Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 63

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 63

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At Red Lodge, Montana, in 1910, Mr. Martin mar- ried Harriet Hall, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Hall. Mr. Hall, who was a retired farmer, died in Manning, Iowa, in 1918, and Mrs. Hall still resides in Manning. Mr. and Mrs. Martin have two children, Robert, born April 7, 1912, and Har- riet, born August 30, 1914.

GEORGE A. WRIGHT has played an effective part in the development of Northeastern Montana as a homesteader, farmer, merchant and public spirited citizen. He was one of the early business men of Dooley, where he still has his home.

Before recounting his Montana experiences it will be appropriate to note his early life and family con- nections. He was born in Shiawasse County, Michi- gan, January 19, 1882. His grandfather, Arthur Wright, was a Canadian of Irish stock, and moved to Michigan prior to the Civil war. He enlisted in a Michigan regiment in the Union Army. He died at Fenton when about eighty-two years of age. He was three times married. His son George W. was the child of his first wife, and by his second marriage he had a daughter, Mrs. Oliver Launstein, a resident of Owosso, Michigan.

George W. Wright, father of the Dooley business man, was born in Michigan, spent his life as a laborer and farmer and died at Owosso in 1894, at the age of thirty-five. He married Mary Jane Mc- Kenzie, who was born in the Province of Ontario. Her father, George Mckenzie, was a Canadian of Scotch parentage. Mrs. George W. Wright died in

1899, at the age of forty-two. Besides her son George A. she had two children, both living at Detroit, Grace and Blakeman.

George A. Wright had some experience in farm- ing in North Dakota prior to his removal to Mon- tana. In 1907 he filed on a half section of land in sections 3 and 4, township 34, range 54, southwest of Plentywood. He proved up on this claim in the fall of 1912. In a building 12 by 12 feet he and his wife and child lived during the first year, until their permanent house of frame was erected in 1908. Mr. Wright began farming at once, and while the first few years were not satisfactory as crop years, the range furnished grass for hay, and that supplemented the poor crops sufficiently to give a living. Good grain crops of wheat, oats and flax were harvested in 1911 and 1912. Mr. Wright is still a land owner but has not given his personal attention to farming since 1912.

For one year, with home at Plentywood, he did a local business buying and selling horses, and in July, 1913, identified himself with the new village of Dooley, buying a lot, erecting a building and open- ing a stock of hardware merchandise about the Ist of September. He continued to sell goods until the close of the year 1918, when he closed out his local business. Most of his interests since then have been at Opheim in Valley County, in addition to his farm near Plentywood. He sold both hardware and farm implements at Dooley, and in 1916 he and Lee Mun- son erected the first garage in the town. They con- ducted this business two years and then Mr. Wright sold. He also owns some developed farm lands near Dooley.

Mr. Wright was one of the first members of the Dooley School Board, and as a private citizen has always been interested in local affairs. He is a democrat, and since reaching his majority supported Parker for president in 1904, Bryan in 1908, and Wilson in the last two elections. Mr. Wright has contributed to Dooley's growth by the erection of one of its best residences, a nine-room bungalow built in 1917. This is a modern home with full base- ment, and from it the family have dispensed a gen- erous hospitality.

Mr. Wright married Miss Ida Garrison. They were married in Rolette County, North Dakota, October 27, 1903, the ceremony being performed by a Methodist minister, Rev. Mr. Kishpaugh. Mrs. Wright was born near Belville, Ontario, March 26, 1880, and in 1889 her parents settled at Owosso, Michigan, where she finished her education in the high school. She is a daughter of Robert W. and Lucinda (Trumper) Garrison, natives of Ontario. The Garrisons were farmers and her father is now living at Belville, Ontario, while her mother died at Rolette, North Dakota. Mrs. Wright has a sister, Mrs. J. A. Charbonneau, of Ryder, North Dakota. After completing her education Mrs. Wright was a teacher in North Dakota, doing her last school work at Fisher in that state. She cast her first presiden- tial vote for Mr. Wilson in 1916 and during the war was an active Red Cross worker at Dooley. Mr. and Mrs. Wright have an interesting family of children, named Grace Evelyn, Frank Garrison, Robert Bruce, Lucile May and Mildred Melvina.

