Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 100

Author: Stout, Tom, 1879- ed
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 1144

USA > Montana > Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III > Part 100

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James C. Brackett married Elizabeth Ball, a daugh- ter of Isaac Ball, a member of an old Maine family of colonial times, as were the Bracketts of Portland. James C. Brackett, who was born in 1818, lived to the age of eighty-four years, and his wife, born in 1828, passed away when about fifty years of age. Their children were: Mary, who married Ed Lewis and resides in Maine; Oscar, the only representa- tive of the family in the West; William, of Cornish, Maine; Martha, the widow of Charles Parent and a resident of Lewiston, Maine; Miss Ellen, a trained nurse living in Massachusetts; and Elizabeth, who resides in the City of Cornish, Maine.

Oscar Brackett married in Custer County, Mon- tana, Miss Ella V. Hibbs, who was born near Cadiz, Ohio, and was well educated. After completing her schooling at the Barnesville, Ohio, Normal School she came out to Montana and taught at Lame Deer in the Cheyenne Indian Reservation and later at Terry. When she first located in Custer County its area embraced all the territory out of which the Counties of Fallon, Carter, Powder River, Prairie and Rosebud were afterward created, and the entire county then contained but three schools and Montana was divided into only thirteen counties. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Brackett, but

the oldest, Frank, was drowned when a young man of eighteen. The daughter Edith is engaged in teaching in Ismay. She was educated in the schools of Dillon, Montana. Constance, the second daugh- ter, is editor of a school magazine in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and has spent several years as a teacher. The youngest daughter, Evelyn, is the wife of Earl Smith, of Thermopolis, Wyoming, and they are the parents of one son.

Mr. Brackett cast his first presidential vote as a republican, and in the main he has supported the principles of republicanism since that time. He is now serving as a member of the Board of Aldermen of Ismay.

JUSTIN C. SIMPKINS, M. D. One of the depend- able and scholarly physicians and surgeons of Val- ley County is Dr. Justin C. Simpkins of Glasgow, who has been here in active practice since 1908, and during that period has firmly established himself in the confidence of the community. He was born in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, June 26, 1859, a son of Dr. Robert J. Simpkins.

Dr. Robert J. . Simpkins was born at Natural Bridge, Rockbridge County, Virginia, where his father had located, and where he spent his mature years as a planter. There were five sons in his family, all of whom entered the medical profes- sion, and moved to different localities, one of them being John Simpkins, one of the noted physicians of Indianapolis, Indiana, during its early period. The death of Dr. Robert J. Simpkins occurred in 1894, when he was seventy-two years of age. He was married to Margaret Gilbert, a daughter of John Gilbert, who was one of the leading men and a representative farmer of Tippecanoe County, In- diana, and one who took a very active part in re- publican political affairs. John Gilbert was a mem- ber of the Indiana State Assembly prior to the outbreak of the war between the states. His death took place in Tippecanoe County, but he was born in Ohio. Mrs. Robert J. Simpkins was his eldest child who lived to maturity, and she died at the age of seventy-one years, in 1912. The children born to Dr. Robert J. Simpkins and his wife were as follows: Dr. Justin C., who was the elder; and his sister, Lizzie C., who has spent her life as a public school teacher.

Dr. Justin C. Simpkins took his collegiate course in Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana, from wlience he was graduated when he was twenty- three years old. As was but natural, coming as he did from a family of medical men, he decided to enter the medical profession, and did his prelimi- nary studying with his father, and took his first course of lectures at Rush Medical College, Chi- cago, Illinois. He subsequently studied in the In- diana Medical College at Indianapolis, Indiana, from which he was graduated in 1886. While still a junior student he began practicing at Marshfield, Indiana, and when he had completed his course he located at Boswell, Indiana, where he remained for twelve years. During this time he did post grad- uate work at Chicago, Illinois, in physical diagnosis and surgery, and he has always shown a preference for surgical cases. In 1904 he was graduated from the Chicago Polyclinic in post-graduate work, and has never relaxed his diligence in studying to keep abreast of the progress in his calling.

When Doctor Simpkins left Boswell he estab- lished himself at Danville, Illinois, and while living there occupied as his residence the house adjoining the one of Hon. Joseph E. Cannon, the noted leader of republican forces and for so many years con- gressman from his district in Illinois. Doctor Simp-

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kins numbers other noted men among his friends, for he was a personal friend of Gen. Lew Wallace, author of Ben Hur, and no one took more inter- est in the success of that celebrated author than he.

