Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 192

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 192

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on the work of the Josselyn home farm; and Ellen A., the wife of George Vose, of Claremont, New Hampshire.

During his youth Horatio S. Josselyn missed even the advantages of a common school training. He was not in the schoolroom after his ninth year, but instead he labored on the home farm, and although the lad was not kept in school he had the ad- vantages derived from an educated father. When he had reached the age of sixteen he left his native town and spent three succeeding years as a farm employe at Weathersfield, going from there to Brattleboro and securing employment in a jewelry store for a year, and during the following three years was engaged in the manufacture of carriages and sleighs at South Londonderry, Vermont, the business having then been destroyed by fire. Re- turning to Brattleboro, Mr. Josselyn entered the service of J. A. Church, a contractor and builder, as a mill man in getting out the stock used by the company. A year was spent there, and he had the thrilling experience of being the last man in the boiler room before the five-ton boiler blew up and destroyed the factory. He was standing with his hands on the engineer's shoulders when a piece of timber eight feet long passed between them and landed between the feet of two other men, but fortunately no one was injured.

From this factory Mr. Josselyn entered the serv- ice of the Estay Organ Company at Brattleboro, again filling the position of mill man in getting out stock, and eleven years were spent with this com- pany. It was at this juncture that Mr. Josselyn returned to farming, and a year later was offered and accepted the superintendence of the county farm of Windham County. His two years there so dem- onstrated his ability as a manager of such affairs that he was chosen as superintendent of the Odd Fellows Home at Ludlow, Vermont, and in this home Kenneth Josselyn, his only son, was born, he having been the only male child ever born in that Odd Fellows home. Mr. Josselyn spent three years in that position and then returned to the Estay Organ Company for another year, moved then to Burling- ton, Vermont, and was a shoe salesman for two years. He then left his native state and made his way to Montreal, Canada, where for a year he was in the employ of the Canadian Pacific Railroad Com- pany, and from Montreal went to the state of Iowa and spent five years engaged in farming in Muscatine County. Since that time he has been a resident of Montana, arriving in this state in September, 1008.

Mr. Josselyn at once entered a homestead ad- joining the townsite of Baker, and lived in a cabin on his claim while proving it up. His farming activities during this time corresponded to truck gardening, and he was also employed in the lumber yards of Baker. A cemetery was later laid out on his land, a plot of fifteen acres of his homestead having been given to that purpose. On the 10th of October, 1918, gas was found on his land, and this well is now furnishing gas fuel for Baker.

Mr. Josselyn was one of the first justices of the peace of the town, continuing in the office two years. Although reared under strong democratic influences, he began voting as a republican, casting his first presidential ballot for James G. Blaine, and has continned with the ranks of that party.

On the 11th of February, 1893, he became a mem- ber of the Odd Fellows' fraternity and was initiated into Wantastiquet Lodge No. 5, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Brattleboro, Vermont. He now belongs to all the branches of Odd Fellowship, and about the time he joined the order he also became a member of Oasis Encampment No. 5 and of Den-

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

nis Rebekah Lodge No. I. In 1914, he joined Canton Custer No. 6, of Ekalaka, and has several times represented his lodge in the Grand Lodge. In the Subordinate Lodge he has passed all the chairs, and for many years has been secretary of Baker Lodge No. 92. On the 22d of February, 1898, Mr. Josselyn also joined the Masonic Order, becoming a member of Brattleboro Lodge No. 102, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and was the organizer of Sand- stone Lodge No. 74, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Baker. During three years he served Sandstone Lodge as its secretary, and is its present master. In the fall of 1908 he took the Royal Arch degrees in Liberty Chapter No. 79 at West Liberty, Iowa, attained membership in the Council of Royal and Select Masters, Verites Council No. 6 at Miles City in December, 1916, and since I911 has been representative to the Grand Lodge of Masons and the Eastern Star every year. He is secretary of Lake City Rebekah Lodge No. 83, and also of Charity Chapter No. 60, Order of Eastern Star of Baker.

Mr. Josselyn was first married at South Hero, Vermont, September 9, 1896, to Ellen Wadsworth, who bore him one son, Kenneth Gill. For his second wife Mr. Josselyn chose Mrs. Helen Wells Neill, and they were married at Billings, Montana, October 20, 1919. Mrs. Josselyn was born at Spirit Lake, Iowa, was given a high school and musical training, and is proficient on both the piano and pipe organ. She has devoted much time to pipe organ work in the churches where she has lived.

