Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 152

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 152

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Captain Brown died October 26, 1908, and his remains were laid to rest in the cemetery at Miles

City. He and Mrs. Brown were the parents of three children. Albert Gallatin, who was trained under his father to ranching, and educated in the Virginia Military School, and is now business man- ager of the Brown Cattle Company. He married Annie May Powell, and has two children, Josephine and Albert Gallatin, Jr. Joseph Taliaferro, who was educated in the Virginia Military School, is now manager of the stock department of the Brown Cat- tle Company. He married Wille B. Powell, a sister of Albert's wife, and a daughter of William Byrd Powell, of Utica, Mississippi. Natalie Humphreys is the wife of Gilbert Woodard, a ranchman near Birney, with one daughter, Mary Brown.

Captain Brown erected his final home on Tongue River behind the mountains adjacent to this stream, and it is of modern, roomy construction and propor- tions and of convenient arrangement. He possessed a liking for books and owned a library of no mean proportions. His fondness for history was prover- bial, and, being a lawyer by profession, he appre- ciated to the full the literary efforts of able writers and speakers and was interested in all manner of questions coming before the body politic.

AUGUST THEADE, Montana not only honors Au- gust Theade as one of her early farmer citizens but also as a loyal and true soldier of the Union when war was being waged between the North and South. He is of German birth and parentage. His father, Andrew Theade, a farmer, proved his loyalty to his adopted country when he gave two of his sons to the Union cause during the Civil war. He became a naturalized citizen, took part · in govern- mental affairs as a voter, and was a staunch upholder of republican principles.

Andrew Theade married Mary Kramer, and they became the parents of a large family of children, namely: August, the Montana soldier citizen; Ernest, also a Civil war veteran and a resident of Redfield, North Dakota; Augusta, who became the wife of John Krause and died in Riley County, Kansas; William, a Wisconsin farmer; Louisa, who married Leonard Schlump, of Grant County, Wis- consin; Carrie, the wife of John Kurtz, of Grant County ; and Edward, whose home is at Sand Point, Idaho. The father of this family died in Grant County, Wisconsin, and the mother survived him for about fifteen years.

August Theade was born near Berlin, Germany, November 15, 1840, and was but three years old when the family embarked for the United States and established a new home in Wisconsin. He grew to mature years on a farm, was early inured to the work of the fields, and gained but a limited educational training. From Grant County, Wiscon- sin, he subsequently went to Lancaster County, Ne- braska, where he spent a brief two years, and then as a passenger on the old Northern Pacific made the journey into the new Northwest and to Montana, spending three years here before he brought in his family. He arrived in Custer County in March, 1882, and three years later, in 1885, he homesteaded on the Yellowstone River bottom, at the present site of Clearmont. With the passing years' he im- proved and developed a good farm, and continued actively identified with its interests until 1917, when he disposed of the property and located upon the flat nearby. At this second location he resumed his extensive ranching and cattle interests, and aided materially in the development and upbuilding of the community.

Mr. Theade was a youth of twenty-one years when he enlisted at old Patch Grove in Grant Coun- ty, Wisconsin, for service in the Civil war, becoming

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Edwin

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a member of Company C, Second Wisconsin Cavalry, under Captain Woods and Col. C. C. Washburn. The regiment rendezvoused at Milwaukee, was subse- quently sent to Benton Barracks, St. Louis, thence up the Missouri River to Jefferson City, back to Springfield, Missouri, and crossed the Ozark Moun- tains and joined the army of General Curtis July 4, 1862, on its way to Helena. There real service began with skirmishing and some fighting, while later on it took part in the Vicksburg campaign and helped beat the Confederates back to the lat- ter point, and was around the place when General Pemberton surrendered it. Mr. Theade at that time saw 35,000 rebels walk out of the stronghold and become paroled prisoners. Following the Vicksburg campaign the regiment scouted along the Mississippi River and later was sent down the river from Mem- phis to the mouth of Red River, thence up that stream to Alexandria, Louisiana, and there went into camp for a few weeks. From that point this independent brigade under General Custer was or- dered to Austin, Texas, and marched through the Trans-Mississippi department to that point. The command was there stationed when the surrender of General Lee ended the war, and it was there also Mr. Theade received his discharge and re- turned North by the way of. Galveston and New Orleans, up the Mississippi River to Cairo, Illinois, and by rail to Madison, Wisconsin, reaching home on the 15th of November, 1865. Throughout all this long military service he escaped wounds, his chief discomfort having come from the lack of food, which frequently happened during the almost four years he was in the army.

