Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 96

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 96

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Charles Henry Williams attended rural schools in his native Iowa county, and spent two years in the State Normal School at Kirksville, Missouri. For a period of six years he farmed in the summer in Appanoose County and taught school in the winter.

In 1882 Mr. Williams hitched up a pair of mules and with a wagon drove the entire distance from Eastern Iowa to Montana. He was seventy-nine days making the journey. One of his first acts after coming to the territory was homesteading 160 acres six miles north of Deer Lodge. That homestead is included in his present magnificent ranch, and has been a part of his holdings for over thirty-five years. At the present time Senator Williams and his partner Peter Pauly own 30,000 acres of patented land and they lease 10,000 acres more. They handle about 20,000 sheep annually and the pride of their ranch is a herd of 300 pure bred Shorthorn cattle. The ranch leaves nothing to be desired in the way of modern facilities and improvements. One of the features is the beautiful country home of Senator Williams, a house of fourteen rooms lighted by elec- tricity with hot and cold running water, and all the conveniences of a modern home. On his farm he also has one of the largest and best equipped barns in the state, with many other buildings for the housing of stock and feed. Convenient to the ranch is a Milwaukee railway station, affording excellent shipping facilities. Senator Williams is also presi- dent of the Cochrell Implement Company.

He has long been a prominent figure in republi- can politics. He was elected a member of the State Senate for the thirteenth session, and has been re-

elected and has served in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth sessions. For several terms he has been a member of the judiciary committee and in the six- teenth session was on that committee and has been a hard working member of other committees and also on the floor of the Senate. In the sixteenth session Mr. Williams was chairman of the joint committee for investigating the State Department. Out of the work of this committee came the creation of the present efficiency commission for reorganizing the various state departments and getting the busi- ness of the state administration reduced to a basis of efficiency, so that the citizens may know the work and expenditures to be credited to each department. Senator Williams is an active member of the Cham- ber of Commerce at Deer Lodge.

In 1880 in Appanoose County, Iowa, he married Miss Allie Davis, daughter of Thomas C. and Eme- line Davis, the latter now deceased. Her father is a retired farmer at Alpha, Kentucky. Senator and Mrs. Williams had a family of five children : Lee the oldest is a graduate in electrical and civil engineer- ing at Cornell University, New York, is practicing his profession and is also interested in the Cochrell Implement Company at Deer Lodge. Bessie is a graduate of the Montana State Agricultural College at Bozeman, attended the Lake Forest Seminary in Illinois, and is the wife of Frank Tavenner, formerly of Lewiston, Montana, now a resident of Ellens- burg, Washington, and an electrical engineer em- ployed in the construction department of the Mil- waukee Railway and also having been identified with the work of electrification of various sections of that road. The third child, Earl, died at the age of thir- teen. Ray, who attended the State Agricultural Col- lege at Bozeman and for two years the Polytechnic Institute of California is on his father's ranch. Wal- ter is a student in the public schools of Deer Lodge.

PETER PAULY. From sheep herder to membership in a firm that controls one of the largest holdings and runs some of the largest flocks in Southwestern Montana, Mr. Pauly has had an enviable business record as a Montana resident for more than thirty years.

Mr. Pauly is of French nativity and ancestry and was born at Sarrance, France, December 25, 1871. His father Bernard was born in 1835 and died in 1909, and spent all his life at Sarrance, where he was a farmer and cattle raiser. He was active in public affairs, serving as mayor of his home town, was a French soldier and a member of the Catholic Church. He married Charlotte Pefaur who was born in 1844 at Oloron and still lives on the home farm. Their children were Mary, wife of Pierre Guicharneau, a farmer and livestock dealer at Asasp; John L., who lives on the paternal farm at Sarrance; Annie, wife of John P. Lacu, a farmer at Lucg de Bearn; Vincent, a farmer at Harlem, Montana; Catherine, who died in France unmarried at the age of forty-eight; Peter; Louise, wife of Francis Agoure, a professor at Pau; Joseph, whose home is in California; and Josephine, who is mar- ried to a farmer and lives in France.

