Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 150

Author: Stout, Tom, 1879- ed
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 1144

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SIMON C. FAABORG, the cashier of the Security State Bank of Medicine Lake, was born at Clinton, Clinton County, Iowa, December 6, 1885. His father, Jens S. Faaborg, born in Denmark, acquired a liberal education in his native land, taught school there, and when he came to the United States, still a young man, he obtained work in a store in Delmar, Clinton County, as a clerk. Gradually he accumu- lated sufficient capital with which to engage in busi- ness, and his commercial life covered a period of about thirty-five years, and he has since retired. For twelve years he was a member of the Board of Education of Clinton, and in politics he is a democrat, while for a quarter of a century he has been a member of the Danish Lutheran Church of America and its treasurer.

Jens S. Faaborg was married at Clinton, Iowa, to Miss Marie Beuckel, who was also born in Denmark, and she came to the United States in young woman- hood. Three sons and three daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. Faaborg: Simon C., whose home is at Medicine Lake; Carl T., a merchant at Kimball- ton, Iowa; Dorothy, the wife of Carl E. Carlson, also of Kimballton, Iowa; Dagmar, wife of George Jorgensen, of Griswold, Iowa; Viggo and Thyra, both of whom are living at Clinton.

The boyhood days of Simon C. Faaborg were

passed in his native town of Clinton, in the meantime securing his education in its public schools, and at the age of sixteen he obtained his first business experience as a clerk in his father's store. He re- mained in his father's employ until the age of twenty-three, when he went with the Peoples Trust & Savings Bank of Clinton, starting with the institu- tion as a messenger and rising gradually in the scale of advancement until he was in charge of the collec- tion department of that bank.

In September, 1912, Mr. Faaborg left his Iowa home and made his way to Medicine Lake, Montana, and his first connection with the business interests of this community was in the organization of the Farmers State Bank of Medicine Lake, in which he was associated with Adam Hannah of Minne- apolis. The bank was organized with a capital of twenty thousand dollars, and Mr. Hannah became its first president and Mr. Faaborg its first cashier. It opened its doors to the general public in December, 1912, and Mr. Faaborg remained with it until July, 1915, when he disposed of his interest and went with the Security State Bank as its cashier, succeeding in that office George L. Ryerson. From that time to the present Mr. Faaborg has continued in the active management of the bank with the exception of the time he spent in the army.

The Security State Bank was organized in 1909 by D. Ray Gregg of Sherwood, North Dakota, George L. Ryerson of Mohall, North Dakota, and J. W. Schnitzler of Froid, Montana. It was organized first as a private banking institution with a capital of $8,000, and was known as the Bank of Medicine Lake. It was chartered as the Security State Bank in June, 1911, the parent bank having been opened at old Medicine Lake. The capital stock at the time the charter was received was increased to $20,000, and the officers at the present time are D. Ray Gregg, president, J. W. Schnitzler, vice presi- dent, Simon C. Faaborg, cashier, and John S. Gregg, assistant cashier.

During the World war Mr. Faaborg volunteered for service enlisting on April 27, 1918, in the medical department, and was assigned to the air , service at March Aviation Field, Riverside, Cal- ifornia. He was made a sergeant in the medical department in the air service division, and was at the March Field at the time of the signing of the armistice. He was discharged at Camp Lewis, Wash- ington, April 29, 1919, and returned to Medicine Lake early in the following May and resumed his position with the Security State Bank. In addition to his banking interests he is interested in and aided in the promotion of the Dagmar-Medicine Lake Telephone Company and in the Medicine Lake Milling Com- pany.

Mr. Faaborg was married at Medora, North Dakota, October 11, 1919, to Miss Antoinette Olsen, a daughter of Andrew and Lucia (Skidmore) Olsen. The father was of Norwegian birth, and for many years was active in the business life of Canby, Minnesota, as a merchant. Mrs. Faaborg was one of the younger children of her parents and was born in Minnesota October 19, 1891. She is a graduate of the Home of Economics Department of the Uni- versity of Minnesota, holds the degree of Bachelor of Science, and was previously a student in the University of Colorado. She taught home economics in the high school at Bemidji, Minnesota, for one year, and during the World war served for a year as county home demonstration agent in Sheridan County, Montana, also spending a year in the same capacity in Missoula County of this state.

