Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 131

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 131

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Ireland, sailing from County Cork to the United States, and the farm in Pennsylvania on which both Mrs. Leo and her son Willard was born in Craw- ford County was cleared by Mr. Maloney. Mrs. Leo Died in February, 1899, after becoming the mother of four children, namely: Margaret, whose home is still in Crawford County; Willard A., the postmaster of Fairview; Mrs. Myrtle Chase, whose home is in Meadville, Pennsylvania; and Conrad C., also a resident of Meadville.

The birth of Willard A. Leo occurred Septem- ber 13, 1877, and on the farm in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, where he was born he spent his boy- hood days, attending the nearby district schools and the township high school, and on the 23d of June, 1898, graduated from the Edinboro, Pennsylvania, Normal School. With this excellent training as a foundation for his future life work he became a teacher in the public schools of Pennsylvania, and in May, 1901, left the state of his birth to enter upon a larger career in the new Northwest.

Making his way to South Dakota, he was for two years thereafter the principal of the Mound City schools, and a similar period was then devoted to homesteading as well as teaching. In Septem- ber, 1905, Mr. Leo arrived in Montana, at the now Town of Poplar, and became principal of the pub- lic schools there and continued in that position dur- ing the years 1905-6-7. In June of the latter year he came to Fairview and became an employe in the mail service, and on the 10th of August, 1907, was appointed postmaster as the successor of Frank M. Robinson. He has served in that office through three presidential administrations, his first appoint- ment coming from Colonel Roosevelt, and his last two from President Wilson. Since assuming charge of the office Mr. Leo has witnessed a won- derful development in the service and in the growth of the mail, and in that time two rural routes have been established.

·Mr. Leo met and married Miss Julia Quarter- mass near Fairview, and their wedding occurred on the 8th of September, 1914. She was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, May 19, 1886, a daughter of George and Dolly S. (Smith) Quartermass. The Quartermass family trace descent to England, and the American founder first located in Erie County, Pennsylvania. The name was subsequently carried into Wisconsin, and in that state George H. Quarter- mass passed his life as a farmer and died there. In his family were one son and a daughter, the for- mer being Harry Quartermass of Miami, Florida. Mrs. Leo received a high school education in Osh- kosh, and came to Montana in company with her mother and brother. They became homesteaders near Girard, Montana. A daughter, Margaret Dol- lie, and a son, Quentin, have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Leo.

CARLOS P. COLLINS, the manager and a partner in the Alling Mercantile Company of Fairview, and also known as a banker, was born in the Green Mountain State of Vermont and is a son of a Ver- mont farmer, Amos P. Collins. The latter was born in 1823, and died in San Jose, California, in 1910. He married in his early life Lucinda Sawyer, who was also born in Vermont, a daughter of Plant Sawyer, a farmer there. Mrs. Collins passed away at Waverly, Iowa. The children in their family were: Carlos P., the Fairview business man; Eve- lyn A., who married Moses Littlefield, of San Jose, California ; Oscar A., of Merced, California ; Charles F., of Visalia, California; and Ira D., of Waterloo, Iowa.

Carlos P. Collins, born on the 16th of August,

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1851, spent his early life amid rural environments, obtained a common school training, supplemented by one term in an academy, and was twenty-four years of age when he left the parental home to engage in farming for himself in Iowa, the family having in the meantime migrated from their eastern home to Wisconsin and finally to Bremer County, Iowa. Af- ter five years as a farmer Mr. Collins began work for a lumber and farm machinery firm, first as salesman and afterward as manager of the busi- ness. But the lure of the great Northwest settled upon him and he made his way to Grand Forks, North Dakota, spending six years as a dealer in ma- chinery on his own account there.

