Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 80

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 80

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Stephen A. Comer was reared as a farmer lad, and while the education he received was not thor- ough, it was yet a liberal training for his day, and he became a well read man. About the time he attained his majority he left his native State of New Jersey for Illinois, where he farmed for a time near Walnut. Mr. Comer was married in that locality to Mary Bodine, whose father was one of the pioneer farmers of that region, but Mrs. Comer was born in Michigan. The young couple soon moved farther west, to Iowa, while in 1903 they

LW. Steele

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

again took up the westward march and established their home at Worthington, Minnesota. Their first children were born in Illinois, and in time four sons and two daughters were born into their home, namely : Cloyde E., the Montana lawyer and judge ; Mabel, the wife of Severt Sorum, of Worthington, Minnesota; Walter, who also resides at Worthing- ton; Irvin, whose home is in Minneapolis; Edna, who died at Worthington; and Merl, the youngest child of the family. Mr. Comer, the father, has always been a republican voter, but exercises his right of franchise merely as a patriotic and progressive citi- zen.

Cloyde E. Comer came to Montana from Minne- sota, in which latter state he spent about six years, chiefly as a student. Before taking up his prepara- tion for the law he pursued the literary course in the University of Minnesota, and before completing his law course in that institution his funds became exhausted and he came to Montana to earn the means to complete his professional studies. Arriving at Culbertson, Montana, in April, 1909, he served as a law clerk until the following fall, when he took the bar examination in Helena, but continued his law work in Culbertson until October, 1910, when he opened a law office at Medicine Lake and followed a general law practice there until his appointment by Governor Stewart as the first judge of the Twentieth District.

As a Sheridan County citizen Judge Comer has borne his full share in the civil and military bur- dens of the community. In September, 1918, he volunteered for military service as a member of Company K, Central Officers Training Corps, at Camp McArthur, Texas, where he remained through- out the war and was discharged there about the Ist of December, 1918. He was also chairman of the Sheridan County Council of Defense. The work of the democratic party has also claimed a share of his time and attention, and in 1916, three years before he was elevated to the bench, he was the democratic candidate for district judge of the Seven- teenth District, but was defeated. In his fraternal affiliations he is an Odd Fellow and a Master Mason, and a layman of the order.

After coming to Montana, Judge Comer exercised his homestead right near Colridge, in Sheridan County, where he built for himself what was con- sidered a good country home for a pioneer, and there he began his married life. He had married at Medicine Lake, May 15, 1913, Miss Hilda Peter- son, who was born in Sweden in 1890, but was educated in Minnesota and became a teacher, follow- ing her profession in country schools in Minnesota and in the Medicine Lake schools. Her father was a Swedish settler of Hinkley, Minnesota. The mar- riage of Judge and Mrs. Comer has been without issue.

JASPER W. DAY. The real estate and loan busi- ness established at Billings by Jasper W. Day in 1917, while still practically in its infancy, has gone hand in hand with the development of the city since that year, and undoubtedly has contributed materi- ally toward the advantageous disposal of property and the honorable and satisfactory placing of loans during the comparatively short period of its exist- ence. Mr. Day, a progressive and enterprising citi- zen of his community, is likewise engaged in ranch- ing, and in each of his ventures is meeting with the kind of success that rewards well directed efforts that are governed by honorable principles and in- tegrity.

Mr. Day was born at Rubicon, Wisconsin, Angust 14. 1875, a son of James and Sarah (Hodson) Day.

James Day was born at Ipswich, England, in 1834, on the old manor farm of his father, also named James Day, who passed his entire life in Ipswich, where he cultivated his estate. The younger James Day was reared and educated at Ipswich, where he resided until he was eighteen years of age, and at that time immigrated to the United States and became a pioneer farmer of Dodge County, Wis- consin. Settling down to the pursuits of the soil, he rounded ont a useful and successful career as an agriculturist, and died in 1913, at Hartford, Wis- consin, within ten miles of his old homestead, which he had cleared and reclaimed from the wilderness. He was a republican, but never sought the honors of public life, being content with his farm, his home and his family. In Wisconsin he was married to Sarah Hodson, who was born in 1837, in Sheffield, England, and who survives him as a resident of Hartford, Wisconsin, and they became the parents of the following children: George T., a farmer of the vicinity of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin; James B., a large property owner and real estate broker of Hartford; Albertus, the owner of much farming property and a real estate broker of Fond du Lac; Mary J., the wife of George W. Baker, a Texas ranchman; Frederick, the owner of valuable coal mining property at Farmington, Illinois; Frank, a real estate broker and large property owner of West Bend, Wisconsin; Caroline, who is unmar- ried and makes her home with her mother; Jasper W., of this review; and Walter R., who is engaged in agricultural pursuits in the locality of Horicon, Wisconsin.

