Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 187

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 187

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

and for twelve years had runs both as a freight and passenger conductor with headquarters at Forsyth.

In the meantime Mr. Clarke had become widely known as one of the popular citizens of Rosebud County, and his qualifications made him eligible as a candidate for public office. In November, 1914, he was elected on the republican ticket as county auditor, being the first chosen incumbent of that office in the county. After five months he was appointed county clerk to succeed R. J. Cole, and was regularly elected clerk in 1916. His official term was concluded in January, 1919, and soon afterward he took the management of the Commer- cial Hotel and has brought a large degree of prestige to that institution.

In 1919 Mr. Clarke was elected an alderman of Forsyth and was chosen again in 1920 and is one of the influential members of the administration of Mayor Cornwell. During the war in addition to the routine duties of county clerk he gave much of his time as a member of the local Draft Board. He is a member of the Order of Railway Conductors, and has taken his Masonic degrees in the Forsyth Lodge.

At Forsyth, September 21, 1905, Mr. Clarke mar- ried Miss Ida Marcyes. She was born in Minnesota but has lived in Montana since infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Clarke have one son, Hiram James, born July 8, 1906.

The late Hiram R. Marcyes, father of Mrs. Clarke, was one of the earliest settlers and business men of Forsyth. He was born in the Pine Tree State of Maine, but in early life went to the Northwestern frontier of Minnesota, and from that state entered the Union army as regimental band leader of the Fourth Minnesota Infantry. In 1883 he became a merchant at Forsyth, Montana, conducting one of the first places of business in the new town. Later he sold his stock to the Richardson Mercantile Com- pany, and then employed his capital in building the Commercial Hotel, and had an active part in its management, though he also had property interests. He became widely known over the section of Mon- tana now known as Rosebud County, and in 1898 was elected to the Legislature. While he was not a campaign orator, he always exercised a strong influence among his fellow citizens and gained a dignified record in the Legislature. He was a Master Mason and his church support was given the Methodists. He was a republican and had a long record as a Grand Army man, attending many encampments. Hiram R. Marcyes died in March, 1913. He married Louisa Loffelmacher, a native of Minnesota, who died before her husband. Their children were: Claude O., a ranchman of Rosebud County who married Estelle Miller; Ida M., Mrs. Clarke; Eva, wife of Doctor Alexander, of Forsyth ; Grace E., Mrs. W. B. Dean, of Forsyth; and Olive F., wife of Frank Harding, of Forsyth.

PARK J. BUNKER. Banking and active connections with other business interests, a keen and public- spirited participation in public affairs, have brought a gratifying accumulation of prestige and esteem to Park J. Bunker, one of the leading men of affairs of Forsyth, where he is cashier of the First National Bank.

Mr. Bunker, who has known Montana for the past fifteen years, was born in the Town of Woodstock, McHenry County, Illinois, February 16, 1882. He belongs to prominent pioneer families of that rich section of Northern Illinois. His grandfather, George K. Bunker, was a native of Pennsylvania, and came West and passed around the southern end of

Lake Michigan when Chicago 'was a city in anticipa- tion rather than in reality. He went on west from Chicago into 'McHenry County, and was living there when what is now the main line of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway was built west from Chicago to the Mississippi River. With the exception of his wife he was the oldest resident of McHenry County when he died in 1905, at the age of eighty-one. He married Miss Martha Cottle, who survived him five years, to the age of eighty-six. They had two chil- dren, Frank M. and Mrs. Charles B. Wright, the latter of Woodstock.

Frank M. Bunker, father of the Forsyth banker, was born in McHenry County, and spent a long and active career in that section of Illinois. His chief interest was as a merchant, but he also served as a public official of his City of Woodstock, and was known as a man who made much success of all his undertakings. He was never affiliated either with church or fraternity and in politics voted as a repub- lican. He died in April, 1918, at the age of sixty- two. Frank 'M. Bunker married Elizabeth Johnson, a native of Woodstock. Her father, Doctor John- son, was one of the pioneer physicians of Northern Illinois, and with his brother Joseph laid out the Town of Woodstock, and gave the rest of his life to the practice of medicine in that community. Doctor Johnson had two children, Mrs. Bunker and a son, Park Johnson. The latter disappeared while serving as a railway mail clerk out of Chicago. Elizabeth Johnson was only an infant when her mother died, and she married after the death of her father.

