Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 135

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 135

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LEWIS D. GLENN, one of the efficient and public- spirited attorneys of Wheatland County, has served in various official positions under the state, county and city government, and has the distinction. of be- ing the first of his profession to locate permanently at Harlowton. Mr. Glenn was born on his father's farm in Ward Township, Hocking County, Ohio, September 26, 1875, a son of Luther H. and Har- riet (Walker) Glenn.

Luther H. Glenn was born September 15, 1843, in Athens County, Ohio, and his wife was born September 7, 1843. They had six children, all of whom are now living, and of them all Lewis D. Glenn was the third in order of birth. Luther H. Glenn engaged in farming in his native state, and was so occupied at the outbreak of the war between the North and South. He enlisted for service in the Union army on May 2, 1864, as a member of Company A, One Hundred and Sixtieth Ohio Volun- teer Infantry, and participated in the engagements at Harper's Ferry, Martinsburg and Winchester, Virginia, receiving his honorable discharge Septem- ber 10, 1864.

In November, 1876, Luther H. Glenn moved from Ohio to Vernon County, Wisconsin, where he was one of the pioneer farmers and stockraisers, being occupied with conducting his farm there until 1898, when he located at Viroqua, Wisconsin. This re- mained his home until 1908, when he came to Mon- tana and homesteaded 160 acres of land one mile northeast of Harlowton, which was then in Meagher County, but after proving up on his farm he re- turned to Viroqua, Wisconsin, and subsequently was appointed commissioner for the Vernon County Sol- diers Relief, and still holds that office. In Novem- ber, 1900, he was made commissioner of the poor of Vernon County, but retired from that office when he made his plans to go to Montana. Since his initial connection with the Grand Army of the Re- public he has been very enthusiastic relative to its work, and enjoys meeting his old comrades, and fully believes that the influence exerted by this association has been a constructive one. Fraternally he is a member of the Odd Fellows, and his wife was a member of the Rebekahs. In politics Mr. Glenn is a strong republican, and has always sup- ported the candidates of that party.

Lewis D. Glenn attended the grade and high schools of Viroqua, Wisconsin, the Dillon Normal · School of Montana, and the legal department of the University of Michigan, being graduated from the latter in 1907. In order to secure the necessary . funds to take him through college Mr. Glenn taught

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school, and was an instructor of the schools in Ver- non County, Wisconsin, when he was only twenty years old, and in 1898 was engaged as an instructor by the first high school at Rosedale, Park County, Montana. Still later he taught school in Living- ston, Montana, and he was then principal of the schools of Aldridge, Montana, until 1904, in which year he took up the study of law. In September, 1907, he located at Harlowton, and on October I of that year was admitted to the bar of the State of Montana, and on October 3, 1907, was admitted to practice in the Federal courts. Mr. Glenn has been local attorney for the Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul Railway at Harlowton for a number of years. In 1917 he was appointed deputy county attorney of Meagher County, and held the office until the organization of Wheatland County, when he became county attorney. of the new county, and held that office until January, 1919. In 1912 he was elected on the republican ticket to the thir- teenth session of the State Legislative Assembly and served one term, representing Meagher County. For two years he served Harlowton as city attorney, and in 1917 was appointed as government appeal agent by Governor S. V. Stewart, and served as such until there was no further need of his efforts on account of the close of the great war. Fraternally Mr. Glenn belongs to Musselshell Lodge No. 69, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Harlowton Lodge No. 60, Knights of Pythias; and Lewistown Lodge No. 456, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. As a member of the executive committee of the Wheatland County Liberty Loan drives and the Red Cross organization of the same county, Mr. Glenn rendered his country loyal service and received an honorable discharge from Provost Mar- shal, General Crowder.

On February 28, 1911, Mr. Glenn was married to Edna Regene Caine, a daughter of Michael I. and Mamie (Howe) Caine, both natives of Wisconsin, who had six children, five of whom survive, Mrs. Glenn being the second in order of birth. Mr. Caine is now living at Harlowton, Montana, be- ing in the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul Railroad. Mrs. Caine died when Mrs. Glenn was eight years old. Mr. and Mrs. Glenn became the parents of four children, namely: Lewis Raymond, William Ross, Edwin Caine and Theodore Caine. The last two were twins, but Edwin Caine died in infancy, and the other three children are living.