With the closing of the war and the restoration of peace Mr. Theade turned his attention to his farming pursuits. He owned a farm near Avoca, Wisconsin, and he remained there until his migration to Nebraska and his subsequent advent into Mon- tana. In the support of governmental affairs he has always espoused the cause of the republican party, but his political work has been given as a voter at the general elections.

On the 9th of October, 1866, Mr. Theade was married to Annie Krause, a daughter of Martin Krause. Mrs. Theade was born in the Province of Brandenburg, Germany, near the early home of the Theades, and her birth occurred in the year 1850. The six children born of their union are: William, of Livingston, Montana; Louisa, wife of Pose Beck, of Nebraska; John, a ranchman of the Clearmont community of Custer County ; Mary, wife of George Stockhill, and they reside at Miles City ; Rosa, wife of Harry Sanders, of Seattle, Wash- ington ; and Harry, who met his death at Hathaway on April 25, 1920.

EDWIN KOCH. The best equipped business college in western Montana, outside of Butte, is the Mis- soula Business and Normal College. This school is fully accredited by the National Association of Accredited Commercial Schools. The active ad- ministrative head and proprietor of this institution is Edwin Koch. Mr. Koch has made education his life work, and for a number of years held some important positions in the schools of Indiana before he came to Montana.

He was born at Columbia City, Whitley County, Indiana, August 4, 1873. His father, William Koch, a native of Germany, where he was born in 1827, came to the United States as a young man, lived in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and finally removed to Co- lumbia City, Indiana, where he lived until his death in 1914. He was a millwright by trade. He voted his convictions as a republican and was a member

of the Church of God. His wife was Sarah C. Yeater. They were married at the home of her parents in Illinois. She was born March 24, 1839, and is still living, at the age of eighty, at Hunting- ton, Indiana. She was the mother of nine children: Lorenzo, deceased; Belle, wife of A. I. Montz, a carpenter and builder at Huntington, Indiana; Arbir, of Huntington, widow of Milton Huffman, who was a carpenter and builder; William E., in the real estate business at Huntington ; Dayton, a farmer at Roanoke, Indiana; John, deceased; Frank, a farmer at Rochester, Indiana; Edwin; and Amanda, who died when four years old.

Edwin Koch had his first advantages in the rural schools in Whitley County. He graduated from the high school at Columbia City, Indiana, in 1891, and the following year began his work as a teacher and educator. He taught practically every winter and also attended summer schools. He took the regular four years' course at the Tri-State Normal College at Angola, Indiana, where he graduated with the A. B. degree in 1900. For three years he was as- sistant to the vice president of the college. In 1900 he became principal of the high school at Columbia City, and in February, 1901, came to Montana. Here he took charge as principal of the Normal and Col- lege Preparatory Department at the Butte Business College, owned by Rice and Fulton. He remained with that college until June 15, 1913.

Coming to Missoula, Mr. Koch bought the Gar- den City Commercial College from E. E. Reitz and changed its name to the Missoula Business and Normal College. He and his staff of instructors offer a complete curriculum in the commercial courses and also do advanced normal work. The school is housed in a substantial three-story brick building at 120-122 South Fourth Street, West. The school has accommodations for 120 students.

While living in Indiana Mr. Koch served a term as county superintendent of schools of Whitley County. He is a member of the National Commer- cial Teachers' Association, is a republican in poli- tics, is a member of Land Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Laud, Indiana; of Butte Camp of the Woodmen of the World, and the Missoula Chamber of Commerce.

September 5, 1901, at Fort Wayne, Indiana, he married Miss Della M. Hendrickson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Hendrickson of Cherubusco, Indiana. Her father is a farmer. Mrs. Koch is a graduate of the Indiana State Normal School and for three years before her marriage was a public school teacher in Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Koch have five children: William, born September 17, 1903, is a senior in the Missoula County High School; Edwin, born September 8, 1905, is in the sophomore year of the County High School; Katherine. born October 14, 1907, is in grammar school; Harold, born January 5, 1915, and Robert, November 15, 1917.

CAPT. JOHN S. AXTELL is one of the honored sur- vivors of the great war for the Union, and in re- cent years has lived in the Montana Soldiers' Home at Columbia Falls. He served the Home as adjutant and commandant for upwards of six years, and resigned the last named office on July 15, 1919, be- cause of ill health.

