Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 20

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 20

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He was horn in Madison County, Illinois, August 29. 1839. His father, Isaac Preuitt, was born in the same county, at the mouth of Wood River, three

miles above where the City of Alton now stands on the Mississippi River, in 1814. That was a very early date in the history of Illinois and the middle west, and the birthplace of Isaac Preuitt was one of the familiar block houses which afforded protec- tion to the settlers from Indian attacks.

Isom Preuitt acquired a common school education, grew up on a farm and farming has been the voca- tional basis for his entire career. When the Civil war came on he enlisted in 1861 and was assigned to Company M of the First Missouri Cavalry. He was orderly sergeant of his company, and Governor Fletcher promoted him to first lieutenant.

Soon after the close of the war Mr. Preuitt came out to Montana Territory, and while engaged in ranching and farming has frequently been honored with public offices. During 1866-67 he served as as- sessor of Meagher County. He was elected justice of the peace in 1876 and again in 1898-99 served as assessor of Broadwater County. He is a democrat in his political affiliations and has been a member of the Masonic Order since April, 1865. He joined the Odd Fellows in 1885. His wife has been a mem- ber of the Degree of Honor since 1883.

Mr. Preuitt married at Helena, Montana, June 6. 1886, Lodema M. Brownell. She was born at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in 1844, and came to Montana at the age of twenty years. In 1868 she returned East and became the wife of W. T. Baker. The Bakers came to Montana in 1870, and her first husband died here in 1883.

DAVID R. EDWARDS is a former merchant, for many years in business at Great Falls, and has been liberal of his time and means in behalf of every public spirited movement.

Mr. Edwards was born at Liberty in Clay County, Missouri, March 10, 1849, youngest of the five chil- dren and the only survivor born to John S. and Levina (Roberts) Edwards. His father was a native of Virginia and his mother of Kentucky. His father died at the age of sixty-three in 1860, and his mother at the age of eighty. His father moved to Northwest Missouri in 1821, was a pioneer cabinet maker and for many years engaged in the furniture business at Liberty, making much of the furniture which he sold. He was a Mason and in politics a democrat.

David R. Edwards grew up in Missouri, learned the furniture business from his father, and in 1884 came to Montana, first locating at Helena, and later at Great Falls. He was managing partner with J. P. Curtin from 1892 to 1907, and then bought out Mr. Curtin and continued business under his individ- ual name until he retired in 1918. Mr. Edwards is a life member of Great Falls Lodge No. 214 of the Elks. He is a democrat in politics.

Mr. Edwards married Mary C. Carey. To their marriage were born two children: Katherine; and Carey, who died at the age of nine years.

JOHN K. CASTNER, who died December 29, 1915. was always called "the founder of Belt," and there is no question that the town owed its original impetus to his vision and enterprise. Mr. Castner was a pioneer in the Northwest, coming up the Mis- souri River to Fort Benton over half a century ago. For years his business was freighting. He ex- plored all the country around Great Falls many times. He had been reared in one of the famous coal sections of the United States, Western Pennsyl- vania, and while not a professional coal miner, he had a knowledge of coal seams such as only a mah reared in a coal district could have. He was probably the first to recognize the commercial nature of the

Wealthy Palmer

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outcrop at what is now Belt, and he was the first to exploit those deposits and market them.

John K. Castner was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, September 22, 1844, and was seventy- one years of age at the time of his death. He was educated in common schools, taught a term in Pennsylvania, and in 1867 started for the great West. He traveled by steamboat down the Ohio to St. Louis and thence up the Missouri to the head of navigation. His journey came to an end at Cow Island, 125 miles east of Fort Benton. His first employment was as a freight watchman, following which he became driver of a bull team between Cow Island and Fort Benton. He also located on a squatter's claim near Ulm. with Joe Largent as his partner, and remained there ranching and cutting hay until he sold his claim to Largent. After that he acquired an equipment of mule outfits and made himself and his organization an important factor in the freighting and transportation business of the Northwest.

