Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 179

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

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HAMILTON W. EWALT. The people of Carter County are too familiar with the career of Hamil- ton W. Ewalt for the biographer to call special at- tention to his record other than to give the salient facts in the same, for here he has spent the best years of his life and has gained a prominent place in the esteem of the people, and is universally respected as a business man, fair dealing being his watch- word in all his transactions. He is optimistic, look- ing on the bright side of life, and never complains at the rough places in the road, knowing that life is a battle in which no victories are won by the idle and indifferent, but that the rewards worth while are to the diligent and courageous at heart. He has contributed his part toward the development and settlement of this section of the country, and today is enjoying that rest which he has so richly earned.

Hamilton W. Ewalt was born near La Belle, Mis- souri, on November II, 1861, and is the son of Samuel and Martha (Wilson) Ewalt. The Ewalt family to which he is connected is descended from Henry Ewalt, grandfather of Mr. Ewalt, who came to the United States from Germany and settled first in Kentucky. Later, in the pioneer days. of Missouri, he went to that state and settled in Lewis County, where he spent the remainder of his years and. is buried. Among his thirteen children were the following : John, Thomas, Henry, Noah, Samuel, William, Joseph; Jane, who married Robert Thomas ; Elizabeth, who married a man of the same name and a cousin of the other one; Manala married and moved to Texas; the other daughters also married, but their names are unknown. Six of the sons served in the same company in the Confederate army dur- ing the Civil war.

Samuel Ewalt was born in Kentucky, but accom- panied his father on the migration to Missouri. In Lewis County of the latter state he was married to Martha Wilson, a daughter of David Wilson, who went to that state from Indiana. The Wilsons and Ewalts were all farming folk and industrious workers. To Samuel and Martha Ewalt were born the following children: Lizzie, wife of James Mc- Daniel, of 'Moberly, Missouri; Hamilton W., the immediate subject of this review; Kittie Lou, the wife of Norman Smith, of Jackson, Montana; David H., of Cody, Wyoming; John, of Ekalaka; Ida, the wife of James Goodwin, of Knox, Missouri; James, of Cody, Wyoming; and Diora, who died unmarried in Lewis County, Missouri.

Hamilton W. Ewalt spent his youthful days on the paternal homestead and received such educa- tional advantages as were provided by the country schools of that community. In 1885 he went to Kansas and spent four years in Haskell County, where he proved up a pre-emption a few miles north of Santa Fé. He was not satisfied with his experience there, however, and as soon as he found a purchaser for his land he returned to his Missouri home, where he spent a year. In the spring of 1892 Mr. Ewalt came into Montana, stopping first at Powderville for a short time, later moving to Ekalaka, where he spent two years logging for a saw-mill. He was dependent entirely upon his labor for his living, and the next year he began freight- ing. The first year his outfit comprised four horses, his motive power being doubled the next year. He hauled his first load from Wibaux then known as Mengusville, on the Northern Pacific Railroad,

to Ekalaka. He followed that business exclusively for several years and, by the most rigid economy, managed to accumulate some capital. He continued freighting from Miles City to Ekalaka and from Belle Fourche to 'Miles City, but when he abandoned that as a business he settled on Box Elder, at his present location, and engaged in the stock business.

Mr. Ewalt entered land as soon as the survey was completed on Box Elder, taking the southeast quarter of section 8, township 4, range 59 east. Starting on a modest scale, with both horses and cattle, he gradually enlarged his operations and became a very successful stock raiser. His brand was "lazy E5," which he used on both horses and cattle. He has recently closed out his herds and is now taking life easy, keeping things in order about the ranch and enjoying the fruits of his former toil.

In Lewis County, Missouri, on November 11, 1883, Mr. Ewalt was married to Mildred Zimmerman, the .daughter of Martine and Mary (Judy) Zimmerman, farming folk and early settlers in Lewis County. To Mr. and Mrs. Ewalt were born the following children: Guy L., who was accidently drowned in 'May, 1915; Lola, wife of Carl Burch, a stock- man on Box Elder, and the mother of five children, Wilson, Gussie, Crystal, Zelzo and Mescal; and Laura is the wife of Wilbert McVicker, living in the old Ewalt homestead on Box Elder, and their only child is Barbara Lee.

