Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 107

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 107

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Barnard J. Mathewes was born near Dublin, Ire- land, on the 3rd day of July, 1856, and is the son of Barney and Mary (Malone) Mathewes, both also

Orville &. Haver field

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

natives of the Emerald Isle. When but two years of age Barnard J. lost his father by death, and four years later his mother also died, her death, how- Tom Cooney was three years old when his mother brought him to Minnesota, where he grew up on his father's farm. He was educated at the St. Croix Valley Academy in Washington County, and at the State University pursued special courses in civil and mining engineering. He has been engaged in those professions since 1881, and almost altogether for the Northern Pacific and Great Northern Railway Companies. He had attained his position as chief land examiner of the Northern Pacific when he resigned in 1898 to serve in the Spanish-American war. He held the commission of first lieutenant, Company K, Second Regiment, United States Volun- teer Engineers. When the war was over he went back to his former duties with the Northern Pacific, and has now completed an uninterrupted consecutive service of twenty years .. He also maintains a farm at Afton, Minnesota. ever, occurring in Tennessee. Barnard is the young- est of the six children born to these parents. Some time after the death of the husband and father the widowed mother, in the hope of better conditions under which she might rear her children, brought her family to America. The trip was made by sailing vessel, the slow-going boat requiring six weeks to make the trip. They landed at Boston, where the subject was reared and received a com- mon school education. Eventually he went to La Salle County, Illinois, where for a time he was em- ployed as a farm hand, his first remuneration being at the rate of $12 a month. Later he spent two years in Iowa and Dakota, and in 1887 he made the overland trip to Montana, arriving at Fort Ben- ton on July 5th. For about 11/2 years he was en- gaged in the restaurant business, and then conducted a saloon for five years. In 1897 he took up a home- Mr. Cooney has never married. His business and profession have constituted the big interests of his life, and he has never regarded practical politics as stead in that part of Teton County which is now Pondera County, about one mile from Conrad post- office, and he has since given his undivided atten- . a means of satisfying his personal ambitions. All tion to agriculture. He carried on general farming and has met with a well deserved success. He is wide awake and progressive in his methods, being a firm believer in improvement along all lines.

In his political affiliations Mr. Mathewes is a demo- crat, and since 1911 he has served as justice of the peace to the entire satisfaction of the law abiding people of his community.

Mr. Mathewes married Belle Peterson, who was born and reared at Fort Benton, Montana. They have a comfortable home and enjoy the sincere re- gard of a large circle of friends.

TOM COONEY, who was educated as a mining and civil engineer, has devoted his technical skill for nearly forty years to the Northern Pacific and Great Northern Railway Companies, and for many years has been chief land examiner for the Northern Pacific. His home and headquarters are at Helena.

He was born December 18, 1853, at Chester, Eng- land, son of James and Mary Cooney. His grand- father, Martin Cooney, was a native of Ireland, but practically all of his life was spent in the English Army. For many years he was stationed in India, and served as a soldier during the Napoleonic wars. He was in the Peninsular campaigns under Welling- ton and later under the same commander at Water- loo, where he was seriously wounded. One of his sons was killed at the battle of Inkerman.

James Cooney, who was born in County Mayo, Ireland, was reared chiefly in England, and on leav- ing home became a sailor. Three years were spent on a whaling vessel, and one winter his ship was frozen in the ice north of Cape Barrow. After that cruise he came to the United States, and was one of the pioneer settlers in Minnesota Territory. Three years later he was joined in Minnesota by his family, consisting of his wife, two daughters and one son. The family home was at Afton in Washington County, where two other children were born, a son and a daughter. James Cooney enlisted and served in the Union Army during the last two years of the Civil war, and was with his regiment in several engagements, including the battle of Fort Pillow. After the Civil war he returned to his former occupation as a farmer near Afton until his death in April, 1896, at the age of eighty-three. His wife, Mary Cooney, died in March, 1917. aged ninety-two. They were the parents of five children : Annie, deceased, Ellen, Tom, Lizzie and Henry. All the girls taught school at one time or another, and

Henry is a practicing physician at Princeton, Minne- sota.

things being equal he prefers the republican candi- date, but like many other thinking citizens is rather independent when it comes to voting. His only secret society is the Masons.

