Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 86

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 86

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Mr. Spear was married July 27, 1886, at Junction, Montana, to Frances Gruwell, daughter of C. O. and Sarah B. (Bohannan) Gruwell, who reside near Twin Falls, Idaho, where Mr. Gruwell is engaged in farming. Mrs. Spear was born at Fort Benton, Montana, in 1868, and is a representative of one of Montana's pioneer families. To Mr. and Mrs. Spear there have been born eight children: Clara, the wife of Ira Scribner, of New York City, one of the few men who follow the unusual profession of stage architect; Dora, the wife of W. F. O'Day, of Billings, assistant cashier of the American Bank and Trust Company; Gladys, the wife of Earl Bemis, a resident of Louisville, Ken- tucky; Frances, the wife of Basil Brooks, of Chey- enne, Wyoming, at present in the United States service; Charles Gruwell, at home, his father's assistant; and Martha, John and Mary Jane, who reside with their parents.

PATRICK M. HALLORAN. Indentified almost con- tinuously since boyhood with railroad interests, few men of his years may lay claim to wider ex- perience along certain lines, or better preparatory

PMHalloran

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training for the exceedingly important offices he now holds than Patrick M. Halloran, auditor, treas- urer and secretary of the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railway Company, at Anaconda, Montana.

Patrick M. Halloran was born November 11, 1860, at Hamilton, in the Province of Ontario, Canada. His parents were Patrick and Jane (De- vine) Halloran, both natives of Ireland, the father born in County Clare in 1827, and the mother in County Sligo, in 1832. In early manhood the father emigrated to Canada and located at Hamilton when that city had a population not exceeding 5,000. He was married there, and both he and wife died in that city, the father, in June, 1902, and the mother, January 4, 1919. For many years he had been engaged in a grocery business. In early political life he was a conservative but later united with the liberal party. Both parents were members of the Roman Catholic Church. The following chil- dren were born to them: James Williams, who was born October 5, 1856, operates the grocery store at Hamilton that his father established; John M., who was born December 16, 1858, is a general merchant at Spokane, Washington; Patrick M .; Edward J., who was born December 25, 1863, is manager of a large wholesale carriage goods house at Toronto, is a prominent business man of that city; Catherine, who was born January 26, 1866, resides with her brother, James W., at Hamilton, Canada; Sarah, who was born December 28, 1867, is a nun in Canada, who from 1889 resided in St. Joseph's convent at Hamilton, as mother of novices and in 1919 was promoted to mother su- perior at Arthur, Ontario; Mary, who was born May 26, 1872, has, like her older sister, devoted her life to the service of the church, was mother of novices in the Loretto order, at Toronto, and in 1919 was promoted to mother superior in the Loretto Academy at Englewood, Chicago, Illinois.

Patrick M. Halloran was educated in the parochial schools at Hamilton, and was only fourteen years old when he became self-supporting as a clerk in the car accountant's office, of the Great Western Railway. When he reached the age of nineteen years he left familiar home surroundings and his native land. After reaching Chicago he secured a position in a grocery store, but after three months of work as a grocery clerk, he decided to return to the railroad, and, as he had had previous ex- perience, secured a clerkship in the car accountant's office of the Northwestern Railroad, Chicago, with a salary of $30 a month. After eleven weeks with the Chicago office he was sent in the same capacity to Milwaukee, where he then became car accountant for the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western Rail- way. Rapid promotion followed until he became chief clerk and general bookkeeper, with a salary of $125 a month, continuing as such until April, 1887, during this time occasionally serving also as auditor. In the above month and year he once more essayed mercantile life, embarking in a fur- nishing goods business at Hurley, Wisconsin, but shortly afterward lost his store and stock in a fire that almost destroyed the entire city.

