Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 12

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 12

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July 8, 1908, Mr. Pyper married Miss Mary R. Sanderson, daughter of George T. Sanderson of Havre. Mrs. Pyper was born in Canada. Five children have been born in their home, Edith, Georgiana, Margaret, William B., Jr., and Virginia.

JOHN H. DEVINE. In such men as John H. Devine, clerk and recorder of Hill County, Montana, there is peculiar satisfaction in offering their life histories -justification for the compilation of works of this character-not that their lives have been such as to gain them particularly wide notoriety or the admir- ing plaudits of men, but that they have been true to the trusts reposed in them and have shown such attributes of character as entitle them to the regard of all.

John H. Devine was born in Washtenaw County, Michigan, on January 25, 1856, and is the son of John and Mary (Finnegan) Devine. The father was born in Albany, New York, and died in 1884, in the sixtieth year of his age, while his wife, who

was a native of Michigan, died at the age of seven- ty-four years. The subject of this sketch was the second child in order of birth of the ten children born to their union, nine of whom are still living. John Devine left his native state in 1832 and located in Michigan, where his first years were spent in farming. Later he engaged in the stock business, buying stock through his section of the country and shipping it to Detroit and Buffalo. In politics he was an active democrat, while in religion he was a member of the Roman Catholic Church.

The subject of this sketch was educated in the public schools of Michigan, attending the grade schools of Webster Township, Washtenaw County, and the high school at Ann Arbor. His boyhood days were spent on the home farm and for a while he worked for an uncle, John Finnegan, in a foundry, for which he received his board, this be- ing during his attendance at the Ann Arbor High School. When he was eighteen years of age Mr. Devine engaged in the agricultural implement busi- ness in partnership with his father at Dexter, Mich- igan. In 1884 he located at Devil's Lake, North Dakota, where for five years he was also engaged in the agricultural implement business. He then re- turned to St. Paul, Minnesota, where for three years he was employed as a bookkeeper, followed by seven- teen years on the road as a traveling salesman in various commercial lines. In 1910 Mr. Devine came to Montana and in April of that year he located on a homestead two miles south of Lothair in Hill County. He devoted himself to the operation of this place until February 28, 1912, when for a short time he served by appointment as county clerk and recorder. In November of that year he was elected to the office, and so eminently satisfactory has been his' discharge of the duties of his joint of- fice that he was re-elected in 1914, .1916 and 1918, being the present incumbent of the office. The joint office of clerk and recorder is of great importance, and the people of Hill County chose wisely when they put Mr. Devine into the office and, knowing a good man when they had him, they have insisted on his retaining the office.

Politically Mr. Devine has always been an ardent supporter of the democratic party and has worked earnestly for its success. During the conscription period of the recent World war, Mr. Devine ren- dered efficient and appreciated service as secretary of the draft board.

On February 18, 1878, Mr. Devine was married to Katherine L. Denn, who was born in Dexter, Mich- igan, and to them have been born three children, namely : Francis H .; John L., who is a successful physician and surgeon at Minot, North Dakota; and Arthur J., who died in January, 1889, when five years of age. Mr. Devine's life has been one re- plete with duty well and conscientiously performed in all its relations, whether in the role of private citizen or public servant, and it is such traits that win in life's affairs. He has been an advocate of wholesome living and cleanliness in politics as well, and to a notable degree he today enjoys the con- fidence of all the people.

HAROLD FOSTER LEE for his age has had a remark- ably broad and diversified business experience, and is one of the leading bankers and business men of the state.

Mr. Lee, who came to Montana about twelve years ago, was born at Des Moines, Iowa, June 12, 1880, a son of Lauren K. and Anna (Foster) Lee. His father was born in New York State and his mother in Vermont. His mother died in 1912, and Harold Foster is the oldest of her four children. His

H. F. LEE

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

father graduated from Amherst College with the class of 1875 and soon afterward located at Des Moines, Iowa, where he engaged in the flour milling industry. Subsequently he moved to Valley Springs, South Dakota, continued in the milling business for a number of years, and later located at St. Paul, where he is now head of an advertising business known as the L. K. Lee Advertising Organization. In politics he is a republican.

