Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 67

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 67

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Mr. Guthrie, a Kentuckian by birth, has been a resident of Montana for nearly thirty years. He was born in Wayne County, Kentucky, March 28, 1866. His paternal ancestors were colonial settlers in Virginia from Scotland. His father, Stephen A. Guthrie, was born in Clinton County, Kentucky, in 1834 and died in that county in 1906. He spent his life as a farmer, was a democrat, gave much atten- tion to his church duties as a Methodist, and was a member of the Masonic fraternity. He married Martha J. Southerland, who was born in Wayne County, Kentucky, in 1835, and died in Clinton County March 16, 1890. Most of their large family of children, eleven in number, ' have lived in Ken- tucky. However, Aaron, the oldest, went to Texas and was a farmer there until his death. Margaret died in Clinton County, as did also her husband, J. S. Bell, a merchant. Marshall was a Wayne County, Kentucky, farmer and died there. J. Thomas is a farmer in Clinton County. Abijah died in childhood. The sixth in age is Andrew Lewis. Robert also became a well known Montana resident, was a farmer, and was serving as sheriff of Stillwater County when he died at Columbus in 1914. Allen S. is the other of the three brothers who are resi- dents of Montana, and he is a stockman in Sweet- grass county. Viola is the wife of Cicero Owens, of Wayne County, Kentucky. Laura lives in Clinton County in her native state, widow of Carter Stephen- son, who was a merchant. Zelma is the wife of Cecil Harrison, a farmer in the State of Washington.

Andrew L. Guthrie attended rural schools in Clin- ton County, Kentucky, and lived on his father's farm until he was twenty-one years of age. On coming to Montana in 1890 he had some employment at Big

Timber, but late in the same year went to Lewistown and spent four years as an employe of B. C. White. He then returned to the Big Timber district and was for ten years in the sheep business there.

Mr. Guthrie then homesteaded ten miles southeast of Reed Point, and he still owns that quarter section. Many of his interests, however, have been closely identified with Reed. Point, where he owns a hun- dred lots on the townsite and in 1906 established the pioneer general store. This was a small stock of goods, but Mr. Guthrie was a popular as well as capable merchant and his business has grown and prospered until it is one of the leading stores in Stillwater County. He also owns the building in which it is conducted and a large garage and a residence.

Mr. Guthrie served as postmaster of Reed Point for nine years under the Roosevelt administration. However, he is a democrat in politics. He is affiliated with Reed Point Lodge of Masons, and also with the Odd Fellows.

In 1899, at Bozeman, Montana, he married Miss Sophia Brumfield, daughter of James and Luthena (Patten) Brumfield. Her mother is living at Reed Point and her father was a farmer and died near Bozeman. Mrs. Guthrie is the present postmaster of Reed Point. To their marriage were born seven children: Vinton L., manager of his father's garage; Robert, Alice and Arthur, all attending public schools; Lucile, Gail and Rex Pershing, the babies of the family.

THEODORE J. BENSON, M. D. No profession has more eminent men connected with it than that de- voted to the practice of medicine and the safeguard- ing of the nation's health, and Montana has its fair share of these practitioners, who not only are an honor to their calling, but also to their country, for without exception they are excellent men and worthy citizens. One of the best examples of this class is Dr. Theodore J. Benson, physician and sur- geon, who is engaged in an active practice at From- berg.

Doctor Benson was born at Northfield, Minnesota, July 29, 1873, a son of Olaf Benson and his wife, Bessie (Johnson) Benson, and grandson of John Johnson, born in Sweden. John Johnson died near Redwing, Minnesota, soon after coming to the United States, at a period antedating the birth of Doctor Benson. Olaf Benson was also born in Sweden in 1828, and he died at Northfield, Minne- sota, in 1914. Reared in Sweden, he there learned the blacksmithing trade, and after coming to the United States in the early '50s, at which time he located at Northfield, Minnesota, he continued to work at it, being the pioneer blacksmith of that region. Having served in the Swedish army, he was a trained soldier, and when the Civil war broke out he volunteered, but was not called into the service. Having come to the United States in search of personal liberty, from the time he secured his naturalization papers he voted the republican ticket, finding in the principles of that party the epitome of his own views. The Lutheran Church held his membership and had his support until his death. His widow survives him and makes her home at Northfield, Minnesota. Mrs. Benson was born in Sweden in 1841. Their children were as follows : Nelson, who resides at Michigan, North Dakota, is a druggist; Amanda, who married Ebenezer Bevins, resides at Minot, 'North Dakota; Anna, who mar- ried Frank S. Stone, an insurance agent, resides at Minneapolis, Minnesota; Doctor Theodore J., who was the fourth in order of birth; Ella, who married John Schumm, a merchant tailor, resides at North-

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field, Minnesota; and Oscar, who is conducting the homestead near Northfield, Minnesota.

