Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 114

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

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CHARLES M. HANSON came to Wolf Point in No- vember, .1912, had been a newspaper man in North Dakota and followed the same profession in Mon- tana for several years, but for the past five years his chief work has been in the office of postmaster.

Mr. Hanson, who against many adversities has proven his faith in the community and won the con- fidence of his fellow citizens in himself, was born in Norway, September 16, 1873. He has lived in America since childhood. His father, Jacob L. Hanson, on bringing his family to America located - at Fort Worth, Michigan. In Norway he was a fisherman, and spent five years as a miner in the copper regions of Northern Michigan. From there he went to the Red River Valley of North Dakota, and did his first farming in that state. He took up Government land near Grand Forks, and cultivated the soil from 1881 to 1905, when he moved on west to Washington, and is now living at Stanwood in that state. He is sixty-eight years of age, a demo-

crat in politics and was reared a Lutheran. He married Jacobine Anderson, and their children are : Charles M .; Mrs. John Jacobson, of Stanwood, Washington; Hans M., clerk in the postoffice at Bismarck, North Dakota; Mrs. Albert Isaacson, of Wolf Point; Malberz, of Stanwood, Washington ; Mrs. Alphie Hickel, of Wolf Point; and Mrs. Gun- der Naas, of Stanwood.

Charles M. Hanson grew to manhood in the Red River Valley, and acquired a good education in local schools, also taking a normal course in Grand Forks College. His duties were those of a farm to the age of twenty-three, near Grand Forks, and then for four years he was a country teacher, and for one year taught in the grade schools of Hamilton, North Dakota. When he left teaching he engaged in merchandising at Ray, North Dakota, in 1901, and after selling goods for four years he entered newspaper work. He was editor of the Dakota Tidende, believed to have been the only Scandina- vian democratic newspaper in that state. He pub- lished the Tidende three years, and later was pub- lisher of the Wheelock Tribune at Wheelock and the Springbrook News at Springbrook, North Da- kota. These were all democratic papers and were weekly publications. The last two papers he sold to his brother and then engaged in the real estate and hail insurance business at Ray.

From Ray, North Dakota, Mr. Hanson came to Wolf Point in 1912 and founded the Wolf Point Herald, the first paper in the new town. He con- tinued as its proprietor and publisher until 1917, when he sold the business to the firm of Weist and Marshall. In the meantime, March 2, 1915, he was appointed postmaster, succeeding Sherman T. Cogs- well, and was reappointed for another four-year term in August, 1919. Mr. Hanson has studied and worked to make the postoffice service the interests of the community, and has also been gratified to see its business reflect the growth and prosperity of the community. The receipts of the local office in 1914 were only $2,200, while for the year ending De- cember 31, 1919, the receipts were over $12,600. The service has been extended during Mr. Hanson's ad- ministration by the opening of three rural routes.

Mr. Hanson was largely instrumental in the or- ganization of the Commercial Club in 1914, and served it as secretary for three years. He was also clerk of the School Board from 1913 to 1918. As noted above, his career has not been altogether silver-lined, and he has tasted the bitterness of adversity as well as the sweets of prosperity. In the destructive fire of 1914 he lost his new office and residence, just completed, and also his house- hold goods and clothing. There was only $500 insur- ance, and the disaster left him $3,500 in debt. He assured his creditors that he would pay 100 cents on the dollar if they would give him time, and he carried out that promise to the letter. When he rebuilt he' erected his residence apart from the office building, and declared that in the future it would take two fires to burn him out instead of one. The building in which the postoffice is kept is a structure Mr. Hanson built for his newspaper office, His residence is a comfortable abode of six rooms.

Mr. Hanson cast his first ballot for Mr. Bryan in 1896, and has been a regular in the democratic party ever since. He was vigorously identified with other local citizens in promoting patriotic causes during the war and helped recruit twenty-four men for the army from Wolf Point. Mrs. Hanson was active in the Red Cross, and the home was the scene of much knitting of war garments. Mr. Han- son was reared as a Lutheran, but is now identified with the Presbyterian Church and was the leader

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of the movement to organize the congregation of that faith in Wolf Point. For several years he served as trustee and treasurer of the church.