Harold Foster Lee acquired his early education at St. Paul, Minnesota. On leaving school he went to work for the St. Paul branch of Swift & Com- pany, was cashier, paymaster and assistant auditor, and gained most of his early business training with that company. In July, 1907, he came to Miles City, Montana, and was teller, later assistant cashier, and also a director of the First National Bank. He left Miles City in October, 1916, and has since been prominent in affairs at Great Falls. While in Miles City he served as a member of the school board. .

Mr. Lee is vice president of the Commercial Na- tional Bank of Great Falls. He is also vice president of the First National Bank at Carter, Montana, was one of the organizers of the First National Bank at Froid, and one of the organizers of the West Side Bank at Great Falls.

January 12, 1905, Mr. Lee married Miss Grace Haupt. They have two children, Dorothy Grace and Alan Edson. Mr. Lee is a republican in poli- tics and is affiliated with the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks. During the war he gave much of his time to Red Cross and relief work, serv- ing as a member of the executive committee of the Red Cross and as treasurer of the War Fund in both drives. He is chairman of the membership Committee of the Great Falls Commercial Club.

ABE CROSSON. In almost all American com- munities there may be found quiet, retiring men who, while not importunate seekers after public favors, nevertheless have honors thrust upon them and appear prominent in public affairs and who exert a widely-felt influence in the community in which they live and help to construct the proper foundation upon which the social and political world is built. Such men do an incalculable amount of good by their efforts to ameliorate the condition of the human race in any way possible. They strive to eliminate evil in its many forms, eradicate suffer- ing and leave to posterity a heritage of peace and freedom.

Abe Crosson was born on his father's farm in the vicinity of St. Thomas, Canada, and is the second in order of birth of the thirteen children born to his parents, of whom six sons and two daughters are living. His father, David Crosson, was a native of Pennsylvania, born on January 19, 1829, and his death occurred on May 19, 1908, in the eightieth year of his age. The mother, whose maiden name was Catherine McKey, was born in Scotland on May 11, 1831, and died on October 14, 1915. They were married in Toronto, Canada, January 6, 1852, to which province David Crosson had moved with his parents from Pennsylvania when he was quite young. The family were pioneer settlers in that community, which at that time was densely covered with timber, and out of this wilderness the father hewed a home for his family, and there he spent his last days, having been a successful farmer and respected citizen. He was a member of the Presby- terian Church, in which he held the office of elder for many years.

Abe Crosson spent his boyhood days on his father's farm, where he learned the true meaning of industry, and he received a good practical edu-

cational training in the district schools. He took an active part on the parental farm, and at the early age of twelve years he started plowing. From that time on he took charge of the plowing, and thus materially contributed to the success of the farm. His father was progressive in his ideas and was the first man in his locality to purchase a reaper, at which time the son Abe was sixteen years of age, and he remained in charge of the reaper until he was twenty-six years of age. He then engaged as a bridge carpenter on the Michigan Central Railroad, where he worked for about three years. He then returned to the home farm for about two years, but in the fall of 188t he went to Winnipeg, Canada, and entered the employ of the Canadian . Pacific Railroad, with whom he remained during the winters of 1881 and 1882. Then, with others, he made the trip to Brandon with ox teams, look- ing for land, and continued on through to Moose Mountain on the Pipestone River, where he took up land. Later, during the Riel rebellion, he was em- ployed to haul freight by the Canadian Government, continuing the work until the end of the rebellion, when he drove overland to Fort Benton, Montana, where he arrived in the spring of 1887. He later went to Sun River, where he was employed on a sheep ranch for about two years. Then he and his brother Samuel bought 500 head of sheep, which they wintered the first season on the Marias River. In 1890 they drove through to Milk River, continuing the sheep business up to 1910. From that time until 1915 Mr. Crosson lived on his ranch, but in the latter year he decided to re- tire from active labor and came to Havre to make his permanent home. Here he is comfortably sit- uated and is richly enjoying a much-earned rest.

On the 18th of February, 1891, Mr. Crosson was married to Isabell McIntyre, who was born near St. Thomas, Canada, in March, 1853, the daughter of Alexander and Flora (Gilchrist) McIntyre, both of whom were natives of the Highlands of Scot- land. Her father died on December 18, 1891, at the age of eighty-one years, and her mother passed away on December 3, 1908, at the age of eighty- five years and six months. They became the par- ents of ten children, two sons and eight daughters, of whom one son and five daughters are living. Five of the children were born in Scotland and five in Canada. Of this family Mrs. Crosson was the sixth in order of birth and the first to be born in Canada. The family had come to Canada in 1852 by sailing ship, landing at Quebec, whence they sailed up the lakes to Port Stanley. There the father created a valuable farm out of the wilder- ness and there spent the remainder of his days. He was a Presbyterian in his religious belief and was a man who commanded the confidence of all who knew him.

