Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 73

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 73

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which he was the first president, continuing in, that office for 21/2 years, when he sold his interest.

A democrat through conviction, he early was ac- corded the leadership of his party in this district, and was elected a representative to the State As- sembly from Yellowstone County in 1914, serving as a member of the Fourteenth Session. During that period he was chairman of the federal rela- tions committee and a member of the committees on irrigation and water rights and agriculture, as well as others of considerable importance, and intro- duced the drainage law bill, now on the statute books, to secure the passage of which necessitated an immense amount of work on the part of Mr. Nutting. A booster of Laurel in every sense, Mr. Nutting takes a very active part in the Commercial Club, and has been instrumental in bringing out- side capital to the city and interesting a sufficient number to secure their location here. Fraternally he belongs to Laurel Camp, Modern Woodmen of America, and Billings Lodge No. 394, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

In 1891 Mr. Nutting was married at Red Lodge, Montana, to Miss Lilly Ellis, born at San Francisco, California, but educated at Newark, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Nutting became the parents of the following children : Ruth, who was graduated from the Uni- versity of Montana, at Missoula, with the degree of Bachelor of Art, is residing with her parents; and Bryant, who was graduated from the Laurel High School, is associated with his father in busi- ness.

R. C. BATTEY, manager of the Billings branch of the International Harvester Company at Billings, Montana, furnishes another example in his career of the rewards attainable through the exercise of per- severance, industry and well-defined and worthy ambition, combined with a policy including the demonstration of integrity and fidelity. From the outset of his business life he has been identified with the great concern of which he is now a rep- resentative, and has worked his way up from a humble capacity, making the most of his oppor- tunities, and expanding and growing with the ex- pansion and development of the concern.

Mr. Battey was born in Shelby County, Iowa, January 21, 1879, a son of George and Louisa Fisher (Cooper) Battey. The family of which he is a member originated in England, and during the seven- teenth century was founded in America by Sampson Battey, who took up his residence in Jamestown, Rhode Island. In that state, at Foster, Maj. Silas Battey, grandfather of R. C., was born in 1815. He was reared and married in his native city, but be- came a pioneer into Bureau County, Illinois, where during the remainder of his life he was engaged in agricultural pursuits in the vicinity of Sheffield, and died at that place in 1895. He fought bravely as a soldier during the Mexican war and rose to the rank of major.

George Battey, father of R. C. Battey, was born at Foster, Rhode Island, in 1837, and was reared in his native place where he obtained a public school education. He was still a young man when he moved with his parents to Bureau County, Illinois, and for a time was associated with his father in the cultivation of the soil near Sheffield. In 1864 he enlisted in the One Hundred Thirty-ninth Regi- ment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, for participation in the war between the states, and continued as a member of that regiment until receiving his honor- able discharge at the close of hostilities. Mr. Battey remained as a resident of Illinois until 1877, in which year he made removal to Shelby County,

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Iowa, where he first settled on a farm. Later, however, his interest was attracted to the grain business, and subsequently he became a banker and an influential citizen of his community, having a private banking house at Portsmouth, Iowa. In 1913 he removed from that place, retiring from active pursuits, and took up his residence at Oakes, North Dakota, where his death occurred on October I, 1915. While a resident of Portsmouth he took an active and constructive part in civic affairs, and served as mayor and in other capacities, in which he displayed marked public spirit and splendid execu- tive ability. He was a member of the Masons. In 1861 Mr. Battey married Louisa Fisher Cooper, who was born in 1841 in Connecticut, and died at Bismarck, North Dakota, in 1915, and they became the parents of the following children: H. V., a successful practicing attorney of Council Bluffs, Iowa; F. S., engaged in the general merchandise business at Brampton, North Dakota; R. C., of this notice; and George, who is engaged in the pursuits of farming in the vicinity of Straubville, North Dakota.

