Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 70

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 70

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Mr. Breen is a democrat in politics but has never been an aspirant for office. His parents were Catholics, he was reared in that faith and his family give the church dutiful allegiance. Mr. Breen mar- ried in 1909 Katherine Ahern, a daughter of Garret and Katherine (Brown) Ahern, of Taunton, Min- nesota. Her father was a farmer in Minnesota and died in 1896. Her mother is still living on the home farm. Mr. and Mrs. Breen have four chil-

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dren: Mary, born in 1910; Margaret, born in 1912; Katherine, born in 1913; and John, born in 1916.

JACOB P. MADSEN, mayor of Fromberg, Montana, and one of the most thoroughly progressive execu- tives in the state, is a man of sterling characteris- tics and fearlessness of action. He was born near Copenhagen, Denmark, November 24, 1873, a son of Mas Sorensen, also born near Copenhagen, Den- mark, in 1826 and died in that same vicinity in January, 1902. A carpenter and builder, he did an extensive business and was a pensioner of the Government on account of having been severely wounded upon three occasions while serving his country as a soldier during the war between Ger- many and Denmark during 1848-50. He was a lifelong member of the Lutheran Church. The maiden name of his wife was Karen Jacobsen, and she was born in Denmark in 1834, and died near Copenhagen in 1896. Their children were as fol- lows: Soren, who became a miner in Australia, died in that country when forty-three years old; Mari died unmarried in Denmark at the age of forty-six years; Rudolph, who is a farmer near Fromberg; Caroline, who married Peter Madsen, a member of the Omaha police force, died in 1913; Jacobin, who is unmarried, lives in California; and Jacob P., whose name heads this review.

Jacob P. Madsen attended the public schools of his native land and learned the trade of a cabinet- maker. In 1891, seeking for better opportunities, he came to the United States, his objective point being Billings, Montana. After his arrival, he home- steaded 160 acres of land near Fromberg, living on his land until he proved it, and then in 1912 he sold it and came to Fromberg, where he estab- lished himself in a livery, dray and automobile business, being the sole proprietor, with offices on Main Street, and feed barns on the same thorough- fare. Mr. Madsen owns the building in which his business is located and also a warehouse and his handsome modern residence.

A stanch republican, Mr. Madsen was the suc- cessful candidate of his party for mayor of From- berg in 1918 for a term of two years. Very pa- triotic, he had passed by the city council a law forbidding during the period of the war the use of the German and Austrian languages in public places in Fromberg, and saw that it was rigidly enforced. He is an able official and takes a great pride in his city, having in view some important improvement if reconstruction conditions permit of their being commenced. Well known as a Ma- son, he belongs to Roman Eagle Lodge No. 71, An- cient Free and Accepted Masons, at Fromberg.

In 1893 Mr. Madsen was married at Billings, Montana, to Miss Christine Larsen, born in Den- mark, who died at Fromberg in 1905, having borne her husband five children, namely: Carrie, who married Ben Parker, died at Fromberg in 1918, but he survives and is a carpenter of Fromberg; Myrtle, who married Cliff Malon, a carpenter of From- berg; Hazel, who married Mark Lovelady, now connected with the oil refinery at Greybull, Wyo- ming; Otto, who enlisted for service during the great war in January, 1918, is now with the Ameri- can Expeditionary Forces in France; and Edith, who is at home. Mr. Madsen was married in 1912 to Mrs. Carrie Derving, who was born in Tennessee. There are no children by this second marriage.

J. HERMAN WOLCOTT. Among the representative business men of Southern Montana the name of J. Herman Wolcott should be mentioned. As pro- prietor of one of the largest and most complete stores of his section of Park County, he has carried

on the various departments of his enterprise with that discretion, foresight and energy which are sure to find their natural sequence in success. Having always been a hard worker, a good manager and a man of conservative habits, and being fortunately situated in a thriving new community, it is no wonder that he has won the position that he today enjoys in the business world. He came to this section of the country amid comparatively pioneer conditions and has lived to see wonderful changes take place in this section of the great Treasure State, always lending such aid as he could in the work of up- building this section, whose interests he has at heart.