Jasper W. Day received his education in the public schools of Dodge County, Wisconsin, and after a two-year course in the Hartford (Wisconsin) High School attended the Dixon Business College at Dixon, Illinois, from which he was gradnated in 1895. Mr. Day's next experience was in the line of farming, a vocation for which he had been fitted by his early training on his father's farm, but after one year became attracted to railroading, as are so many country youths, and was station agent and telegraph operator for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad at various points in Wisconsin until 1901. From the latter year until 1906 he was located in the same capacity at Huntley, Montana, for the Northern Pacific Railway, and during this time, in the fall of 1905, branched out into a new line of activity, when he opened the first store at Huntley, an enterprise which he conducted for five years before disposing of his interests. Realiz- ing the opportunities in that growing and thriving little city, Mr. Day turned his attention to the real estate and loan business, which he followed at Huntley until 1917, doing much to develop and ad- vance the interests of the community, but in the year mentioned felt that he should have a wider scope for the demonstration of his abilities, and ac- cordingly came to Billings, where he has since car- ried on extensive and constantly-growing opera- tions, with offices at No. 210 Stapleton Building. Mr. Day handles farms, farm loans and city prop- erties, and has been the medium through which some large transactions have been brought to a satisfactory conclusion. He owns his own modern home at No. 112 Wyoming Avenue. As a rancher, Mr. Day is the owner of 3,000 acres of splendid land in Yellowstone and Stillwater counties, on which he grows grain and alfalfa, and has likewise been an extensive cattle raiser. All of his operations have been characterized by strict adherence to high business ideals and principles and he has accord- ingly secured a position high in the confidence of his business associates.

Mr. Day was married January 20, 1896, at Fond

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du Lac, Wisconsin, to Miss Sadie A. Mann, dangh- ter of the late John W. and Sarah (Bloor) Mann, farming people of Neosho, Wisconsin, both now deceased. One child has been born to this union: Hazel F., who was the first white child born at Huntley Montana, while this was still within the boundaries of the Crow Reservation. She is now a junior in the Billings High School.

Mr. Day is a stanch republican in his political adherence, but has not found time to enter actively into public or political life. His fraternal connec- tion is with Ashlar Lodge No. 29, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and he holds membership also in the Billings Midland Club.

JUDGE DAVID M. DURFEE. There are some men who both as lawyers and jurists treat law as a science, founded on established principles. Such men never make any arguments in court without displaying their habits of thinking, resorting at once to some well-founded principle of law and draw- ing their deductions logically from their premises. One of these ornaments to the bar and bench is Judge David M. Durfee now engaged in the prac- tice of his profession at Philipsburg. In his prac- tice he has risen to lofty heights of professional eminence by his profound penetration, his power of analysis, the comprehensive grasp and strength of his understanding, and the firmness, frankness and integrity of his character. Judge Durfee was born in Schenectady County, New York, July 22, 1855, a son of David P. Durfee, and a member of one of the old-established families of this coun- try. Thomas Durfee, the founder of the family, came to the American colonies from England in 1660, and located at Portsmouth, Rhode Island, and one of his descendants, who bore his name, became chief justice of Rhode Island. Another descendant of the original Thomas Durfee. Earl Dur- fee, the great-grandfather of Judge Durfee, served as a soldier in the American Revolution. A son of Earl Durfee, Abraham Durfee was the grand- father of Judge Durfee, and he was born in Rhode Island in 1777, and died in Schenectady County, New York, in 1863, having been one of the pioneer farmers of that region. He married a Miss Pot- ter, who belonged to the same family as Bishop Potter of New York.