Peter Panly was educated in the schools of his home locality, and in the fall of 1889 came to the United States and settled in the Milk River Valley near Chinook, Montana. For three years and nine months he herded sheep. But in 1893 he started in the sheep business for himself with a little band of 1,000 head. He moved into the Deer Lodge Valley and eventually associated himself with Sen. C. H. Williams. With increasing experience Mr. Pauly became a recognized expert in the sheep breeding industry. His favorite sheep was the

Peter Paul

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American Rambouillet and, firmly believing that this breed was the best, he set about building up his flock. Almost twenty years ago, after looking over many of the leading flocks of Michigan and Ohio, he brought home, as a foundation flock, a carload of registered Rambouillet breeding ewes selected from the herds of eight of the leading flockmasters of the East. With other importations and with careful breeding this modest enterprise has grown to a large and well known business. The firm of Williams and Pauly now owns one of the choicest Rambouillet flocks in the state, and their ranch is particularly well adapted for sheep raising. Their headquarters are located about six miles west of Deer Lodge.

Mr. Pauly is also president of the McPherson Mercantile Company at Deer Lodge, and owns con- siderable real estate in that city including his modern home at 616 Fourth Street. He is a fourth degree Knight of Columbus, having affiliation with Deer Lodge Council No. 1810, and is also a mem- ber of Anaconda Lodge No. 239 of the Elks. He is a Catholic and in politics an independent voter. On February 10, 1900, in California, Mr. Pauly mar- ried Miss Mary Jane Pucheu. Her parents are both deceased, her father Francis Pucheu having been a farmer at Asasp, France, where Mrs. Pauly was born. Mr. and Mrs. Pauly have four children : Sylvan J., who was born July 9, 1901, and is a graduate of the Mount St. Charles High School at Helena; Elize M., born March 31, 1904; Elsie C., born August 18, 1907; and Harry C., born March I, 1910.

ELMER BOSSHARD. One of the men' of signal enterprise and great promise in his community is Elmer Bosshard, whose business until recently was chiefly dealing in and shipping livestock. He is now engaged in banking in Nashua.

Mr. Bosshard, who has resided in Montana for fifteen years, was born in LaCrosse County, Wiscon- sin, July 20, 1885, son of Adolph and grandson of John Bosshard. John Bosshard was a native of Switzerland, immigrated to the United States in 1851, the same year he entered a. homestead in Southwestern Wisconsin, and spent the rest of his life in LaCrosse County. He is buried at Bangor. He was twice married. By his first wife there are two surviving children, Adolph and Elizabeth. By the second marriage the only survivor is Otto Boss- hard, a prominent lawyer at LaCrosse.

Adolph Bosshard was born in LaCrosse County in 1853 and has spent his life as a farmer and stock grower in that locality. He is now living retired at Bangor. He has been a director of the Farmers State Bank of Bangor, is a democrat in politics and holds membership in several fraternal insurance or- ders. He married Tolena Fremstad, a native of Monroe County, Wisconsin, and of Norwegian par- entage. Her mother lived to the advanced age of ninety-one, passing away in December, 1919. Mrs. Adolph Bosshard died in 1895, the mother of the following children: Amelia, wife of Wilfred Le- mieux, of Fairview, Montana; Walter, of Van Hook, North Dakota; and Elmer. Adolph Bosshard's sec- ond wife was Annie Schroeder, a native of Germany and of Low German stock. They have three chil- dren : Lucy, John and Helen.

Elmer Bosshard grew up in a country district of Southwestern Wisconsin, graduated from the Bangor High School in 1904, and completed his education and prepared for the serious business of life by one year spent in the University of Wisconsin. In Sep- tember, 1905, he arrived at Mondak, and for a time was associated with a brother-in-law in a general store. In the spring of 1906 they moved to Fair-

view and continued their business for six months longer. Elmer Bosshard selling out his interests in the fall, spent the winter in the West, exploring Washington and Idaho, and in the spring of 1907 returned to Montana and acquired an outfit to en- gage in freighting up the Yellowstone Valley to Sidney. He combined freighting with practical farming until 1914. During 1915 and 1916 he was handling horses as a buyer and shipper to the Miles City market. Mr. Bosshard has never exercised his right of a homestead, though his wife employed that privilege, entered a claim and proved it up. Her homestead is about six miles below Fairview. Besides farming Mr. Bosshard has become a dealer and speculator in lands and has helped develop some valuable tracts and prepare the soil for the produc- tion of crops. At Fairview he built a home and developed a small tract across State Street, within the limits of North Dakota.

In 1917 Mr. Bosshard and A. M. Gardner formed a partnership for the buying and shipping of live- stock from Fairview. In 1918 he acquired his part- ner's interest and continued the business on his own responsibility. His enterprise furnished a convenient market for a large amount of cattle and hogs which have been moved out of the region toward Eastern markets in recent years. On June 3, 1920, Mr. Bosshard purchased a large block of the stock of the First National Bank of Nashua, was elected its cashier and transferred his residence to this point. Mr. Bosshard has done well in his business career, and still has a prospect of many useful years before him. He cast his first presidential ballot for Mr. Taft in 1908 and in 1916, like thousands of other republicans, supported Mr. Wilson.