The Faaborg home politically contains a democrat and a republican. Mr. Faaborg cast his first presi-

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

dential vote for Mr. Bryan in 1908, but Mrs. Faaborg has never exercised her right of franchise.

GROVER E. FULKEASON. One of the solid banking institutions of this section of Montana is the Farm- ers State Bank of Medicine Lake, of which Grover E. Fulkerson is the cashier. He came to the Town of Medicine Lake in July, 1915, beginning at once his present connections with the bank, and he oc- cupies a leading place among the business men of the county.

Mr. Fulkerson was born in Ramsey County, North Dakota, near Church's Ferry, December II, 1889. His father was a homesteader there, and lost his life in the memorable Thanksgiving blizzard of 1896. He had taken a claim near Leads, and had erected a one-room box house for his family. On that fatal November day he went to Turtle Mountain after wood. His team consisted of a pony and an old horse, and before reaching his home he was over- taken by one of North Dakota's terrible blizzards, and was found dead only a mile and a half from his home. The remainder of the family, the mother and four little boys, were snowed in for three days, the duration of the storm. They were exceedingly poor and without proper clothing for the children or sufficient food. The mother took the children and the two dogs to bed to keep from freezing, and after a time the little cabin became so filled with snow that the bed alone was discernible. The mother had managed to bake a course cake on top of the stove during the first day of the storm, which lasted them until on the third day the neighbors came and rescued them. The old horse driven by the father had managed to get loose from the wagon, and was found at a neighbor's hay stack, a fact which had perhaps something to do with the family's rescue, indicating as it did that something had happened at the Fulkerson home.

So suddenly left a widow and under such sad circumstances, Mrs. Fulkerson faced a serious prob- lem. The son Grover, the eldest child, was then six years old, but the mother succeeded in keeping the family together. When Grover was fifteen years of age they left the farm and went to Canada, locating near Canora, where the mother filed on a homestead and braved the hardships of a winter there in order to acquire title to her land. She passed away there in 1917, after seeing all her children reach years of maturity and take their places among the world's workers.

The husband and father of this unfortunate family was John W. Fulkerson, a native of Illinois and a son of a Civil war veteran, Jacob W. Fulkerson. This veteran soldier was a pioneer into North Dakota, a homesteader at Church's Ferry, and he died there in 1915. Jacob W. Fulkerson married Lucinda Gill, and John W. and Walter A. were the children born of the union.

John W. Fulkerson acquired but a limited educa- tional training. He was born on a farm, and gave his life to that calling. He married Sophia Nelson, who was born in Wisconsin and whose father was a native of Norway. Two of his three children are yet living, Andrew P. Nelson, a resident of Church's Ferry, North Dakota, and Mrs. Jack Verhei, whose home is in Spokane, Washington. Mrs. Fulkerson also received a limited educational training, and she grew up in a home where work was the program of the day. Four sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Fulkerson: Grover E., the Medicine Lake banker; Palmer, who was drowned near Canora, Canada, when eighteen years of age; Jacob W., of Glenaven, Saskatchewan, Canada; and Alvin M., a barber at Grenora, North Dakota.

During his early boyhood days Grover E. Fulker- son attended school intermittantly, attended for two terms the public schools of York, North Dakota, and completed his training in the commercial college at Grand Forks. He had made his own way through school, earning the necessary funds by doing chores for his board and at other occupations, and when he attacked the problem of real business it was as a merchant's clerk with Charley Studness at Church's Ferry. After acquiring some experience there he was made manager of a general store at Newville, North Dakota, and while at that point he studied embalming and passed the State Board examina- tion of North Dakota and did the funeral work of the business at Newville. After coming to Montana he secured a license as an embalmer, but has done little at his profession since coming to Medicine Lake. On leaving the store at Newville he entered the bank at Calio and entered upon a career which has resulted in his connection with one of the substantial banking houses of Sheridan County. From the Farmers and Merchants Bank at Calio, North Dakota, which he served as assistant cashier, he went to the First National Bank at Hampden, North Dakota, and from there to the Hannah Bank at Halliday, North Dakota, where he spent two years and was the assistant cashier, coming from there to Montana.

