Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 69

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 69

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In 1913 Mr. Freeman was married at Red Lodge, Montana, to Miss Anna C. Flaherty, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. T. Flaherty, of Red Lodge, where Mr. Flaherty is engaged as a coal operator. Mr. and Mrs. Freeman have three children, namely: Anna C., who was born in January, 1915; George F., who was born in April, 1916, and Evelyn M., who was born in May, 1919. Mr. Freeman is in- dependent in his political views. A practical man, he understands every detail of his work, and is able to give to it an intelligent and sympathetic supervision, impossible in one who had not grown up in the company.

WALTER B. INNES. Though only a few years resident in the state, Walter B. Innes is known all over Montana on account of the services he ren- dered during the war as district fuel administra- tor, with full and complete charge of the produc- tion and distribution of coal in twelve northern counties of Wyoming and all of Montana. It was

volunteer work-Mr. Innes was not even a "dol- lar a year man." It took most of his time from his private business, and there was endless execu- tive detail to tax his energies and patience.

The success of the fuel administration as a whole was due to the policy of selecting practical coal men for its administration. Mr. Innes knows the coal business from the standpoint of a number of years' successful experience. In a short time he has built up a thriving wholesale coal business at Billings, and since 1918 has been secretary of the Western Coal Producers' Association.

Mr. Innes was born at Alameda, California, Sep- tember 13, 1887, a son of Alexander and Susan Beecher (Hartwick) Innes. His mother was of the same family as Henry Ward Beecher and that distinguished connection. His grandfather, Mitchell Innes, was a native of Scotland and brought his family to Ontario, Canada, in pioneer times, spend- ing the rest of his life in that province. Alexan- der Innes, who was born at Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1832, came with his parents to America in young manhood, and in 1850 crossed the continent to California. He was a miner and later a farmer and dairyman, owning a large amount of land. He lived at Alameda, where he died in 1900. He had served as city recorder, was a republican, a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church and a Mason. His widow, now living at Alameda, was born in New York State in 1855. Their children num- bered six : George A., a lumberman, died in South- ern California, aged forty-two; C. E., in the whole- sale jewelry business, died at Los Angeles at thirty-four; Sarah, who died at San Rafael, Cali- fornia, aged thirty; Arthur G., a dairyman at Ala- meda ; and Walter and Warren, twin brothers, the latter in the lumber and shingle business at Eureka, California

Walter B. Innes after completing his junior year in the Alameda High School spent three years in British Columbia and acquired a knowledge of the lumber business all the way from the stump to the counting room. He then traveled over Cali- fornia as a lumber salesman, and came to Mon- tana in March, 1914, joining the Nelson Coal Com- pany at Great Falls. This company made him its sales manager at Billings in June, 1918, though for the greater part of that year his time was taken up with his duties as district representative of the fuel administration. March 1, 1919, he engaged in the wholesale coal business for himself under the name W. B. Innes & Company, with offices in the Electric Building. He is general sales agent for the Foster Bear Creek coal.

Mr. Innes is a republican voter, is affiliated with the Methodist Church and is a member of Oak Grove Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, in California. His home is at 120 North Thirtieth Street, Billings. June 23, 1917, at Great Falls, he married Miss Margaret Clark. Her mother, Mrs. Mary E. Clark, is a resident of Great Falls.

WARREN A. DEDRICK. Every year is bringing into increased prominence the work of Warren A. Dedrick as a Montana architect. Examples of his professional skill are found in many of the cities and towns of the state, and several large structures in Billings, where he has his home and headquarters, were planned and the building work supervised by him.

Mr. Dedrick is a son of D. W. Dedrick, a promi- nent building contractor of Montana. His father was born in Texas in 1854, grandson of the founder of the family in America, who came from England. D. W. Dedrick spent his boyhood days in Texas, Missouri and Colorado, and in 1898 located at Mis-

MSybert

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soula, Montana, and in the following year came to Billings. He has developed a large business as a contractor and builder and erected many of the business and residence structures at Billings and elsewhere. He is independent in politics, is affiliated with Billings Star Lodge of Odd Fellows, Billings Camp of the Modern Woodmen of America, and is one of the leading business men of the city. D. W. Dedrick married Emma Underwood, who was born in Jeffersonville, Indiana, in 1858. They had four children. Bertha, who died at Billings in 1903, was the wife of Albert Carrier, now a merchant at Big Timber, Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Carrier had two children, Fred being a rancher at Big Timber and married and the father of one child, Albert, and Lawrence, still at home. Charles E. Dedrick was a merchant and died at Billings in 1913, and by his marriage to Eleanor Hutton, who is still living at Billings, left one child, Dorothy, who died in 1917. The third in age is Warren A. Dedrick. The young- est, Henry, a resident of Tacoma, Washington, served as a sergeant in the National Army and was mustered out in February, 1919.