David P. Durfee, father of Judge Durfee, was born in Schenectady County, New York in 1811, and died in the same county in 1889, having spent his entire life there following the occupation of a farmer. A Jacksonian democrat, he remained steadfast to the principles of the great leader, and was elected on his party ticket highway commmis- sioner of his county. For many years he was a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Margaret Rector, was born in the same county as her husband, in 1817, and died there in 1878. Their children were as fol- lows: Francis M., who died at Philipsburg when sixty-two years old, came west to Colorado in 1861, to Virginia City, Montana, in 1864, and Phil- ipsburg in the 'zos, being a pioneer rancher, hum- berman and miner and operated his sawmill at an early day at Clancy, Jefferson County, Mon- tana; James E., who was a miner and rancher, died near San Diego, California, in 1914; Louisa E., who married Louis Ruff, now deceased, a farmer of Schenectady County, New York, resides in that county; Oscar F., who is a farmer of Schoharie County, New York; Adelaide, who married Thomas Botscheider, a contractor and builder of Philips- burg, and a rancher and banker; Judge Durfee, whose name heads this review; and Leonard A.,

who was a pioneer lumberman of Philipsburg in business with his brother, Francis, died here in 1879.

Judge David M. Durfee received his preliminary educational training in the schools of Schenectady County, and the Schoharie Academy at Schoharie, New York, following which for two years he was engaged in teaching in the schools of his native state. He then entered the law office of N. P. Hinman of Albany, New York, and remained there for a year, and then for three years resumed the duties of a school master in Somerset County, Mary- land, and at the same time kept on with his legal studies to such good purpose that he was admitted to the bar of Maryland at Annapolis by the Su- preme Court of the state, in 1882. Realizing that the openings for an ambitious young man in his profession were better in the more recently de- veloped sections of the country, Mr. Durfee came west to Philipsburg, and until. he had established himself in practice spent six months in the lumber woods, and also taught school, being thus employed for three years. In 1885 he began to realize upon his good judgment in selecting this region, and entered upon an active practice, and has the dis- tinction of being the first of his calling in Philips- burg. In 1886 his fellow citizens honored him by electing him county attorney of Deerlodge County, which then included Philipsburg, and he held the office for two years, and in that time so proved his mettle, that in 1889 he was selected as one of the delegates to the constitutional convention. His record up to this time was of such a nature as to make him the logical candidate for judge of Deer- lodge County, and he was elected to the office in the fall of 1889 with a flattering majority, and served for three vears, the short term, and in this office, as in his first one, he was the first man to be elected to it. In 1892 Granite County was or- ganized, and Judge Durfee returned to Philipsburg the following year, preferring to cast his lot with the new county, and here he has since been engaged in a general civil and criminal practice. During the period which ensued, Judge Durfee has not been permitted to remain out of public life, but has held the office of prosecuting attorney for six terms, of two years each, and is the present in- cumbent of that important office. Since casting his first vote Judge Durfee, like his father, is a follower of the principles enunciated by Andrew Jackson, and is a strong factor in the democratic party. His offices are conveniently located in the McDonald Theatre Building on Sansome Street. Judge Durfee is a Catholic. He belongs to Philips- burg Lodge, Knights of Pythias, having joined this order in Maryland; Missoula Council, Knights of Columbus, in which he has taken the third degree; Selah Tribe, Improved Order of Red Men of Philipsburg, and the Philipsburg Commercial Club. The convenient modern residence occupied by the Durfee family on the corner of Pearl and Sutter streets is owned by Judge Durfee as well as three dwellings in Missoula, Montana.

On February 1, 1888, Judge Durfee was united in marriage with Miss Emelie J. Irving of Balti- more, Maryland, a daughter of Thomas and Emelie (Delmas) Irving, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. Irving was a prominent man and successful merchant of Baltimore. The marriage ceremony of Judge and Mrs. Durfee was performed by Car- dinal Gibbons. In 1902 Mrs. Durfee was acciden- tally shot at Missoula, Montana. Their children were as follows: Enlalie, who married Buford Collings, a farmer of Kansas City, Missouri; Thomas Irving, who is an electrical engineer for the Minnesota Steel Company, resides at Duluth,

D. M. Durfee

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Minnesota; Adelaide, who married Ellery C. Proc- tor, a merchant of Proctor, Montana; Marie J., who is a graduate nurse, resides at Missoula, Montana. In November, 1903, Judge Durfee was married to Miss Elizabeth E. Kelley at Missoula, Mon- tana, a daughter of Patrick Kelley of San Francisco, California, a well known builder and contractor who died in 1918. Judge and Mrs. Durfee have one daughter, Eileen, who was born October 31, 1912.

