents moved to Coldwater, and he at- tended the public schools of that city, graduating from high school in 1891. He spent two years as a special student in the literary department of the University of Michigan, studied law in his father's office and took his senior law course in the Uni- versity of Michigan, graduating LL. B. in 1895. The same year he began practice at Coldwater in partnership with his father, and that relationship continued until December 31, 1900. Judge Reyn- olds, as noted above while living in Michigan had a career closely paralleling that of his father. He was for three years city attorney of Coldwater and two terms Circuit Court commissioner. In May, 1898, he enlisted in the Thirty-second Michigan Infantry, for service in the Spanish-American war, and was color sergeant of his regiment. He was in camp at Tampa, Fernandina, Florida, and Hunts- ville, Alabama, and was mustered out in September, 1898. In 1900 he was elected probate judge of Branch County and was re-elected in 1904, serving two terms in that office, whereas his father was three terms probate judge. Judge Reynolds on re- tiring from office in April, 1909, came direct to Montana.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 61

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