Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 120

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 120

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

PATRICK B. MURPHY, who is cashier of the Mer- chants National Bank of Scohey, had an interesting variety of experience and training as a boy in Minne- sota, doing farm work and learning business after he left the farm as an employe of lumber concerns, banks and other enterprises.

Mr. Murphy, who has been a citizen of Scohey

since 1914, was born at Wycoff, Minnesota, August 21, 1887. His father, Thomas H. Murphy, was a native of Ireland, came to the United States when about twenty-one years of age, was employed as a laborer and miner in Pennsylvania a few years, and the modest capital he saved there enabled him to come West to Minnesota and acquire a small farm at Wycoff. He continued farming in that locality until 1891, when he settled at Austin, Minnesota, and died there in August, 1913, at the age of sixty-nine. As a result of hard work when a boy and youth he was made prematurely old, and as soon as his sons reached age to bear the burden of the work the management of his farm was left to them. His voting was done as a democrat, and he always took a voter's interest in politics. His own education was limited because he shouldered most of the re- sponsibilities of the home, though his brothers and sisters acquired a good training. His mind was always alert and keen, and he was well informed on the events and issues of the day and had much knowledge valuable to him in the prosecution of his business.

Thomas H. Murphy married at Wycoff, Minne- sota, Bridget Cummings, whose father, Patrick Cummings, brought his family from Ireland and be- came a Minnesota farmer. To the marriage of Thomas H. Murphy and wife were born the follow- ing children : Mary, wife of J. H. Sheedy, of Austin, Minnesota; John J., a banker and prominent busi- ness man of New England, North Dakota, who is also president of the Merchants National Bank at Scobey; Miss Catherine, of Wolf Point, Montana; Mrs. W. L. Gardner, of New England; Miss Wini- fred, of Wolf Point; Patrick B .; Miss Alice, of Wolf Point; Sister M. Eunice, who is sister su- perior of the parochial school of Elsworth, Minne- sota ; Miss Sylvia, who is pursuing a nurse's train- ing course at Rochester, Minnesota; and Miss Elizabeth, of Austin, Minnesota.

Patrick B. Murphy was four years of age when his parents moved to Austin, and he was reared and educated in that city, attending the Southern Minne- sota College and for a year took a commercial course at St. Thomas. By the time he was fifteen years of age the management of the home farm de- volved upon him, and he performed its various duties, feeding the stock, disposing of them at the market, and otherwise assuming the duties of a prac- tical agriculturist. At the age of twenty-two he left home and joined his brother John, who at a still earlier age had sought a business career and had hecome a banker at New England, North Dakota. At New England Patrick Murphy was employed in his brother's lumber yard, then handled the real es- tate and stock end of the business, and finally be- came a partner with John Murphy and a brother- in-law in the real estate business.

After disposing of his interests Patrick Mur- phy came to Montana, and in February, 1914, located at Scobey, which was just beginning its career as a new town. He opened a loan and real estate office with the intention of establishing a bank later. This plan he achieved when the Merchants National Bank was chartered, November 16, 1917, with capital of $25,000. His chief associates were his brother J. J. Murphy, of New England; Thomas F. Clifford, of Scobey, who became vice president; C. L. Merrick, of Minneapolis, also a vice president; and Patrick B. Murphy, cashier. Besides these officers, other directors are H. E. South and H. J. Hellekson, of Scobey, and the officers and directors remain the same as at organization. At the close of 1919 the bank statement showed capitalization of $25,000, sur- plus of $5,000 and deposits of $150,000. It was

Lewis T, Eaton

1079

HISTORY OF MONTANA

largely due to the influence of Patrick B. Murphy that the home of the Merchants National Bank was erected on lot 5, block 6.

This institution has been Mr. Murphy's chief in- terest at Scobey, though during the war he was actively associated with other citizens in promoting patriotic work and was chairman of one of the Liberty Loan drives. Politically he has been a democrat, casting his first vote for Mr. Bryan in 1908. He was once chosen alderman of Scobey but refused to qualify. He was reared a Catholic, is a member of that church, and is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, the Foresters and Modern Woodmen of America.

June 4, 1913, at Phillips, Wisconsin, Mr. Murphy married Miss Magdalene Laux, who was born July 22, 1889, daughter of John and Margaret Laux. Her father was a native of Germany and spent his active career as a lumberman. Mrs. Murphy is the sixth of a family of ten children and was educated in the high school at Phillips, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Murphy have one daughter, Monica, and the family home is a five-room cottage on Oie Street.

