Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 93

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 93

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Ralph A. Sharp was born in Gage County, Ne- braska, January 16, 1883, a son of Cain Sharp, and grandson of Jonathan Sharp, who was born in Tennessee in 1824. After the close of the Civil war Jonathan Sharp came West to Nebraska and locating at Liberty, there lived until his death, which took place in 1900. All of his life he was engaged in farming. Jonathan Sharp was mar- ried to Margaret Lynch, born in Tennessee, and died at Liberty, Nebraska. Their children were as follows: Martha, who married Allen Jimer- son, a farmer who is now deceased, but his widow survives him and makes her home at Liberty; Nicholas, who is a retired farmer and carpenter of Lincoln, Nebraska; William, who is a farmer of Liberty; Lewis, who is a farmer of Liberty; George, who is a Baptist minister of McCook, Nebraska; Cain, who is spoken of below; Susie, who married Linville Wymore, is deceased, as is her husband; Cordelia, who is the widow of Wil- liam Coffee, lives at Liberty; Sarah, who married Houston Ellison, a farmer of Liberty; Ella who married Charles Reis, a farmer of Liberty; and Melissa, who is unmarried and resides at Liberty.

Cain Sharp was born in the mountains of Ten- nessee in 1861, and now resides at Soldier, Kan- sas. He was reared in Gage County, Nebraska, and has been a farmer all of his life. A few years ago he moved to Kansas, and still continues his farming activities. His political convictions make him a democrat. Cain Sharp was married to Nancy McFarland, who was born in Tennessee in 1863, and they became the parents of the following chil- dren : Ida, who married O. R. Maxwell, a farmer of Burlingame, Kansas; Ralph A., whose name heads this review; and Ivan, who is a general work- er of Holton, Kansas.

Ralph A. Sharp attended the common and high schools of Liberty, Nebraska, being graduated from the latter in 1899. He then entered the em- ploy of a railroad as telegrapher, and was in Ne- braska and Kansas for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad until 1906. In that year he came to Billings, Montana, as bookkeeper for J. H. Reyn- olds, at that time constructing 100 miles of road for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad from Harlowton, Montana, east, and held that position for two years, when he moved to Custer, Montana, to be bookkeeper for Harry F. Scott, a merchant of Custer, which position he held until 1915. In the meanwhile Messrs. Scott and Sharp established the Custer State Bank, which was opened for business in April, 1910, Mr. Sharp being made cashier, and the business so increased that since 1915 he has had to devote all of his time to the bank. The present officers of the bank are as follows: George Ganssle, one of the lead- ing merchants of Custer, president; Harry F. Scott, now of Billings, vice president; and Mr. Sharp, cashier. The capital stock is $25,000; and surplus $10,000, and its deposits average $140,000. Under the wise policies of the present administration the affairs of this institution are in excellent condi- tion, and the bank has a stability and standing that speaks well for it and the community. Mr. Sharp

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owns one of the finest residences at Custer. In politics he is a republican.

In 1908 Mr. Sharp was married to Miss Beda Kron at Cyrus, Pope County, Minnesota, she be- ing a native of that county. Mr. and Mrs. Sharp have the following children: Ralph Kron, who was born March 29, 1911; Earl, who was born September 27, 1913; and Neil, who was born August 7, 1918. Mr. Sharp has achieved a success that is very commendable, all the more so because it has been attained through no spectacular methods, but along legitimate paths of industry and thrift. Not only has he won his place in his community to which his talents entitle him commercially, but he is justly recognized as one of the worthwhile men of Custer, and one upon whose soundness of judg- ment and reliability of character the utmost reliance may be placed.

JOHN E. MANLEY, who recently became a town dweller at Deer Lodge, where he enjoys a post of honor and responsibility in public affairs as chairman of the board of county commissioners has spent the greater part of his life under the open sky and is still one of the leading ranchers of Powell County. 'He has lived in Montana for over thirty years, and was engaged in mining before he entered the sheep business.

