Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 115

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 115

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Doctor McNamee during his pastorate at Helena has officiated at over 800 funerals and 700 wed- dings. His home is at the Grandon Hotel. In Jan- uary, 1890, at LeSener, Minnesota, he married Miss Helena L. Doescher, daughter of August R. and Margaret (Plowman) Doescher. Her mother is deceased and her father, a retired business man, lives at Santa Monica, California. Mrs. McNamee is a graduate of the Pillsbury Academy at Owa- tonna, Minnesota. They have three children. Ruth, who is a graduate of the Minnesota State Univer- sity at Minneapolis, was married to Dr. William S. Little, a physician and surgeon at Kalispell, Montana, and she died at Santa Monica, California, March 16, 1917. The son Paul was in his fresh- man year at the Montana State University at Mis- soula when he died in October, 1915. The only living child is Donald, now pursuing a technical course in the metallurgical department of Leland Stanford University at Palo Alto, California.

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JOHN SHIPPAM. Either officially or personally every homesteader and settler in all the region around Scobey knows and appreciates the dignified and use- ful service of John Shippam, the veteran United States commissioner, who has handled all the land office business contracted for that locality during the past ten years. Seldom is a commissioner so well equipped for all the varied demands made upon his office as Mr. Shippam. He is a well trained lawyer. has had years of official service, is a prac- tical farmer, and has been a stanch friend and valued adviser to the majority of those who have sought homes and opportunities in this section of North- east Montana.

Mr. Shippam was born September 20, 1858, in Nottinghamshire, England, 100 miles from London, son of James and Mary (Stephenson) Shippam. His father was of original English stock, and his mother was a native of Lincolnshire, of Scotch ancestry, and was confirmed in the Episcopal Church in Lin- coln Cathedral. James Shippam was a master me- chanic and was foreman in one factory for almost thirty-five years, finally being retired with a pension. The children of these parents were: Mrs. Ann Ball, of Nottinghamshire; James, who had an ac- tive service of almost a quarter of a century in the British Army; Mrs. Mary Burgess, of Boston, England; and John.

John Shippam came to the United States with his parents, who were visiting England from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. He had in the meantime acquired a liberal education, finishing in the Nottingham High School. He started on his journey from Liverpool, crossed the ocean to New York, and on reaching Fond du Lac at the age of eighteen went to farm- ing with his cousins. He had no previous knowl- edge of farming, but took to the occupation, was in- dustrious, and acquired a great deal of valuable knowledge and experience while in Wisconsin.

Mr. Shippam is a pioneer of North Dakota as well as of Montana. He went to Dakota Territory in' 1880 and was a resident of North Dakota for a quarter of a century before coming to Montana. In May, 1880, he located at Wahpeton in Richland County. At that time he was a young married man, and was soon appointed deputy sheriff of the county, and continued in public office for a number of years, being deputy clerk of the District Court, judge of the Probate Court, then clerk of the Dis- trict Court, and was also president of the Wahpeton School Board. Following this long service he en- tered the real estate business, and was active in that line at Wahpeton and elsewhere in the state.

As soon as he acquired a familiarity with the national constitution he sought United States citizen- ship, and took out his first and last papers at Wah- peton. He studied law while serving in public of- fice, continued his studies afterward, and was ad- mitted to the District Court in 1887. In 1900 he appeared before the State Supreme Court of North Dakota, passed the examination and was licensed to practice before that body. Mr. Shippam acquired his early training in land matters and land titles while judge of Probate in North Dakota. While he was serving as clerk of the District Court clients sought out his services as counsel on land matters and other legal work, and he was therefore by no means a stranger to the privileges and duties of homestead laws and other branches of land law when he came to Montana.

Mr. Shippam was one of the early settlers of Western Sheridan County. Practically the only evi- dence of civilized occupation when he came were a few scattered ranches and occasional farmers. He made the journey to old Scobey by automobile

from Plentywood, paying a $30 fee for the ride. After surveying the country for some time he de- cided to stay and made application for United States commissionership. He was appointed and opened his office at old Scobey and succeeded the late Mr. Daniels, who had in addition to his duties as com- missioner been merchant, postmaster, farmer and man of affairs in the locality. Practically all of this region was still public domain except one or two townships when Mr. Shippam became commissioner, and one of his first important acts was to urge through his congressman, Mr. Tom Stout, that the Federal Government should complete the survey and open the way for the reception of filings. Mr. Ship- pam maintained his office in old Scobey until the construction of the Great Northern Railway, and his office was one of the first business places es- tablished in new Scobey.

