Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 89

Author: Stout, Tom, 1879- ed
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 1126

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Benjamin Franklin White lived in his native com- munity until he was nineteen years of age, acquiring his education in the public schools and is a graduate of the Pierce Academy at Middleborough, Massa-

chusetts. He began earning money as a boy, and a sum of thirteen dollars he earned hauling logs for an uncle he used to purchase a watch. He was not content to enjoy the prosperity and comfort of a well ordered home in New England. Urged on by some of the spirit of his Pilgrim ancestors he went to sea, sailed to Australia and China, and in 1858 came around the Horn to San Francisco. He was in California until 1866, engaged in mining and ranching. From 1866 to 1879 he lived in Oneida County, Idaho, where he became extensively inter- ested in the salt business. He also served as county clerk and recorder of that county.

With the building of the Utah Northern Railroad, now the Oregon Short Line, into Montana, Mr. White followed the progress of that road as freight forwarder, and developed the largest wagon freight service in the West, using 2,000 wagons for the re- shipment of goods all over Montana from the ter- minus of the railroad. When the road reached Dil- lon in the fall of 1880 Governor White had found his permanent home and business location. Dillon was the headquarters of his great freighting business for many years. He also had a large commissary establishment, and in 1881 opened a private bank as an accessory to his freighting and other business. In 1884 the bank was incorporated as the First National Bank, and to the upbuilding of that institution Mr. White has given his primary attention ever since. The First National Bank of Dillon is housed in a substantial brick building on North Montana Street, and has a capital of $200,000, surplus and profits of $200,000, while its deposits in 1919 aggregated $4,000,000. By its resources and the personnel of its management it easily takes first rank among the large banking houses of the Northwest. With Mr. White as president is associated E. J. Bowman of Anaconda as vice president, and J. H. Gilbert, cashier.

For a man immersed in practical business affairs, Mr. White has an unusually long record of public service. He was a member of the Territorial Legis- lature in 1882 and in 1889 was appointed by Presi- dent Harrison as territorial governor. He remained in that office until after the state had been admitted and until the first governor was installed. He was again in the Legislature and speaker of the House of Representatives from 1902 to 1904, and was a member of the State Senate from 1904 to 1908. Governor White was commissioner for Montana at the World's Fair at Chicago in 1893 and at the Louisiana Exposition at St. Louis in 1904. For a quarter of a century almost continuously he served as mayor of Dillon, beginning with the incorporation of the city. He has also served on the Beaverhead County High School Board and the City School Board, has been president of the Dillon Commercial Club, and has made every interest of his home city his own.

Mr. White is a member of the Montana and Amer- ican Bankers' Association and is president of the White Investment Company, which he established as a family corporation to manage a large amount of property, including dwellings, business and gen- eral real estate at Dillon. Governor White has one of the substantial and beautiful private homes of Dillon. at the corner of Orr and Idaho streets.

In February, 1879, in Oneida County, Idaho, he married Miss Elizabeth Davis, daughter of Emrys and Margaret Davis. They are the parents of four children : Carolyn, born in 1881, a graduate of Mill College at Oakland, California, and living at home with her parents; Emrys, born in 1883, finished his education in Shattuck Military Academy at Fari- bault, Minnesota, and is owner of an orange grove

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at Santa Ana, California; Ralph, who also attended Shattuck Academy, had an orange grove at Red- lands, California, and died there in August, 1918, at the age of twenty-six; Margaret W., the youngest, is a graduate of Smith College at Northampton, Massachusetts.

CHARLES C. ESGAR is sheriff of Gallatin County. He came to Montana thirty years ago and for many years was busily engaged in homesteading and ranching. For the past ten years his energies have been taken up by public duties and responsibilities.

Mr. Esgar was born in Tioga County, Pennsyl- vania, December 15, 1868. His grandfather, Samnel Esgar, was a native of Wales, came to America with his family about 1844, lived in several states and died near Chicago, Illinois. Robert Esgar, father of Sheriff Esgar, was born in Wales in 1842 and was an infant when brought to this country. He was reared in Pennsylvania, and was married in Tioga County, that state. At Blossburg, Tioga County, he served for a number of years as chief of police. Coming to Montana in 1888, he home- steaded a quarter section in the Bridger Canyon, proved up the homestead and handled cattle and other stock over leased lands and the public domain, and eventually owned a farm of 420 acres. He died at Bridger Canyon, near Bozeman, in Janu- ary, 1898. He was a republican, and though reared a Methodist became affiliated with the Latter Day Saints Church. He was a member of the Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias. Robert Esgar married Eliza Hanwell, who was born in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, in 1844, and is now living at Bozeman. She was the mother of seven chil- dren: S. G., a rancher in Gallatin County; Mary Louisa, who died in Gallatin County in 1900, the wife of John Dawes, a retired rancher of that county; Charles C .; Sadie, wife of John Raby, a farmer at Bridger Canyon; Robert M., a Bozeman merchant; John D., who lives on a farm in Park County; and Frank H., a farmer and merchant at Kansas City, Missouri.