Park J. Bunker was educated in the grammar and high schools of Woodstock and at the age of twenty- two graduated from Beloit College of Wisconsin. After completing his education he gained a knowledge of practical banking as an employe of the Mer- chants National Bank at St. Paul. He was with that institution about eighteen months and in Septem- ber, 1905, came to Montana and employed his knowl- edge of banking to good purpose in assisting to start the Bank of Commerce of Forsyth, which he served as assistant cashier and as acting cashier. In the spring of 1907 he left the bank, and was identified with Edwards & Burke, railroad contractors at Boze- man, until the next spring. Then returning to For- syth he was engaged in ranching and in handling real estate for a year. From 1909' to IgII he had charge of the office of the W. B. Jordan & Sons Company of Miles City. In June, I'9II, he became a merchant at Wibaux, but sold his interests in that section of Eastern Montana, in October, 1914, and re- turned to his old Illinois home at Woodstock, where he looked after the affairs of his father, then in his declining years, and also some interests of his own.

In September, 1916, after an absence from the state of nearly two years, Mr. Bunker returned to Mon- tana and since then has been a resident of Forsyth. He was president and manager of the Rosebud Ab- stract Company, later had the management of the electric light plant, but resigned and in 1918 became cashier of the First National Bank as successor of C. A. Westfall.

Mr. Bunker served as the first city treasurer of Forsyth and filled out the unexpired term of Alder- man Northway when the latter became mayor. . He has been a working member of the Chamber of Com- merce and has given his aid to every movement for the general prosperity of the city. Especially credit- able was his influence and work during war times as a member of each Liberty Loan committee, and he contributed in an important way to the splendid record credited to the First National Bank in the sale of Government securities. Since voting for Mr. Taft in

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

1908 he has been identified with the republican party. He is affiliated with the Lodge, Chapter and Knight Templar Commandery of Masons at Forsyth, and with the Lodge of Elks at Miles City.

Mr. Bunker married Miss Una Albertson at Wibaux, Montana, August 4,. 1914. Her father was an early settler and farmer at Albion, Iowa, where he spent his last years and where Mrs. Bunker was born. She was educated in high school and subse- quently graduated from the State University Hos- pital of Iowa City, as a trained nurse. She was next to the youngest in a family of eight children, whose names were Charles, Eva, Edna, Cyrus, Mary, Pearl, Una and Salome. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Bunker are Francis M. and 'Mary Elizabeth.

AUGUST J. FREEMAN, who for the past five years has presided as judge of the Justice Court and of the Police Court of Forsyth, has rendered a service com- mending him to the people of that locality and dis- tinguishing him among the worthiest and most useful citizens of the community.

Judge Freeman, who has been a Montanan for two decades, was born in the southern part of Sweden, near Christianstad, September 24, 1863. His people have been identified with the South of Sweden for generation after generation, and he is of pure Swed- ish stock. He is the youngest of the ten children of John and Anna (Jepson) Freeman. He has a brother, Otto, who is a miner and a resident of Wallace, Idaho. His father, John Freeman, came to the United States during the California gold days, being accompanied by a brother, who established himself in this country permanently. However, John returned to Sweden and lived out his life in the old country, following the vocation of farming.

August Freeman for six years of his early life served as a cadet in the artillery of the Swedish army, and while in the service acquired a practical and rather liberal education. Soon after his honor- able discharge from the army he left home and came to America, taking the boat at Malmo for Denmark, crossing the North Sea to Hull, England, thence to Liverpool, and by a steamship of the White Star line coming to New York. He possessed a very modest amount of money when he reached this country and his first experiences were as a farm hand for a New York Yankee near Glens Falls. The wage of $15 a month seemed very attractive as compared with his standard of wages in the old world. He remained on the New York farm about a year, and then went on West to Michigan and for two years was a lumber jack in the woods of the Northern Peninsula, at still advanced wages over what he had been paid on the farm. In the meantime he was diligently perfecting his knowledge of English, and from the rough and arduous life of a lumber camp became a traveling salesman for a cigar house of Chicago. For ten years he traveled as a cigar salesman, covering all the northern states and British Columbia and many of the southern states. He had real ability as a sales- man, was a hard worker, and altogether the experi- ence was of much value to him financially and in other ways.

