Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 106

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 106

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

MRS. JENNIE M. MORRIS. Throughout the entire history of the town of Baker Mrs. Jennie M. Morris has been identified with its interests and its progress,

and her name is enrolled among its first settlers. With her husband, Robert Pearce, she arrived here in the spring of 1908, but Mr. Pearce's advent to this spot dates from March 17th of that year, his wife joining him about the Ioth of the following month. Mr. Pearce at once erected a general store building, the rooms above the store serving them as a home for a year and a half, when a residence was built. Mr. Pearce also entered a forty-acre tract on the townsite as a homestead, but subsequently relinquished his right, and that forty acres is now platted and forms a part of the original townsite of Baker.

Mr. Pearce became the pioneer merchant of Baker, and continued his mercantile interests during the remainder of his life, although for some years be- fore his death he also served as the president of the First National Bank. To him also was ac- corded the honor of being the first postmaster of Baker and its first mayor, and in this latter capacity he remained in office for two terms. He was serv-

ing in the office of postmaster at the time of his death, having then entered upon his second term. He assisted in the organization of the First National Bank of Baker and was its president ever after, remaining a central figure in the conduct of the institution. He was one of the active men in the county during the fight and helped secure the county seat for Baker. Thus as an honored pioneer, as a business man, as a public official and as a true and loyal citizen the name of Robert Pearce is inscribed high on the honor roll of Baker, the town which he assisted so materially in founding. He gave his political allegiance to the republican party, but his official service was given only as the mayor of his town and as its postmaster.

The birth of Mr. Pearce occurred in England, at the town of Sherbin in Dorsetshire, July 12, 1873. His father was Samuel Pearce, a farmer who passed the last years of his life at Frazee, Minnesota, and who now lies buried there. His wife, nee Elizabeth War, bore him eight children, all of whom still survive, save the son Robert. When this son was a child the family became residents of Becker County, Minnesota, where he grew to manhood's estate and was educated in the common schools. This training was supplemented by a course in the Wesington Springs Methodist College, his father having been a devout member of the Methodist Church.

From Minnesota Mr. Pearce made his way into Morton County, North Dakota, where for eight years he followed ranching. His local postoffice was Dogtooth, now known as Raleigh, on the Northern Pacific Railroad, and he was a squatter there. He gradually drifted into the cattle business, in time" becoming one of the large stock dealers of the re- gion, but with the settlement of the country and the reduction of the range he sold his stock and turned his attention to merchandising at Dogtooth. He opened the first store in the town, freighting his goods from Mandan, North Dakota, a distance of fifty miles, and he made a success of this mercantile venture. But finally he disposed of his interests in North Dakota, and with his wife journeyed into the newer land of Montana, where success again awaited his efforts and where he linked his name so prom- inently with the life and interests of the community in which he established his home.

It was at Frazee, Minnesota, on the 8th of August, 1901, that Robert R. Pearce and Miss Jennie M. Chilton were united in marriage. She was a daugh- ter of one of the early pioneers of Becker County, that state, James Chilton, whose arrival there ante- dated the building of the railroad. It was in 1868

1030

HISTORY OF MONTANA

that he made the journey from Kingston, Canada, to Becker County, and Mrs. Chilton was the first white woman to locate within its borders. Mr. Chil- ton was born in Canada, of English ancestors, and he was married at Kingston to Anna Redpath. Her death occurred at Frazee in 1894. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Chilton were born eight children, seven of whom survive, namely: Alexander, whose home is in Winnipeg, Canada; Horatio, of Twin Valley, Minnesota; Guy H., of Baker, Montana; Mrs. Morris, who was born in Frazee, Minnesota, July II, 1874; Mrs. N. A. Anthony of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Garfield, who died unmarried at the age of twenty-six; James R., Jr., of Bend, Oregon; and Sidney, whose home is in Band Point, Idaho.

Four children were born to bless the union of Mr. and Mrs. Pearce; but three died in infancy. The only surviving child is Kenneth G. Mr. Pearce, the father, was called from this earth on the 21st of November, 1913. He had been active for a num- ber of years in the fraternal order of Odd Fellows, and was recognized as the head of the organization in Baker. His church affiliations were with the Methodist denomination. He was a man of splendid physique, six feet in height and weighing 230 pounds, and no illness had ever troubled him until he was stricken with appendicitis, which terminated his life.