Charles C. Esgar received his early education in the public schools of Blossburg, Pennsylvania. He was twenty years of age when he came to Montana with his parents in 1888. For three years he worked as a miner at Chestnut, and then took up a homestead of 160 acres in Bridger Canyon. He sold this homestead, and afterward owned and occupied and sold a number of ranches, and con- tinued active as a productive factor in Montana agriculture until 1909.

For three years beginning in 1909 Mr. Esgar served as deputy sheriff. For five years he was deputy state game warden, and in 1918 was elected sheriff of Gallatin County, beginning his two year term on January 6, 1919. His official residence is the county jail, and he also owns a dwelling on West Lamme Street. Politically Mr. Esgar is a democrat. He is affiliated with Bozeman Lodge No. 463 of the Elks, and Pythagoras Lodge No. 2, Knights of Pythias.

In October, 1895, at Bridger Canyon, Gallatin County, he married Miss Ida Yadon, daughter of J. V. and Nancy (Lay) Yadon, residents of Boze- man. Mrs. Esgar died at Bozeman in January, 1913. She was the mother of two children: Chloe May, a graduate of the eighth grade public schools and attending Lamoni, Iowa, College and now at home; and Charles R., a student in the grammar schools at Bozeman. In January, 1915, at Spokane, Washington, Sheriff Esgar married Miss Leona E. Martin. She was born in Iowa.

PHILIP GRIFFITH DODSON is one of the younger business men of Bozeman, and is known as a suc- cessful painter and decorator, having developed the leading business of its kind in Gallatin County. He is a native of Bozeman, and his father was one of the very earliest settlers in that town.

Both his father and grandfather were named Philip Dodson and both were natives of England. Grandfather Philip spent his life as a farmer and proprietor of an old fashioned tavern at Swave- sey, England, where he died. He married Eliza Pettit, a native of Stanton, Cambridgeshire, who died in London. Their children were Richard, Thomas, Caroline, John, Mary Ann, Sarah Ann, these two daughters being twins, Philip, Emma, Lucy, Edward, Clara, Walter P. and Frederick W. Of the thirteen ten died in England. Those liv- ing are Philip, Walter P., who is a retired railroad man in the East Indies, and Frederick W., a loco- motive engineer in London, England.

Philip Dodson, Jr., was born at Swavesey, Cam- bridgeshire, England, June 15, 1845, was educated in the public schools and the Academy of St. Ives, and in 1862, at the age of seventeen, came to the United States. He lived at Decatur, Illinois, three years, working as a porter in a hotel. For one year he was a brakeman on the Illinois Central Railroad, and in 1865 went to Leavenworth, Kan- sas, working in a restaurant for ten months. The spring of 1866 found him a pioneer at Bozeman, Montana. He hrad varied experiences and fol- lowed different occupations in the territory until 1875, when he went to Washington and took up a quarter section of land in Garfield County. He farmed there two years, after which he sold his pre-emption and for a few months was in the hotel business at Walla Walla and for two years conducted a restaurant there. Returning to Helena in the fall of 1879 he worked in a restaurant and the next spring went to Deer Lodge, where he worked in a hotel three months, also in a restau- rant at Butte, and in September, 1880, returned to Bozeman, where he clerked in a hotel until 1883. The following fifteen years he was a Bozeman merchant, and since then has conducted a business in fire insurance and still handles a prosperous agency for some of the best old line insurance companies. His offices are at 330 West Main Street. He and his son Philip G. are associated in the ownership of five dwelling houses at Bozeman and a large farm and ranch. Philip Dodson resides at 408 South Central Avenue. For four years he was city treasurer of Bozeman and two years a member of the council and for two years public administrator of Gallatin County. He is a re- publican, a member of the Episcopal Church, is past grand of Western Star Lodge No. 4 of the Odd Fellows, past grand master of the State of Montana, is a member of Rising Sun Encampment No. 8, of the Odd Fellows, and past grand patriarch of the state, and also belongs to Gallatin Canton No. 7 and to the Rebekahs. He is affiliated with Bozeman Tent No. 2 of the Knights of the Macca- bees.