It was in 1869 that Mr. Castner accompanied a party of prospectors to the Great Falls of the Mis- souri River, and he afterwards told how opinion was divided as to whether that location would ever become the scene of an important city. During 1870 Mr. Castner on horseback made an extensive ex- ploring expedition all over the district around Great Falls, and it was then, with the keen eye of a pros- pector, he recognized and examined the coal forma- tions at what is now Belt. He kept this knowledge in mind during subsequent years while continuing his freighting industry. It was in 1877 that Mr. Castner made the first efforts at developing the coal deposits of Belt. The development of the country had been such that there was a commercial demand for coal, though naturally much prejudice against it, as is always true of the people of a prairie country. He hauled coal to Fort Benton but gave it away so as to convince the people that it would burn. In time he had a considerable demand created, and acquired extensive holdings of mining claims, also platted a townsite, and gave Belt its first commer- cial prominence, that of a coal camp. He continued producing and freighting coal to different markets until 1894. An associate with him in the ownership of the coal interests at Belt was Senator T. E. Powers. In 1894 they sold their joint mining inter- ests to the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, and thus Belt became the chief coal property of that great corporation. The coal mines of Belt have always been one of the chief commercial resources of the town, though Belt in the past quarter of a century has attained a much more important significance than that of a coal town.

In the twenty years before his death Mr. Castner used his business enterprise for the benefit of the community in many ways, and was always one of the most loyal and public spirited citizens. He owned and operated for over thirty years the Castner Hotel. The main street of the city is known as Castner Street. When Belt was incorporated in 1907 Mr. Castner was the unanimous choice of the citizens for the office of mayor, a post he held for three years. Belt has a splendid school system, and no one gave more earnest thought or consideration to the problems of local education than the late Mr. Castner. For several years he was president of the board of education.

Mr. Castner was an enthusiastic republican and an ardent admirer of the late Colonel Roosevelt. He was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was a director of the North Montana Fair Association and a member of the Montana State Pioneers Society.

At Fort Benton in 1877 Mr. Castner married Miss Mattie Bost. Mrs. Castner, still a resident of Belt, is distinguished as a very capable business woman, and during her husband's lifetime and since she has carried on some very creditable enterprises on her own account. Mrs. Castner came to the North- west in the fall of 1876, traveling up the Missouri River on the steamer Nellie Peck from St. Louis. After Mr. and Mrs. Castner established their home at Belt she took charge of the stage stopping station, serving meals at 50 cents apiece, and her skilled cookery gained a justified fame far and near. In those days she served an abundance of wild game, and the guest at her table usually had a choice among such fine flavored meats as grouse, prairie chicken, deer, antelope, elk, buffalo steak and mountain trout.

A number of years ago Mrs. Castner bought 640 acres in the Highwood Mountains, and stocked it with horses and cattle. As a successful ranch woman she has sent large numbers of cattle to the Chicago markets, several times sending three car- loads at once. She sold her ranch in 1918 for $17,000. Mrs. Castner is the largest individual property owner in Belt. At her home she still maintains a fine garden and was the first to raise sweet potatoes in the town. Her land holdings include one tract a mile long parallel with the Great Northern Rail- way. Mrs. Castner, who had no children of her own, reared a boy, who is now thirty-nine years of age.

ALLEN BARNES PALMER. Montana is distinctively a cattle producing state and fortunes have been amassed in this industry, and the future of this very important branch of agricultural activity is more promising than ever. Because of the opportunities offered in it, a number of the most enterprising men of the state have devoted themselves to this in- dustry and have no reason to regret such action. One of these typical Montana ranchers is Allen Barnes Palmer, owning and operating a very valu- able ranch eight miles east of Cascade.

Allen Barnes Palmer was born in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, January 12, 1856, a son of Lathrop and Emeranzer (Coats) Palmer. Lathrop Palmer enlisted in a Pennsylvania volunteer infantry regiment for service during the war between the North and the South at Compton, Pennsylvania, in 1862, and was under the command of General Sher- man. After participating in all of the battles and skirmishes of his regiment he lost his life in the battle of the Wilderness. His widow, who was a native of Pennsylvania, did not long survive him, but passed away in 1868, aged forty years. They had three sons and two daughters, of whom two survive, Allen Barnes and his brother Nelson of Moline, Illi- nois, the former having been the eldest born.