Leaving Danville, Illinois, Doctor Simpkins came further west and homesteaded in the vicinity of Granville, North Dakota, and he proved up his claim and continued his practice. However, . he found that the climate was not suited to him, and he left North Dakota and went to Nevada in the hope of improving his health. For two years, with that object in view, he engaged in mining and prospecting in the mountains of that state, and in August, 1903, erected the first tent at Rawhide, Nevada, where by December of that year there were 3,000 people. It was a gold camp, and the mines proved to be good producers, and the several claims of Doctor Simpkins and his partner, known as the "Gold Quartz" property, sold at a high figure, and with his profits the former came to Montana.

Like his honored father, Doctor Simpkins is a radical republican, but, unlike him, he has been very active in the affairs of the several communi- ties in which he has lived. While at Boswell he was township trustee for six years, and as such had under his supervision the township educational affairs and road work, and he introduced what was then the innovation of the establishment of a cen- tral school, which was the first ever established as far as he knows. Upon coming to Valley County Doctor Simpkins continued his public-spirited efforts, and served it as health officer for three years. His first presidential vote was cast in 1880 for James A. Garfield. Fraternally he belongs to the Odd Fol- lows and the Elks. In Indiana and Montana he has been interested as a member of the various medical societies.

In June, 1884, Doctor Simpkins was united in marriage with Miss Alice Van Houten in War- ren County, Indiana, where she was born in Sep- tember, 1861, a daughter of Richard and Hulda (Steadman) Van Houten. Richard Van Houten was born in the United States, but his parents were natives of Holland. A farmer by calling, during the war between the states he enlisted in the Union army in an Indiana regiment, and it is believed he was killed while in the service. Mrs. Simpkins was the only child born to her parents, and she was educated in the Williamsport High School. Doctor and Mrs. Simpkins had the following chil- dren born to them: Rupert R., who is one of the faculty of the State Normal School at McComb, Illinois, having been graduated from the Indiana State University, is married; Albert, who was a druggist and is now engaged in farming but main- tains his residence at' Minot, North Dakota, mar- ried a Wisconsin lady; Mrs. Mabel Fairman, who lives at Glasgow; Mrs. Frances Estes, who lives at Valejo, California; and Madaline, who is ste- nographer for a prominent law firm of San Fran- cisco, California. Mrs. Simpkins died at Valejo, California, in 1918.

During the late war Doctor Simpkins rendered his community and country a very valuable service by acting as examiner for all of the recruits and drafted men at Glasgow.

FREDERICK B. GILLETTE, United States commis- sioner of this district, came into Montana to make his home in 1904. He was then just twenty-one years of age, and came to the state to join his father and sister and take up Government land. These relatives had preceded him here a year, and they all filed on land in the Milk River Valley, three miles west of Hinsdale.

Mr. Gillette came into Montana from Chicago, Illinois, where he was born January 21, 1883. His father, Stanley A. Gillette, continued his identifica- tion with this region of Valley County more or less from 1902 to 1914, and in that time proved up a claim. He was born at Rome, New York, grew to mature years there, and was a schoolmate of ex-Secretary of State Lansing. In his early life Stanley A. Gillette entered the railroad service, serving as a traffic man during the remainder of his life. He was first with the Chicago, Burling- ton and Quincy and finally with the Great Northern, and during the most of his service was stationed at Chicago. He passed away there May 10, 1919, at the age of sixty-one years. He was of colonial stock, originally from Alsace-Lorraine and French Huguenots, and his forefathers left Europe about the time of the St. Bartholomew massacre and es- tablished the family in the New Amsterdam Col- ony. Among the Revolutionary ancestors on the Distaff side was Malcolm Henry, who served under General Marion, the Swamp Fox, and took part in the battles of Kings, Mountain and Cowpens. Malcolm Henry was a relative of Frederick B. Gil- lette's maternal great-grandmother, who married Joshua Gentry, the first president of the Hannibal and St. Joe Railroad Company, the first railroad to be built west of the Mississippi River, and the Gentry home was in Hannibal. In his younger days Mr. Gentry was appointed by President William Henry Harrison as first sheriff of the Territory of Missouri. Richard Gentry, another maternal an- cestor, was a Virginia soldier in the Revolution, and was present at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown.

