Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 79

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 79

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a captain of infantry, was severely wounded three times, and in the spring of 1919 was still in hospital recovering from his wounds. Thorleif, the youngest of the family, is a pharmacist in Norway.

S. Arne Erickson attended the public schools of his native city and is a graduate of the Polytechnic Institute there in 1898, having taken the full civil engineering course. He also served a year in the Norwegian military establishment, and had profes- sional experience for two years at Christiania, two years at Zurich, Switzerland, and a year and a half in Copenhagen, Denmark. Mr. Erickson arrived in New York City in 1904 and after a few weeks in St. Paul came to Livingston in August, 1904. In October of that year he was put on the staff of the Northern Pacific Railway Company as an engineer and has devoted his time to those duties ever since. His offices are opposite the main station of the rail- road in Livingston.

Mr. Erickson, who is unmarried, is a member of the American Association of Engineers and is president of the Railway Club of Livingston. He is a republican and is affiliated with Livingston Lodge No. 246 of the Elks. His home is at 103 North Fifth Street.

WALTER B. WHITE. Although a resident of Liv- ingston but a comparatively short time, the name of Walter B. White has already become well known to the citizens of Park County, where he has as- sumed a leading place in the profession of under- taking. He has deemed it a rare privilege to min- ister to the needs of the people in their hours of greatest distress and has conscientiously and ably gone about his work in a manner that has won both the confidence and universal esteem of all classes.

Walter B. White is descended from a long line of sterling Scotch ancestry, his paternal grandfather having emigrated from the lands of hills and heather to Pennsylvania, locating at Prompton, where he was engaged as a farmer and stock raiser. He probably met with foul play, for he was never heard from after starting from home to market with a large herd of cattle. One of his sons was George D. White, who was born on July 20, 1864, at Promp- ton, Pennsylvania. He was reared there and later located at Carbondale, that state, where he con- ducted one of the first barber shops. In 1895 he moved to Paterson, New Jersey, where he served as superintendent of a silk manufactory, in which he was financially interested. In 1911 he was trans- ferred to the mill at Carbondale, Pennsylvania, and in 1917 went to Essington, Pennsylvania, and joined the Westinghouse Company. Two years later he went to Charleston, South Carolina, where he now resides. His religious membership is with the Pres- byterian Church, while in politics he is a republican and was honored with local offices while a resident of Carbondale. In 1887, at Carbondale, Pennsyl- vania, George D. White married Elizabeth Boyd, who died in 1903 at Paterson, New Jersey. To them were born five children, namely : Lillian is the wife of Albert Dary, who is superintendent of a machine shop at Shelton, Connecticut; Walter B .; Harold, who died at Carbondale at the age of twenty-one years, was an appointee to and about to enter the Annapolis Naval Academy; Marion is a stenographer for the Birmingham Foundry Com- pany at Shelton, Connecticut; Jessie is attending school at Shelton.

Walter B. White was born at Carbondale, Penn- sylvania, July 16, 1892. He received his education in the public schools at Paterson, New Jersey, at- tending the high school two years. In 1905 he was apprenticed to the machinist trade, serving four

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years, and then was employed for a similar period in the shops of the Delaware & Hudson Railway. Then, seized with the spirit of the wanderlust, he went from place to place, working at his trade in Pennsyl- vania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, North Caro- lina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Nevada, Colorado, North Dakota and Illinois. In 1913 he came to Montana and for two years and three months was employed in the Northern Pa- cific Railroad shops at Livingston. Not satisfied with that line of work, Mr. White in 1915 went to Philadelphia and entered the Eckels College of Em- balming and Sanitary Science, where he graduated the following year. Then followed two years of valuable experience with the noted undertaking firm of J. Lewis Good & Son of Philadelphia. He then returned to Livingston and on November 1, 1918, engaged in the same line of work. On April 7, 1919, he bought out James W. Whitfield, at that time the leading undertaker there, and he is now considered one of the leading funeral directors of this section of the state. In connection with his office is a chapel, where funeral services may be conducted when desired, and in every way he is equipped to satisfactorily attend to the needs of his patrons.