At Williston, North Dakota, February 17, 1910, he married Miss Sweetie Dakota Moore. She was born at Hillsboro, North Dakota, October 6, 1887, a daughter of John and Lucy (Honstain) Moore. Her father was a native of Wisconsin, while the Honstains were a Pennsylvania family. The Moores are farmers and were early identified with the Yel- lowstone Valley near Fairview. The children in the Moore family are: Arthur, of Fairview; Pearl, of Baker, Montana; Edward, of Fairview; Mrs. Bosshard; and Lilburn, of Enid, Montana. Two children have been born to the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Bosshard, Adolph and Hazel.

JAMES F. BLAIR. Among the alert, progressive and thoroughly substantial business men who have come to the forefront during recent years by reason of their connection with the automobile industry, one who has been recruited from the ranks of Mon- tana ranchmen is James F. Blair, proprietor of the leading general garage of Southwestern Montana, situated at Dillon. As a ranchman Mr. Blair had established a reputation for ability and industry that gained him high standing in the Horse Prairie coun- try of Beaverhead County, and since locating at Dillon he has added to this reputation and substan- tiated it by the manner in which he has entered his new field of activity.

James F. Blair is a native Montanan, born at Bannack, September 12, 1878, a son of William G. and Emma (Frester) Blair. His father, born in 1844, in Tennessee, was reared in Kentucky, and when but little more than a lad enlisted for service during the war between the states, in which he served four years, and during which he received a gunshot wound in the knee that lamed him for life. In 1867 he became a pioneer into Beaverhead County, Montana, where he first worked on a ranch at Red Rock, and following his marriage in that county resided at Bannack, where, during the early

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days he drove stage from Bannack to Virginia City and carried the mail for several years. Subsequent- ly he took up ranching and became one of the successful ranchers and cattlemen of his locality, and was so occupied until his retirement in 1913 to California, where he now makes his home at Los Angeles. Mr. Blair is a democrat in politics. He married Emma Frester, who was born in 1851, at Battle Creek, Michigan, and they became the par- ents of three children: Nellie, the wife of J. H. Shesher, a rancher of Horse Prairie, Beaverhead County ; Frank P., a rancher of Grant, this state; and James F.

After attending the public schools of the rural community of Beaverhead County, James F. Blair took a course in the Ogden (Utah) Business Col- lege, from which he was graduated in 1898, and at that time began ranching on Horse Prairie, where he became the owner of great herds of cattle and 3,000 acres of land. Disposing of his ranches and stock in May, 1917, he came to Dillon, and in the summer of 1918 built the leading general garage of Southwestern Montana, situated on the corner of South Idaho and Sebree streets, with a floor space of 75×115 feet. A general garage business is done, and Mr. Blair and his partner, W. E. Lloyd, handle Stearns-Knight and Velie cars, and all kinds of au- tomobile accessories. In addition a machine shop is maintained which is one of the best equipped in Montana, fully capable of making repairs on all kinds of cars. In addition to the garage Mr. Blair is the owner of a modern residence at No. 703 South Pacific Street, and has various business in- terests, including stock in the Farm Loans Corpora- tion of Helena, and mining interests in Alaska. His business standing is of the best, and his associ- ates know him as a man of practical ideas, excel- lent judgment and unswerving integrity, in whom they may place the utmost confidence. He is a dem- ocrat in politics, but not a politician, and his fra- ternal connection is with the Bannack Lodge No. 16, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

In March, 1904, at Dillon, Mr. Blair was united in marriage with Miss Edith G. Parkinson, daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. Tim Parkinson, the former a Utah farmer, now deceased, and the latter a resi- dent of Wellsville, that state. Mr. and Mrs. Blair are the parents of four children: June, born June 26, 1905; Nellie, born September 12, 1906; Gymie, born March 23, 1909; and Tim, born January 22, 1911.

WALTER E. LLOYD. The activities of Walter E. Lloyd during a somewhat diversified career have included participation in freighting, cow-punching and ranching, and, at present, in conducting at Dil- lon what is generally accounted the leading and best-equipped garage in Southwestern Montana. From the time he was twelve years of age Mr. Lloyd has been self-supporting, and his rise to a position of business eminence at Dillon has come through his tireless industry and the able and in- telligent manner in which he has made use of his talents and opportunities.