Theodore J. Benson attended the rural schools of Rice County, Minnesota, and was graduated from the Northfield High School in 1895, following which he was engaged in farming in Rice County and at the same time continued studying, having decided to become a physician, and subsequently matriculated in the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis, from which he was graduated in 1904, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, having earned all of the money necessary for his courses. Doctor Benson is a close student and annually attends clinics at Min- neapolis, Minnesota, and Rochester, New York, so as to keep abreast of his profession, especially in surgery, in which he specializes. During 1904 he was interne in the Swedish Hospital at Minneapolis and during 1905 was engaged in practice in that city. In 1906 he came to Fromberg, Montana, and has the distinction of being the pioneer of his pro- fession in this locality. He owns his office building and modern residence on Montana Avenue, From- berg. In addition to his city property Doctor Ben- son owns a ranch of 140 acres of land near Fromberg. Independent in his political views, he has served as Mayor of Fromberg and is now on the school board. He affiliates with the Methodist Episcopal Church. Fraternally he is a member of Fromberg Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Fromberg Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

In 1908 Doctor Benson was married at Billings, Montana, to Miss Iva Cliff, a daughter of Moses and Harriet (Smith) Cliff, of Ingram, Wisconsin, where Mr. Cliff is a merchant. Mrs. Benson was a graduate of the high school of Glenwood, Wis- consin, and the Ashbury Training School for Nurses, having been a registered nurse prior to her marriage. She died February 6, 1918. Doctor and Mrs. Benson had the following children: William Cliff, who was born September 24, 1909; Anton John, who was born May 8, 1911; and Theodora, born December 5, 1915.

ARIE W. DEGROOT since coming to Montana from North Dakota has directed most of his energy to banking, and for several years has been cashier and manager of what is now the Stillwater Valley Na- tional Bank at Absarokee.

Mr. DeGroot was born at Three Oaks, Michigan, September 29, 1884. His father, Gerrit DeGroot, was born in Holland in 1840, and married Margaret Sweinenberg, who was born in the same country in 1843. They came to America in 1866 and settled at Three Oaks, Michigan. Many thousands of Dutch people have colonized in Michigan, but Gerrit DeGroot was the first Hollander to locate in the locality of Three Oaks. He spent the rest of his life as a farmer there and died in 1910, and his widow is still living at Three Oaks. He was a republican and an active member of the Dutch Re- formed Church. Their children were: Anna, un- married and living with her mother; Jennie, wife of Joseph A. Baker, who is a foreman in the Clark Equipment Company at Buchanan, Michigan ; Minnie, wife of Abram Sikkenga, of Kalamazoo, Michigan ; Alexander, a farmer at York, North Dakota; Johanna, who died at Three Oaks at the age of thirty-nine; Gerrit, a salesman of electrical goods at Detroit, Michigan; Arthur, a farmer at Three Oaks; and Arie W.

Arie W. DeGroot attended public school at Three Oaks, graduating from high school in 1901, and completed his sophomore year in Kalamazoo College. After two years of work on the home farm he went

out to York, North Dakota, in 1905, farmed there one year and for two years was deputy county treas- urer of Benson County. Mr. DeGroot came to Montana in 1908, and for a year his principal head- quarters were at Glasgow. He then entered the Columbus State Bank at Columbus as bookkeeper, and after nine months had attained such efficiency that he was given the post of assistant cashier of the Bank of Absarokee and for two years was manager of that institution. On resigning he spent three years as representative of the Oregon Mort- gage Company at Three Forks, Montana, looking after their farm loans. He then returned to Absarokee and has since been manager and cashier of the Stillwater Valley National Bank. O. H. Hovda established this bank as a private institution in 1909. It became the Stillwater Valley State Bank in 1915 and in 1917 the Stillwater Valley National Bank. F. E. Runner, a prominent rancher of the Stillwater Valley, is president, H. N., Howland is vice president, with Mr. DeGroot filling the office of cashier and responsible manager. The bank has a capital of $25,000 and has earned surplus and profits of $10,000.