July 4, 1903, Mr. Hanson married Miss Anna K. Ronningen. She was born at Norwegian Grove, Minnesota, March 12, 1874. Her father, Martin Ronningen, a native of Norway and a resident of Norwegian Grove, was the father of nineteen chil- dren by two marriages. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Hanson are Agnes Irene, Marguerite Evelyn, Nora Adaline and Charles Anthony.

FRANK L. SHERMAN. With no special advantages of education, wealth or family connections, Frank L. Sherman, of Glasgow, has risen steadily, in a normal manner, to be manager of the Glasgow Flour Mills, one of the important industrial plants of this part of the state. The record of his life and work is not only interesting but is also instructive, for it proves that provided a man works with a definite end in view, is willing to make sacrifices to attain to that end, and is engaged in a line for which his abilities fit him, he can be sure of a fair measure of prosperity.

Frank L. Sherman was born in Columbia County, Wisconsin, July 30, 1865, a son of Heman Sher- man, grandson of Amos Sherman, and a member of one of the old families of New York State, of Eng- lish origin. Amos Sherman was born and reared in the vicinity of Painted Post, New York, and spent his life as a farmer. During the war of 1812 he served his country as a soldier, and was equally faithful in performing his duties as a private citizen. He and his wife had several children, of whom Heman was the eldest.

Heman Sherman was born at Painted Post over 100 years ago, and there he was reared, educated and married. As a young man he began lumbering in New York State, and later came West to Wiscon- . sin, making the trip some years before there was any railroad, and traveling in wagons drawn by oxen. Buying land near Columbus, Wisconsin, he spent many years upon it, but finally retired, located at Columbus, and there died about 1903, aged eighty- seven years, having come of a long lived family, as his father reached the unusual age of ninety-six years. Both he and his wife were strict Presby- terians, and very active in religious work. He was an old-line republican, and frequently refused to vote for a warm personal friend, whose qualities he admired, and whose ability to discharge the duties of the office he did not question, because he was run- ning on the democratic ticket.

Heman Sherman was united in marriage with Laura Loveless, also horn at Painted Post, New York, two years later than her husband, and she lived to be eighty-five years of age. They became the parents of the following children: Orlin D., who lives at Columbus, Wisconsin; Elbert R., who lives at Buell, Idaho, is in the office of the sheriff ; Lizzie, who is the wife of Charles Oliver, of Winne- bago, Minnesota ; and Frank L., who is the youngest.

The first seventeen years of his life Frank L. Sherman spent at and about Columbus, Wisconsin, and his only educational advantages were those offered by the country schools, and all the other training he received to fit him for his life's battles was that which came from hard work on his father's farm. He could have remained on the farm, but an agricultural life did not appeal to him,. as from childhood he had resolved to enter the business arena, and so at the early age of seventeen he left home and learned telegraphy in the station of the Chicago, Milwaukee & Saint Paul Railroad at Co- lumbus, Wisconsin, and was assigned to a position as an operator of the system in Wisconsin. For the

subsequent twelve years he remained with this road as operator in Minnesota and Nebraska, and then was assigned to duty in the station department at Pembina, Wisconsin, as joint agent of the Milwau- kee and Soo lines. From them on until 1906 Mr. Sherman was in that service at different points of the Soo Line, principally at competitive points, but in that year abandoned railroad work, which he · has only used as a means to the end, and became secretary of the Chamber of Commerce at Minot, North Dakota. He interested himself in the build- ing of commercial centers and farm communities. In the latter connection he rendered a priceless ·service by encouraging the erection of silos, and the adoption of different methods for the conservation of food and energy. Mr. Sherman was instrumen- tal in inducing the Russell Milling Company to choose Glasgow for the site of its plant, and influ- enced other business houses to locate in this city, which, because of his efforts, grew from a population of 3,000 to one of 15,000.

Mr. Sherman became too big a man for the position he was holding, and so resigned, although the association urged him to remain, and became interested in the sale of flour for the Minot Flour Mill Company. His efforts in this direction re- sulted in the creation of a demand for a plant at Glasgow, primarily to take care of local demands, and with customary energy and efficiency Mr. Sher- man went to work to promote this project, and as a result the Glasgow Flour Mill Company came into being. The plant has a capacity of 300 barrels per day, and as this is more than the local demand, shipments are made to the Pacific Coast and Minne- apolis and New York.