Politically Abe Crosson has been a life-long sup- porter of the republican party, in the success of which he has taken an active interest. In November. 1914, he was elected a member of the Board of County Commissioners, and in 1918 he was elected chairman of the board. He is a man of good busi- ness judgment, sound discrimination and unassail- able integrity and is deservedly popular with the voters of the county. He is deeply interested in the general advancement of the county and gives his support to every worthy movement in the interest of the public welfare.

THOMAS WILLIAM MCKENZIE. The present post- master of Havre, Mr. Mckenzie, has been a busi- ness man and citizen of that locality a quarter of a century, and has gained a place of prominence in

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

official affairs and in the promotion of the com- mercial interests of his city.

Mr. Mckenzie was born at Shakopee, Minnesota, November 10, 1870, son of Angus William and Betsey (Chisholm) Mckenzie. His father was born in Scotland in 1842, and was a small boy when his parents emigrated to Canada. He took up a me- chanical trade and as a young man worked as a bridge carpenter with the Canadian Pacific Railway. On coming to the United States he located at Duluth, where he was bridge building superintendent for the St. Paul and Soo Railway during the remainder of his active life. He died at the age of fifty-six. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church. Betsey Chisholm, his wife, was a native of Pennsyl- vania. They were married in Shakopee, Minnesota, . and she died in 1876.

Thomas William Mckenzie, only child of his parents, acquired a public school education in his native state, attended high school at Shakopee, and in that town served an apprenticeship as a carriage painter at wages of 50 cents a day. He followed his trade as a journeyman in St. Paul, Chicago, Minneapolis and Indianapolis, and in April, 1896, arrived at Havre, Montana. For a time he continued work at his trade, then became clerk in a local drug house, and finally established a business in that line. He was one of the merchants of the city until 1906, when President Roosevelt appointed him postmaster. He was reappointed for a second term by President Taft in 1910, gave an able administra- tion of the Havre postoffice for eight years, and was again appointed on March II, 1920, for a four year term. In 1914 Mr. Mckenzie became one of the organizers of the Havre National Gas Company, serving as its first general manager.

He was elected mayor of Havre in April, 1916, and re-elected in 1918 serving two terms. His has been a progressive administration, and he was a leader in the patriotic activities of Havre during the World war. Mr. Mckenzie is a past master of Havre Lodge No. 5, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, is a member of Chouteau Chapter No. 19, Royal Arch Masons, is affiliated with Butte Consis- tory No. 2. of the Scottish Rite, Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena, and is a member of Havre Lodge No. 1201 of the Elks and Assini- boine Lodge No. 56, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Mckenzie is a republican. February 14, 1917, he married Margaret H. Auld, a native of Ontario, Canada. .

REV. FREDRICK HUGO EBERSCHWEILER, whose name and activities figure so importantly in the pioneer history of the church in Blaine County, was born June 19, 1839, in Prussia, Germany. He was edu- cated in the College at Treves and entered the Society of Jesus on September 30, 1858. He was ordained a priest June 15, 1870, and during the Franco-Prussian war was a hospital chaplain. In August, 1872, he came to America and was con- nected with the work of the Jesuits in Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio, and Burlington, Iowa, until the sum- mer of 1883.

In August of that year he came from Burlington, Iowa, to Montana, and was attached to St. Peter's Mission, being the first resident priest over a large district. While visiting the garrison at Fort Assini- boine the Indians requested that a mission be founded for them. Proceeding upon this request he received on November 1, 1885, an official letter from the Government Indian Bureau permitting him to erect a mission and school buildings on the reserva- tion belonging to the Fort Belknap Agency. The Indian trader Thomas O'Hanlon erected for him a

log cabin to serve as a chapel and priest's resi- dence, and Father Eberschweiler occupied the build- ing in 1885. It was the first mission house and church of any kind ever erected in the Fort Belknap Reservation. During the following months he spent much time acquiring a knowledge of the Assiniboine language, so as to enable him to teach the children who came from the agency school to his chapel.