Stanley A. Gillette was a son of Alonzo Gillette, who spent his life in the Rome locality of the State of New York as a farmer. He married a Miss Sloat, whose family originally spelled the name von Sloatten, of Holland stock. Stanley A. Gillette was one of three children, his brother being formerly a railroad man and miner at Durango, Colorado, but now located at Traverse City, Michigan, and his sister, Mrs. Emma Norlin, is a resident of Teluride, Colorado.

Stanley A. Gillette married Mary A. Bolling, a daughter of Alexander and Adaline (Gentry) Boll- ing. Mr. Bolling was of old Virginia stock, although born in Kentucky, and he spent the vigor of his life at Hannibal, Missouri, where he was a pork packer and farmer. Mrs. Gillette, who was born at Hannibal, attended the college of that city and was a teacher before her marriage. She died in Chicago in November, 1914, the mother of two chil- dren. The daughter, Miss Edna F., was a resident of Montana for several years, where she took up a claim, but she has returned to Chicago.

Frederick B. Gillette completed his high school training in the old South Division High School in Chicago, and after his graduation there secured a position with a wholesale metal company, was later in the office of the Northern Assurance Company there, and then came to Montana and took up a claim. During a period of ten years he maintained his home on his land and farmed the family lands, following the business on an extensive scale until he found it was not profitable. He entered en- thusiastically into the irrigation project started by the Government, and continued to encourage the project for a dozen or more year's.

When he finally abandoned farming Mr. Gillette secured a position with the Great Northern Rail- road Company at Hinsdale as an operator. In 1912 he was appointed United States commissioner at Hinsdale, and has since held that position. During

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his tenure of office a major portion of the region tributary to Hinsdale has been filed upon and proved up. He entered the employ of the Imperial Ele- vator Company in March, 1915, and has ever since continued as their Hinsdale manager.

Mr. Gillette was brought up in a home of a "hard- shell" republican, and when he cast his first presi- dential ballot at Hinsdale in 1908 it went for Mr. Taft. As a citizen he has always manifested more or less interest in the county, but not in an offi- cial capacity.

In Missoula, Montana, August 2, 1916, Mr. Gil- lette was married to Miss Marguerite Noeth, whose father settled in Montana many years ago and lived in the vicinity of Great Falls and Missoula. He came to this state from near Detroit, Michigan, the birthplace of his daughter. Both Mr. Noeth and his wife were of Bavarian origin, and Mrs. Gillette is their oldest surviving child. She grad- uated from both the Missoula High School and the Montana State Normal at Dillon, and taught in Hinsdale from 1909 to 1912, and from 1913 to 1916 in the Missoula schools. A son, Frederick B., Jr., was born to Mr. and Mrs. Gillette May 10, 1918.

Mr. Gillette was the first candidate to enter Ma- sonry in Kyle Lodge No. 96, at Hinsdale, and for years has served as secretary of the lodge, and his records are conceded to be the most complete to be found in any local lodge. He is a member of Chapter No. 17, Royal Arch Masons, at Glasgow. He was active in the consolidation of fourteen Ma- sonic lodges from Malta east to the North Dakota line and also along the Scobey branch. They were consolidated under the title of the Masonic Wel- fare Association of Northeastern Montana, of which he was elected the first president.

Mr. Gillette was registry agent under the selec- tive service act, and registered practically everyone available for military service in this territory. Under the questionnaire system he had an unlimited amount of experience helping to fill out these forms. He was chairman of several of the bond and Red Cross drives, and always arranged it to report "Over the top" at 7 o'clock of the morning the drive opened and always made the assertion good. He is the president of the Hinsdale Chamber of Commerce.

PLEAS MARTIN PRICE has been identified with the locality and the interests of the Hinsdale com- munity of Valley County since the year 1888. He came here from Texas with a trail herd bound to the Home Land and Cattle Company, the Niede- ringhaus people. It was the "STV" brand of stock, and they started north from the range in the Pan- handle of Texas.

Mr. Price was reared in Texas, and was born in Fannin County of that state October 22, 1863. His father died just before the son's birth. It is believed he was a Confederate soldier. In an early day he went from Virginia to Texas and settled in the county where his son was afterward born. He married a Virginia Lady, Miss Josephine Milam, and Pleas M. Price was her only child. She subse- quently became the wife of Levi Perryman and died in Montague County, Texas, about the year 1878.