On leaving the road Mr. Freeman located at Ben- ton Harbor, Michigan, and there established his first cigar factory. While there he also met and married his wife. Leaving Michigan, he came out to the Rocky Mountains in 1898, and for two years con- ducted a factory at Wallace, Idaho. Selling this busi- ness he came to Montana in 1900, and for about fifteen years gave his exclusive time and attention to his cigar factory at Miles City.

Judge Freeman has been a resident of Forsyth

since 1915. For a time he resumed his business as a cigar manufacturer, but was soon appointed by the Board of County Commissioners as judge of the Justice Court. It was a selection entirely nonpartisan and based on his evident qualifications for the post and for his unalloyed citizenship, and the wisdom with which he has discharged his responsibilities is reflected in the subsequent elections that confirm him in the offices of justice and police judge.

He acquired American naturalization in Chicago, but cast his first presidential vote at Iron Mountain, Michigan, for James G. Blaine in 1884. He has al- ways been a republican in national matters, but has frequently voted for men of the opposing party in local elections. Several years ago he was republican nominee for representative from Custer County, be- ing defeated by only five votes. His first and only official service has been in his present office. He is also probation officer of the Forsyth schools.

June 24, 1895, Judge Freeman married Miss Ina Pearl Stilwell. She was born at Schoolcraft, Mich- igan, acquired a liberal education, and remained at home until her marriage. She is a daughter of George and Urillia (Elsworth) Stilwell. Her father was a Michigan soldier with the Twenty-second Regi- ment of Infantry, and spent his business career as a cabinent maker and painter. Mrs. Freeman's mother was in early life a teacher. Mrs. Freeman has always been interested in literary matters and the advance- ment of young people. At Forsyth she was one of the active spirits in the Woman's Club, and recently was a leader in the establishment of a free public library. She was appointed librarian in 1920 by the

county commissioners, and is now serving in that capacity. During the war much of her time was spent in the quarters of the local Red Cross Chapter. She is a member and active in the Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church. Judge and 'Mrs. Free- man have two daughters: Arlyn, who is the wife of Wiley Duncan and lives in California; and Miss Virginia, a pupil in the high school of Forsyth. .

ERNEST WOOLSTON ever since coming to Montana has given practically all his time and energies to merchandising, the line of work and service in which his career has found its best outlet from early youth to the present. Mr. Woolston is one of the leading business men and citizens of Forsyth, where he is active head of the Woolston Dry Goods Company.

He was born of an old American colonial family on a farm near Beverly, New Jersey, January 13, 1883. For generation after generation the Woolstons have lived in Burlington County, tracing their an- cestry from three English brothers who came there in colonial days. One of these brothers was "Bud" Woolston, and Ernest Woolston is of that line. Isaac M. Woolston served as a soldier in the Civil war throughout that struggle, and established the car- riage business at Beverly which, with modifications due to the advent of the automobile, is still carried on. Isaac M. Woolston, who died in 1901, at the age of seventy-six, married Miss Mary Jane Perkins, a descendant of Lord Sutton of England. She died in 1899, at the age of seventy-one. Her children com- prised four sons and four daughters. Of these Eleazer Woolston was the fourth child and was born at Beverly, New Jersey, and has given all the energies of his mature career to the business of carriage manufacture, though in recent years the facilities of his factory have been devoted to the manufacture of automobile bodies. He is still living at the age of sixty-six. Eleazer Woolston married Rebecca' A. Van Sciver, of Holland Dutch ancestry, and daugh- ter of a Jersey farmer of substantial means. The

HISTORY OF MONTANA

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children of Eleazer Woolston and wife are Ernest, Arthur and Miss May, the last two still living at Beverly.

Ernest Woolston after completing his education in the Beverly High School spent two years in a local drug store, acquiring a knowledge of business that has proved of value to him since he came to Montana. He came to the Northwest in 1900 to enter the service of E. A. Richardson, one of the widely known busi- ness men and citizens of Eastern Montana. For six years he was with Mr. Richardson at Crow Agency and at other points, and in 1906 moved to Forsyth and joined the Richardson Mercantile Company as a clerk and later, as manager of the dry goods and clothing department. When the Richardson Mer- cantile Company went out of business, Mr. Wool- ston took over the dry goods and the Woolston Dry Goods Company has become one of the prominent mercantile houses of Rosebud County.

So far as a busy merchant can he has contributed of his time to community matters, and served two years as president of the Forsyth Chamber of Com- merce. He was a worker in the various Liberty Loan campaigns and in the Red Cross Chapter. His only fraternity is the Elks Lodge. He has voted as a republican, having cast his first presidential ballot for Colonel Roosevelt in 1904.