J. A. ROE. One of the careful business men and respected citizens of Western Montana is J. A. Roe, the well known dairyman of Kalispell, a man whose history furnishes a splendid example of what may be accomplished through determined purpose, laud- able ambition and well directed efforts. Starting out in life in moderate circumstances, he has steadily worked his way upward, winning success in his chosen field of endeavor and gaining the public con- fidence, which he has retained through careful "hewing to the line" in all the relations which he has sustained to his fellow men.

J. A. Roe was born in Ontario, Canada, and is the son of Samuel J. and Mary J. Roe. He was reared under the parental roof and secured a good practical education in the public schools of his home neighborhood. In 1894 Mr. Roe came to the Flat- head country and established a farm home about a mile northwest of Kalispell. He went earnestly to work to improve his home and cultivate his land. About three years after locating on this place he began the dairy business, which he has continued to the present time and in which he has achieved a notable success. His dairy is rated today as one of the finest in this section of the state, and Mr. Roe enjoys an enviable reputation on account of the excellence of his products and the high quality of his service. He keeps a number of Holstein cattle and a herd of grades, and has all the conveniences which tend to make his work a pleasure instead of a drudgery. He is conducting one of the large industries of the Flathead Valley and is counted one of the live, energetic and progressive men of the section. He is intensely practical in all he does, and the general appearance of his place indicates him to be a man of sound ideas and good judg- ment. His cow barn is 60 by 18 feet in dimensions, with an annex 16 by 60 feet in size, while the silo has a capacity of 65 tons of feed. He raises on 20 acres of land enough feed for 65 head of cattle.

Mr. Roe was united in marriage with Gratia N. Proud, who is a native of Kansas and the daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Proud. They have four children, namely : Zela Ramona, Helen Lucile, Verna Maurine and Archie Dean.

Politically Mr. Roe is nominally a republican,

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but in fact he is independent of party lines in his attitude toward political measures and candidates for office. Fraternally he is a member of the Ma- sonic Order, holding membership in the Blue Lodge, Chapter of Royal Arch Masons and the Commandery of the Knights Templar, while he and his wife are members of the Order of the Eastern Star. Mr. Roe is universally recognized as a splendid citizen, pro- gressive in all that the term implies; a man of lofty character, sturdy integrity and unswerving honesty. During the pioneer period here he shared the diffi- culties known to the early settlers of any locality, but he bore his part in the general upbuilding of the community in such a way as to win for him the confidence and esteem of all who know him.

J. T. BLOSE. It is an unquestionable fact that the biographies of enterprising men, especially of good men, are instructive as guides and incentives to others. The examples they furnish of patient pur- pose and steadfast endeavor cannot help but influence others. Some men appear to belong to no exclusive class; apparently insurmountable obstacles have in and served as a stimulus to carry them onward and upward to ultimate success. J. T. Blose, one of Flat- head County's most enterprising farmers and public spirited citizens, is a man who has succeeded at his chosen life work through his individual efforts and his persistency, despite obstacles and discourage- ments.

J. T. Blose was born in Saltsburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and is the son of Andrew and Malinda (Forbes) Blose, of whose seven chil- dren he is the youngest. He was reared at home, but when he was but thirteen months old he suffered the loss of his father, who was accidentally killed while at work in a coal mine at Mckeesport, Penn- sylvania. He has made his own living since he was ten years old. Leaving Pennsylvania when he was twenty-one years of age, ambitious to begin the battle of life on his own account, he turned his face towards the great western country, about which he had heard such glowing accounts. With several neighbor boy friends he started West, their first ob- jective being Kansas. From there he went on to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and from there to Flagstaff, Ari- zona, where he engaged in the cattle business. Later he went to Prescott and Phoenix, remaining in Arizona about four years. He then went to San Francisco, California, and Portland, Oregon, remain- ing until 1882, when he came to Montana, locating in the Yellowstone Valley, where he was engaged in mining during one winter. He then went to Chey- enne Bluffs, where he made application for work. He was pretty well dressed and the foreman, looking him over, questioned his honest desire for work, and it took young Blose some minutes to convince him that he was in earnest. He worked there until the following spring, when he went to Portland, Oregon, going up the Rogne River, where he was employed by a contractor who had engaged to get out ties for the Oregon & California Railroad, the first rail connection between those two states. However, before the job was completed the con- tractor failed and Mr. Blose and his fellow work -. men lost their wages, which they had not drawn. Mr. Blose then went to Seattle, thence back to Old Mexico, where he was employed as a pump repair man on a railroad. Some time later he came to Butte, Montana, and, after looking the country over, he filed a pre-emption claim on 160 acres of land in the Flathead Valley, ahout two miles northwest of where Kalispell now stands. In 1888 Mr. Blose re- turned to his old home neighborhood in Pennsyl- vania, where he was married. Soon afterward he