J. Herman Wolcott is descended from good old English stock, the family having been founded in America by Henry Wolcott, who came here in colonial days and located in Connecticut. Among his descendants was Emery P. Wolcott, a native of New York State and the grandfather of J. Herman Wolcott. He lived his life and died in his native state. Among his children was Samuel P. Wolcott, father of J. Herman, and who was born in Oneida, New York, in 1816, and who died at Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1906. He was reared and educated in Oneida and for a time lived in Steuben County, New York, where he farmed and followed the voca- tion of a blacksmith. He went to Rome, New York, and learned the trade of toolmaking, but later moved to Warsaw, that state, where he again took up the dual occupation of farming and blacksmithing. In 1870 Mr. Wolcott moved to Nashua, Iowa, and farmed, but a year later he went to West Union, Minnesota, making the then long trip over the old "Jim Hill trail" with wagons. In that section of Minnesota Mr. Wolcott became a pioneer farmer and remained there nearly two decades. In 1890 he retired from active labors and came to Livingston, Montana, to live. Shortly afterward he went to California and for awhile lived in the Soldiers' Home, but finally came back to Minnesota, making his home at Minneapolis until his death.

Samuel P. Wolcott was an ardent republican in politics and took an active part in local public affairs in the various places where he lived. In Todd County, Minnesota, he was supervisor and member of the Town Council. He was a member and active supporter of the Congregational Church and was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows. Mr. Wolcott was a veteran of the Civil war, having enlisted in 1864 in the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of New York Engineers, with which he served for one year.

Mr. Wolcott married Harriet T. Marshall, who was born in Wyoming County, New York, in 1826, and died at West Union, Minnesota, in 1889. To this worthy couple were born the following chil- dren: Ormus P., who was formerly a railroad man, is now retired and lives at St. Paul, Minnesota ; Helen P., who now resides in Wyoming, is the widow of Thomas R. Rosier, late a farmer and inventor, of Minnesota; Horace, who died at West Union, Minnesota, at the age of twenty-eight years, was a farmer and lived at home with his parents; Henry J. is a contractor and builder at Livingston, Montana ; Edward, who died in 1904, was a farmer and mer- chant at Moline, Illinois; Harriet T. is the wife of George T. Collins, a coal dealer in Minneapolis, Minnesota ; Marcus Minor is also in the coal busi- ness at Minneapolis; Marion E. is the wife of Herbert E. Jones, court stenographer at Hamilton, Montana; and J. Herman, the immediate subject of this review.

J. Herman Wolcott was born at Warsaw, Wyom- ing County, New York, on October 14, 1866. In early youth he accompanied his parents on their removals to Iowa and Minnesota, and in Todd

Sterman Walcott

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

County of the latter state he received his education, attending the high school at Sauk Center. In 1888 Mr. Wolcott came to Livingston, Montana, and entered the employ of A. W. Miles, hardware dealer, subsequently becoming manager of the Miles Com- pany, with which he was identified for a number of years, becoming a stockholder in the company. In 1912 Mr. Wolcott came to Clyde Park as manager of the new store acquired by A. W. Miles, and under his administration the business rapidly grew to immense proportions. In 1914 Mr. Wolcott disposed of his stock in the Miles Company and then he and the Bliler Brothers bought the business, which was then conducted under the title of the Wolcott-Bliler Company. In 1919 Mr. Wolcott bought the Bliler interests in the business and is now the sole owner. He has developed it into a department store, than which no better can be found in this section of the state. He carried a large and well selected stock and, because of the courteous treatment, prompt service and high quality of goods sold a phenomenal trade has been built up, drawing from a radius of twenty miles or more. In addition to his store Mr. Wolcott is also the owner of a fine ranch of 640 acres of irrigated land located about three miles southwest of Clyde Park. He is also a stockholder and a director in the First State Bank of Clyde Park and in many ways has given practical demonstration of the faith he has in the Shields River Valley, one of the most favored sections of the great Treasure State.

Politically Mr. Wolcott is a republican and has been honored by his fellow citizens in his election as alderman from the first ward and as mayor of his city, to which latter office he was chosen in 1918. He is a member of the Congregational Church, and fraternally is identified with Clyde Park Lodge No. 64, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and with Livingston Lodge No. 246, Benevolent and Protec- tive Order of Elks. At Livingston he has member- ship in the Railway Club and the Chamber of Com- merce.