Mr. DeGroot is also half owner in a ranch of 320 acres fifteen miles northwest of Absarokee, and has a modern home in town. He is a republican, a member of the Presbyterian Church, is affiliated with Stillwater Lodge No. 62, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Columbus, and Billings Lodge No. 394, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

He married at Columbus in 1913 Miss Lillian Jacobs, a daughter of M. A. and Anna (Cornell) Jacobs, the latter now deceased. Her father is a property owner and proprietor of the Monumental Works at Columbus. Mrs. DeGroot is a graduate of the Montana State College at Bozeman. They have two children: Duncan, born February 5, 1914, and Frances, born April 26, 1915.

ERNEST A. LOGAN. Through practically all of his business life Mr. Logan has been identified with the Red Lodge State Bank, of which he is cashier and a director. He finished his education at Red Lodge, and at the age of twenty-one was appointed clerk of the City School Board and served continuously for fourteen years, until he resigned in April, 1919. He is one of the younger business men carrying the chief responsibilities in the van of progress.

He was born at Van Meter, Iowa, May 8, 1884. The Logan family is of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His grandfather, Alexander Logan, was born in Ohio in 1836 and was a carpenter and contractor, a busi- ness he followed for many years at Van Meter, Iowa. In the fall of 1898 he located at Gebo, Mon- tana, where he continued to follow his business until his death in 1898. Thus three generations of the Logan family have been identified with Montana. Alexander Logan was a Union soldier during the Civil war. He married Hulda Adams, who was born in Ohio and died at Gebo, Montana.

J. M. Logan, father of Ernest A., was born in Ohio in August, 1860, but was reared and married in Iowa, where he took up his father's business as a carpenter and contractor. From Van Meter in that state he moved to Bridger, Montana. in April, 1898, and in 1901 located at Red Lodge. Practically every large and important piece of building construction in Red Lodge was handled by him and his organiza- tion. He continued to make his home at Red Lodge until his death. He died at Billings April 18, 1916, while on his way to the Hot Springs at Thermopolis, Wyoming. He served several terms as alderman in Red Lodge, and for a number of years was a mem- ber of the School Board, was a republican and an

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active supporter of the Christian Church. J. M. Logan married Wessie Ritchey who was born in Iowa in 1866 and is now living at Billings. She is the mother of five sons: Hubert D., a carpenter and builder at Twin Falls, Idaho; Ernest A .; Kline R., who is employed by the Northwestern Improve- ment Company at Red Lodge; Jack M., who went overseas with the Army of Occupation and after the armistice became superintendent of the army school at Coblenz, Germany; Harold F., who was also overseas as a sergeant in the Medical Corps.

Ernest A. Logan began his education in the public schools of Iowa and graduated from the Red Lodge High School in 1906. For one year he was employed by the Northern Pacific Railway Company, and then accepted a clerkship in the Red Lodge State Bank. Later he was promoted to assistant cashier and since 1914 has been cashier of the bank and a stockholder and director. He is secretary of the Carbon Build- ing and Loan Association, is independent in politics, a member of the Christian Church, Star in the West Lodge No. 40, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Red Lodge Camp of the Modern Woodmen of America, the local aerie of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Eastern Star. Mr. Logan resides at 217 Nutting Avenue. He also has some property interests near Chicago, Illinois.

At Chicago June 8, 1910, he married Miss Mabelle I. Shane, daughter of M. S. and Fannie (Rumary) Shane. Her parents are residents of Lombard, Illi- nois, her father being a retired salesman. The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Logan are Ernest A., Jr., born September 30, 1912; Norman R., born April 30, 1915; and Mabelle I., born June 15, 1917.

VARD SMITH. Conspicuous in the roll of names of men who have conferred honor upon the legal profession in Montana is that of Vard Smith, of Livingston. He has a great versatility of talents, and exactness and thoroughness characterize all his attainments and work. He is regarded by all who know him well as an attorney of superior force and ability. In all the relations of life he has so met his responsibilities as to win the sincere respect of all with whom he has come in contact.

Vard Smith is the scion of one of the sterling old families of this section of the country, his father, John T. Smith, being one of the strongest lawyers and most eminent citizens of the state. John T. Smith, who retired from active participation in busi- ness on December 31, 1916, sold his ranches here on April 16, 1919, and will hereafter make his perma- nent home in San Diego, California, though he expects to return to Livingston during the summer months. The following fitting tribute to this grand old man appeared in the Big Timber Pioneer in May, 1919:

Announcement is made from Livingston that the Hon. John T. Smith, dean of the Eastern Montana Bar Association, has quit-not retired, just quit. The finale came last week, when all that he possessed in the agricultural line-horses, cattle, machinery, etc .- went under the hammer to the highest bidder.