It was about twenty years ago, through the in- fluence of his son Roy, that Carlos P. Collins first became attracted to the Yellowstone Valley, and on the 12th of May, 1901, he added his citizenship to Montana and entered upon his western career, a career that has proved successful and numbered him among the leading citizens and business men of his community. He came into the country as a stockman and established his headquarters five miles southwest of Fairview. This country at that time was a veritable wilderness of grass, unoccupied and uncultivated. Becoming the successor of George Hoover in a cattle and horse ranch, Mr. Collins as- sociated himself with his son Roy D., then just attaining to manhood's estate, and the two con- ducted business under the name of C. P. Collins and Son. Their stock in the beginning comprised some sixty head of calves and forty head of horses, running under the brand "H triangle .H," but the band was subsequently increased to several hundred head. Their first improvements comprised the pio- neer log shack and shelter for their stock, but after a time a $3,000 residence superseded the log shack, a splendid barn was erected, miles of fencing were built, and when the valley was thrown open to set- tlement three quarter sections were entered by the partners. Additions have since been made to this acreage from time to time and title acquired until they now own 1,800 acres in one body. Eleven years were devoted by the senior Mr. Collins to the culmination of this undertaking. He then left the property in the charge of his son Roy, who had become widely known over this part of the state as a stock man. The partnership has since been dis- solved. The ranch was inaugurated with native cattle and horses, Herefords and Percherons, both of which they eventually bred up into high strains and in time a small bunch of pure bred Herefords were acquired, and the feature of the ranch changed some- what more toward a breeding place for fine Here- fords than a beef producing proposition as in the former days.

With the advent of the settlers the Collinses, father and son, were forced to engage in farming and ultimately developed one of the extensive farms of the region. Three hundred acres are now under cultivation, and wheat, oats, barley, alfalfa and sweet clover have been tried and found to yield well with favorable seasons. The ranch has also become one of the shipping points of the valley, the horses go- ing largely to Western North Dakota and the cat- tle to Chicago.

When C. P. Collins left the ranch in 1913 he be- came a partner and the manager of the Alling Mer- cantile and Lumber Company at Fairview. That was the date also of the establishment of the enter- prise, and at that time all the ground in front of their office was a flax field, the railroad had just been built into the town, and Fairview in all par- ticulars was indeed an embryo town. The Alling Company has handled building material and ma-

chinery, and as a lumber concern it has contribtued greatly toward the upbuilding of a wide scope of country.

Mr. Collins has also been identified with banking at Fairview, becoming connected with the Bank of Fairview as a stockholder and is now serving as its vice president. He took an active part in the county division movement, espousing the cause of Richland County, was elected one of the county commissioners when the division question was sub- mitted to a vote, and had as colleagues on the Board W. B. Gibbs and John Bowden. With the expiration of his term of service Mr. Collins re- tired from the office. He has never been an active worker in political matters, although his political convictions are pronounced. It was in the year of 1872 that he cast his first presidential vote, sup- porting Ulysses S. Grant, and national republican candidates have ever since received his support and endorsement.

At Horton, Iowa, on the 6th of March, 1873, Carlos P. Collins married Miss Susan A. Dyer, who was reared in Racine, Wisconsin, her native state, and she was one of the family of four children of William Dyer. She received a liberal educa- tional training, including a college course, and be- came a public school teacher and was following that vocation at the time of her marriage. A large family of children has blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Collins, including: William A., who is engaged in the laundry business at Grand Forks, North Dakota; Etta May, the wife of Melvin Ed- wards, of Crawford, Nebraska; Roy D., who for many years was his father's business associate and is now superintending his own ranch interests near Fairview; and Arthur H., also engaged in farm- ing near Fairview. Roy D. Collins married Lil- lian Boyes, and they have three children, Mildred, Edith and Carlos. Arthur H. Collins, who mar- ried Anna Harrison, is an active and extensive farmer just west of Fairview. He grew up under the wise tutelage of his father and brother Roy, and thus equipped himself for the responsibilities he now carries.

ROSWELL L. BRANSON, the proprietor of the Hotel Nashua, is numbered among Montana's early day cowboys and permanent settlers. He is strictly a man of the West, born at Walla Walla, Washing- ton, August 8, 1864, and he was reared as a farmer lad there, where the family home had been estab- lished in 1858. His father, Thomas Branson, was a native of Illinois, and crossed the plains to the Pacific Coast country with his parents. None of the incidents of that early westward journey are now available.

Thomas Branson led a company of volunteers at the Willow Creek fight at the time of the Nez Perce outbreak, and the wound which he received at that time caused his death four years later. During the days of pack freighting into that coun- try he was a packer, freighting goods from the Dalles, Oregon, across the country to Walla Walla and other inland points. When he finally settled down to a permanent livelihood it was as a farmer, and his home was ten miles south of Walla Walla. He entered land there and prospered as a ranch- man, and at the time of his death owned 4,400 acres, numerous cattle and large bands of horses, and his success made him one of the conspicuous ranchmen of that region.