Mrs. Josselyn has also become interested in fra- ternal work. She joined the Rebekahs in Montana, to which state she had moved with her parents in childhood, and she grew to mature years in Helena, where she has been a member of Vera Lodge of the Rebekahs for many years and for fifteen years has been a degree captain of the lodge. After serving the lodge as president she was elected grand secre- tary of the Rebekah Assembly of the state, and has filled that high office since 1905. By her first mar- riage to Robert Neill she became the mother of two sons, Frank D. and Arthur W., the older in college at Bozeman and the younger a sophomore in the high school at Helena. Mr. Neill was a well- known business man of Helena, and was a Past Grand Master of the Odd Fellows Order.

GEORGE M. DAUGHERTY. The name of George M. Daugherty is borne by an individual who is serving creditably and conscientiously in the position of postmaster of the thriving community of Baker, and who has been identified with Fallon County, this state, since 1908. He came here to take advantage of the opportunity of acquiring free land and to con- tribute something substantial toward the develop- ment of the county as well as to improve his own situation. He has succeeded admirably along both lines, and is today accounted one of his locality's substantial and valuable citizens.

George M. Daugherty came to Montana from Min- neapolis, Minnesota, where he had passed some twelve years as a hotel man. He began his in- dependent career in Kandyohi County, that state, as a teacher, having gone there from South Bend, Indiana, his native place, where he finished the high school with graduation at the age of eighteen years, in 1891. his birth having occurred December 0. 1873. Later he spent two years in the Indiana State University at Bloomington, and after teaching for about four years drifted out of the work and into other fields until he became a hotel man at Minneapolis. He was a law student for some time, but circumstances prevented his pursuit of that pro-

fession until admission to the bar, and he eventually chose other lines of endeavor.

The father of George M. Daugherty was James Daugherty, born near Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, who moved to Ohio as a boy and was married at Canton, that state, where he was superintendent of a woolen mill. When he divorced himself from that line of work he took up farming near South Bend, Indiana. During the Civil war he served as a captain of the Home Guards, and as a democrat was elected sheriff of St. Joseph County, Indiana, of which county he was later elected a member of the board of county commissioners. James Daugh- erty married Ann Stauffer, who was born in Penn- sylvania, of Pennsylvania Dutch parentage, and passed away in 1908, at the age of eighty years. Their issue comprised: Dr. C. A. Daugherty, who died at South Bend, Indiana, in 1918; Mrs. J. S. Andrews, of Paynesville, Minnesota; Mrs. W. D. Andrews, of Minneapolis; Mrs. Iden Romig, of South Bend; and George M.

The paternal grandfather of George M. Daugherty was the founder of the family in the United States and immigrated from Ireland as a young man, set- tling near Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. In his na- tive land he was an instructor, teaching mathematics in a small college. His children included: Mrs. Mary Varier, of Indiana; James, the father of George M .; and George, who passed away without marriage.

When he came to Montana George M. Daugherty entered his homestead six miles east of Baker and erected a claim shack. Into this he moved the personal effects brought with him in a car, and here he began to make his home in a frame structure twenty-eight feet square, covered with rubberoid and finished inside with paper and tar-papered out- side. Later shingles were placed on the roof and the house was ceiled, rendering it a comfortable abiding place for the family during the few years which they occupied it.

Undertaking the serious work of improving his homestead and the "additional" "land he took, Mr. Daugherty built fences and cross-fences, and brought 140 acres under cultivation, which he devoted to the growing of grain. His stock at the beginning was the team which he brought with him, but he gath- ered together a few cattle with the passage of years, which lent a permanence to his presence and added a profit to his efforts that nothing else could. With what cash capital he came into this state is not relevant here, but his reward for coming can be measured by the proceeds of his sale when he decided to move to Baker, a sale which netted him practi- callv as much cash as he brought with him, in addition to which he had still his land and improve- ments.