During her girlhood days Jennie M. Chilton at- tended the public schools, also Fargo College, and during one year was a student in the State Normal at Moorehead, Minnesota. With this excellent train- ing she became a teacher in the rural schools, and continued in the profession for a time after her marriage.

In December, 1916, she was united in marriage with Benjamin Morris, whose name is also enrolled among the early settlers of Montana. It was in 1888 that he came here from Wales, and he spent his life in smelter work and as inspector for the Anaconda copper smelters.

Mrs. Morris built her modern bungalow home in 1918, and succeeded Mr. Pearce as a stockholder of the First National Bank and in the Baker .State Bank. She cast her first presidential ballot in 1916, and upholds the principles of the republican party. She is a member of the Eastern Star, being worthy matron, was reared as a Methodist and continues a loyal member of that church, and is a member of the Woman's Club of Baker, whose object primarily is study and the improvement educationally of its members.

ST. MARY'S PARISH, Helena, Montana. In the City of Helena there are two Catholic parishes, the St. Helena Cathedral Parish and the Parish of St. Mary's. The latter is situated chiefly in the Sixth Ward or Depot District of the capital city. The first noteworthy Catholic activities in this section of the city date from the opening of a Sunday school for the children in 1897. In 1905, after a personal survey of the situation, Bishop Carroll took steps to define and fix the parish boundaries, to provide quarters for divine service, and selected Rev. John L. McMullen as first pastor. Previous to this time the people attended Mass at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, and for a time a priest offered Mass on Sundays in the old building at 1332 Gallatin Avenue. This place was also the place used for church and parochial school in the beginning of the parish. Father McMullen took steps for the erec- tion of the present combination building on Roberts Street for church and school, and the new edifice was dedicated on October 23, 1910. Father McMul- len served until elected president of Mt. St. Charles College in September, I911. He was succeeded by

Rev. Michael Hannan, who was succeeded by Rev. John L. Kennedy, the present rector of St. Helena Cathedral. Father Nolan was appointed in August, 1916. Irrespective of creed or class, it is generally recognized that St. Mary's has been a bulwark for good in the Depot District of Helena.

GEORGE HARFIELD CONRAD is president of the Con- rad Trust & Savings Bank at Helena, one of the largest and soundest financial institutions in the State of Montana. It was established by his father, W. G. Conrad, and it is appropriate to review somewhat in- detail the career and experiences of that great Mon- tana pioneer, business man and banker.

William G. Conrad was born in Warren County, Virginia, August 3, 1848, a descendant of Joseph Conrad, who came from Germany and was a colonial settler in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. The father of William G. Conrad was James W. Conrad, who married Maria Ashby, descended from one of the first families of Virginia. Her great-grandfather, John Ashby, was with George Washington in the Braddock expedition, and her grandfather, Benja- min Ashby, was on Washington's staff during the Revolution. Colonel Conrad owned a large Virginia plantation, served as colonel in the state militia, as district judge, and in 1874 came to Montana and spent his last peaceful years in this state.

William G. Conrad was the eldest son in a family of thirteen children. He grew up on a Virginia plantation, attended private schools and the Wash- ington Academy, and at the age of nineteen he and his brother Charles came to the great Northwest. Most of their journey was made by the river routes from the Western Alleghenies to the head of navi- gation on the Missouri at Fort Benton. Arriving there, W. G. Conrad became identified with the mer- cantile firm of I. G. Baker & Company, and after four years as clerk became a member of the firm, and a few years later he and his brother Charles acquired the entire business. A great many old- timers and prominent business men of the Northwest in their reminiscences never failed to refer to the widespread activities of the Conrad Company and their personal associations therewith. The firm were merchants and traders doing business all over the Northwest and across the line in Canada, operating freight trains to the most remote mining camps and settlements. W. G. Conrad had charge of the Mon- tana branch of the business, with his brother Charles in control of the Canadian department. The firm did an enormous business, handling military and Indian supplies, and as a matter of necessity trans- acted a banking business. In 1888 the Canadian branch was sold to the Hudson's Bay Company. The firm acquired large holdings of land and were extensively engaged in cattle ranching.