The Shippam family, including Mr. Shippam and his four sons, all availed themselves of the oppor- tunity to acquire homes by entry, and they all lo- cated together sixteen miles northwest of Scobey. Their lands have been enclosed and improved, and that portion of the original plains country has been made productive by the bringing of 900 acres under cultivation.

Mr. Shippam has always been a democrat in pol- itics and he was uniformly successful in every cam- paign he made for public office and at the end of every term he had the good will of his constituents. He has held all the chairs in Odd Fellowship and his membership is still in the Wahpeton Lodge.

At Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in April, 1876, Mr. Shippam married Miss Amelia Smith. She was born in Nottinghamshire, England, where her father, William Smith, was a lace manufacturer. She ac- quired a seminary education and is the only one of her family in the United States. Mr. and Mrs. Shippam are properly proud of their fine family of children. Amy, the oldest, is the wife of Oscar G. Conrad of Great Falls, Montana; George A. is a resident of Helena; Willis, a major in the regular army, was in France during the war and is now an instructor in Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois; Roy is connected with the Minnesota Loan and Trust Company at Minneapolis; Ethel is the wife of George W. Terry, of Minneapolis; while Harry G., the youngest, is in the oil business at Electra, Texas.

CONRAD KOHRS. At the age of eighty-five, a resi- dent of Helena, Conrad Kohrs is one of a very few survivors of the pioneer epoch of the early '6os in Montana. His name is most closely associated withi the cattle industry of the state, and he was long known as the "cattle king of Montana."

He was born in Holstein, Germany, Angust 5, 1835, and seven months later his father, Carston Kohrs, died. His mother, whose maiden name was Gesehe Krause, came to the United States in 1854 and died at Davenport, Iowa, March 17, 1886.

At the age of fifteen Conrad Kohrs went to sea as a sailor, and for several years sailed from New York to South American ports. After locating in Iowa he was in rafting and steamboating on the Mississippi and also in the meat business. In 1856 he went to California by the Panama route, tried farming, and in 1858 went to the Fraser River gold mines. He did well there, but soon returned to California and lost all his money in mining enter- prises.

Mr. Kohrs came to Montana, arriving at Deer Lodge, in July 1862. After prospecting and mining in that locality he went to Bannack upon the dis- covery of gold in that camp, was employed at Ban-

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nack as a butcher, and in June, 1863, joined in the stampede to Alder Gulch at Helena. He conducted a retail meat business at Alder Gulch until 1865.

Mr. Kohrs in 1863 had a thrilling experience with bandits and road agents, escaping after a six hour ride from two outlaws who were pursuing him for the purpose of robbing him of $5,000 in gold which he carried. He was identified with the Vigilantes and in all efforts to establish law and order in the new country. In 1866 Mr. Kohrs bought the ranch and live stock of John H. Grant near Deer Lodge, and from that time for upwards of half a century his chief business was ranching and livestock. He was the pioneer in the introduction of Shorthorn cattle, purchasing his first herd in Illinois in 1871 and in 1890 he brought some Herefords to Mon- tana. He was a member of the Pioneer Cattle Com- pany, organized in 1885, and his interests grew and expanded until he was easily chief among the great cattle men of the Northwest. Incidental to his ranching he employed some of his resources in mining, and was one of the men who developed the Rock Creek ditch at Deer Lodge. His great ranch in the vicinity of Deer Lodge at one time comprised 30,000 acres.

Mr. Kohrs served as a member of the Constitu- tional Convention in 1889, was a member of the Fourteenth Montana Territorial Legislature, and has served as a county commissioner. He is a repub- lican and a Mason. February 23, 1868, he married Miss Augusta Kruse, also a native of Holstein. They had four children: Anna, who became the wife of J. M. Boardman; Catherine, who was married to Dr. O. Y. Warren; William, who died in 1901, while attending Columbia College; and John Kohrs.

SALLIE M. ADAMS, county superintendent of schools for Rosebud County, has had a long and successful experience in educational work not only in Montana but in several Eastern states.

She was born in Warren County, Kentucky, and was reared and educated at Bowling Green. Her parents were W. T. and Belle (Williamson) Morris. Her father was a man of more than ordinary edu- cation for his time, a successful farmer, a leader in his community, and of high moral standards and a stanch Presbyterian. He was one of the first volun- teers to join the Union Army when Lincoln made his call for soldiers, and served through the entire war as a member of the Sixty-second Kentucky Cav- alry. Members of the Williamson family were like- wise ardent patriots during the Civil war time.

