Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 129

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 129

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August C. Stohr was married in Rosebud County, Montana, November 26, 1891, to Miss Fannie Pierce, who came into this region from Richmond, Quebec, Canada, where she was born. She has a brother, Mahlon, in Sonoma, California, and another brother, Henry, in the same state. Mr. Stohr cast his first

and has participated in politics only as a voter since.

WILLIAM E. BARNARD. The merchant of Powder- ville and one of the early settlers of this region is William E. Barnard, known all over Custer and Powder River counties for his business integrity and no less for his splendid qualities of citizenship. He dates his residence in Montana from August, 1888, where he sought the locality where he now resides for mercantile purposes and the stock busi- ness, coming with his brother Fred B. Barnard, with whom he was associated under the firm style of Barnard Brothers. From that time to the present Mr. Barnard has steadily increased his interests and added to his influence and strength of position, with the result that today he is one of the leading citizens of his community and a man universally respected and esteemed.

William E. Barnard was born near Savein Rock, Connecticut, March 10, 1858, and as a lad was taken by his parents to Westchester County, New York, where he grew up from boyhood. His education came to him from the country schools, and farm- ing was what he knew when he attained his ma- jority. His father was Thomas Barnard, who came from England as a young man and settled in Con- necticut, but in 1864 went to New York City, where he was engaged in business for about twenty years as a jeweler and gold and silver refiner. He left the city for his farm in Westchester County, where his death occurred in 1893, when he was about seventy-eight years old. He was a democratic voter but paid little attention to politics, while by training and sympathy he was an Episcopalian, his wife be- longing to that denomination. She bore the maiden name of Rebecca Helm, and was born at Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania, and died in June, 1888, when about sixty-eight years of age. Their children num- bered five sons and two daughters: Thomas B., who met a soldier's death while wearing the Union blue on the battlefield of Gettysburg; Fred B., who was a volunteer soldier of the Union during the Civil war, spent an active business career at Powderville and New York City, and died at the latter place in 1896; Rebecca, who married Dr. Charles Betts and passed away at Mount Kisco, New York; Frank, who died at Kansas City, Missouri; Charles, who died at Mount Kisco, New York; Sarah, the wife of Thomas Armstrong, of Armonk New York,; and William E., of this notice.

In 1883 Mr. Barnard and his brother engaged in the cattle business at Sweetwater, New Mexico, and later drove a bunch of sheep to Kansas and then came to Powder River, where he and his brother bought out the business of Ben Mason here, owned then by W. B. Jordan. The interests acquired by the transaction included the store and some thirty head of cattle, and the brothers each homesteaded near Powderville and by purchases developed a ranch which was used as a ranching proposition. They dwelt in and shipped stock and built up an exten- sive business in that way as well as in their mer- chandising enterprise, and were early also among those who experimented with farming. While the country was generally thought by stockmen to be unfitted for successful farming, much of it.has since been brought under cultivation and some splendid crops have been harvested and gathered. The part- nership of the brothers continued until 1896, then being succeeded by W. E. Barnard & Company, the company being Thomas Barnard, a son of Fred B. Barnard. The latter firm continues today and is identified with about the same enterprises but upon

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

a more extensive scale than the old firm. Of their 5,000-acre holdings in this locality 3,500 acres along the Powder River flats have been improved and made into farm propositions, buildings erected, arte- sian water developed, and an irrigation project con- structed in which water is supplied by pumps from the Powder River.

Mr. Barnard has been postmaster of Powderville more than thirty-one years and for a number of years has been the notary public of this locality. In politics he has served the republican party of his district as committeeman. Mr. Barnard took an active part in the various drives for war work funds, and one of the County Council of Defense was his nephew, Thomas Barnard, a member of the firm. The career of Mr. Barnard here covering a period of more than thirty-one years was void of untoward incident until October 22, 1896, when a bandit en- tered his store about six o'clock in the evening and covered the company present, Mr. Barnard and his nephew, and ordered the safe opened. Mr. Bar- nard had just bought a new safe and made the excuse that he could not open the combination to the safe without his keys and they were at his residence. At Mr. Barnard's suggestion to go to the residence the bandit marched them over to the house for the combination and all entered the bed- room. About this time a hired man made his ap- pearance in the kitchen and the bandit rushed back and covered him with his gun and brought him to the others. During his absence Mr. Barnard had secured a small pistol, and both he and the bandit fired at the same instant, the bandit's ball entering Mr. Barnard's face just below the eye, while the latter's bullet entered the bandit's body, causing him to flee, and he was never again seen. An X-ray of Mr. Barnard's head shows the bullet, a .44 or .45 calibre missile, just at the base of the skull and near the spine. The result of this shot was to blind him in his left eye and deafen him in his left ear, and to incapacitate him for business for two years.

