Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 125

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 125

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When Nels K. Markuson was a youth of perhaps fourteen the family moved to Fertile, Minnesota, where he completed his common school training. From Fertile he went to Hannaford, North Dakota, where for twenty-two years he was engaged in the grain business as the manager of the elevator for N. J. Olson. In August, 1915, Mr. Markuson arrived in Montana, where he continued the elevator and grain business at Dooley, succeeding Anderson Brothers in that enterprise, but after three years he sold the business to become the manager of the Farmers Elevator at Dooley. At the close of an- other two years he engaged in an entirely different line, entering at that time the automobile business in association with George C. Epler of Dooley and Ray Lang of Plentywood, Mr. Markuson taking charge of the Medicine Lake business of the firm.

During his residence. in Dooley Mr. Markuson was one of the promoters of the Citizens State Bank, becoming one of its original stockholders, and is now serving as vice president of the institution and as a member of its board of directors. In associa- tion with Mr. Epler he is also a land owner and farmer at Dooley, and much of their tract has been brought under cultivation and is devoted to the

raising of grain. Fencing and other improvements have been added to the land, and the farm is worked by tenants.

Mr. Markuson married, in Hannaford, North Da- kota, Miss Anna D. Nelson, and they have become the parents of four children: Willard, who trained in the Navy Training Camp at San Francisco, be- came an assistant in the Medical Corps and rendered all of his service in the United States. He is now associated with his father at Medicine Lake. Ken- neth, the second son, is a student in the Agricultural College at Fargo, North Dakota. The two younger children are in school. Marjorie is attending the Medicine Lake High School and Lucile is a pupil in the grades there.

Mr. Markuson cast his first presidential vote as a republican, when he supported Benjamin Harrison in 1892, and he has ever since upheld the principles of that party. Fraternally he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.

FRANKLIN FORREST SPARKS. There are young men of the present day who are conscientiously following a teacher's vocation, whose talents and scholarship fit them for spheres of activity in which the emolu- ments would be greatly increased. They are men to whom the call of learning has always appealed in their own cases, and they work to help others because they are convinced that education is an essential. To scholarly men like Franklin Forrest Sparks, principal of the Broadwater County High School at Townsend, work in the educational field has always been most congenial. He has had broad- ening official experience in different sections of the country, and came to-his present office in September, I919.

Franklin Forrest Sparks is a descendant of an old English family that settled in Virginia in colonial times. He was born August 7, 1882, at Advance, in Boone County, Indiana. His parents were Charles M. and Emma (Fishback) Sparks, and his paternal grandfather was George Sparks, who was born in Kentucky and died at New Ross, Indiana, in 1884. Charles M. Sparks was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, in 1850, and was an infant when his parents moved to Indiana, where he was reared. He was married there to Emma Fishback, who was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, in 1852. They shortly afterward settled on a farm near Advance in Boone County. His death occurred at Advance, November 3, 1919, his widow still residing there. They were the parents of the following children: Nellie M., who is the wife of Charles M. Ray, who is railroad ticket agent at Hoopston, Illinois ; Franklin Forrest; Lillith, who is the wife of Frank Heady, a farmer near Advance, Indiana; Anna Gould, who is the wife of Russell Wynkoop, an insurance broker of Lebanon, Indiana; Chester, who is a chemist by profession, resides at Indianapolis, Indiana; and Maurice, who died in infancy. This family was reared in the Christian Church.

Franklin F. Sparks attended the public schools of Advance, Indiana, being graduated from the high school in 1902, then entered Wabash College, at Crawfordsville, from which institution he was gradu- ated in 1907, with the degree of A. B. In the same year he became principal of the high school at Amo, Indiana, where he remained one year, then entered Harvard University at Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he took post-graduate work in History and Government and remained one year. Upon his re- turn to Advance he became superintendent of the schools of that place, returning then to Harvard, from which university he was graduated in 1911. In

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the above year he accepted the position of principal of Summerville Academy, Augusta, Georgia, where he presided until 1914, when he came to the West and from 1914 until 1917, was superintendent of schools, Mountain Home, Idaho. In the meanwhile, recognizing the military dangers impending, he tried to enlist in the officers' training camp, at Fremont, California, but before he had succeeded, the armistice was signed and further effort in that direction was unnecessary.