The Farmers State Bank of Medicine Lake was organized in 1912, and is one of the Adam Hannah line of banks. It opened as a chartered institution with a capital of $20,000, its first officers being Mr. Hannah, president, H. G. Anderson, vice president, and Simon Faaborg, cashier. The same president still serves the house, but Mrs. P. B. Fulkerson is the vice president, Mr. Fulkerson is the cashier and S. O. Swenson is the assistant cashier. The bank deposits when Mr. Fulkerson assumed his office amounted to $37,000, while in 1919 they rose above $200,000, the average deposits at the close of the year was $185,000, and the surplus of the bank is $2,800.

The Fulkerson home was constructed by its owner. It is a full basement of the modern bungalow style, its six rooms are heated by a furnace, and the house is modern in all its appointments. Mr. Fulkerson was married at Egland, North Dakota, January 15, 1913, to Miss Pearl Borgenson, who was born at Faribault, Minnesota, in March; 1894, one of the six daughters of John M. Borgerson, a farmer and merchant. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Fulkerson, John Eugene, Marjorie and Clinton.

Mr. Fulkerson affiliates with the democratic party in national affairs, casting his first presidential vote for Mr. Wilson, also his second, and he has served for several years as a member of the Medicine Lake Council. He is a member of the Odd Fellows fra- ternity, holding his membership in Medicine Lake Lodge No. 108.

HARMON H. FLOYD, of Carter County, is one of the most extensive ranchmen of Southeastern Mon- tana, and he has been identified with the life and interests of this commonwealth since August 26, 1884. When he arrived within its borders he was a young man in the employ of the Continental Land & Cattle Company, better known as the Hash Knife Company, and he went into camp with the advance guard of the outfit along the Little Missouri River, at the mouth of the Box Elder. There the camp remained until the spring of 1885, when the headquarters were moved to a point twenty miles above on that stream and was located there during the remainder of the time the company was engaged in business in Montana.

Mr. Floyd, however, is a native son of the South- west, born in Parker County, Texas, in March, 1864.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

His father, John Floyd, had established his home in the Lone Star State the year his son Harmon was born, going there from Fayetteville, Tennessee. He had previously served the Confederacy from the outbreak of the rebellion until he started for Texas, and in that state he became a farmer. He had learned the tanner's trade in his native state of Tennesseee, but abandoned that calling after he had lost his capital trying to follow it. His po- litical activity was with the democratic party, and for some years after locating in Texas he served as the sheriff of Parker County. When the Floyd family took up their residence in that state the region in which they settled was overrun with hos- tile Indians. During the late '6os and early '70s bands of the hostile red skins roamed the prairies and killed unprotected settlers, men and women, and held a reign of terror for years. At the warn- ing sound of Indian approach the settlers bunched themselves together, barricaded doors and windows, and made ready to sell their lives as dearly as pos- sible. As a child the son Harmon distinctly re- members of running with his relatives to places of supposed safety when Indian scares were announced, and while many of the settlers' children were made captives and carried off by the Comanches, none of the Floyd family fortunately met that fate.

John Floyd married Aramantha Cole, who was born in Tennessee, a daughter of Jack Cole, a Tennessee farmer and slaveholder, as Mr. Floyd had also been in that state. They became the par- ents of the following children: Jack, whose home is in Amarillo, Texas; Addie, who married Jack Oxford and died at Weatherford, Texas; William, who died at Amarillo; Pink, whose death occurred at Santa Ana, Texas, after becoming the wife of Moses Waters; James, whose home is in Clovis, New Mexico; Frank, of Amarillo; Harmon, the Montana ranchman; and Brice, of Tucumcari, New Mexico. The family subsequently removed to Ama- rillo, Texas, where the father passed away at the age of eighty-four years and the mother when eighty-seven.

Harmon H. . Floyd during his early youth re- ceived a most limited educational training, but he learned to read and write, and the knowledge which he added to this scant training as the years have come and gone has enabled him to cope with the incidents and problems which have confronted him in his business life. He left the parental home dur- ing the fall before his fiftieth birthday and worked . on ranches until he was eighteen, and then became identified with a cattle outfit for the first time. It was from his native state of Texas that he started for Montana, accompanying the pioneer herd of the Continental Land and Cattle Company as cook for the Jo Carr outfit of fifteen men. The herd started from Seymour, Texas, crossed the Red River at Doan's store and followed the old trail through the Indian Territory, passed through Kansas and through its historic old cattle town of Dodge City on to Ogalalla, Nebraska, where it crossed the North Platte River, and went up that stream to Sidney Bridge, crossing into South Dakota near Edge- mont, and passed east of the Black Hills to Rapid City. This trip of more than 1,000 miles consumed the time from May to August, and was performed without particular incident save an Indian holdup, when the red skins took some cattle from the herd at the point of guns as they were passing through Indian Territory.