Thomas Branson married Amanda Church, who was born in County Clare, Ireland, a daughter of Andrew Church. She was brought to the United States when a child of twelve years, and the family

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crossed the plains and settled in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Mrs. Branson was reared there on a farm, and she survived her husband many years. Her children were as follows: Otis P., of Lewiston, Idaho, Roswell L., whose home is in Nashua, Montana; Alfred M., of Kalispell, Mon- tana; Fannie, who became the wife of Almon Jones, and died in Umatilla County, Oregon; Ella, who married John Gratz and died in Arizona; Mazina died as Mrs. Bird at Baker City, Oregon; Alta married a Mr. Musgrove, of Walla Walla Valley ; Charles E., of Glacier Park, Montana. Mrs. Bran- son married for her second husband Charles Lewis, and her final home was at Lewiston, Idaho.

Roswell L. Branson was a pupil in the district schools near the Branson home in Walla Walla Val- ley until he entered Huntsville, Washington, Col- lege, and he pursued a business course at Helena after he came to Montana. Leaving home with his brother Alfred, they started out on horseback with little knowledge of their destination, knowing only that they were on their way somewhere. At Mal- huren, Oregon, they overtook Charley Flowers with his band of horses, and they hired out to Mr. Flowers to help drive the stock through to Boze- man. After reaching Bozeman the Branson broth- ers hired to Charkes Ancny, of the firm of Cruse and Ancny, to handle stock on the company's ranch on Prairie Elk, near Bozeman, spending three years there. They then crossed over to Lewiston, where Alfred Branson entered the service of McNamara, of Roswell, and became connected with the Diamond outfit, belonging to Henry Sieben. The Diamond Company was later consolidated with the Pioneer Cattle Company, owned by Davis, Houser, Stew- art and Conrad Kohrs, and during a period of six years Roswell L. Branson worked under the orders of Mr. Kohrs on their Malta ranch.

While associated with that famous cattle com- pany Mr. Branson came into intimate contact with numerous young men doing duty as cow punchers from every point of the compass. Among the more noted ones may be mentioned Puck Powell, who has since given many years of his life to the office of sheriff of Valley County. Another was Kid Curry, who ended his notorious career as a train robber, and S. C. Small, who served as an official of Val- ley County for many years and finally became identified with the Milk River Valley Bank as its cashier. Johnny Edward, who finally became a power in republican politics in Montana, was an- other of the men of that day who slept on the ground and fed at the "chuck" wagon with the boys. He was a Texas man and came into Mon- tana about the time the Branson brothers became cowboys in this state.

When Roswell Branson left the employ of Con- rad Kohrs he began clerking and tending bar in the Coleman Hotel at Glasgow. Following this business experience he began ranching for himself at Whatley Siding east of Glasgow, in partnership with Sky C. Small, and they ran their stock under the brand "MU" for two years, when Mr. Branson bought his partner's interest and continued ranch- ing until 1908. At that time he disposed of his ranching interests and entered the hotel business in Nashua.

This new venture made him the proprietor of the Nashua Hotel, a building 20 by 32 feet, and a two- story structure 120 by 32 feet has taken the place of the original building. Mr. Branson has taken an active part in the development of Nashua from a mere hamlet to an incorporated town, has also assisted in the work of opening roads through the Fort Peck reservation, and in making the region

of Valley County passable for tourists and local travelers. In his political affiliations he supports the democratic party, voting for Mr .. Cleveland for his first presidential candidate. Fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and the Knights of Pythias.

Mr. Branson was married while in Glasgow, Mon- tana, July 20, 1897, to Miss Rosa Stiler, who was born in Minnesota in December, 1876. A son, Earl Otis, has been born to bless their union, and he is a pupil in the Nashua schools.

OLE N. OLSON. When he left school the first em- ployment to which Ole N. Olson turned his hand was in a lumber yard in Minnesota, and while he has had some other experiences the lumber busi- ness may be regarded as his permanent occupation and vocation. He is now proprietor of the Olson and Nelson Lumber Company of Oswego, Montana, and has been a resident of this state for a decade.