Warren A. Dedrick acquired his education in the public school of Billings, graduating from high school in 1908. He was born at Hot Springs, South Dakota, May 3, 1891, and has lived in Montana since early childhood. After leaving high school he learned architecture by work in an architect's office and also studied the art in the University of Michi- gan, where he graduated in 1914 with the certificate of architecture. While at university he became a member of the Kappa Beta Psi Greek letter fra- ternity. Mr. Dedrick opened his office at Billings in 1914, and has been engaged in the general practice of his profession five years. Some of the best examples of his work are to be found in public school buildings. He also drew the plans for the Midland Fair Association buildings and grounds ; was architect for the Losekemp Memorial Building for the Polytechnic Institute at Billings; for the Court House at Stillwater, Montana ; the high schools at Hardin and Chouteau, Montana, and Worland and Greybull, Wyoming, and has also done con- siderable other work in Wyoming. He is a member of the City of Billings Park Board.

Mr. Dedrick's offices are in the Securities Building and his modern home is at 941 North Thirty-first Street. He is independent in politics and is affiliated with Billings Lodge No. 394 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and with Billings Star Lodge No. 41 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

March 23, 1915, at Billings, he married Miss Lila F. Rhoads, daughter of Dr. John and Catherine (Works) Rhoads, the latter now deceased. Her father is a farmer near Laurel, Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Dedrick have two children, Warren A., Jr., born August 13, 1916, and Adena, born October 30, 1918. .

SAM FEFFERMAN is a citizen whose career is a credit to America and its institutions and govern- ment. He came to this country a young lad, bare- foot, without money, with many other handicaps, and in achieving success has never lost sight of his obligations and patriotic duties. He was one of the men who contributed most generously in proportion to his resources to the cause of the great war, and he did that modestly and always with a sense of his boundless obligation to the country which made him what he is and never with a feeling that he had overpaid his debt.

Mr. Fefferman, who has built up a large and pros- perous business as a dealer in hides, wool, fur and

metals at Billings, was born at Poduloesky, Russia, September 23, 1885. His father, Manual Fefferman, was born in the same locality in 1849, and lived there until his death in 1897. He was a farmer and later a cattle dealer, was well educated, and an active member of the Jewish faith. His wife, Esther Learn, was born in Russia in 1851 and is living at Billings. Pessie, the oldest of her children, resides in Cleveland, Ohio, widow of Albert Kaufman, who was a teacher in Russia, came to the United States in 1884, followed merchandising and died at Minne- apolis in 1902. Eva, living at Minneapolis, is the widow of Isador Lawn, a merchant tailor of that city who died in 1919. Adolph is a merchant at Chicago and Morris is in the mercantile business at Great Falls, Montana.

Sam Fefferman, youngest of his father's children, came to the United States with his widowed mother in 1897. He was then twelve years of age. While in Minneapolis he attended night school and made his living by peddling papers and doing other work. He acquired a practical English education and since the age of sixteen his experience has been in the fur business. He worked one year for Gordon & Ferguson, furriers, at Minneapolis. Coming to Billings in 1902, he began on an exceedingly modest scale as a dealer in hides, fur, wool and metal, and has made his the chief enterprise of the kind in Southeastern Montana, his trading connections cover- ing a radius of fully 800 miles around Billings. He has his business headquarters at Twenty-sixth Street and Minneapolis Avenue, and is sole owner and proprietor, having eighteen people in his employ.

Mr. Fefferman is prominent in the Hebrew Syna- gogue at Billings, is a member of the B'Nai B'Rith, was treasurer for two years, in 1917-18, until the growth of his business compelled him to give up this office, and is still an official in the order. He is a republican in politics. His modern home is at 707 North Twenty-fifth Street. Mr. Fefferman married at Billings in 1907 Miss Annie Samuel. Her parents came from Russia and her mother is now living in Canada. Her father was in the cotton business and died in 1900. Mr. and Mrs. Feffer- man have two children, Rosie, born July 10, 1913, and Addie, born October 22, 1916.