Politically Mr. Ewalt is a supporter of the demo- cratic party and has taken an active part in political affairs of his locality, having served as a central com- mitteeman and delegate to conventions. Like others of the early settlers of this locality, he has enjoyed the novelty of living in three different counties without changing his residence, Fallon County hav- ing been created from Custer County, and Carter from Fallon. Mr. Ewalt is admired by all for his sterling honesty, his courage, his hospitality and his public spirit, and is eminently deserving of a per- manent place in the history of his locality.

MANNING C. NEWSTROM. The self-made man is the finest product of this great republic, which offers unsurpassed opportunities to the ambitious for rising to almost any position through personal merit and individual effort. Experience has conclusively proven that the most reliant, stable and representative men of any community are those who have had to depend upon their own exertions for advancement. In spite of the fact that sons of wealthy parents are . given every opportunity for acquiring excellent edu- cations, and their way in life made smooth, it is the exception, rather than the rule, to find any of them attaining to a success commensurate with that of their fathers, while on the other hand the young men coming from homes in the more humble walks, just because of the spur of necessity, reach a prosperity sometimes many degrees removed from that of their immediate progenitors. The more western states offer many instances to prove the truth of these contentions, notably that of Montana, and one man in particular who deserves mention in this connection is Manning C. Newstrom, member of the retail merchandise firm of Ekalaka, operating under the name of the Charters Mercantile Com- pany, with which Mr. Newstrom has been identified since August 7, 1919, although his house has been in existence, under a different name, for about a dozen years.

Manning C. Newstrom was born in Sweden on December 29, 1885, a son of Carl and Charlotte (Stride) Newstrom, both of whom were born in Sweden, where they were married. When Manning C. Newstrom was two years old his parents came

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to the United States, locating in Brookings County, South Dakota. They both survive and are living near Arlington, South Dakota, having spent their lives in agricultural pursuits. Their children are as follows: Mrs. J. B. Trasta, who lives at Arlington, South Dakota; Manning C., whose name heads this review; John, who served in the great war as an artilleryman, was among the first contingent to be sent to France, and had the good fortune to pass through all the campaigns of his command without being wounded or taken prisoner, as well as his pe- riod of service in the Army of Occupation, and was discharged and returned home in June, 1919, after two years of absence on military duty; and Anna, who is the youngest, is still at home.

Growing up in an excellent home, Mr. Newstrom was early taught habits of industry and thrift, and after completing his course in the district schools he took a business course at Minneapolis, following which he entered the employ of the Chicago, Mil- waukee & St. Paul Railroad Company as stenog- rapher in the purchasing department under Fred Winn, and remained in that position for four years. Realizing that the opportunity he sought was not to be found there, Mr. Newstrom resolved to travel further West, and with that idea in view set out with no definite objective point in view, merely looking for a locality to suit him. At Miles City, Montana he thought he found the place he was look- ing for, and so decided to locate there permanently. With the optimism of youth he was not downcast because his sole capital consisted of two dollars, but immediately looked about him for work, and through a sign on a fence asking for workmen he secured employment with W. B. Jordan & Sons Com- pany unloading freight from the car. So reliable and efficient did he prove to be that within two weeks he was offered a position as salesman, and remained with that concern for nine years, or until he resigned to go into business for himself, rising to become shipping clerk of the wholesale branch within a year, and later, traveling salesman, covering Eastern Mon- tana from Miles City to the Dakota line, during this period being a member of the Iowa Commercial Men's Association.

On June 17, 1912, Mr. Newstrom was united in marriage with Miss Eleanor Best, of Vermilion, South Dakota. Mrs. Newstrom was born in the lo- cality of Vermilion in 1880, a daughter of Joseph Best, who first served as sheriff of his county, and then as police magistrate, all of his life being a re- publican. There were three daughters and one son in the Best family. Mrs. Newstrom, who was edu- cated in the public schools, was a teacher of dancing prior to her marriage. Since casting his first vote for William Howard Taft for President Mr. New- strom has espoused the candidates of the republican party.

