Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 146

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 146

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He remained in Janesville for eighteen months, when he sold his interests there and then spent six months in the James River Valley of South Dakota. Near the town of Ashton he took up a claim, but disposed of it as soon as he received his govern- ment receipt, and going to Glenwood, Minnesota, established himself in the retail lumber business. Five years were spent there in the lumber and grain business, and then going to Appleton, Minne- sota, became identified with the grain and milling business as a member of the Appleton Mill com- pany, of which he was the president and secretary. After ten years there Mr. Jennison removed to Minneapolis for better educational facilities and family environment, and was connected with a grain and lumber company there until 1905, when he moved to North Dakota and became interested in the Rugby Flour Mill. This plant was incor- porated in 1907 as the Rugby Milling Company, and two years after this, in 1909, Mr. Jennison transferred his residence to Williston, North Da- kota, and built the Williston Flour Mill, with a capacity of 250 barrels daily. He was associated in this enterprise with H. O. Frank and W. J. Miller, and these gentlemen also form the owners of the mill at Rugby, a plant with a capacity of 200 barrels daily.

In 1907, under. the name of the Rugby Elevator Company, they established a line of elevators along the Great Northern Railroad, and in the spring of 1913 extended their interests into the Fairview locality and built a flour mill with a capacity of 175 barrels, acquired coal properties and opened a mine within the corporate limits of the city and constructed a power plant and established a public utilities concern. The milling business is incor- porated under the name of the Fairview Mill Com- pany, while the coal mining interests are incorporated under the name of the Jennison Coal Mining Com- pany and the public utilities concern under the name of the Jennison Light & Power Company, the latter comprising a transmission light and power line to Sidney, Montana, at which point they supply elec- tric current. The company has also recently acquired the Fairview Brick Company, and is con- structing a new plant where clay will be taken from the coal mine a thousand feet back under the hills. This is a wonderful brick clay under test, and its possibilities are not yet fully determined.

On coming to Fairview Warren Jennison became associated with the company as an equal partner. In 1916, at Bainville, Montana, the company con- structed a 500 barrel flour mill, that point being the outlet on the Plentywood-Scobey line of rail- road for the very excellent hard, dark northern

spring wheat, rivaling in quality the best wheat produced in North Dakota or Canada. All these various companies mentioned are corporations with the exception of the Jennison Mills Company at Bainville, which is conducted as a co-partnership. H. O .. Frank is the president of all these various companies, W. J. Miller is the vice president, C. W. Jennison is treasurer and general manager, and Warren Jennison is manager and secretary of the Fairview Mill Company, the Fairview Brick Com- pany, the Jennison Coal Mining Company and the Jennison Light & Power Company.

Charles W. Jennison on the 2d of October, 1882, married Miss Josephine Almira Lathrop, of Apple- ton, Minnesota, a daughter of the Hon. A. W. Lathrop. Mrs. Jennison was born in Minnesota, and died June 30, 1896, the mother of four sons, Warren Judson, Wesley Lathrop, Alfred Willis and John Charles. Wesley L. Jennison, who was born in 1887, died at the age of eighteen, just as he was entering as a student the University of Minnesota. Alfred W. Jennison was born in 1892, and the birth of John Charles Jennison occurred in 1894. For his present wife Charles W. Jennison married at Tacoma, Washington, in 1908, Miss Claribell Wat- son, a daughter of John Watson. Mrs. Jennison was born in Michigan, is a graduate of the Moore- head Normal School in Minnesota, and before her marriage was a teacher of English and music.

Politically Mr. Jennison has always given his sup- port to the republican party, but is interested in political matters only to the extent of being a public- spirited and loyal citizen. He and his sons are communicants of the Episcopal Church.

Warren J. Jennison completed his school days in the Central High School of Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he graduated in 1904. His first work was in a grain commission office in the Chamber of Com- merce as a clerk, but in 1907, after he had attained the position of cashier of a grain and lumber com- pany, he left that firm and became associated with the Rugby Milling Company as its secretary and manager. In the summer of 1913 he came to Fair- view, where he has since been actively identified with the community's interests and is numbered among its most prominent developers.

Warren J. Jennison in 1909, in Rugby, North Dakota, married Miss Bernice Josephine Harmon. She is a native daughter of Indiana, and her father is Theopholis K. Harmon, a leading lodge man and a veteran of the Civil war. They have one son, Wesley Grant, born in 1911. Mr. Jennison is a Master Mason and a republican.