Left alone in the world by the death of his mother, Pleas M. Price was brought up in the home of Levi Perryman, his stepfather, in Montague Coun- ty, Texas, and the limited educational training which he received was gained in the schools of his home community and under difficulties. In- dians were numerous there and were constantly sceking whom they might scalp or put to death, keeping the people in constant dread, and they very

often sought protection behind stockades. Mr. Price was in Texas when the buffalo left that region, and it is remembered by him that many of the prairie dogs followed along with the buffalo to the Canadian line, but none of the dogs crossed into the British possession.

Mr. Price remained loyal to his stepfather until he reached the age of maturity, and he then began driving cattle on the trail from Texas north. He made his first trip in 1882, going to Abilene and Dodge City, Kansas, and later to Ogalalla, Ne- braska, driving over the old eastern Chisholm trail several times. On his first trip to Montana with the "STV" outfit in 1888 he remained in the ter- ritory and entered the employ of the Home Land and Cattle Company, holding the cattle he helped drive through. Continuing with that company until 1894, he began ranching for himself on Beaver Creek,' near Hinsdale, and the homestead which he entered there became the nucleus of his ranch. He settled on his claim in 1893, but did not file on the land until 1897. His first home was a three- room log house, which is still doing duty as the family abode, and it was the home into which he brought his bride. His stock interests have been confined to range horses and cattle, which he has run under the brand "M5" on his cattle and "W-K" on his horses, and stockraising and farming still comprise his life's vocation.

When he first located in this locality Mr. Price was in Dawson County, and to reach the county seat, Glendine, he had to go by way of St. Paul, if by train or take pack-horse and bed and grub if he made cross country drive, Valley County was not set off until 1893, since which date his residence has been in the latter county, this change having been effected without removal of his home. During several years his residence was temporarily at Great Falls, while educating his children, but he has always claimed allegiance to Valley County. He has always maintained an interest in local pol- itics, in national affairs supporting the principles of the democratic party, and during the early years of his residence here he served as one of the trus- tees of the Hinsdale School District.

Mr. Price married in Chinook, Montana, in June, 1896, Miss Cora M. Galvin, who was born in Wis- consin and came to Montana in 1895. She has a brother, Will Galvin, living at Martindale, Mon- tana. Mrs. Price's education, like that of her hus- hand, was limited, and it was while living with her brother in Saco that she became acquainted with Mr. Price. Two children have been born to them, Tressa and Earline, the former a graduate of St. Mary's School in Great Falls.

During the period of the World war Mr. Price added his interest and assistance enthusiastically to the needs of the period as a farmer, returning to his farm to grow food for the needs of the na- tion, and he also bought generously and patriotically of stamps and bonds.

JAMES MCINTYRE is the president of the First National Bank of Hinsdale, and he has been a Montana resident since the spring of 1916. He first located at Glasgow. where he was associated with the Milk River Valley Bank until the fall of 1916, when he associated his interests with Hinsdale and promoted the organization of the First National Bank.

Mr. McIntyre was born at Wolfe Island, Ontario, March II, 1862, a son of John Mcintyre, who was born in Ireland of Scotch parents, a son of James McIntyre. The early generations of the family were farmers. John Mcintyre lived to the good old age

U.S. NAVY

JUDD P. HEDGES AND SONS Oliver G.

Daniel J.

Harry H.

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of eighty years, and died in Michigan. James Mc- Intyre married a Miss Reid, and both lived to the advanced age of ninety years. They were the par- ents of four children: James, who died in Kings- ton, Ontario; Jane, who married David Douley and died on Wolf Island, Ontario; Martha, who mar- ried an Irishman named McCarthy and moved to Western Canada. John McIntyre was the young- est of the children. He married Margaret Marshall, . who was born in Ireland, a daughter of John Mar- shall. The following children were born to John and Margaret McIntyre: William, the treasurer of Isabella County, Michigan, and a resident of Mount Pleasant, that state; James, the Hinsdale banker; John, the foreman of a North Dakota cattle ranch in McHenry County ; Mary J., who married Captain Horne, in the Great Lakes Navy service and a resi- dent of Sarnia, Ontario; and David, the youngest, is a machinist at Sarnia.