R. C. Battey received his literary education in the public schools of Portsmouth, following this by a course in a commercial college at Council Bluffs, Iowa, from which he was graduated in 1894. He then returned to his home, where he remained until 1899, the year which marked the beginning of his connection with his present concern. Mr. Battey was content to enter into the life which this concern offered for the advancement of am- bitious and determined young men, and as a start took a position which paid him a salary of $30.00 per month. Gradual promotion followed, and Mr. Battey was soon doing responsible office work, eventually becoming cashier of the Council Bluffs branch of the business. From this position, in order that he might thoroughly learn the business, he was sent out on the road as a traveling represen- tative, and in 1904 was transferred to Minot, North Dakota, where he was made assistant manager of that branch of the International Harvester Com- pany in 1908. Two years later Mr. Battey was transferred to the branch at Bismarck, in the ca- pacity of manager, a position which he retained until 1917, the year in which he assumed his duties as manager of the Billings branch, with offices at the corner of South Broadway and Minnesota Avenue. The territory of the Billings branch of the International Harvester Company includes Cen- tral Montana and Northern Wyoming. Mr. Battey has the confidence of his company and the sincere esteem of his co-workers, and in business circles generally maintains an excellent reputation and standing. In political matters he maintains an independent stand. While he has not been an office seeker in public life, he has always discharged the duties and responsibilities of citizenship, and dur- ing his residence at Bismarck, North Dakota, served efficiently for six years in the capacity of city com- missioner. His religious faith is that of the Roman Catholic Church, and he is a member of the Knights of Columbus, being affiliated with Bismarck Council. Also he holds membership in the United Commercial Travelers, in Bismarck Lodge, Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks, and in the Billings Midland Club. In addition to his pleasant modern residence at 306 Clark Avenue, he is the owner of valuable ranches in Eastern Montana.

Mr. Battey was married February 23, 1914, at St. Paul, Minnesota, to Miss Edith V. Russell. daughter of P. H. and Mary Russell, residents of Trail City, South Dakota, where Mr. Russell is proprietor of the Trail City Hotel. Mrs. Battey is a graduate

of the Minot (North Dakota) High School. She and her husband are the parents of one child: R. C., Jr., born February 28, 1915, at Billings.

ALFRED C. CARLSON is superintendent of the city schools of Red Lodge and is an educator of long and prominent experience in the Northwest. He did his first school work twenty-five years ago, and has always been thoroughly progressive in edu- cational affairs, seeking every opportunity to improve his own abilities, and his energies and ideals have been reflected in the very good condition of the Red Lodge schools today. He has been at the head of the public schools of Red Lodge for the last eleven years.

Mr. Carlson was born at Marine Mills, Minne- sota, December 15, 1869, a son of J. C. and Chris- tina Carlson. His father was born in Germany in 1824, and lived there until 1859, when he came to the United States and settled at Marine Mills, Min- nesota, being a pioneer in that territory. Not long afterward he joined the noted Seventh Minnesota Regiment of Infantry, and was in all the engage- ments of that regiment in the northwest and in the center of the conflicting area of the Civil war. He was wounded at Gettysburg, and was a soldier for 31/2 years. He then returned to Marine Mills and lived there until his death in 1916. He was an old-school republican in politics and a member of the Lutheran Church. His wife was born in Illinois 'in 1826 and died at Marine Mills in 1918. Alfred C. is the youngest of their four children. The oldest was Augustus, who was a farmer at Big Lake, Washington County, Minnesota, and was drowned at the age of twenty-six. Caroline, the second child, is the wife of August Lundquist, who is assessor of Washington County, and has his home in Marine Mills. John, the other son, is a farmer at Marine Mills.

Alfred C. Carlson as a boy attended the rural schools of Washington County, Minnesota, and graduated from high school at Stillwater. His col- legiate work was done in Gustavus Adolphus Col- lege at St. Peter, Minnesota, where he received his A. B. degree in 1890, at the age of twenty-one. Later, in the intervals of teaching he attended Yale University, taking post-graduate courses there for three years and was awarded his Master of Arts degree by that old institution of higher learning in 1905. In the meantime he had taught one year in his native town of Marine Mills, was principal of the schools of Stanton, Iowa, a year and for four years held the Chair of English in his alma mater at St. Peter. He was elected and served three years as superintendent of the schools of Can- non Falls, Minnesota, and spent another three years as superintendent of the schools of Eureka, Utah. His next work in the educational field was as super- intendent at Weiser, Idaho. He resigned his work there at the end of three years and spent the fol- lowing year developing a ranch near Weiser. He still owns that property and it is now a fruit grow- ing proposition.

