Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 109

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 109

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Vol. 111-35

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

New York. At the venerable age of eighty-six, in 1883, he and his wife came to Helena, and they lived at the home of their son George Henry. Elias Taylor died at Helena in 1890. He was a repub- lican from the organization of that party, and at his home Town of Jaffrey served as a selectman. He was a member of the Methodist Church. His wife was Abigail Bullard, who was born at Mason, New Hampshire, December 20, 1804, and died at Helena October 10, 1889. She and her husband were among the first laid to rest in Forestvale Cemetery. Both had been converted at Newfield, New York, in 1852, and joined the Methodist Church. Her life was a constant expression of practical christianity. This good christian woman was the mother of seven children. Mary, the oldest, lives at Ithaca, New York, widow of Charles Black- mar, a business man. Ellen M. has her home at Peabody, Massachusetts, and is the widow of Frank Harvey; who was a contractor and builder at Bos- ton, putting up many buildings in the Back Bay and other parts of that city, and Mrs. Harvey con- tinued his business successfully for many years after his death. Anna A. lives at Freeville, New York, near Ithaca, widow of Frank Mitchell, who was a farmer. Abbie J. died at Wichita, Kansas, and her husband, John Maynard, a liveryman, died at Lowell, Massachusetts. The fifth in the family is George Henry. Frances Ivy is the wife of Am- assa J. Drake, a retired mason contractor, their home being at Roseburg, Oregon. Emma, the youngest, is the wife of Charles E. Teague, who for many years was a shoe merchant and is now truant officer at Peabody, Massachusetts.

George Henry Taylor acquired his early educa- tion in the public schools of Ithaca, New York, also attended the New Ipswich Academy in New Hampshire, and as a young man learned telegraphy when that art was in its infancy. He was a tele- graph operator until the Civil war broke out. Oc- tober 5, 1861, he enlisted in the Seventy-sixth New York Infantry, and went into camp at Albany as first sergeant. Soon afterward' he was taken ill with pneumonia and was invalided home. In the meantime his company was assigned to the Third New York Artillery, and when he rejoined the command in the summer of 1862 the battery was at Newbern, North Carolina. He at once received appointment as corporal and was on duty at Hat- teras Island and Roanoke Island, but in the fall of 1863 was sent to Virginia. About that time he re-enlisted for three years or the duration of the war. Mr. Taylor was a participant in the great campaign waged by General Grant, beginning in the spring of 1864 at Petersburg, and was in the fighting there and other points around Richmond. April 3, 1865, he was with the troops that entered Richmond six days before the surrender of Lee. He received several promotions, and was mustered out June 26, 1865, at Richmond, as second lieu- tenant of his battery. For about a year. after the war he traveled through the West, remaining for some time at Detroit and St. Louis, and then re- turned to Ithaca, New York, and was in business as a merchant tailor there until 1881.

Mr. Taylor reached Helena, Montana, in April, 1881, traveling by stage from Dillon to Helena. For a time he was in business as a painting con- tractor, and then took up the practice of dentistry. For several years he was associated with Doctor Blake and Doctor Wait. In 1891 he opened an office of his own, and has been practicing that pro- fession ever since. He had an interesting expe- rience as a dentist engaged in both army and pri- vate practice at Fort Benton from 1893 to 1906, visiting also Fort Assinniboine every other month.

One of his patients then stationed at Montana forts was a young lieutenant named Pershing, now known to fame as General Pershing. Since 1906 Doctor Taylor has lived at Helena, and is still in prac- tice, with offices in the Horsky Block.

He has long been prominent in the Grand Army of the Republic, is assistant adjutant and quarter- master general of the Department of Montana, and for several years has been a member of the Na- tional Council of the Grand Army of the Republic. He cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lin- coln, and is now classified as an independent repub- lican. He is a past noble grand of Montana Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a member of the Helena Commercial Club.

Mr. Taylor resides in the Horsky Block. March 14, 1877, at Ithaca, New York, he married Miss Ellen Hull, who was born in New York City. Doc- tor Taylor has one daughter, Margaret N., a grad- uate of the Helena High School, now the wife . of W. S. Towner, an attorney at Fort Benton. They have five children, the eldest, George Crosby Tow- ner, is in the junior class of the Naval Academy at Annapolis. The other children are John W., Margaret Natalie, Welling Samuel and I. Crosby. Mrs. Ellen Taylor is a prominent member of the Woman's Relief Corps Wadsworth No. 1, of which she is a past president, and for several years has held the office of treasurer of the corps, and is a past department president of the Woman's Relief Corps, Department of Montana.