Politically Mr. White is a republican and takes *an intelligent interest in local public affairs. From December, 1918, to May 5, 1919, he served as dep- uty county coroner, since which time he has served acceptably as coroner. His religious membership is with the Presbyterian Church. Fraternally he is a member of Livingston Lodge No. 32, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Livingston Chapter No. 7, Royal Arch Masons, and St. Bernard Comman- dery No. 6, Knights Templar, Carbondale (Penn- sylvania) Camp, Woodmen of the World, Livings- ton Lodge No. 559, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and National Park Lodge No. 168, Inter- national Association of Machinists.

Mr. White was married on August 14, 1914, at Livingston, Montana, to Willie Bassett, the dangh- ter of J. T. and Mary (Williams) Bassett. The latter is deceased, but the father now resides at Marshall, Texas. Mrs. White is a graduate of the Yellowstone Business College at Livingston.

COL. GEORGE W. MORSE. In the history of every commonwealth there are records of the lives of men which stand forth from those of the majority because of the forceful influence toward constructive citizenship these same men exerted, and their efforts in behalf of the development of their local com- munities and the state. Among these, none is more worthy of permanent preservation than that relative to Col. George W. Morse, now living retired at Drummond, for he is one of the pioneers of Mon- tana, and one of its most honored citizens.

Colonel Morse was born at Whitefield, Lincoln County, Maine, December 2, 1838, a son of Daniel Morse who was born in England in 1788 and died at Whitefield, Maine, in 1863. Daniel Morse came to the United States in young manhood and bought a farm in the Town of Whitefield, although he followed the seas all of his active life, or until he was stricken with paralysis fifteen years prior to his death. He had just returned from a voyage, and was employing his leisure time in building a barn, and becoming overheated, unwisely bathed his feet in the water from a cold spring. As a result, he was paralyzed. While following a seafaring life he was in the employ of Billy Gray, owner of some ninety vessels, and the largest maritime man of his day. In politics Daniel Morse was a Whig. A very religions man, he early became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and continued firm in its faith until his death. He married Mary Norris,

who was born in the Town of Whitefield in 1790, died in the Township of Whitefield in 1886. Their children were as follows: John, who came to Mon- tana in 1869, located at Philipsburg, where he died in 1914, aged seventy-eight years, after having con- ducted a feed store for a number of years; James, who died in the Town of Whitefield when about forty years of age, was a very prominent man, having been a successful merchant, sheriff of Lin- coln County and warden of the penitentiary; Daniel, who was a farmer died in the Town of Whitefield, when sixty years old; Hester, who died in the Town of Whitefield when thirty years old; Mary, who died in the Town of Bradley, Penobscot County, Maine, in 1917; and Colonel Morse, who was the second in order of birth.

Colonel Morse attended the rural schools of Lin- coln County, Maine, and grew up on his father's farm, where he remained until he was fourteen years old, at which time he began working on the Penob- scot River in a sawmill, receiving $13 per month for his services, which amount was turned over to his mother who was left with a large family to support as well as care for her paralyzed husband. He con- tinned to work in the sawmill during the summer and attend school in the winter until 1856, when with $36 as his capital, he started West, and reached Stillwater, Minnesota, where for four years he was engaged in lumbering on the Saint Croix River. Leaving Minnesota, Colonel Morse went to Louisi- ana, and for a year was engaged in work on the Texas & Shreveport Railroad. The westward trend of empire then took him to Pike's Peak and he was engaged in prospecting and mining in its vicinity for four years. It was during 1862 that Colonel Morse first entered Montana, coming at that time to the present site of Deer Lodge, and prospected for a short time, and he was also engaged in min- ing for wages at Orafino, Idaho, and also leased ground for himself. He then went to Auburn, Ore- gon, and mined for wages and dug a ditch for the Oregon Navigation Company, earning quite an amount of money in the four months he was thus employed. Leaving Oregon, he returned to Idaho and until 1865 was engaged in prospecting and min- ing with considerable success. In 1865 he came back to Montana and for a short time was engaged in mining at Bear Gulch, from whence he went to Helena and found gold in paying quantities on Indian Creek. His next prospecting was done at Mercer, Montana, and then for five years he was engaged in gold mining on Elk Creek with marked success. Colonel Morse then went to Utah and buy- ing 600 head of cattle drove them to Rock Creek, Montana, and for the subsequent seven years was engaged in ranching and cattle raising, but then sold at a profit. While he was thus engaged he did business upon an extensive scale, selling 1,200 head of cattle at one time. He then bought a ranch at New Chicago, Montana, and erected a house on it in which he lived until 1914. This ranch comprised 2,200 acres, and on it he raised cattle to such an extent that they consumed 1,200 ton of hay annually. In 1914 he retired and coming to Drummond, built a fine residence which, in conjunction with 320 acres of land he sold in 1919 for $65,000. A whig, with the organization of the republican party he espoused its principles and has held to them ever since. He was presidential elector and cast Montana's first electoral vote for President Harrison. Colonel Morse was delegate at the Chicago Convention in 1912 which nominated Roosevelt. For two terms he served old Deerlodge County as county commis- sioner, and later held the same office for Granite County. Fraternally Colonel Morse belongs to Ruby Lodge No. 36, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons;