For some years Judge Durfee has been connected with every important case in Granite County, and in their conduct has proven himself to be one of the most enlightened, intrepid and persevering friends of law and order this section possesses, and constantly inspires admiration and lively inter- est for the intensity and sagacity with which he pursues his investigations. As a jurist he was masterly in his handling of testimony, and his whole soul was enlisted in securing impartial justice for those brought into his court. Montana has few men of Judge Durfee's calibre, and Granite County is proud of the distinction conferred upon it by his presence within its confines.

FREDERICK PANTON RIXON. Prominent among the business men of Billings who have found time from their personal affairs to devote to the interests of their community is found Frederick Panton Rixon. While Mr. Rixon is a Canadian by birth, having been born in the Province of Ontario, November 23. 1874, he is a thorough Montanan by training, and has been a resident of Billings for thirty-eight years, during a large part of which time he has been en- gaged in the drug business. His public service rec- ord is a long and honorable one, and includes the accomplishment of much valuable and constructive work as county treasurer and a member of the Montana House of Representatives.

Mr. Rixon belongs to a family which originated in England and the founder of which in Canada emigrated first to Baltimore, Maryland, he being the great-grandfather of Frederick P. Rixon. From Baltimore he went to the Province of Ontario, where his son, Frederick P. Rixon's grandfather, was born and where the latter spent the remainder of his life engaged in agricultural pursuits. John Rixon, the father of Frederick P., was born in 1839, in Canada, and was there reared, educated and married. During the greater part of his life he was engaged in farming and journalism, and his career was one in which he displayed versatile and marked, if not eminent talents. In 1881 he came to the United States, coming into Miles City, Mon- tana, by railway, and then driving overland by team as a pioneer to the straggling little village of Bill- ings, at that time situated beyond the point to which the railways had yet extended. At Billings he entered the office of the Herald, one of the city's first newspapers, and from that time forward until his death in November, 1904, was identified with newspaper work. He was a republican in his po- litical adherence, and was a member of the Episco- pal Church and a devout churchman. Mr. Rixon married Susanna Panton, who was born in Ontario, Canada, in 1845, and who survives her husband and makes her home at Billings. They became the par- ents of the following children: Anna, the wife of P. L. Reece, a railroad contractor of Nicholson, Pennsylvania; Mary, who died at the age of seven- teen years; Rebecca, who married Leslie Bates, manager for a large fire insurance company at San Francisco, California; Eleanor, the wife of John B. Fritschi, also connected with a fire insurance concern at San Francisco; Frederick Panton, of this review; William P., engaged in the real estate and insur-

ance business at Billings; Winifred, the wife of Charles J. Chapple, a druggist of Billings, and Har- old Alfred Rixon, who is assistant cashier of the Security Bank of Billings.

Frederick Panton Rixon received his education in the public schools of Billings, having accompanied his parents here as a lad of seven years. When he was thirteen years of age he decided that he had sufficient education to start himself off in life, and at that time entered a drug store and received his in- troduction to the vocation which was to later become his life work. Also, for two years, he was in the service of the Northern Pacific Railway, but eventually, at the age of seventeen years, decided that his educational training was not sufficient for his needs, and accordingly returned to his studies, which he pursued for several years. When he con- sidered that he was adequately equipped he returned to the drug business, which he thoroughly mastered, and in 1904 became a member of the drug firm of Holmes & Rixon, an association which continued successfully over a period of sixteen years. In 1916 Mr. Rixon became sole proprietor of the busi- ness, when he bought the interests of his partner, and the establishment, located in the Yellowstone National Bank Building, is today one of the leading pharmacies of Billings. Mr. Rixon is an excellent business man, noted for his integrity and a sense of business honor that makes certain the handling of only reliable goods and the careful preparation of prescriptions, while his unfailing courtesy has also contributed to the factors which have given him business success. A republican in politics and a citizen who believes in the responsibility of every man to perform public service, for some years he has been before his fellow-citizens in official capaci- ties. Elected city treasurer in 1896, he established an excellent record, but did not run for a second term. He next served for three years as deputy clerk of the court, and in 1914 was sent to the House of Representatives in the fifteenth session of that body. There his services were constructive in character and beneficial to his district and his state. He also served one term as county treasurer. Mr. Rixon is a member of the Episcopal Church and senior warden thereof. He belongs to the Billings Midland Club and is prominent in fraternal circles, holding membership in Ashlar 'Lodge No. 29, An- cient Free and Accepted Masons, Billings Lodge No. 394, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Billings Lodge Knights of Pythias, and Billings Camp Woodmen of the World.