CHARLES E. STROUP. Practically every line of endeavor is ably represented at Billings, the local demand being for the best in each, and some of the most reliable men of the country have conse- quently been attracted here. One of those who has found in this city congenial surroundings and op- portunity for creditable advancement is Charles E. Stroup, a hardware merchant. He was born at

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Blain, Pennsylvania, May 18, 1882, a son of George M. Stroup. The great-great-grandfather came to the American colonies about the time of their revolu- tion and located in Pennsylvania, where his son, Peter Stroup, grandfather of Charles E. Stroup, was born, he coming into the world at Toysville, that state, in 1811, and he left it at Blain, the same state, in 1892, after having spent his life in Perry County, where he was engaged in farming.

George M. Stroup, son of Peter and father of Charles E. Stroup, was born at Blain, Pennsylvania, in 1845, and he died there in 1917, having spent his life within its confines, devoting himself to farming. A strong republican, he was associate judge of Perry County for two terms, was county assessor for the same length of time, and took a very active part in the politics of his county. The Lutheran Church had in him an earnest and gen- erous member, and he was always active in church work. During the Civil war he was a teamster for the government, and as such was at the battle of Gettysburg and other important engagements. George M. Stroup was married to Mary Martin, born at Blain, Pennsylvania, in 1847. Their chil- dren were as follows: Annie, who married Dr. H. W. Woods, a physician and surgeon, lives at Blain, Pennsylvania; Margaret, who married Wil- liam Morrow, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, died in 1913, but her husband survives her and is traffic agent for the Pennsylvania Railroad at Pittsburgh ; Robert M., who is a banker of Zap, North Dakota; Charles E., whose name heads this review; Frank Neff, who is superintendent of schools at Palmyra, New York; and Laura, who married Roy Allen, now principal of schools of Meriden, Connecticut.

Charles E. Stroup attended the common and high schools of Blain, Pennsylvania, and was graduated from the latter at the age of sixteen years. Going to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he served his appren- ticeship to the mercantile trade, studying all of its details, for five years, and then, in 1904, came West to Bozeman, Montana, where he spent six months. In October, 1904, he arrived at Billings and entered the hardware establishment of Yegen Brothers, In- corporated, there spending four years. For the sub- sequent year he was with the Flemming Hardware Company, and in 1909 established his present hard- ware business at No. 2812 Minnesota Avenue, which is one of the leading establishments of its kind in the city and in Southeastern Montana. The business is now incorporated as the Stroup Hard- ware Company, with Charles E. Stroup as president and treasurer; T. B. Edwards as vice president; and L. L. Worthington as secretary. Mr. Edwards is one of the prominent business men of Anaconda, Montana. The policies of the company are such as to win the confidence and approval of the trade, and a healthy increase is shown annually. Mr. Stroup is a republican of the stalwart type, but has never cared to assume the responsibilities of public life. The Congregational Church affords him a religious home, and benefits by his generous donations. Star Lodge No. 41, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Billings Midland Empire Club hold his membership. The Stroup residence, which is owned by Mr. Stroup, is located at No. 233 Wyoming Avenue.

In 1910 Mr. Stroup was united in marriage with Miss Annetta Freeman, a daughter of John and Elizabeth Freeman, both of whom are deceased, having been in life farming people in Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Stroup have two children, namely: Charles E., who was born June 1, 1914; and Jean, who was born December 5, 1918. A man of unusual business capacity, Mr. Stroup has devoted himself to perfecting his knowledge of one line of endeavor

and, concentrating as he has done upon it, he has produced results which must be gratifying to him- self and his associates, as well as beneficial to the city with which he has permanently identified him- self. It is such men as Mr. Stroup who form the great backbone of American business supremacy and thus aid so materially in the development of any community in which they see fit to establish them- selves.

JOHN C. ABRAHAMSON acquired his early knowl- edge of merchandising in Minnesota, of which state he is a native, and for the past ten years has been actively identified with business in Carbon County, Montana, where he is vice president of the Roberts Elevator Company.