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Deer Lodge Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Saint Omar Commandery, Knights Templar of Missoula ; and is a charter member of Algeria Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine of Helena, Montana. He was elected president of the Montana Society of Pioneers in 1915. Colonel Morse has always been interested in the growth of Drum- mond and is a heavy stockholder in the Drummond State Bank.

In 1868 Colonel Morse was married at Ogden, Utah, to Miss Nettie Milliken, a daughter of Edward Milliken, a native of Elsworth, Maine, formerly a miner of Montana, but now deceased. Colonel and Mrs. Morse became the parents of the following children : George A., who operates a grain elevator at Drummond; and Averili, whose sketch appears below. Colonel Morse is a member of the Pioneer Society of Montana and served as its president for one year. Genial in his nature, Colonel Morse is typical of the hardy prospector of his day, through whose endurance, perseverance and optimism the great west was explored and thrown open to set- tlers. Great of brain and big of heart, he has ever been ready to assist others less fortunate than he, and no history of Montana would be complete with- out an extended mention of this fine citizen and up- right mail.

Averill P. Morse, cashier of the Mission State Bank of St. Ignatius, was born at New Chicago, Montana, January 7, 1882, a son of Colonel Morse, and attended the public schools of his native place, and the State University of Montana, from which he was graduated after a three years' course in 1902. Mr. Morse then went to Spokane, Washington, and took a year's course in a business college, follow- ing which he took a position in an office at Columbia Falls, Montana, and held it for four years. In 1907 Mr. Morse located at Drummond and entered upon a mercantile career, conducting a large establishment until 1913, when he sold, and coming to St. Igna- tius took the position of cashier of the Mission State Bank, which he has since held. The bank was estab- lished in 1913 as a state institution, and Mr. Morse's associates in the bank are George H. Beck, president, and Joseph Grenier, Jr., vice president. The capital stock of the bank is $20,000, its surplus is $4,000, and its deposits average $200,000. Like his father Mr. Morse is a republican.

In 1907 Mr. Morse was married at Columbia Falls to Miss Florence Snyder a daughter of D. A. and Pauline Snyder. Mr. Snyder was a farmer, but is now deceased, and his widow, surviving him, lives at Spokane, Washington. Mr. and Mrs. Morse have a daughter, Verna, who was born July 5, 1913.

J. R. KAISERMAN. Specific mention is made of several of the worthy citizens of Livingston within the pages of this work, citizens who have figured in the growth and development of this favored locality and whose interests are identified with its every phase of progress, each contributing in his sphere of action to the well-being of the community in which he resides and to the advancement of its normal and legitimate growth. Among this number is he whose name appears above, a gentleman who, as manager of one of the most important public utility plants in this section of the state, occupies a place of large relative importance in the community.