Growing up in his native county, Allen Barnes Palmer was educated in its schools, and he earned his first money helping to operate a cross-cut saw, for which he received $1 per day. Later he worked out as a farm hand in the summer and attended school in the winter, and he also learned the stone mason trade. In 1876 he attended the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the following spring came as far west as Illinois to visit his brothers, Frederick and Nelson, who were then living at Pontiac. After some time with them Mr. Palmer went to Adair County, Iowa, and for about a year was engaged in a contracting business as a stone mason, but then left for Fremont, Nebraska, and later was a foreman in a brick yard at Wahoo, Nebraska, and also did some contracting in his trade. Returning to Adair County, Iowa, he carried out some contracts there which took about a year, and

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then came to the Territory of Montana, arriving here in March, 1880. He traveled by rail to Ogden, Utah, from whence he came to the Blackfoot Canyon by the Oregon Shortline Railroad. His next lap of the journey was performed by stage to Helena, and from there he proceeded again by stage to Chestnut Valley.

Having reached his objective point, he hired out to Jacob Seiben, a sheepman, and for several years was occupied with sheep herding, working at his trade as opportunity offered. Subsequently he went to Fort Benton and engaged in contracting stone work during the winter and in the summer superin- tended the sheep ranch of Fisk & Caldwell on the present site of Lewistown. During this period Mr. Palmer had some experiences with the Indians, as did all of the settlers of those early days in the territory, but managed to defeat any hostile inten- tions they may have had with regard to him.

Having secured a standing in his new home, Mr. Palmer returned to Bradford County, Pennsylvania, going down the river from Fort Benton to Bismarck, Dakota, and thence home by rail. On August 13, 1882, he was married to Wealthy Titus, born in Bradford County, Pennsylvania. The bride and groom proceeded back to the West in a leisurely manner, consuming about a year, as some time was spent in Iowa. Upon reaching Chestnut Valley Mr. Palmer bought 160 acres of land in which is now Cascade County, and embarked in farming and stock- raising, adding to his ranch from time to time until he now owns 3,200 acres, and he also owns 2,400 acres of land in Teton County, which is operated by his son. At the present time he is building over fifty miles of wire fence. He has about 500 head of cattle and 150 head of horses of the Percheron and Shire strains, owning stallions of both. One of his stallions, which is a show horse, weighs 2,350 pounds. In addition to his extensive stock interests Mr. Palmer is secretary of the Cascade County Co-operative Association, a general merchan- dise concern. For the past ten years he has served on the school board, and has always been in favor of improving the educational facilities of the neigh- borhood. Politically Mr. Palmer votes the republi- can ticket.

Mr. and Mrs. Palmer have two children, namely: Raymond T., who married Ethel Robinson, has a daughter; and Nola, who is the wife of George Jemison, has a daughter. Mr. Palmer has taken his son into partnership with him in the Teton County ranch, and as the young man has been trained to the work under his father's supervision there is no doubt but that he will be equally suc- cessful. The family is a very well known one in the state, and Mr. and Mrs. Palmer are numbered among the honored pioneers of Montana, to whose efforts much credit is due, for they came here at a time when hardships and privations were a part of the everyday life, and rendered valuable assistance in dissipating them and bringing about the conditions which prevail today.

ALBERT R. OBERGFELL. The name of Obergfell represents one of the earliest pioneer families of what is now Richland County. It was first intro- duced into Montana by Matthew Obergfell, the father of Albert, in March, 1882, and a location was then made at Newlon, on the flat above the mouth of Fox Creek. The name has ever since continued a prominent one in the annals of the industrial life of the community.

Matthew Obergfell was born at Glenegen, Baden, Germany, learned the carpenter's trade in the land of his birth, and came to the United States when

he had reached his majority. From Indiana he enlisted in the Civil war, and gave three years of service in the artillery department, and in all that time escaped wounds. Following the close of the war he located in Kansas City, Missouri, where he followed the carpenter's trade for some time, and was there married. His next location was at In- dianapolis, Indiana, where he continued the work of his trade and finally also engaged in farming, and it was from that location in March, 1882, that he started with his family for the untamed and unsettled region of old Dawson County, Montana. He pos- sessed a fair education, had familiarized himself with the English language, and had taught his chil- dren to speak both the German and English tongue.

