Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 165

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

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

in directing the educational program of the county seat of Rosebud County.

In 1911 Forsyth had two school buildings, a corps of ten teachers, a graded system of twelve grades, with a high school fairly instituted, though not yet accredited and with less than twenty pupils enrolled.

While many obvious handicaps have been im- posed upon school progress in recent years, it is easy to discover numerous prominent improvements and advancements at Forsyth. The enrollment in the high school is 105, while nine pupils were graduated in 1920. Commercial and domestic sci- ence courses have been added, and a complete re- arrangement and enlargement of the four year high school course undertaken. There has been an interesting change of attitude among high school graduates, who formerly considered their education "finished" when they received their high school diplomas, but more recently the tendency has been for the graduates to enter higher institutions of training. The Forsyth school has shown a credit- able though not over emphasized interest in athletics, has been well represented in basket ball and track work, the team standing third in the district in basket ball. In literary contests the school had a representative in debating at 'Miles City and Hy- sham in 1920, and in the declamation and extempo- raneous speaking contests at Missoula. There are now eighteen teachers on the staff of the Forsyth schools and eight in the district outside the super- vision of Mr. Bussert. A high standard has al- ways been maintained for teachers. Grade teachers must present diplomas from normal schools or equivalent training, while the high school teachers are all college graduates, and once in four years every teacher must attend a summer session of a reputable institution for training teachers.

In material equipment the outstanding feature of Forsyth's educational facilities is the new high school building in course of construction during 1920. In this building is an auditorium with a seat- ing capacity of 750, a gymnasium 90 by 43 feet, a complete locker system, nineteen perfectly appointed class rooms, and altogether a building that repre- sents some of the most advanced ideas of high school architecture. The cost of the building complete will be $150,000. When it is occupied the high school work will be enlarged to comprise a six year program.

Mr. Bussert, while he has had a very busy pro- gram since coming to Forsyth, has kept in close personal touch with outside sources of inspiration to the educator. He has done considerable resi- dence work in the Columbia University Teachers' College at New York City; and has from that state institution the degree of Master of Arts and the Superintendent's diploma. He has been a working member of the State Teachers' Association of Mon- tana, and is a former president of the eastern branch of the association.

In his home community he has entered with zest into the civic program, is an active member of the Chamber of Commerce, being chairman of its Parks and Playgrounds Committee, and is a director of the County Fair Board, through which a deep interest has been stimulated in agriculture and related arts. During the war he was chairman of the Thrift Stamp campaign in Rosebud County, helped with all the Liberty Loan campaigns, and was a member of the executive board of the committee of one hundred. The Bussert household down to the young- est member did practical work for the Red Cross.

In Darke County, Ohio, August 25, 1909, Mr. Bussert married Miss Mamie Minnich. She was a teacher in that county when she met Mr. Bus-

sert, then principal of the Arcanum School. Mrs. Bussert was born January 3, 1887, second of the four daughters of Solomon E. and Ellen (Siger- foos) Minnich, old residents of Darke "County, her father being a merchant at Arcanum. The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Bussert are Bettie, Charles and Margaret.

CARL N. THOMPSON. No man in the practice of law in Musselshell County has exercised an influ- ence finer in quality and purpose than Carl N. Thompson of Roundup. It is an influence proceed- ing from a character of quiet strength, sanity and disinterestedness, fortified by a varied experience of men and events, directed by a kindly but keen discernment of human character and of the forces moulding the relations of men. He is a man who impresses others with his unshakable honesty as well as his ability to lay hold of the essentials of a situa- tion, and his flaming sincerity carries conviction to the hearts of his hearers. He has attended to the legal affairs of several corporations as well as those of individual clients, bringing to them the ability of a careful, experienced and skillful lawyer.

Carl N. Thompson was born at Madison, Wiscon- sin, May 24, 1875, a son of Knut and Rachel (Thompson) Thompson, natives of Norway, where he was born in 1844 and she in 1849. They were married at Madison, Wisconsin, and became the parents of ten children, six of whom survive, and of them all Carl N. Thompson is the second. Knut Thompson came to the United States on a sailing vessel when a child, being brought by his parents, who after landing in New York City came west to Dane County, Wisconsin, and were pioneer farmers of that region. There Knut Thompson was reared and educated, but in young manhood 'went to Madi- son, Wisconsin, and engaged in an agricultural im- plement business. In 1875 he left Madison for Minnehaha County, South Dakota, and continued to deal in agricultural implements at Sioux Falls until 1895, when he retired. He is still residing in that city, and is an earnest member and worker of the Lutheran Church. In politics he is a republican.