J. R. Kaiserman, manager for the Montana Power Company at Livingston, was born at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on February 20, 1884, and is the son of John and Julia (Raithel) Kaiserman, both of whom were natives of Germany. John Kaiserman was born in 1858 and came to the United States in about 1876, locating at Peoria, Illinois. Later he removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where until 1896 he was

successfully engaged in the meat and provision busi- ness. He then removed to Richland Center, Wis- consin, where he conducted a general merchandise, meat and provision store until his retirement in 1915. He still resides in Richland Center. He is a member of the Lutheran Church and of the Masonic fra- ternity. The subject's mother was born in 1859 and became the mother of seven children, namely : Louisa, who is the wife of William Hagen, a hard- ware merchant at Marshall, Minnesota; J. R., the next in order of birth; Bertha, who died in child- hood; John, Jr., who was associated in business with his father at Richland Center, and later succeeded to the entire ownership of the store, and died at the age of twenty-seven years; Frederick, who died in infancy ; Hilda, the wife of Horace Burnham, who conducts a lumber business at Richland Center. He enlisted in 1918 for service, took special work in the Rockefeller Institute and was assigned to the Medical Corps, being sent to Norfolk, Virginia, where he remained until mustered out in May, 1919. Gretchen is a teacher in the high school at Mazomanie, Wis- consin.

J. R. Kaiserman received his elementary educa- tion in the public schools of Milwaukee and Rich- land Center. Then, having decided to pursue a technical course, he entered the Armour Institute of Technology at Chicago. Upon the conclusion of his studies in that famous institution, in 1903, he came to Big Timber, Montana, and entered the employ of the Big Timber Electric Light and Power Company, of which he became manager in 1905. Four years later that company was absorbed by the Montana Power Company and Mr. Kaiserman was retained as manager, a position of large responsi- bility. Subsequently, in 1916 he was transferred to Livingston and placed in charge of the Montana Power Company's branch at this place, a place he is still filling to the entire satisfaction of the com- pany and of its patrons. This company supplies light, heat and power to the entire city of Livings- ton, and is thus probably the most important public utility plant in the community. The Northern Pa- cific Railroad Shops are also supplied with light and power which is derived from the large and well equipped generating station at Livingston, where a large number of men are under Mr. Kaiser- man's direction.

Politically Mr. Kaiserman has always been affili- ated with the republican party and has taken a keen interest in public affairs, especially as pertaining to community interests. He rendered appreciated serv- ice as mayor of Big Timber in 1913-15, and since coming to Livingston has become' prominently identified with the important commercial life of the city, being now a director of the Chamber of Com- merce and a member of the Commercial Club. His religious membership is with the English Lutheran Church, while fraternally he belongs to the Knights of Pythias and to Lodge No. 246, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, in which he is now going through the official chairs.

In June, 1909, at Billings, Montana, Mr. Kaiser- man married Sebrah Clark, the daughter of E. O. and Lena B. (Baker) Clark. E. O. Clark was num- bered among the leading citizens of Sweetgrass County, where he was successful as stockman and merchant, and of which county he served as treas- urer. His wife came to Big Timber as a pioneer and took active part in the development of that locality, in various ways contributing to the cul- tural advancement of the community. It was largely through her instrumentality that the library project was started and she served as librarian from its organization until 1917. She is now assistant li- brarian of the library at Livingston, but intends

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eventually to return to her former home at Big Timber. Prior to her marriage Mrs. Kaiserman had received special training as a nurse. To her union to Mr. Kaiserman have been born four chil- dren, namely: E. Clark, born May 25, 1910; John R., June 25, 1911; Maximilian, April 5, 1915; and J. Louis, July 8, 1918.

Although modest and unassuming, Mr. Kaiser- man possesses a strong and vigorous personality, being in the best sense of the term a leader of men and well fitted to manage important enterprises. He and his wife have won a host of warm personal friends in the city of their adoption.

LAWRENCE W. STEELE, who is favorably known in business connections as president of the Berry- man Plumbing Company at Billings, has exemplified in his career the value of a useful trade and the rewards accruing through diligent application to a given line of effort and the following out of a policy of integrity and honorable dealing. Within the space of a few short years he has bridged the distance between an apprenticeship to the presi- dency of a large and constantly growing business, from obscurity to a position of prominence among the substantial business men of his chosen com- munity.