Mr. Barnard's marriage occurred in Custer County, although the wedding place is now in Pow- der River County, his wife being Mrs. Regina, widow of Henry deGrey Warter, of London, Eng- land. Their daughter by adoption, Dorothy Arline Barnard, is a product of Montana. Mr. Barnard is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is a member of Miles City Club and a stock- holder of the "56" Company, which was one of the first wells to be brought in in the state.

LOUIS P. LANOUETTE has been an active factor in the banking business in Eastern Montana for the past thirteen years, and is now cashier of the Bank of Fairview. His career from boyhood has been in commercial lines, and chiefly as a banker, a busi- ness he followed in North Dakota for a number of years.

He was born at Batiscan, Quebec, Canada, March 25, 1862, son of Gaspard and Delphine (Duval) Lanouette. His grandfather was a native of France and was the founder of the family in North Amer- ica. Gaspard Lanouette, who died at Batiscan in 1888, at the age of sixty-six, was a native of that locality, and served as secretary and treasurer of the township for several years. His wife died in 1891, aged sixty-six. They had three sons and two daughters: John, of North Dakota; Philip, of Batiscan; Mrs. Louise St. Cyr, of Batiscan; Mrs. Lumina Valentine, of Montreal; and Louis P.

Louis P. Lanouette grew up in a country village in Canada, acquired a good education though he never attended college, and began life with such advantages as the popular schools could afford. His

working career began as bookkeeper in a store in his home town, and when he left there he moved into the Red River Valley of North Dakota, and at Fargo spent fourteen years in the Red River Valley National Bank as a bookkeeper. In 1907 Mr. Lanouette moved to Montana and became cashier in the bank of Delaney Brothers, the First National Bank of Fairview, and left that institution to become cashier of the Bank of Fairview, which he has served since May, 1919. This is one of the leading finan- cial institutions of Richland County.

Mr. Lanouette has also served as treasurer of Yellowstone School District No. 14. He applied for citizenship at Fargo, North Dakota, receiving his final papers at Williston in 1904. He has never been active in politics, and has cast his vote for repub- lican candidates, beginning with his first presidential vote for Mckinley in 1900. He is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and was secre- tary of the Catholic Foresters while living in the Red River Valley. He has contributed one of the best homes to Fairview, an eight-room, large and commodious house with modern equipment and con- veniences.

At Montreal, Canada, May 21, 1888, Mr. Lanouette married Miss Virginia Arcand, daughter of Sam and Olia (Brunelle) Arcand, both parents of French ancestry. Mrs. Lanouette was the second in a fam- ily of eight children. Mr. and Mrs. Lanouette be- sides their own children have several grandchildren. Their children were: Horace, Arthur, James L., Alice, Henry, Cecile, Walter and Louis, Jr. Horace, who died of influenza in the fall of 1918, married Miss Sadie Olstadt, who survives him. The son Arthur, a resident of Fairview, married Emma Hil- ger, and has two children, Kenneth and Cecile May. James L., of Casper, Wyoming, married Elizabeth Belanger and has a son, Gordon Dewey. Alice is the wife of Frost W. Wilder, of Fairview, and has a son, Warren Louis. Henry, of Casper, Wyoming, was employed in the Tacoma shipyards during the World war.

FRANK M. SCHAEFER. Active, enterprising and energetic, fully alive to the needs of a growing city, Frank M. Schaefer, of Fairview, has been prom- inently identified with many of the leading interests of the place since 1907, and in the advancement of its financial prosperity has been an important factor. A son of the late Frank M. Schaefer, Sr., he was born October 8, 1878, in Mankato, Minnesota, where his early life was spent.