He was born in Freeborn County, Minnesota, October 16, 1876. His father, Nels Olson, was a native of Hadeland, Norway, a farmer's son, ac- quired a fair education, and came to the United States alone at the age of eighteen. After work- ing for wages as a farm hand for a time in Free- born County he bought a tract of undeveloped land, made it into a good farm with substantial improve- ments, and still occupies it as a home. He is now past seventy-two years of age. He had not been in America long when he declared his intentions of citizenship, and began voting as a republican before his final papers were issued. His life and conduct have proved him as earnest and loyal as a native born American. He is a member of the Lutheran Church, in which he was reared. His wife, Henrietta Peterson, was born at Janesville, Wisconsin, a daughter of Hendrick Peterson. To their marriage were born the following children: Ole N .; Annie, wife of Albert Knutson, of Zahl, North Dakota; Ida, wife of Otto Prignitz, of Clear Lake, Iowa; Mary, Mrs. Arne Sandvig, of Hartland, Minnesota; and William, on the home farm in Minnesota.

Ole N. Olson lived on his father's farm to the age of about seventeen. He had a high school education, also attended Luther Academy at Albert Lea, Minnesota, and in the following two years gained a practical and detailed knowledge of the lumber business with the Standard Lumber Com- pany of Hartland, beginning his service as second trick man. After some further experience in a hardware store at Hartland he went out to North Dakota and took up a homestead thirty miles north of Williston. He was then unmarried, and his life on the plains was a lonesome one. His home was a shack 10 by 14 feet, and while doing the necessary work of development on the land he supported him- self with provisions by employment in a store. He still owns his claim, though he has not occupied it since he secured the title. For over two years he was in the employ of the Bovey-Shute Lumber Com- pany at Williston, and then entered the service of the Grogan-Robinson Company of that city. This company had a chain of yards, and on March I, 1910, Mr. Olson came to Montana and took charge of the yard at Culbertson. He remained there sev- eral years, and left the company when he entered business for himself as a partner with Samuel S. Nelson of Brockton, Montana, who died there. Sep- tember 1, 1914, the Olson and Nelson Lumber Com- pany was established at Oswego, and Mr. Olson has been in charge of the business and is now pro- prietor. He also is a partner in the Olson and Nelson Lumber Company at Frazer, Montana.

Vol. MI-88

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At Culbertson November 2, 1913, he married Miss Anna Kalberg. She was born in Norway Septem- ber 6, 1884, and came to the United States with her parents at the age of eight years. The Kalberg family first located at Grand Forks, North Da- kota, where her father followed his trade as a painter, but since 1909 has lived on a homestead in Mckenzie County, North Dakota. Mrs. Olson was the third in a family of three sons and three dangh- ters and she acquired a good public school educa- tion and met her husband while a telephone oper- ator at Culbertson. Mr. and Mrs. Olson have a daughter, Orpha Annabel, born June 14, 1918.

CARL L. BRATTIN is a well known practicing law- yer and has the distinction of being the second lawyer to locate in what is now Richland County. His pioneer office was located in the townsite build- ing, and when the Farmers State Bank, now the Yellowstone Valley Bank and Trust Company, was built he moved across the street and occupied rooms in the new building, where he has since been lo- cated. He graduated from the Nashville, Michi- gan, High School in 1905 and from the law depart- ment of the University of Michigan before coming West in 1910.

In beginning his practice here Mr. Brattin's early attention and interests were focused upon the claims of the settlers to a large area of the lands claimed by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, the set- tlers claiming the lands under entry from the Gov- ernment. They arranged with Mr. Brattin to rep- resent their interests in their contest with the railroad company, and through litigation he finally secured Government titles to their entries. After the settlement of this important matter he took up the general practice of law, and has advised and counseled in many important matters of public as well as private concerns. He was associated in the movement to incorporate the Town of Sidney, and served in a similar capacity in the creating of Richland County. His practice has won him a large clientele in probate work and as counsel in litigation over claims in the Federal Court.