James McIntyre was not a pupil in school after he attained his eighth year. His mathematical edu- cation came to him largely through experience as he has found the need. He left home when a child of ten and began fighting his own battles at that early age and working at whatever presented itself within his strength, much of the time on the farm. When he became older he went to the lumber woods of Ontario, where he spent many winters in the logging camps, and was there until after he reached his majority. On one occasion while driving his team a horse buyer from Manitoba came along and bought it, and Mr. McIntyre hired to the buyer to accompany him out to Brandon, Manitoba, where he accepted the foremanship of a large farm and remained there until 1888, going to Minnesota in that year.

Mr. McIntyre came into the United States with so little capital that it was hardly worth the name, and he depended upon his manual efforts for a liv- ing until he became a merchant. He was seriously crippled in 1892, while out hunting, falling with his gun while going through the timber and shooting off his hand. On first locatng in Minnesota he be- gan farming in Kittson County, and after two years there, in 1890, removed to Pembine County, North Dakota, where he engaged in running a ferry on Red River, and when he left that county in 1893 he went to Walsh County and took up merchandis- ing at Forest River, his stock also including imple- ments. In 1898 he disposed of his interests there to engage in the hardware and implement business in Conway, North Dakota, and in the spring of 1902 disposed of that business and removed to McHenry County, where at Bantry he was a banker and in- terested in farm lands. When the Great Northern built through the county he organized the State Bank of Bantry, and was elected its cashier, but is now serving the institution as its president. He still maintains his dual interests there.

From McHenry County, North Dakota, Mr. Mc- Intyre came into Montana in the spring of 1916 and settled at Glasgow. The First National Bank of Hinsdale was chartered in October, 1916, cap- italized at $25,000, with a surplus of $8,000, and it still maintains its original officers: James McIn- tyre, president; Thomas Dignan, vice president ; and Verne McIntyre, cashier. The other members of the board of directors are: J. H. Rutter, R. R. Black, Julius Waber and R. F. Ater. Notwith- standing the crop failures and adverse conditions generally of this locality the bank has been con- stantly adding to its surplus fund whatever profits . that might have been paid out as dividends, making it a stronger and safer institution. Mr. McIntyre's other interests outside of banking in Hinsdale com-

prise his home and small land holdings. He has always kept aloof from the burdens and responsi- bilities of local service, although he has carried the responsibilities of citizenship as a voter and is a republican in national affairs.

In Selby, Ontario, May 21, 1881, he was married to Frances A. Bruton, who was born at Napanee Mills, Ontario, in October 1865, a daughter of James A. and Eunice (Wagar) Bruton. The father was a stationary engineer. Mrs. McIntyre was the second born in a family of twelve children, and she received her educational training in her home town. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. McIntyre. William A., the oldest, is a farmer in McHenry County, North Dakota. He is married and has six children. Alfred B., the second son, is a druggist in Spokane, Washington. He volunteered for service in the World war, but was rejected. He married Elizabeth Semm. Verne, the third son, and the cashier of the First National Bank of Hinsdale, volunteered for war service, went into the Marines, and was stationed at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, during most of his service, receiving his discharge as a corporal and returning home in January, 1919. Frances is the wife of C. M. Gilbertson, cashier of the State Bank of Bantry, North Dakota. Robert K. left high school at the age of eighteen to en- list for war service, and was made an observer in the One Hundred and Third Aero Squadron and was with the LaFayette Esquadrille in France. He spent eight months overseas, and was discharged after the signing of the armistice, reaching home in February, 1919. He is now completing his high school training in Hinsdale.

Mr. McIntyre is a member of the Masonic fra- ternity, belonging to Kyle Lodge No. 96, Hinsdale, and is now treasurer of his lodge. During the pe- riod of the war the First National Bank took a leading part in the work of the Hinsdale community, and is special depository for Government funds such as Liberty Bonds and certificates of indebtedness.

DR. JUDD P. HEDGES, The record of the subject of this sketch is that of a man who by his own unaided efforts has worked his way from a modest beginning to a position of influence in the profes- sional world. His life has been of unceasing in- dustry and perseverance and the systematic and honorable methods which he has followed have won him the unbounded confidence of his fellow citizens of Ekalaka, Carter County.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 100

Author: Stout, Tom, 1879- ed Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Chicago, American Historical Society Number of Pages: 1144

Author: Stout, Tom, 1879- ed
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 1144