In September, 1883, Philip Dodson married at Bozeman, Mrs. Elnora (Griffith) Warfield, a daugh- ter of Samuel and Dicy (Hankins) Griffith, both now deceased. Her father was a farmer at Van- dalia, Illinois. Mrs. Dodson died at the Presby- terian Hospital in Chicago, February 29, 1908. Philip Dodson and wife had two children, the older, a son, dying in infancy.

Philip Griffith Dodson was born at Bozeman, January 7, 1890, and was graduated from the Gal- latin County High School in 1908. The next three years after leaving high school he worked at his

W. b. Dawes DO

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trade as a painter and decorator at Bozeman. From IgII to 1916 he gave all his time to the manage- ment of his ranch at Sedan. He and his father own 714 acres there. In 1916 Mr. Dodson resumed his business as a painter and decorator and has made his own skill in that line the nucleus of a business in which he employs several assistants and has facilities for a complete service, his office and supply store being at 330 West Main Street.

In November, 1918, Mr. Dodson responded to the draft and entered the army camp at American Lake, subsequently being transferred to Camp Kearney at San Diego, California, and was in that camp until discharged in March, 1919.

Mr. Dodson is independent in politics, is a mem- ber of the Episcopal Church, and is affiliated with Western Star Lodge No. 4 of the Odd Fellows, Bozeman Lodge No. 463 of the Elks, Bozeman Lodge No. 18, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Zoma Chapter No. 12, Royal Arch Masons. He and his wife reside at the Blackmore Apartments. In October, 1918, at Bozeman, he married Miss Cora Onslow. Mrs. Dodson is a graduate of the Normal School at Chico, California.

WILLARD CROCKETT DAWES, D. O. A leading rep- resentative of osteopathy at Bozeman, Doctor Dawes is a native Montanan and has been an active worker in his profession for the past fifteen years.

He was born in Central Park, Gallatin County, Montana, September 19, 1881. His paternal an- cestors were colonial settlers in Virginia from Wales. His father, John A. J. Dawes, was born at Paris, Virginia, March 2, 1839, and lived there until he was twenty years of age. He moved to Audrain County, near Mexico and Centralia, Mis- souri, and was married in the Beaverdam Baptist Church of that county. In 1861 he entered the Confederate army and was all through the war, much of the time as a soldier in General Price's army. In 1865 he returned to his farm in Audrain County, and lived there until he came to Mon- tana in the spring of 1880. The first year he spent at Central Park in ' Gallatin County, and during that time his son, Doctor Dawes, was born. He next removed to Fergus County, and as a pioneer he pre-empted a quarter section and also took up a timber claim of 160 acres. In the course of time he bought other land and did a successful busi- ness as a rancher and stock man. He finally owned 900 acres and spent the rest of his life as a rancher and died while visiting his son, Doctor Dawes, at Billings on February 15, 1906. He served a num- ber of years as justice of the peace in Fergus Coun- ty, was a democrat, a very active member of the Baptist Church and was affiliated with the Mod- ern Woodmen of America. John A. J. Dawes mar- ried Margaret Jane Crockett, who was born in Audrain County, Missouri, in 1841. and now lives with her children. She was a direct descendant of a brother of David Crockett, the hero of the Texas revolution. She is the mother of seven children : Rosella, wife of P. W. Polly, an osteo- pathic physician at Emmett, Idaho; Laura, wife of Dr. J. L. Mullenbrook, an osteopath at Spo- kane, Washington; Wellington, who is also a doc- tor of osteopathy practicing at Great Falls, Montana; Hugh R. and Frank P., both farmers at Garneill, Montana; Willard C .; and Edith B., wife of H. J. Betten, a physician and surgeon at Spo- kane, Washington.

Dr. W. C. Dawes lived on his father's farm in Fergus County until he was twenty years of age. He received a rural school education and in prepa- ration for his profession took the regular course

of the American School of Osteopathy at Kirks- ville, Missouri, graduating in January, 1904. The following two years he practiced at Billings, and since then has been a resident of Bozeman, and by his personal abilities has made his profession highly respected and liberally patronized in Galla- tin County. Doctor Dawes was president of the Montana Osteopathic Association for 1909-10, and has served continuously as secretary-treasurer of the association since 1911. In 1906-7 he also served as secretary of the association. His offices and home are in the Martin Block, 237 West Main Street. Doctor Dawes is a leading member of the Mon- tana and the American Osteopathic associations.