Mr. Wolcott has been married three times. In 1895, at Livingston, he was married to May F. Nesbit, of Allegheny, Pennsylvania. To this union were born the following children: Winfield, born April 6, 1898, is a second lieutenant in the United States marine service, having graduated from the training school at Quantico, Virginia, on June 15, 1919; Margaret, born April 3, 1903, is a sophomore in the Clyde Park High School. Mrs. May Wolcott died in 1904, at Livingston, and in 1906 Mr. Wolcott married, at Glenwood, Minnesota, Mattie E. Shaw, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ross Shaw, the former of whom is a retired farmer at Sauk Center, Minne- sota, his wife having died. To Mr. Wolcott's second union the following children were born: Marion, May 30, 1907; Josephine, May 14, 1908, and Dorothy, May 20, 1910. Mrs. Mattie Wolcott died at Clyde Park on July 21, 1915, and on September 30, 1917, Mr. Wolcott was married to Mrs. Eleda L. (Felsted) Parks. She is the daughter of Theodore and Mary (Johnson) Felsted, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. Felsted was a machinist at Winona, Minnesota.

In all his relations with his fellow men Mr. Wol- cott has been upright and conscientious, gentle- manly, considerate and courteous in his personal and social contact, and he has earned the enviable stand- ing which he enjoys in the community. The qualities of keen discrimination, sound judgment and execu- tive ability have entered very largely into his makeup and are contributing elements to the splendid suc- cess which has come to him.

ROBERT C. CARDELL. One of the biggest industries in Billings, Montana, is the manufacture of gas by the Billings Gas Company, for domestic and in-

dustrial consumption. One of the founders and the vice president and manager of this corporation is Robert C. Cardell. Mr. Cardell is a business man of long experience, excels as an executive and or- ganizer, and who is responsible with others for the Billings Gas Company, organized in 1912, and also the organization known as the Montana Sash and Door Company, of which he is secretary.

Mr. Cardell was born at Malcolm in Poweshiek County, Iowa, July 21, 1879, a son of Leander and Emma L. (Chapman) Cardell. His father, born in Vermont in 1835, was a California gold seeker in the early days, going around the Horn. He was on the Pacific Coast three years, then returned East, and soon afterward became a pioneer settler in Poweshiek County, Iowa. In 1880 he moved to Dallas County in the same state, and was in the real estate and loan business until 1895, when he retired. He served as a member of the Iowa Legis- lature. He was a republican, a member of the Congregational Church, and his death occurred in 1907. Robert C. Cardell and his sister, Florence, wife of J. R. Swearingen, president of the Mon- tana Sash and Door Company, are the only sur- vivors of five children, the others dying in infancy.

Mr. Cardell attended school at Perry, Iowa, was a student at Stetson University and the University of Michigan, and in 1900 at the age of twenty-one, was a member of the partnership firm of John R. Swearingen and Company at Perry, Iowa, lumber dealers.

In 1903 he became traveling salesman for the Huttig Manufacturing Company of Muscatine, Iowa. This firm did a large business in the manufacture of sash, doors and mill work. Mr. Cardell ac- quired stock in the company, and in 1906 was one of the members of the firm selected to extend the business into the Northwest. He was assistant manager of the branch at Billings. Mr. Cardell helped organize the Montana Sash and Door Com- pany on February 1, 19II, and has since been its secretary. The size and scope of this business may be understood from the fact that it is capitalized at $500,000. When Mr. Cardell came to Billings in 1906 to assist in establishing the western branch of the Huttig Manufacturing Company he also or- ganized the Cardell Lumber and Coal Company and the Cardell Ridge Lumber Company, of which companies he was president.

In April, 1915, Mr. Cardell severed his active connections with both the Montana Sash and Door Company and the Cardell Ridge Lumber Company to take the active management of the Billings Gas Company, of which he had previously been a di- rector.

During the critical years of development that followed there were periods when the prospects were far from rosy, but with a steadily increas- ing volume of business and after trebling the capacity of the gas works the Billings Gas Company has emerged as one of the city's leading manu- facturing institutions.

These enterprises obviously make heavy demands upon his time and energies. However, he is an interested student and member of various Masonic bodies, including Ashlar Lodge No. 29, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Billings Chapter No. 6, Royal Arch Masons, Aldemar Commandery No. 5, Knights Templar; Scottish Rite Consistory at Butte ; and Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena. He is affiliated with Billings Lodge of Elks and in politics is a republican.

April 10, 1906, the same year he came to Mon- tana, he married Miss Florence Penfield, a native of Iowa. They have two children : Mary and Rob- ert Leander.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

JOHN R. DAVIS has been a factor in the Broad- view community of Yellowstone County for over ten years, has a ranch ten miles west of Broad- view and is also serving as county commissioner.