As was but natural, Mr. Sherman identified him- self with the Chamber of Commerce at Glasgow immediately upon coming here, and is now one of its directors, although at first he was its president. He is not a man who can remain idle, even in moments of relaxation, and immediately saw the need for an employment bureau, and as secretary of the association established one, the first to be organized in Northern Montana. During the war period the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, under his direction, took a very active part in all of the campaigns, and infused new life into the people, arousing their patriotism and raising the necessary quotas. He is also one of the members of the ex- ecutive board of the Milk River Development Asso- ciation, a unit of the Northern Montana Develop- ment Association, the various units of which are responsible for the location and improvement of the Roosevelt Trail through this part of the state.

Frank L. Sherman was married at Paynesville, Minnesota, June 6, 1901, to Miss Marjorie Jones, a daughter of Ronello O. Jones, who was born at Winslow, Maine, in 1849, where he spent his life as a farmer. He and his wife became the parents of one child, Mrs. Sherman, and she came into the world May 7, 1879. She was graduated from the Baptist Seminary at Waterville, Maine, and came to Minnesota in 1899 as a teacher, and it was while she was an educator connected with the city schools of Paynesville that she met and married Mr. Sher- man. Mr. and Mrs. Sherman have the following children : Lawrence C., Laura, Leslie O. and Lewis Frank.

In addition to the work hie accomplished through the Chamber of Commerce during the war period Mr. Sherman rendered another and very valuable service as chairman of the Valley County Council of Defense. He was made a Mason at Paynesville, Minnesota, and demitted to North Star Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Glasgow.

A man of strong personality and extraordinary

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abilities, Mr. Sherman has been able to capture and hold the confidence of his associates and become the moving spirit in the various projects with which he has been connected. By nature he is a director of men and affairs, and his presence and association act as a mental tonic and a bracing inspiration.

SAMUEL AND JAMES HOWARD HUGHES. Hughes Brothers conduct one of the best grocery, meat, fruit and hardware stores at Cascade or in Cascade County, and are noted for the quality of their goods and the excellence of their service. The elder brother, Samuel Hughes, was born in Caroline County, Maryland, December 14, 1868, and the younger one, James Howard Hughes, was born in Carroll County, Maryland March 12, 1874, they be- ing sons of James and Mary (Harrington) Hughes, both natives of Delaware. James Hughes died in 1910, aged eighty-four years, and his wife died in 1889, aged forty-four years. They were married in Kent County, Delaware, and seven of their children are living, of whom Samuel was the third and James Howard, the sixth in order of birth. James Hughes was a farmer who raised grain, hay and stock. In politics he was a democrat.

The brothers, Samuel and James Howard Hughes, were educated in the Maryland and Delaware pub- lic schools, and spent their boyhood days on their father's farm in Delaware. They came West to Cascade, Cascade County, Montana, Samuel arriving in 1889 and James Howard in 1898. April 10, 1900, they opened a meat market, but in 1904 embarked in a cattle business on a ranch four miles west of Cascade, keeping from 100 to 350 head of cattle and from 400 to 1,000 head of sheep, but sold their sheep in the fall of 1918, and now raise only cattle. The ranch is a large one, comprising as it does 2,000 acres of land. In the fall of 1909 they added to the meat market the handling of groceries, fruits and hardware. Their store is in a first-class, steam- heated brick building, with everything modern and sanitary, their premises and equipment comparing favorably with any establishment of its kind in the large cities.

Samuel Hughes is unmarried. James Howard Hughes was married on January 12, 1910, to Bes- sie M. Hodson, born in Cascade County, Montana, and they have two children, Howard Wesley and Mary Hortense. Both brothers are democrats. They are alert young business men, thoroughly abreast of the times, who understand the demand of their customers and how to meet it. By their honorable business methods they have built up a large trade and are recognized as reliable and trustworthy mer- chants and good citizens.

JOHN EDWARD MCCORMICK, wHo for the past five years has served as a member of the Railroad and Public Service Commission of the State of Mon- tana, is a man of extensive experience with men and affairs, and has shown exceptional qualifica- tions for handling and solving the many problems that come up before the Railroad and Public Serv- ice Commission.