JOSEPH T. BERTHELOTE, who was born in Mon- tant when it was a territory, has spent his life here as a successful ranch operator and a public spirited citizen, and has been prominent in public affairs since the organization of Powell County. He has been continuously a member of the Board of County Commissioners since the organization of the county.

Mr. Berthelote was born in the Prickly Pear Valley in Montana Territory October 8, 1869, son of Louis and Helena (Reasman) Berthelote. He is of French ancestry. His father was born at the old French settlement in Southeastern Michigan, in Monroe County, in 1840. His mother was born in Austria in 1845. Louis Berthelote left Michigan in 1864 and by overland journey crossed the plains to Colorado, thence to Salt Lake and on to Vir- ginia City. He was one of the early settlers of Helena, and subsequently located in the Prickly Pear Valley, where he engaged in the cattle and sheep business the rest of his life. He died in 1883, at the age of forty-three. His widow survived him until 1918, being seventy-three at the time of her

death. Their six children are all living, Joseph T. being the oldest.

Joseph T. Berthelote as a boy attended school at Augusta and Helena and when not in school he worked on the range as a practical cowboy. At the age of nineteen he began learning the profes- sion of surveyor, and in subsequent years he did a great deal of contract work as a surveyor. His ranching operations were chiefly centered in the Sweet Grass Hills at the northern border of Mon- tana near Gold Butte. Mr. Berthelote has been successful both in cattle and sheep, handling the standard bred cattle and the French draft horses. He sold out most of his holdings in cattle in the spring of 1919. At his ranch home for many years he kept a record of the rainfall and weather con- ditions. He had one of the automatic devices em- ployed by the weather bureau, which records and registers rainfall and other weather conditions.

Hill County was organized in 1912, and Mr. Berthelote was honored with election as a member of its first Board of County Commissioners. He has held that office for six years. He gave much time and study to assisting the architect in plan- ning and constructing the fine courthouse at Havre, which was completed in 1915. For many years he has also been on the school board and since he was twenty-one years of age has taken an active part in road building and has served as a member of the State Highway Commission since 1917. Mr. Berthelote is a thoroughly progressive citizen, alive to the needs of Montana and his com- munity, and seeking in every possible way to carry out effective and well considered plans. Politically he is a republican and is affiliated with Havre Lodge No. 55, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Havre Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Havre Lodge No. 1201 of the Elks, and Lodge No. 22 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Augusta.

In 1903, at Buffalo, New York, Mr. Berthelote married Miss Mary Lambrech, a native of Buffalo. They have one son, Theodore.

JOHN M. SEVENICH. Actively employed in one of the best patronized industries not only of Butte but of the state, John M. Sevenich, proprietor of the Standard Carriage Works, is kept busy as a black- smith and as a carriage and auto repairer, the automobiles, however, requiring far more of his attention than the carriages and other vehicles of a like nature. A son of the late Joseph Sevenich, he was born April 1, 1879, in Calumet County, Wisconsin, of German ancestry.

Born in Germany in 1841, Joseph Sevenich was educated in his native land, and there as a youth served in the German army. Immigrating to this country at the age of nineteen years, he settled permanently in Calumet County, Wisconsin, and for a number of years was there employed in the copper regions. Accumulating some money, he bought land, and with true pioneer courage cleared and improved a valuable farm, on which he resided until his death in 1908. A man of integrity and worth, he became prominent in civic and political affairs, being identified with the republican party, and held various local offices. Religiously he was a devoted member of the Roman Catholic Church, and reared his family in the same faith.

Joseph Sevenich married Annie Gable, who was born near the Rhine, Germany, in 1841, and is now residing on the home farm in Calumet County, Wisconsin. Seven children were born of their marriage, as follows: Joseph, of Milwaukee, Wis- consin, is a stockholder and an official member of the Excelsior Publishing Company of that city;

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

Mary, unmarried, lives with her widowed mother on the home farm; Annie, wife of J. D. Levy, a well known business man of Oshkosh, Wisconsin; John M., the special subject of this brief sketch; Matt, owning and occupying a farm adjoining the parental homestead, is extensively and successfully engaged in farming, dairying and stock raising ; Antoine, residing with his mother on the home farm; and Paul, of Virginia, Minnesota, is agent for the Studebaker cars.

