Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 173

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 173

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

and the education of the children carried on accord- ing to law, although some difficulties have been 'ex- perienced. In 1919 the little Spring Creek school- house is not occupied, as Mr. Patton's child is the only one of school age in that district.

On November 1, 1893, Mr. Patton was married in Cass County, Missouri, to Miss Edith J. Pitcher, a daughter of Charles Pitcher. Mrs. Patton was born in Illinois, but was reared in Cass County, Missouri, and was educated there and at Kansas City, Mis- souri. She is one of four children born to her parents. After the death of Mr. Pitcher, Mrs. Pitch- er, whose maiden name was Petsey Hogue, became Mrs. George Snyder, and she is still living in Cass County, Missouri.

Mr. and Mrs Patton became the parents of the following children: Harold, who is on the Patton ranch, and is manager of it; Thomas, who is also on the Patton ranch; and Sherman Clay, who is a student in the Baker City schools. Harold was in the University Training School of Minneapolis, Min- nesota, just prior to the signing of the armistice, and therefore was not given an opportunity to enter the army for service during the late war. The Pat- tons, father and son, are republicans. Having de- veloped with the state, Mr. Patton is typical of the great spirit of the West, and is proud of the part he has been permitted to take in its progress. He has succeeded in bringing up his sons on his ranch and with commendable foresight has made the work profitable enough to them to awaken their interest and cause them to adopt an agricultural life, so that he is giving the state several additional ranchmen who understand their business and who will not have to pass through an experimental period before they are of account to their community and industry. America has need of every intelligent, experienced and ambitious producer it can secure, and there is no calling in which there is more need for them than that of agriculture, especially at this time when the world is depending upon this country to keep from starving. If there were more men of the stamp of the Pattons there would be fewer economic and industrial problems for the Government to solve.

HARVEY S. TRUSLER, who is ranching and farming near Ashland on Otter Creek, a tributary of Tongue River, has been identified with this locality since the year 1886. He came to this section of the West as a young and single man, and, being without capital save that represented by his ability in the way of hard and painstaking labor, he went to work for wages. The employment to be found was that to be secured on ranches, as this was purely a stock country and cowpunching and range and round-up work constituted his duties. Among his employers were Brandenburg & Van Gaskin, Sidney Padget, W. W. Terrett and Johnny Zook, all within this locality.

Out of his wages of $40 per month and board Mr. Trusler saved a part monthly, and when he married he started for himself as a ranchman. He purchased the remnant of the "box bar" herd of cattle and took up his ranch on Fifteen Mile, where he built himself a home, the first home of his own in the state, entered a homestead and proved it up, and ranched there for sixteen years. His pioneer domicile was a log house of four rooms, and it sheltered him and his family while he remained on that creek. He added to his homestead other land and developed a ranch of 800 acres, a part of his ranching interests still. In the spring of 1911 Mr. Trusler changed locations to Otter Creek, purchasing the Johnny Staf- ford ranch, which is growing alfalfa under a partial system of irrigation.

Mr. Trusler began his career of ranching with cattle, and while he is producing beef for the market he is introducing the pure blood Hereford, his aim being to build up a polled herd of the Here- ford strain. The head of his herd is "King Jewel the Fourth," sired by "King Jewel" of the Muncie (Indiana) Herefords. Bulls from the famous "Rich- ard Fairfax" family are among his range cattle and are sired by a brother of the famous $50,000 bull of that family. Mr. Trusler's Otter Creek ranch embraces 1,820 acres, with the creek meandering through it, is fitted with two sets of improvements, and his cattle range over a portion of the forest reserve under the old "box bar" brand.

Harvey S. Trusler came to Montana from Wyom- ing, where he went in 1884 and secured employment on the range during his stay there. He had spent several years in the Indian Territory prior to going to Wyoming, working for the "Cross H" outfit, whose ranch was on the Salt Fork above Pond Creek, Oklahoma. He went into that region from Fremont County, Iowa, where he grew up 'at the home of his parents, who had settled there when he was a child, and his final schooling was obtained there in the public schools. He left the parental roof ' when under age and became responsible for his own support and for his career when he was eighteen years of age.