Mr. Halloran then became station agent at Hur- ley and remained there for 11/2 years, when other sections appeared more desirable than the mining town and this led to his becoming chief clerk at Colorado Springs for the Colorado Midland Rail- way, where he remained until 1892. Failing health then indicated needed rest, and he spent a season in his old home in Canada and at Toronto. In October, 1901, he came back to Chicago and for several months assisted in the office of the audi- tor of freight receipts with the Wisconsin Cen-

tral Railway, then became general freight and pas- senger agent and auditor at Marshfield, Wiscon- sin, for the Marshfield & Southeastern Railway, now a part of the Soo System. Mr. Halloran remained there for four years, or until the lumber importance of that region gave out, when he became an employe of the Wisconsin Central Railway in the ticket office at Milwaukee for a few months. Later, for the same railway, he was rate clerk at Manitowoc, where he remained one year. Just about that time, in March, 1897, came his appoint- ment as auditor, treasurer and secretary for the Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway, in answer to an application for position made three years previously. This offer he immediately accepted and his efficient services have been given to this trans- portation line ever since. He has seven clerks un- der his supervision and his offices are with the general offices of the road, on West Commercial Avenue, Anaconda.

On October 2, 1891, Mr. Halloran was united in marriage to Miss Mary S. Harte, who died July 2, 1903. Her parents were Patrick and Barbara (Higgins) Harte, both now deceased. At one time Mr. Harte was a well known teacher and journalist at Hamilton. To the above marriage children were born as follows : Angela, who was born September 13, 1892, at Marshfield, Wisconsin, is city physician for crippled children in New York City, having prepared for this noble work by a course of three years in a nurse's training school at Hamilton, and a year in the Women's Hospital, New York City; William P., who was born November 1, 1893, at Marshfield, is chief clerk to the general freight agent of the Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway Company at Anaconda, and additionally conducts a successful shorthand school here, having been educated in Gonzaga College, Spokane, Washington, and Mount St. Charles College, Helena, Montana; Rachel Jeannette, who was born October 19, 1897, at Ana- conda, is clerk in a business house at Hamilton, Ontario, and formerly taught school; Catherine, who was born February 8, 1899, is a teacher at Hamilton, Canada; John F., who was born June 16, 1900, was graduated from the high school at Hamilton at the age of fifteen, left Notre Dame University to enter the navy, but the ending of the great war made his sacrifice unnecessary and he will complete his col- lege course; Paul Francis, who was born January 29, 1902, is employed in Hamilton; and Mary, who was born June 25, 1903, was a pupil in the Hamilton High School and is now attending Loretta Convent at Toronto, Ontario.

On September 29, 1908, Mr. Halloran was married to Miss May La Belle, who is a daughter of Joseph La Belle and wife, the latter of whom is deceased. The father of Mrs. Halloran is a farmer in Alberta, Canada. They have four children, namely: Inez, who was born November 12, 1909; James, who was horn November 20, 1911; Helen, who was born June 16, 1915; and Philip, who was born November I, 1919. Mr. Halloran belongs to the Roman Catholic Church. He is quite prominent in the order of Knights of Columbus, a member of Anaconda Council No. 882 and treasurer of this council for the past thirteen years, and since its organization fifteen years ago has been treasurer of the State Council. For the past twenty-five years he has been a mem- ber of the Catholic Order of Foresters. He is a man of social impulses and enjoys out-door sports, finding pleasure as a member of the Anaconda Curling Club and the Anaconda Tennis Club, and is president of the latter. He belongs also to that rather exclusive organization, the Anaconda Country Club. Politically a democrat, he takes a good citi-

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zen's interest in party success as well as the general welfare. During 1918 he was president of the City School Board and still belongs to this civic body, and in innumerable ways works to benefit city and state.

ROBERT T. ALLEN, SR., of Billings, is one of the few lawyers still active in practice who tried their first cases while Montana was still a territory. He has been a resident of Billings over thirty-five years, and is widely known for his talents as a lawyer and as one of the leading citizens.

He was born in Noble County, Ohio, June 6, 1850, of an old family of that state and the still older State of Virginia. His grandfather, John Allen, was born in Virginia, grew up and married there, and went as a pioneer to Ohio and died in Monroe County, that state, in 1866. He was a farmer, and served in the Mexican war. He mar- ried Mollie Blondon, a native of Virginia. The Allens as a family were colonial settlers in Virginia, coming from England.

Robert Allen, father of the Billings lawyer, was born in Virginia in 1814. He became a farmer and wagon maker in Noble County, Ohio, and died there in 1850, the same year his son was born. He was a member of the Methodist Church. Robert Allen married Rachel Guiler. She was born in Pennsylvania March 4, 1828, and died at Billings, Montana, December 24, 1917. Her father, William Guiler, was born in Ireland in 1780, came to Amer- ica in early life, served with the Americans in the War of 1812 and was a pioneer farmer in Ohio. He died near Freedom in Noble County in 1864. His wife, Mary Franklin, was also a native of Ireland. Robert Allen and wife had two chil- dren, Dr. W. A. Allen, a dentist at Billings, and Robert T.