He is a democrat in politics. Doctor Dawes takes a prominent part in the Christian Church at Boze- man, being an elder and member of the choir in the church and chorister and teacher in the Sun- day school. He is affiliated with Eureka Home- stead No. 215, Brotherhood of American Yeo- men, and Western Star Lodge No. 4, Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Bozeman. August 3, 1910, at Murray, Indiana, he married Miss Nelle Park, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph W. Park. Her parents are both deceased. Her father was a blacksmith and veterinarian. Mrs. Dawes is a graduate of the Normal School in Indiana.

HARVEY A. CORBIN. The dignity of farming and the profits accruing from this calling are now re- ceiving universal recognition, but prior to the period which is making such unprecedented demands upon those engaged in raising food for the world there were a number who devoted their abilities to tilling the soil, and brought up their children to the same calling. Harvey A. Corbin, of Miles City, owner of one of the best ranches in the Tongue River Dis- trict of Custer County, comes of a long line of agriculturists, whose names are inscribed first as farmers of Maine and later of New York State. The grandfather of Harvey A. Corbin, born on a farm in Maine, left that state for Clinton County, New York, where he was engaged in farming all of his life, and there his son, Asa Corbin, father of Harvey A. Corbin, was born and died, passing away in 1869, at the age of forty-nine years. Asa · Corbin was married to Elizabeth Finney, who died at the home of her son Harvey A. Corbin in 1905, being then aged seventy-five years. Mr. Corbin has one sister, Mary, who is the wife of James Fiddes, of San Francisco, California, they being the only children of Asa Corbin and his wife.

Harvey A. Corbin was born on a farm in Clinton County, New York, not far from Plattsburg, No- vember 2, 1860, and he was reared at Moore's Junc- tion of that same state. A very active lad, the confinement of the schoolroom irked him, and when he had completed the courses included in a common school education he 'severed his connection with edu- cational institutions and sought a place in the larger school of experience. Until he left New York his means of subsistence were found in farm work, and this early training, which was hard and thorough, fitted him, as nothing else could have done, for his future expansion into a ranchman of many acres and large and varied interests.

Always ambitious, the restless spirit of this ener- getic young man could not be content with the event- less routine of a New York State farm, and in 1883 he struck out westward, arriving in Custer County, Montana, in June of that year. Help was scarce, and an experienced farm worker did not lack for employment, although the wages of those days only ranged from $30 to $40 per month, and the work was hard and the hours long. With the cheerful

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optimism of youth Mr. Corbin accepted the hardships of this period as just so much more experience, and kept his eyes open for opportunities, finding them during the subsequent three years, so that he was able to take a homestead on the Tongue River, ten miles south of Miles City. On this land he erected a crude shelter of logs, using dirt for both the floor and roof, and into it he moved his scanty posses- sions and had his first home of his own. He had invested in several horses and used them to break the soil and put in corn and potatoes, which crops have always yielded abundantly, and which he still raises. Making his money earn more for him, Mr. Corbin was soon able to acquire a few cows and a calf or two, and from this small beginning has de- veloped his present immense cattle industry. When he first went into the stock business, however, the feeding of cattle and horses was not much of a problem because the land was then all unfenced and with the exception of a milch cow or saddle horse the stock could forage, even during the winter. The little log shack in time was succeeded by the pres- ent comfortable ranch house, and barn after barn was built to house the increasing head of stock. All these improvements, together with many others, Mr. Corbin has made and is rewarded by now having one of the best improved and valuable ranch prop- erties in Custer County or along the Tongue and Powder Rivers trail. It was perhaps a dozen years before Mr. Corbin began buying railroad land on the long-time payment plan, but when he com- menced so doing, continued to add to his acreage in this manner until there are now about 900 acres of deeded land entered upon the tax rolls to his credit. A portion of his ranch is under the Tongue River Irrigation Canal, which provides him with alfalfa meadow, from which an average of 47/2 tons of hay are sure to be mowed annually. Experiments have taught Mr. Corbin that for his purposes the Shorthorn cattle and Shire horses are the best, and he is breeding them upon a large scale. He is one of the commissioners of the Tongue River Irriga- tion Canal, and has carried on his part in local politics as a layman, rendering efficient service when required as a member of the Election Board, or in a similar capacity. In national matters he votes with the democratic party.