While a new settler and on his claim a movement was started for the building of a schoolhouse, in which Mr. Daugherty joined. and the neighbors came together and erected a little frame structure in which the first school in what is now District No. 50 was held. The building was comfortably constructed and was the educational center of the community, with Mr. Daugherty for a time as clerk of the board. Mr. Daugherty became a resident of Baker in No- vember. 1913. and about this time the postmaster here died. Having just ahandoned farming and be- ing open to an engagement which promised per- manence, Mr. Daugherty was urged to become a candidate for postmaster and was officially appointed January 27, 1014. as the successor of the late R. B. Pearce, the first merchant to erect a store at Baker. The Baker office belonged in the third class when Mr. Daugherty took charge of it, but its receipts

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

during his administration have placed it among the second class offices. Two star routes emanate from here: One to Webster, and the other to Ekalaka daily by the way of Willard.

George M. Daugherty was married at Minneapolis, Minnesota, in December, 1906, and the only child of his household is Beatrice, who is a clerk in her father's office. Mr. Daugherty chose to be a demo- crat when he entered politics, and his first presi- dential vote was cast for Mr. Bryan in 1896. He continued to support the Nebraska statesman through his presidential ambitions and added his endorse- ment to the candidacies of each party nominee since. He served as chairman of the Fallon County Demo- cratic Central Committee, and as a promoter of the interests of his county joined his fellow-men in the move which led to the formation of the county. He is Past Master of Sandstone Blue Lodge of the Masonic fraternity, and has represented his lodge in some of the sessions of the Grand Lodge of the state.

WILLIAM O'LAUGHLIN, who is the originator of the grain and elevator interests at Baker, erected the first elevator at this point in 1910, but disposed of it to the farmers in 1915. Later he re-engaged in this line of business, having elevators at Terry as well as Baker, and operates under the name of the Milwaukee Elevator Company. Mr. O'Laughlin has also developed considerable reputation as a wheat grower, and owns and operates a very valuable ranch in the vicinity of Baker.

The birth of William O'Laughlin occurred on March 6, 1882, in Wright County, Minnesota. He is a son of Martin O'Laughlin, who was born at Davenport, Iowa, in 1853, but was taken in 1859 by his parents to Wright County, Minnesota. There he was reared, and subsequently was married to Anna Hamilton, a daughter of John Hamilton, who came to Minnesota from Rhode Island. John Ham- ilton was a farmer and ex-Union soldier. Martin O'Laughlin espoused democracy in his political views, being a regular "dyed-in-the-wool" democrat, and served Maple Lake as postmaster through both of the Cleveland administrations, and in addition to this service was elected commissioner of Wright County. He passed away in 1916, but his widow survives and is a resident of Terry, Montana. Martin O'Laughlin and his wife became the parents of the following children: Mrs. J. F. Gamber, of Terry, Montana; John, of Maple Lake, Minnesota; William; and Raymond, of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Growing up in Wright County, William O'Laugh- lin attended its schools, completing the high school course at Maple Lake. When he was about twenty years old he entered the grain business at Maple Lake, but subsequently went to North Dakota, where he was engaged in the same line of business. In 1908 he came to Montana and homesteaded near Terry, living upon his claim for two years in order to prove it up. He planted a few acres of wheat on his land and harvested a crop of eighteen bushels to the acre when his neighbors were only averaging ten bushels an acre. His residence was a primitive shack, 12x16 feet, containing only one room, shingled and tar-papered on the outside. His stock comprised horses, and his shelter for them was correspondingly crude, but answered the purpose and was quite as good as those of his neighbors.

He had come to Montana with the intention of going into the grain business, but took advantage of the opportunity offered for securing land at a low rate. After he had proved up his claim he proceeded to carry out his original plans, and, as before stated, erected his elevator at Baker and

shipped his first car of grain in 1910. After dis- posing of his plant in 1915 Mr. O'Laughlin turned his attention to ranching and stock raising in the vicinity of Baker, and has been so uniformly suc- cessful that during the drought year of 1919 his 400 acres planted to wheat yielded 1,146 bushels, the banner yield of the neighborhood.

William O'Laughlin has carried his share of the burden of Baker's welfare, and is now a member of the City Council, having already served for two years. During the several campaigns waged to effect the organization of Fallon County and the location of the county seat at Baker, Mr. O'Laughlin was one of the active factors in securing these advantages. Although he cast his initial presiden- tial ballot for Colonel Roosevelt in 1904, he has since been a democrat. He is fully versed in the grain business of the West, for in addition to the period he was engaged in this line at Maple Lake and Baker he spent six years, from 1902 to 1908, at Fullerton, Sterling and Driscoll, North Dakota, all of his time being devoted to handling grain.