WILLIAM JOHN CLEMENS. Adherence to upright methods of business and modern ways of produc- tion have brought the Purity Dairy Products Com- pany into a foremost place among concerns of its kind in this part of the state, and one of the men largely responsible for this desirable condition of affairs is its efficient manager, William John Clemens, one of the responsible business men of Anaconda. Mr. Clemens was born at Missoula, Montana, August 10, 1886, and has never been out of his native state. His father, Henry Clemens, who resides with his son, was born in Germany in 1845, but ran away to the United States in 1862 in order to escape the compulsory military service, and coming as far west as Shakopee, Wisconsin, worked as a farm hand until his marriage. In 1879 he came to Montana and for a time was en- gaged at Sun River in chopping rails for railroad ties, and then walked to Missoula, as the railroad was not then built to that point. Later he found employment with the Northern Pacific Railroad and

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remained with it until 1894, the year of the great strike, when he left the railroad, and coming to Anaconda was car inspector for the Butte, Ana- conda & Pacific Railroad for a number of years, and then for two years was at the Washoe Reduc- tion Works of the Anaconda Copper Mining Com- pany. For the subsequent thirteen years he was night watchman for the Copper City Commercial Company, and then retired. He is a democrat, a Roman Catholic and a member of Anaconda Camp No. 154, Woodmen of the World. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Margaret Haskamp, was born in Germany in 1866, and she died at Anaconda May 4, 1915. Their children were as follows: John Henry, who is a locomotive engineer, lives at Rocker, Montana ; William John, whose name heads this review; and Thomas Henry, who is a traveler.

William John Clemens attended school at Mis- soula and completed the common grades at the age of thirteen years, when he entered the employ of the Copper City Commercial Company as de- livery boy, and worked up to be a clerk in the hardware department, in all being with this com- pany for ten years and two months. In 1907 he em- barked in a dairy business in Deerlodge Valley, and conducted it for three and one-half years. Then he sold and, in 1910, formed a partnership with H. G. Coy and for four years was in an implement business at Anaconda. In 1916 Mr. Clemens be- came delivery man for the Purity Dairy Products Company and rose until in 1917 he was made its manager. The company handles milk and manu- factures butter, ice cream and cheese, and is the leading concern of this kind in Deerlodge County. The offices and dairy are located at 113 East Com- mercial avenue. This company is incorporated and its officers are as follows: W. H. Dunningan, pres- ident; Geroge P. Wellcome, vice president; H. H. Durston, secretary and treasurer; and W. J. Clemens, manager. Mr. Clemens is independent in his political views. He is a Catholic by inheritance and conviction. He owns his modern residence at I14 Pine street.

On April 14, 1910, Mr. Clemens was united in marriage to Miss Edith Perry, a daughter of George and Lucy Perry, both of whom are now deceased and buried in the cemetery at Anaconda. Mr. Perry was in the brick department of the Ana- conda Copper Mining Company at Anaconda. Mr. and Mrs. Clemens have two children, namely : Eleanor Elizabeth, who was born December 8, 1913; and Evelyn Margaret, who was born Fehruary 23, 1918. Having advanced through his own individual efforts Mr. Clemens deserves great credit for his present prosperity. Beginning his business career at an age when children of this generation are considered mere babes, he kept steadily at work, saved his money and invested it wisely, and today occupies an enviable position in his community. While his business cares have occupied him to the exclusion of outside connections, he takes an intelli- gent interest in the growth of his city and state and believes that both are the best to be found in the world.

JOHN W. BRIDGE had the responsibility of open- ing and establishing and has since been cashier of the Blair & Company State Bank, at Helmville, Montana. This is affiliated with one of the promi- nent banking houses in the Northwest. J. W. Blair, president of the company, is a well known Mon- tana banker and capitalist, while the two vice presi- dents, W. T. Day and C. T. Hansen, are well known figures in the financial life of the State of Wash- ington. The Helmville Bank has resources of over

$200,000, capital stock and undivided profits aggre- gating over $36,000, while the responsibility of the firm to depositors is over $2,000,000.

John W. Bridge was born at Warren, Illinois, March 25, 1884. He is of Scotch ancestry. His grandfather, Robert Bridge, was born at Glasgow, Scotland, in 1808, and in early life came to America, following his business as a contractor and builder at New York City, and later becoming a farmer in Southern Wisconsin at Lake Koshkonong. He was there in the territorial period of Wisconsin. When he retired from the farm he moved to White- water, Wisconsin, and spent the last few years of his life at Evanston, Chicago, Illinois, where he died in 1907. He was ninety-nine years of age at the time of his death and had retained his faculties almost unimpaired to the end. His wife was a Miss Kelly, a native of Scotland, who died at White- water, Wisconsin, at the age of eighty-four.