and his bride came to Montana and entered upon the task of improving their new homestead, engaging in farming and stock raising, in which he met with a very gratifying degree of success. During the subsequent years Mr. Blose made many improve- ments, of a permanent and substantial nature, on his ranch, the general appearance of which indicated him to be a man of sound judgment and excellent taste. He is a believer in the use of up-to-date and improved methods of farming and has earned the reputation of being a progressive and enterprising farmer. He gave himself unremittingly to the operation of his farm until about ten years ago, when, feeling that he had reached the place where he could afford to lay aside the implements of hus- bandry and take a rest, which he had richly earned, he sold the old farm and moved into Kalispell, where he is now living.

In 1888, in Pennsylvania, Mr. Blose was married to Belle C. Irwin, who was born in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, the daughter of John and Sarah (Windrem) Irwin. She was reared at home, attended the public schools and completed her edu-

many instances awakened their dormant faculties . cation in Leechburg Academy at Leechburg, Penn-

sylvania. To Mr. and Mrs. Blose have been born two children, Charles O. and Minnie A. Charles O., who was born in June, 1889, worked on the home farm with his father until twenty years of age. In the meantime he had taken a course in the Kalispell Business College, and he then engaged as a shoe clerk in the employ of Bogart, Hollensteiner & Company at Kalispell. He is now employed in the shoe department of Myer & Frank, of Portland, Ore- gon. In 1912 he was married to Winnie Ohmart, and they have two children, Orville and Willis Wen- dell. Minnie A. Blose, after graduating from the Kalispell High School, where she fitted herself for school teaching, was employed for five terms as a teacher in the district schools of Flathead County, and gained an enviable reputation because of the success which crowned her work as an educator. She became the wife of T. Clare Williams, of Kalis- pell, who is connected with the Interlake office, and they have one son, Kenneth Leland.

Politically Mr. Blose is an earnest supporter of the republican party, though he is broad minded in his attitude toward public affairs, preferring to give his support in local affairs to the men whom he considers best fitted for the office. Fraternally he is a member of Kalispell Lodge No. 50, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. and Mrs. Blose are consistent members of the Presbyterian Church, to which they give generous support. Besides the operation of his farm Mr. Blose bought and sold many other tracts of farm land and possessed a very accurate knowledge of the values of land in this section of the state. He has always enjoyed the absolute confidence of all with whom he has had dealings and has been numbered among the repre- sentative men of his community.

T. KOPSLAND. To a great extent the prosperity of the newer sections of the United States is due to the honest industry, the sturdy perseverance and the wise economy which so prominently characterizes the foreign element, both those who have come di- rect from the European nations and their American- born children. They have entered very largely into our great cosmopolitan population, and by compari- son with their "old country" surroundings these people have readily recognized the fact that in the United States lies the greatest opportunities for the man of energy and ambition. And because of this many have broken the ties of home and native land and have entered earnestly upon the task of gaining in the new world a home and a competence. Among

George. T. Defuteo

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

this class may be mentioned the Kopsland family, of whom T. Kopsland, a retired resident of Flat- head County, is a worthy representative and the head of his family in this country, a man who has performed his full duty in every phase of life's activities in which he has engaged and who is now enjoying the good will and confidence of all who know him.