EDWARD M. SYBERT, secretary and general manager of the A. W. Miles Lumber & Coal Company, has been actively associated as a right hand man with Mr. Miles at Livingston for nearly twenty-five years. His steadfast devotion to business, his good judg- ment, his vision and his executive control have been responsible for the success of many broad laid plans by the Montana capitalist.

Mr. Sybert was born at West Monterey, Pennsyl- vania, December 12, 1862, and comes of a family of long lived ancestors. His father, Jacob Sybert, was born at West Monterey in 1834, spent his active life there as a merchant, and is now living retired at the age of eighty-five. He is a democrat in poli- tics and has served as justice of the peace. He is a Methodist in religion and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Jacob Sybert married Mary Jane Coe, who was born at West Monterey in 1838 and is now past eighty years of age. In a family of nine children Edward M. was the fourth and the only one in the Northwest, most of the others living not far from the scenes of their childhood. Albert, the oldest, and Perry, the second son, are oil well drillers and producers, the former still at Monterey and the latter at Williamstown, West Virginia. Daniel, the third in age, is an oil well contractor at Mars, Pennsylvania. Samuel, the next younger than Edward, is an oil operator living

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

at Cleveland, Harry is an oil well contractor at Clarksburg, West Virginia, Merton owns a moving picture show at Moundsville, West Virginia, Oscar is also in the motion picture business at Marietta, Ohio, and the youngest of the family, Della, is the wife of John McCarty, who is in the automobile business at Detroit.

Edward M. Sybert finished his education at the Grove City College in Western Pennsylvania, and at the age of sixteen began teaching in his home district. He was a teacher there for seven years. Seeking the larger opportunities of the West, he went to Leadville, Colorado, in 1887, but in June of the same year arrived in Montana and joined his uncle, G. M. Coe, in the Shields River Valley. From 1893 to 1896 Mr. Sybert was an employe of the Albemarle Hotel at Livingston, being manager when he resigned. He became associated with A. W. Miles as bookkeeper in the spring of 1897, and since that date there has been no division or break in his steady allegiance and devotion to the business of his employer and associate. When the A. W. Miles Company was incorporated in 1901 he was made secretary and treasurer, and for a time had general oversight over the business management of this general mercantile organization. In 1903 he became manager of the lumber department, and when in January, 1914, the lumber and coal business was separated and incorporated as the A. W. Miles Lumber & Coal Company Mr. Sybert withdrew from the older corporation to become general' manager and secretary of the lumber and coal company. He is the man chiefly responsible for the broadening and extension of the service of this corporation.

While always busy Mr. Sybert has answered many calls to outside interests. From 1899 until 1916 he was clerk of the Livingston School Board, has also been a member of the City Council, and has long been prominent in fraternal circles. He is affiliated with Livingston Lodge No. 32, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Livingston Chapter No. 7, Royal Arch Masons, St. Bernard Commandery No. 6, 'Knights Templar, Orient Chapter No. 6 of the Eastern Star, Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and Scottish Rite Consistory, and has filled offices in practically all the Masonic bodies at Livingston. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of the World, the Elks and the lumbermen's organization, the Hoo Hoos.

Ir 1892, while living in the Shields River Valley, Mr. Sybert married Miss Margaret E. Johnson. They are the parents of two daughters. Myrtle Edna, the older, is the wife of Hon. Don D. De- laney, a resident of Chicago. Mr. Delaney was formerly private secretary to Alschuler and Baker, judges of the Court of Appeals of the United States, and is now privately practicing law. He served as a first lieutenant in the World war. Flor- ence Madeline, the younger daughter, is in the senior class of the Park County High School.

OWEN J. THOMAS. Montana as a great agricul- tural state furnishes a great volume of business to the manufacturer of agricultural implements and machinery, and practically all the standard com- panies have representation here through local sales agencies or branch houses. There is probably no grain district in the state where the J. I. Case Threshing Machines are unknown. The principal distributing agency for these machines, which have been a standard of perfection with threshermen for two generations, is at Billings. The manager of the branch house at that point is Owen J. Thomas, who has had a long and active experience in the farm implement business both as a salesman and collection manager.