Mr. Carlson came to Red Lodge in 1909, and has completed his eleventh consecutive year as superin- tendent of schools. The schools have made notable progress under his sunervision. Red Lodge now has six schools, a staff of thirty-one teachers, and a student enrollment of 1.200. Mr. Carlson is a member of the National Education Association, the Montana State Teachers' Association, he is a liberal democrat. a vestrvman of the Episcopal Church at Red Lodge, is affiliated with Oriental Lodge No. 34, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, is scribe of Carbon Chanter No. 20. Roval Arch Masons, and a former member of the Odd Fellows.

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His home is at 321 North Word Avenue. He married Miss May Hennings at Willmar, Minne- sota, in 1902. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. C. Hen- nings, are retired residents of Willmar and her father is a veteran of the Civil. war. Mrs. Carlson is a graduate of the Willmar High School and of the Normal School at St. Cloud, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Carlson have had two children : The older, Margaret, died at the age of nine years. Their son is James H., born May 29, 1918.

ARTHUR W. MILES. The commonplace citizen who makes himself useful to the world and achieves a fair degree of success by adhering to the old rule and principle of concentrating his efforts along one line finds it difficult to appreciate the enormous spread of influences and activities of such a man as Arthur W. Miles of Livingston. While the phrase is often applied to many lesser men, Mr. Miles is really a "man of affairs" and of affairs of importance when taken individually and in the aggregate com- prising a vast range of interests that directly affect the welfare and the progress of Montana. One of the first three merchants of Livingston, he has al- ways been a merchant, built up the great department store of A. W. Miles Company, founded the A. W. Miles Lumber & Coal Company, was responsible for one of the oldest organizations handling and caring for the tourist traffic in the Yellowstone Na- tional Park, and has also been a brick manufacturer, lumberman, farmer, livestock raiser, banker, has helped build and develop new towns, create new in- dustrial and agricultural opportunities, and has also sat as a potent figure in the Legislature and at one time was acting governor of the state.

Arthur W. Miles is a nephew of the late Gen. Nelson A. Miles, one of the most distinguished mili- tary figures of the United States. He was born at Westminster, Massachusetts, June 20, 1859, a son of Daniel C. and Mary Jane (Puffer) Miles. The Miles family goes back to the colonial settlement of America. Arthur W. Miles was the fourth in a family of five children. The oldest, Josie M., is the wife of M. M. Parker, a professor in the University of Southern California, living at Pasadena. George M., the oldest brother, is a banker and capitalist at Miles City, Montana. Herbert J. is a retired ac- countant and auditor living at Pasadena, California. The youngest, Gertrude, died at the age of sixteen years in Westminster, Massachusetts.

Arthur W. Miles graduated in 1878 from the Wesleyan Academy at Wilbraham, Massachusetts. He then taught a term of school and in 1879 he accepted a position as paymaster's clerk in the regu- lar army. He served one year at Santa Fe, New Mexico, and was then promoted and transferred to Fort Keogh, Montana, where he began his duties in October, 1880. He witnessed the surrender in the winter of 1880 of Sitting Bull and Rain in the Face, which was during the period when the buffalo roamed the plains. Mr. Miles therefore identified himself with Montana at an important transition period in the history of the territory, after the work of the earliest pioneers had been accomplished, and just as the building of railroads and the clearing of hostile Indians and wild buffalo from the prairies opened up the real industrial and commercial op- portunities of the Treasure State. After two and a half years with the Government he resigned, for a few months was engaged in the hardware business near the present site of Billings, moved to that town when it was established and erected the first store building in it, and in 1882 formed the firm of Babcock & Miles, in partnership with A. L. Babcock. They opened a store at Clark City, which shortly

afterward became Livingston, and Mr. Miles was one of the three first men to engage in business in the new town. He was also a member of the Vigi- lantes Committee, which endeavored to keep law and order in the unorganized community. In the meantime he and his partners opened branch stores at Gardner, Big Timber and Red Lodge, but from the first Mr. Miles' enterprise has been centered at Livingston. He has been one of the chief men to build up and give that city its business facilities. In 1889 he built the Miles Block, one of the finest buildings in the state up to that time. It was destroyed by fire in 1914. He also erected the Postoffice Block, in which is located the Park Hotel, of which he is the founder, the Garnier-Miles Block, and in 1916 completed the Strand Theater, which when it was opened was characterized as the finest picture theater in Montana. The A. W. Miles Company, which represents the culmination of Mr. Miles' experience as a merchant, is an immense organization, capitalized at $300,000, and conducts a store furnishing a complete mercantile service in dry goods, groceries, clothing, farm implements, and is housed in one of the most modern store buildings in the Northwest. A separate corporation, and in a degree supplementing the service of the A. W. Miles Company, is the A. W. Miles Lumber & Coal Company, which was separately incorporated in January, 1914. In 1917 Mr. Miles was also the man chiefly responsible for the establishment of the Northwestern National Bank of Livingston, was its first president, and is now director and chairman of its Board of Directors. Mr. Miles is also presi- dent of the Yellowstone Park Camping Company, successors to the Wylie Permanent Camping Com- pany, a business which has been in existence for thirty years; and which handles an enormous tourist business through the National Park every year. The company has four permanent camps in the park.