Matthew Obergfell brought the family by rail to Glendive, soon provided himself with a cow, horse and a yoke of steers, the latter furnishing the motive power for turning over the virgin sod, and thus began his life as a rancher in the Northwest. He was limited as to cash capital, but possessed the knowledge of a trade which provided him with the means for procuring the substantial things of life for his family, working during the winter months at Fort Buford or at Ridgelawn or on the O'Brien improvements at the mouth of Fox Creek, but spring always found him at the ranch following the plow or otherwise preparing his land for a crop. The shelter for his family and stock he erected of logs. He had prepared to enter this tract as a homestead when it should come into the market for settlement, and furnished an official the money with which to place his filing on the tract, but the official failed to do so, and the buildings Mr. Obergfell had erected had to be transferred to another site. They were moved to his homestead, and to this particular tract he acquired title by the entry and proof procedure. Matthew Obergfell passed the remainder of his active life on that homestead, and his prosperity as a farmer and stockman, chiefly the latter, gained for him prestige and enabled him to acquire other lands until at the time of his death he owned a · section and a half.

He had married Barbara Stierle, a sister of Charley Stierle, who was one of the first settlers to locate in the Newlon region of Richland County and whose life history is recorded elsewhere in this publication. Mrs. Obergfell was also born in the Fatherland, and she passed away on the Richland County homestead, surviving her husband about two years. The children in their family were: Charley, a stockman who died in Richland County, June II, 1920; Mary, wife of Maj. Charles B. Lowmiller, of Poplar, Montana; Albert Robert, of this review; Paul, who is farming near his brother Albert; Annie, wife of George Williams, of Sidney; Celia, the wife of R. L. Wyman, of Glendive; Isadore, more commonly known as Jake, is a stockman near Newlon; August is also engaged in ranching in this county; Rosie is the wife of Pat Kelley, of Rich- land County : Matthew is likewise a Richland County stockman; and John, the youngest of this large family of children, is also one of the Richland County farmers.

Albert R. Obergfell was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, February 13, 1873, and was nine years of age when he began life in Montana. His school advantages during his youth were meager, but he early learned to ride the range and work with stock, and for a number of years he worked out as a ranch hand, putting his earnings in the family treasury in a common cause. The father provided his sons with horses when they became independent ranchers, and he was regarded by his sons as the head of the family until he passed away. After his

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marriage Albert Obergfell established his home at the old family homestead where he had spent the days of his boyhood and youth, and there he has ever since remained, engaged extensively in the stock business. During the period of the World war the price of horses was high, and the Montana raiser reaped his profits during that time. Mr. Obergfell's brand for his horses is "JE" and his cattle brand is the "KH." His ranch is known as the JE Ranch. He has given no consideration to farming, the stock business being his chief concern, and his pasture comprises three sections in the hills of his home region.

The Albert Obergfell Ranch of 800 acres lies three miles southwest of Sidney, and is one of the attractive rural places of the county. The main ditch of the Yellowstone project crosses his land and runs just in front of his home. His barn, erected in 1916, is 30 by 38 feet and 14 feet to the. square, with mow room for thirty tons of hay. The residence, which was built in 1918, is on the bungalow plan, modern in all its appointments, containing the Delco lighting system, laundry equipment in the basement, the "Baby Hoover" electric sweeper, and the outlay of this delightful eight-room house was the plan to a large extent of Mrs. Obergfell.

Mr. Obergfell married in April, 1914, Mrs. Lydia Pinkley, who was born in Branch County, Michigan, July 10, 1868. Her parents died during her child- hood, and she was reared at Jackson, Michigan. Ed, Mrs. Mary Tulip, Bert and Mrs. Obergfell con- stitutes the children of their parents and their father was James Coon, and their mother was Nancy Waterman. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Oberg- fell has been without issne.

When Albert Obergfell reached the voting age he cast his ballot in opposition to the political prin- ciples of his father. Two of the sons of the family espoused the democratic party and five became repub- licans, Albert R. casting his lot with the democrats. He has always been without political aspirations, and has never become affiliated with a lodge. He was reared in the faith of the Roman Catholic Church.