Mr. Manley was born in the Northwest, in Hous- ton County, Minnesota, November 28, 1862. His father was Anthony A. Manley who was born at Manchester, England, in 1820. When he was seven years of age in 1827 the family came from England and settled in Pennsylvania, where the grandparents spent the rest of their lives. Anthony Manley was reared and married in Pennsylvania and in 1840 was one of the first to seek a home on the North- western prairies in the territory of Minnesota. He homesteaded 160 acres in Houston County and eventually owned a large farm of 600 acres. He lived there until his death in 1890 and out of many years of toil he achieved a substantial degree of prosperity. He was an honored citizen of his coun- ty and served as justice of the peace many years. In politics he was a democrat. Anthony Manley married Catherine Mulcahey, who was born in Coun- ty Tipperary, Ireland, in 1824, and died in Houston County, Minnesota, in 1904. Mary, the oldest of their children, is the wife of Orris Layne, a farmer of Minnesota, living in Fillmore County. John E. and James A. are twins, the latter an attorney at New Rockford, North Dakota. Catherine died unmarried at the age of twenty-four. Frank is in the insurance business at Indianapolis. Emmett went to the Philippines with the North Dakota Volunteers in 1898, and after being mustered out of the army remained in the islands, and now has a large prac- tice as a lawyer.

John E. Manley was reared on his father's farm in Minnesota and secured his education in the rural schools of that state. Two years before coming west Mr. Manley was married. He arrived at Deer Lodge. Montana, in March, 1889, in company with his wife and young daughter. The following ten years he spent as a miner, and then invested his modest cap- ital in a ranch in the Nevada Valley. He still owns that land, since increased to a large ranch on which he runs sheep and cattle. The active management of the ranch property now devolves upon his sons. In 1919 Mr. Manley invested $60,000 in additional land for his sheep and cattle. He has had his ups and downs and vicissitudes as a rancher in Mon- tana. The worst accident to befall him came in 1906 when he was hit with a stacking pole and his back broken. He was in a hospital a year and on

crutches three years more, but gradually has re- covered his health and strength so as to be able to attend to his business affairs. In November, 1918, he moved to a home in Deer Lodge at 506 Milwaukee Avenue.

Mr. Manley was elected a county commissioner of Powell. County in 1906, was re-elected in 1908, and in 1914 was chosen for another six year term. He was made chairman of the board in 1918, having held that post of honor twice before. Mr. Manley is a republican and is a director in the United States National Bank of Deer Lodge.

In Houston County, Minnesota, in 1887, he mar- ried Miss Mary Ellen Gaffney. Her parents Mr. and Mrs. William Gaffney, both now deceased, lived in Winona County, Minnesota, where her father was a farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Manley had three children. Catherine their only daughter, who died of the in- fluenza in 1919, was a graduate of the high school of Winona, Minnesota, and the wife of John R. Quigley, a rancher at Avon, Montana. Emmett, the older son, finished his education in the Butte Busi- ness College and with his brother Clifford runs the ranch. Clifford also attended the Butte Business College.

GEORGE L. KILLORN. Fealty to facts in the analy- zation of the character of a citizen of the type of George L. Killorn of Clyde Park, is all that is required to make a biographical sketch interesting to those who have at heart the good name of the community, because it is the honorable reputa- tion of the man of affairs, more than any other consideration, that gives character and stability to the body politic. Though of modest demeanor, with no ambition to distinguish himself in public position or as a leader of men, Mr. Killorn's ca- reer has been signally honorable and it may be studied with profit by the youth entering upon his life work.

George L. Killorn was born at Livingston, Park County, Montana, on August 15, 1889, and is the son of John and Ellen (Lewis) Killorn, who are now living at Wilsall. John Killorn was born in Ireland in 1866, the son of James Killorn, who left the Emerald Isle in an early day and became a pioneer settler and miner at Bozeman. John Killorn accompanied his parents on their immi- gration to this country and was reared to man- hood in Missouri. In 1891 he came to Livingston, Montana, where he was married, and then for a few years was a miner at Cokedale. He then bought and has since resided on a ranch near where Wilsall now stands, which he has improved and kept at a high standard, so that it is now num- bered among the best ranches for its size in this locality. He owns 240 acres under cultivation and 1,920 acres of pasture land, which he devotes to the raising of high-grade cattle. He has been finan- cially successful and at the same time has won the confidence and esteem of his fellow men. He is a democrat in his political views and served as sheriff of Park County for four years. Fraternally he is a member of Livingston Lodge No. 246, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Killorn married Ellen Lewis, who was born in England, and who bore him the following chil- dren: George L., the immediate subject of this review; Ella, the wife of James Schofield, of Butte; John, who enlisted in the United States army in 1917, being sent overseas in December of that year, and was assigned to the Aerial Corps of the One Hundred and Eighty-sixth Division and was in the Argonne drive and other major engagements, making a good record and receiving the rank of

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top sergeant; Jane is unmarried and is a profes- sional stenographer at Livingston.