The youngest child of George and Mary Schaefer, and the only boy in a family of eight children, Frank M. Schaefer, Sr., came with his parents from Baden, Germany, to Mankato, Minnesota, where he assisted his father in the pioneer task of clearing and improving the farm on which he spent his re- maining years, dying in April, 1910, at the age of sixty-five years. He married Mary B. Kern, who was born in Mankato, a daughter of John A. Kern, and is still a resident of that city. Nine children blessed their union, as follows: Mrs. Philip Borg- meier, whose husband is engaged in farming near Mankato; William F., engaged in agricultural pur- suits near Mankato; Mrs. Eldo Willman, of Tacoma, Washington; Mrs. H. K. Barber, of Wenatchee, Washington ; Mrs. George Hagan, of Mankato; Mrs. John T. Naughtin, of Keewatin, Minnesota; Mrs. H. W. Ricke, of Livingston, Montana; Cyril, of Man- kato, Minnesota ; and Frank M.

After his graduation from the Mankato High School Frank M. Schaefer completed a course in a commercial school of that city. Thus equipped for a business career, he became a bookkeeper in a bank

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

at Heron Lake, Minnesota, and was subsequently made assistant cashier of the institution. Going then to North Dakota, he entered the employ of large line banking company, being extra man, and changing positions every few months. Coming to Fairview, Montana, in the summer of 1907, Mr. Schaefer organized with the assistance of other citi- zens the Bank of Fairview, which opened for busi- ness on August 16th of that year, its first home having been in a small frame building on State Street. Capitalized at $6,500, its first president was Thomas C. Gardner, of Sidney, its first vice presi- dent W. K. Adams, also of Sidney, and its first cashier was Mr. Schaefer. The bank did a success- ful business as a private concern until September, 1911, when it was chartered under the same name as a state bank, its capital being increased to $20,000, while Charles J. Hardy of Fairview was made presi- dent, A. M. Gardner becoming vice president and Mr. Schaefer retaining his position as cashier. In April, 1919, Mr. Schaefer retired from the bank, his private interests demanding his entire time and at- tention. Subsequently disposing of his banking in- terests, he is now devoting his efforts to the buying and selling of real estate.

Mr. Schaefer exercised his homestead right in the Yellowstone Valley, selecting his claim in Au- gust, 1906, and making it his home for seven years, the claim shack which he erected for his first home in Montana having been a two-room log cabin, dirt covered, floored, and made comfortable for occu- pancy. Doing his farming by proxy, he raised ex- cellent crops of flax, oats and wheat during the first three years, but he himself attended to his duties in the near-by town. Mr. Schaefer still owns his original claim, and has acquired title to several other valley ranches, all of which are under cultivation and are yielding good crops of food and forage.

In the work of advancing the interests of Fair- view Mr. Schaefer is associated with Lewis E. Newlon, the special aim of these gentlemen being to promote immigration as rapidly as possible, and thus aid in the development of the valley farms. This enterprising firm, joining other real estate deal- ers of Richland . County, organized in December, 1919, at Sidney the Richland County Real Estate Dealers Association, of which Mr. Newlon was made chairman, the purpose of the organization be- ing to promote harmony among the real estate men and to concentrate their advertising efforts. Mr. Schaefer was one of the original owners of the Fairview townsite, and the firm with which he was associated presented the Great Northern Railroad Company with lands which it agreed to use for roundhouse and other purposes, the company prom- ising to make Fairview a railroad division point. Mr. Schaefer encouraged the incorporation of Fair- view, and his service to the community has been as a useful and progressive citizen.

He married, December 7, 1909, in Williston, North Dakota, Miss Annie D. Harper, a resident of Mc- Kenzie County, that state. She was born in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, January 17, 1889, a daugh- ter of the late William Harper. He died several years ago, and his widow, whose maiden name was Mary V. Doxey, married for her second husband William Portwood. Mr. and Mrs. Schaefer have two children, Burns, born in 1912, and James C., born in 1915. A republican in politics, Mr. Schaefer cast his first presidential vote in 1900 for William Mckinley. He is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and of the Knights of Colum- bus. During the World war he belonged to the Richland County Council of Defense and ably as- sisted in putting the county "over the top" in every drive for war funds.

MICHAEL F. PURCELL is commissioner, secretary and treasurer of the Montana Coal Operators As- sociation, with headquarters at Billings. Mr. Pur- cell has long been prominent in the coal mining industry of the West. He has earned his living in the coal mining and steel and iron industries since he was a small boy. Without opportunity to gain an education, his sheer force of will and de- termination have put him well toward the front among men of affairs.