Mr. Abrahamson was born in Dassel, Meeker County, Minnesota, October 3, 1885. His father, Matt Abrahamson, was born in Finland in 1837, and at the age of nineteen went to Water Island, Norway, and followed the fishing trade for six years. In 1862 he came to the United States, located in Minnesota, first at St. Peter and then at Fort Ridgely, where he was in Government work four years. The next fourteen years he spent in brick- yards at Minneapolis, and in 1880 settled at Dassel, Meeker County, where he homesteaded eighty acres. After selling the homestead he bought a farm of 167 acres three miles east of Dassel, and brought that into a fine state of cultivation and improvement. He died there July 9, 1914, and the old farm is now owned by his three sons. He was a republican and an active supporter of the Lutheran Church. His wife, whose maiden name was 'Johanna Kangas, is still living on the old homestead. She was born in Finland in 1856. The children were: Ida, living with her mother, widow of Mr. Korbi, who was a farmer; Harry B. on the homestead at Dassel; Elizabeth, wife of Art Pellervo, credit man for the Union Cannery at Astoria, Oregon; Axel, who died at the age of twenty-seven; Emma, wife of Leo Dibb, of Glencoe, Minnesota; and William, a farmer at Plummer, Minnesota.

John C. Abrahamson attended the rural schools of Dassel and Spring Lake, Minnesota, and at the age of sixteen began earning his own way. By work in stores as clerk and in other capacities he acquired a thorough knowledge of merchandising. For two years he was at Ely in Northern Minnesota, two years at Cloquet, and another two years at Chisholm. He arrived at Red Lodge, Montana, August 9, 1909, and for one year worked in the mines. For a year and a half he was with the Carbon Plumbing & Heating Company. Mr. Abrahamson was associated with Dan O'Shea, Albert Budas and Frank Clark in the purchase of the Hawkeye Elevator Company, which they reorganized as the Red Lodge & Roberts Elevator Company. The business was incorporated August 28, 1913, as the Roberts Elevator Company. Mr. Abrahamson has since been vice president of this, one of the largest general supply and mercan- tile organizations in Carbon County.

He makes his permanent home at Roberts, where he has a modern residence. He is affiliated with the Brotherhood of American Yeomen and is a demo- crat in politics. At Duluth, Minnesota, February 3, 1903, Mr. Abrahamson married Miss Ida Koponen, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Herman Koponen, who live in Thompson Township of Carleton County, Minnesota. Her father was a pioneer farmer in that county. The four children of Mr. and Mrs. Abrahamson were: Esther, born October 23, 1906; Ellen, born March 10, 1909; John, born October 10, 1910; and Wilhart, who died in infancy.

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JOHN J. PIETILA. One of the business organiza- tions affecting and benefiting a large part of the population of Carbon County is the Roberts Elevator Company, a complete and adequate mercantile supply business, handling groceries, hardware, implements, coal, lumber, brick, light and heavy machinery and many other supplies required by the neighboring community of farmers, miners and the varied popu- lation surrounding Roberts.

The secretary and manager of this business is John J. Pietila, who has had a long and active ex- perience in business. He was born at Delaware, Michigan, October 30, 1884. His father, Nels J. Pietila, was born in Northern Finland in 1849, and married in that country Hilda Lunkas. She was born in Northern Finland in 1857. Nels Pietila came to this country in 1870, and at Delaware, Michigan, was a miner and also a logger in the lumber woods. In 1882 he became a pioneer in the Black Hills of South Dakota, locating at Lead, where he is still living. For the past thirty years he has performed an invaluable service in that locality as a minister of the Finnish Apostolic Lutheran Church, and is still active in his calling. Politically he is a re- publican. His wife died at Lead August 26, 1916, mother of the following children: Elizabeth, wife of Nels Juso, a farmer at Englewood, South Da- kota; John J .; Ellen, wife of Gus Kumpula, a farmer at Newell, South Dakota; Mary, who is un- married and is a stenographer and clerk in the Internal Revenue Department at Washington, D. C., and Esther, living at home with her father.

John J. Pietila attended public school at Lead, South Dakota, but his education was finished so far as books and formal instruction were concerned at the age of sixteen. The following three years he was employed in mills, mines and stores, and in 1903, at the age of nineteen, he made his first acquaintance with Montana, being employed in the mines at Jardine. After that he was a miner around Butte until 1907. From 1907 to 1911 he resided at Lead, South Dakota, where by employment in different stores he acquired a thorough knowledge of the general mercantile business. Mr. Pietila again went to Butte in 1911, and was an independent merchant there for six months, when he sold out his establishment. He then became manager of the Kaleva Co-operative Mercantile Association of Red Lodge, remained there three years, and for one year was manager of the Washoe Trading Company at Washoe, this state. He returned to Red Lodge as general manager of the Montana Co-operative Mercantile Association for a year and eight months, and then bought an interest in the Roberts Elevator Company, of which he is secretary and manager. The other officers of this corporation are: Albert Budas, president; John C. Abrahamson, vice presi- dent; C. E. Hudson, treasurer ; Emil Heikkila, gen- eral manager; and F. L. Clark, director.