Robert T. Allen acquired his early education in the rural schools of his native Ohio county. In 1864, when he was fourteen years old, his widowed mother moved to Centerville, Iowa, and he grad- uated from the high school there in 1868. His preparation for the legal profession was made in the University of Iowa at Iowa City, where he graduated with the LL. B. degree in 1875. For a time Mr. Allen taught school, and for one year practiced law with the firm of Hall & Baldwin at Burlington, Iowa. He came to Billings in 1882, and was associated with all the pioneer lawyers of that day. He still gives his time to an active prac- tice, with offices in the Chicago Building. Mr. Allen has perhaps been chiefly distinguished as a criminal lawyer. One of his most notable cases was the prosecution of the Bussy case. Bussy had taken refuge in a box and was shot fifteen times and killed. His assailant through the efforts of Mr. Allen was convicted and sentenced to six years in the penitentiary. Mr. Allen served as county attorney one term, city attorney one term, and one term as justice of the peace.

He is a republican, and is a prominent Methodist. He was one of the seven organizers of the Methodist Church at Billings, and has filled every lay office in that church. He is a former member of the Good Templars and a member of the Commercial Club.

Mr. Allen lives in a modern home at 317 North Thirty-second Street. He married at Fountain City, Wisconsin, in 1885 Miss Minnie Finkelburg. Her father, J. A. Finkelnburg, who died at St. Augustine, Florida, was at one time judge of the District Court of Buffalo County, Wisconsin, and afterward served in the Wisconsin State Senate. Mr. and Mrs. Allen have three children. Roscoe F. is a mining engineer with offices at Los Angeles, and

in the practice of his profession has spent three and a half years in old Mexico and two and a half years in Central America. Pattie, who is unmar- ried, was for eight years a teacher in the Billings High School and in 1918 took up a new work as an educator at San Antonio, Texas. Bernice is the chief stenographer of the Merchants National Bank at Billings.

THOMAS M. KEHOE. The career of Hon. Thomas M. Kehoe, one of the foremost citizens of Billings, as been one of intense and unceasing activity, of participation in events which have made history, and of achievements as a business man, rancher, soldier and statesman. His rise from clerkship in a drug store to the ownership of large tracts of valuable Montana lands and the incumbency of positions of importance and responsibility in various walks of life has been at the same time somewhat spectacular, thoroughly consistent and entirely well merited.

Mr. Kehoe was born at Bailey's Harbor, Wis- consin, July 19, 1870, a son of Patrick and Mary (Madigan) Kehoe. His father was born in 1836, in County Wicklow, Ireland, and at the age of seven- teen years accompanied his parents to America, the family first locating in the Province of Ontario, Canada. One year later the eighteen-year-old youth made his way to the United States and after spend- ing two years in Illinois, where he was married, went to Bailey's Harbor, Wisconsin, and embarked in the lumber shipping business, which he followed for several years on the Great Lakes. In 1874 he removed to Worth County, Iowa, where he em- barked in farming, and continued to be an agricul- turist in that state until 1900, when he practically retired from active affairs and took up his residence at Minneapolis, Minnesota. Shortly thereafter, how- ever, he went to Fergus Falls, Minnesota, and there his death occurred September 4, 1916. Mr. Kehoe was a man of strong and rugged personality, of sound integrity, and of real native ability. He was a stanch democrat, and his religious faith was that of the Roman Catholic Church. He married Mary Madigan, who was born in 1838 in County Limerick, Ireland, and in her early girlhood was brought by her parents to America, the family first settling in Ontario, Canada, from whence they subsequently removed to Illinois, where she met and married Mr. Kehoe. Mrs. Kehoe died in Worth County, Iowa, in 1889, the mother of two sons: Edward J., a farmer in the vicinity of Fergus Falls, Minnesota ; and Thomas M.