Nearly thirty years ago John T. Smith, with about six foot six of muscular angularity, landed in Liv- ingston, swung his shingle to the breeze and began to expound the doctrines of Blackstone and Kent. He did well. Fortune did not smile upon him; he just embraced fortune. For years he handled North- ern Pacific town lots and agricultural lands, and here and there gathered in a quarter, a half or a whole section of land in what is now the famous Shields River Valley, at not to exceed $2.50 an acre. He saw the future possibility and grabbed it. In time he branched out in an agricultural way and,

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as the late Judge Henry said in introducing him at a press banquet, became a lawyer among farmers and a farmer among lawyers.

Time, however, sang its requiem. Three years ago he realized that he was gradually being horned away from the legal feed trough by' young blood. With a foresight that had carried him through days of adversity he gathered the main horner into the fold, formed the firm of Smith, Gibson & Smith, and retired to the ranch. Law to him was a memory, but interest in public affairs never lagged.

But it is ended. The Livingston daily announces that the Hon. John T. has sold his 3,700 acres of land for $20 per acre. He has also disposed of his personal holdings at fancy prices and will hereafter spend the summers in Livingston and the winters in California.

And so begins the closing chapter in the meteoric career of one of the grand old men of Montana. Hereafter it will be just the Hon. John T. Smith, not a lawyer among farmers, or a farmer among law- yers; just plain John T. Smith-full of years, wit, satire, eloquence and red-blooded Americanism; a lawyer among lawyers; a farmer among farmers; an orator among orators; a prince among princes; a man among men.

Vard Smith was born at Butler, Missouri, on May 10, 1885, and came with his father to Livingston when but a boy. Here he received his elementary education, graduating from the Park County High School in 1904. Having determined to make the practice of law his life work, he then entered the law department of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, where he studied two years. While there he became a member of the Greek letter fraternities, Alpha Tau Omega and Phi Delta Phi. He was admitted to the bar in 1908 and has since applied himself assiduously to the practice of his profession at Livingston. He was first admitted to the firm of Smith, Gibson & Smith, of which his father was the senior member, and since the latter's retirement the firm has been known as Gibson & Smith, the senior member of the present firm being Fred L. Gibson, who is referred to specifically elsewhere in this work. Mr. Smith applies himself to both the criminal and civil branches of legal practice and has met with splendid success. He is dignifying and honoring his profession by his able services and is today numbered among the leaders of a bar noted for the high order of its talent.

Politically Mr. Smith is a democrat and has given faithful allegiance to his party. . In 1912-13 he served as county attorney. He is a member of the Park County Bar Association, the Montana State Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He is an active member of the Masonic fraternity, holding membership in Livingston Lodge No. 32; Livingston Chapter No. 7, Royal Arch Masons; St. Bernard Commandery No. 6, Knights Templar, and the Eastern Montana Consistory of the Scottish Rite, thirty-second degree.

On December 20, 1916, at Livingston, Vard Smith was married to Carolyn Davis, daughter of W. E. and Martha (Valentine) Davis, the former of whom is a successful contractor and builder at Livingston. Mrs. Smith is a graduate of the Park County High School and is a lady of many estimable qualities, a popular member of the social circles in which she moves. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith has been born one child, John Davis, born September 26, 1918.

ARTHUR J. HUFFER first saw Livingston more than thirty years ago, worked as a ranch hand in that section of Montana for a time, and later home- steaded and developed a ranch and farm and is

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still extensively interested in ranching in Southern Montana. His chief business for the past three or four years has been a garage at Livingston, an extensive business conducted under the name Huffer Garage and Motor Company.

Mr. Huffer was born in Bedfordshire, England, December 2, 1871. His father, William Huffer, was born in England in 1816 and died at Sussex in 1899, spending all his life in his native country, and his business was that of merchant. He was a member of the Church of England. His wife, Mary, was born in 1822 and died in Sussex in 1885. Arthur was the fifth in a family of six children and the only one in America. The fourth, a daughter, is deceased, and the others, Frederick, Elizabeth, Charles and Samuel, are all living in England.