MRS. MAY BALL, of Sidney, has the distinction of being at the head of the only commercial hotel at this point, and she. is further honored as being one of the early pioneers of Eastern Montana. Her in- fluence and help have gone out in many directions in her community, have aided in the establishment of many of its public institutions, and among the many benefactions which stand to her credit may be mentioned the Sidney Hospital, to which she very materially contributed.

Mrs. Ball came to Montana from Dunn County, Wisconsin. She was born and reared in that region, and arrived at womanhood with the experience of a farmer's daughter and with but a mediocre educa- tional training. She arrived in Montana in Septem- ber, 1895. Her uncle, Albin Tubbs, had just preceded her to this state, and he afterward became a well known settler in Ekalaka, and an extensive stock man as well as a freighter between Wibaux and that place, near which he now resides. Mrs. Ball's first efforts for self support in Montana were as a cook for Ben Lawlis, the manager of the Piere Wibaux Ranch, and she spent the winter there. In the following summer she was married in Glendive to William Ball, and they established their home twenty-five miles northeast of Wibaux, where they were engaged in ranching for ten years before leaving the locality and moving to Sidney. While success attended their first industrial efforts on the ranch, adversity soon followed and at Sidney they began again at the

bottom of the ladder, Mr. Ball becoming a freighter between Mondak and Sidney. They arrived here on the 17th of May, 1905, and on the 5th of the following June Mrs. Ball began furnishing food to the people as they arrived in Sidney. She was on the townsite before any of the important business enterprises had been started, and hers was the first frame building to be occupied on the site. It was a three-room house and is still in use as a dwelling, and its location was the very spot where Mrs. Ball's dining room in the Valley Hotel now stands. For three years she maintained her boarding house in this primitive fashion, and then erected and moved to a frame hotel, the predecessor of the now famous Valley Hotel. This frame hotel contained twenty rooms, and in 1915 it gave way to the three-story reinforced concrete structure named the Valley Hotel, the only three-story building in Sidney. It is strictly modern in all its appointments, contains thirty rooms, and the basement is used as a sample room, store room and furnace room. The Valley Hotel lends prestige to Sidney and the surrounding community, and meets every demand of the travel- ing public.

Mrs. May Curtis Ball is a daughter of George A. Curtis and Celia Carter 'Curtis and a granddaughter of Alpheus Curtis, who was born in Rochester, New York, and was a plowstock maker throughout life. He moved from New York to Mukwonago, Wiscon- sin, in the early '40s, and he spent the remainder of his life in Waukesha County. He married Emma Stuchfield, who came as a little maiden of ten years from England to America, and she died in Dunn County, Wisconsin, when she had reached the age of seventy-nine years. The only child of that union was George A. Curtis, the father of Mrs. Ball and who now makes his home with his daughter. Mrs. Curtis married for her second husband Martin Tubbs, and their children were: Albin, of Ekalaka; Frank, who maintains his home in Sidney; Ida, who married Harry Smith, of Watsonville, California; and Wales W., of Earl, North Dakota.

George A. Curtis was born at Mukwonago, Wis- consin, August 23, 1844. He received but a limited educational training and spent his youth upon a farm. He still owns the Wisconsin farm which he homesteaded, but, as above stated, he now makes his home with his daughter in Sidney. On the 20th of September, 1867, he married Celia Carter, whose death occurred May 10, 1905. Their children are: Amy, now Mrs. McArthur, of Sidney, Montana; Mrs. May Ball, also of Sidney; Mrs. Irene Reid, of Grand Forks, British Columbia; Claude C., of Min- neapolis, Minnesota; Roy W., of Sidney; and Lila M., a teacher in the Sidney schools. Mrs. Ball be- came the mother of two children, but her daughter, Madge, her older child, died in Sidney at the age of four years. Her son, William Curtis Ball, is attending the public schools.

Mrs. Ball was reared at home under republican teachings, her father being a staunch supporter of that political faith, and he cast his first presidential vote for General Grant in 1868. Mrs. Ball cast her first presidential vote for Colonel Roosevelt in 1912 and voted for Charles E. Hughes for President in 1916. During the World war she was one of the active workers in the Red Cross organization, and in many ways her influence and effective work have ramified throughout Sidney and Richland County,

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 20

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