Mr. Floyd had been in the employ of the Con- tinental Land and Cattle Company for several years before starting on this journey, under the famed Tom Irby of Western Texas, and he continued with

the company as long as they were identified with Montana. It was during a period of almost twenty years that he drew wages from them, and during that time he trailed cattle from Texas for them on two occasions. On leaving their employ he went with the "W" outfit on the head waters of East Fork, and after a year with that company he mar- ried and engaged in business for himself. In look-

ing back over his career as an employe on ranches it is curious to note that he saved practically noth- ing from his earnings. Five hundred dollars would have covered all of value he possessed when he married, and it seemed to his friends and acquain- tances useless and hopeless for him to entertain thie thought of taking up the stock business for him- self. However, he purchased stock of his father- in-law with $1,600 borrowed from the Butte County Bank at Belle Fourche and embarked on his busi- ness career. He chose the Government Reserve along the Little Missouri as his ranging place, and when he saw the necessity of owning land he bought two tracts adjoining the reserve, purchasing on credit, and as soon as the lands opened for settle- ment he filed on his homestead and desert claim, and upon his homestead he established his headquar- ters and erected his improvements.

In making his pioneer preparations for a home Mr. Floyd erected a two-room log house, which is now serving as the ranch bunkhouse. In 1913 a modern frame nine-room house was built, and his first accommodations for his stock were succeeded by his present extensive barn, one of the most sub- stantial and attractive along the old Camp Cook trail. In time his acreage also began to enlarge by the purchase of patented lands, and notwithstand- ing the fact that it was openly predicted by his friends he would never succeed in his enterprise he now owns a ranch of 1,600 acres and is recog- nized as one of the largest stock dealers of his section of the state.

Mr. Floyd chose as his cow brand the "TJ-TJO" on the right side, and has continued this brand since the beginning of his venture in 1902. His initial herd was graded stock of the White Face strain, and he has kept them bred up to the highest quality by the purchase of blooded and registered sires, and it is probably due to this fact that the record for the highest price paid for grass cattle has come to him at the Omaha markets. His ranch has han- dled from 2 to 500 head of cattle, and he has fol- lowed the plan of holding his steers until three years old and then selling them.

As a farmer he has simply encouraged the grow- ing of grass. The food value of Montana grass became known to him early in his experience in the business of preparing range cattle for the mar- ket and convinced him that the grass grown on Mon- tana soil exceeds any like feed in food value grown anywhere else, and it puts weight into a steer that nothing else but the close feeding of the corn states can equal.

Mr. Floyd was married on the Little Missouri River, then a part of Custer County, although the ceremony was actually performed in Belle Fourche. The wedding occurred March 25, 1900, when Miss Kittie Belle Johnstone became his wife. She was born in the Black Hills at Central City, South Da- kota, February 27, 1880, one in a family of two sons and four daughters to reach years of maturity. Her father was John Johnstone, a brother of Thomas Johnstone, whose history appears elsewhere in this work. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Floyd, but the first born, John Harmon, died in infancy. The four surviving are Flora, Gifford, Margaret and Lois.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

In his political affiliations Mr. Floyd is a demo- crat on national issues. He has served the district of Five Mile as a member of its school board almost since the beginning of his settlement here. His fra- ternal connections are with the Odd Fellows order, with which he united more than a quarter of a cen- tury ago, and with the Modern Woodmen of America.

ERNEST W. THOMAS, of Miles City, is a well known stock man and rancher identified with Prairie County's interests. He came to Montana in April, 1893, then a youth of twenty years, riding and bringing an extra saddle horse from Moorecroft, Wyoming. He had previously been a cowboy in that region for three years, working for the One Hundred and One ranch on the Belle Fourche and for other smaller concerns. He had still previous to this time spent a period with the Flying V ranch in South Dakota on the Morrow River, and therefore he brought with him to his last and final home a valuable experience as a westerner and ranch hand.