T. Kopsland is a Scandinavian by nativity, hav- ing been born in Norway in 1850, and is the son of Thomas and Karen Marie Kopsland. He was educated in the schools of his native land, where he remained until he was nineteen years of age. In 1869, with a laudable ambition to improve his material affairs, he immigrated. to the United States, landing in New York harbor on April 12, 1869. He at once went to Northeastern Iowa, to which place friends from his home land had preceded him, and there he obtained employment. Later he went to Minnesota, where he engaged in farm- ing and also in the buying and selling of grain for elevators, in all of which he was successful. He also received the appointment as postmaster of Watson, Minnesota, which office he filled for four years, and he also served as school director. Mr. Kopsland was located in Lignite, Burke Coun- ty, North Dakota, for a number of years, and in that locality, as in all other places where he has lived, his unusual ability, energy and honesty have been quickly recognized. On May 27, 1907, he received a commission as postmaster of Lignite, he having been mainly instrumental in having the office established. He gave eminent satisfaction in the office and was appointed to succeed him- self, filling the position until July 10, 1915. Dur- ing this period, Assistant Postmaster-General James McCleary was a warm personal friend of Mr. Kopsland. During this official period Mr. Kops- . land's assistants were his daughters, Sigrid, Ul- rikke, Hannah and Caroline. It was in the '70s that the great grasshopper plague visited the mid- dle western states, doing an incalculable amount of damage. It is related that at times the swarms of grasshoppers flying high in the air were so thick as to obscure the sun like a heavy cloud. Getting on the rails of the railroads, they actually made the rails so slippery as to stop the progress of trains. Mr. Kopsland also gives some interesting figures in comparing prices of farm products in those days with the present war prices. Then eggs were sold for 3 cents a dozen and butter at 3 cents a pound, while other things were proportionately cheap.

In 1915 Mr. Kopsland came to Montana, to which state some of his children had already come, and he first located at Reed Point, sixty-seven miles west of Billings, Stillwater County, where he re- mained three years. At the end of that time he came to Flathead County and purchased a comfort- able and attractive home, five miles south of Kalis- pell, in the Foy's Lake country, where he makes his home during the beautiful summer months, but when the more rigorous winter weather comes on the family moves into their home in Kalispell. Mr. Kopsland was a real pioneer of the several locali- ties in which he lived prior to coming to Flathead County, and performed a good work in the upbuild- ing and development of those sections. He was also prosperous financially, and, being a good manager and wisely economical, he is now able to live in quiet enjoyment.

While a resident of Minnesota Mr. Kopsland was married to Anna Giertson, who was born in Fillmore County, Minnesota, the daughter of Ole and Sigrid Giertson. To them have been born the following children: Frederick, Marie, Ole, Caro-

line, Hannah, Sigrid, Ulrikke and Leslie. The older of these children were educated in the public schools of Minnesota; Hannah and Caroline, in the high schools of North Dakota; Marie and Caroline took business courses in Billings, Montana, and they, with Sigrid, are employed in Kalispell, Marie as book- keeper and stenographer for the Robinson Furni- ture Company, Caroline as stenographer for Doc- tor Brassett, and Sigrid as assistant in the Hileman photographic studio. Ulrikke graduated from the Kalispell High School in 1919 and is now taking a business course. Hannah is the wife of F. E. Remus, of Alberta, Canada, and they have one child, Beatrice Evelyn. Ole was married to Ora Ovren, and they have two children, Carmen and Virginia.

Politically Mr. Kopsland gives his earnest sup- port to the republican party, in the success of which he is deeply interested. Religiously he and the members of his family are identified with the Lutheran Church.

Mr. Kopsland has never regretted leaving his native land for America, and is enthusiastic when he speaks of the opportunities that exist in this great republic for those who really desire financial independence and are willing to undergo the neces- sary discipline and labor to earn it. He draws some sharp contrasts between customs in his home land and here. For example, he relates that in his school days there the maps were free-hand drawings, and that the map descriptive of America had all that territory lying west of the Mississippi River marked "Great American Desert." It is a great satisfac- tion to Mr. Kopsland to be able to personally witness the refutation of that libel, for he feels that he now lives in one of the garden spots of the world. He has ever stood stanchly for those things which gave promise of being for the betterment of the whole people, and has himself set a good example in the way of clean living, for it is the consensus of opinion among those who know him best that he is worthy to be counted among the representa- tive men of his community.