In July, 1899, Mr. Corbin was united in marriage with Miss Carrie Card, a daughter of Joseph Card, an early settler of Weld County, Colorado, where Mrs. Corbin was born, but she was reared chiefly in Deadwood, South Dakota. Her parents had eleven children, of whom the survivors, in addition to herself are: Mrs. Annie Williams, of Miles City, Montana; Millie, who is the wife of John Christten- son, of St. Paul, Minnesota; Will, who is a resident of Central City, South Dakota; Joseph, who is a resident of Upton, Wyoming; and Warren, who is a resident of Spearfish, South Dakota. Mrs. Corbin is the next to the youngest of these surviving children, and was born June 20, 1874. Mr. and Mrs. Corbin have no children.

THOMAS CONNOLLY. It is a generally accepted fact that some of the most successful men of this country are those who come here from the Emerald Isle, and of them Montana has its share. Thomas Connolly, one of the enterprising ranchmen of Hill County, owns and operates about three sections of land at Cottonwood, twenty-five miles northwest of Havre, and he is proud of the fact that he was born in County Roscommon, Ireland. His birth occurred on March 25, 1881, and he has acquired all he now owns since 1901. His father, Thomas Connolly, was born in County Roscommon, in 1837, and his

mother, Elizabeth (Quigley) Connolly, is a native of the same county. Both survive and live in County Roscommon, where the father has been a farmer all of his mature years. He and his wife had eleven children born to them, of whom three died in in- fancy, and four sons and four daughters lived to maturity, Thomas Connolly being the seventh in order of birth.

Until he was eighteen years of age Thomas Connolly remained on his father's farm and at- tended the public schools. On April 23, 1899, he took passage on a steamer for New York City, his ticket being a through one to Great Falls, Montana, where he joined an uncle, John C. Quigley, a sheep- man, with a ranch fifteen miles west of Choteau in Teton County, and there Thomas Connolly re- mained about a year. In 1901 he and his brother Patrick formed a partnership and continued together until the latter's death in 1915. They operated in sheep until 1912, and then reduced their flocks to fifty head and branched out into cattle and horse raising. In 1918 Mr. Connolly sold the greater num- ber of his cattle and is now specializing on breeding Percheron horses. About 500 acres of his ranch are devoted to wheat and other small grain, and he is very successful in his farming. In 1911 Mr. Con- nolly was appointed postmaster of Cottonwood, Hill County, and in connection with the office conducted a general store, housing both in a building he erected for that purpose in 1911. After three years he leased his business so as to give all of his time to farming and horse breeding. Mr. Connolly was honored by Governor Samuel Stewart who appointed him a member of the Grain Grading Inspection and Warehouse Commission in April, 1919, and for the past eight years he has been a member of the School Board of his district. In politics he is a strong republican. His fraternal connections are with Havre Lodge No. 1201, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

On August 13, 1914, Mr. Connolly was united in marriage with Ethel Weir, born at Grafton, North Dakota, a daughter of John and Susan (Fennell) Weir, both of whom were born in Ontario, Canada. They had three children, but Mrs. Connolly is the only one now living. Mr. Weir is deceased, but his widow survives him. Mr. and Mrs. Connolly have one daughter. The case of Mr. Connolly is a rather remarkable one in that he has been able to attain to such prosperity in so short a period and all through his own exertions. It is not difficult for a young man to achieve success when he is backed by large property interests and influential friends, but it is a different matter for him to reach his goal only through his personal acumen, far-sightedness and industry.

WILLIAM B. CALHOUN. A man of naturally sound judgment and shrewd perception, characteristic of the Scotch race of which William B. Calhoun, drug- gist of Clyde Park, is a descendant, he has so or- dered his career as to be eminently eligible to representation in a work of this kind. He has risen through his strictly moral habits, his atten- tion to business and his desire to deal fairly, prompt- ly and honestly with his fellow men, and today his name stands high in all business circles with which he has come into relationship.

William Baron Calhoun was born at Sparta, Wisconsin, on the 25th day of January, 1870, and is a son of William A. and Emogene (Holmes) Calhoun. The Calhoun family of which he is a lineal descendant immigrated to this country from Scotland, where the name was spelled Kalhoun. They located in Massachusetts during the days of

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 89

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