It is logically fitting that Mr. Purcell should come from one of the greatest centers of the coal in- dustry of the East-Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he was born May 23, 1867, and where his father, Patrick Purcell, still resides. The latter was born in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1839, and is now living in comfortable retirement at the age of eighty. When a young man he left his home in Ireland and came to the United States, living at Scranton, where he became an ironworker. He was one of the old fashioned puddlers in the iron and steel works. He is a democrat and a Catholic. Patrick Purcell married Catherine Kelly, who was born in County Mayo in 1841, and died in Scranton, Penn- sylvania, in 1905. Of their family of six children, Michael is the second. The oldest, John, was a steel worker at Buffalo, New York, and died a victim of the influenza epidemic October 29, 1918. James, the third son, is a government worker in the ship- yards at Hoboken, New Jersey. Mary is unmar- ried, and lives with her father at Scranton. William is a paper cutter and lives at Hoboken, New Jersey, while Agnes, the youngest, is a sister in a convent in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Michael F. Purcell did not attend school much after he was eight years old. The fact that he is regarded as a man of superior. education, intelligence and judgment is due to a rigid course of self train- ing and experience. When only eight years old he went to work as a slate picker at the coal mines at Scranton. He was thus employed for five years, and later for four years he worked as a puddler in the iron mills of Scranton, and acquired a thor- ough knowledge of the iron and steel business. For a time he was in a steel mill making ganister for the vessels and cupolas. In 1888 he went into the mines of Pennsylvania for two years and in 1891 was employed at Quintard's Shipyards, work- ing on the engines of the noted cruiser Maine. Following that for two years he was a steel heater in the steel works of Sparrow Point, Maryland, then worked in the mines and telephone business in Scranton for a year. Mr. Purcell came out to Montana in 1895 and for four years was in the coal mines at Belt. He was then transferred to Stockett, Montana, running a drilling machine. He was an influential and popular man among the employes and in 1903 was chosen as the first presi- dent of the Mine Workers Association of Wyoming and Montana, being president of District Twenty- two of the United Mine Workers of America. After one year in that office he returned to his regular occupation in the mines for a year, and then was elected a member of the International Board of the United Mine Workers, taking a promi- nent part in the deliberations of that board until 1912. In the latter year he came to Billings as commissioner and secretary and treasurer of the Montana Coal Operators Association. His offices are in the Securities Building. Mr. Purcell is also director of the Vandor Mining Company.

Politically he is independent, is a member of the Catholic Church, is a third degree Knight of Colum- bus, heing affiliated with Billings Council No. 1259, and is a member of the Loyal Order of Moose,

M. J. Purcell

HISTORY OF MONTANA

1113

Ancient Order of United Workmen, and Degree of Honor at Billings.

In 1892, at Kingston, Pennsylvania, he married Miss Annie May, daughter of James and Mary (Comerford) May, both now deceased. Her father was a Pennsylvania miner. Mr. and Mrs. Purcell are proud of their family of seven children, named as follows: James, a student in the University of Montana at Missoula ; Michael F., who is member of the Hospital Corps Unit in France; William, connected with the . Northern Pacific Railway at Billings; Thomas and John, both employed in a local grocery store; Leo, who attends the Billings High School; and Marie.

ROY J. COWLES. A talented, able and influential member of the Montana bar, Roy J. Cowles has achieved his splendid success by a systematic ap- plication of his abilities to the profession of his choice, a profession demanding a large measure of veritable talent and a vast amount of genuine hard work. He was born October 17, 1885, near West Concord, Minnesota, a son of Eddy J. Cowles, and is of pioneer descent, his paternal grandfather, De- marcus L. Cowles, having been one of the very early settlers of Minnesota.

Demarcus L. Cowles was born in the State of New York, a son of Rev. LeRoy J. Cowles, a Free Will Baptist minister of Jamestown, New York. Mi- grating to Minnesota in early life, he engaged in farming in Dodge County, and while working at the carpenter's trade erected some of the first houses in Mentorville. Eminently patriotic, he was a vet- eran of the Civil war, and though he invariably voted the republican ticket took but little interest in politics. He married Mary Brown, a woman of culture, whose family contained numerous preachers and educators, and into their home the . following named children were born: Mrs. W. H. Kellogg, of Flandreau, South Dakota; Eddy J., father of the subject of this sketch; Fred J., a well known nurs- ery man of West Concord, Minnesota ; W. E., en- gaged in farming in Dodge County, Minnesota; and Mrs. Chauncey Ingram, of Woodward, North Da- kota.