W. G. Conrad established the First National Bank at Fort Benton in 1880, and he and his brother were the sole owners. Subsequently the institution . was moved to Great Falls and renamed the North- western National Bank. During the nineties the control of this bank passed to the interests of the Boston & Montana Copper Company, and two months later the bank closed its doors. The bank had been a cherished institution of W. G. Conrad for over fifteen years, and while no longer officially identified with its affairs he felt a sense of personal responsibility that is highly significant of the busi- ness character he always exemplified. As soon as he was told that the bank had failed, he sent a tele- gram saying, "I want every depositor paid in full," and through his influence in securing the appoint- ment of a receiver and with the authorities at Washington no depositor lost a cent by the failure. This incident of Montana financial history might

1031

HISTORY OF MONTANA

with profit be told and retold, since it is one of those circumstances that serve to justify men in the faith in their fellow men and illustrate the power of business integrity as a force in the welfare of mankind.

Savings Bank at Helena in 1910, with a capitaliza- tion of $200,000. In addition to the presidency of the Conrad Trust & Savings Bank of Helena, he was also president of the Conrad National Bank of Kalispell, the Conrad Banking Company of Great Falls, the Pondera Valley State Bank of Conrad, Montana, and of the First State Bank of Livingston, Montana. He was also a large stockholder and the first president of the Montana Life Insurance Com- pany, president of the Conrad Townsite Company, a corporation handling the extensive land and water interests and power plants of the family; was treas- urer of the Conrad-Price Cattle Company, exten- sively interested in the mining industry, and an offi- cial of a number of other banks and business insti- tutions scattered throughout the state.

W. G. Conrad was frequently honored with public office. He affiliated with the democratic party and while a resident of Chouteau County was elected and served as county commissioner, was a member of the State Senate in 1879, was the first mayor of Fort Benton, and in 1889 lacked only four votes of being sent to the United States Senate.

In 1876 he married Miss Fannie E. Bowen, daugh- ter of Paul L. and Almira (Hopper) Bowen, of Virginia. She died at Helena, February 20, 19II. She had long been one of the prominent women of Montana, and the significance of her life was appropriately marked by an adjournment of the Legislature at Helena at the time of her death. William G. Conrad had five children: William Lee, who died in 1878; Maria Josephine, who married Gil- bank Twigg, of New York; Minnie Atkisson, who married Charles Ried Riley, of Washington, District of Columbia; George Harheld, and Arthur Frank- lin ..

George Harfield Conrad was educated in Ran- dolph Macon Academy at Front Royal, Virginia, and married Miss Kathryn M. Kennedy, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John A. Kennedy. Mrs. Conrad was born in Chouteau County, Montana. They have two children: Kathryn Elizabeth and Frances Lu- cile. Mr. and Mrs. Conrad are members of the Episcopal Church. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Elks, and is a democratic voter. Personally as well as through his bank he was closely allied with the patriotic forces of Montana during the World war, conserving the financial resources of the Gov- ernment, assisting in the sale of Liberty bonds and performing other services required from time to time. Mrs. Conrad was also one of the leading workers at Helena in the Red Cross.

HARRY E. MCAFEE, division general manager at Helena for the Mountain State Telephone & Tele- graph Company, went into the telephone industry soon after completing his college education, and has been identified with constituent departments of the Mountain State Company for the past thirteen years.

Mr. McAfee was born at Evans, Colorado, May 23, 1885. His people were among the pioneers of Colorado. His grandfather, John McAfee, was one of the men who heeded the advice of Horace Greeley to go West, and was one of the Horace Greeley colonists into Colorado about 1870. He was a brick manufacturer and died at Evans in that state. Sam- uel J. McAfee, father of Harry, was born in Illi- nois July 15, 1861, and has spent nearly all his life in Colorado. He was educated at Evans, was mar-

ried there and, for a number of years had some prominent business and official associations with that town. He served as postmaster, kept a general store and was also in the sheep business. In 1903 he re- moved to Greeley, and served three terms as sheriff

W. G. Conrad established the Conrad Trust & . of Weld County. Since 1917 his home has been at Denver, where he is superintendent of the De Lue Detective Agency. He is a republican and is affili- ated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Woodmen of the World. Samuel J. McAfee married Sallie Bovard, who was born at Valparaiso, Indiana, in 1861. Harry is the oldest of their three children. Mona, the second, is the wife of B. E. Heizer, a civil engineer, cattle rancher and county commissioner at Las Animas, Colorado. George,

the youngest child, a resident of Denver, enlisted at the outbreak of the World war, and went overseas with the Thirteenth Field Artillery. He saw some arduous service in France, was at the Argonne and San Mihiel and other important drives, accompanied the Army of Occupation to Germany and was mus- tered out with the rank of sergeant.