Carl N. Thompson attended the public schools of South Dakota and the Lutheran Normal School of Sioux Falls, and then entered the law department of the University of Wisconsin, was graduated there- from in 1903, and almost immediately thereafter was admitted to the bar of Wisconsin. Mr. Thompson was engaged in the practice of his profession at Chicago, Illinois, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and then, in 1908, came to Roundup, Montana, as local attorney for the Chicago, Milwaukee and Puget Sound Railroad Company, being the first of his call- ing to come to this city. For two years he continued to administer the affairs of this company with signal capability, and then resigned as attorney to devote more time to his increasing private practice. He belongs to the Musselshell County Bar Association, the Montana State Bar Association, and the Ameri- can Bar Association. A Mason, he belongs to Unity Lodge No. 71, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Jewel Chapter No. 48, Order of the Eastern Star, of which Mrs. Thompson is worthy matron. By in- stinct, training and inheritance Mr. Thompson is a Lutheran and a republican. In addition to his pro- fessional duties Mr. Thompson owns a ranch of 1,200 acres of irrigated land and is interested in the cattle industry, the development of oil property and other affairs, and is one of the most active persons in the county.

On October 14, 1903, Mr. Thompson was united in marriage with Ida M. Jensen, born at Jackson, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have two sons, J. Kenneth and Eldon A. Mr. Thompson represents

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in character and accomplishment the qualities which raise and dignify democratic citizenship and are the' foundations of our best leadership. His presence and his counsel are in great demand, and he is ever ready to give the best that lies in his unusual powers, his qualities of heart and brain.

GEORGE JUDSON MURPHY. A lawyer whose serv- ices have been given to Ismay during a number of years past, Mr. Murphy has gained a place of dis- tinction in the courts of Custer County. He came to Montana as a citizen in April, 1907, from his native state of Indiana, although he spent a few brief years enroute in Minneapolis and Milwaukee.

Mr. Murphy was born at Spencerville in DeKalb County, Indiana, but he was reared in Allen Coun- ty, that state, and his common school training which he received there was supplemented by preparatory work in college before entering the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio. He completed the sophomore year there and taught school one year in Allen County, and then soon afterward entered upon the practice of law. His preparation for the profession was obtained first under former Con- gressman Walpole G. Colerick, of Fort Wayne, and Mr. Murphy was admitted to the bar upon exami- nation by a committee appointed by Judge Heaton of the Superior Court. Two days of writing was necessary to do the work of the examination. W. H. Shambaugh, city attorney of Fort Wayne, and John Morris, Jr., were two of the committee and are men who have attained eminence in the profession of the law. The law practice of Mr. Murphy began in the Justice Court before he had been admitted to the bar, and his first case was an action to collect a milk bill from a cheese factory. In the Superior Court his first case was as a defendant's attorney in a divorce case. In the main his practice has been along civil lines, and he is a member of the Custer County Bar Association and the Montana State Bar Association. In addition to his own pri- vate practice he represents the First National Bank of Ismay and is the city attorney for Ismay, while in the line of politics he has served his voting pre- cinct as a committeeman. Although his first presi- dential vote was cast in the support of Major Mckinley in 1900, he is now giving allegiance to the democratic party, having left the republican ranks in 1912 on the tariff issue.

George J. Murphy is a son of George Murphy and a grandson on the paternal side of John Mur- phy. This John Murphy, a native of New Hamp- shire, was for many years a merchant in Cleveland, Ohio, and lies buried in that city. He married Louisa Wheelock, also a member of a New Hamp- shire family and of colonial ancestry. George Mur- phy, his son, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, June 30, 1837, but lived in Indiana from the time of attain- ing young manhood. During the Civil war he be- came captain of Company E, Thirtieth. Indiana In- fantry, and was a comrade of Gen. Henry W. Law- ton, who was killed in the Philippino insurrection. Mr. Murphy served with Sherman's army to At- lanta, and returned North with the army that fought the battles of Franklin and Nashville. During his service he was three times wounded, but he con- tinued in the ranks until the end of the war, and it is believed he received his discharge as late as the date of his pension voucher, about 1880.