On January 1, 1919, Mr. Sparks resumed educa- tional work, becoming superintendent of the Perry Township High School, Lebanon, Indiana, and re- mained until May 16th of that year, in the following September accepting the invitation of Broadwater County, Montana. The new modern high school building is situated on Spruce Street, Townsend, and Professor Sparks has under his supervision seven teachers and sixty-five pupils. Ever since tak- ing charge he has been busy formulating and shaping an educational policy to meet the needs of the students in his charge, and has been able to estab- lish the kindest of personal relations with teachers and pupils alike.

In 1911, at Linden, Massachusetts, Mr. Sparks was united in marriage to Miss Helena Nelson, daughter of Captain William and Lena (Donovan) Nelson, of that place, the father of Mrs. Sparks having fol- lowed the sea for years. She was educated in the exclusive Moses Brown School for Young Ladies, at Providence, Rhode Island. Mr. and Mrs. Sparks have children as follows: Dixie, born September 30, 1912; Blanche, born in October, 1914; Charles, born in September, 1915; and Nancy, born in December, 1917. The family belongs to the Christian Church. Like his father before him, Mr. Sparks is a demo- crat in politics. He belongs to Advance Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Advance, In- diana, and to the Indiana State Teachers' Asso- ciation.

FRANK M. HEBB of Billings is the active vice president of Gagnon & Company, master builders, examples of whose work as contractors can be found in all the notable cities of Montana. The con- spicuous features of the State Capitol at Helena are the two wings constructed by Gagnon & Company in 1907. Other examples of their work at Helena are the Wesleyan College, the Young Men's Chris- tian Association and the Scottish Rite Consistory Building. At Billings, the headquarters of the com- pany, the firm built the high school, Young Men's Christian Association, Masonic Temple, Billings Midland Club Building, Yellowstone County Court House, the Northern Hotel, Yellowstone National Bank Building and the Montana National Bank. In other cities and towns of the state are numerous school houses and commercial and private buildings which attest the well deserved reputation of this firm for thoroughness and efficiency.

Frank M. Hebb has followed the building trades for thirty-five years, practically since boyhood. He was born at Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, August 17, 1867. His ancestors came from England in colonial times. His grandfather spent his life as a farmer in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia. Solomon Hehb, father of Frank M. Hebh, was born at Bridgewater in 1839 and has spent practically all his life there. During his active years he was a mechanic and farmer and is now living retired at Bridgewater. He is a Presbyterian. The maiden name of his wife was Mary Wile, who was born at Bridgewater in 1849 and died in 1900. Frank M. Hebb is the oldest of their children. Bertha, the second child, is the wife of William Mckenzie, a college professor

in South Africa; Arthur is a physician and surgeon at Chester, Nova Scotia, and Thomas is member of the faculty of a college at British Columbia.

Frank M. Hebb acquired his education in the grammar and high schools at Bridgewater. At the age of seventeen he went to Boston, Massachusetts, and spent several years acquiring a thorough knowl- edge of the carpenter's trade. He worked as a journeyman in the east until 1894. Mr. Hebb has been a resident of Montana a quarter of a century. He first located in Flathead county, living there eight years, was at Butte five years, and in 1907 came to Billings. He has been a carpenter through all these years, and as vice president of Gagnon & Company has direct supervision over the wood working department of that firm. The head of Gagnon & Company, Mr. E. H. Gagnon, died in May, 1918. J. H. Josephson is secretary of the firm. The plant and offices are located at Second Avenue and Twenty-First Street.

Mr. Hebb is a republican, is affiliated with Ashlar Lodge No. 29, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Helena Chapter No. 5, Royal Arch Masons, Billings Consistory of the Scottish Rite and Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine.

Mr. Hebb's private residence, one of modern pro- portions and taste, was built in 1909. He married at Rushville, Illinois, in 1901, Miss Jennie Ellis, a native of that state.