Father Eberschweiler was founder of St. Paul's Mission in Blaine County. Following is his personal account of the beginning of that mission:

"On the first of May, 1886, the missionary went to the Little Rockies and selected for the mission the place on Peoples creek where it comes out of the woody mountains into . a beautiful valley. . He then traveled to Fort Benton to find a contractor and workmen for the erection of the mission build- ings. Meanwhile a war between the Belknap In- dians and the Canadian tribe of Bloods had started, and no man would come into their land and expose his scalp to be taken by either of the warring tribes. It was also not possible to get the material for the buildings. The Great Northern Railroad was not yet built, nor Great Falls.

"In summer time steamers brought all kinds of articles up the Missouri River from St. Louis to Fort Benton, from where they were freighted to other places in Montana and Canada. There was no surplus of lumber nor did any freighter like to come to a country of warring Indians.

"Father Eberschweiler returned to the Little Rockies, where he found some gold miners. He made a contract with Mr. Umstet to erect, with the help of his companions, large log buildings for a residence for the missionary, a church, school and dwellings for pupils and sisters. The necessary lumber was ordered and it arrived in the summer of the next year, 1887. The work was begun, logs were cut in the near woods, the foundation and basement were built. The corner stone was laid on the fifteenth of September, 1886. The work was stopped unfinished before winter. During the win- ter of 1886 and 1887 Father Eberschweiler remained at Fort Belknap.

"From January 18 to January 23, 1887, Indian commissioners from Washington made a treaty with the Indians by which the lines of the present reser- vation were defined and their petition regarding the Little Rockies agreed to and the selected place for the future mission given to the Jesuit Fathers. Father Eberschweiler subscribed to the treaty as witness. That summer the Belknap tribes and the Bloods smoked the 'Pipe of Peace.' The Mission buildings were, little by little, finished on the 15th day of September, just one year from the day when we started.

"Father Eberschweiler traveled with some Ursu- line Sisters from St. Peter's Mission and some Indian pupils to St. Paul's Mission and occupied its first mission buildings.

"The successors of Father Eberschweiler built, 'in the course of time, large stone buildings for the flourishing mission."

REV. AMBROSE SULLIVAN, pastor of Saint Jude Roman Catholic Church of Havre, is one of the scholarly and efficient priests of his faith, and a citizen of high standing in his community. He was born at Newcastle, Pennsylvania, June II, 1875, a son of Timothy and Johanna (Connelly) Sullivan, both natives of Ireland, Timothy having been born in County Kerry. He died in 1889, when just fifty years old, and she in 1881, when thirty-three years of age. They were married in Pennsylvania, and had four children, three sons and one daughter, .

LOUISA PROCTOR

ISRAEL. O. PROCTOR

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

namely : Ambrose, who was the eldest born; Stephen J., who is also a priest and in charge of the Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church of Townsend, Mon- tana; John B., who is a physician and surgeon of Havre; and Josephine, who is a resident of Town- send, Montana. Timothy Sullivan came to the United States in young manhood, landing at Boston, Massachusetts. A miner and miller, he worked at different places and in 1880 came West to Montana and located at Butte, sending for his family in 1881, and there he lived until his death. He was a strong democrat.

Ambrose Sullivan attended the parochial schools . in Helena until 1889, when he went to Spokane, Washington, to attend Gonzaga College. In 1892 he joined the Jesuit order and after eleven years of study and teaching in various houses of the Jesuit Order in the Northwest was sent in the year 1903 to Montreal, Canada, to study theology. He was ordained priest in 1906 and was sent to Pen- dleton, Oregon, as assistant priest of St. Mary's Church, where he remained about a year, and then was at Cleveland, Ohio, for a year. In 1909 he was sent to Saint Ignatius Mission in Missoula County, Montana, and was there engaged in work among the Indians until 1916. Father Sullivan was then sent to Havre, and was here until the fall of 1917, when once more he went to Saint Ignatius Mission, and remained there until in August, 1918, when he returned to the parish of Saint Jude at Havre, and is still its pastor. He is a man of warm-sympathies and a wide and varied experience of human nature so that he soon becomes the friend as well as pastor of his people, and, winning their confidence, is able to assist them in a worldly as well as spiritual sense. A splendid organizer, he has been able to expand the usefulness of his parishes and increase the membership of his congregations. As a man his sound common sense and broad outlook with ref- erence to civic betterment fit him for the discharge of the responsibilities of good citizenship.