Harry E. McAfee attended public school at Evans, Colorado, graduated from the Greeley High School in 1902, was a student in the Colorado College at Colorado Springs through his sophomore year, and for two years attended the State Normal College at Greeley. He had one year of practical experience in the civil engineering profession before he took up telephone work. March 7, 1907, he began his duties as cashier for the Colorado Telephone Company at Greeley, and in 1909 was promoted to traveling auditor, with headquarters at Denver. Two and a half years at that post and he was transferred to Butte, on July 1, 1911. At that date the Colorado Telephone Company took over the Rocky Mountain Bell Telephone Company, and the consolidation re- sulted in the present Mountain State Telephone and Telegraph Company. Mr. McAfee while at Butte served as district manager for Western Montana until May, 1917, at which date he was promoted to division general manager for the State of Montana and the northern half of Wyoming, with headquar- ters at Helena. He is the highest official of the company in Montana. The offices of the company at Helena occupy the third and fourth floors of the Gold Block, and in the district over which he has supervision are, 1,500 employes.

Mr. McAfee is a well known and popular mem- ber of a number of fraternal and social organiza- tions. He is affiliated with Occidental Lodge No. 20, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Greeley, Colorado, Butte Consistory No. 2 of the Scottish Rite, Bagdad Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Butte, and is a member of the Silver Bow Club and the Country Clubs of Butte, the Montana, Rotary and Country Clubs of Helena.

The McAfee family reside at 501 North Benton Avenue. April 19, 1916, at Great Falls, Montana, Mr. McAfee married Miss Bertha Florence Foster. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Louis E. Foster, reside at Great Falls, where her father was one of the early settlers and long prominent in business. He is still manager of the Great Falls Hotel. and a director in one of the city's banks. Mr. and Mrs. McAfee have one son, Harry Foster, born April 30, 1917.

SAM STEPHENSON located at Great Falls, Mon- tana, in the year 1892, coming with a license from the State of Ohio to practice law, and with only about $15 in cash capital. He immediately secured permission to practice in Montana, and began making acquaintances and friends and building up a business in his profession. The many friends of Mr. Stephen-

1032

HISTORY OF MONTANA

son today know how well he has succeeded as a law- yer, and are also aware that he is connected officially with a number of leading business concerns of this section of the state.

He was born on his father's farm in Carroll County, Indiana, August 9, 1868, a son of John and . Nancy ( Alexander) Stephenson. His parents were both natives of Ohio and his mother is still living. His father, who died in 1912, at the age of seventy, was a farmer throughout his active career in Ohio and Indiana. He was a Presbyterian and later a Methodist, and always took an active interest in republican politics. Of seven children four are still living, Sam being the third in age.

Sam Stephenson as a boy on the farm earned by hard manual labor the money necessary to put him through college. He graduated from Miami Uni- versity at Oxford, Ohio, with the class of 1891. He studied law in an office at Hamilton, Ohio, and was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1892, soon afterward coming to Great Falls. Here he first engaged in practice on his own account, but is now a member of one of the leading law firms of the state, Cooper, Stephenson & Hoover.

In 1914 Mr. Stephenson was elected president of the First National Bank of Great Falls. He is also president of the Great Falls Townsite Company and of the Rocky Mountain Fire Insurance Com- pany, and holds an official position in other impor- tant companies. He also has considerable ranch in- terests.

He is a life member of Great Falls Lodge No. 214 of the Order of Elks, and politically is a stand-pat republican. With all his business and professional cares he manages to get some fun out of life, and spends several weeks every summer following his favorite recreation of fishing and hunting at his summer cabin in the Highwood Mountains. July 12, 1906, Mr. Stephenson married Annie Nelson Hall, and they have two sons, John De Camp and Sam, Jr.