JOHN H. RUTTER. To the present postmaster of Hinsdale, John H. Rutter, belongs the distinction of being one of the real pioneers of this section of Valley County. He arrived in this vicinity in 1885 with a pack outfit and in company with Charley · Rasor, now of Lewistown, Montana, both on a voy- age of exploration of this Hinsdale region for a cattle range. Mr. Rutter represented and was work- ing for the Nyobrara Cattle Company, owned by E. L. Newman, one of the early mining men of Montana, and Mr. Rasor was in the employ of the Lee Scott Cattle Company. The men had each two saddle horses and two pack horses, and they struck the deep coulee running into the Milk River near Hinsdale. Mr. Rutter continued with the Nyobrara Cattle Company until the spring of 1889. At that time he went into the service of the Home Land and Cattle Company, the largest cow outfit ever located in the state and owned by the Niederinhaus Brothers of St. Louis, which had es- tablished its ranch seven miles north of where Hins- dale is now located, and during the seven years he remained with that company Mr. Rutter was their range foreman. In the spring of 1897 he took a bunch of horses to the Dakotas for himself, and after disposing of them returned to this region and filed on a homestead four miles east of Hinsdale. This act made him a permanent resident of this locality, and he lived on his claim two years before he married. His pioneer dwelling, a log house and at the time it was erected the largest one of its kind in this country, still stands and is sheltering his tenants. He engaged in the stock business, run- ning both horses and cattle, his horses under the brand "7" on the right shoulder, and his cows under the "EA" brand on the left shoulder. He continued ranching and occupied his claim as a home until 1916, and was also interested in a horse ranch eighteen miles northeast of Hinsdale with S. E. Ruyle. He then established his home in Hinsdale, and since April, 1913, has served as the postmaster of the town.

Mr. Rutter has had Hinsdale as his postoffice ever since he has been in this country. The office

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

was at first established 11/2 miles east of its present location, and its name was given it by the railroad company. When the hamlet was moved to its pres- ent site all there was to move was the section house, and this building still stands and is being used as the home of the section foreman. Mr. Rut- ter purchased lots at the new townsite, on two of which he has built residences. He was one of the organizers and a director of the first bank to be established in the town, the First National Bank, organized in October,. 1916. He was also one of the promoters in the organization and development of an irrigation plant in the valley just across from Hinsdale, and is the secretary and treasurer of the company, known as the Rock Creek Canal Com- pany. It takes its water from Rock River, seven miles north of Hinsdale, and extends east to Lime Creek and waters 9,600 acres of valley lands and renders the region reliably productive.

Mr. Rutter came into Montana with the Nyo- brara Company in 1884 from the State of Nebraska, but he is a native son of Indiana, born at Elkhart, December 13, 1858, a son of Henry and Mary (Haney) Rutter. His parents were both born in Virginia, the father in Wheeling, West Virginia, and the mother in Richmond. They met and were married in Wheeling, and a few years before the Civil war removed from there to Elkhart, Indiana. Henry Rutter clung to his southern ideas, and when

the states divided he went with the South and en- listed in the Confederate army somewhere in Vir- ginia, and lost his life in the service. The widow continued to maintain her home in Elkhart, and died there in 1896. She was the mother of five children : Bettie, who died in Elkhart, Indiana, unmarried; Fannie, who married Clem Powell and resides in Indianapolis, Indiana; David, of De- troit, Michigan; Lewis P., of Duluth, Minnesota ; and John H., the Hinsdale postmaster.

John H. Rutter left his mother's home when but six years old and was brought to mature youth in the home of a consin, Crockett McDonald, at Wellington, Missouri. He went with the McDonald family to Kansas and lived with them near Howard in that state until 1877, when he left his cousin's home and began an independent career in Texas. In Cook County of the Lone Star State he worked for Addington Brothers, and also served them on their Indian Territory ranch on Cow Creek. Rail- road facilities in that region at that time were ex- tremely inadequate, and the stock was driven from the Addington ranch in the Indian Territory to Whiteboro, Texas, for shipment.

