Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 97

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 97

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Frank Conley was only an infant when his father died. He attended his first school at Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and afterwards went with his mother to Carroll, Iowa. All his education was acquired be- fore he was fourteen years of age. As a means of helping support his mother he worked in a grocery store five years, giving his wages to the family.

Mr. Conley came to Montana in 1880 and from Miles City went with a surveying party to the Yel- lowstone National Park, spending eighteen months in that work. For four years he was deputy sheriff of Custer County with home at Miles City. Mr. Conley came to Deer Lodge in 1886, and was first employed as a guard in the territorial penitentiary. The penitentiary was then a Federal institution, and in 1889 it became an institution of the state govern- ment. At that time Mr. Conley and Tom McTague made a contract with the state to manage the prison and act as wardens. The contract system continued until 1908, at which time a change in the system of management was effected, with direct responsibili- ty to the state administration. Governor Norris continued Mr. Conley in the management in the ca-

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pacity of warden and he has been reappointed to those duties by every successive governor.

Mr. Conley has served as mayor of Deer Lodge twenty-four years. In that time the city has grown from 800 to 5,000 population, and Mr. Conley has exerted his influence in behalf of every advancement and improvement made in a quarter of a century. Recently he has been busy arranging a vote on a $100,000 bond issue for a new courthouse and a $30,000 bond issue for a new city hall. Mr. Conley is also chairman of the State Highway Commission, having been elected chairman by his fellow commis- sioners in May, 1919.

In politics he is a republican. He is affiliated with Deer Lodge Lodge No. 14, Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons, with Valley Chapter No. 4, Royal Arch Masons, Montana Commandery of the Knights Templar, and Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena. He is president of the Deer Lodge Ho- tel Corporation and is owner of a fine modern resi- dence on Main Street. In 1902 at Missoula he mar- ried Miss Hilda Higgins. Her father was Captain Higgins, founder of Missoula. They have two chil- dren : Hilda, born March 12, 1904; and Helen, born April 19, 1907.

CLARENCE W. HUDSON, a banker of long and suc- cessful experience, was the prime leader in establish- ing the Beaverhead State Bank at Dillon. This bank opened for business in May, 1917, has had a rapid .growth and development and is now one of the strong financial institutions of Southwestern Mon- tana. It has a capital stock of $50,000, surplus of $10,000, and its deposits in the summer of 1919 aggregated $200,000. It has been under the able management of Mr. Hudson since the start. G. T. Paul is president, and there are three vice presidents, Frank Landon, T. J. Mullany and Clarence W. Hud- son. Mr. Hudson is also cashier and active manager.

Mr. Hudson was born at Nashville, Tennessee, March 2, 1878, and his father, John M. Hudson, was born at Gallatin, Tennessee, in 1838. John M. Hudson spent his life in Gallatin and Nashville, was married in the latter city, and for many years was foreman in the press room of the Methodist Pub- lishing House at Nashville. He was a sincere Methodist himself, was a democrat in politics and was a Royal Arch and Knight Templar Mason. He died at Nashville in 1903. His wife was Nannie Woodford, who was born at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1850 and is now living at Omaha, Nebraska. Clarence W. Hudson was the younger of two sons. His brother Arthur was in the transportation busi- ness in South America and died at Babahoya, Ecua- dor, in 1901.

Clarence W. Hudson received his early education in the public schools of Nashville and completed his sophomore year in the Woolwine College of Tulla- homa, Tennessee, in 1896. For one year he was a bookkeeper in the employ of the Methodist Pub- lishing House. He made his first acquaintance with the northwestern country in 1897, when he was sent to Dietz, Wyoming, as manager of the commissary maintained by his uncle, C. N. Dietz, of Omaha. He looked after the interests of his uncle in Wyo- ming for five years. In 1902 he engaged in the wholesale and retail mercantile business at Sheri- dan, Wyoming, but four years later sold out and returned to Kentucky. For three years he was cashier of the Eagle Bank at Owensboro. He was then instrumental in organizing the United States National Bank at Owensboro. This was the result of a consolidation of the three Owensboro banks, with combined capitalization of $125,000, and the new bank doubled that capitalization. It is now

the largest bank in Owensboro, operating on a cap- ital of $250,000. Mr. Hudson remained at Owens- boro as cashier of this bank for five years.

He returned to the Northwest in 1914 and for two years was cashier of the Stockmen's National Bank at Fort Benton. He left Fort Benton to interest local capital at Dillon in the organization of the Beaverhead State Bank.