He was born at Chester, New Jersey, a son of Jonathan R. and Mary (VanSchmitt) Axtell. His maternal grandfather was a native of Holland. Cap- tain Axtell was eighteen years of age when in July, 1862, he enlisted in Company E of the Sixth Michi- gan Cavalry, under Col. George Gray. He enlisted for three years, or during the war, and was mus-

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tered in October 13, 1862, at Grand Rapids as a private in Company E, under . Capt. James H. Kidd. The Sixth Michigan Cavalry took part in all the engagements in which the Michigan Cavalry Brigade was concerned, from Gettysburg in July, 1863, until the surrender of Lee's army at Appomattox. In all this service Captain Axtell had a part except at the battle of Trevillian Station, when he was on de- tached service. He was wounded in the right wrist at Gettysburg, but was not compelled to leave the field. He received his honorable discharge at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, July 25, 1865. Captain Axtell is a charter member of William English Post No. 10, Grand Army of the Republic, of Bozeman, Mon- tana.

On November 17, 1873, at Rockford, Michigan, he was married to Lella Z. Corbus. She and their three children, Winifred Reeve, Earl Danielson and Rosa Beall, are all deceased. Captain Axtell is left alone so far as his family is concerned, but during a resi- dence of forty-three years in Montana he has met many of the people of the state, and he counts them all as his friends.

GEORGE W. GILHAM, M. D. Not only professional eminence but practical knowledge, wide vision and broad business experience belong to Dr. George W. Gilham, president of the First National Bank of Townsend, Montana, whose vigorous personality permeates much that has brought progress and sub- stantial development to this city within the last thirty years.

Doctor Gilham was born February 22, 1860, in Josephine County, Oregon, son of C. A. and Almeda (Howell) Gilham. The Gilham family traces its lineage back to Thomas Gilham, first of the family to come to America. A native of Ireland, he set- tled in Virginia about the year 1730 and afterward moved to North Carolina. He was the father of eleven children, seven sons and four daughters, Ezekiel, Charles, Thomas, William, James, John, Isaac, Nancy, Mary, Sally and Susannah.

The lineage of Doctor Gilham is carried through Ezekiel, oldest son of the founder of the family in America. Ezekiel married in Virginia and moved to what is now Oglethorpe County, Georgia. One of his sons and two of his daughters-Charles, Mary and Margaret-came to Illinois about 1803. Charles, the son, married Jane Finley in Georgia soon after the close of the Revolutionary war. In 1802 or 1803 he moved with several small children to Illi- nois, where other children were born. About 1838 he moved to Round Prairie Township, Jefferson County, Iowa, apparently with his younger son, J. Newton, with whom he and his wife resided on a farm just south of Glasgow until his death about 1844 or 1845. His wife survived him many years and both are buried in the Gillmore graveyard about a mile east of Glasgow. Their children were named Lucretia, Lucinda, Clarinda, Clement, Sarah, Ezekiel Johnson, Thomas Cunningham and J. Newton.

The next generation of the family was represented by Thomas Cunningham Gilham, who moved from Illinois to Iowa and settled on a farm near his brother Newton's home. He married Eliza Kirk- patrick in Illinois and had several children when he moved to Iowa. ' The names of his children were Margaret, Calvet, Addison, Charles Albert, Camp- bell, John, William Madison, Thomas Henry, Mar- quis Leroy and Ursula Janc, twins, Alna Ann and Melissa.

Calvet A. Gilham, father of Doctor Gilham, was born at Greenville, Illinois, in 1826, and was twelve years old when his parents moved to Iowa. He

went across the plains to California in 1849, and remained in the far West until 1851, achieving con- siderable success in the placer mines. He then re- turned to Iowa and in 1852 was married at Glas- gow to Miss Almeda Howell. She was born in Virginia in 1830. He soon returned to California and later moved to Oregon. He established his home in the Grand Ronde Valley in Union County, Oregon, in 1863, and for several years operated a blacksmith shop and then bought a farm on which he resided until 1885, when he returned to his old home surroundings at Fairfield, Iowa, and lived prac- tically retired until his death in 1911. He was a republican, a member of the Masonic fraternity, and he and his wife were both devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His wife died at Grand Ronde Valley, Oregon, in 1885. Their three sons are: Thomas H. Gilham, of Turlock, California; Dr. George W. Gilham, of Townsend, Montana; and Calvet Addison, Jr., of Vale, Oregon. The eldest son, Thomas H., was born in California and the two younger were born in Oregon.