Although a newcomer to Ekalaka, Mr. Newstrom has already identified himself with the best element here, and is destined to achieve business distinction in its midst. He and his partner, Mr. Carey, are thoroughly competent to cater to the demands of their trade, which is gathered not only from Ekalaka, but also from a wide territory contiguous to it, and they take pride in keeping their stock up-to-date in every respect.

CHARLES H. WILLIAMS. During the past quarter of a century, Charles H. Williams has been a resi- dent of Lewistown and for the greater part of this time has been engaged in the drug business here, although now retired. His life has been replete with experiences, and his fortunes have ranged from those of poverty to affluence, yet through it all he

has kept a serene and untroubled mind, and few men who have passed their three-score-and-tenth year bear so few of the scars of life's battles.

Mr. Williams was born in a hewed log cabin on a wilderness farm near the present city of South Bend, St. Joseph County, Indiana, November 2, 1845, a son of Samuel and Eliza F. (Thomas) Williams, natives of 'Maine, where the former was born in 1812 and the latter in 1813. They were married in Maine and there were born the first two children in a family of three daughters and four sons, of which family Charles H. was the fourth in order of birth. Some time in the late '3os the father took his family, consisting of his wife and surviving child, overland to St. Joseph County, Indiana, where he bought land in the timber region and there built a primitive log house, with hewed log floor made of trees as they were cut from the forests. It was in this little home that Charles H. Williams first saw the light of day. Samuel Williams passed the rest of his life there and died in 1889, his widow surviving him ten years. He was an industrious farmer, and a lover of fine driving horses, but was a very temperate man and a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Originally a whig, in later years he transferred his support to the repub- lican party.

The boyhood days of Charles H. Williams were passed amid the surroundings of his father's In- diana homestead, and during the short winter terms he attended the district schools. Later he was given the advantages of attendance at the Northern In- diana College at South Bend, Indiana, from which he was graduated with the class of 1868, in which year he journeyed to St. Charles, Minnesota, in which locality he started farming. In the fall of the same year he turned his attention to matters com- mercial when he established a general store business at Dover, Minnesota, under the firm style of Miles & Williams. This business was on a sound basis and was prospering nicely when the firm had the mis- fortune to suffer a disastrous fire which completely destroyed their building and goods and caused a loss to Mr. Williams of practically everything he owned in the world. While not discouraged, he decided that he would seek another location for his next venture and accordingly went to Denver, Colorado, and then to Ellsworth, Kansas. At the latter place he took a stage-coach to Great Bend, Kansas, where he engaged in the general merchandise business under the firm name of Stone & Williams. This partnership was subsequently mutually dissolved, and Mr. Wil- liams took his share of the goods to Dodge City, Kansas, and embarked in the railroad supply business for the railway contractors and workmen who were building the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. He remained there until the fall of 1872, when he returned to Denver. His first railway venture had proved a profitable one, and with the idea of selling goods to the contractors on the Great Northern Railway, in the spring of 1873 he went to Puget Sound, via Salt Lake City and San Francisco. The failure of J. Cook caused the collapse of Mr. Williams' plans, as all work was stopped on the Great Northern, and Mr. Williams gave up his projects of which he had expected great things and went down the Sound of Tacoma, Washington, and then to Portland, where he took a steamer to the Dells. He then traveled about 1,700 miles by saddle- horse to Fort Benton and Fort Peck, and while the hostile Indians at that time were on the war- path he made his way safely through to Boise City, Idaho. With a couple and their children he went on to Deer Lodge, and after about six months of constant travel finally arrived at Winona, Minnesota.

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Not long after his return Mr. Williams embarked in the drug business at Blooming Prairie, Minne- sota, in partnership with Doctor Johnson, under the firm style of Williams & Johnson. This business continued until 1874, when Mr. Williams came to Maiden, Montana, and located in the Judith Moun- tains, where he was engaged in prospecting and mining. After two years he embarked in the drug business at Maiden and conducted an establishment until 1895, in the fall of which year he came to Lewistown and founded a store of a like character. Here he built up a business of large proportions, which he continued to conduct until his retirement in 1917. At that time he sold out and has since lived quietly in his comfortable home at 212 Fifth Avenue, South. During the time that he was en- gaged in the drug business at Lewistown Mr. Will- iams was also engaged in ranching four and one-half miles west of the city, where he has 520 acres of valuable property with excellent improvements. On this ranch are an eight-room bungalow, a barn with space for thirty head of horses, other buildings of proportionate character, and a spring of fine, clear water right at the house. This ranch he now rents. Mr. Williams is independent in his political views and was elected one of the first aldermen of Lewis- town, but resigned the office. Fraternally he is affil- iated with Lewistown Lodge No. 37, Ancient Free and Accepted 'Masons. One of the grand old gentle- men of Montana, his career has been a worthy and honorable one, and he well merits the respect and esteem in which he is universally held.