Mr. Brattin is further identified with Sidney's interests as a member of its City Council, which body he helped to incorporate. He served as the first public administrator of the County of Rich- land, was later made the county attorney, and in many other ways has officiated in official capacities for the upbuilding and improvement of Sidney and Richland County. He is a stockholder and di- rector in the Sidney National Bank and the Pio- neer Loan and Realty Company, and is attorney for both the Sidney National Bank and the Yellow- stone Valley Bank and Trust Company. He is a director in the Security Abstract Company and of the Sidney Feed and Transfer Company, and aided materially in the development of the Water Users Electric Company. He was serving as a director of the last named corporation when it was sold to the Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company. Mr. Brattin was one of the directors of the Sidney Light and Power Company before it was sold to the Eastern Montana Light and Power Company. He is the secretary and treasurer of the Sidney Deaconess Hospital Association, and is also a member of its board of trustees.

and in June he was admitted to the practice of law. In March, 1911, he came out to Montana, fitted with the code practice, which enabled him to follow the profession in the western states, and he had been persuaded to make Montana his pro- fessional fighting ground for the future through relatives who had resided in the state, although the young lawyer settled among strangers in Sidney. The town at that time contained perhaps 250 peo- ple, and, as above noted, he was the second lawyer to engage in practice in Richland County.

It was at Glendive, Montana, that Mr. Brattin met the lady who afterward became his wife, Miss Mertie Redding, although their wedding occurred at Bloomingdale, Michigan, June 27, 1912. Mrs. Brattin was born in VanBuren County, Michigan, September 27, 1887, a daughter of Edman S. and Clara (Banghman) Redding, in whose family were four children, the three sons being Harley T., Al- len C. and Max A. Redding, all of Sidney. Mrs. Brattin is a graduate of the Gobles, Michigan, High School, and she taught music before her marriage.

Mr. Brattin was the first candidate to take the third degree in Masonry in the Lower Yellowstone Valley Lodge, and is a charter member of that lodge. He also belongs to Yellowstone Chapter No. 5, Royal Arch Masons, and to Damascus Com- mandery No. 4, Knights Templar, both at Glen- dive, and to Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena. Mr. and Mrs. Brattin are both mem- bers of the Eastern Star, of which she is the sec- retary of the Sidney Chapter. She was the young- est noble grand of the Rebekah degree of Odd Fellows in the entire State of Michigan. Mr. Brat- tin's chief connection with war auxiliary work was as chairman of the Speakers Bureau of the Ninth Federal Reserve District of Richland County. He was also field examiner and inspector for the War Risk Bureau of the Treasury Department for Rich- land County, was United States Government ap- peal agent for the county, was chairman of the Legal Advisory Board for the county, and was in charge of one of the Young Men's Christian As- sociation drives for Richland. County.

JOSEPH BROOKS. It is not difficult to identify Joseph Brooks in the citizenship of Livingston. At least half a dozen important relationships might be recalled to indicate his usefulness as a member of the community, and the list doubtless could be greatly extended by those most intimately acquainted with his career.

And at that Mr. Brooks is still a very young man. He was born August 4, 1880, less than forty years ago, in Lancashire, England. His father, Thomas Brooks, now living at Livingston at the age of seventy-two, was born at Manchester, England, in 1847. He was an English coal miner, and first came to the United States in 1886, spending some time in a coal mining district in Iowa. He then went back to England and brought over his family and soon afterward went to the coal mining dis- trict of Timberline, in Gallatin County, Montana. He came to Park County in 1896 and for the past fifteen years has been employed in the Northern Pacific Railway shops at Livingston. He is a re- publican, is affiliated with Bozeman Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and a member of the International Asso- ciation of Machinists. In Lancashire, England, in February, 1870, Thomas Brooks married Elizabeth Taylor. She was born in Lancashire in 1849. Eliz- abeth, the oldest of their children, is the wife of J. W. Labertew, a telegraph operator at Bozeman ; Nathan is connected with the DuPont Powder Com-

Mr. Brattin has been identified with the life and interests of Montana throughout the entire period of his professional career. But he was born in the State of Michigan, at Hastings, March 16, 1887, a son of Frank J. Brattin, a lumber merchant at Shepherd, Michigan, where he is associated in busi- ness with a son. He was born September 11, 1861, . pany at Ramsey, Montana; Joseph is the third in

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age, while May, the youngest, is the wife of R. V. Pfiel, an architect at Minneapolis.

Joseph Brooks received his first common school privileges in Gallatin County, and later attended school in Park County, including the county high school through the junior year. He left school in 1897 and the following nine years was learning and working at the jeweler's trade at Livingston. In the meantime he had become interested in politics, and had built up a large acquaintance and following. In 1906, when twenty-six years of age, he was elected county treasurer of Park County, and by re- election in 1908 served two terms. In 1910 he was chosen police magistrate of Livingston and filled that office for two years, 1911-13. While he has

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 131

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