Mr. Pietila is a republican, a member of the Lutheran Church, and is affiliated with Bear Tooth Lodge No. 534 of the Elks and Summit Camp No. 328 of the Woodmen of the World at Red Lodge. Since coming to Roberts he has acquired a modern home. He married at Deadwood, South Dakota, July 26, 1910, Miss Mary Tapani, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Eric Tapani. Her mother is still living at Haparanda, Sweden, and her father, now de- ceased, was a Swedish farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Pietila on February 1, 1920, adopted a son, George Tayry Pietila, born at Butte, Montana, August 16, 1916.

J. V. CONLEY. In the present practical age little attention is paid to those who bewail their misfor-

tune in having no "luck," for that word has lost its old meaning. Thorough preparation for the business of life in any line and faithful and persistent appli- cation usually explains one man's success over an- other, which is easily illustrated in considering those who have gone forward in any profession or in- dustry. It has been men of enterprise who have won notice and position in the big affairs of the world everywhere, and Billings, as a representative community, has noted examples. One of these who has achieved much in the space of fourteen years is J. V. Conley, who is secretary and treasurer of the Lindsay Billings Company, of which he is also a director.

J. V. Conley was born at Indianapolis, Indiana, August 30, 1885, and is a son of J. H. and Mary (McCarty) Conley, and a grandson of Martin Con- ley. The latter was born in Ireland in 1809, and came to the United States and settled at Decatur, Illinois, where he lived many years, engaged in railroading. He was a veteran of the Civil war and he died at Decatur in 1901 and was laid to rest with military honors. J. H. Conley was born in Massachusetts in 1851, moved later to Illinois and then to Indianapolis, Indiana, as best suited to his business, which was railroading. In 1893 he moved to Decatur, Illinois, and engaged in farming in that vicinity until 1905, when he came to Montana and farmed here until 1917, when he retired to Stockton, California. He owned one of the first irrigated farms of the Billings Land & Irrigation Company. He votes the republican ticket. He married Mary McCarty, who was born in 1858, and they have had the following children: Mary, who is the wife of J. P. Carroll, clerk of the Supreme Court, and resides at Helena, Montana; John M., who is a retail merchant of Stockton, California; Julia, who is the wife of Ora Kemp, a ranchman near Huntley, Montana; J. V., who is the fifth in order of birth; Nellie, who is the wife of G. A. Rhodes, of Walla Walla, Washington; William J., who is in the farm implement business at Stockton; and Edgar P., who operates a ranch near Billings.

J. V. Conley attended the public schools of In- dianapolis and was graduated from the high school at Decatur in 1901, when he entered James Millikin University, from which institution he was creditably graduated in 1904. For one year afterward he worked as bookkeeper for the Standard Oil Company at Decatur, and then accompanied the family to Billings, Montana. From 1905 to 1907 he was with the Billings Hardware Company, his duties being in both office and store in the capacity of general utility man. He then went with the Twohy Brothers Construction Company, for which he was purchasing agent and paymaster from 1907 to 1910, in the latter year coming to Lindsay & Company as bookkeeper. Through promotion he later became secretary and treasurer when the company was incorporated as the Lindsay-Walker Company, and he was also one of the directing board. In February, 1917, the Lindsay Billings Company bought the Lindsay- Walker Company, and Mr. Conley became an official of this organization, as stated above. The offices of the company are located at No. 2715 Minnesota Avenue and an immense business is done in the handling of wholesale fruits, produce and confec- tionery, its trade territory extending to Thermopolis, Wyoming, on the south, to Big Timber, Montana, on the west, to Judith Gap, Montana, on the north, and to Forsythe Montana, on the east. Mr. Conley has a force of twenty employes. Strict discipline is maintained, but Mr. Conley is a just and generous employer.

At Billings, Montana, in October, 1917, he was

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married to Miss Hazel Morris, who is a daughter of H. M. and Jennie (Hopper) Morris. Mrs. Conley is a graduate of the Billings High School. The family home is at No. 321 North Thirty-second Street. They attend the Congregational Church. In politics Mr. Conley is a republican. He is a member of the Elks and belongs to the Billings, the Billings Midland, the Empire and the Billings Golf and Country Clubs, and the Young Men's Christian Association, and has been very helpful in the latter organization during the war relief activi- ties of the association. Personally Mr. Conley is a man of unimpeachable character.