After arriving in the Tongue River country Mr. Thomas' first work was with Peter Wiley, a Scotch- man who had a sheep ranch on what is now the Cheyenne Reservation at the mouth of Logging Creek, and he remained on that ranch one season. Going then to Miles City, on the 4th of July, 1893, he hired to Freeman Philbrick on the Rosebud, one of the most successful sheep men of the country. During a period of five years Mr. Thomas remained with him on the ranch, herding sheep, tending camp, .and in fact doing everything to be done about a sheep camp. His wages had been from $30 to $40 a month, and his economy during all that time en- abled him to save his earnings, and at the expira- tion of the five years he had created a capital of $2,000.

Being then ready to embark in business for him- self Mr. Thomas joined Newell G. Philbrick, a brother of his former employer, and the two part- ners started their venture with about 1,800 yearling ewes. They established their ranch on the Rosebud, at what is now the Newell Philbrick ranch, and remained together for five years, when they dis- solved the partnership and divided their 8,000 sheep, Mr. Thomas taking his bunch to Sheep Mountain, where his cattle ranch is now located. He con- tinued the sheep industry until 1917, when the en- croachment of settlers so threatened his range that he sold his band and turned his attention to the raising of cattle.

Mr. Thomas' started his ranching enterprise on the public domain near Sheep Mountains, and for years following had access to a wide scope of ter- ritory. But seeing that he would eventually have to own title to land for pasture or go out of the busi- ness entirely he began buying land and with the passing years has developed a ranch of 10,000 acres, divided into two ranches, each having a set of im- provements. His farming has constituted the grow- ing of feed crops for his stock. His first shelter on his ranch was his sheep wagon, but later a log cabin was 'built, and in both he led a bachelor's life. Since then frame houses have succeeded the cabin, barns have been erected, and his are now among the best ranch improvements in that region of the state.

Mr. Thomas embarked in the cattle business as a breeder of Herefords under the brand "U-L," starting the industry in 1914, and has since developed a herd of 2,000 head. He belonged to the Montana Stock Growers Association for years before he en- tered the cattle business, and has rendered valuable service to this association as a member of commit-

tees. He has also extended his business interests beyond his ranching and is a stockholder in the Miles City National Bank, having also formerly served that institution as a director. He began his political activities as a citizen in Montana, for he reached his majority here, and he cast his first presidential vote for Major Mckinley in 1896. His voting has constituted his active part in politics. In his fraternal affiliations he is both a Modern Woodman and an Elk.

Ernest W. Thomas is.a native son of Iowa, born in . Monona County, December 28, 1872. His par- ents were farming people and tenant ones, but capa- ble of providing well for their children. The country school training which Ernest W. received was sup- plemented by one term of graded school work, and at the early age of seventeen he left home and began life for himself, thereafter also occasionally con- tributing some of his earnings to his sisters. Their father had died when Ernest was but fourteen years old, and his mother passed away some few years later. He was a son of Henry Thomas and a grand- son of Benjamin Thomas. The last named was a farmer, and his children comprised his son Henry and two daughters, Mrs. Lenora Erskine and Mrs. Depew. 'Henry Thomas went from Ohio to Iowa, and was married there to Harriet Reynolds, a daughter of Patrick Reynolds, who came to the United States from the North of Ireland and spent the remainder of his life as a farmer and home- steader in Iowa. Henry Thomas was a Civil war soldier, and because of wounds received in service afterward drew a pension. He volunteered from Ohio at the age of seventeen, and at the expiration of his term re-enlisted and received his wounds at the battle of the Wilderness. He died in 1886, and his wife passed away in Woodbury County, Iowa, in 1894. Their children were: Ernest W., Cora, who is married and living in the Black Hills, Mrs. Edith Twining, of Custer County, and Myrtle, wife of Newell G. Philbrick, of Rosebud County.

Ernest W. Thomas was married at Miles City, Montana, December 15, 1906, to Miss Laura Soren- son, a daughter of one of the first settlers of this region, N. P. Sorenson, a blacksmith and in the early days of Montana a buffalo hunter. He married Eliza L. Herrington, and Mrs. Thomas was the fourth born of their seven children. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, Bruce and Lillie Ernestine.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 150

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