George L. Killorn received his elementary edu- cation in the public schools of Livingston, attend- ing also the Park County High School one year. He was then a student in the Yellowstone Busi- ness College at Livingston for two years. In 1911 he came to Clyde Park and became assistant cash- ier of the Citizens State Bank, holding that posi- tion two years. He then entered the employ of Wolcott & Bliler, general merchants, as credit man, remaining with them for five years. In 1916 Mr. Killorn bought the leading dry goods store at Clyde Park and has since then devoted himself closely to this enterprise. He carries a large and well- selected stock of goods and enjoys a patronage from a wide radius of surrounding country. In 1917 Mr. Killorn was appointed postmaster of Clyde Park, being the present occupant of that position, and has given the best of satisfaction to . the patrons of the office. Mr. Killorn is a demo- crat in his political affiliations. He is a member of Livingston Lodge No. 246, Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks, of Livingston, and is popu- lar in the circles in which he moves.

In 1912, at Livingston, Mr. Killorn was married to Isadore Maggs, the daughter of James and Emma (Baumgardner) Maggs. The father is de- ceased, and his widow now resides at Coshocton, Ohio. Mrs. Killorn is a lady of wide culture, hav- ing completed her elementary education in the high school at Coshocton, after which she attended and graduated from the Columbus College of Oratory and Music. She possesses exceptional talents as an elocutionist and is the holder of five medals won in state oratorical contests. Mr. and Mrs. Killorn have a wide circle of warm personal friends, among whom they are deservedly popular.

R. H. DEAN. Though a native of Missouri, R. H. Dean has lived in Montana over forty years. He is a prominent lumber dealer at Bozeman, a busi- ness he has followed for several years. A period of his life which might be regarded with most interest was twenty years as a railroad contractor, during which time he constructed a number of miles of Montana railway.

Mr. Dean was born in Randolph County, Mis- souri, December 26, 1866. His father bore the same name and was a Montana pioneer and his grandfather, Richard H. Dean, was born in Ire- land in 1801 and brought his family to America about 1843. In Wisconsin he was engaged in the elevator and grain business a number of years and about 1864 went with other members of the family to Randolph County, Missouri, and lived retired until his death in 1881. R. H. Dean, father of the Bozeman business man, was born in Ire- land in 1837, and was six years old when brought to America. He grew up near Columbus, Wiscon- sin, was married in that state, and was associated with his father in the grain elevator business. After removing to Randolph County, Missouri, in 1864, he became a farmer. As a Montana pioneer he settled in the Missouri Valley, not far from the present site of Townsend, in 1877. The quarter section homestead and the 160 acre timber claim which he took up and developed on Deep Creek, five miles south of Townsend he still owns. For many years he was a successful rancher in that locality, and is now living retired at Townsend. He is a republican in politics. R. H. Dean mar- ried Mary E. Ranney, who was born in New York State in 1840. They had four children: Jessie, wife of Henry Seiben, a banker and stockman

at Helena; R. H., Jr .; Dollie, of Helena, widow of Harry Burgess, a stockman and dairyman; and Daisy, wife of Herbert Brady, a bookkeeper at Great Falls, Montana.

R. H. Dean began his education in Missouri and continued it after he was eleven years of age in the country schools of Meagher County, in what is now Broadwater County. For three years he attended the Helena Business College, graduating in 1886. Then followed twenty years of work as a railroad contractor, the duties of that occupa- tion calling him to all parts of the state. He was a contractor for the Northern Pacific, and his principal undertaking was the building of the Mon- tana Railroad known as the Jaw Bone line, be- tween Lombard and Castle. After retiring from railway construction he engaged in the retail lum- ber business at Manhattan, remaining there until January, 1919, when he sold his interests and his home and came to Bozeman. Here he is manager of the Gallatin Lumber Company, one of the largest concerns of its kind in Southern Montana. The company is incorporated for $50,000 and has a large plant at the corner of Third Avenue and Main Street. L. W. Truitt is president of the company, Martin Jacoby vice president, with Mr. Dean gen- eral manager and secretary and M. F. Getchell, treasurer.