GEORGE DEPUTEE. One of the rare and distinctive honors conferred by an Indian tribe was awarded by the Crow Indian Council at their meeting May 3, 1920, when they formally adopted as a member of the tribe George Deputee of Lodgegrass, one of the oldest white residents of the Crow Reservation. His association with the tribe, his residence on their property, dates back a third of a century, and his service warranted this recognition by reason of his work as an instructor in the matter of citizenship and always as a true friend and adviser. He was adopted a member unanimously, and his membership entitles him to all the rights and immunities of a native born Crow.

From boyhood Mr. Deputee has shown his willing- ness to accept the hazards and the varying circum- stances and situations of life and has been a witness and actor in the development of the great west for practically half a century.

He was born in Wayne County, Indiana, Sep- tember II, 1854. His father Joseph L. Deputee was a native of the State of Delaware and of French ancestry. As a young man he went west and at Economy, Indiana, he married Sarah Worth. Her father, Daniel Worth, was a Methodist minister, an ardent abolitionist, and was subjected to imprison- ment in the South on account of his outspoken con- victions on slavery. He was bailed out by his In- diana church, and was not allowed to return because of the imminent danger to his life. Joseph A. Deputee was a cooper by trade, and followed that

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industry in the Village of Economy. When the Civil war came on he put down his tools and went to the front as sergeant of his company. He was wounded and discharged, and rejoined his wife and children who in the meantime had gone to Troy, Ohio. After recovering he raised a company in that vicinity and again went to the front with the com- mission of a first lieutenant. He was at Nashville when the war closed. On rejoining his family he took them to Lodi, Indiana, where he resumed his trade, but died at Perrysville in that State in the spring of 1872 at the age of forty-five. His wife had died before him and both are buried at Lodi. Their three sons to reach mature years are, Lyborn of Columbus, Montana; George; and Lyndon, also of Columbus.

George Deputee finished his education at Lodi, Indiana, and when he was about sixteen years of age he started for the West. For about eighteen months he was at Arkansas City, Kansas, and then went into the Cherokee strip of Indian Territory, and worked for the Indian trader Bartels on Caney River, on the site where the prosperous oil. city of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, now stands. Leaving there he drifted through Kansas and Nebraska, and eventually went into the Black Hills region of South Dakota. His primary object in going to that section of the Northwest was to get an afflicted brother into a healthy climate. That brother recovered and is a resident of Columbus, Montana, today. His first employment in the Black Hills region was assisting Mr. Stewart getting out lumber for use in the build- ing of the city of Deadwood.

Leaving that he became a miner in the Homestake mine at Leeds and remained there until 1882, when he came out to the territory of Montana. He joined his brother who had also had mining experience, and they with McDonald Brothers, took contracts for blasting down the mountain sides preparatory to the laying of the track of the Northern Pacific Rail- road from the mouth of Rosebud Creek west towards Billings. When the grading work terminated, they contracted for ties for the road on White Beaver.

Giving up his railroad work Mr. Deputee went to the present location of Big Timber, and was em- ployed by the pioneer settler C. T. Burns in getting out logs for lumber. This work engaged him for two years along the Boulder River. From that point he came down to the Crow Reservation at Crow Agency, and was so well pleased with the locality that he remained as assistant farmer on the reserva- tion. A year later he became an independent farmer and later left this to join the Indian trader Albert M. Stevenson, with whom he was associated four- teen years. Constant and unremitting work during this long period had weakened him physically, and there was a time when he made the restoration of his health and strength his chief ambition. After recuperating he engaged in the butcher business, and that is the chief business in which he is engaged at Lodgegrass today.

His experiences have been such as to enable him to appreciate the wonderful strides of development in Montana. All the railroads have heen built since he came, and it is a matter of satisfaction that he has contributed something substantial toward this development himself. Politically he is a republican in national matters. While in Kansas in 1876 he cast his first presidential vote for Rutherford B. Hayes. In 1880 he voted for Mr. Garfield and four years later for the "plumed knight," James G. Blaine. At Crow Agency Mr. Deputee married a native of the Crow tribe, Susie Noname. She died leaving two daughters. Jennie is the wife of Frank Wolf of Lodgegrass and has a daughter and son. Flora

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 107

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