Mr. Hudson is a republican in politics, is a dea- con in the Baptist Church at Dillon, is affiliated with Dillon Lodge No. 23, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Dillon Chapter No. 8, Royal Arch Masons, St. Elmo Commandery No. 7, Knights Templar, and is a member of Rizpah Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Madisonville, Kentucky.

He and his family reside at 717 South Pacific Street in Dillon. He married at Owensboro, Ken- tucky, July 2, 1901, Bessie Nave, a daughter of John H. and America . (Norris) Nave. Her mother is deceased. Her father was for many years a tobacconist at Owensboro and is now living retired with his daughter, Mrs. Hudson. Mrs. Hudson is a graduate of the high school of Louisville, Ken- tucky, and also of the Miss Annie Nold College of that city. Mr. and Mrs. Hudson have one child, Delia, born July 27, 1906.

HERBERT FLOYD BEST. One of the ablest dental surgeons in Southwestern Montana is Dr. H. F. Best, who for the past thirteen years has been en- gaged in a busy practice at Dillon. Doctor Best is member of an old and prominent family of Dillon, being a son of O. M. Best. His father's career as a merchant and business man and as head of the Western Wholesale Grocery Company is told in a separate article.

Dr. Herbert Floyd Best was born while his parents lived at Climax, Michigan, February 21, 1883. He was about two years old when the family came to Montana and located at Dillon, where he grew up and received his education in the public schools. He attended the Beaverhead County High School at Dillon, spent two years in the Montana Normal College, and took his professional degree in the Northwestern University of Chicago, where he graduated in 1906. While in university he was a member of the Psi Sigma Phi Dental Greek Letter fraternity. In 1917 Dr. Best took post-graduate work in dentistry at the University of Pennsylva- nia, and received a certificate in Dental Surgery. He began practice at Butte in 1906, but in 1908 returned to his home town of Dillon and has all the modern equipment of a dental surgeon in his offices at 2 East Bannack Street.

Doctor Best is a stockholder in the Security State Bank of Dillon. He owns a modern home at 526 South Washington Street. Politically he is a repub- lican, is a member of the Montana State Dental Society, is a Methodist and is affiliated with Dillon Lodge No. 23, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Dillon Chapter No. 28, Royal Arch Masons, St. Elmo Commandery No. 7, Knights Templar, Bagdad Tem- ple of the Mystic Shrine at Butte, and Dillon Camp, Modern Woodmen of America.

At Dysart, Iowa, in 1910, Dr. Best married Miss Margaret Pearson, a daughter of E. and Helen (Fuller) Pearson. Her mother lives at Long Beach, California. Her father, who died at Dysart, Iowa, in 1910, was a successful farmer and also owned a canning factory. Dr. and Mrs. Best have one daughter, Helen Ida, born November 3, 1914, and one son, Winfield Judson, born November 6, 1919.

ESEK RAV MOSHER, acting president of Montana Normal College at Dillon, has held the chair of

Mabel .Campbell.

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Mathematics in that institution for the past twelve years. Mr. Mosher is a man of thorough scholar- ship, comes of a family of scholars, and has been engaged in educational work since the age of twenty-one, when he graduated from the University of Minnesota.

Mr. Mosher was born at Dexter, Michigan, April 15, 1882. Some of his paternal ancestors came to America and settled in Massachusetts as early as 1621. His father was Roswell Curtis Mosher, who was born in New York State October 6, 1854. He spent his early life in Michigan, was married at Kalamazoo in that state, and lived for two years at Dexter. He spent his active life as a clergyman of the Baptist Church. He was a graduate of Kala- mazoo College, a Baptist institution, with the A. B. degree, later attended the old Chicago University, where he received his Master of Arts degree, and took his theological course in Morgan Park The- ological Seminary at Chicago. On leaving Mich- igan he moved to Southern Minnesota and was pas- tor of churches at Herman, Owatonna, Albert Lea in that state, and at Hudson, Wisconsin. On ac- count of failing health he moved to Missoula, Mon- tana, in 1906, and died there shortly afterward, on the 6th of May of that year. He was a republican in politics. Rev. Mr. Mosher married Margaret Emily Kane, who was born in Pennsylvania Febru- ary 14, 1857. She is now living at Greeley, Colo- rado. Esek Ray was the second of four children. Curtis Lee, the oldest, is assistant Federal Reserve Agent in the Federal Reserve Bank at Minneapolis. Robert Marcius is in the automobile. business at Casper, Wyoming. Maurice Emeny during the war and afterward served as chief electrician on the United States steamship New York.