In the fall of 1878 Mr. Rutter separated from the Addingtons and engaged with the firm of Hunter, Evans and Hunter, who had large beef contracts with the United States for supplying the Indians at Fort Sill and Fort Reno, these being the Chey- enne and Comanche Indians, and they held their herds close to the agency for killing. In October, 1879, he left the employ of this company and re- turned to Howard, Kansas, remaining during that winter with the McDonald family, and in the spring of 1880 went on to Fort Elliott, Texas, and secured employment with the "LXBar," and started from their ranch just above old Dobe Walls for Hun- newell, Kansas, with a herd of beef over the Mon- ument Hill Trail. On reaching the Cimarron River crossing he found a southern Texas trail herd going to Nebland, and joining this outfit Mr. Rutter reached the Pine Ridge Agency in South Dakota. When the herd was delivered to the Government there in the following November Mr. Rutter started with a four mule team from Pine Ridge Agency to Deadwood, South Dakota, and he remained in that mining camp during the winter, and in the

spring went to Running Water, Nebraska, and en- tered the service of the Nyobrara Cattle Company, with whom he later on came to Montana.

The school days of Mr. Rutter were none too numerous and somewhat scattered. He was a pupil in the schools of Wellington, Kansas, and during a period of four years attended school at Howard, Kansas, this ending his educational career in a school room, and whatever knowledge he has gained since has come to him through the channels of ex- perience. He began his career in politics when he cast his first presidential vote for Grover Cleve- land at Stacy, Montana. He has maintained na- tional allegiance to the democratic party since that time, and is classed as a rock-ribbed democrat. His first official service was in 1894-95, when he was the deputy sheriff for Harry Cosner, and in 1898, 1899, 1910 and 1911 he was the deputy for Sheriff Small, Mr. Rutter having been defeated for the office of sheriff in the latter year. He was named as the postmaster of Hinsdale in 1913, on the 6th of March, taking the office as the successor of Julius Waber April 21, 1913. He was reappointed in Septem- ber, 1918. The only rural route out of the town is fifty-four miles long, it supplying five different country offices and serves a population of 1,200 people.

In Glasgow, Montana, January 23, 1899, Mr. Rut- ter was married to Miss Elsie M. Clough, who was at that time serving as the county superintendent of schools of Valley County. Mrs. Rutter was born at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, April 12, 1875, a daughter of J. H. and Margaret (Kinney) Clough. The father, who was a native of Maine, learned the carpenter's trade and became a bridge contractor on the Northern Pacific Railroad when it was be- ing built, and later filled the same position with the building of the Great Northern. He finally located at Seattle, Washington, and at the time of his death there he was a wharf contractor. Mrs. Clough is a resident of Glasgow, Montana, and the mother of three children, Mrs. J. L. Dillard, of Wolf Point, Montana, Mrs. Rutter, and Fred G. Clough, of Butte, Montana. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Rutter: Lewis H., a student in the State Agricultural College at Bozeman; Elsie V., a teacher in the Valley County schools; and Marjorie L., a high school student in Hinsdale. The two older children finished their high school training in Sacred Heart Academy at Fargo, North Dakota.

Mr. Rutter has attained a high degree in Masonry. He is a past master of Kyle Lodge No. 96, of Hinsdale, and belongs to Chapter No. 17 at Glas- gow, and to Glasgow Commandery No. 13. He also belongs to Algeria Temple and the Helena Shrine.

JAMES CHASE Dow. It is oftentimes considered by those in the habit of superficial thinking that the history of so-called great men only is worthy of preservation, and that little merit exists among the masses to call forth the praise of the historian or the appreciation of mankind. A greater mistake was never made. No man is great in all things and few are great in many things. Many by lucky stroke achieve lasting fame who before that had no reputation beyond their immediate neighbor- hoods. It is not a history of the lucky stroke that benefits humanity most, but the long study and ef- fort which made the lucky stroke possible. It is the preliminary work, the method, that serves as a guide for others. Among the citizens of Mon- tana who have achieved success along steady lines of action is James C. Dow, of Great Falls, a man whose character is above reproach and who richly

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

merits the confidence and esteem which are freely accorded him, for he has taken a deep interest in the welfare and development of the locality, always standing ready to do his full share in the work of progress.