Mr. Dean in politics is a democrat. He was active in public affairs at Manhattan, being one of the first councilmen upon the organization of the city in 1912 and serving continuously until 1918. For one term he was also mayor. He is affiliated with Manhattan Lodge of Masons and at Bozeman is a member of Western Star Lodge No. 4, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Bridger Camp No. 2, Wood- men of the World, and Lodge No. 463 of the Elks.

In 1898, at Bozeman, Mr. Dean married Miss Sallie Chrisman, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Chrisman, both now deceased. Her father for many years was county treasurer of Gallatin County. Mrs. Dean died at Bozeman in 1904, leaving one son, Richard Howell Dean, who was born June 16, 1901, and is now a student in the Montana State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. In 1908, at Manhattan, Mr. Dean married Mrs. Evelyn (Collins) Carmack, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. F. J. Collins, who are residents of Toston, Montana, her father being a farmer.

FRANK H. GARVER since 1911 has been Professor of History and Economics in the Montana State Normal College at Dillon. He is one of the lead- ing historical scholars and authorities in the North- west, and in Montana and elsewhere has given much of his time to research and investigation and is author of many addresses, magazine articles and contributions to historical journals.

Professor Garver was born at Albion in Mar- shall County, Iowa, March 9. 1875, son of Andrew A. and Diana (Ballard) Garver. His father was of English ancestry, the Garvers coming to Penn- sylvania in colonial times. The Ballards were a Colonial Virginia family. Andrew A. Garver was born at Mechanicsville, Pennsylvania, in 1838, was reared there and at the first call for soldiers to put down the rebellion in 1861 joined a Pennsyl- vania regiment of infantry. He was in the three months' service, but on account of physical disa- bility was rejected for a second enlistment. In 1863 he moved to Iowa, locating in Marshall Coun- ty, where he was a farmer for over thirty years. In 1895 he went into the famous Grand River Valley of Colorado and engaged in fruit growing

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at Grand Junction, where he died in 1896. In Iowa he was a leader in civic affairs and held a num- ber of township offices, being president of the school board for many years. He was a republican and late in life became a convert to the Sweden- borgian creed. His wife, Diana Ballard, was born in Henry County, Iowa, in 1840 and died at Albion in that state in 1885. They had five children, of whom two are living Frank H., the subject of this sketch, and Katherine, wife of C. J. Manning, prin- cipal of the Beaverhead County High School at Dillon.

Frank H. Garver grew up on his father's farm in Marshall County, lowa. His advantages in the country schools were supplemented by attending the Albion Seminary from 1890 to 1893, and after that the Epworth Seminary at Epworth, Iowa, where he graduated with the class of 1895. He spent three years and received in 1898 his A. B. de- gree from Upper Iowa University at Fayette .. After graduating Mr. Garver took up his pro- fessional work as teacher of history and politics at Morningside College, Sioux City, Iowa. He was head of that department until I911. In the meantime by residence and non-residence work at the University of Iowa he received his Master of Arts degree in 1908 and after another two years of study was granted his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1911. Doctor Garver then came to the Montana State Normal College as Professor of History and Economics.

He spent ten years in the service of the State Historical Society of lowa as research assistant and later as research associate. During that time he contributed historical articles to the "Annals of lowa," the "Iowa Journal of History and Poli- tics," "The Mississippi Valley Historical Review," and "The American Political Science Review." He has been a regular attendant at many of the re- gional and national historical societies, has borne a part in their discussions, and has been on the program for formal articles and addresses. During his residence in Montana Doctor Garver has made a special study of Montana history and is fre- quently referred to as an authority on contro- verted points. Some of his historical articles have been published in the Butte Miner, the Anaconda Standard, the Butte Post, and he is also author of several pamphlets on Montana history. One of his services has been in assisting to mark and define important historical sites. He and Prof. M. L. Wilson, of the State Agricultural College at Bozeman, in 1917 followed the Custer Trail from the mouth of the Rosebud to the battlefield, iden- tified a number of camps and also points on the battlefield, and placed permanent markers. Doctor Garver each summer gives a special course on Montana history at the State Normal College.

He is a member of the State Teachers' Associa- tion, the State Historical Society of Iowa, the Mississippi Valley Historical Society, the Ameri- can Political Science Association and the Ameri- can Historical Association. He served one year as president of the Dillon Chautauqua Association, was a library trustee while living at Sioux City, Iowa, and is a member and trustee of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church at Dillon. Politically he is an independent voter. Doctor Garver has some important business interests, being a stockholder in the Beaverhead State Bank of Dillon, and presi- dent of the Slade Shoe Company of Des Moines, Iowa.