Mr. E. R. Mosher acquired his public school edu- cation at Owatonna, Minnesota. He graduated from Pillsbury Academy in 1898, and afterward took the regular academic course at the University of Minnesota, receiving his A. B. degree in 1903. Dur- ing 1903-06 he was commandant and professor of Mathematics at the State Normal and Industrial School in Ellendale, North Dakota. The year 1906-07 he spent at Cleveland, where he was Super- visor of Instruction in the Evening School System of that city and was also carrying studies in the Western Reserve. University, from which he has his Master of Arts degree granted him in 1907.

In 1907 Mr. Mosher came to Dillon as Professor of Mathematics in the Montana State Normal Col- lege. From 1912 to 1919 he had the additional administrative responsibilities of vice president of the college, and in the spring of 1919, upon the resignation of Mr. Monroe, was appointed acting president of the college.

He has identified himself with the community of Dillon as a home owner, his residence being at 935 South Pacific Street. Mr. Mosher is a member of the National Education Association and the Amer- ican Mathematical Society, is a republican voter and is affiliated with the Episcopal Church.

August 23, 1911, at Lewistown, Montana, he mar- ried Eleanor Marie Schmidt, daughter of Emil and Anna (Klein) Schmidt. Her parents are residents of Winnett, Montana, where her father was one of the early ranchers. Mrs. Mosher is a graduate of the Helena High School and of the Montana State Normal College at Dillon. She is president of District No. 2 of the Montana Federation of Women's Clubs. They have two children: Paul Ray, born November 17, 1916, and Marion Eleanor, born August 21, 1918.

JUDSON P. BEST is one of the leading young busi- ness men of Dillon, and is founder of the Best

Candy Company, Incorporated, manufacturers of standard product sold and distributed throughout Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming and Idaho.

Mr. Best is a son of O. M. Best, the veteran business man and merchant of Dillon, president of the Western Wholesale Grocery Company. The story of his father's career in Montana is told on other pages. Judson P. Best was born at Dillon August 26, 1891. He graduated from the Beaver- head County High School in 1910, and entered the University of Michigan to complete his education. He finished his junior year there in 1913 and then returned west. For eight months he was in the real estate business at Port Angeles, Washington, and from there returned to Dillon and entered the Western Wholesale Grocery Company under his father. He had an increasing part in that business until April, 1919, and is secretary and treasurer of the company. In January, 1919, he established the Best Candy Company and was the sole proprietor of the business until January 1, 1920, when the busi- ness was incorporated with Mr. Best as president, Roy S. Stephenson as vice president, and Roy M. Carruthers, secretary-treasurer. . In less than a year this local industry has developed facilities and re- sources and a trade demand for all the goods it can supply over Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. The plant located at 120 North Montana Street employs forty hands.

Mr. Best is a republican in politics. He is affili- ated with Dillon Lodge No. 23, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Dillon Chapter No. 8, Royal Arch Masons, and Dillon Lodge No. 3, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his family live in a mod- ern home at 619 South Washington Street. On March 17, 1915, at Boulder, Colorado, Mr. Best married Miss Cecilia Hill, a daughter of W. W. and Christie Hill. Her parents reside at Kenosha, Wis- consin. Her father is interested in the Hill Steam- boat Company, and owns the Hillsdale Stock Farm, widely known for its pure bred cattle. Mrs. Best finished her education in the Stout Institute at Menominee, Wisconsin. To their marriage were born two children, Judson P., Jr., on August 7, 1916, and O. M., Jr., born August 18, 1919.

MRS. MABEL (LINDSTADT) CAMPBELL. The life his- tory of the estimable and popular superintendent of schools of Missoula County, Montana, Mrs. Mabel (Lindstadt) Campbell, most happily illustrates what may be attained by faithful and continued effort in carrying out noble purposes. It is a story of a life whose success is measured by its usefulness- a life that has made the world better and brighter. Her career has been dignified and womanly, her manner unaffected and her actions, springing from a heart charged with love and altruistic sentiment for humanity, have been a blessing to all who have come within range of her influence.