Arthur J. Huffer had the equivalent of a high school education in Sussex, England. He left school at the age of seventeen and in 1888 arrived at Livingston, Montana. For two years he rode the range as a cowboy. He then went to the mining district of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and operated an air compressor there a year, until the big strike demoralized the industry of that locality. Returning to Livingston, he homesteaded 160 acres twelve miles east of Livingston, and lived on that for ten years. Subsequently he moved his ranching headquarters to Mission Creek and continued there until 1916. He still owns 360 acres of irrigated land on Mission Creek.

On coming to Livingston in 1916 Mr. Huffer en- gaged in the garage business at the corner of Main and Clark streets with W. D. Stevens as partner. His partnership continned until 1919. In June of the present year the handsome and well equipped garage was completed, covering floor space of 100x 140 feet, one of the largest institutions of its kind in the state. The Huffer Garage & Motor Company is now incorporated with Lon T. Swan, president; William L. Klipstein, vice president; A. J. Huffer, manager and treasurer; and George W. Root, secre- tary. It does a general garage business, affording storage for individual cars and also a general livery service. They handle supplies of accessories and are local distributors for the Stearns, Knight and Oakland cars and the International trucks.

Mr. Huffer is a member of the City Council of Livingston. Politically he is a republican, and is a member of fraternal bodies and civic organizations including Livingston Lodge No. 32, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Livingston Chapter No. 7, Royal Arch Masons, Livingston Consistory No. I of the Scottish Rite, Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine, Zephyr Camp No. 151, Woodmen of the World, Tourist Homestead Brotherhood of Ameri- can Yeomen, Chamber of Commerce and Commercial Club and the Railway Club of Livingston.

Mr. Huffer's modern home is at 328 South E Street. He married at Livingston in December, 1907, Mrs. Catherine L. Hodges. She was born in Ireland.

LON T. SWAN, who is president of the Huffer Garage & Motor Company at Livingston, has for years been a factor in improving the strain of cattle in Southern Montana, is an extensive ranch owner and Hereford breeder, and member of an old estab- lished family in Montana.

He was born at Navarre, Ohio. July 25, 1868. His paternal ancestors came originally from the Neth- erlands and settled in Pennsylvania. His father, Enos Swan, was born in Ohio in 1836, was reared in that state, was married in Indiana, and in 1861 joined an Indiana three months' regiment and after- ward reenlisted with an Ohio Regiment and was all through the war. He was in the battles of

Shiloh, Vicksburg, Lookout Mountain and Mission- ary Ridge, and for a short time was a prisoner. Several years after the war he brought his family to Montana and was a contractor in the vicinity of Manhattan, in Gallatin County. For one year he was also on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. In 1876 he moved to Chico and founded a butcher and packing establishment. In 1879 he went to his ranch on Trail Creek, and in 1882 moved to Port- land, Oregon, where for twenty-six years he was a member of the police force and was then in the real estate business. He died at Portland in 1917. He was a Grand Army man and very active as a republican. Enos Swan married Mary Jones, born in Indiana in 1839 and now living at Chico, Mon- tana. Viola, the oldest of her children, is the wife of Andrew Dahlberg, a farmer at Portland, Oregon. Lon is the second in age. Edward is owner of a garage and engineer in the mines at Butte. Grace is the wife of Richard Devoe, a rancher near Emi- grant.

Lon T. Swan lived on his father's ranch to the age of thirteen, and after that was a cowboy riding the ranges in Park County. At the age of twenty he began ranching for himself in Park County. For a number of years he has been raising grain on his property south of Livingston, and has also been in- terested in the production of high grade cattle. In 1914 he formed a partnership with George J. Allen for raising high grade stock, and that partnership continued until Mr. Allen retired on account of age. At the present time Mr. Swan specializes in pure bred Hereford cattle. He has a fine herd of these white faced cattle on his ranch of twelve hundred acres eleven miles south of Livingston. Allen & Swan formerly owned thirty-five hundred acres, but sold it in February, 1919.

Mr. Swan owns a town home at 111 South Sixth Street. He is a member of the Chamber of Com- merce and Commercial Club at Livingston, is a republican, and is affiliated with Livingston Lodge No. 32, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; Livingston Chapter No. 7, Royal Arch Masons ; Livingston Consistory of the Scottish Rite, Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena, Livingston Lodge No. 246 of the Elks, Silver Tip Camp, Modern Woodmen of America.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 67

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