Mr. Steele was born on a farm in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, January 1, 1881, a son of Joseph and Martha (Furgeson) Steele. The Steele family originated in Ireland, from whence immi- grated the grandfather of Lawrence W. Steele, the original immigrant. He located in Westmoreland County, where he followed farming throughout the remainder of his life, and where in 1833 was born his son Joseph. The latter followed in his father's footsteps, also adopting farming as a vocation, an occupation which he followed with a measure of success throughout a long and active career, his death occurring on his homestead in 1902. He was a stanch republican and a member of the Presby- terian Church in which he served as an elder for forty years. His widow, who was born in West- moreland County in 1840, still makes her home there in hale old age. They were the parents of the following children: Jennie, who is unmarried and makes her home with her mother; Emma, the wife of D. H. Sloan, a farmer of Ashland, Ohio; Jackson, who is engaged in the hardware and im- plement business at Latrobe, Pennsylvania; Anna, who married J. J. Larier and resides on a ranch twelve miles east of Billings; Thomas, who is an agriculturist of Derry, Pennsylvania; Lizzie, the wife of J. H. Hazlett, employed in the pottery works at Latrobe, Pennsylvania; Amanda, the wife of E. C. Hazlett, a merchant of Noblestown, Pennsylva- nia ; Martha, who married the Rev. O. E. Barker, a Methodist Episcopal minister with a charge in Colo- rado; J. M., who resides with his mother at La- trobe, Pennsylvania, a stenographer and bookkeeper and the owner of stock in a brick yard; P. H., book- keeper in the First National Bank of Latrobe, Pennsylvania; Lawrence W., of this notice; and George E., employed in the office of the Latrobe Steel Company, at Latrobe.

Lawrence W. Steele was educated in the rural schools of the vicinity of his father's farm in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, where he spent his boyhood, and subsequently attended the high school at Latrobe for two years. At the age of eighteen years he left his school books and began work for a heating firm, subsequently becoming a fitter, and in this way gradually mastered the plumb- er's trade. He followed that vocation at Latrobe for a period of eight years, and during that time was in the service of the same employer, and when

he resigned entered the steel mills, where he re- mained two years. Deciding that there was a better field for the display of his abilities in the West, in 1908 Mr. Steele came to Billings, where he se- cured employment in a plumbing shop as a journey- man and continued to be thus employed for six years. In January, 1914, in partnership with F. L. Golding, he purchased the Berryman Plumbing Company, and after the death of Mr. Golding en- tered into partnership with F. F. Kuschke, who bought into the business and became secretary and treasurer of the concern, the other officials being Mr. Steele, who occupies the position of president; and Mrs. Leah Steele, who is vice president of the con- cern. The plant and office are located at No. 3015 Montana Avenue, and the operations of the concern in the way of plumbing and heating contracting have developed and increased to large proportions and now include the entire Billings and outlying communities. Mr. Steele lives at 3015 Fourth Avenue, North, and owns other dwelling houses, and has a number of important business connec- tions. He is well and favorably known in business circles as a man of integrity and commercial sound- ness, and his associates rely absolutely upon his ability and judgment. Politically he is a republi- can, but during his career he has found little time to engage in political matters. He is a faithful member of the Presbyterian Church, in which he is serving as a member of the board of trustees, and holds membership in the Billings Rotary Club, the Billings Midland Club, Billings Lodge No. 113, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Billings Con- sistory, Thirty-second Degree, Algeria Temple, An- cient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and Billings Tent, Knights of the Maccabees.

In 1909, at Billings, Mr. Steele was united in mar- riage with Miss Leah Stine, daughter of F. A. and Henrietta J. (Heisz) Stine, residents of Billings, where Mr. Stine is engaged in business as a car- penter and contractor. There are no children.

JUDGE CLOYDE E. COMER. To Judge Cloyde E. Comer belongs the honor of serving as the first judge of the newly organized Twentieth District, to which office he was appointed in April, 1919, but he has been prominently identified with the professional and civic life of Montana since 1909.

Judge Comer was born near Walnut, Illinois, Sep- tember 27, 1882, and he early became familiar with the work of the farm and continued as a farmer boy until the age of twenty years, in the meantime attending the country school, the high school at Eagle Grove, Iowa, for two years, and later the high school in Worthington, Minnesota. His lit- erary training was completed by a course of study in Mankato. His father, Stephen Comer, is one of the recent settlers in the State of Minnesota, where he is engaged in agricultural pursuits near Worthing- ton. He was born at Newark, New Jersey, a son of a Civil war soldier who gave up his life in that struggle. This patriot ancestor was a farmer and was descended from early New Jersey settlers of English and Irish extraction. He was born in New Jersey, about 1802.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 79

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