ORVILLE SNELL HAVERFIELD, M. D. Not only is Dr. Orville Snell Haverfield the pioneer physician of Hardin, but he is one of the leading members of his profession in this part of the state and a man who stands deservedly high in public esteem. Doctor Haverfield came to Hardin in 1911, and in Septem- ber of that year he began the practice of his pro- fession in this locality, although it was not his initial attempt. When he first came to Montana he spent a few months at Musselshell, leaving that com- munity for Hardin.

Doctor Haverfield was born at Assumption, Chris- tian County, Illinois, on December 15, 1886, and it was in that locality his childhood and youth were spent. After the grammar schools, the high school in his native town gave him his literary training, and he then took a medical course at the St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons, from which he was graduated in 1910. For the subsequent six months he was connected with Jefferson Hospital of St. Louis, Missouri, as head physician, and then felt fully prepared to enter upon a career of in- dividual practice. Although he had no acquaintance with Montana save a family one, he resolved to cast his lot with the Treasure State, and subsequent events have proved the wisdom of his choice.

In' addition to carrying on his general practice, Doctor Haverfield has been able to render valuable service to his locality, and was selected as the first of the men to act as coroner of Big Horn County, and he is now holding that of county physician, being the only man to hold the office in the new county. Recognizing the need for it, Doctor Haver-

field early conceived the idea of opening a county hospital at Hardin, and went before the board of commissioners with his plans, but it was two years before he received an answer to his question as to the opinion of the members. They replied after that somewhat protracted period that in their opinion the proposition could not be made a profitable, or even a paying one. After this decision had been made to him, Doctor Haverfield purchased the equipment that had already been provided and was in actual use, and took upon his own shoulders the responsibility of owning and conducting the institu- tion. In 1915 he erected the Haverfield General Hospital at. Hardin, equipped it according to the most modern ideas, and opened it during the early months of that year.

The Haverfield General Hospital is a two-story stucco building built upon the bungalow hospital plan, containing twenty-two rooms besides two dor- mitories for nurses, and equipped with everything of modern plan and appliance. Every class of sur- gical and medical case is treated save that of con- tagion, and Miss Lucile McGinn is acting super- intendent and head nurse; Miss Ruth Wiggins is night nurse, and Miss Lane is her assistant. The surgical work is all done by Doctor Haverfield him- self and the institution has popularized itself over a wide radius of Big Horn Valley.

From the day he cast his first vote Doctor Haver- field has been a republican and it was on the ticket of that party that he has been elected. Well known as a Mason, Doctor Haverfield belongs to Billings Consistory, and Algeria Temple, Mystic Shrine of Helena. He also belongs to both the subordinate lodge and encampment of the Odd Fellows, is a Woodman of the World and a Modern Woodman and an examiner for the fraternities which handle fraternal insurance.

Doctor Haverfield is a son of Samuel and Nellie (Snell) Haverfield, who have made Assumption their home for many years. Mr. Haverfield went to Christian County as a schoolteacher and has taught in almost every school district of that county. For the past thirty years he has been city clerk of Assumption. The children born to him and his wife are as fol- lows: Olive, who is the wife of Winfield Keyes of Bloomington, Illinois; Ira, who is a minister of the Methodist Church of Waterloo, Iowa; Doctor Orville Snell, whose name heads this review; Maud, who is Mrs. Emery McKitrick of Billings, Mon- tana; Lyle, who is a medical student of the St. Louis College of Physicians & Surgeons, will gradu- ate July, 1921, and will enter partnership with his brother ; and Miss Mabel, who lives at Hardin.

Doctor Haverfield was married at Assumption, Illinois, on September 19, 1910, to Miss Ada Mc- Kitrick, a native of that locality, and a daughter of Thomas McKitrick. Doctor and Mrs. Haverfield have one son, Orville S. Haverfield.

BARNARD J. MATHEWES. Among the men who have for many years occupied a leading place in the community with which they are identified is the gentleman whose name forms the caption to this brief review and who is now a successful land holder in Pondera County. Though now in the golden sunset of life's journey and past the best years of his activity, he is still in full possession of his faculties and is as alert mentally as in the days of his prime, being still able to maintain the gen- eral oversight of his homestead farm in Pondera County.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 106

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