LEO C. LINDEMANN, though a lawyer by educa- tion and training, qualified for practice in the bars of North Dakota and Montana, is hardly known at all in the lists of active lawyers in Montana, and during his residence in the state, covering seven years, has been energetically devoted to banking and various business affairs.

Mr. Lindemann, who is an active member of the Westland Oil Company at Scobey, was born at Enderlin, North Dakota, October 26, 1883. His father, Carl Lindemann, was born in Germany and in early life was a farm inspector in his native country, and on coming to the United States estab- lished himself as a farmer at Enderlin, where he is now living retired. At Enderlin he married Louise Kieselbach, also a native of Germany, and they have four sons, Leo C., Rex, Lorenz and Bodo, the three younger being residents of Enderlin.

Leo C. Lindemann grew up on a farm, and re- mained a part and factor in the domestic establish- ment to the age of twenty. He attended public schools, graduated in 1906 from the Valley City Normal School of North Dakota, and completed his law studies in the law department of the Uni- versity of Chicago, graduating in the spring of 1909. On returning home he was for two years connected with the Enderlin State Bank, and from there removed to Powers Lake, North Dakota, where he practiced law for two years.

On coming to Montana in 1913 Mr. Lindemann located at Redstone and became one of the original stockholders of the State Bank of Redstone and served it as cashier until April 1, 1918. He helped provide the bank with its business home. He left the bank to enter the oil business at Redstone with Henry Gray, under the name Gray-Lindemann Oil Company. This company established a system of eight service stations along the Soo line, the Scobey branch of the Great Northern and the Great North- ern main line. In September, 1919, Mr. Linde- mann moved from Redstone to Scobey, at which time the Gray-Lindemann Oil Company was merged into the Westland Oil Company, its owners be- coming stockholders and officers in the new organi- zation. This is one of the leading concerns han- dling wholesale petroleum products in Northern Montana, and besides its main plant operates thirteen branch stations. Mr. Lindemann is secre- tary and treasurer of the corporation.

He took advantage of the opportunities to get a farm from the free domain around Redstone, prov-

ing up a claim on the Fort Peck Indian Reserva- tion. Previously he had entered a forty-acre tract adjoining the Redstone townsite, and both of these properties he still owns. He has always had some farming going on, and has cheerfully shared the mixed fortunes of the farmers in this region. Mr. Lindemann was reared in a republican household, cast his first presidential vote for Colonel Roose- velt, and has held quite closely to republican nomi- nees ever since. In Masonry he is a charter member and a past master of Redstone Lodge and is affiliated with the Royal Arch Chapter at Plentywood.

At Powers Lake, North Dakota, May 24, 1913, Mr. Lindemann married Miss Ermie Whitson, who was born at Valley City, North Dakota, January 22, 1893. She attended the high school of her native town and also the Valley City Normal School, and prior to her marriage was one of the popular teachers in the Powers Lake schools. She was the oldest of her parents' children. Her father was an early settler in North Dakota from Illinois, was a tinner by trade and has become extensively known as a contractor in that line of business in North Dakota. Mr. and Mrs. Lindemann have one son, Rex Carl, born March 24, 1914.

LEWIS T. EATON. A man of vigorous mentality and superior executive ability, Lewis T. Eaton, of Billings, has achieved high distinction in the world of letters, while as educational director of the Bill- ings Polytechnic Institute has won an enviable rep- utation for his systematic and efficient methods of organization, the institution having been made pos- sible through the combined efforts of himself and his brother, Ernest T. Eaton, who attends to its financial affairs. A son of Thomas O. Eaton, he was born March 26, 1869, in Charleston, Maine, of Eng- lish ancestry. He is a lineal descendant of one John Eaton, who emigrated from England to Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1638, and whose grandson, Jona- than Eaton, became founder of the Maine branch of the Eaton family.