ALFRED J. SULIER. One of the pioneers of San- ders County who has endured all of the hardships and privations incident to life on the frontier of civilization, and is now enjoying the comforts his industry and thrift have earned for him, is Alfred J. Sulier of Dixon. He was born in Monroe County, Michigan, in 1850, a son of Leon and Susan (Roe) Sulier, the former of whom was of French ancestry. During the war between-the North and South Leon Sulier enlisted in the Union army as a member of the Eighteenth Volunteer Infantry from Michigan, and participated in different engagements. He had the misfortune to be taken prisoner and was con- fined at Andersonville, but later was exchanged. His adventures were not over, for later on when on the "Sultana" transport on the way up the Mississippi River he met with disaster, the boat being blown up. As he could not swim he hung from a rope over the side of the wreck by one arm for several hours until rescued, and the man to take him off proved to be an old neighbor in Michigan. Not long after this peace was declared, and he was discharged and returned home to Michigan. He lived to be eighty- five years of age, and died in South Dakota. The 'children born to him and his wife were nine in number.

Alfred J. Sulier was reared in Michigan and learned to be a farmer. He was married in his native state to Mary Virginia Wood, who was born in Munroe County, Michigan, in 1857, and they con- tinued to live in Michigan until 1883, when they came as far west as South Dakota, and about 1894 traveled in covered wagons to Montana, passing through Billings, then a typical frontier town, and some historic spots, including the last stand of Gen- eral Custer, the trip consuming nine weeks. They lived in Montana one year and went on to Lewis- ton, Idaho. He filed on 160 acres of land on the Nez Perce Reservation and proved it up and made a success of his agricultural activities.

Mr. and Mrs. Sulier became the parents of ten children, eight girls and two boys, one boy and one girl dying when they were young. Emma, the oldest Her children are: Harold, Lester, Lena, Norman,

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Elmer, Raymond, Richard, Chester, Ruth and Glen. The second daughter is Mrs. Mary Morin, of Ravalli, and her children are: Geneva, Winifred and Marcus. Mrs. Rebecca Morin, of Ravalli, is the third and her children are: Robert, David, Mar- garet, Ralph and Marion. David Leon, who was the next born, died when he was twelve years old from stepping on a rusty nail. Mr. and Mrs. Sulier have one living son, Vincent, who was married to Miss Grace Toby, and they had two children, Clyde and Walter. Mrs. Vincent Sulier died, and he was married a second time, to Miss Laura Brock, of Kalispell, Montana, and they now live at Fox Lake. Elva, the fifth living child, is Mrs. Charles Buell, of Dixon, Montana, and has one child, Anna Vir- ginia. Agnes, the sixth daughter, is single and clerking in a store at Asotin, Washington, nine miles from Lewiston, Idaho. Anna is next and was married to Lester Gifford, of Lewiston, who was shot and killed by a man who had worked for him and had a fancied grievance. This sad event hor- rified the people of that whole region. They had one child, Mary Virginia. Cecelia is the youngest and is a stenographer in Spokane.

One of Mr. Sulier's grandsons, Lester Stenger. served during the late war, and was in training in a Texan camp when the armistice was signed. Vin- cent Sulier volunteered and served during the late war in the Canadian army. Mrs. Sulier's father, David Wood, served in the war between the North and South as a member of the Eighteenth Michigan Volunteer Infantry and died in the service. With two of their ancestors soldiers it is no . wonder that the younger generation displayed the same spirit and offered their services during the greatest conflict the world has known.

Mr. and Mrs. Sulier are Roman Catholics. They give their support to the principles of the republican party, and to those measures which have for their object the betterment of existing conditions and the development of their home community.

JOHN BETZ. Within the past score of years great changes have come to the Milk River Valley, as they have to all parts of Montana. Where once great droves of cattle roamed over the open range now are to be found neatly fenced enclosures comprising ranches of greater or less acreage. Many of the men who were in the early days very active in the cattle industry have curtailed their production be- cause of the impossibility to secure enough pasturage for their herds, and this has had its effect upon the cost of living. With meats soaring in price due to the increased cost of production and the demand exceeding the available supply, the fact that Mon- tana does not ship to the markets the amount of beef it did in former years plays a determining factor. To the men who passed through the state's greatest period of beef production the opening of the range seems a calamity, although others feel that in per- mitting settlers to homestead the region has been developed and made more valuable. From either standpoint the importance of the commonwealth is easily seen and valued accordingly. One of the men who is associated with the earlier history of the state, as well as with its later developments, is John Betz, a ranchman of the Milk River Valley tributary to Vandalia, who came here in June, 1883. from Des Moines, Iowa. He was then unmarried, and while he had farmed he was also a butcher by trade, and for a period after coming to Montana he worked at his trade in Miles City.