George W. Gilham attended the country schools in boyhood, later the schools of Grand Ronde Val- ley, going from there to Blue Mountain University at LaGrande, Oregon, and finally entering the med- ical department of the State University of California, from which institution he was graduated with his medical degree in 1881. He entered into medical practice at LaGrande, where he remained four years, then moved to Harney, Oregon, and during his four more years in the state became somewhat active in the political field, and in 1888 was elected to the State Legislature on the republican ticket from Grant County.

In 1890 Doctor Gilham came to Townsend, one of the pioneer physicians and surgeons, of which body of medical men he is the only survivor. He owns his office building on Spruce Street, and has a widely established reputation in his profession. He is health officer of Townsend, also is county phy- sician of Broadwater County, and since 1894 has been local surgeon for the Northern Pacific Rail- road. His enterprise and public spirit have been notable factors in the development of Townsend, a ready example being found in his establishing in 1911 the First National Bank of Townsend, a sound, reliable institution working with a capital of $50,000, surplus and profits of $23,000, and deposits of $300,000. The officers of the bank are the follow- ing capitalists : George W. Gilham, president ; W. S. Thompson, vice president; J. J. Davey, cashier. The bank building is a handsome structure situated on Broadway. Doctor Gilham has additional impor- tant business interests. He is a director of the Inter-Mountain Milling Company of Townsend, and is president of the Townsend Realty and Investment Company, capitalized at $50,000. He built and owns the Rex Theater at Townsend, which he has under rental, and his private residence on Pine Street is one of the handsomest and best appointed in the city. He is an extensive grower of grain and al- falfa, owning three valuable ranches, one of which, containing 390 acres, is situated one mile east of Townsend; the second, located four miles south- east of Townsend, at the crossing of Deep Creek, contains 107 acres: while the third, a tract of 1,280 acres, lies five miles southeast of Townsend, Mon- tana.

In 1884 Doctor Gilham was united in marriage at LaGrande, Oregon, to Miss Josephine Romig, who was born in California and was educated in the Blue Mountain University. Her parents were S. P. and Rebecca Romig, farming people, who were liv-

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ing retired at LaGrande at time of death. Doctor and Mrs. Gilham have one son, Ralph E., who was born in 1885. He was well educated, is an A. B. graduate of the Montana State University at Mis- soula, and subsequently was graduated with the de- gree E. M. from the School of Mines, Butte, Mon- tana. He is interested in ranching and sheep rais- ing and resides at Townsend.

Doctor Gilham belongs to Valley Lodge No. 21, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and is past master of the same; to Helena Consistory No. 3; has attained the thirty-second degree and is a Shriner, belonging to Algeria Temple at Helena. He is also an Odd Fellow, his membership being with the North Star Lodge No. 19, of which he is a past grand.

BASIL TINSLEY, mayor of Pony, Montana, and a man who is operating upon an extensive scale as ranchman and stockman, is one of the leading men of this region, and one who has been instru- mental in developing. Not only is he now the chief executive of Pony, but he has served in the same office for two previous terms and had the honor of being the second incumbent. Mr. Tinsley was born at Willow Creek, Gallatin County, Montana, April 27, 1869, so he is a product of the state in which he takes such pride. His grandfather, also Basil Tinsley, was born in North Carolina in 1797, and he died at Jamesport, Missouri, in 1885. Mov- ing from North Carolina to Kentucky, he spent some years in Hopkins County, and then became a pioneer of Grundy County, Missouri, engaging in farming and acting as county assessor. His wife bore the maiden name of Henry, and she be- longed to the same family as the illustrious patriot, Patrick Henry.