Thomas O. Eaton was born on a farm in Sebec, Maine, in 1841, and there grew to manhood. In 1861 he enlisted in the First Maine Artillery and with his regiment guarded Washington during the first two years of the Civil war. He was afterward at the front in various engagements, including those at Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor, and the siege of Petersburg, where he was severely wounded. Re- turning to Maine at the close of the conflict, he remained in or near Charleston for several years, being engaged in agricultural pursuits. Migrating with his family to Iowa in 1886, he was engaged in the live stock business at Earlville, Delaware County, for twelve years. Retiring from active pursuits in 1898, he lived at Manchester, Iowa, until 1904, when he came to Montana, and having invested in real estate at Deer Lodge resided there four years. In 1908 he bought a ranch in Polytechnic, Montana, and has since been a resident of that place. He is a republican in politics, a member of the Con- gregational Church, and one of its most liberal sup- porters, and belongs to the Masonic fraternity. He married Delia Bolster, who was born at Foxcroft, Maine, in 1843, and died at Polytechnic, Montana, in October, 1917, after a happy wedded life of fifty-two years. They were the parents of four children, namely: Lewis T., the special subject of this brief sketch : Ernest T., financial director of the Billings Polytechnic Institute, as noted above; Vol- ney, who died in childhood, and Alice, who came to Montana to be associated with her brother Lewis and died in Deer Lodge at the age of twenty-nine.

Gleaning his early knowledge of books in the

1080

HISTORY OF MONTANA

public schools of his native town, Lewis T. Eaton further advanced his studies at the academy in Fox- croft, Maine. Removing with the family to Dela- ware County, lowa, in 1886, he began teaching in 1887, and for two years continued his pedagogical labors. Subsequently entering Highland Park Col- lege at Des Moines, Iowa, he completed the scientific course in two years, after which he served as prin- cipal of the Earlville, Iowa, High School two years, and later was for four years county superintendent of the Delaware County schools. Mr. Eaton then returned to his alma mater as one of the faculty, being for four years professor of history and psychology at Highland Park College. Accepting then the position of president of the College of Montana at Deer Lodge, he continued in that ca- pacity from 1904 until 1908. In the latter year, with his brother, Ernest T. Eaton, he organized the Billings Polytechnic Institute, of which they are joint directors, one attending to the educational and the other to the financial department.

In the upbuilding of the institution the Messrs. L. T. and E. T. Eaton have made good use of the gen- erous contributions towards its improvement and equipment. In 1909 they built Science Hall and four dormitories, three for boys and one for girls, all at an expense of $100,000 the entire amount having been the gift of the citizens of Billings. In 1910 a check given by James J. Hill was used in buying the Polytechnic farm, which now consists of 175 acres, free from all incumbrances, the check having been for $25,000. In 1912 Kimball Hall, a dormitory for girls, was erected at a cost of $25,000, that sum having been the contribution of 1,200 different people of New England and New York, Mrs. Kimball, of New Hampshire, having been the largest donor. A shop and manual training building was erected in 1914, and in 1916 Prescott Commons was built at a cost of $20,000, and was named in honor of · Amos Prescott, of New York City, who made the most generous contribution. In 1917 the construction of the Losekamp Memorial Building was begun, it being a memorial to Mr. John D. Losekamp, a for- mer citizen of Billings and president of the insti- tute's first board of trustees, and who during his lifetime donated $25,000 to it and left one-third of his estate for the erection of this building, which will cost $70,000. A Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation Building, to cost $30,000, is in process of construction. Funds are also on hand to build an- other dormitory for girls, Harwood Hall, to be named for William Harwood, of Uplands, Cali- fornia, he being the principal contributor toward the project.

The Billings Polytechnic Institute is designed to give a practical education to any young person, rich or poor, regardless of their previous advantages, no entrance examinations being required, and the course of study being carried up to the standard of the junior year in college, the Eastern colleges ac- cepting it as such. During its existence the school has educated 1,500 students from Montana and Wyoming, and sent to the World war 126 men, eight of whom were killed in battle. It is located three miles northwest of Billings, and its faculty consists of eighteen members, all efficient instruc- tors.

Lewis T. Eaton married, in 1902, at Lucas, Iowa, Mary E. Johnson, a daughter of the late Robert Johnson, a pioneer farmer of Iowa and a veteran of the Civil war. His widow, whose maiden name was Milly Gary, now makes her home at Polytechnic, Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Eaton have one child, Lewis Thomas Eaton, born February 2, 1916. Po- litically Mr. Eaton is independent, with republican

tendencies. He is a member and trustee of the Congregational Church and belongs to the Midland Empire Club, of Billings.