Mr. Thomas was born at Lime Springs, Iowa, August 19, 1876. His father, H. W. Thomas, was born at Menibridge, Wales, June 24, 1847, grew up at his native town and married there, and in 1872 came to the United States and settled at Utica, New York. The following year he located on a farm at Lime Springs, Iowa, and is now living there retired. For many years he has been a man of prominence in his locality, holding township offices and in every way using his influence for local betterment. He is a republican and a member of the Presbyterian Church. H. W. Thomas mar- ried Elizabeth Jones, who was born October 13, 1847, at Llangaffo, Wales. Owen J. Thomas was fourth in age in a family of eight children, all of whom have done exceedingly well in life. The oldest child, W. H. Thomas, is a judge of the Appellate Court of the State of California, with home at Los Angeles; L. R. Thomas is a contractor and builder at McIntyre, Iowa; H. H. Thomas is in the real estate business at Los Angeles; Eliza- beth A. is the wife of W. R. Jones, a large prop- erty owner and real estate man at Lime Springs, Iowa; Margaret is the wife of George H. Thomas, a railway conductor on the Soo Line Railroad, living at Hankinson, North Dakota; R. H. Thomas is as- sistant sales manager with the Standard Oil Com- pany at Fargo, North Dakota; and Jennie, the youngest, is the wife of Tom Michaelson, agent for the Soo Line Railroad at Nacoma, North Dakota.

Owen J. Thomas acquired his education in the public schools of Lime Springs, graduating from high school in 1893. His experience in the imple- ment business covers practically a quarter of a century, beginning with a local implement house at Lime Springs. A year later he went to the home office of the Plano Manufacturing Company at West Pullman, Illinois, starting as a mechanic in the construction of mowers and binders and eventu- ally being promoted to assistant inspector of all the work of the factory. In the spring of 1899 the company sent him to eighteen different states, looking after calamity cases. During 1901-02 he was with the Deering Harvester Company of Chi- cago, being located in that city in 1901 and as sales- man in Iowa and North Dakota during 1902. In 1903 occurred the consolidation of a large group of implement manufacturers, including the Osborne Harvester Company, the Wardin-Bushnell-Glesner Harvester Company, the Milwaukee Harvester Com- pany, Deering Harvester Company and the Mc- Cormick Harvester Company into the International Harvester Company. Mr. Thomas remained with this organization as collector from 1903 until Feb- ruary 28, 1904, when he joined the J. I. Case Thresh- ing Machine Company's organization.

His first work as a salesman was with the Fargo branch, covering Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana. June 19, 1906, he was pro- moted to manager of the collection department at Fargo, handling collections in Minnesota, North Dakota, and in Montana to Billings on the Northern Pacific and to Malta on the Great Northern Rail- way. The last stage in his promotion occurred in December, 1912, when he was moved to Billings and was made manager of the branch, which stand- ing alone is a business of great magnitude and one of the important assets of the commercial dis- trict of Billings. The plant and offices are at 2203-2217 Montana Avenue, and forty employes are under the supervision of Mr. Thomas, who has full charge of both the sales and collection de- partments.

While essentially a business man, with no aspira- tions for political preferment, Mr. Thomas has

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actually exercised a large and beneficent influence in the affairs of several communities. At Billings he is a member of the school board and chairman of the finance committee. Since coming to Mon- tana he has been urged to run for several promi- nent offices, including that of mayor of Billings and governor of the state. Politically he is a re- publican. He is one of the prominent members of the First Presbyterian Church, being an elder. He is past chancellor commander of Billings Lodge No. 58, Knights of Pythias, a member of the United Commercial Travelers, is affiliated with Ashlar Lodge No. 29, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Bill- ings Chapter No. 6, Royal Arch Masons, Billings Consistory of the Scottish Rite, and the Eastern Star Lodge. He is also a trustee of the Rotary Club, is president of the Billings City Club and a former member and trustee of the Chamber of Commerce. For two years he was a director of the American Bank and Trust Company of Billings, and is now vice president of the Midland Empire Fair Association and is vice president of the Dea- coness Hospital. As a Presbyterian layman he is on the executive commission of the Presbyterian Board of the State of Montana and was a com- missioner from Yellowstone Presbytery to the Gen- eral Assembly at Columbus, Ohio, in 1918. He is treasurer of the anti-saloon league of this state, was a member of the recruiting board of the Young Men's Christian Association for the states of Montana and Wyoming during the World war, and is now a director of the local Young Men's Christian Association. Out of eight western states he was selected one of five in February, 1919, to manage the Young Men's Christian Association work in France, but had to decline the honor. His wife shares with him in his prominence as a church worker.