Thomas M. Kehoe attended the public schools of Worth County, Iowa, while spending his boy- hood on his father's farm, and subsequently en- rolled as a student at the Minneapolis Academy, from which institution he was graduated as a mem- ber of the class of 1894. He next took a three-year course in the University of Minnesota, at Min- neapolis, and was graduated in pharmacy in 1897. During his college career he was one of the mem- bers of the varsity football team, with which he won his letter, was a great favorite with the students, and displayed remarkable prowess not only upon the gridiron but in all lines of athletic sport. Following his graduation he secured a position in a drug store at Minneapolis, but at this time his career was interrupted by the outbreak of the Spanish-American war. Mr. Kehoe offered his ser- vices as a volunteer and was accepted as a mem- ber of the Fifteenth Minnesota Infantry, being sent for training to Camp Ramsey and later to Fort Snelling. He then went with his command to Camp Meade, Pennsylvania, and was later sent to Camp Mckenzie, Augusta, Georgia, but the war came

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to a termination before he could get into active service and he was mustered out with the rank of sergeant. In March, 1899, he returned to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he was located in the sum- mer of the same year when a call was made for 100,000 volunteers to put down the Philippine in- surrection. He at once volunteered and was ac- cepted, becoming a member of the Forty-Fifth United States Volunteers, and in this enlistment saw much active service, going through the cam- paign on the Island of Luzon, Philippine Islands, as a member of Gen. John C. Bates' division. Fol- lowing the surrender of Aguinaldo he returned to the United States and was mustered out at San Francisco with the rank of sergeant, and returned to St. Paul, where he again resumed his prosaic duties as a drug clerk.

Mr. Kehoe's entry into Montana occurred in the fall of 1901, when he located at Missoula and secured a position in a drug store. In the summer of 1905 he changed his location to Billings and opened the Red Cross Drug Store, of which estab- lishment he was proprietor for five years, during which time he built up a large and prosperous busi- ness. Mr. Kehoe was appointed a member of the Montana State Board of Pharmacy in 1910, by Governor E. L. Norris, and served efficiently in that capacity for four years, and in 1915 was chosen deputy sheriff of Yellowstone County, and acted in that position for two years. In the meantime he had commenced farming operations, which he has since developed to impressive proportions. Grad- ually, but surely, Mr. Kehoe had been coming more and more before the people, his natural qualities of leadership asserting themselves and making them- selves carry an influence upon others. His fitness for the post of state legislator made him the logical choice of the democratic party in his district in the fall of 1916, and he was sent to the Legislature as representative from Yellowstone County. In that distinguished body, during the Fifteenth Ses- sion, he immediately displayed his abilities and as- sumed a position among the leaders of the House. In addition to acting as speaker pro tem he was chairman of the important way and means com- mittee, and a member of the insurance, education and corporations other than municipal committees, and in addition to other important, valuable and constructive work was the father of the successful bill for the commission manager form of govern- ment for cities.

Since his retirement from the Legislature Mr. Kehoe has devoted himself largely to the improve- ment of his ranches, although he makes his home at Billings, where he has quarters at the Billings Club. His main ranch is located six miles north of Pompey's Pillar, consisting of 640 acres devoted to the growing of grain, and in addition he owns a property of a like acreage, as yet unimproved, in the same locality. He is a member of the Roman Catholic Church, and is prominent in the Knights of Columbus, in which he is a fourth degree knight, a member of Billings Council No. 1250. and past state deputy for the state of Montana. He belongs also to the Billings Lodge No. 394. Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is vice president of the Billings Club. Likewise, he is a member of Camp Bruce Wallace of the United Spanish War Veterans, and past department commander for the State of Montana. Mr. Kehoe is unmarried.

CHARLES D. THURBER. American enterprise has developed one section of this vast country after another. As soon as one community becomes too congested the more aggressive members of it go forth to less thickly settled regions, taking with

them indomitable courage and faith in their new environment. Thus it is that Billings has had so remarkable a growth. Its leading business and professional men are those who have come here because they did not find in their old home suffi- cient opportunity for development of their capabil- ities, and because they recognized the possibilities of the great State of Montana for those willing . to work hard to make them actualities. Charles D. Thurber, proprietor of the Billings Carriage Works, is just such a man, and his success is indicative of the man and his community. He was born at Hillsboro, Vernon County, Wisconsin, Sep- tember 29, 1867, coming of Scotch ancestry, his forebearers leaving that country for the American colonies and here helping to determine the policies of New York.