DELL H. HOLLIDAY was for many years engaged in railroad work, and achieved a place of prominence in railroad circles. It was that service that brought him west of the Missouri River, and when he retired from the transportation business he was in Wyoming, and from there about fifteen years ago came to Billings, where he has built up one of the largest real estate and insurance agencies in the eastern part of the state.

Mr. Holliday was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, March 28, 1859. The family were among the earliest settlers of Fairfield County. His great-grandfather was a native of Scotland, and on coming to America settled in Maryland. The grandfather, John Holli- day, was born in Maryland in 1819, and early in life moved to Fairfield County, Ohio, where as the result of many years of labor and good management he cleared up a farm of 300 acres originally covered with heavy timber, and left that farm to his son, Jacob R., who was born there, and the same farm was also the birthplace of Dell H. Holliday. John Holliday died on the old homestead in Ohio in 1877. His wife was Magdeline Ruffner, a native of Penn- sylvania.

Jacob R. Holliday was born in Fairfield County, and spent much of his life there as a farmer. In 1879 he moved to Fairbury, Nebraska, where he was one of the first settlers and developed his homestead. After five years he returned to take charge of the home farm in Ohio, living there three years, and then retired to Beatrice, Nebraska. A short time before his death he moved to Hurdland, Missouri, where he died in 1899. During the Civil war he had enlisted in the Seventeenth Ohio Infantry, but after ten months was incapacitated by reason of a sun- stroke. That sunstroke also was the direct cause of the shortening of his life. He was a republican, and from childhood was an ardent oil-school Baptist in religion. Jacob R. Holliday married on April 30, 1858, Julia M. Cartright. She was born at Parkers- burg, Virginia (now West Virginia), in 1839, and is still living at Oklahoma City at the age of eighty. Dell H. was the oldest of her four children. John W., the second, is a veteran railroad engineer, having been with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail- road continuously since 1880. He still has a main line passenger run out of Denver, where he resides, and also owns 100 acres of farm land adjoining that city. Orpha K., the third child, is living at Oklahoma City, where her husband, Peter Jacovitch, a candy maker, died. Eura B. is the wife of J. C. Hare, of Kansas City, Missouri, a traveling salesman.

Dell H. Holliday was educated in the public schools of Lancaster, Ohio, lived on his father's farm to the age of twenty-one, and then his father, according to the prevailing custom, gave him as his capital or start in life a horse, saddle and bridle. In the mean- time, however, he had been making energetic efforts to train himself for a career. In 1876, while living at home, he had learned telegraphy, and he secured his first practical experience in one of the local offices of the Columbus and Hocking Valley Railway.

In 1880 he entered the service of the Burlington & Missouri River Railway as a telegraph operator and station agent. He was assigned to different points in Nebraska until 1890, and was appointed the first traveling freight agent west of the Missouri River for that corporation. His headquarters were at Lincoln, Nebraska, two years. He was then trans- ferred to Cheyenne, Wyoming, as terminal agent and general agent, and remained on duty with that rail- road for twelve years. During that time he had full charge of several departments, handling freight, passenger and other traffic and had supervision of the telegraph lines.

On leaving the service of the Burlington Railway in 1903, Mr. Holliday engaged in the mercantile business for two years in Cheyenne, and in 1905 moved to Billings. Since then he has developed one of the leading agencies for real estate and fire in- surance in Southeastern Montana, his business offices being in the Belknap Block. He is a property owner, owning a number of buildings and dwellings and a modern home, an eleven-room modern house at 119 North Thirty-second Street. Mr. Holliday is an independent republican in politics, without any official record, and is affiliated with the Christian Science Church.

At Riverton, Nebraska, April 30, 1886, he married Miss Maude Elliott. She was born at Knoxville, Iowa, and died at Billings September 21, 1915. Mr. Holliday has two children, his son, Clarence, who graduated from high school at Cheyenne, Wyoming, is a leading business man of Cheyenne, Wyoming, owning a large storage, dray, ice and coal business. The daughter, Frankie M., is the wife of J. W. Bellrose, of Billings. Mr. Bellrose is associated in business with Mr. Holliday.

N. B. SMITH is well known to the live stock deal- ers of Montana as deputy state veterinarian. He was formerly in the Federal service with the Bureau of Animal Industry, and has been active in the work of his profession for more than a quarter of a century.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 63

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