The father of Mr. Trusler was William Thomas Trusler, who gave his life to his farm in Illinois, and died in Mercer County, that state. He was a native of Ohio and married Hannah Stevens, an Ohio lady who survived him many years and died in Fremont County, Iowa, in 1880, at the age of sixty-three years. She brought her children to the West from her Illinois home in 1876 and reared them in Fremont County. She was the mother of the following: Rebecca, who married Henry Tully and died in Oklahoma; William T., who was a sol- dier during the Civil war and is now a farmer near Sand Creek, Oklahoma; Mrs. Martha Gibson, who died at Lenox, Iowa; James M., a resident of Okla- homa; John W., who was last known of in the old Indian Territory; Ray, who married James Davis and is now a widow residing in California; Lena, .a resident of Culbertson, Nebraska, and wife of Frank Henderson; Vie Ella, the wife of John Ander- son, of Holdridge, Nebraska; and Harvey S., of Montana.

Harvey S, Trusler was born in Mercer County, Illinois, September 7, 1863, and was married in Custer County, 'Montana, February 15, 1895, his wife being Miss Louie Kimes, a daughter of Mrs.'Roll John- son. Mrs. Trusler's father was George Kimes who brought his family into Montana by steamboat up the Yellowstone River in 1881 from Bloomington, Illinois, the family landing at Buffalo Rapids, below Miles City. Mr. Kimes had been a school teacher near Bloomington, and came to Montana in search of better health, locating at Miles City, where he died in 1883, at the age of about twenty-five years. He married Abigail Long, who is now Mrs Roll John- son, of Stacey, and there were two children born to them : 'Mrs. Trusler, who was born near Blooming- ton, Illinois, May 7, 1877; and Mrs. Luther Dunning, born there June 19, 1879. To Mr. and Mrs. Trusler there have been born five children, as follows: Ray, who served in the quartermaster's corps of the army as a volunteer and was stationed at Fort Keogh dur- ing the war; and Louie May, Leoti Myrtle, Luther Dale and Woodrow Wilson, at home, the last-named of whom calls himself "Bill." The Trusler politics is democratic, and fraternal affiliation is with the Masons, in the Master's degree at Miles City. Mrs.

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Trusler is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

JOSEPH R. MCKAY, who became a resident of the country around Miles City nearly thirty-five years ago, has figured so prominently as a rancher, stock man and public official that his name is one of the most easily identified in the citizenship of that period.

Mr. Mckay was born in the Province of Quebec, Canada, January 26, 1847. His father, Alexander Mckay, was a native of Scotland, came to America when a young man, lived in Ontario and engaged in the lumber business, and later moved to the Province of Quebec. He finally returned to Ontario and spent his last years as a lumberman and stock- man. He enjoyed the confidence of the Canadian Government, being appointed to represent it on its river improvements and in other capacities. He was. a conservative in politics and was postmaster at Morewood for many years. In Ontario he married Miss Elizabeth Robinson. Her father, William Robinson, was a native of Scotland but lived in the north of Ireland when Mrs. McKay was born. From there he brought his family to Canada and spent his life as a farmer. He had three sons and two daughters by his wife, Annie. Alexander McKay and wife are both deceased. Their children were: William, who died in Canada; John R .; Hiram, who is in the Dominion Government service at Otta- wa; Dr. James, of Potsdam, New York; and Annie, who married Sergeant Brock and died leaving four children in Canada.

When Joseph R. Mckay was a child his parents moved to Ontario and in that province, near Ottawa, he was reared, obtaining his education in rural schools. At the age of fifteen he began clerking and at seventeen was an independent merchant at Morewood. He continued merchandising at More- wood for ten years and then identified himself with the lumber business with Hamilton Brothers at Hoxbury.

Mr. Mckay found the free trade policy of Canada an insuperable obstacle to success in the lumber in- dustry, and chiefly for that reason he sought a home in the United States. He reached Custer County in October, 1885, and first established himself twenty miles up the Tongue River. After prospect- ing around 'Miles City he bought Northern Pacific Railroad lands and developed a new farm and home in that region. His first Montana home on Tongue River was a combination log and frame house of three rooms, accommodations which served him for a number of years. He also changed his business relations from what they had been in Canada to ranching and stock raising. He started in with 290 head of horses and 200 head of cattle, buying stal; lions of various standard bred horses and Shetland ponies and starting the cattle business with Short- horns and Devons. He produced cattle for beef and continued a shipper to market until recent years. His horses were sold chiefly in the East and Canada and he became widely known both as a dealer and breeder. Mr. Mckay's ranch embraced 960 acres of deeded land, but the range for his stock spread over a much wider region on the west side of Tongue River. About 1908 he sold his ranch and stock, and then bought his present farm, situated seven miles up the Tongue River from Miles City. This farm comprises 180 acres. Its first owner was John Ross, who sold to John Carter, and it is best known as the Carter place. This locality was at the time the playground of the Cheyenne Indians until they were bought off by the settlers. There is a