Sallie M. Morris graduated from the grammar and high schools of Bowling Green, and holds a college degree from the State Normal of Kentucky and is also a graduate of the Bowling Green Business University. After four years of teaching experi- ence she took two years of post graduate work. As a teacher her energies have been devoted to the profession for sixteen years and include work in all the grades. She has been a teacher in the States of Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois and Montana, and holds a life certificate in Montana.

In 1897 she became the wife of Rev. C. P. Adams, a minister of the Methodist Church who filled a number of prominent pastorates in Kentucky, Illinois and Oklahoma. They came to Montana in 1911 and Mr. Adams died in this state in 1914. He was born at Mayfield in Eastern Kentucky, and was a grad- uate of McKendree College in Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Adams had three children: Argin, born in 1899; Opal, born in 1902; and Morris, born in 1905.

After her husband's death, Mrs. Adams resumed teaching and in 1916 was elected county superin- tendent of Rosebud County, succeeding Miss Fay

Alderson. Besides the heavy routine of her office duties she was a leader in the organization of Boys and Girls' Club work during 1917-18, and also or- ganized many junior Red Cross societies in the county.

FRED R. DECKER is a member of the firm Decker Brothers, hardware merchants, who were among the first to give commercial life to the new Village of Dooley. The Deckers as a family have had a prom- inent part in the development of this section, and in addition to merchandising they operate some of the ranches in the community and have gone in for pure-bred livestock on an extensive scale.

Fred R. Decker was born at Austin, Minnesota, April 15, 1891. His grandfather, Jacob S. Decker, is a Minnesota pioneer. He was born in New Jersey ninety-one years ago and has lived on a farm near Austin, Minnesota, since 1855. For more than half a century he has been one of the conspicuous char- acters in Mower County agriculture, has served as a member of the Agricultural Fair Board, has been unusually successful as a grain raiser and general farmer, and in a private way has turned his influ- ence again and again to the development of his sec- tion of the state. He is one of the leading members of the Congregational Church in Mower County and is a pioneer republican. Jacob S. Decker married Mary Ann Smith, and of their five sons and one daughter the third is Chester H. Decker, who is associated with his sons in business at Dooley and is also a land owner in this part of Montana. Chester H. Decker was born in Mower County, Minnesota, in May, 1861, and has spent his active career in that state. Growing up in pioneer times, he had little opportunity to attend school, but has made a success of whatever he has undertaken. From the farm he went to work at the carpenter's bench in Dakota, and was employed by the Great Northern Railway, building depots at Fargo and at other points on the line. In 1887 he engaged in the hardware business at Austin, and is a merchant of more than thirty years' standing in that city. Quite recently he be- came owner of the Justice Ueland Ranch at Comer- town, Montana, and is using his Montana land for the production of grain. The Ueland property is one of the best known ranches in Northeastern Montana, the land having been entered and improved by Mr. Ueland. Chester H. Decker has never been an aspirant for political office, though he served on the School Board of Austin more than twenty years. He is a republican and a member of the Congrega- tional Church, and while a member of fraternities. his chief interest is in his home.

Chester H. Decker married Ada C. Douglas, who was born at Lake Mills, Wisconsin, daughter of James and Rachel (Doolittle) Douglas. Her father, a native of New York State, was a farmer at Lake Mills, Wisconsin, and enlisted there in the Union Army. After the war he went to St. Ansgar, Iowa, continued farming in that state, and later moved to Carthage, South Dakota, where he became postmaster and engaged in the livery business. He retired to Austin, Minnesota, where his daughter lived, and died there some years ago. Chester H. Decker and wife had three children: Leonard R. and Fred R., and Alice D., who died in infancy.

Fred R. Decker and his brother were educated in the public schools of Austin, graduating from high school. Their early business training was under their father in the hardware store, and they have always been associated in their business careers.

Besides their hardware business conducted by them at Dooley, Fred R. Decker is one of the owners of the Farmers Elevator at Dooley, and his home is

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on the Decker ranch, which contains 640 acres lo- cated in sections 2 and 3, township 36, range 56. This ranch has been noted as a breeding place for Red Polled cattle since 1915, and great numbers of this stock have been checked out to the stock farmers in Minnesota, the Dakotas and Montana. The ranch is also doing a good part in establishing the pure- bred hog industry in Montana, its herd consisting of registered Duroc Jersey hogs. About 200 acres of the ranch are in cultivation and most of the grain produced is fed on the farm. Mr. Decker is a thorough believer in diversified farming ..