George W. Thurber, father of Charles D. Thurber, was born in 1843 at South Bend, Indiana, to which place the family had come with the westward tide of civilization, and he died at Barron, Wisconsin, in 1899, having gone to that state from Indiana when eighteen years of age. In 1861 George W. Thurber set an example which his grandson followed many years afterward, that of fighting for his country by enlisting in the Sixth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and serving during the whole of the Civil war. He participated in the battle of Gettysburg, where he was captured and sent to Belle Isle, from which he escaped. Unfortunately he was re-captured and confined at Andersonville, from which he was not released until after peace was declared. Returning to Wisconsin, he resumed his agricultural work, and spent the remainder of his life in that state. A republican of the stanchest type. he was called upon to fill a number of the township offices. The Baptist Church held his membership and benefited by his generosity of time and money. For many years he was a member of the Masonic fraternity. George W. Thurber was united in marriage with Lottie Jane Hill, born at Hillsboro, Wisconsin, which was named for her father, William W. Hill, the first settler in the township, as well as the first in the eastern part of Vernon County. Her death occurred at Baron, Wisconsin, in 1901, when she was forty-eight years old. She and her husband had the following children: Charles D., whose name heads this review; Alice, who died at the age of twenty-five years; Inez, who married Sam Bailkey, manager of the Excelsior Mill of Oshkosh, Wisconsin ; Myrtle, who married E. C. Leonard, now deceased, was foreman for the Verick Motor Com- pany, and his widow resides at Minneapolis, Min- nesota; William, who resides at Fargo, North Da- kota, is engaged in farming; and Arthur, of whom nothing definite is known.

Charles D. Thurber attended the schools of Hills- boro and Baron, Wisconsin, and remained on his father's farm until he was twelve years old. at which time he began learning the blacksmithing trade, before school and on holidays. After com- nleting his trade he followed it at Baron and in Minnesota, and in 1905 came to Montana and for four years was in the employ of the Witmer Car- riage Works at Helena, leaving there in 1900 for Basin, Montana, where he was connected with the Heinze machine plant until IOII. In that year he came to Billings and established his present business, of which he continues to be the proprietor. His plant is located at No. 2311 First Avenue, North. and here he carries on a general blacksmithing and repair business on carriages and automobiles. His is the leading establishment of its kind at Billings, and so excellent is his work that his trade is drawn from a wide territory. Mr. Thurber is independent in his political views, but takes a deep

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interest in the improvement of civic conditions. His fraternal connections are with Billings Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and Billings Camp, Modern Woodmen of America. His family residence, which is a comfortable one, is at No. 107 North Nineteenth Street.

In 1889 Mr. Thurber was married first to Miss Bessie Treat, born at Bloomer, Wisconsin, and she died at Baron, Wisconsin, in 1898, having borne her husband the following children: Wilbur, who as a member of the National army on overseas service was sent into Germany after the signing of the armistice; Hazel, who married Trueman Hopkins, a smelter, lives at Anaconda, Montana; and Verna, who is married and lives at Wallace, Idaho, where her husband is interested in mining. Mr. Thurber was married second, in 1904, at Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, to Miss Ida Ehlenburg, born in Illinois, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Ehlen- burg. Mr. Ehlenburg, who is a retired railroad man, lives at Gilberta, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Thurber have three children, namely: Harold, Cleo and Charlotte, all of whom are attending the public schools of Billings.

JAMES WILLIAM DRAKE. One of the oldest rail- way train men and conductors in the Northwest, James William Drake has had an active experience of thirty years and of nearly a quarter of a century in Montana. He is now one of the veteran railway conductors for the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul.

Mr. Drake, whose home is at Lewistown, was born in Clay County, South Dakota, on his father's farm, May 27, 1870, son of Frederick M. and Nellie E. (Rotnor) Drake. His parents were both born in Elgin, Illinois. Frederick Drake at the age of sixteen enlisted in the Union army and was with his command in all its skirmishes and battles until the close of hostilities, when he received his honor- able discharge. He then engaged in the drug busi- ness at West Union, Iowa, later located at Decorah, Iowa, and engaged in general contracting, building state and county roads. From there he moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, and in 1883 went to work for the Great Northern Railway as a freight conductor. Later his home was in Minneapolis, where he was on the police force for several years. He died in 1903, at the age of fifty-six. He was a republican in politics. His wife died in 1905, also aged fifty-six. James William is the oldest of four sons and has one brother living.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 86

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