Mr. Rixon's modern home is located at No. 24 North Thirty-first Street. He is unmarried.

GEORGE P. J. ARNOLD, JR. It is not within the ability of every man to be successful both as an employer and employe. Certain characteristics are necessary in order that a man may represent both capital and labor. He must be fair in his judg- ments, npright in his actions, and open to argu- ment. While George P. J. Arnold, Jr., is not ex- actly a mediator between capital and labor as the term generally applies and is understood, still in his capacity as general manager of the Lewistown branch of the Banking Corporation of Montana, the largest investment banking company in the Northwest, he occupies a position calling for a dis- play of much executive ability and the exercise of tact and good judgment.

Mr. Arnold was born in the city of New York, July 30, 1873, a son of George P. J. and Elizabeth (Hammerschmidt) Arnold, natives of Germany, the former of whom died at the age of sixty-eight years, in 1904, while the latter passed away Novem- ber 10, 1893. They were married in New York

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city and became the parents of two sons and two daughters, of whom three children are living, George P. J. having been the second child in order of birth. George P. J. Arnold, the elder, was drafted into the Prussian army, and served in the Franco-Prussian war as a drummer boy. Subse- quently he learned the cigar making trade, and followed it in his native land until he was twenty- seven years of age. For a long time he had been dissatisfied with the German form of government, and had wished to become a citizen of a free country, but had been hampered by a lack of finances. After his arrival in New York city he secured employment at his trade, and later, after having accumulated some capital, embarked in busi- ness on his own account, his first establishment be- ing in New York City and his second at Jersey City, where his last years were spent. While he was a member of the German Mainz Society, he was al- ways a stanch citizen of his adopted land. In poli- tics he was originally a whig and later a repub- lican.

George P. J. Arnold, Jr., is a self-made man. He attended the public schools of New York City only until he was fourteen years of age, at which time he went to work for a wholesale liquor dealer at a wage of $3.00 per week. Subsequently he learned the gold-beater's trade at Jersey City, and after spending about five years in that vocation turned his attention to the coal and ice business at Jersey City and continued as the proprietor of such an enterprise there until 1899. Mr. Arnold's next ven- ture was in selling and contracting asbestos material, but this he gave up in 1903 when his activities and energetic nature carried him into an entirely differ- ent line of work as first assistant steward on the steamer City of Memphis, for the Ocean Steamship Company. Six months of experience sufficed to convince Mr. Arnold that he did not care to make this his life work, and his inclinations took another radical change, this in the direction of general farm- ing near Clinton, Connecticut, which occupation he followed for three years. In 1906 he moved to Del- aware and followed fruit farming, he having pur- chased a property of this character. He sold this farm in May, 1908, and on the 30th of that month arrived at Lewistown, Montana, where, June 8, 1908, he homesteaded on 160 acres of land in Fergus County, eight miles from the present site of Den- ton. There he built the first cabin, into which he and his wife moved, and began operations which have since increased his holdings in that community to 640 acres. This property he rents out. On March 1, 1914, Mr. Arnold became branch manager for the E. C. Shoemaker Company, farm mortgages, at Stanford, Fergus County, and in the spring of 1915 became assistant manager for the same concern at Lewistown. In December, 1916, the business of this company was taken over by The Banking Cor- poration of Montana, now the largest investment banking company in the Northwest, and in 1917, Mr. Arnold was advanced to his present position as general manager of the business at Lewistown. A man of unusual public spirit, interested in local affairs and jealous of the reputation of the city of his adoption, he has become a powerful factor in the furtherance of any measure which has for its aim the advancement of the people or the better- ment of existing conditions. He invariably acts from conviction, and is steadfast in his friendships as he is in the sincerity and integrity of his actions. Although his interests are widespread and the de- mand upon his time imperative, he is uniformly courteous, listening patiently and acting wisely ac- cording to the judgment his ripe experience has

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 80

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