legend that the Mckay farm is the site of the home of a prominent Englishman once well known in the · pioneer times of Montana. In recent years Mr. Mc- Kay has devoted much of his land to alfalfa and grain. He is a leader in agricultural affairs, is vice president of the Custer County Farm Bureau and has been keenly interested in the Custer County Fair Association, serving as one of its directors.

Mr. Mckay married his first wife in Custer Coun- ty. By that union he had two sons, Scott and Joseph R., Jr., both now engaged in the stock busi- ness in Southern Texas, at Mission. For his second wife Mr. Mckay married Lucy Perry, who came to Montana from Mount Clemens, Michigan. They have a son, Perry Mckay, born in 19II.

Mr. 'McKay is affiliated with the Lodge and Royal Arch Masons and with the Elks, and as 'soon as he could become a citizen of the United States he allied himself with the republican party. His first presi- dential vote was cast for Benjamin Harrison in 1888. He was a regular in the party until 1912, when he acted with the progressives and voted for Roose- velt. He was elected county commissioner in 1889, serving a part of one term and then resigned to be- come a candidate for the lower house of the Legis- lature. On that early board of commissioners he was associated with W. S. Snell and W. N. Haynes. One important service rendered by this board was the material reduction of the county debt. Elected to the Legislature, he was member of the second Legis- lature of the new state and served under Speaker Matthews. He was appointed chairman of one com- mittee and took an active part in obtaining the loca- tion of the State Industrial School at Miles City. In 1894 Mr. Mckay was elected a member of the State Senate. While in the House he had been in the fight for a United States senator from his party against the Daly and Clark factions. In the Senate the same issue came up again, and he was one of four who stood out for principle and voted for the republican caucus nominee, Mr. Marshall. Mr. Mc- Kay was subpoenaed by the United States Senate as a witness in the investigation of Clark's election. Mr. Mckay went back to the Senate for a second term, serving four years in that body. In 1898 he was elected county treasurer of Custer County, fill- ing that position for two years. After that came a period in which he was free from public cares. He was finally urged to become a candidate for county commissioner again, and was elected in 1916, and is now in his second term. On the first board he was with Charles Daly and Robert Yokley, while on the next board P. S. Richardson took Mr. Daly's place and Mr. Hasty took the place vacated by Mr. Yok- ley. At present the board is chiefly concerned with the public roads question and is arranging for some permanent road construction by the issuance of bonds.

ALLEN 'MITCHELL BALL. One of the most widely known among the extensive ranchmen of Custer County is Allen Mitchell Ball, whose land lies on Tongue River and Sweeney Creek. He was born in Madison, Wisconsin, June 14, 1880, and he received his higher educational training at Wesleyan Univer- sity, Delaware, Ohio. A few weeks after leaving college his father, Charles Edward Ball, died, pass- ing away at the early age of thirty-one years. He was born at Ironton, Ohio, and was for a time a drug merchant and was later in the iron and foundry business at Madison, Wisconsin. He married Ida Mitchell, who was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and a son and daughter were born to their marriage. Mrs. Ball and her daughter, Miss Ruth N. Ball,

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reside in San Diego, California. On the paternal side the ancestry is traced back to Mary Ball, the mother of George Washington. 4

Mitchell Ball, as he is more commonly known, went to Wyoming in 1885, when but only five years old, and he grew to manhood in the region of the head waters of the Cheyenne River. He was reared in the home of his uncle, A. B. Clark, and was educated by his mother on the ranch until he entered college. In 1902 he came to Montana and became associated in ranching with his uncle, A. B. Clark, widely known over this region as a ranchman and who at one time was the owner of the ranch now owned by Clay Robinson of Kansas City, who acquired the estate through Mr. Ball. Mr. Clark was the origi- nator of the range horse scale business in Miles City, and became perhaps the most widely known horse dealer of the more recent additions to the state.