Obtaining a practical education in the rural schools of Calumet County, Wisconsin, John M. Sevenich at the age of fifteen years went to Stockbridge, Wisconsin, where he served an apprenticeship of three years at the blacksmith's trade. He subse- quently followed his trade as a journeyman black- smith in Dodge County, Wisconsin, until 1899, be- coming quite proficient. Coming to Montana in that year, he located at Helena, and after following his trade in that city for six years embarked in business there on his own account, continuing it until 1907, when he sold out. Establishing himself then in Butte, he worked for Joseph Leland, pro- prietor of the Standard Carriage Works, for two years, and then went back to Helena, and there opened another shop. Not satisfied, however, Mr. Sevenich returned to Butte the following year, in 1910, and in partnership with J. C. Obrem opened a shop under the firm name of the Union Carriage Works. The partnership being dissolved in 1912, Mr. Sevenich established the Standard Carriage Works, situated at 404 South Wyoming Street, and has since built up an extensive and profitable black- smithing and carriage and auto repairing business, his skillful and durable work having won him a large patronage. He owns his entire plant, and also his pleasant home at 516 South Wyoming Street, his property being quite valuable.

At Helena in 1902 Mr. Sevenich was united in marriage with Miss Anna Evans, a daughter of John and Armilda Evans, neither of whom are now living, and into their home one child has been born, Saddona, whose birth occurred October 12, 1908. Politically Mr. Sevenich, following in the footsteps of his father, is a true blue republican, and fraternally he is a member of Enterprise Lodge No. 40, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

EDGAR EASIC BELANSKI found his first Montana home at Plentywood, has been a successful farmer and rancher in that locality for ten years, and more recently has found his time and abilities taxed by many official responsibilities, including the duties of United States commissioner.

Mr. Belanski was born in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, August 4, 1862. His father, Charles Belan- ski, was born in the City of Warsaw, Poland, was liberally educated, prepared for the Catholic priest- hood, but abandoned that profession and came to this country when about twenty-four years of age. He brought with him enough capital to engage in an itinerant mercantile business, organizing a few peddling wagons or outfits and sending them through the country selling such articles as tinware, hosiery and other small and useable articles. Out of that he earned the capital which enabled him to engage in the furniture business at Sheffield, Iowa, but after three years his health failed and he has not since been a positive factor in any enterprise. His first home on coming to this country was Dubuque, Iowa, and prior to the Civil war he moved to Cerro Gordo County. He became a Union soldier from Iowa, serving as private in one of the regiments of that state, was wounded in battle, and for a num- ber of years has been a pensioner of the Govern-

ment he helped to save. At Dubuque, Iowa, Charles Belanski married Miss Etta May Pitts, a daughter of Easic Pitts, a native of Illinois and of blue- blooded Yankee stock. Her father was a farmer and afterwards a cooper, and was still making bar- rels at Nora Springs, Iowa, when he died. Mrs. Charles Belanski was born at Dubuque and died at Nora Springs in 1901. She was the mother of two children, Edgar E. and Hanover Herbert, the latter a resident of Mason City, Iowa.

Edgar E. Belanski attended public school at Nora Springs, Iowa, took a seminary course at Cedar Falls, and clerked in a store at Nora Springs until the inside confinement impaired his health. He then learned the painting trade, and on leaving Iowa went West to Pomona, California, where he remained about eighteen months.

Mr. Belanski unlike most Montana settlers came here from the West rather than from the East. In April, 1909, he brought his family and established his home at Plentywood. Here he resumed his trade as a house painter, and followed it in seasons for a few years. His chief interests, however, were in a ranch he purchased on Big Muddy, 21/2 miles southwest of Plentywood, and to its management he still gives such of his time that is spared from his official duties.

Mr. Belanski was appointed United States com- missioner in 1916 as the successor of Albert Chap- man. Besides representing the Federal Government in that capacity he is also justice of the peace, po- lice magistrate, city clerk, county or public adminis- trator of Sheridan County, and chief probation officer for the county.

His father after acquiring American citizenship voted as a republican, and Mr. Belanski was simi- larly minded when he reached his majority, sup- porting Benjamin Harrison for president in 1892. For a number of years he remained steadily in the ranks of the republican party, but in recent years, like many other strong-minded men, has become neutral so far as the two great parties are con- cerned and casts his vote where he thinks it will do most good. He was made a Mason at Nora Springs, Iowa, has attained the Royal Arch de- gree, also became affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Nora Springs, and was a charter member of the first camp of the Modern Woodmen of America there.