Joseph H. Tinsley, son of the Basil Tinsley men- tioned above, and father of the Basil Tinsley whose name heads this review, was born in Hopkins Coun- ty, Kentucky, in 1834, and died at Willow Creek, Montana, in 1917. He was reared in his native county and accompanied his father to Missouri, where he was engaged in farming until 1864, at which time he came West to Alder Gulch, Mon- tana, making the trip with an ox team and home- steading 160 acres of land, to which he added a pre-emption claim of 160 acres, and was success- fully engaged in operating his 320 acre ranch and raising stock. He was one of the pioneers of that region and was spared long enough to see a won- derful development in the community in which his good judgment had led him to locate. His political views were well represented in the principles of the democratic party, and he never failed to vote its ticket. Very religious, he gave the Methodist Epis- copal Church a faithful service, being regarded as one of the pillars of the local body in each com- munity in which he resided. While still living in Missouri, he was married near Chillicothe to Martha E. Thompson, born in Hopkins County, Ken- tucky, in 1835. She died at Willow Creek, Mon- tana, in 1912. Their children were as follows: F. M., who is a farmer and stockman of Willow Creek, Montana; Lena J., who married Ward C. Stone, a ranchman of Moore, Montana, is now liv- ing at Dillon, Montana, so as to give their one child the advantages of the schools of that place; Mary A., who married Charles W. Brooke, a ranchman, resides at Pony, Montana; L. D., who was a stock- man and farmer, died at Bozeman, Montana, when he was forty-seven years of age; and Basil, who was the last born.

Like so many lads of his generation and section, Basil Tinsley grew up on his father's ranch, and

while attending the local schools also learned to be a practical farmer, remaining with his father, and putting this knowledge to active use until he was twenty-seven years of age. He then came to Pony and went into the stock business and began farm- ing. Mr. Tinsley owns a ranch one-half mile east of Pony, containing about 2,000 acres, and for some time was engaged in raising pure bred stock, but is now concentrating on cattle. His ranch is irri- gated and he is allowed a head of 650 inches of water. In addition to his ranch Mr. Tinsley owns his residence on Main Street, a dwelling in the west end of Pony, and a half interest in a meat market building at Pony. At one time he was en- gaged in the meat business, but sold it in 1911. Like his father he is a stanch democrat, and was elected on his party's ticket mayor of Pony three times, the last time in the spring of 1919 for a term of two years. From 1904 to 1906 he was state central com- mitteeman of his party, and has always been very active in politics. The cause of education has in him a warm friend, and in order to secure the best educational advantages for the children of Pony he has served on the school board for some years. The Presbyterian Church has in him a working mem- ber, and he is serving that denomination at Pony as secretary and treasurer. Fraternally he belongs to Mount Jefferson Lodge No. 56, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is a past master; and Echo Chapter No. 38, Order of Eastern Star, of which is a past patron.

On May 20, 1896, Mr. Tinsley was married near Pony, Montana, to Miss Maude E. Phillips, a daugh- ter of Ira L. and Harriet (Wheeler) Phillips, both of whom are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Tinsley have no children.

The grandfather of Mrs. Tinsley, George Phil- lips, died at Reading, Connecticut, before she was born. The Phillips family originated in England and was founded in the New England colonies prior to the American Revolution. The son of George Phillips, Ira Lindley Phillips, father of Mrs. Tinsley, was born at Danbury, Connecticut, in July, 1840, and died on his ranch three miles east of Pony in 1898. Growing up in his native town, Ira L. Phillips re- mained there until after his marriage, and then in 1865 came West to Sheridan, Montana, and until 1884 was there engaged in mining and blacksmith- ing. The trip to Montana was the result of a visit he had made to the state in. 1864, during which he gained such a favorable impression of the oppor- tunities here afforded that he felt that it would be good business to make this region his permanent home. In 1882 he moved to ą ranch he had bought near Pony, which contained 480 acres of land, and on it he passed away, having been very successful in his undertakings. In politics he was a republican. His fraternal connections were with the Masons and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Mr. Phil- lips was married to Harriet M. Wheeler, who was horn in November, 1839, and died on the ranch near Pony in June, 1911. Their children were as fol- lows: Harry S., who is a cotton farmer, lives near Glendale, Arizona; Mrs. Tinsley, who was the sec- ond in order of birth; George Lindley, who is a farmer, resides at Pony. Mrs. Tinsley attended the public schools of Pony and Harrison, Montana, and having fitted herself for the work was engaged in teaching school prior to her marriage, becoming one of the best beloved educators of Gallatin County, although only in the schoolroom for a year. She, too, belongs to the Presbyterian Church, and is a teacher in the Sunday School, president of the Chris- tian Endeavor Society, and otherwise active in re- ligious activities. Mrs. Tinsley belongs to Echo

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Chapter No. 38, Order of Eastern Star, of which she is past matron, and she is a member of the Bayview Reading Club of Pony. A lady of innate culture, she has developed her faculties until she is easily the leader in all intellectual movements in her neighborhood.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 152

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