During the war he was local chairman of the Red Cross. He was one of the first School Board mem- bers at Dooley, and assisted in securing the first one- room shanty for school purposes.

His brother, Leonard R. Decker, married Blanche M. Christie, and has two children, William R. and Mary Catherine.

At Plentywood, Montana, January 30, 1914, Fred R. Decker married Gladys M. Devine, who was born at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, February 13, 1891, daughter of John and Mary E. (Weidner) Devine. She came West with her mother, Mrs. Mary E. Redmond, and it was while proving up her home- stead near Dooley that she met Mr. Decker. Her only brother is Charles E. Devine. Mrs. Decker is a graduate of the Minneapolis High School, and as a teacher performed her last service in the country schools around Dooley. The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Decker are Phyllis C., John D. and Marion E.

RICHARD E. GUSTAFSON. In addition to the valu- able work he performs as the only dental surgeon of Plentywood, Doctor Gustafson has played a spir- ited part in other community affairs of that locality since he took up his residence in Sheridan County in 1913.

Doctor Gustafson has spent all his life in the Northwest, and was born at Winthrop, Minnesota, June 30, 1887. His grandfather, John Gustafson, brought his family from Sweden and established a pioneer home in Carbon County, Minnesota, later moving to Bernadotte, where he and his wife lived their last years on a farm. In their family of six children Swan Gustafson, father of Doctor Gustaf- son, was the second child. Swan was born in Sweden in 1848 and spent his early life on a farm both in his native country and in Minnesota. He had little opportunity to acquire a good education. He began life with no capital, and solved some real difficulties in getting a start in the world. From farming he acquired an interest as a merchant at Winthrop, Minnesota, and he lived honored and respected until his death at the age of sixty-seven. Swan Gustaf- son married Anna Christine Hed, a native of Sweden, who died in 1917, at the age of sixty-six. Their children were: Mrs. John Lundquist, of Minneapo- lis; Reuben, of Bainville, Montana; Mrs. Selma Pearson, of Winthrop; Charles A. and Arthur W., both of Bainville, Montana; Richard E .; and Mrs. Ellen Iverson, of Lily, South Dakota.

Doctor Gustafson spent his boyhood at Winthrop, completed the high school course there, and took his professional preparation in the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis, graduating from the den- tal school in 1909. With his diploma he looked to Montana as the best field and the one affording the best opportunities, and in that year established him- self in dental practice at Bainville. He remained in Bainville until the spring of 1913, when he moved to the new and promising town of Plentywood. In addition to his busy practice he is a director and stockholder in the Plentywood Pharmacy. During

the period of the World war Doctor Gustafson per- formed a highly necessary and patriotic service as the medical examining member of the Selective Serv- ice Board. He also gave his aid and leadership in putting his community over the top in the various drives for funds. Doctor Gustafson was reared in a republican home, but like many progressive young men has exercised a commendable independence, and cast his first presidential . vote for Wilson in 1912, and in 1916 supported the republican nominee, Hughes. He took his Masonic degrees at Plenty- wood, also became an Odd Fellow there, and joined the Elks at Williston, North Dakota, maintaining his membership in Lodge No. 1214 of that city.

In Seattle, Washington, December 23, 1912, Doctor Gustafson married Miss Grace Maloy. She was born in South Dakota, November 17, 1890, and was orphaned when a girl. She spent most of her early life at Williston, North Dakota, in the home of her sister, Miss Bertha Maloy, and finished her educa- tion in the convent at Jamestown, North Dakota. The other children of the Maloy family are Mrs. Carrie Goodrich, of Seattle; Mrs. Ellen Bostwick, of San Francisco; Mrs. Edna Lundquist, of Poplar, Montana; and William Maloy, of Jamestown, Minne- sota, Doctor and Mrs. Gustafson had two children : William Arthur, who died at the age of four years, and Richard Maloy. The Gustafson home at Plenty- wood is of the bungalow style, one story, five rooms, full basement, with hot water heat and other modern facilities. During the war period Mrs. Gustafson was active in the local organization of the Red Cross.