James Chase Dow was born in Faribault, Min- sota, on the 22d of September, 1877, and is the son of James J. and Myra A. (Brown) Dow. Mr. Dow's paternal grandfather, James Chase Dow, was for many years a missionary to India. In 1848, when his son, James J., was six weeks old, he returned to the United States and settled in Maine. Later he moved to a farm in South Dakota, where he remained for a time, but eventually came to St. Charles, Minnesota, where he spent the remainder of his days and died.

James J. Dow was, as miglit be inferred from the preceding paragraph, a native of India, having been born in Midnepore on February 15, 1848. Brought to the United States in infancy, he re- ceived a common school education, but when fif- teen years of age he enlisted in defense of the Union during the Civil war, joining Company F, Second Maine Regiment of Cavalry, with which he served until the close of the great struggle, taking part in all the battles, skirmishes, campaigns and marches in which his regiment had a share. Of the 100 men on the original roll of his company, three were killed in battle and forty-nine died of disease. After being discharged from military serv- ice Mr. Dow went to Minnesota, and became a student in Carlton College at Northfield, where he and his wife were the sole members of the first graduating class from that institution in 1873. He then became principal of the schools at Austin, Min- nesota, filling that position two years, and then was appointed superintendent of the Minnesota State School for the Blind at Faribault, where he still remains. Mr. Dow has had a most remarkable rec- ord as head of this great school, which has become recognized as one of the leading schools of its kind in the country. He is a member of the Ma- sonic fraternity, in which he has attained the higher degrees, and is also a member of the Mystic Shrine at St. Paul, Minnesota. His religious membership is with the Congregational Church, of which he has served as clerk for a number of years. Politically he is independent. Mrs. Myra Dow was born in Massachusetts in 1850 and died in 1909. They be- came the parents of eight children, of which num- ber three are living.

James Chase Dow received his elementary edu- cation in th public schools and then became a student of the University of Minnesota, where he was graduated from the department of electrical engi- neering in 1900. His first active work after leav- ing school was with the Twin City Rapid Transit Railway Company, with whom he remained for one year. On July 1, 1901, Mr. Dow came to Helena, Montana, and entered the employ of the Missouri River Power Company and the Helena Power Transmission Company, being employed up to July I, 1906, in constructing the substations and steam plant in Butte. During the following year he was in the employ of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company at Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- vania. He then went to Mankato, Minnesota, where for a year he was connected with the Mankato Electric Company and others. He then returned to Butte, Montana, and was with the Missouri River Power Company until 1910, when he joined the Great Falls Power Company and the Montana Power Company, as operating engineer of the northern division, in which capacity he is still serving. He sustains most important relations to the company, much of the success of its operation depending upon

his judgment and management. Thoroughly prac- tical and conversant with every phase and detail of electrical equipment, he has demonstrated in an unmistakable manner his competency to take charge of large undertakings in his line and he has gained the entire confidence of his associates.

On July 18, 1905, Mr. Dow was married to Lil- lian T. Howard, a native of St. Albans, Vermont. Fraternally he is a member of Euclid Lodge No. 58, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Great Falls Chapter No. 9, Royal Arch .Masons; Black Eagle Commandery No. 8, Knights Templar; Great Falls Consistory (thirty-second degree), Scottish Rite Masons; and Algeria Temple, Ancient Arabic Or- der Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Helena. He is also a member of the Commercial Club, the Rotary Club and the American Institute of Elec- trical Engineers. Politically he is independent, while his religious membership is with the Congregational Church. His life work has been of unceasing in- dustry, and the systematic methods which he has followed have resulted not only in success in his profession but also in the increased respect and esteem of all who know him and are familiar with his accomplishments.

ROSCOE V. TUCKER is one of the men of Malta who is proving his worth as a man by rendering his community service that is reliable and sympa- thetic, and his undertaking establishment is one recognized as making the most reasonable of charges to its patrons in their time of great bereavement. He has served the county as coroner, and has proved himself dependable in every way, and worthy the confidence of his fellow citizens.