Mr. Lloyd was born in Deer Lodge County, Mon- tana, July 3, 1872, a son of Charles W. and Evaline Lloyd, the latter a native of Iowa. His father was born in 1834, in the State of New York, and was a lad when he came west, accompanying an ox-train across the plains to the gold fields of California. In 1867 he became a pioneer of Deer Lodge County, Montana, where he engaged in mining, and died at Granite Mountain, in what is now Granite County, in 1883. He was a republican in politics. Mrs. Lloyd died in the same community in 1880. They

were the parents of two children: Walter E .; and Charles, who is engaged in mining in Beaverhead County, Montana.

Walter E. Lloyd attended the rural schools of Deer Lodge County, but the early death of his father made it necessary that he become self-sup- porting when he was but twelve years of age, at which time he secured work on a ranch. During the pioneer days he followed whatever occupation presented itself, and until he was twenty-three years of age his work was largely that of a cow- boy. Later he freighted from Red Rock to Ban- nack, and eventually engaged in ranching near the latter place, twenty-five miles from Dillon. His operations there were decidedly successful, being prosecuted with vigor and good judgment, and he became the owner of 5,000 acres of land and a large cattle raiser. In 1916 he disposed of his ranch and stock and moved to Dillon, where he assisted his partner, James F. Blair, to establish their pres- ent garage, situated at the corner of Idaho and Se- bree streets, which is the leading and best-equipped general garage in Southwestern Montana. The firm of Lloyd & Blair handles Stearns-Knight and Velie cars and all kinds of accessories, and also con- ducts a machine shop, fully equipped for the repair of all kinds of automobiles, and the business enjoys an excellent patronage. Mr. Lloyd is a business- man of marked capacity and high principles and commands the respect of business men and the gen- eral public. He is an independent voter who pre- fers to use his own judgment in his choice of can- didates, and as a fraternalist belongs to Jackson (Montana.) Tribe, Improved Order Red Men.

In 1898 Mr. Lloyd was married at Bannack, Montana, to Miss Elizabeth Parkinson, a native of Utah.

CHARLES CLIFFORD THORNTON is member of a prominent Minnesota family of bankers and busi- ness men and a few years ago came to Dillon, Mon- tana, and established the Securities State Bank, now one of the solid and prosperous financial insti- tutions of Southwestern Montana.

Dr. Thornton, whose active experience has given him a wide knowledge of the northwestern country, was born at Benson, Minnesota, January 23, 1884. His father was the late Frank M. Thornton, who was born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1840. He was five years of age when his mother brought him to New York City and later she took up a homestead on Lake Harriet, in what is now the City of Minne- apolis. Frank M. Thornton therefore grew up on the Minnesota frontier, and lived on his mother's homestead until the outbreak of the Civil war. In 1861 he became captain of a regiment of infantry of Ohio troops, and was all through the war, a gal- lant and hard fighting soldier. He came out with the rank of major. About 1869 he cast in his lot with the new community of Benson, Minnesota. For half a century that town has had the greater part of its civic and business enterprise centered in the Thornton family. Frank M. Thornton was interested in the hardware, elevator and grain busi- ness, established the old Bank of Benson, serving as its cashier and later as its president, holding that office at the time of his death in 1905. He lent his influence and means in every way to the substantial upbuilding of Benson, showing himself a man of progress when the community needed a forward push and also conservative as a safeguard to undue speculation and over-hasty development. He was a good business man and on many occasions proved his sincere philanthropy. He was a republican in politics and he and his family were the chief influ-

Frank Conley

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ences in upbuilding and maintaining an Episcopal church in Benson. He was also an active member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a regular attendant at lodge meetings and filled all the chairs in the order. He built a fine home at Benson, owned much other town property and also several ranches in Swift County and had a bean- tiful summer home at Glenwood, owning 200 acres extending about a mile along the front of Minne- waska Lake. This beautiful and attractive property is still owned by his estate. Frank M. Thornton married Elizabeth Clague, who was born on the Isle of Man in 1845 and died at Benson, Minnesota, in 1913. The Dillon banker was the sixth of a family of eight children. Frank C. Thornton, the oldest, is president of the First National Bank of Benson. Frances Eleanor is the wife of Frank Stone, president of the Swift County Bank of Ben- son. Eric L. is vice president of the Metropolitan Bank of St. Paul, is a lawyer by profession, and was formerly secretary to Governor Burnquist of Minnesota. Elizabeth is the wife of George Champ- lin, an attorney living at Lake Crystal, Minnesota. Edwin B. is an electrical engineer practicing his profession at Toledo, Ohio. Mabel married C. G. Ferguson, advertising manager for the Baker Im- porting Company and a resident of Minneapolis. Harry, the youngest of the family, is employed in the First National Bank at Benson.