On December 16, 1914, Mr. O'Laughlin was mar- ried at Baker to Miss Darlene Whitver, born at Walnut, Illinois, April 7, 1892, a daughter of Thomas Whitver and his wife, Ella (Fillmore) Whitver. Mrs. O'Laughlin completed her education at the Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois, and was a teacher in the state of Washington and in Fallon County, Montana, prior to her marriage. She is the eldest of the three children born to her parents, the others being Fillmore and Howard Whitver, of Los Angeles, California, both of whom were soldiers during the World war, serving in France. Howard Whitver was wounded while fight- ing as a member of the Thirty-third Division, in October, 1918. Later he went with the Army of Occupation into Germany, and did not receive his discharge until in August, 1919. Mr. and Mrs. O'Laughlin have a son, Ralph, who was born May 24, 1918. Their residence, which is of their own construction, and very comfortable and modern, is at the corner of Montana Avenue and Fourth Street, Baker. It is a bungalow of seven rooms, and here Mr. and Mrs. O'Laughlin have created a happy home atmosphere.

PAUL E. HUBBARD, one of the enterprising mer- chants of Baker, has been a resident of Montana since 1910, and has not only found material pros- perity here, but health as well. He was born in Dane County, Wisconsin, on May 6, 1876, a son of Clark H. and Elizabeth Ann (Bowers) Hubbard, and grandson of John Hubbard, who brought his family from Troy, New York, to Cottage Grove, Wisconsin, at a very early date and was there en- gaged in farming.

Clark H. Hubbard was born at Troy, New York, and was a mere child when his parents moved to Wisconsin. He was taught the elements of farm- ing by his father, and became a farmer himself when he reached man's estate. In 1913 he came to Mon- tana and homesteaded in the vicinity of Baker, but died in 1915, before he had proved up his claim, being at that time seventy-five years old. He was very active in politics, holding county offices in Dane County and attending various republican con- ventions as a delegate of his party. He and his wife had the following children: Irvin, who lives in Fallon County, Montana; Edward C., who is a farmer of Powder River County, Montana; Mrs. Rose Baldwin, who lives at Belleville, Wisconsin; Paul E., whose name heads this review; Silas J., who died in Wisconsin and left a family now resid- ing near Kilbourn, Dane County, Wisconsin; Flor-

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ence, who is the widow of Elmer Olson and lives near the parental homestead in Montana; Chelsea R., who lives at Janesville, Wisconsin; and Perry J., who lives at Madison, Wisconsin.

On March 3, 1910, Paul E. Hubbard came to Montana from Brooklyn, Wisconsin, hoping to find a climate better suited to his health than his native state. He homesteaded four and one-half miles northwest of Baker, and as he had more means than the average emigrant was able to make things com- fortable for his family, erecting a frame house and the necessary outbuildings. He also stocked his farm and bought machinery with which he broke the greater portion of his claim, far in excess of the requisite number of acres for proving it up. During the three years he spent on this ranch he put in crops, and harvested from all of them. The final year he took the agency for the Monitor Wind- mill, and disposed of a carload of them, and his success in this led him to enter the mercantile field. In the spring of 1914, he opened his hardware and agricultural implement store in a building he had just erected at Baker, on Main Street, and put in a stock valued at $1,500. His business has so ex- panded that he is now carrying a stock ten times as great as his original one, and his trade extends over a wide territory. In 1917 he erected another store, so that he now has two store fronts, and the second story of his new building is occupied as a lodge hall by the Order of Odd Fellows. In addi- tion to his place of business he owns his residence in South Baker, which is one of the most desirable homes in that subdivision, and his ranch, which now comprises in addition to his original Government entry a section which he later purchased. He also owns a half section of ranch land five miles east of Baker.