In May, 1877, Mr. Williams was united in marriage with Miss Nellie M. Crandall, at Blooming Prairie, Minnesota, she being a native of Wisconsin. Mrs. Williams died in 1907, having been the mother of one son, Floyd S., who married Leah White and is a resident of Great Falls, Montana.

ROBERT G. SHIELL. It is given to some individuals to advance beyond their fellows by reason of the possession of characteristics that make for success. Their handling of big business affairs is so masterly that their onward progress is steady and they make prosperous all enterprises with which they are con- nected. Robert G. Shiell, one of Fergus County's prominent ranchmen, is an instance of the above. Still in the very prime of life, he has already ac- complished more than many men whose careers are finished, and at the same time has not neglected the duties of citizenship, a statement that will be substantiated by his long record of faithful public service.

Mr. Shiell was born at East Lothvan, Scotland, February 24, 1870, a son of Robert and Catherine (Virtue) Shiell, natives of the same place and both now deceased. Married in Scotland, the parents had nine children, of whom three. died in infancy and six are still living, and of these Robert G. is the youngest. Three of the sons, William, John and James, came to the United States in 1886 and located near the old town of U. Bet, in Fergus County. The boys were followed during the next year, 1887, by the father and his wife and other children, who settled in the same community. There Robert Shiell, who had been a shepherd in his na- tive land, found employment at the same vocation that had occupied his attention in the Lammermoor Hills. On taking out his citizenship papers he en- tered Government land, upon which he built a home, but after a few years sold out his land, retired from active labor, and removed to Great Falls. His last years were passed at the home of his son, Robert G., where he died in 1903, at the age of eighty-two years, his wife passing away in 1914, when she .was

eighty-six years old. They were faithful members of the Presbyterian Church, and Mr. Shiell was a democrat in political faith.

Robert G. Shiell was educated in the schools of his native land and was seventeen years of age when he accompanied his parents to the United States. His first money in this country was earned by herd- ing sheep on the American Fork, employment in which he was engaged for three years, and he then entered the hotel business at Living Springs, a ven- ture in which he made an almost phenomenal suc- cess. Subsequently he removed to Garneill, where he also established himself in the hotel business, and conducted a popular hostelry for fifteen years, his house becoming widely and favorably known to the traveling public. During the time he was boni- face of the latter caravansary he began to interest himself financially in Fergus County ranch land and in running cattle and sheep. His first purchase was what was known as the Alf Stephens ranch of 520 acres, and later he bought the old U. Bet ranch of about 1,000 acres. In addition to being an extensive raiser of cattle, he engaged more and more exten- sively in the sheep business, and at one time had from 6,000 to 7,000 head of sheep. He is still ex- tensively interested in that business, as well as in farming, although his home is made at Garneill. While business interests have made large and im- portant claims upon his time and abilities, Mr. Shiell has not neglected civic duties, for during the past fifteen to seventeen years he has served capably as justice of the peace, to the entire satisfaction of his fellow-citizens. He is a man of much force of character, who carries to a successful conclusion every enterprise he undertakes. His support in public matters has been given to the democratic party.

Mr. Shiell was married September 6, 1891, to Miss Annie Gray, who was born in East Lothvan,' Scot- land, daughter of George and Jessie Gray, also natives of that country, who spent their lives there, both being laid to rest in the old cemetery at Pen- caitland. Mrs. Shiell was the fifth of a family of nine children. To Mr. and Mrs. Shiell there have been born four children: Nettie .Gray, the widow of Ernest H. Argersinger, one of the organizers of the First National Bank, of which he was cashier at Judith Gap at the time of his death, in November, 1918, when he left one daughter, Ruth Gray; Robert J., who died in 1911, at the age of seventeen years and eleven months ; Kate V., the wife of C. N. Hovie, a ranchman near Judith Gap, with one daughter, Catherine; and Gracie Allen, who is attending the polytechnic school at Billings.