Mr. Betz formed a partnership with George Horkan, a well known sheepman, and they located

on Little Pumpkin Creek. Later he sold his inter- ests and moved to Big Pumpkin Creek and estab- lished himself on the old Comstock or "969" ranch. There he continued in the cattle business until 1902, when he left that region and came to the Milk River Valley country, where he has since remained. His brand was the "gHB," and when he disposed of the ranch and stock the brand went with it. From 1890 until 1893 he issued meat to the soldiers and Indians at Fort Keogh.

Coming to the Milk River country, Mr. Betz bought some work horses and saddle horses, pur- chased the ranch and stock of L. W. Kenneddy on Bear Creek, and since then his chief interest has been raising cattle. He has dealt in and bred the Hereford cattle, shipping them as range cattle to the markets of St. Paul, Minnesota, and Chicago, Illinois, and in 1909 he shipped the best load of steers that had ever gone out of Glasgow, the cattle averaging 1,421 pounds, and the price was $7.40. In 1911 he practically closed out his cattle and em- barked in a mercantile business at Vandalia, con- tinned in that line until 1916. In the latter year he returned to his ranch and is endeavoring to build up his cattle of the same class as he had formerly, running them under the brand "56."

The Betz ranch comprises an area of 1,800 acres, a small portion of which is under cultivation and devoted to the raising of feed for his stock. Aside from his ranch Mr. Betz is one of the owners of the Vandalia Co-operative Store Company and he is serving it as vice president. While he lived at Vandalia he served the city as postmaster, but this is the only experience he has had with official life.

John Betz was born at Des Moines, Iowa, Feb- ruary 23, 1857, and divided his time between that city and the country region surrounding it. His educational training was gained in the public schools and he learned the trade of a butcher. He was familiar with the capital of Iowa when it was still called Fort Des Moines, and he saw it grow from a country village to a city of importance, numbering 60,000 inhabitants. His father, John Betz, had gone to Des Moines in 1852 as an emigrant from New York City, to which city he had come from Wurtem- berg, Germany, where he was born. After coming to this country he was employed for a period on the estate of General Wadsworth, father of the present Senator Wadsworth of New York. The elder John Betz was a very highly educated man, a specialist in Latin and botany. He was married at Lafayette, Indiana, and with his bride went to Des Moines. Upon his arrival there he obtained work with Captain Winters, a pork packer, and it was his work to haul the pork over the country and sell it. This was a difficult task for a man of his education and breeding, but he did not com- plain and worked hard to make a living for his fam- ily. When the war broke out between the two sec- tions of the country he desired to enlist in defense of his adopted country, but when he offered his services they were refused, as he was regarded as past military age. Finally he engaged in farming, and died on his farm near Des Moines in 1893, when he was seventy-eight years of age. His wife, who was named Mary Miller before her marriage, was also born in Wurtemberg, Germany, died in 1872, aged forty-seven years. Their children were as follows: Mrs. Louisa Baumann, now in Grimes, Iowa; Christian H., who lives in the same place as Louisa; Paul M., who is a farmer of Grimes, Iowa; and John, whose name heads this review.

John Betz the younger grew up in a household where democratic principles were espoused, and

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when he came of age he followed his father's ex- ample and voted the ticket of that party, casting in 1880 his first ballot, for Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, for president, and he has continued to support the party's national candidates ever since.

In August, 1890, John Betz was married at Miles City, Montana, to Miss Charlotte Davidson, a daugh- ter of Scotch parents. Mrs. Betz died in Glasgow, Montana, in 1905, the mother of the following chil- dren : Louise, who is the wife of E. N. Jacobson, a farmer of Tampico, Montana, has the following children : Charles and Charlotte; Lillian, who is one of the teachers of Valley County, having received her educational training in the Montana State Nor- mal School at Dillon, and carries a professional certificate; John F., who is engaged in ranching with his father; and Charlotte, who is attending the Glasgow High School. On December 21, 1912, Mr. Betz was married at Glasgow, Montana, to Mrs. Josephine Anderson. Mrs. Betz was brought to the United States by her father when she was a child. By her first marriage she has two children: Mrs. Howard Brown, of Eighth Point on the Missouri River, Montana, and Mrs. Emma Bergsma, of Van- dalia, Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Betz have one son, Paul Harry, who was born February 21, 1915. Mr. Betz is one of the representative men of his part of the state, and deserves much credit for what he has accomplished. Having lived here so long and been in the cattle industry nearly all of this period, he is an authority upon the subject, and if all the original cattlemen had been as willing to adapt them- selves to the changed conditions as he, the present situation would be less serious. While he has never cared to enter public life, he has been popular enough to have been elected to any of the local offices had he cared to run, and he holds the warm friendship of many of the leading men of the state.