Mrs. Mabel (Lindstadt) Campbell is a native daughter of the great Treasure state, having been born at Philipsburg, Montana, and she is the daugh- ter of August W. and Minnie (Miller) Lindstadt. In the paternal line of descent Mrs. Campbell is descended from John Lindstadt, who was born in Stettin, Germany, came to the United States, was married to Caroline Bitte, and died in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1890. Among their children was Au- gust W., father of Mrs. Campbell. He was born in 1855 at Stettin, Germany, and his death occurred at Missoula, Montana, in 1912. At the age of fifteen years he had run away from home and came to the United States. He at once went to work, and so industrious and economical was he that in three years he had saved enough money to bring over his

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parents and two brothers, all of whom settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, He, however, went to Mari- posa County, California, where he followed his trade, that of a butcher. Subsequently he came to Mon- tana, locating in Deer Lodge Valley in 1884, and there he was married. In 1886 he moved to Butte, where he was employed at his trade for a year, and then located in Philipsburg, where and in Granite he spent the ensuing eighteen years. He then came to Missoula and was connected with the John R. Daily Company up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1912. Mr. Lindstadt was a demo- crat in political faith, and was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

As above stated, while residing at Deer Lodge Valley Mr. Lindstadt was married to Minnie Miller, who was born in New York City in 1868 and who now makes her home with her daughter, the sub- ject of this review. Her father, Christopher Miller, was born in Germany in 1825 and died at Deer Lodge Valley in 1874, the year in which he came to Montana. He had married Margaret Gerken, who was born near Hamburg, Germany, in 1841, and who died at Deer Lodge Valley, Montana, in 1911. In 1874, after their marriage, they had come to Mon- tana by way of Salt Lake City, to which city they had traveled by rail, whence they traveled to Deer Lodge Valley by emigrant wagons.

Mabel Lindstadt attended the public schools of Philipsburg, Montana, through the seventh grade. In 1906 the family moved to Missoula, where she completed her public school training, graduating from the high school here in 1910. She was then a student in the Minnesota State Normal School at Duluth, Minnesota, where she was graduated in November, 1912. During the following year she was engaged as a school teacher in a rural district in St. Louis County, Minnesota, where all of her pupils were foreigners, none of them being able to speak English. This was certainly a severe initia- tion for a young girl into the educational field, but nothing daunted, she stuck to her school and com- pleted her year to the entire satisfaction of the school board. She then returned to Missoula, and during the following year she was employed to teach a rural school in Missoula County. From 1914 lo 1917 she was engaged in teaching in the public schools of Missoula. In November, 1916, she was elected to the office of county superintendent of schools, and in January, 1917, she entered upon the discharge of the duties of that office. So entirely satisfactory was her conduct of the office that in 1918 she was elected, without opposition, to suc- ceed herself and is still the incumbent of that office. The office of county superintendent of schools is a most important one and Mrs. Campbell has made a most favorable impression throughout the county because of her businesslike method of conducting the office. She has supervision over fifty schools, ninety-seven teachers and over two thousand pupils. As a teacher she had met with merited success, and in her present capacity as superintendent her record presents a series of successes and advancements such as few attain. She has pursued her chosen calling with all the interest of an enthusiast, is thoroughly in harmony with the spirit of the work and has a proper conception of the dignity of the profession to which her life and energies are so unselfishly devoted.

Politically Mrs. Campbell is a democrat, while fraternally she is a member of Electa Chapter No. 7, Order of the Eastern Star, and the local lodge of the Daughters of Rebekah. She is also a member of the Montana State Teachers' Association and the National Teachers' Association.

On December 23, 1918, she became the wife of Nigel H. Campbell, who was born in Missouri, where he was reared and where he followed farming pur- suits until his removal to Missoula, Montana, in 1916. Here he has been in the employ of the North- ern Pacific Railroad Company. He is a gentleman of splendid personal qualities of character and is well liked by a large circle of acquaintances in the city of his adoption.

A. L. STONE. A large group of important busi- ness interests in Southwestern Montana have as one of their chief directing spirits Mr. A. L. Stone of Dillon. He is a Montana pioneer. Not one of the very first settlers, but has been identified with Montana since the late territorial period, altogether nearly thirty-five years. He has been busily engaged in practical work since boyhood, and yet has found time to cultivate those interests represented outside the realm of practical business. His father was a thorough scholar and Mr. Stone's own children have had every incentive and advantage of a liberalizing education.