JOHN O. GILKERSON. A pioneer of Montana of the year 1877, John O. Gilkerson has had a personal share in the wonderful events which have formed the state's history since that time, and has worked his way to position and fortune solely through the force of his own initiative. Various lines of business have profited by his energetic and capable manage- ment of affairs, and for years he has been known as one of the prominent ranchers and business men of Fergus County, but at present he is more or less in retirement from active labors and is making his home at Lewistown, where a number of his most worthy accomplishments have been centered.

Mr. Gilkerson was born at Mount Gilead, Mor- row County, Ohio, February 22, 1852, a son of James and Ann (Ward) Gilkerson. The father, a native of Ireland and a harnessmaker by trade, died when the son was but a child, while the mother, who was born in Pennsylvania, survived until fiftv-five years of age. They had two children: Clara. B., the wife

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of Michael Nickson; and John O. John O. Gilkerson was given but ordinary educational advantages in the public schools of Indiana, where he was taken as a lad, and earned his first money plowing corn for John Huffman at Greenfield, Indiana. Later he learned the shoemaker's trade with his uncle, John Ward, but this vocation did not satisfy him and in the spring of 1877 he answered the call of the West and traveled by rail to Franklin, Utah, and from that place by stage-coach to Helena, Montana. At the latter place he secured employment with John Green, a ranchman, as a range rider, but not long thereafter took up freighting between Helena, Fort McCloud and Billings. During the fall of 1877 he helped to drive the cattle through to the Poplar River Indian Reservation, and in this difficult task was detailed to go ahead and separate the buffalo herds, so that the cattle could be driven through without mingling with the buffalo. In the winter of 1877-1878, Mr. Gilkerson passed his time in the mountains hunting with Jake Hoover.

Later, for a time, he was engaged in a retail liquor business at Fort Benton, but disposed of his inter- ests therein to give his attention to ranching in the Judith Basin, where he had taken up government land seven miles east of the present site of Lewis- town. In 1885 he discovered coal on this land, and subsequently delivered the first coal sent into Lewis- town. For more than thirty years he continued to mine and sell coal, only leaving that industry when he retired from active business affairs in 1919. Mr. Gilkerson has been identified with the upbuilding of this section in various other ways, and was the builder of the first structure ever used by the county officials at Lewistown, situated on Washington Street, between Third and Fourth avenues, this being erected in 1886. He was also the builder of the first plant for the manufacture of ice in Northern Montana, an enterprise equipped throughout with electric power and modern equipment, and was engaged in the ice business profitably until his retirement in 1919. Also, he was a director of the You Go Coal Mining Com- pany. Mr. Gilkerson now devotes himself prin- cipally to looking after his ranching interests, which are large and important. He is the possessor of an excellent reputation as a business man of sound standing and absolute integrity, and as a citizen has given evidence of his public spirit on a number of occasions. He votes the democratic ticket, and his fraternal affiliation is with Lewistown Lodge No. 456, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, in which order, as in business circles, he has a number of warm and appreciative friends.

In December, 1886, Mr. Gilkerson was united in marriage with Miss Della Ball, who was born in In- diana. Of their six children only one is living : Percy, his father's associate in his ranching and busi- ness ventures, who married Mabel Simpson and has one daughter, Dora.

JOHN B. CLARK is a true and typical product of the West. He has never spent any considerable period of his life anywhere but the free and open plains, mountains and valleys of the northern and north- western states and territories. He was born on the bleak prairies of Minnesota, and has been identified with the open country of Montana fully forty years.

He was born December 25, 1858. The place of his birth was Rochester, then scarcely started as a vil- lage, now a world famous center of surgery. His parents, Bernard and Mary (McFalls) Clark, were married in Olmsted County, Minnesota, where the City of Rochester now stands. Bernard Clark was born in Dublin, Ireland, and came to this country by sailing ship when he was a boy. He landed at New

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 179

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