After resuming civil life Captain Murphy began preparing himself for the practice of medicine, and spent the remainder of his life as a physician. He took very little part in political activities but up- held the principles of the republican party, was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and late in life became a member of the Masonic fra-

ternity. For his first wife he married Nancy Dever, who was born at Leo, Indiana, a daughter of John Dever, who removed to Indiana from Ohio and it is believed he came originally from Virginia. He was among the pioneers of Indiana, where he served in various capacities, as a trapper, hunter, as a de- tective and as a lawyer. Mrs. Murphy died in 1880, when her youngest child was but two years old. She bore her husband the following children : Geraldine, who resides in Garrett, Indiana; Rose- mond, who married O. D. McRory, of Fort Wayne; Abbie F., who died in childhood; and George J. Captain Murphy was subsequently married to Florence Knight, and their four children are May, Irma, John and Raymond. The son John was a World war soldier with the Ninth Infantry, and saw service overseas in France.

During the period of the World war George J. Murphy served on the Legal Advisory Board and contributed loyally to the auxiliary war work of the time. He is unmarried.

ALBERT ROBERTS became identified with the Town of Ismay in Custer County almost at its founda- tion, and since coming here has earned and saved the money which makes him one of the prosperous and substantial residents of that locality.

Mr. Roberts is an old time cowboy, and spent many years on the ranch and range both in the South and Northwest. He was born in Gallia Coun- ty, Ohio, near Gallipolis, July 20, 1874. His father, James Roberts, who was born in Virginia in 1820, moved to Ohio when a young man and entered the Union army from there. He was in the war four years, including three months in Libby Prison at Richmond. For many years he was active in the Grand Army of the Republic, and took a good citizen's interest in politics as a republican. He was a member of the United Brethren Church. His wife was Martha Cottrell, whose father, Elijah Cottrell, was one of the early children born in Gal- lia County. He was a farmer. Mrs. James Rob- erts died in 1902. She was the mother of ten chil- dren, eight of whom reached mature years and those still living are: Alonzo, of Gallia County ; Truman, a farmer in Custer County, Montana, near Ismay; George, of Gallia County; and Albert.

Albert Roberts grew up on his father's farm in Southern Ohio and acquired a district school edu- cation. The spring before he was nineteen years of age he left home, telling his parents he would not be back for ten years. His mother accepted his decision as final, though the rest of the family said he would return in two weeks. By railway he traveled to Laramie, Wyoming, and there en- tered the service of the TV cattle outfit. He left it with three saddle horses, and with one companion journeyed 1,100 miles to Texas, the journey passing without incident save the escape and subsequent re- capture of their horses. The trail was through the towns of Denver, Pueblo, past the house in New Mexico where Billy the Kid was killed, on to Por- tales, then to Plainview, Texas, and to the yellow houses of the XIT outfit, the largest .cattle com- pany in the world. He rode the range for that cat- tle company five years. He was an efficient man, commanded good wages, but spent his money as fast as it came. It was in the service of the XIT people that he first came to Montana with a train- load of cattle, the stock being unloaded at Glen- dive. Later he made several trips with their stock to Chicago, shipping from Fallon. After his serv- ice as a cowpuncher on the north side of the Yel- lowstone with the XIT outfit he went with the EY ranch as foreman, remaining there three years. When he finally left the Daily ranch to locate at

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

Ismay on March 1, 1909, he had practically no capital.

With a small nucleus of mares he engaged in the livery business, built a barn the same fall, and has continued in the livery and livestock business ever since. Horse drawn vehicles were popular for several years, but the business suffered the inevitable decline owing to the competition of the automobile, and he now has equipment for a number of motor rigs.