Mr. Ball was his uncle's ranch foreman when sheep raising was also carried on there, and when he left Mr. Clark he bought what is now known as the Ball ranch, comprising at that time 4,200 acres. Hunter Terrett had previously engaged in ranching there, and after a time Mr. Ball added the A. D. Howard ranch to his original purchase, thus making a total acreage of 20,000 acres, and when railroad lands were also included the prop- erty became a ranch of almost 40,000 acres. But as settlers came in and lands for agricultural pur- suits were sought Mr. Ball sold about half of the ranch and the remainder he fenced. In time he brought about 600 acres under cultivation, built a system of irrigation, and now has one of the big irrigation projects along the river. He is engaged extensively in the growing of alfalfa and grain. His stock are Shorthorns and White Faces, which he raises for the feeders, and for a time he also bred pedigreed Percheron horses. The extensive improvements on the place stand out conspicuously along the river, looming clearly and prominently among the other properties of the community. He originated the Liscom alfalfa, a variegated plant of the same strain as the Grimm, known to be the hardiest alfalfa plant yet found.

Mr. Ball descends from a republican family in matter of politics, and while he always supports the national nominees of the party, he has never cared for the emoluments or honors of public office for himself, nor has he ever cared to attend party conventions. He is a Mason, a member of the blue lodge at East St. Louis, while his chapter and Knight Templar Commandery membership are in Miles City, and at Chicago he is a member of the Scottish Rite and Shrine. At East St. Louis he also has membership in the Elks fraternity. He is a member of the college fraternity Beta Theta Pi.

On the 6th of January, 1909, in East St. Louis, Illinois, he married Miss Nellie Flannigen, who was educated at Columbia, Missouri. She is a daughter of Alexander Flannigen, a well known attorney of East St. Louis, and the mother of Mrs. Ball was of French extraction. A daughter, Nellie Elizabeth, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Ball on the 9th of No- vember, 1911.

JOHN W. JANSSEN. Although a resident of Mon- tana for but nine years, the prominent merchant and ranchman of Coalwood, John W. Janssen, has had connections both permanent and productive of results. He came into this state October 10, 1910, crossing the state line at Marmath, North Dakota, as a passenger in his freight car, chartered from Calhoun County, Iowa. Since that time he has been a progressive figure in the promulgation and carry-

ing through of movements which have been benefi- cial to the interests of his adopted community, and has placed himself in a position of prestige as ranch- man, merchant and public-spirited citizen.

Mr. Janssen was born January 12, 1863, in Wood- ford County, Illinois, a son of Dierk H. Janssen, who came to the United States as a young man of twenty-eight years from East Friesland, near Han- over in the Rhine country. He was married in Woodford County, Illinois, to Engelbertha Uphoff, a native of the same locality in Friesland. He set- tled down to farming, acquiring a good property and dying in 1889, at the age of fifty-eight years, well supplied with this world's goods. He acquired the English language fluently and adopted the cus- toms of his adopted land, and in his community was accounted a man of integrity and usefulness. His widow, who still survives him, lives at Pekin, Illinois, and is seventy-five years of age. Their chil- dren were as follows: John W., of this notice; Her- man H., of Girard, Kansas; Katie, the wife of Frank Graber, of Peoria, Illinois; Mattie, now Mrs. Dittmer, of Pekin, Illinois; Henry, of Geneseo, Kansas; Martha, the wife of Paul Peters, of La- raine, Kansas; Bertha, who married Frank Tucker, of Minonk, Illinois; Will, of Benson, Illinois; and George, on the old family homestead near Minonk, Illinois.

To the country schools of Woodford County John W. Janssen is indebted for his education, and eight years of his early manhood were passed in Gage and Johnson counties, Nebraska, and three years at Quincy, Illinois, in addition to which he was for some years employed in carpenter work and farm- ing at Minonk. Later he went to Rockwell City, Iowa, where he followed the trade of carpenter, and also farmed for four years, and then, in 1910, in response to advertising by the Milwaukee Railroad Company, came to Montana, the place where he now resides being his destination. He had pre- viously filed on a half section upon which the office and store at Coalwood are now situated and which he established after his arrival. There was nothing here but grass at that time to begin with, and he came rather to farm and raise stock than to take up merchandising, but has done all three of these, having continued his stock until 1919, when he dis- posed of it and at present is devoting his energies principally to his store.