The above is only a suggestive outline of Mr. Miles' many and varied business activities, a com- plete account of which would read like a catalogue of the commercial progress of Southern Montana. Mr. Miles has been an active republican, served as the first mayor of Livingston, and in November, 1905, was elected a member of the State Senate. During the four years in that office he was president of the Senate and in the absence of Governor Norris was acting governor. He has served on many public administrative boards, is active in the Chamber of Commerce and Commercial Club of Livingston, and fraternally is a member of Livingston Lodge No. 32, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Livingston Chapter No. 7, Royal Arch Masons, St. Bernard Commandery No. 6, Knights Templar, Algeria Tem- ple of the Mystic Shrine, Livingston Lodge No. 10, Knights of Pythias, and Zephyr Camp No. 151, Woodmen of the World.

December 19, 1885, Mr. Miles married Miss Idella M. Draper, a native of Holliston, Massachusetts, and a daughter of W. H. and Sarah L. (Perry) Draper The oldest child of Mr. and Mrs. Miles is Louise Gertrude, who finished her education at Carlton College, Minnesota, and in November, 1910. became the wife of Thomas E. Mitchell. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell now reside at Los Angeles. Mr. Mitchell is a mining engineer and just recently re- turned after four years of service in a technical capacity for an English syndicate in the mines of Burma, India. Daniel Nelson, the only living son, is a graduate of Amherst College with the class of 1912, and a member of the Chi Psi college fraternity. He is now the active manager of his father's busi- ness, the A. W. Miles Company at Livingston. He married in 1914 Esther Tervoll, of San Francisco,

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Adena Josephine, the second daughter, is a graduate of Mount Vernon Seminary at Washington, D. C., and in 1915 became the wife of Charles Wright, Jr., a lawyer of Detroit, Michigan. The youngest, Perry D. Miles, died when one year old.

WALTER E. RYNIKER. Justly numbered with the aggressive business men of Billings, Walter E. Ryniker is well known outside his own city as vice president and manager of the Ryniker-Winter Sheet Metal Works and vice president of the Ryniker- Winter Hardware Company. He was born at Quincy, Illinois, May 25, 1885, a son of Samuel Ryniker and grandson of Ubrich Ryniker, born at Schunznach, Aargan, Switzerland, in 1800, and there died in 1876. He was married to Marie Hittpolt, who was born in 1806 in the same village as her husband, and there she passed away in 1850. Samuel Ryniker was born at Schunznach, Aargan, Switzer- land, June 7, 1845, and he died at Quincy, Illinois, October 13, 1892. After being reared in his native place Samuel Ryniker came to the United States and located at Quincy, Illinois, where for many years he carried on a merchant tailoring business. He was a devout member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church. On October 4, 1880, Samuel Ryniker was married to Magdaline Stauterman, born near Quincy, August 29, 1853, and she died July 5, 1905, at Quincy. Their children were as follows: Al- fred Samuel, who was born August 14, 1881, is con- nected with the Ryniker-Winter Hardware Com- pany and lives at Billings; Ella Pauline, who was born March 31, 1883, died April 24, 1913; Walter E., whose name heads this review; Cora Melinda, who was born February 14, 1887, married H. H. Winter, president of the Ryniker-Winter Hard- ware Company of Billings; Milton Edwin, who was born June 18, 1889, is a resident of Los Ange- les, California, and was mustered out of the avia- tion branch of the United States army in Texas as a lieutenant; Chester Arthur, who was born March 18, 1891, is a railroad mail clerk and a resident of Quincy ; and Samuel Wesley, who was born June 15, 1893, is a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, and during the great war served in France as a member of the aviation branch of the service. The father of these children had been previously mar- ried, being united on October 7, 1869, to Louise Freistein, of St. Louis, Missouri, who was born May 24, 1851, and died June 27, 1880. By this mar- riage he had three children, namely: Emma Fred- erica, who was born February 21, 1873, is married and lives on her husband's ranch at Clearwater, Nebraska; Matilda Emily, who was born Novem- ber 26, 1874, is unmarried and resides at Quincy ; and Emelia, who was born May 19, 1877, died Feb- ruary 12, 1882.