Mr. McCormick, who has spent much of his life in the western states, was born at Madison, Wis- consin, February 28, 1867. Leaving school when about fifteen years of age, he followed various oc- cupations until 1888, when he entered the services of the Northern Pacific Railway Company as ticket agent at Fargo, North Dakota. It was as a railroad man that he first came to Montana. In 1891 he was transferred to Butte as city ticket agent for the Northern Pacific, and he performed the duties of that office until 1900.

On leaving the railroad service Mr. McCormick took over the management of Hunter's Hot Springs resort and operated that well-known institution until 1907. Then after spending 11/2 years in California he returned to Montana and, associated with James A. Murray, rebuilt the Boulder Hot Springs resort and remained as its active manager until 1915. Much of the patronage of this resort fell off on account of the war, and Mr. McCormick then busied himself with other private interests and had also entered actively in the campaign of 1914, when he was nom- inated under the new primary law, defeating a large field of candidates, and was elected for Railroad and Public Service Commissioner. He took over the duties of this office January 1, 1915, and since then has given all of his time to his office at Helena.

Mr. McCormick is a practical man and has been made so by experience. He is affiliated with the democratic party. Mr. McCormick is a widower and has one daughter, Mrs. Joseph Keho, of Portland, Oregon.

CHARLES R. BRAZIER. One of the most significant indications "of a state's full grown development is the extent and quality of its advertising business. No commodity or institution ever becomes so well known that it does not require publicity, and Mon- tana has now reached that stage where many of its business institutions and the great resources of the state in general must depend upon systematic and state or national advertising as a means of making their goods and merits better known.

Probably the most important business medium of this kind in Montana is the C. R. Brazier Adver- tising Agency of Helena. Mr. Brazier is, a busi- ness man and publicity expert of wide and varied experience, and has developed a great business in a few years. He is a native of the West, born at Park City, Utah, July 15, 1879. His father, George Brazier, was born in London, England, in 1835, and came to this country when a young man. He was a pioneer settler in Salt Lake City about 1856. He crossed the plains with a party of emigrants, and most of them had their personal property in hand carts, which they pushed and pulled over the rough trails of that day. George Brazier was an early merchant at Park City, the center of a big silver camp. After many years in business he retired about 1900 to Salt Lake City, where he died in February, 1911. He was an independent in politics. The wife of George Brazier was Susan Godsell, who was born in Birmingham, England, in 1837. They were married in Salt Lake City, where she died in 1893. They were the parents of a large family of ten children: Priscilla, wife of E. S. Crowther, a carpenter and builder at Salt Lake City ; George J., a rancher at Roberts, Idaho; Alice, living at Salt Lake City, is the widow of A. B. Young, who died in Peru while in charge of the American and British Cerra de Pasco mines; Li- berta, wife of J. H. Mitchell, a mechanic at Salt Lake City; Frank W., formerly a candy manufac- turer at Helena and later a salesman, who died at Salt Lake in 1919; Lucy, wife of W. I. Lester, a contractor and builder at Salt Lake City; John J., proprietor of the Colonial Confectionery Shop at Lewistown, Montana; Charles R., the eighth in the family; Albert R., a merchant at Salt Lake City who died in January, 1920; and Ernest E., member of an advertising and selling agency at Salt Lake.

Charles R. Brazier acquired his education in the public schools of Salt Lake, graduated from the business college of that city in 1899, and at the age of sixteen had started as messenger boy in the

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store of the Siegel Clothing Company. He learned the business thoroughly, was assigned various re- sponsibilities in the wholesale and retail department, and from 1899 to 1902 served the firm as advertis- ing manager. Going to Evanston, Wyoming, in 1902, he served as manager of the men's clothing department for the Blyth and Fargo Company, one of the old and prominent mercantile establishments of the city. A year later he took the post of ad- vertising manager for J. P. Gardner, now the Gard- ner-Adams Company, one of the leading clothing stores in the western United States. Here he also did some splendid work in the advertising field for three years, and then opened the first advertising agency at Salt Lake City.