Born in Minnesota, Eddy J. Cowles received but limited educational advantages, but under his father's instructions became well trained in agricul- tural pursuits. Beginning life for himself as a farmer, he subsequently took up a homestead claim in Moody County, South Dakota, where he spent seven years, being employed as a farmer and butcher. Returning with his family to Minnesota, he again ·took up his home at West Concord, and added to his farming enterprises the business of raising pure blooded stock, first breeding.Durham and Holstein cattle, but later making a specialty of raising Poland China hogs. He has likewise extensive holdings of land in Montana, a part of which is being de- veloped under the supervision of his son Roy under the irrigation project that is reclaiming much of the land in the vicinity of Fairview.

Eddy J. Cowles married Cora Vanderhyde, a daughter of John and Nellie (Van Horn) Vander- hyde, both of whom were born in Holland. Five children were born of their marriage, as follows: Roy J., the subject of this brief sketch; Nellie, wife of Albert Theda, manager of the Co-operative Ele- vator at Roundup, Montana; Harry and Harold, twins, engaged in farming near West Concord, Min- nesota, the former being on the old home farm and the latter near by; and Margaret, a talented artist and musician of West Concord.

After his graduation from the West Concord High School in 1903 Roy J. Cowles taught school

for a year in South Dakota and a year in Minne- sota. Subsequently entering Hamline University at St. Paul, Minnesota, he continued his studies in the classical department for a year, and then worked his way through the law department of the Uni- versity of Minnesota, being variously employed in St. Paul. He was first a clothing salesman for the Plymouth Clothing Company, was afterward clerk for the J. I. Case Threshing Company until the panic of 1907 threw him out of a job, then served as collection clerk for the law firm of Deutsch, Allen & Brading, and completing his law course he opened a collection and real estate office in Minneapolis, in the Security Bank Building.

Although there were no attorneys in the Cowles family, Roy J. Cowles was, mayhap, directed toward the law as a profession through the influence of his grandfather Vanderhyde, who was a wide reader, well informed on politics and history, and was gifted as a talker and debater, while at his home he was encouraged to select a profession, his wish to become a lawyer there meeting with no opposition. Being graduated from the law department of the Univer- sity of Minnesota in June, 1909, Mr. Cowles was admitted to the Minnesota bar upon his diploma. On January 23, 1913, after a successful experience of four years as a lawyer, he opened the first law office in Fairview, Montana, establishing himself in the office of the Fairview Times, his admission to the Montana bar having been accomplished by rec- ommendations and proof of qualifications.

Although Fairview was then in its infancy, it was a very promising field for the young attorney, and he has since been busily employed. The first court case of Mr. Cowles was one for damages against the Great Northern Railway Company, which had acquired possession to a piece of the right-of-way under the "right of eminent domain." The land involved laid in North Dakota, and comprised seven acres of the proposed yards of the railroad company at Fairview. Mr. Cowles and his associates won the case in the trial court, and it was again won in the Supreme Court of North Dakota.

Among the matters of first importance to the com- munity with which Mr. Cowles has been identified was the county division fight, which was staged in the spring following his arrival. He was one of the formidable opposers of the proposition to divide Dawson County, but the battle was lost and Richland County was formed. He drew up the incorporation papers transforming the Village of Fairview into a city, and served as the first city attorney. As secre- tary of the local Commercial Club in 1913 he took a prominent part in the adjustment of the differ- ences between the Government and the farmers. He also drew up the papers for the chartering of the Fairview Brick Company, the Albert Hotel Company and the Alling Mercantile Company, and has served as attorney for the Bank of Fairview and for the Security State Bank.

While a student in the University of Minnesota Mr. Cowles formed the acquaintance of Miss Lillian Bennett, whose father, B. E. Bennett, a Norwegian by birth, married Anna Enemark, a native of Den- mark, and their marriage was solemnized November 14, 1912. Mrs. Cowles was graduated from the University of Minnesota, where she specialized in history and economics, winning the Bryn Mawr scholarship for that university. During the time she was taking her university work she taught in the Duluth schools, and was principal of the Bell- view schools. After her graduation she spent two years in the work of the Associated Charities in Minneapolis. Mr. and Mrs. Cowles have three chil- dren: Roderick J., Logan Bennett and William

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 129

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