After completing the eighth grade of the public schools when fourteen years of age Walter E. Ryniker entered the employ of a dry goods firm at Quincy, but eighteen months later commenced learning the sheet metal trade. After completing his trade he took a commercial course at the Gem City Business College. For a year subsequent to that he worked at his trade at Chicago, Illinois, and then came to Billings in 1908, and he and Mr. Winter bought the sheet metal plant established by Cedergren Brothers at No, 109 North Twenty- sixth Street. Since then the business has grown to large proportions and the immense plant is lo- cated at No. 115 North Twenty-fifth Street. The officers of the company are as follows: H. H. Winter, president, and W. E. Ryniker, vice presi- dent and manager. Mr. Ryniker is also vice presi- dent of the Ryniker-Winter Hardware Company. His handsome modern residence is at No. 406 Yel-

lowstone Avenue. In politics Mr. Ryniker is an independent. He belongs to the Congregational Church. Well known in Masonry and belongs to Ashlar Lodge No. 29, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, having been raised at Quincy, Illinois. He also belongs to Billings Lodge No. 394, Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks; Yellowstone Council No. 363, United Commercial Travelers, and the Billings Midland Club.

On February 10, 1913, Mr. Ryniker was married at Billings to Miss Adelene Berenice Cowen, a daughter of H. S. and Harriet (Payne) Cowen. Mr. Cowen was a druggist of Beardstown, Illinois, where he died, but Mrs. Cowen survives and makes her home at Beardstown. Mr. and Mrs. Ryniker have two children, namely: Walter Henry, who was born June 15, 1914, and Harriet Ella, who was born June 6, 1918. Both Mr. Ryniker and Mr. Win- ter are held in the highest esteem in this part of the state, and at Billings they are regarded as valu- able assets to the city's commercial and industrial importance.

JOHN M. S. STILES, manager of the Billings branch of the Nichols and Shepard Company, and owner of one of the valuable ranches near Shelby, Mon- tana, is justly numbered among the worth-while men of the state. He was born at Banfield, Michi- gan, on his father's farm, April 1, 1888, a son of David C. Stiles, now residing one-half a mile out- side of Banfield, Michigan. David C. Stiles was born in Southern Michigan, and has spent all of his mature years on his present farm, being ac- tively engaged in conducting it and dealing in stock. A prominent man of his community, he has often been elected to township offices, but he is independent in his political views. The Methodist Episcopal Church has in him a valued member. David C. Stiles was married to Mary A. Kipp, born in Barry County, Michigan, near Banfield, in 1868, and they became the parents of the fol- lowing children: Floyd E., who is a veterinary surgeon of Battle Creek, Michigan; John M. S., whose name heads this review; Fred T., who is en- gaged in farming in the vicinity of Banfield, Michi- gan; Vern, who died at the age of two years; Karl A., who is living on the farm with his parents ; and Leah Lucille, who is at home.

John M. S. Stiles was reared on the farm and sent to the local schools of Barry County. Later he was a student of the Battle Creek High School, and the Michigan Business and Normal College, from which latter institution he was graduated in IgII. The previous year he had taken a course in the Michigan Agricultural College at Lansing, Michigan. On June 6, 1911, he began his connec- tion with his present firm as filing clerk and mail carrier in the home office at Battle Creek, and was successively promoted until in 1914 he was sent to Billings, Montana, as cashier of the branch at this place. The following year he was made manager of the branch, and has so continued ever since. The Nichols and Shepard Company are builders of threshing machines, and in addition to the home office and plant at Battle Creek, Michigan, have twelve branches. The branch at Billings handles all the business for Montana, and the office and warehouse are located opposite the Union Depot. In addition to the large warehouse for storing the machines there is a well equipped repair shop, and an immense amount of re-building of the ma- chines is done here. A large and complete stock of supplies is carried and Mr. Stiles has under his supervision nine employes. He resides at III5 North Thirty-first Street, but owns a ranch of 160 acres four miles north of Shelby, Toole County,

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 73

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