At Nora Springs in November, 1893, Mr. Belan- ski married Mrs. Etta May Dean. She was born in Michigan August 7, 1866, oldest of four children of John Fizzell, three of whom are still living. Her sister, Mrs. Hattie Lenhart, still lives at Nora Springs and her brother, Del Fizzell, is a resident of St. Joseph, Missouri. Mrs. Belanski was reared and educated at Nora Springs, Iowa. By her first mar- riage she has a son, Blaine Dean, a farmer in the Plentywood locality, who married Miss Anna King. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Belanski was a son who died in infancy.

JOSEPH F. DOLIN. No American community re- gards itself as completely constituted until it has a medium of publicity, a local newspaper. There are half a dozen or more towns in Northeastern Montana that owe the institution of the press to the enterprise of Joseph F. Dolin, a practical news- paper man, who learned to set type in his father's office in North Dakota. Mr. Dolin has in addition to the journalistic gift an executive ability that has enabled him to establish and conduct other enter- prises under his supervision. Added to this dis- tinction of his career in Montana should also be

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noted his work as a practical homesteader, result- ing in the development of a large grain farm.

Mr. Dolin, whose home is at Plentywood, where he is editor and proprietor of the Pioneer Press, was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, November 24, 1885. His father is John H. Dolin, a veteran printer and newspaper man, who recently acquired the Medicine Lake Wave, one of the papers established by his son in Northeastern Montana. John H. Dolin was born at LeSeuer, Minnesota, in 1861, and was an only child and was left an orphan when a boy. He acquired a liberal education, partly in the univer- sity of a print shop, learned the printing trade at Henderson, Minnesota, and has given all his life to printing and publication work. At the time of the birth of his son Joseph he was foreman in the makeup department of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Leaving that he went to Devil's Lake, Norh Dakota, acquired an interest in the Free Press, and after nine years removed to York, North Dakota, and estab- lished the Ledger. Then in 1913 he came to Montana and engaged in the newspaper business with his son and in 1920 bought the Medicine Lake Wave from his son. He is a republican in politics. At St. Paul John H. Dolin married Miss Mary A. Doheney. Her father, Dennis Doheney, was one of the pioneers of Minnesota and in the early days conducted a mill and general store at some cross-roads near St. Paul. Later he drove the mail coach from Larimore to Fort Totten, North Dakota, and spent his last days on a farm near Devil's Lake. The children of John H. Dolin and wife are: Alice, wife of Samuel Ret- tinger, of Long Lake, Minnesota, a merchant; Rose, wife of O. C. Bottger, a farmer and stockman of Ollie, Iowa; and Joseph F.

Joseph F. Dolin learned the newspaper business under his father, completed his education at York, North Dakota, and also attended a business college at Devil's Lake and the Stickney Business College of St. Paul. He had gone to York, North Dakota, in 1898, when a schoolboy, and when he left that town to come to Montana he was publishing the York Ledger, which had been established by his father.

Mr. Dolin arrived in Montana in March, 1908, and his first location was at Medicine Lake, where he founded the Medicine Lake Wave. The first issue appeared May 20, 1908, and the paper lived up to its policy of being a family paper and devoted to the interests of the community. It was published weekly and was republican in politics. From Medicine Lake Mr. Dolin established papers at other points as towns sprang up along the Scobey branch of the Great Northern and Soo line. These papers were the Progressive Pioneer at Homestead, the Antelope Ar- gus, the Dagmar Record, the Coalridge Call, the Outlook Promoter, the Dooley Sun and the Flax- ville Democrat. He conducted these various publi- cations for a time, disposing of them chiefly to men whom he had given the local management. All of them except the Antelope Independent, which he es- tablished later, were sold. The Independent is the third paper published in that village. This and the Pioneer Press of Plentywood now comprise Mr. Dolin's interests in the Montana newspaper field.

He hought the Pioneer Press in February, 1918, from George Weatherhead, its founder. The records show the paper was established June 9, 1916, and has been in continuous publication. Mr. Dolin has made it the official paper of the county and he has had the county work for five years, at first doing it under contract at Medicine Lake.