Mr. Thomas and family reside at 308 North . Thirty-third Street. He married at Jamestown, North Dakota, September 16, 1903, Miss Eunice Pauline Somsen, daughter of John and Antonia (Grooteboer) Somsen. Her parents live on a farm at Jamestown, North Dakota. Mrs. Thomas is a graduate of the Lime Springs High School. They have three children: Elizabeth Merle, born July 21, 1904; Mildred Josephine, born June 29, 1910; and Margaret Antonia, born May 26, 1916.

HARRY ALLEN STEVENS has become a factor in the enterprise of the new town of Rapelje as manager of the local business of the McCaul Web- ster Elevator Company of Minneapolis.

Mr. Stevens was born at Anoka, Minnesota, June 30, 1894. His maternal ancestors came from Eng- land to New York in colonial times and were pioneers in the State of Maine. His father, Henry B. Stevens, was born in Maine in 1845 and married in that state Augusta Barker, who was born in Maine in 1854. Henry B. Stevens moved out to Minnesota about 1880 and for a number of years was in the contracting business at Anoka, where he died in 1918. He was a democrat in politics and a member of the Methodist Church. His widow is still living at Anoka. She was the mother of five children: Cora, who is the principal of schools at South Tacoma, Washington; William F., connected with the Soo Line Railroad as a con- tractor ; Mrs. Nanna Johnson, who died at Min- neapolis in 1917, wife of a railroad man of that city; Harry Allen; and David, a harness maker by trade, who lives with his mother at Anoka.

Harry A. Stevens graduated from the high school of Anoka in 1912, and he spent one year as a teacher in South Dakota. For eight months he was connected with the General Electric Company

at Coon Rapids, near Minneapolis. His home has been in Montana since 1914, when he located at Broadview, spent a short time in a general mer- chandise store and then established the Broadview Independent with N. D. Sherman, and was its editor for about six months. He sold his interest to Mr. Sherman and then joined the McCaul- Webster Elevator Company at Broadview as book- keeper of the local branch. Later he was promoted to yard manager and in 1918 was sent to Rapelje to take the management of the business. The busi- ness at Rapelje consists of handling lumber and hardware. The main offices are at Minneapolis and there are twenty-six branches in Montana, and trade relations cover the states of North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska.

Mr. Stevens is a member of the Rapelje Com- mercial Club, is affiliated with Rapelje Lodge of Masons, and is a Methodist and democrat. April 18, 1915, he married at Broadview Miss Rachel Dunton, daughter of Abram and Luzerne (Lovelace) Dunton. Her parents live on a ranch near Rapelje.

MAURICE J. BREEN. While prepared at the uni- versity for the legal profession, Maurice J. Breen has never practiced law except in handling his own interests, and has been primarily a banker. He was one of the organizers and is president of the First National Bank of Bridger.

Mr. Breen was born at .Edina in Northeast Mis- souri May 13, 1875. His parents, John and Mar- garet (McMahon) Breen, were born in Ireland and came to the United States in 1868, first locating at Boston. The father was a tanner by trade, but in this country always followed farming. He died in 1914 and his wife in 1883. Maurice Breen has four brothers and four sisters living: John, district manager of the Montana Oil Company at Great Falls ; Henry, in the hardware and implement business at Ghent, Minnesota; Jerry, a student in the Univer- sity of Minnesota; James, attending St. Thomas College at St. Paul; Mary, wife of W. C. Ahern, of Taunton, Minnesota; Nellie, unmarried, at home; Sadie, a school teacher at Amiret, Minnesota; and Bessie, who is attending school at St. Paul.

When Maurice J. Breen was five years old his parents left their farm in Missouri and moved to Chicago and soon afterwards went out to the plains of Minnesota. Maurice J. Breen acquired his early education at Marshall, Minnesota, graduating from high school and later entered the law department of the University of Minnesota, graduating in 1901. After graduation he engaged in the grain and bank- ing business at Macoun, Saskatchewan, where he had charge of a bank as cashier from 1901 to 1910. He then returned to Minneapolis and until 1914 was engaged in the real estate business in that city. Mr. Breen came to Montana in 1914, had charge of a real estate and insurance business at Laurel for a time, and since 1915 has been a resi- dent of Bridger. Associated with the late Col. A. L. Babcock, J. W. Chapman and J. O. Higham, he established the First National Bank of Bridger with a capital of $25,000. It now has a surplus of $5,000, and the bank is a member of the Federal Reserve system.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 69

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