WILLARD FREDERICK SNYDER. The history of the development of Montana teems with interest and shows that this feat has been accomplished through the sacrifices and energies of the men and women who dared the hardships of frontier life and came here determined to make this region their perma- nent home. One of these men who has been more than ordinarily successful as a ranchman and is now enjoying the fruits of a life of strenuous endeavor is Willard Frederick Snyder of Billings. He was horn at Kimball, Saint Clare County, Michigan, Sep- tember 5, 1859. The Snyder family originated in Holland, a representative of it coming thence to the American colonies and locating in Pennsylvania. There in 1817 Joseph Snyder, father of Willard Frederick Willard Snyder, was born, but he later moved further west to Michigan, and died at Mid- land City of that state in 1899. During his active life he was engaged in farming in Saint Clare County, and he also worked in the lumber woods. In 1883 he retired and moved to Midland City. making his home with his son, Willard F. Snvder until his death. In politics he was a republican. His wife bore the maiden name of Melissa Jeanette Bahcock, and was born in Michigan in 1842, dving at Wales, Saint Clare County, Michigan, in 1872. Their children were as follows: Charles, of whom the family now has no definite information ; Willard Frederick, whose name heads this review; Rufus, who is overseer and superintendent of a large stock farm at Ammonsburg, Canada; Marilla, who died at Sanilac, Michigan, aged thirty years, had married Tames Lynch, a farmer, who is also deceased; and Frank, who died in Saint Clare County, Michigan, aged twelve years.

Willard Frederick Snyder was reared on his father's farm until thirteen years of age, and at the same time attended the rural schools of his neigh- borhood. At that time he left Saint Clare County and went to work in the sawmill of A. W. Wright at Saginaw, Michigan, and remained there for two years. For the subsequent five years he was engaged in general work at Midland City, Michigan, and then took the contract to clear 100 acres of land owned by B. B. Bartlett, which occupied him for two years. With his earnings Mr. Snyder then bought forty acres of land, on which he erected a house, and for the succeeding sixteen years alternated running his farm in the summer with lumbering in the winter. In the meanwhile he bought two other forty-acre tracts, so that he owned 120 acres of land. In order that his children might have the advantages of the schools of Midland City he moved his home to that community, but in 1898 he came West to Billings, Montana. During 1893 he had spent some months on the Hesper ranch, twelve miles from Billings, and now returned to it, and was there em- ployed for two years, when he was joined by his family. After that he spent eighteen months more on the ranch, and then invested in 240 acres of land five miles west of Billings. About this time he sold his farm in Michigan for a price that only net- ted him $900 for all his hard work in the past, and invested it in part payment on 160 acres nine miles west of Billings. Later he sold his first ranch and moved to Billings and rented the 160-acre tract. Subsequently he bought eighty acres four miles west of Billings, and for the next eight years looked after his property, but continued to reside at Billings. He then moved on his eighty-acre ranch and built up a dairy business under the name of the Valley View Dairy and conducted it for seven years, and then, on November 15, 1917, sold it and also his other ranch, going to Long Beach, California, for the winter. On July 5, 1918, he located at Pony, Montana, where he lived retired until his removal to Billings. Being troubled with asthma, Mr. Snyder deemed it expedient to retire and enjoy the benefit of the climate of Billings; which helps his disorder. In addition to his agricultural activities he has been occupied in other ways, serving as drain commis- sioner of Yellowstone County for two years, road supervisor for three years and school director for a number of years. He was also a director of the Big Ditch of Yellowstone County for six years, and for two years of this period was its president. For one year he was president of the Farmers Loan Asso- ciation, and has always been active in promoting the welfare of other organizations calculated to be of benefit to the community, county and state. A mem- ber of Billings Star Lodge No. 41, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Mr. Snyder is past grand of it, and also past chief patriarch of Little Horn Encampment No. 12. He was president of the asso- ciation of Odd Fellows who built the hall on Twenty- seventh Street, North, Billings.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 125

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