RICHARD J. COUGHLIN. While he came to the Scobey locality eight years ago with only a few hundred dollars in capital, Mr. Coughlin's ener- getic career has been of a kind to achieve and at- tract capital and has served in a generous measure to promote and develop local business, so that the little City of Scobey owes a great deal to his busi- ness influence.

Mr. Coughlin, who is the active business head of the Westland Oil Company of Scobey, was born in Mower County, Minnesota, July 22, 1886. His father, Dennis Coughlin, was born in Ontario, Can- ada, in 1845, and first came to the United States at the age of seventeen. Later he returned to Ontario to claim his bride, Ellen Leahy, who was of Irish parentage, a daughter of James Leahy. Dennis Coughlin is now a retired farmer living at Long Beach, California. His children are: Rich- ard J .; Agnes, of Long Beach; and May, a student in the University of Montana.

Richard J. Coughlin was a farmer's son and spent his life on a farm until he came to Montana in 1912. He acquired his early education in country schools, graduated from a business college in Austin, Minnesota, in 1908, and followed that with another period of residence on a Minnesota farm. In 1910 he went to Saskatchewan, was employed as clerk for several implement concerns, and on coming south of the international boundary stopped first at Pop- lar, Montana. He filed on a claim south of the river, but discovering he had made a wrong filing he did not pursue the subject further. He then prospected over the Scobey locality and after get- ting his bearings used his capital to start an auto- mobile livery business in 1912.

His was the pioneer garage in this section of the state. His first location was at Old Scobey, and when the new townsite was laid out alongside the tracks of the Great Northern Railway he moved his building and business, and soon afterward he erected the "Motor Inn," which is now owned and oper- ated by the Davis & Shook Company. Mr. Cough- lin continued in the garage and automobile sales business for three years, handling the Oakland and Reo cars and a general line of accessories. He sold out in 1916, and since then has devoted prac- tically his entire time to the oil business. In the spring of 1915 he bought out the Pure Oil Com- pany, and with headquarters at his office in the Motor Inn handled a complete retail line of lubri- cating lines, gas and kerosene. Subsequently he moved his plant to its present location at the rail- road yards. Until November 1, 1919, the business was known as the Scobey Oil Company and since then as the Westland Oil Company. This is a corporation chartered by Mr. Coughlin and asso- ciates, capitalized at $500,000. The company is a member of the American Petroleum League and does a large retail and jobbing business in petro- leum products. Besides the headquarters at Scobey branches are maintained at Flaxville, Redstone, Madoc, Whitetail, Plentywood, Raymond, Baine- ville, Brockton, Oswego, Frazer, Glentana, West Fork, Froid and Coal Creek, fifteen stations in all. The president of the company is Henry Gray of Redstone; Mr. Coughlin is vice president and gen- eral manager; and L. C. Lindemann is secretary and treasurer.

Mr. Coughlin has had to do with other develop- ments at Scobey. In 1914 he built the Scobey Elec- tric Light Plant, and operated it until the spring

1081

HISTORY OF MONTANA

of 1917. His farming enterprise is noteworthy as a feature of community development. He was re- sponsible in some measure for the breaking up of the sod here and the pioneer efforts at grain grow- ing. When the first council of Scobey was organized Mr. Coughlin was a member and helped prepare the first by-laws and ordinances of the new mu- nicipality. Politically he has. always supported the democratic national ticket. He is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, is a member of the Elks Lodge at Williston, North Dakota, and he and his wife are identified with the Catholic Church at Scobey. Their home is a modern seven-room resi- dence on Fourth Avenue and Daniels Street.

At Kellogg, Minnesota, in January, 1917, Mr. Coughlin married Miss Gertrude McNallan, who was born at Kellogg in 1889, one of a large family of children of John and Bridget (Costello) Mc- Nallan. Mrs. Coughlin is a graduate of Bethlehem Academy at Faribault, Minnesota, finished her edu- cation in the University of Minnesota, and was a successful teacher, doing her last work of that na- ture north of Scobey. Mr. and Mrs. Coughlin have two children, John Dennis and Helen Gertrude.