Mr. Brazier sold his interests at Salt Lake in 1910 and in January of the following year came to Helena. He established the C. R. Brazier Ad- vertising Company, and while developing his inter- est was also for four years in the newspaper busi- ness as advertising manager of the Helena Inde- pendent. His advertising agency rapidly grew and in recent years has commanded all his time and at- tention. His offices are in the Penwell Block. Mr. Brazier handles advertising for many of the large business houses of Montana, and has facilities for all the service expected of a general advertising and publicity agency. In his office files are some splen- did examples of convincing and handsome publicity literature, which has been prepared by his agency for various concerns.

Fortunate is the community or state when a man of Mr. Brazier's character and talent takes as a hobby such an important subject as good roads. Mr. Brazier considers good roads his private and personal gospel, and believes that he has a direct command to debate the subject both in and out of season. He is editor and publisher of Highways and Irrigation, the official publication of the Mon- tana Highway Improvement Association, and is never too busy with his private affairs to lend direct en- couragement to the cause of modern highways. He also handles the publicity for the. Montana State Fair.

Mr. Brazier is an independent voter. His home is at the Helena Apartments. In 1902, at Salt Lake City, he married Miss Violet Collinson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. M. S. Collinson. Her mother is de- ceased. Her father was a business man and later a rancher of Idaho. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Brazier are: . Paul, born October 16, 1903, now a sophomore in the Helena High School; and Lucile, born September 10, 1905, a pupil in the gram- mar grades at Helena.

REV. JAMES FRANCIS McNAMEE. Among the Protestant churches of Montana one of the longest continuous pastorates is that of the First Baptist Church at Helena. Rev. James Francis McNamee has been pastor of that congregation twenty-one con- tinuous years. A prominent churchman, a former president of the Baptist State Convention, Mr. Mc- Namee's influence has been a broadly beneficent one outside of his church. He has interested him- self in politics, in behalf of local and state educa- tion, and in all those matters that are closely linked with good citizenship and improvement of social conditions.

James Francis McNamee is of old Scotch ancestry and born in County Tyrone, Ireland, October 19, 1863. His father, James McNamee, was also a native of County Tyrone, where he spent most of his life. About 1868 he moved to Manchester, Eng- land, where he owned a coal mine and while en- gaged in its operation was killed by a mine explosion

in 1873. He was only a young man at the time of his death. James McNamee married Ella Mac- Gill, of County Tyrone, who died at the old home there in 1910. She was the mother of two sons, James Francis and John, the latter a resident of Liverpool.

James Francis McNamee was educated in the na- tional schools of County Tyrone, spent one year in an academy at Glasgow, Scotland, and for two years was a resident student of Glasgow University. In 1886 he came to the United States, and prepared for his profession in the Crozer Theological (Bap- tist) Seminary near Philadelphia. Doctor McNa- mee's services as a minister have all been rendered in the northwestern states, at LeSeuer, Minnesota, at Grace Baptist Church in Minneapolis, and in the Humboldt Park Baptist Church, Chicago.

September 1, 1898, he began his duties at Helena as pastor of the First Baptist Church, and has been the head of that old and prominent congregation ever since. His church was established in 1881 and has a large and progressive membership. The church edifice is at Warren Street and Eighth Ave- nue, and Doctor McNamee for the past fourteen years has also maintained pastoral offices in the Bailey Block. He is a member of the Baptist State Convention Board, and served as president of the convention two years.

Unlike many churchmen he has been an inter- ested worker in politics and frequently has found an opportunity to exercise an influence for good government in the county and state conventions of the republican party. For eight years he served as chaplain of the State Senate. For the past ten years he has been a member of the Helena School Board, is vice president of the board, is secretary of the board of the Helena Public Library, and for sev- eral years past has been president of the State Board of Charities and Reform.

Doctor McNamee is also a prominent Mason, be- ing a past master of King Solomon Lodge No. 9, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, past high priest of Helena Chapter No. 2, Royal Arch Masons, past eminent commander of Helena Commandery No. 2, Knights Templar, is past illustrious master of Helena Council No. I, Royal and Select Masters, and is also affiliated with Helena Consistory No. 3 of the Scottish Rite, Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena, and is a past patron of Miriam Chapter No. 1 of the Eastern Star and a life mem- ber of Helena Lodge No. 193 of the Elks. Other affiliations are with Garnet Camp No. 105, Wood- men of the World, Helena Homestead No. 546, Brotherhood of American Yeomen, and Helena Com- mercial Club.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 114

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