William H. Bridge, father of the Montana banker, was born near Elkhorn, Wisconsin, in 1844, grew up and married there and followed farming. In 1869 he moved to Fremont, Nebraska, where he established and conducted a nursery. In 1872 he returned to Illinois and settled at Warren where he was in the flour milling business for fifteen years. After 1887 he conducted a flour mill at Norfolk, Nebraska, and about 1907 retired from business, living at Spokane, Washington, several years and is now a retired resident of Pasadena, California. He is a republican and a very active member and supporter of the Congregational Church. William H. Bridge married Nellie Ranney, who was born near Elkhorn, Wisconsin, in 1851, and is from one of the oldest Connecticut families. Jessie, the oldest of their four children, is the wife of Dr. P. D. McCornack, a suregon and specialist in children's diseases at Spokane, Washingon. Wil- liam, Jr., died at the age of nineteen. Ernest L. owns a chicken ranch at San Gabriel, California.

John W. Bridge, youngest of the family, was edu- cated in the public schools at Onawa, Iowa, Lin- coln, Nebraska, and Norfolk, Nebraska, graduat- ing from the high school of the latter place in 1901. He spent two terms in the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and two years in Oberlin College in Ohio. He is a member of the Lincoln Chapter of the Delta Tau Delta college fraternity. For a short time in 1905 Mr. Bridge was cashier of the Union Depot at Norfolk, Nebraska, and then en- tered the National Bank of Commerce at Minneapo- lis, serving it as bookkeeper for ten months. The following year he spent assisting his father in the flour mill at Norfolk, and after that until 1910 en- gaged in the real estate business at Spokane, Wash- ington. Mr. Bridge opened the Helmville office of Blair & Company's State Bank in 1910, and has since been the active manager and cashier and is largely responsible for the patronage and prosperity of the bank.

Mr. Bridge also owns a ranch of 640 acres at Helmville. He is an independent republican in politics and is affiliated with Ruby Lodge of Ma- sons at Drummond, Montana. In 1917, at Butte, he married Miss Marie Hickey, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Hickey. Her father is a re- tired mining man at Butte and her mother is de- ceased. Mrs. Bridge is a skilled vocalist, having finished her musical education in the Root Conserva- tory of Music in Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. Bridge have one son, William Thomas, born March 6, 1918.

LEO J. MCGRATH. In writing of the eminently capable and progressive men that are intimately associated with the advancement of the mining in-

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terests of Butte, special mention should be made of Leo J. . McGrath, superintendent of the Alice Mine. He has been a resident of the city for nearly a score of years, during which time he has ever heartily endorsed all enterprises conducive to its welfare. A son of Joseph McGrath, he was born October 18, 1881, in Grass Valley, Nevada County, California, of Irish parentage.

Born in Ireland in 1850, Joseph McGrath was brought up and educated in his native land, living there until nineteen years of age. Married at that age, he came with his bride to the United States, going directly across the country to Grass Valley, California. There he was engaged in mining pur- suits until 1911, coming then to Butte, where he has since been similarly occupied with the Ana- conda Copper Mining Company, at the West Gray Rock Mine. He is a democrat in politics, and a member. of the Roman Catholic Church.

Joseph McGrath married in Ireland in November, 1869, Mary Flood, whose birth occurred in Ireland in 1851, and in November, 1919, the happy couple celebrated the golden anniversary of their marriage at their pleasant home, 934 Utah Avenue, where a large gathering of friends and relatives show- ered them with congratulations and gifts. Nine chil- dren were born of their union, as follows: Maggie, who died at the age of eighteen years in Grass Valley; Thomas, of Butte, is superintendent of the West Gray Rock Mine; James, who died in Grass Valley at the age of nine months; Mary, wife of Dr. J. A. Carew, a well known dentist of San Fran- cisco, California; Leo. J., the special subject of this sketch; Frank, who died in Grass Valley, aged eighteen years; Genevieve, wife of A. J. Smith, an automobile dealer in Los Angeles, California ; Helen, living with her parents, is employed in Symons' de- partment store; and Paul, now engaged in mining at the West Gray Rock Mine, enlisted in May, 1917, and was sent to the navy yard in Brooklyn, New York, where he was mustered out of service in January, 1919.