Mr. Stone is a native of Kansas, born in Shawnee County, not far from the City of Topeka, October 16, 1860. His father, Lewis Anson Stone, was born at Royalton, New York, in 1825 and in 1837, at the age of twelve years, accompanied his parents to a pioneer home in Eaton County, Michigan. He re- ceived most of his education in Michigan, was a student in an academy at Olivet, and received his Master's degree from Oberlin College, Ohio. For twenty-five years he was engaged in educational work and was a pioneer of Kansas. Three years after the birth of his son A. Louis, he moved to Whiteside County, Illinois, and several years later returned to Kansas and settled on a farm in Leav- enworth County, where he died in 1904, at the age of seventy-nine. He married Miss Martha A. Hotchkiss in 1857, daughter of Freeman Hotchkiss, a farmer, contractor and builder. She was well educated and for a number of years assisted her husband in his school and college work. She died in Leavenworth County in 1872. A. Louis Stone had one sister, Eva Louise, who died in February, 1919. Her husband, J. M. Gilman, still lives on the old Stone homestead farm near Leavenworth, Kan- sas. Mr. Gilman has long been prominent in repub- lican politics in Kansas and for several terms was a member of the State Legislature.

A. L. Stone from the age of about six years grew up on his father's farm in Leavenworth County. He attended school there and also had much help from his father and mother in his studies. He earned his first money when ten years old running a rake in the field and gathering up scatterings. He was a regular hand on the farm and after get- ting his education was a teacher in Leavenworth County six years. At the same time he became interested in merchandising. Not enjoying the best of health in Kansas, he sold his interests and came to Montana in 1885. For a time he was clerk with McMillan & Cluett at Butte and in 1888 moved to Dillon, where he has made his home and has been an increasing factor in business affairs for over thirty years. Within a year after he went to work for the Dillon Implement Company he became sec- retary and treasurer of the company. He withdrew from this firm in 1899 and on the first of August established the State Bank of Dillon, being its cashier and manager until September 24, 1912, at which time he was chosen president. Under his management this bank has become one of the strong- est in the state. It has capital of $100,000, surplus and profits of an equal amount, while its deposits

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aggregate $1,250,000. Mr. Stone is president, Mar- tin Barrett is vice president, and W. A. Graeter is cashier.

Mr. Stone was chairman of the Executive Com- mittee in 1909-10 and vice president for 1910-13 of the Montana Bankers Association. His address upon the "Resources of Montana" before the Bank- ers' Convention in August, 1919, was a notable re- view and 5,000 copies were published by the asso- ciation for distribution.

A busy man, he has nevertheless found time to promote the welfare of his home locality, particu- larly in the matter of schools. From 1889 to 1892 he was superintendent of schools of Beaverhead Elks, the Beaverhead Club, and is a democrat in County. He is now a member of the State Board of Education. He has also been a member of the City Council of Dillon. He is affiliated with the politics. His family are members of the Episcopal Church.

At San Francisco April 8, 1896, Mr. Stone mar- ried Miss Albina Smith, daughter of Eden Smith of Illinois. The Stone family have a handsome modern home at 318 South Idaho Street but since 1917 Mr. Stone has maintained a home in Los Angeles in order that his children might en- joy the best of educational and other advantages in that city. He and his wife have five children : Irma, the oldest, born April 18, 1897, was sent abroad when eleven years of age and spent a year in Berlin. She is a graduate of Radcliffe College, the woman's department of Harvard University; receiving her Master of Arts degree there. She was a resident student in Old Mexico during 1909-10, and is well versed in modern languages. During 1918 she was teacher of Spanish and French in the high school of LaPorte, Indiana. Robert Malcolm, the second child, was born May 23, 1901, and during 1918-19 was a member of the Reserve Officers Train- ing Camp in the University of California at Berke- ley, and in the fall of 1919 entered upon his sopho- more year in that university. Martha, born October 8. 1902, is a graduate of the Los Angeles High School and entered the University of California in 1919. Donald was born August 22, 1904, and is in his, second year of the Los Angeles High School, while Henry Lee was born May 30, 1906, and has completed the eighth grade of the Los Angeles grammar schools.

AUGUSTUS F. GRAETER. While there are scores of Montanans called pioneers because they came to this country before the territory was erected into a state, it is a very diminished number which makes up the group of those Montanans whose lives and fortunes were cast with this isolated section of the Northwest during the early '6os. One of these, honored not only by length of residence, but by the quality of his public spirit, the great range of his business enterprise, and the kindness and strength of his character, is Augustus F. Graeter of Dillon, who became a resident of Montana in 1862.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume II, Part 97

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