On February 1, 1899, Mr. Hubbard was united in marriage to Florence May Cresson, born at Edg- erton, Wisconsin, on October 25, 1877, a daughter of Robert Cresson and his wife, Mary (Chalmers) Cresson. Robert Cresson was born in New York City, entered the Union army from that state, and before the war was over had risen to the rank of colonel. Following his discharge from the army he settled in Wisconsin, and there rounded out his life as a farmer. Mrs. Hubbard was the only child of her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard have the fol- lowing children :. Bessie, who was born Jannary 21, 1900; Pauline, who was born in January, 1915; Darline, who was born in August, 1916; and Jean- ette, who was born in April, 1918.

LEWELLYN PRICE. Among the business men of Baker, one who has been connected with mer- chandising at this place since 1910 is Lewellyn Price, who has been a resident of Montana since March of that year. He came here with some mercantile experience gained at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in which region he was born January 7. 1869, a member of a family which settled at an early date in the Oshkosh community. His father, David Price, went there as a settler just after the close of the Civil war from South Wales, where he was born, and where he was first employed as a coal miner. Although he had limited educational advantages in his youth, through persevering study he educated himself for the ministry and for some time preached the Meth- odist faith of the Wesleyan body in Wisconsin. By some of his friends it was said that he "was too honest to preach," and he finally gave up his religious labors and applied himself whole-heartedly to the cultivation and development of his farm, upon which his death occurred in 1909, when he was seventy- two years of age. He married Mary Jones, who

was born in the same locality as her husband and who died at the age of eighty-six years in 1917. There were eight children born to them, four sons and four daughters, the seven alive being: William F., of White Tail, Montana; Richard, of Fessenden, North Dakota; Lewellyn, of this review; Mrs. Sarah Clendenning, of Spokane, Washington; Arthur, of Fessenden, North Dakota; Mrs. Wallace Roberts, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin; and Mabel, now Mrs. George Kuskee, of Fessenden.

The training of Lewellyn Price in his youth was of a rural character, and the farm knew him until he was eighteen years of age, his school ad- vantages being those securable in the country. After he left the home place to take up independent life he roamed about North Dakota, Minnesota and Michigan, and in the last-named state, at Escanaba, went into railroading on the Northwestern Railway and for three years was thus occupied. He was ready for promotion from fireman to engineer when the panic of 1893 came and he lost his position. and subsequently closed his roaming from home by a trip to the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago. He then returned to Oshkosh and soon afterward went to work as a clerk in a general store at Van- Dyne, Wisconsin, where he spent two years, then being sent to Foster City, northern peninsula of Michigan, as manager of the mercantile interests of the Morgan Sash, Door and Blind Company, re- maining with them there for ten years. He became a stockholder in the company when it incorporated. but when he left that region in 1907 he disposed of his interests, returned to Oshkosh, and remained there connected with mercantile affairs until he decided to come to Montana.

Mr. Price came to Baker to establish himself in the hardware and furniture business, having pros- pected several towns for a location and decided on the future metropolis of Fallon County. His beginning consisted of a $3,000 stock of merchandise, in addition to which he owned the building and lot. the site of his present store. The firm name was the L. Price Company, which did business as such until IQ17, when the business was incorporated, and the capital stock is now $50,000, with Mr. Price as president ; Thomas L. Owen, vice president; and Edward Hansen, secretary.

Mr. Price has served Baker in some of its public affairs being now on the school board and a member of the town council. He was president of the Com- mercial Club for some years and is its vice president now. He was chairman of the American Red Cross for Fallon County during the World war, and everything asked for by the organization was raised and provided. He was likewise chairman of the United War Drive and more than douhled its quota to be raised. He affiliated with the republican party and has been regular in his political conduct.

Mr. Price was married at Foster City, Michigan, in June, 1808, to Miss Eva Owen, a daughter of Thomas L. Owen, of Ironwood, Michigan, who mar- ried Jennie Lloyd. Mr. Owen, who was a carpenter and builder, was a native of Pennsylvania, hut spent the greater part of his life in Wisconsin. The Owen children of his household were: Mrs. Price, born in March, 1877; Catherine, the wife of A. J. Pinker- ton, of Waupaca, Wisconsin ; and Thomas L., who is associated as vice president with the L. Price Com- pany of Baker. Thomas L. Owen volunteered for service in the World war in July, 1917, was trained for a time at Camp Lewis and Camp Cody, and later entered the officers' training camp at Leon Springs, Texas, and was commissioned a second lieutenant. He went overseas as a first lieutenant

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 192

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