Attending school in Nevada County, California, until fifteen years old, Leo J. McGrath then entered a dry goods store in Grass Valley as a clerk, and gradually worked his way up through the different departments until made window dresser, a position of considerable importance. Coming to Butte in 1902, he worked for six months as an underground miner in the Bell-Diamond Mine, and was similarly employed in the East Gray Rock Mine for two years. Mr. McGrath was subsequently employed as a miner in the West Gray Rock Mine until 1913, when he was made shift boss, a position that he filled most ably until 1915, when he was promoted to the po- sition of assistant superintendent. In March, 1917, Mr. McGrath accepted his present high position as superintendent of the Alice Mine, and has since dis- charged the duties devolving upon him with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of the com- pany with which he is connected. Under his super- vision are 250 employes of the Alice Mine, which was one of the first silver mines of North Walker- ville, but which since the beginning of the World war has been a zinc producing mine.

Mr. McGrath married in May, 1913, in Grass Val- ley, California, Miss Edna Kinley, a daughter of Richard and Jane (Morgan) Kinley, of Grass Val- ley, where her father is employed as battery man in a gold quartz mill. Mr. and Mrs. McGrath have one child, Francis, born June 21, 1917. Po- litically Mr. McGrath is a firm adherent of the dem- ocratic party. Religiously he is a faithful member of the Roman Catholic Church. Fraternally he is a member of Butte Council No. 668, Knights of Co-

lumbus, in which he has taken the third degree, and of Grass Valley Lodge No. 1301, Order of Eagles. Mr. McGrath has an attractive home at 938 Utah Avenue, very near that of his parents.

ARTHUR L. HAWKESWORTH. Possessing great me- chanical skill and inventive talent of a high order, Arthur L. Hawkesworth, master mechanic of the Butte Mines Machine Shop, is thoroughly acquainted with every branch of the machinist's trade, and in the various places in which he has been employed has won an enviable reputation for efficiency and dex- terity in the use of the machinist's tools. A son of the late James Hawkesworth, he was born August 25, 1869, in Bay City, Michigan, being a descendant on the paternal side, in the fifth generation, from Josiah Wedgwood, the famous English potter, who invented the ware bearing his name, the lineage being traced through his daughter, Elizabeth Wedg- wood.

James Hawkesworth was born in 1839 in the Prov- ince of Ontario, Canada, where his father settled on emigrating from England to America. A man of scholarly attainments, he was educated at a col- lege in Buffalo, New York, and after his graduation returned to Ontario, Canada, where he lived for a while. Settling in Bay City, Michigan, in pioneer days, he became superintendent of a sawmill, and was there engaged in business until his death in 1872. A man of spotless integrity, he was held in high respect throughout the community. He was broad-minded, liberal in his religious views, and a prominent member of the Universalist Church. Po- litically he was a republican, and fraternally he be- longed to the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

The maiden name of the wife of James Hawkes- worth was Julia Clark. She was born in 1841 in Buffalo, New York, where she was married, coming from a family of prominence, Doctor Ryerson, the noted educator of the Province of Ontario, having been her great-great-uncle. Three children blessed their marriage, as follows: Lula, wife of John J. Miller, junior member of the Bradley-Miller Lum- ber Company, of West Bay City, Michigan; Frank, an erecting engineer in California; and Arthur L., of whom we write.

Obtaining his first knowledge of books in the public schools of his native city, Arthur L. Hawkesworth subsequently attended a private school, receiving therein the equivalent of a high school edu- cation. At the age of sixteen years he entered the Standard Machine Shop in Bay City, and there served an apprenticeship of three years at the ma- chinist's trade. Entering the employ of the Bay City. Iron Works in 1888, he served as a journey- man machinist for six months, after which he worked as tool maker in Chicago, Illinois, for a year. Com- ing to Montana in 1890, Mr. Hawkesworth was for two years an employe in the John Steadman Foundry and Machine Shop. Going then to Elkhorn, Jeffer- son County, Montana, he was for three years ma- chinist at the Elkhorn Mine, and the ensuing year worked in the Caird & Hawkesworth Machine Shop in Helena, the junior member of the firm having been his brother, Frank Hawkesworth, and the senior member, Charles Caird.

Going next to Marysville, this state, Mr. Hawkes- worth was employed for six months there as a ma- chinist, and then worked two months for his brother's firm in Helena. Accepting then a position as master mechanic at the Elkhorn Mine, he retained it until 1904. Subsequently passing through Butte, he went to Great Falls as master mechanic for the American Smelting and Refining Company, with which he was associated for a year. Returning to

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Cross for two years, receiving four service stripes in honor of her length of service and returning to this country in March, 1919; and Edward L., who is the youngest born.