WILLIAM B. DAVIS, who has played a spirited part in the business and other affairs of Scobey since the spring of 1914, is a master of motor mechanics, was in the automobile business before coming to Scobey and is now of the firm of Davis & Shook Company in a general garage business and author- ized Ford agents. He was trained with the avia- tion section of the army during the World war, the period of his enlistment constituting the only important interruption to his business at Scobey in the past six years.

Mr. Davis was born at Willow City, North Da- kota, July 2, 1893 .. His father, John A. Davis, who is also a resident of Scobey, being prominent as a farmer, rancher, grain dealer and elevator man, was born in Pennsylvania, and acquired a limited educa- tion. As a youth he went west to Michigan and enlisted from that state in the Union army. He saw two years of active service, and among other engagements was in the Wilderness. He was mus- tered out at the close of the war without wounds or record of capture. Immediately after the war he went to Minnesota, entered a timber claim and did farming at various points, and by several stages moved on until he reached Bottineau County, North Dakota. He was there several years as a farmer, and was also elected a republican member of the State Legislature and served three terms. From there he went to Willow City, North Dakota, and next made a move to Kalispell, Montana. He owned ranching interests in Sheridan County, and has been a conspicuous factor in the development of farm lands in this locality. He built a system of elevators along the Great Northern from Plenty- wood to Scobey, but has sold all of them except the one at Scobey. During his residence in Valley County he was elected a member of the lower branch of the Montana Assembly. His one term showed him a progressive in matters of legislation protect- ing the independent business man from discrimina- tion by the big corporations or trusts, and his name is identified with the preparation and passage of a hill designed to effect that object. He also made an effort to secure the passage of the herd law but the influence of big stockmen stood in the way.

John A. Davis has been a recognized Grand Army man since the war, and it has afforded him great consolation and entertainment to meet his old com- rades periodically to talk over the days of the struggle between the sections. He has been a Mas-

ter Mason for many years and is identified with the Methodist Church. In Minnesota he married Miss Jennie Bardsley, who was born in Chester, England, and came to the United States with her parents at the age of thirteen. Their family con- sists of the following children : John, a rancher near Medicine Lake, Montana; Anna, who died in 1907, the wife of Jack Bennett; George, on the old Davis ranch near Outlook, Montana; and William B.

William B. Davis was an infant when his parents moved to Montana and he grew up and received his primary education at Kalispell. After three years in high school he took a year of preparatory work in the North Dakota Agricultural College at Fargo and spent two years in mechanical engineering in the same school. Thus he had more of the techni- cal training than the ordinary automobile mechanic, and when he left school he served as a chauffeur for different parties and was doing that kind of work when he came to Scobey in the spring of 1914. The first year he ran his own car for hire, and that was the basis of his livery business. With Harry Shook he secured the Ford agency, and they estab- lished their first office and garage in the small build- ing just behind the First National Bank. At first they had no shop, and their chief sales besides cars were tires and accessories. Their combined capital was chiefly self-confidence, as it is expressed. The sale of Fords brought the firm its quickest profits, and with a growing business they bought in the spring of 1916 the "Motor Inn" property built by R. J. Coughlin, and by subsequent additions this provides them a space of 150 by 50 feet. They also have a shop ample for their needs, with a full com- plement of modern machinery, and they carry a complete accessory stock of Ford supplies and re- pairs. The Davis livery business merged into the general business of the firm and was continued until the locality became well supplied with cars. The Davis & Shook Company, which is incorporated, has distributed and sold from this agency about 500 Ford cars.

For about eighteen months Mr. Davis was away from business and sold out his interests in the firm, resuming his place after his discharge. He enlisted at Omaha in September, 1917, was given his pri- mary ground training at the University of Cali- fornia at Berkeley, and twelve weeks later. was sent to the flying field at San Diego, where he remained three months. He was then commissioned second lieutenant, Royal Mail Aviation, and his last duties were in the primary instruction at Mather Field, California. He received his discharge there January 3, 1919.

At Glasgow, Montana, July 6, 1914, Mr. Davis married Miss Estella M. Stockman, who was born at Austin, Minnesota, the younger of two daughters, her sister being Mrs. George Alsop of Glasgow. Mrs. Davis accompanied her husband when he went into the army, and spent most of her time at San Francisco. Mr. Davis is affiliated with Scobey Lodge of Masons, and has taken the work of the Con- sistory at Sacramento, California. He cast his first presidential vote in 1916 for Hughes, and regards his affiliation with the republican party as permanent.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 120

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