Medicine Lake when Mr. Dolin first saw it was a hamlet consisting of a postoffice, a store, livery and restaurant, and was thirty miles from a railroad. He was there when the Great Northern was built in

and gave the station the name "Flandrem." There was no public domain for entry and the occupants of the country were squatters. At a point ten miles east of the lake Mr. Dolin exercised his privileges under the homestead laws. He proved up and ac- quired title, and the claim is still a part of his prop- erty possessions. While proving up he had a shack 10 by 12 feet, which became the nucleus of subse- quent additions until he now has substantial build- ing improvements. He also prepared a "soddy" to shelter his stock. Mr. Dolin as equipment for his claim shipped in a car containing four horses, a cow and some feed, and he used the horses while work- ing his land. When he left the homestead he turned its management over to tenants, and has since ac- quired a section of land, now largely developed as a grain proposition. He has also raised some flax, and his efforts as a farmer have been rewarded with fairly satisfactory results.

During America's participation in the World war Mr. Dolin's newspapers were made the vehicle for the gospel of patriotism, and in proportion to his means he individually accepted such burdens as in- volved the purchase of bonds. Mr. Dolin is affiliated with the Williston Lodge of Elks and also the Knights of Columbus at that city.

At Bainville, Montana, January 2, 1912, he mar- ried Miss Elizabeth Quinlan. She was born at Ber- thold, North Dakota, March 20, 1889, and was reared in the home of an uncle, Rev. Father Mc- Nulty, at St. Paul. She finished her education in the University of Minnesota and was a successful teacher after graduating. For two terms she taught in North Dakota, and did her last work in the schoolroom at Medicine Lake, Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Dolin have two children: Francis and Rosemary.

IRVIN L. SHIPPEE, who became a resident of Mon- tana territory in 1884, has for twenty years been actively identified with the ranch and farm enter- prise of Sheridan County in the vicinity of Plenty- wood, and was one of the earliest permanent settlers in that community.

He was born at Providence, Rhode Island, April 2, 1868, and the Shippee family has been a numerous one in that state, represented in its citizenship since colonial times. His father, Lemuel Shippee, spent all his life in Rhode Island as a farmer and died at the age of fifty-six. He married Martha Aldridge, a daughter of Anon Aldridge, a native of Rhode Island and a carpenter. Mrs. Shippee died in 1878, six years before her husband. A brief account of their children is as follows: Orrin, who died as a resident of Eustace, Florida; Benedict, who died at Providence; Edwin, who died at Foster, Rhode Island; Irvin L., of Plentywood; Izura, who became the wife of William Smith and died in Rhode Island ; Juliette, who married J. B. Oatley and died in Rhode Island; Ella, wife of Adin Sherman, of Fos- ter, Rhode Island; and Lillis, who died at Los An- geles, the wife of J. B. Morrison.

Irvin L. Shippee spent the first fifteen years of his life on his father's farm, a quarter section of the rich and fertile soil of Providence County. He had little opportunity to attend school, and even before leaving home he worked out two years for wages of six dollars a month. He and his sister Lillis started west together, crossing the entire continent to Ventura, California. At Ventura the sister found employment in a hotel, while he went to work on a grain and horse ranch. His wages were $30 a month, as much money as he could earn in half a year back home. He remained there about three months and then decided to accompany Alex Peters to Mon- tana. Young Peters knew something of Montana,

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and Irvin Shippee, had just about enough money to pay his expenses to Great Falls. The two young men remained together and worked as ranch hands for two years on the Sage Creek Sheep Company's ranch. The pay was $35 a month, and Mr. Shippee continued to give his time to various ranch outfits at the prevailing wages until his marriage. While working hands were paid better here than in the east, even the high wage of the west offered a slow and tedious route to prosperity. Mr. Shippee proved his thrift and earnestness by putting his capital to good use, either loaning it or investing it in stock, and so after some fifteen years of steady work he could estimate his accumulations in property and money to the value of about $6,000. About that time he changed his status from an employe, and leaving the locality of Stamford brought his nucleus of stock into eastern Montana. At that time, in 1900, Plenty- wood was not a name in local geography and the entire region was known as the Culbertson Country. The first winter Mr. Shippee. spent east of the site of Plentywood, merely looking after his stock and the following year moved to the Muddy and erected a pioneer house of logs, which is still doing duty as part of his residence. He hauled the logs for his cabin from the Missouri River at Culbert- son, and also brought enough for shed timbers for his horses and cattle shelters. He had sufficient horse power to perform such heavy hauling, and had had considerable experience as a freighter in the Great Falls country, bringing along his outfit for this service.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 135

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