SAMUEL PHILLIPS is a Montana pioneer, for nearly forty years a prominent rancher, sheep and cattle man, and probably has as comprehensive and varied a knowledge of the state and its development as any other living man. His interests during the greater part of his residence in Montana have been concen- trated in Fergus County, around Lewistown. He is president of the Empire Bank and Trust Company of Lewistown.

In April, 1880, he started West, traveling by rail to Chicago, Omaha, Salt Lake and Ogden to Red Rock, and thence took the stage to Helena, Montana. At Helena he bought an outfit for shearing sheep, and with that equipment came on up the country to where Lewistown now stands. On the way he met General Rugear and escort, who were seeking a site for a military fort. While traveling to the Arrow Creek Company's headquarters, near a spring at the head of Arrow Creek, Mr. Phillips was in camp one night when two soldiers rode in and spent the night with him. These soldiers were messengers carrying a dispatch to Fort Benton stating that General Rugear had located Fort Maginnis. Mr. Phillips had various experiences during that year, working in the hay fields, spending some time at Fort Benton, and the winter of 1880-81 was spent in Helena. While he was there Helena was incorporated as a city, and he had the privilege of voting for the first mayor, John Keny.

In 1881 Mr. Phillips formed a partnership with T. J. Leard, under the firm name of Phillips & Leard, to engage in the sheep business. They located in Meagher County, three miles from the present site of Lewistown, on Willow Creek. They occupied un- surveyed land, and in the fall of 1881 Mr. Phillips went to Helena to buy a bunch of sheep and drove them out to the ranch. Later he bought Mr. Leard's interests and has been an individual rancher ever since, and for many years has handled from 7,000 to 8,000 head of sheep. Mr. Phillips now owns be- tween 11,000 and 12,000 acres of land in his ranch.

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His stock in addition to Merino sheep comprises Durham cattle.

In 1909 Mr. Phillips became one of the organizers of the Empire Bank & Trust Company of Lewis- town, was on the first board of directors, and for a number of years has served as president. He is also president of the Winnett State Bank, a director of the Winifred Bank, director of the Banking Corpora- tion of Helena, and a director of the State Life Insurance Company of Great Falls.

Mr. Phillips served one term as mayor of Lewis- town, and was a member of the Board of County Commissioners for about ten years. Since early manhood he has been active in 'Masonry, taking his first degrees in that order in Union Lodge No. 114, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Ovid, New York. He is a member of Lewistown Chapter No. 15, Royal Arch Masons; Lewistown Commandery No. 4, Knights Templar, and belongs to the Mystic Shrine at Helena.

September 23, 1883, at Helena, Mr. Phillips married Margaret Page, formerly of Watkins, New York. Eight children were born to their marriage, two of whom died in infancy. The six still living are: John Holmes, superintendent of his father's ranch; May, wife of H. J. Bristoll; Delia; Mary, wife of H. C. Gorham; and Robert James, who married Miss Gery. Mr. Phillips also has six grandchildren.

REV. JOHN HENNESSY. During many years Rev. John Hennessy has been zealously engaged in re- ligious upbuilding and church work in Montana, and since 1912 has been the pastor of St. Joseph's Church in Plentywood. He was almost the forerunner of the church work in this locality, his advent into the region following rather closely upon the arrival of the two priests who were the pioneers of the church here. On reaching his present location he found but little of what constitutes the present Town of Plenty- wood, the church congregation consisting of but six families, and their meeting place was in what is now the Court House of Sheridan County. His first service was held March 8, 1912, and the congrega- tion continued without a home until the fall of 1913, when the present house of worship was erected. Three years later the priest's house or parsonage was built, and the two buildings comprise the sub- stantial work of material development performed here under the administration of Father Hennessy.

During the first years of his labors here Father Hennessy's parish, in addition to Plentywood, in- cluded all the region of old Sheridan County as far south as Bainville, as far west as Scobey, as far north as the international boundary, and east to the Dakota line. As the years passed, however, this vast region has been divided, and much of it is now covered by other priests. The parish under Father Hennessy's charge includes the locality of Sheridan County to White Tail on the west, Westby to the east, Antelope to the south and all intervening terri- tory. Under the old parish limits he erected a church at Medicine Lake, one at Scobey, at Flaxville and at Outlook, while in later years his church building includes houses of worship at Westby and White Tail. His congregation at Plentywood at the present time numbers 250 members, and his out- lying parish has increased proportionately in numbers.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 115

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