He was born at Fort Edward, Washington Coun- ty, New York, February 6, 1873. His paternal an- cestors came from Wales and were colonial settlers in Vermont. His grandfather, Milo Davis, was born in Vermont in 1815 and was an early day lumber operator in Warren County, New York, near Bolton, but spent his last years at Fort Ed- ward, retired, where he died in 1911. He married a Miss Shedd, a native of Vermont, who also died at Fort Edward, New York. Samuel L. Davis, father of John R., was born at Bolton in Warren County, New York, in 1841, was reared and mar- ried in that county and was connected with the same line of business as his father. For a time he lived at Fort Edward as agent for a lumber company, in 1882 removed to Indian Lake, New York, where he engaged in the lumber business, and is now living retired at Indian Lake. He served several years as assessor of Hamilton Coun- ty, New York, and also as justice of the peace and in other township offices. He is a republi- can and in 1861 enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-second New York Infantry and was all through the Civil war. He is a member of the Baptist Church and the Odd Fellows fraternity. Samuel L. Davis married Jane E. Bolton. . She was born in Sheffield, England, in 1841 and died at Indian Lake, New York, in January, 1917. Mat- tie, the oldest of three children, is the wife of Nel- son St. Marie, a merchant at Indian Lake, New York. The other two are John R. and Francis S., both residents of Broadview, Montana, the latter also a farmer.

John R. Davis graduated from the high school of Fort Edward, New York, in 1888. From that time until he came West in 1906 he was employed in the lumber business with his father. He spent two years on a farm in South Dakota and in 1908 came to the Broadview community of Montana, where he homesteaded 160 arres. Later he owned 480 acres but sold half a section of this in April, 1919. One hundred and sixty acres he retained as his home ranch, ten miles west of Broadview, and it is highly developed as a farm. Since its organization in 1915 Mr. Davis has been president of the Farmers Ele- vator Company in Broadview.

Mr. Davis was elected county commissioner of Stillwater County for the six year term in 1016. He is affiliated with Stillwater Lodge No. 62, An- cient Free and Accepted Masons, Billings Lodge No. 394 of the Elks, and is a member of Britton, South Dakota Lodge of Odd Fellows, having joined that order at Johnsburg in Warren County, New York.

September 21, 1910, at Billings, he married Miss Marietta Thayer, daughter of Dewitt and Florence Thayer. Her parents are farmers at Britton, South Dakota, and Mrs. Davis is a graduate of the high school there. To their marriage were born five children : Geneva, born July 29, 1912; Florence, born September 5, 1913; Montana, born September 19, 1914, and died October October 17, 1915; Lois, born May 15, 1916; and Irene, born November 26, 1917.

JOHN NORMILE is an old time Montana resident. has been in the state thirty years, was a rancher and cattle man for many years in Carbon County, and is now proprietor of the only hardware and lumber business in Boyd, a town in which he has been much interested for several years.

Mr. Normile was born at Cleveland, Ohio, June 29, 1869. His father, Michael Normile, was born

in County Clare, Ireland, in 1844, and came to the United States about 1863. For several years he was employed as an engineer by the Standard Oil Com- pany at Cleveland. In 1875 he moved to North- east Missouri, and for about forty years was a farmer in the vicinity of Edina, but is now living retired in that town. He is a democrat and a Catholic. He married Elizabeth Scanlon, who was born in County Clare, Ireland, in 1852. She died at Edina, Missouri, in 1911. John is the oldest of a large family of children, and a brief record of the others is as follows: Kate, who died at the age of eighteen; Elizabeth, living with her father at Edina; James, a confectioner at Seattle, Wash- ington; Joseph, who died at the age of eight years; Michael, who is an under sheriff of Carbon County and lives at Red Lodge; Mamie, a trained nurse at St. Louis, Missouri; Charles, a farmer at Edina ; Levena, a stenographer employed at St. Louis ; Leo, a farmer at Boyd, Montana, and Frank, who was an American soldier and participated in the great Battle of Argonne Forest and returned to the United States in 1919.