August 26, 1900, at Mount Vernon, Iowa, he married Miss Edna L. Sniffen, daughter of Robert and Ellen (Phelps) Sniffen. Her mother li- es at

Sioux City and her father, deceased, was a mer- chant, farmer and miner in Iowa and New Mexico. Mrs. Garver is a graduate of the Epworth Semi- nary in Iowa and received her A. B. degree from Cornell College at Mount Vernon, lowa. Doctor and Mrs. Garver have two children: Raymond, born October 30, 1901, and Jeannette, born March 13, 1904.

FRANK CHARLTON NOBLE. Among other skilled and experienced men holding important positions with the Anaconda Copper Mining Company is Frank Charlton Noble, chief civil engineer, admit- tedly one of the corporation's most valued em- ployes. He was born at Boston, Massachusetts, March 10, 1856, a son of John Noble, and grand- son of Samuel Noble, who died at Boston before Frank C. Noble was born. He came to the United States from his native place of Londonderry, Ire- land, in 1818, settling at once at Boston, where he spent the remainder of his life. The maternal grandfather of Frank C. Noble was James Hick- man, and he was born in Eastham, Cape Cod, Massa- chusetts, and lived there and at Duxbury, Massa- chusetts, until 1849, when he went to California in search of gold, and died there about 1850. Un- til leaving Massachusetts he was a carpenter. He married Eusebia Sawyer, a native of Marlboro, Massachusetts, and she died in her native state.

John Noble was born at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1818, and died in that city in 1886, having been a civil engineer by profession. After the organi- zation of the republican party he accepted its prin- ciples and adherred to them until his death, and was very active in local affairs, serving for years as a member of the city council of Boston and on the city school board and the English High School board, of which he was chairman for a considerable period. In him the Methodist Epis- copal Church had a conscientious member and active worker. Prior to her marriage his wife bore the maiden name of Eusebia Sawyer Hickman, and she was born in Marlboro, Massachusetts, in 1820, her death occurring at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1904. She and her husband had the following children: Annie J., who is unmarried, lives at East Boston, Massachusets; Eliza Gerry, who mar- ried Fred Putnam, lives at Reading, Massachusetts, where he is engaged in clerking; Frank C., whose name heads this review; Mary E., who died at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1917, unmarried; and Edith Warren, who is also unmarried, lives in East Boston, Massachusetts.

Frank C. Noble attended the public schools of Boston, and was graduated from the Boston High School in 1873, and from the Massachusetts In- stitute of Technology in 1881 as a civil engineer, he having elected to follow his father's calling. He immediately came West in 1881 and was a civil engineer for the Burlington & Missouri River Rail- road in Nebraska, until 1894. In that year he came to Montana and was engaged in surveying the lo- cation from Anaconda west for the Butte, Ana- conda and Pacific Railroad's west extension, but six months later returned to Boston, where he fol- lowed his profession until 1898. Once more he came west, this time to accept a position with the Anaconda Copper Mining Company as civil engi- neer, and has remained with it ever since, be- ing promoted until he is now chief of the civil engineering department. His offices are in the general office building of the company's reduction plant two miles east of Anaconda. Like his father he early embraced the principles enunciated by the republican party, and also followed him in his

Hamac Phersony

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choice of a church home, being a member of the Anaconda Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Noble belongs to the Montana Society of Engineers, and to the Anaconda Club. He is not married and resides at the Montana Hotel.

HARRY A. MACPHERSON, secretary, treasurer and manager of the MacPherson Mercantile Company of Deer Lodge, has been a resident of Montana for over thirty-five years. His father was one of the first steamboat captains to pilot a boat up the Yellow- stone River. The MacPhersons have always been pioneers. He is descended from Brim MacPherson, one of four brothers who came from Scotland to Maryland in Colonial times. Two of these brothers remained around Baltimore and two others went to Canada.

Mr. MacPherson's grandfather E. B. MacPherson was born in Maryland in 1800 and during the '30S moved to Missouri, locating at Booneville, where he developed a large plantation, owned many slaves and was proprietor of the City Hotel of Boone- ville. When he came west he brought a number of thoroughbred horses on the boat down the Ohio and up the Mississippi. After coming west he formed a friendship with Abraham Lincoln, and though a slave holder he was very loyal to the great emanci- pator and at the time of the Civil war he set all his negroes free, giving each one a suit of clothes and $15.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 93

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