His first barn was 60 feet long and was subse- quently 50 feet, and is now equipped with con- venient sheds and lots, enabling him to handle a large number of stock. The barn is equipped with hot and cold water, a system seldom found even in metropolitan barns. Out of his prosperity Mr. Roberts has provided liberally for home comforts. He has an ice house for refrigeration of drinks and food. His first home was a one-room shack, sub- sequently increased by another room, and he has built his modern eleven-room house on the install- ment plan. He did all the planning himself and now has a residence two stories high, 20 by 40 feet, with complete basement, in which is located Delco electric lighting plant and a furnace. Ar- tesian water is supplied from his own wells through- ont, with numerous faucets for both hot and cold water. The cellar is also generously stocked with preserved fruits and vegetables put up by Mrs. Rob- erts. Another feature that means a great deal to a modern housewife is a power laundry machine. Evidently Albert Roberts has built his home for permanence and for convenience. His artesian well was drilled by the East Side Water Company, in which he is a stockholder. He is also a stockholder in the Farmers Elevator at Ismay. Mr. Roberts opened a stage line from Ismay to Cabin Creek in 1916, and drove it and carried the mail a year be- fore the Government took charge. For a time he also drove stage to the TD postoffice south of Ismay, twenty-five miles. When he married Mr. Roberts engaged in the horse business with eleven head of mares, and has bred and sold horses and developed a herd of 130 head of driving and saddle animals. Politically he is a republican, but is satisfied to cast his vote without further participation in politics.

At Glendive, Montana, December 6, 1906, he mar- ried Miss Anna Vaule. She was born in Norway and came to the United States alone. They are the parents of seven children, Daisy, Ralph, Lillie, Rolla, Ray, Violet and Rose. Five of them are now students in the Ismay schools.

CHARLES DE GRAFFENREID is a pioneer of the North- west, whose identification with Montana began as early as 1884, and who has been a permanent resi- dent in the state since 1893, coming to the locality from Wyoming, where he had ranged the region as a cowboy for the Grimes Company, whose ranch in Texas was at Matagorda, the region from which Mr. de Graffenreid came to the North.

Leaving the Lone Star State with a herd of cat- tle in 1879, he crossed the State of Kansas by way of Dodge City, went on through Ogalalla, Ne- braska, and into the Dakotas near Buffalo Gap, where they came to the Cheyenne River. This was a year after the Northern Cheyenne Indians under Chief Dull Knife escaped from their reser- vation in the Indian Territory and crossed over the states of Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota, massacreing settlers as they went, and some of the evidences of their depredations were still visihle when the Grimes' outfit passed through the region and occasionally crossed the Indian trail. A Bo- hemian woman who had been maltreated by the

Indians but whose life had been spared was still living, and many years afterward, perhaps twenty- five, she began suit against the United States through her attorney for damages for injuries received by the Cheyennes, and collected, it is said, a judgment of $1,000.

Mr. de Graffenreid was in and around the Black Hills country until 1883, when he made his way into Wyoming and the following year in Montana and to the Little Powder River country. The Grimes Company had previously sold their interests to the Shadley Cattle Company, and Mr. de Graf- fenreid was subsequently employed by them, their ranch being familiarly known as the Flying V. The Shadley Company after a time moved north to the Morrows in South Dakota, and Mr. de Graffen- reid remained with them until he came to Montana to reside permanently in 1893. While with the company he filled various positions, from cowboy to wagonman and foreman, but during all this time he paid little attention to the value of his wages. When he finally located in Montana he joined the Home Land and Cattle Company, the "N-N" people, whose headquarters were north of the Yellowstone River, and which was the largest cattle outfit in the state at that time, their stock ranging from the Yellowstone River to Canada. They closed out their interests in 1898, and the "DHS" Company purchased the remnant of their outfit, but Mr. de Graffenreid went to the "L7" on the Big Dry as foreman of its ranch for the old Shad- ley Cattle Company. He remained in charge of that outfit until it closed its interests in 1902, and in the following year became stock inspector of the state, a position he filled for one year. He then removed to the Town of Jordan, where he was engaged in business for two years, and at the close of that period began his connection with Ismay.

Mr. de Graffenreid is the pioneer resident of Ismay. To him belongs the honor of making the first effort toward the establishment of this little town, and until recently he added to its industrial activity as a confectionery dealer. Since then he has lived retired. During his residence here he has contributed to the dwelling portion of the town as well as to its business houses, and was appointed one of its first school trustees.