At Madeira, Ohio, July 25, 1916, Mr. Woolston married Miss Mary H. Morrill, who was born in that locality April 21, 1891. Her father, William S. Morrill, was for many years connected with the gen- eral offices of the Big Four Railway Company at Cincinnati. Mrs. Woolston has two brothers, Horace and Elliott, both living at Burgin, Kentucky. She is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio, and had lived in Montana for several years before her mar- riage. She came out to the state as supervisor of music in the Forsyth schools, and had held that position three years, when she married. She has been an active factor in the Woman's Club of For- syth and was a member of the Red Cross during the war. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Woolston is Marjorie, born October 30, 1918.

GEORGE A. BAKER, M. D., is one of the recent addi- tions to the medical profession of Hardin, but already he has made his ability felt and is recognized as one of the skilled and dependable physicians and surgeons of the Big Horn Valley. He was born at Bowen, Illinois, on June 18, 1879, a son of George D. Baker, a merchant tailor, who died in 1884. Dr. George A. Baker has a brother, Dr. David A. Baker, of Jordan, Montana, whose life history is given elsewhere in this work, and with whom he was associated in the build- ing of the Twin Butte Hospital.

Dr. George A. Baker secured his literary education in the Bowen High School, and he began to be a wage-earner on neighborhood farms. Later he went to Pocatello, Idaho, and entered the shops of the Oregon Short Line Railroad as a machinist's helper, then became a fireman and finally locomotive engineer on the extra list. After two years and eight months with this company Doctor Baker returned home and began the study of medicine at Keokuk, Iowa, in the College of Physicians and Surgeons. As he had to work his way through school, the following summer he became a brakeman for the Wabash Railroad, and with the money thus obtained returned to college that fall. The subsequent summer he returned to the Oregon Short Line as freight brakeman between Lima and Butte, and again resumed his medical studies in the fall. By this time he had made suffi- cient progress in medicine to enable him to take charge of his brother's practice at Wabasha, Minnesota. In

the fall of that year he and his brother shipped a threshing outfit to Monango, North Dakota, Dr. George A. Baker operating it for six weeks, and then once more went back to school, and was gradu- ated therefrom on May 26, 1908. Since then Doctor Baker has taken a number of courses at various schools at Chicago.

Having completed his preparations for a profes- sional career, Doctor Baker went to Bowman, North Dakota, and was engaged in a general practice at that point until July 1, 1909. He then came to Montana and established himself at Ekalaka, where he re- mained until in September, 1917, and then entered the Medical Reserve Corps, with the rank of first lieutenant.

Joining the army, Doctor Baker went to Fort Riley, Kansas, to the Officers Training Camp, and after two months there was ordered to New York for overseas service, sailing for Liverpool, England, on the trans- port Massatalbian on June 12, 1918, and landed at Liverpool on the 24th of that month. Three days later he sailed from Southampton for Cherbourg, France, and arrived there the next day. On July 2d he arrived in casual camp just south of Paris, and on July 4th was assigned to the Thirteenth Engineers, ordered to Fleury, and went on duty at Rompont as lieutenant in the medical corps for the Sanitary Com- mission and troops between Vienne La Ville and Verdun and Souilly. He remained with that assign- ment until September Ist, when he was transferred to charge of the hospital and infirmary at Sommesous and of from 250 to 1,200 men, and the personnel of the railroad from Sommesous to Fleury. On No- vember Ist he was ordered to Dun S-Meuse, and there received orders to report at Sedan as soon as the allied troops entered the city. Doctor Baker was ordered back to Sommesous on December 26th, and remained with the Thirteenth Engineers until he re- turned home. He left that point on March 17, 1919, eleven days after he had been promoted to the rank of captain, and sailed from Marseilles, France, on an Italian transport. Doctor Baker landed at Hoboken in April, was mustered out of the service at Camp Grant on May 13th, and reached Montana on May 17th. He immediately came to Hardin and entered upon a general practice. A strong believer in the American Legion, Doctor Baker belongs to the local organization.