Charles Clifford Thornton was graduated from the Benson High School in 1903. The experience of the past sixteen years has brought him in touch with many prominent business interests. He first learned the banking business as an employe of the First National Bank of Benson, and on his own merit was promoted to the duties of assistant cash- ier. In 1908 he left Minnesota and for several years was a resident of Vancouver, British Colum- bia, where he was associated with S. W. Thacker in the investment and real estate business. In 1915 he returned to his home town and for six months had some active participation in the First National Bank. He is still a director of that institution and one of its principal stockholders. Mr. Thornton came to Dillon, Montana, in the fall of 1916 and organized the Security State Bank, of which he has since been president. This bank has a capital of $50,000, surplus and profits of $5,000, average deposits of $200,000. The bank is housed in the Hotel Andrus Building. The vice president is Nels Nelson, a well known retired stockman and capi- talist of Dillon, and the cashier is Marshall Field.

Mr. Thornton is also interested in the organiza- tion of a national bank at Lima, which will be known as the Security National Bank of Lima. The char- ter was received October 29, 1919, and the capital stock is $25,000. This is the sixth banking institution in the county. C. C. Thornton, presi- dent of the Security State Bank at this place, is president; Frank Merril of Lima is the vice pres- ident and the board of directors will be composed of those two gentlemen with A. F. Waldorf of Dillon, and Emery Keller and C. S. Truax of Lima. The other stockholders are Nels Nelson, Marshall Field, John Peterson, J. T. McKnight, J. T. Thiel, L. E. Brainard, Leo Truax, Miss Maggie Halligan, Mrs. C. B. Van Housen, Smith McKnight, William Gleed, Ed Gleed, M. P. Christensen, Sherman Vance, E. W. Geary, Victor Mathews, Dr. L. C. Ford, John A. West, Will Wall and Ed Kenison.

The bank will be located next to the Merril store and a fine new brick and stone building will be erected in the near future for the housing of the new institution. It will be well equipped and handsomely furnished.

Mr. Thornton owns considerable real estate in Benson, Minnesota, and Vancouver, B. C., and is interested in a ranch in Beaverhead County, Mon- tana. He is a member of the Montana and Amer- ican Bankers Association, is a republican voter, affiliated with the Episcopal Church, and is a mem- ber of Vancouver Lodge of Masons and Benson Lodge Knights of Pythias.

In 1912, at Morris, Minnesota, he married Miss Adele Bailey, daughter of W. J. and Sarah (Wolf) Bailey. Her father is a contractor and builder, and her parents still live at Morris, Minnesota, Mrs. Thornton is a graduate in domestic science from the Thomas Training School at Detroit, Mich- igan, and for a year before her marriage lived at Herman, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Thornton have one son, Howard, born March 30, 1913.

FRANK CONLEY. During the closing years of the territorial period and for thirty years of Montana's statehood, Frank Conley has been the warden of the penitentiary at Deer Lodge. It is doubtful if any official in similar institutions in the country have served a longer period than Frank Conley. On any subject connected with prison management he speaks with the voice of authority born of an unusually long and interesting experience.

Mr. Conley is not only a veteran state official, but has long been helpfully identified with the Town of Deer Lodge, has served as its mayor over a score of years, and has never neglected an opportunity to upbuild and increase the prestige of his home city.

Mr. Conley was born at Havre de Grace, Maryland, February 28, 1864. His father, James P. Conley, was born in Ireland in 1821. As a young man he was guilty of infringing some of the poaching laws of Ireland and left that country for that reason and came to America. He married at Baltimore and followed the business of drover for a number of years with home at Havre de Grace. He died in March, 1865. His wife was Mary McCan, who was born in Ireland in 1823 and died at Carroll, Iowa, in 1880. Frank Conley was the youngest of their seven children. Jack the oldest has been a success- ful business man and is now living on the income of his property at Seattle, Washington. James is a worker in the shipyards at Seattle. Mary lives at Carroll, Iowa, widow of Ed Daly, who was a black- smith there. Kate has her home at Danbury, Iowa, widow of John Gleason, a farmer. Eliza is the wife of George Kennebeck, a lumber dealer at Carroll, Iowa. Martin died at the age of fifteen.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 96

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