Although in his more recent years a business man and identified with town building, Mr. de Graffenreid was reared as a cowboy on the range, and the cattle business claimed the greater part of his industrial career. He was born in Fayette Coun- ty, Texas, January 30, 1860, was educated in the schools of his home district, and in the military school at Austin, and when he was a young lad of sixteen he was orphaned by the death of his last parent and deprived of a home. When he was seventeen he went to Northwest Texas and became identified with the region of Concho and McCul- lough counties, and after following the range there for a time returned to his boyhood's home and sub- sequently was received in the service of the Grimes Company.

Mr. de Graffenreid's father, Thomas de Graffen- reid, went to Texas in 1858 from Tennessee, and during the war between the North and the South he served with the Confederacy as a soldier from Texas. After a time he accumulated a few sec- tions of land in Fayette County, and, there spent the remainder of his life and passed away in 1868. He had married Catherine Murchison, whose father, a Scotchman, had removed from North Carolina to Texas. To Thomas and Catherine de Graffen- reid were born four children, namely: Mrs. Lil-

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lian 'Murchison, whose home is in San Marcos, Texas; Charles, of Ismay, Montana; Mrs. Addie Holman, a resident of Weimer, this state; and Mrs. Fannie Griffin, of San Antonio, Texas.

Charles de Graffenreid was reared in a demo- cratic state of the South, and when the time came for him to cast his vote he joined that party's ranks and supported Mr. Bryan and has since remained true to the principles of the democratic party. In his fraternal relations he is a member of both the Elks and Eagles at Miles City.

Mr. de Graffenreid was married in Colorado Coun- ty, Texas, November 26, 1908, to Miss Georgie Jamison, who was born at 'Columbus, Texas, a daughter of T. G. Jamison, who migrated to that' state from Kentucky, where he was both a mer- chant and a stock man. His death occurred at the Town of Columbus, Texas. During the Civil war he served as a Confederate soldier and became connected with the commissary department, assist- ing in bringing supplies from Mexico to the Con- federate forces. He married Ellen Bennett, a daughter of H. W. Bennett, who died in 1899. To this union were born the following children: Harry G., who resides at Bay City, Texas; Mrs. C. M. Bailey, whose home is in Columbus, Texas; and Georgia, who became the wife of Mr. de Graffen- reid. She was born in Texas, and her parents were also married in that state. She accepted the right of franchise when it was given her and cast her first presidential vote for Woodrow Wilson. Mr. de Graffenreid during the World war .was delegated to look after the families of the enlisted men of his locality and to report to the Government on the situation. Both he and his wife gave valu- able aid in all the drives for funds for the carry- ing on of the war and in all auxiliary war work.

JAMES BODEN has lived in Montana over a quar- ter of a century, put up a brave and hopeful strug- gle against adverse odds in the early days, and has become master of a reasonably fortunate des- tiny as a rancher and banker at Ismay in Custer County.

Mr. Boden, whose home ranch is twelve miles southwest of Ismay, is a Texan by birth and spent his early life as a cowboy. He was born near Paris, Lamar County, Texas, January 5, 1861, son of John and Ann (Rich) Boden. His father, a native of Tennessee, went to Texas in the '50s, and spent his life as a farmer and stockman. He died near Caddo, Oklahoma, at the age of eighty-one, his wife having passed away at the age of forty-eight. Their children were: George and William, both in Okla- homa; James; Robert, in the locality of Caddo, Oklahoma; Milton, who spent most of his years in Oklahoma; Annie, married and living in Oklahoma; and Alice, who lives at Denison, Texas ..

James Boden grew up on a farm between Sher- man and Denison in Grayson County, Texas, and had a common school education. He left home at the age of nineteen and went into the Chickasaw country of old Indian Territory. There he was employed by a cattle outfit as a wage earner, and gradually drifted north from Durant to Falls Val- ley and thence to the Kansas line. For six or seven years he was a trader in stock and lands around Kiowa, Kansas.

From Kansas 'Mr. Boden came to Montana about 1894. One year he was employed as a cowboy by the Watkins horse outfit south of the Yellowstone, and the next year worked at several ranches. In 1896 he came to his present ranch home and became a squatter on the public domain on Cottonwood Creek. After the region was surveyed he took up

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 165

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