Growing up in his native place Edward L. Rals- ton attended the local schools of Deerlodge County and the Germantown Academy at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in 1906. He then entered the Montana State School of Mines at Butte, Montana, and took a three years' course, completing his training by a year at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, from which he was grad- uated in 1910, with the degrees of Bachelor of Sci- ence and Mining Engineer. That same year he be- gan working for Harper, McDonald and Company, engineers of Butte, and in July, 1911, went with the East Butte Copper Mining Company as assis- tant engineer. On January 1, 1913, he was made superintendent of the Florence Mine at Neihart, Montana, returning after a year to Harper, McDon- ald and Company as assistant engineer. In 1915 he became draughtsman for the City of Butte and was in the office of the commissioner of public works until March, 1917, in that month receiving his appointment as superintendent of the Anselmo Mine, which is located at the corner of Woolman and Alabama streets. Under his supervision are fifty employes. The mine produces silver and zinc and is operated by a New York syndicate. Mr. Ralston owns his modern residence at 1028 West Plat- inum Street, and also a third interest in the Ralston ranch. Like his father he is a republican. He be- . longs to Mount Moriah Lodge No. 24, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and the Lodge of Perfection of Butte.

On January 1, 1910, Mr. Ralston was married at Butte to Miss Helen West Pyle, a daughter of Jo- seph Clinton and Helen (Prosser) Pyle. Mrs. Pyle died at Butte in December, 1919, but Mr. Pyle sur- vives and is a geologist for the interests of Senator W. A. Clark, and a leading mine operator of Mon- tana. Mr. and Mrs. Ralston have the following children : Edward L., Jr., who was born November 13, 1910; Helen West, who was born August 13. 1912; Donald Clinton, who was born February 28, 1915; and Joseph Pyle, who was born September 23, 1919.

MALCOLM BOWDEN, superintendent of the Travona Mine, is one of the best instances Butte affords of the self-reliant, dependable mining expert, whose experience and knowledge are receiving proper recog- nition. He was born at London, England, on Au- gust 1, 1885, a son of Josiah Bowden, who was born in Cornwall, England, in 1836 and is now a resident of Helena, Montana. John Longmaid, who married his sister, was a pioneer of Butte during the early days of its mining activities, and it is probably hecause of the latter's success in this country that Josiah Bowden was led to sell his mercantile estah- lishment in England and bring his wife and children, all of whom were born in England, to the United States in 1886. Josiah Bowden came direct to Mon- tana after landing in this country and located at Helena, where he has since resided. For some years he was a hookkeeper for the Montana Central Railroad, later was a bank accountant, and in 1919 retired from active life. Since receiving his papers of citizenship he has been a supporter of the repub- lican party. Born and reared in the faith of the Society of Friends, he still holds to it. His wife was Ellen Hart prior to her marriage, and she was horn at Belfast, Ireland, in 1836, and died at Helena, Montana, in 1909. Their children were as follows: Josiah, who is with the State Nursery Company of

Helena, Montana; Marguerite who married A. J. Horsky an attorney of Helena; Charles A. who is a draughtsman for the Anaconda Copper Mining Company of Butte; Malcolm whose name heads this review and two who died in childhood.

But an infant at the time of the family's settle- ment in Helena, Mr. Bowden was reared in that city, and attended the grammar and high schools until the close of his sophomore year. In 1900 he began working in the mines of Jefferson County, Montana, and remained there for two years, and then, returning to Helena, spent a short period in the employ of several mercantile and financial houses. In 1903 he entered the preparatory School of Mines at Butte, and in 1904 matriculated at the School of Mines, and was graduated therefrom in 1908 with the degree of Mining Engineer. For a short time thereafter he was in the employ of what is now the Montana Power Company, and then went back to the Jefferson County mines as a mining en- gineer, and remained there until 1910. In that year he was able to carry out plans that had been long maturing and visited different points in Europe, especially in France, not only making the trip for pleasure, but also to gain a knowledge of methods of working in the various mining centers of the Old World. Upon his return to Montana in 1911 he engaged in mining in Beaverhead County, and was made superintendent of the Hecla Mine, in which capacity he continued until 1912. The position of foreman of the gold mine at Helena was then offered him, and he accepted it and discharged its duties until 1914. During 1915, 1916 and 1917 he lived at Helena, recuperating from his arduous tasks, and in the latter year came to Butte and be- came associated with Senator W. A. Clark's inter- ests. His experience and skill brought him promo- tion, and in August, 1919, he was made superintend- ent of the Travona Mine, which position he still holds. This mine is located on West Aluminum Street, and produces silver and zinc.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 146

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