Mr. Janssen's connection with this community as a citizen has brought into it the postoffice of Coal- wood, the name being taken from the abundance of both coal and wood right at hand. This locality has produced many thousands of feet of pine lum- ber, and the improvements of the region hereabout have been made of the native lumber. The post- office was opened here in 1912, and in 1915 the stock of goods constituting the Janssen store was placed on the shelves. His beginning, however, dates from an earlier day, when he put in merely a stock of inks and tobaccos. The establishing of the schools here, the first rural school of district No. I, sub- division No. 76, was urged by Mr. Janssen, and he helped build the pioneer log house still used as a place of education, while his eldest son is a mem- ber of the board of school directors. In his posi- tion on public matters 'Mr. Janssen is a Wilson democrat, but his only public position has been that of postmaster, which he holds at the present time. Both he and Mrs. Janssen have been active in the movement for the establishment of a Congregational Church in the community, the pioneer pastor of which is the Rev. John Duncan, "the walking preacher."

In Woodford County, Illinois, February 28, 1888,

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Mr. Janssen was united in marriage with Miss Anna E. Baker (formerly Becker), who was born in Hessen, the Village of Waurau, May 8, 1867, and was brought to the United States by her mother in 1869. Mrs. Becker settled in La Salle County, Illinois, and not far from La Salle Mrs. Janssen grew to young womanhood. Her father was Simon Becker and her mother's maiden name was Mar- garet Trinmner. Their children were: Katie, now Mrs. Fred Falk, of Calhoun County, Iowa; Lizzie, who married George Miller, of Cedar Falls, Iowa; Henry, of La Salle County, Illinois; Carrie, who married Herman Miller, of Cedar Falls, Iowa: Con- rad, who died in La Salle County, Illinois; Mary, the wife of Louis Kessler, of that county; Simon, who is a farmer in La Salle County; Balser, also a farmer there; Mrs. Janssen; and Theodore, a farmer of Calhoun County, Iowa.

Mr. and Mrs. Janssen have had the following chil- dren: Fred S., associated with his father in his various interests at Coalwood, married Lois Gra- ham, and has two children, Billy and Dorothy Jean; Carrie, the wife of Percy Bird of Coalwood, has two daughters, Gladys and Lucile; Sam B., of the Coalwood community, who spent ten months in the United States navy during the World war, on the U. S. S. Nanshan, patrolling the Pacific coast; Will Mckinley, also a sailor, who served one year and ten months on the U. S. S. Illinois and the U. S. S. Saranac in the dangerous business of mine laying, his honorable discharge being granted him in March, 1919, while his brother left the service the preced- ing January; and Dewey, the youngest, who is a farmer in the Coalwood community.

AMI ZIMMERMAN. Since the days of his child- hood and youth Ami Zimmerman has lived within the borders of Montana, has been a figure in its stock-raising industry, and has watched with interest its gradual development from a frontier region to the land of the stockman and farmer.

He was born in Shelby County, Iowa, Novem- ber 12, 1876, and came to Montana with his par- ents in 1886. The family became identified with Iowa at an early day in its history. The paternal grandfather of Ami Zimmerman was for many years a farmer in that state. He was born in Pennsylvania, and died at 'Mechanicsville, Iowa. In his family were two sons, John J. and Henry, and four daughters.

John J. Zimmerman, father of Ami Zimmerman, was born in Pennsylvania, but left that state when a youth and removed to Iowa. In Shelby County he became a veterinary surgeon and also engaged in the livery business. He continued the practice of his profession until he came to Montana, and in this state he located on the Little Missouri River, five miles below Alzada, where he proved up a homestead and some desert land and engaged in the stock business. His stock brand was the "Z-Z" and the "XIX," and he was numbered among the cattle shippers of that region. He also served the people of that community as a notary public, and his politi- cal support was given to the republican party. In 1862 he enlisted in an Iowa cavalry company for service in the Civil war, and continued his service until the close of the war, receiving in the mean- time a taste of a rebel bullet and imprisonment for six months in Andersonville Prison, hut was ex- changed in time to rejoin his command and finish the war in active service. He is now living in the Soldiers Home at Marshalltown, Iowa, to which state he returned in 1916.

In Shelby County, Iowa, Mr. John J. Zimmer- man was married to Leah Stover, who is also still

living, and they became the parents of six children, four sons and two daughters, Elmer, Mrs. Ida Johnston, Ola, Ami, Mrs. Charles I. Wood and Gomer.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 173

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