Roscoe V. Tucker was born at Westfield, Chan- tanqua County, New York, April 22, 1854, a son of Elisha Tucker, and grandson of Samuel Tucker. Samuel Tucker was born at Collins, Erie County, New York, and was one in a family of eleven chil- dren. All of his mature years were spent in farm- ing until increasing infirmities led him to retire. His death occurred in Chautauqua County, New York, when he was eighty-five years old. He was the father of four children, namely: Anna, who married Velorus Lake; Elisha W., who is mentioned at length below; Rosetta, who married Austin Cul- ver; and Eliza, who married Philander Olds, a soldier in the Union army and who died in the service.

Elisha W. Tucker was born at Collins, Erie Coun- ty, New York, in December, 1829, and lived in that state, where he was a farmer, until 1889, in that year coming to Montana and identifying him- self with Malta. He took a homestead on what is now the townsite of Malta, and the old Malta House, erected by him, was his hotel and he conducted it in partnership with his son. Mr. Tucker was also interested in merchandising, was engaged in a liv- ery business, and was a sheep raiser, generally do- ing business under the name of E. W. Tucker and Son, although he was for a time associated with R. W. Garland under the name of Tucker and Garland. He continued to be actively engaged in business until he was seventy-one years of age. His death occurred in January, 1901, and his remains were taken back to his old home and laid beside those of his wife, who had died in 1885.

In 1852 Elisha W. Tucker was married to Sarah A. Lombard, a daughter of Lucius Lombard, born in Chautauqua County, New York. Lucius Lombard was also a native of New York State, who went into Chautauqua County while it was still unset- tled and still mainly a wilderness. He married Betsy Shove, and Mrs. Tucker was one in a family of two sons and two daughters. The children

William 9. Lang

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

born to Mr. and Mrs. Elisha W. Tucker were as follows: Roscoe V., who was the elder; and Flu-

dent of Chautauqua County; Mrs. Tucker, who resides at Malta; Dewey, who lives at Strawberry villa, who married Ed Hughes and is a resident of . Point, Iowa; Carrie, who is the wife of Merritt Chautauqua County, New York.

As a usual thing Elisha W. Tucker voted the republican ticket, although now and then supported democratic candidates . if he believed them to be better fitted for the office in question. He was not identified with any church, but was reared in a Quaker home. While his education was not un- common, he was an excellent and forceful conver- sationalist, and he was capable of taking an intel- ligent part in a discussion upon almost any subject. Politics and fraternities never interested him. He was a man below medium height and weight, but such was the strength of his personality that he always impressed people as a man of importance. Big of heart and brain, he did much good in the world, always cheerfully rendering a service when- ever the opportunity offered, but doing it quietly and as an individual, rather than as a member of some publicity-seeking committee. He died as he had lived, a kindly, upright and honorable man, a tender husband, a watchful father, liberal patron, temperate adviser, and stainless gentleman.

Roscoe V. Tucker did not pursue his studies be- yond the confines of the common schools, and as he grew to manhood he learned farming. Both in New York and later in Montana he was associated in business with his father, and the tie between them was very close. As his father's partner he was engaged in the hotel and livery business at Malta, and then he branched out into ranching and sheepraising, and is still interested in the latter. His ranch of 840 acres is 'on Beaver Creek, 21/2 miles south of Bowdoin, Montana. This is chiefly a hay farm and is under a private irrigation system.

About the time he came to Montana Mr. Tucker commenced rendering services as an undertaker, not then as a professional, but only to assist his fel- low citizens in rendering a decent burial to their relatives. Finding that he was fitted by tempera- ment and sympathies for the work, he finally de- cided to adopt it as his chief line of business, and in 1908 went into it in a professional manner at Malta. His establishment is one of the best equipped in Phillips County, and he is often called upon by those who live at a distance, as well as those in his immediate neighborhood. Mr. Tucker is also an auctioneer of reputation, and in partnership with Mr. Cauffman, under the firm name of Tucker and Cauffman, is widely known as unusually able and efficient, and he and Mr. Cauffman serve the peo- ple in this capacity throughout a radius of fifty miles whenever they have anything to sell.

Mr. Tucker was elected coroner of Phillips Coun- ty when it was created, and is still holding that office. He has always taken a most aggressive part in the promotion of improvements for the city and county, and has led every procession as marshal which has been organized to celebrate the different events since he came to Malta with the exception of one. In 1876 he cast his first presi- dential vote, giving it to Rutherford B. Hayes, and ever since then has voted the republican ticket.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 109

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