On October II, 19II, Doctor Baker was married at Miles City, Montana, to Miss Blanche Beasley, born at Ekalaka, Montana, in 1893, a daughter of Royal H. and Inez (Foster) Beasley. Mrs. Beasley is a daugh- ter of Samuel I. Foster. Coming to Montana as a young man, Mr. Beasley was engaged in raising horses and mules on a ranch near Ekalaka, and died in 1910, leaving two children, Mrs. Baker and Hurley Beasley. Mrs. Beasley was later married to a Mr. Cleveland of Ekalaka, Montana. Doctor and Mrs. Baker have three children, Maxine, Susie Gale and George, Jr. Doctor Baker is a Master Mason, and belongs to the Heather Hill Masonic Club, an organ- ization formed of Masons in France.

CALVIN W. PEMBERTON, M. D. The first physician to locate at Hysham, Doctor Pemberton has had a busy professional career covering a period of sixteen years, eleven years in Montana. He is a fine type of the modern physician, capable, devoted to his profes- sion, kindly and interested in his community, and has a large circle of friends and well wishers in this state.

Doctor Pemberton came to Montana from Illinois, and was born in Saline County of that state, February 22, 1871. He is a son of the venerable Matthew W. Pemberton of Galatia, Illinois. A native of Tennes-

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see, in which state he grew to manhood, Matthew Pemberton then moved to Illinois, and as a pioneer homesteaded in Hamilton County, that state, under the "bit act." He grew up in a home of devout parents, early joined the church, and spent a long life in its service. As a young man he began preach- ing, and he held regular pastorates until he was superannuated. On the occasion of his ninety-sixth birthday the community insisted that he preach again, and he consented and delivered a memorable sermon on April 25, 1920. He is an Odd Fellow and a life- long republican. Rev. Mr. Pemberton married Mar- garet Tate, a native of Tennessee. She died at Ga- latia, Illinois, in 1899, the mother of thirteen children, of whom Doctor Pemberton is the youngest. The survivors of this numerous Rooseveltian family be- sides Doctor Pemberton are Lorenzo T., of Forsyth, Montana; Mrs. Delilah Humphrey, of Galatia, Illi- nois ; Eliza Ann, wife of Albert Smith, of Galatia ; Co- lumbus C., of Hamilton County, Illinois ; Henry W., of Kirkwood, Missouri; Mollie R., wife of B. E. Edwards, of Grinnell, Iowa; Mrs. Jennie L. Malone, of Galatia; and George H., living near Galatia.

Calvin W. Pemberton spent his boyhood days at Galatia, attended the public schools, took a business college course at Sedalia, Missouri, and began the study of medicine with Doctors Carr and Johnson at Galatia. Having considerable progress to his credit, he then entered the old Marion Sims Beaumont Medical School at St. Louis, now the medical de- partment of St. Louis University, and completed his course and received his degree in 1903. Doctor Pemberton returned to his home town of Galatia to begin practice, and left a well established practice there when he came to Montana in 1909. In Septem- ber of that year he began practice in Rosebud County, being physician for the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. After eighteen. months he transferred his home to the new community of Hy- sham, and is now the oldest practicing physician in the county in point of residence. With the respon- sibilities of a large private practice he has also found time to act in a public capacity, being surgeon for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company and serving a temporary appointment as county health officer. Though past military age, he was a member of the Medical Reserve Corps during the World war.

Doctor Pemberton is a liberal and public-spirited citizen. In 1916 he built the first modern hotel at Hyshamn, the Eureka Hotel, a twelve-room house with steam heat and electric light. It was the first hotel with those modern facilities in the county. On coming to Hysham he entered a homestead three miles southeast, fulfilled his obligation to the Gov- ernment and still owns the property. He was the first president of the Hysham Commercial Club. He is a member of the American Medical Association.

At Galatia, Illinois, September 18, 1889, Doctor Pemberton married Miss Jennie L. Webber, who was born in the same community, a daughter of Joseph R. and Rachel (Karnes) Webber. Her father, a native of Illinois, whose ancestry came from one of the Rhine provinces of Germany, has spent his life as a merchant, miller, farmer and tobacco dealer and is still a busy business man at Galatia. His children were: Mrs. Etta W. Pemberton, of Kirkwood, Missouri; Mrs. Jennie L. Pemberton; Mrs. F. L. Parks, of Galatia ; and Dick O., of Galatia.

Doctor and Mrs. Pemberton have three children, Joseph C., Gladys W. and Rachel Josephine. The son volunteered and was in the Medical Hospital Corps in France, being connected with Base Hospital No. 97. He is now assistant superintendent of the institution for the feeble minded at Norwalk, Cali-

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 187

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