MERTON D. PROCTOR. Agriculture has been an honored vocation from the earliest ages, and as a usual thing men of honorable and humane impulses, as well as those of energy and thrift, have been patrons of husbandry. The free, outdoor life of the farm has a decided tendency to foster and de- velop that independence of mind and self-reliance which characterize true manhood, and no greater blessing can befall a boy than to be reared in close touch with nature in the healthful, life-inspiring labor of the fields. It has always been the fruitful soil from which have sprung the moral bone and sinew of the country, and the majority of our nation's great warriors, wise statesmen, renowned scholars and distinguished men of letters were born on the farm and are indebted to its early influence for the distinction which they have attained.

Merton D. Proctor was born at White Sulphur Springs, Meagher County, Montana, on June I, 1885, and is the son of Israel O. and Louisa (Klaue) Proc- tor. The father was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, on September 25, 1838, and died on September 23, 1910, at the age of seventy-two years. He was reared and educated in his native state, and in 1872 he came to Montana, making the trip by steamer from Sioux City, Iowa, to Fort Benton, whence he went overland to Helena. For some time he engaged in mining, but finally took up some Gov- ernment land on Smith River in Meagher County, and engaged in the cattle business, being one of the pioneers of that locality, where up to 1890 there were but few settlers. Mr. Proctor also became in- terested in the dairy business and in cheese making

at White Sulphur Springs, which he found to be a successful enterprise. Some time later he went into the dairy business at Great Falls, having his office at Boston Heights and near the smelters. After- ward Mr. Proctor bought land at Sandcoulee, where he continued the manufacture of cheese and butter up to the time of his death. He was an expert in . this line and his products were in great demand throughout this section of the country. Politically he was a stanch supporter of the republican party. Mrs. Louisa Proctor was born in California in May, 1863, and her death occurred on January 25, 1899. They became the parents of two children, the subject of this sketch and an elder brother, Israel O., Jr.

Merton D. Proctor received his elementary edu- cation in the public schools at Great Falls, graduat- ing from the high school, after which he became a student in the Montana State School of Mines at Butte. For about three years after leaving school, Mr. Proctor was engaged in mining, but at that time he turned his attention to stock raising and farming, locating in Cascade County, near Truly, and about seventeen miles southwest of Great Falls, on what was known as Sanders & Hops Ranch. He is conducting his operations along progressive, up-to-date lines, and is numbered among the successful agriculturists and stockmen of his section. He owns about 200 head of cattle, has 100 acres planted to wheat and about 150 acres to other grain. He also raises large numbers of hogs and sheep. He is conducting his operations in partner- ship with B. P. McNair, who is also a practical farmer and stock raiser.

Politically Mr. Proctor is an earnest supporter of the republican party, and takes an intelligent interest in public affairs, though he is not in any sense an aspirant for public office. His life work has been one of unceasing industry and perseverance, and the systematic and honorable methods which he has ever followed have resulted in not only gaining the confidence of all with whom he has had deal- ings, but also in the building up of a profitable in- dustry and the accumulation of a good property while yet comparatively young in years.

JOHN E. PETERSON. To some it seems as though success were an evasive thing, but it is found that failure usually results from a lack of the characteris- tics which may be acquired by all, perseverance. energy, industry and resolute purpose. An analysis of the life records of successful men serves to show that these qualities have been predominant in them and have been the causation of their pros- perity. At any rate this is the case with John E. Peterson, county surveyor of Hill County.

John E. Peterson was born in Sweden, February 28, 1879, a son of Carl and Fredericka Peterson, both natives of Sweden, who came to the United States in the spring of 1880, and homesteading in Kingsbury County, South Dakota, lived there until his death in 1901. For the first ten years Carl Peter- son worked at his trade of a carpenter, but then devoted all of his efforts to farming. His widow survives him. They became the parents of seven children, of whom four are now living, and John E. Peterson is the third child in order of birth. Carl Peterson was a member of the Lutheran Church. After taking out his citizenship papers he espoused the principles of the republican party and continued to vote for its candidates the rest of his life.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 12

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