John Normile was about six years old when his parents moved to Knox County, Missouri, and he attended rural schools there and lived on his father's farm to the age of eighteen. On coming to Montana in 1888 he was employed one year on a farm near old Gallatin. For six months he was on railroad construction work at Cheney, Wash- ington, and for three years worked in a sawmill at Bozeman, Montana. In 1892 he came to the Crow Indian Reservation in Carbon County, home- steaded 160 acres, proved it up and made it his home for twelve years before he sold it. There he started in the cattle business and up to 1910 he grazed his cattle over a large range and was one of the prominent livestock men of Carbon County.

Mr. Normile bought a general merchandise store at Boyd in 1910, but sold it after three years. He established his present business in 1915, the only hardware and lumber establishment in Boyd. Be- sides his business property he owns a residence in Boyd, and an irrigated ranch of 160 acres three miles east of Joliet, and another quarter section three miles southwest of Boyd.

Mr. Normile has always acted as a democrat in politics. During 1905-08 he served as assessor of Carbon County. He is a Catholic, and a member of Billings Council No. 1259, Knights of Colum- bus. He has been a factor in financial affairs of Boyd, being director and vice president of the Boyd State Bank and is a stockholder in the United States National Bank of Red Lodge.

Mr. Normile married at Billings, February 21, 1910, Miss Agnes Ross. Her mother is Mrs. Mary Ross of Red Lodge. For six years Mrs. Normile was superintendent of the schools of Carbon Coun- ty and is known to hundreds of Montana residents for her capable work in education.

GEORGE EDWARD SNELL. An eminently useful and esteemed citizen of Yellowstone County, George Edward Snell, of Billings, is not only an able rep- resentative of the legal profession, having a large law practice, but as an extensive landholder is actively associated with the agricultural interests of county and state. His far-reaching activities dur- ing the recent World war, especially in connection with the Young Men's Christian Association drives, were most effective, their success in many instances having been largely due to his business ability, indgment and tact. A son of George Amos Snell, he was born August 1, 1879, in Pekin, Oswego County, New York, of honored English ancestry, being a lineal descendant, many generations re-

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moved, from one Willebrod Snell, a life-long resi- dent of England, who discovered the refraction of light, thus making possible spectacles and optical instruments, and who likewise won the distinction of being the first to measure the world by triangu- lation.

Thomas Snell, the immigrant ancestor of that branch of the Snell family to which the subject of this sketch belongs, came from England to Con- nectient about 1665, settling at West Bridgewater, where he became one of the largest landowners of that vicinity. The maiden name of his wife was Martha Harris. Frederick Snell, grandfather of George Edward Snell, a veteran of the War of 1812 and a lifelong resident of New York State, was born in the Mohawk Valley and died in Oswego, New York.

George Amos Snell was born August 14, 1848, in Jefferson County, New York, and was there reared and educated. An agriculturalist, he be- came interested in dairy products, and for many years was widely known as a cheese buyer. A stanch republican in politics, he was active in lo- cal affairs, and served several terms as justice of the peace. He was a man of strong religious ten- dencies, and a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His death, which occurred at his home in Pekin, New York, in 1881, was a loss not only to his family and friends, but to the com- munity in which he lived. He married, July 24, 1870, in Oswego County, New York, Etta Eliza Brown, whose birth occurred in' Richland, New York, April 24, 1854. She survived him, and in 1885 married for her second husband Clark C. Loomis, and removed from Orwell, New York, to a farm in Delaware County, Iowa. Mr. Loomis died the following year, in 1886, and Mrs. Loomis is now living in Manchester, Iowa.

Receiving the rudiments of his education in Man- chester, Iowa, George Edward Snell was gradu- ated from its high school in 1899, and subsequently taught school in Delaware County, Iowa, a year, after which he served as principal of the graded school in Manchester, Iowa, for a year. Going to Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1902, he studied for a year in the literary department of the University of Michigan. In the fall of 1903 Mr. Snell located in Montana, and for two years thereafter was superintendent of the schools at Deer Lodge. De- sirous of entering the legal profession, he studied law in the office of Edward Sharmikow in the meantime attending school for two summers at the University of Michigan, where he passed the fresh- man and junior law credits, and later took the senior course, being there graduated with the de- gree of Bachelor of Laws in the class of 1906. Coming directly to Billings, Mr. Snell accepted the position of assistant principal of the local high school, and in 1907 he was elected principal of the same school, and in that capacity met with decided success. In 1908 Mr. Snell began his professional career, and is now numbered among the leading attorneys of Billings, as head of the well-known firm of Snell & Arnott, having built up an extensive and lucrative patronage, his offices being at Nos. 310-312-314 Securities Building.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 70

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