Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 221

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 221

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taking a puff of it to see that it was properly lighted, he handed it back to the chief. The latter uttered a cry which made the young man feel that his last hour had come, but which was merely a summons for his warriors with whom he held a conference, all of them smoking the pipe young Monroe had lighted. As a result of this conference he was made a member of the tribe and the husband of the Indian princess. They were married according to Indian custom, the man raising his right hand in the presence of the chief and promising to remain with and care for the woman the rest of her life. He was furnished with a wigwam, richly supplied with furs, and the chief taking him to his band of horses told him to take what he wanted of them. The confidence displayed in him was never regretted. He took his wife's name of Fox among the Indians as was their custom, and lived with the tribe the remainder of his life, learning their language and wearing their dress. He and his wife had ten children. She survives him and is now ninety-two years old.

Mrs. Monroe is cared for by her niece, Mrs. Maggie Fox, a daughter of Edward and Maggie (Monroe) Houseman. Mrs. Maggie Fox has two daughters and one son, namely: Edith D., Olive C., and Cecil. These children have been well edu- cated and attended both the Government and public schools of Montana. The daughters have magnificent heads of hair reaching to their knees. Mrs. Fox's mother was a very handsome French half-breed, who was also noted for the luxuriance of her hair. When sitting in a chair she could throw her hair over the back of the chair and it would reach to the floor in great waves. Leonard Fox, husband of Mrs. Maggie Fox, was a veteran of the war between the North and South. The Fox residence is at Glacier Park, where the family is engaged in ranching. Their neighborly kindness has made them a large circle of friends.

JESS L. ANGSTMAN. The United States commis- sioner of Harlem is the well known Jess L. Angstman, who has been a factor in the business and social life of Blaine County since May, 1912. He is also engaged in the real estate business and ranching, a homesteader of the Turner locality of Blaine County, and a stockholder and a member of the board of directors in both the Blaine County State Bank and the First National Bank of Savoy.

Mr. Angstman was born on a homestead near Aberdeen, South Dakota, February 25, 1890, a son of Jacob H. and Emma (Trout) Angstman. He is a grandson of Peter Angstman, who was born in the State of New York and the son of a German from the Fatherland. Peter Angstman was a farmer, and he died at Farmington, Minnesota, where his widow still lives. They were the parents of two sons, Frank and Jacob, and three daughters, Mrs. Mand Vaux, of Sidney, Montana, Mrs. Emma Straight, of Farmington, Minnesota, and Julia, who died as Mrs. Charles Trout.

Jacob H. and Emma Angstman settled as pioneers in the vicinity of Aberdeen, South Dakota. They . were from the State of New York, their native commonwealth. Jacob Angstman died at Princeton, Minnesota, in 1910, at the age of fifty-two, and his widow still survives in that Minnesota town at the age of fifty-seven. In their family were eleven sons and two daughters: Walter and Warren, twins, the former a farmer at Big Lake, Minnesota, and the latter with his mother; Laura, who mar- ried James Wheeler and resides at Princeton; Al- bert, an attorney at law at Helena, Montana; Jess

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

L., the United States commissioner; Maynard, a printer in Chicago; Lawrence, who is a farmer near Turner in Blaine County; Forest, who .is engaged in farming near the old home at Princeton, Min- nesota; Esther, a stenographer in Minneapolis; George and Ralph, twin brothers and students of law in the Northwest College of Law in Minneap- olis ; and John and Ezra, who are both high school students in Princeton, Minnesota. The three soldier sons who were in service during the World war were Albert, who was in the navy, and Maynard and Lawrence, both in the infantry. The two latter saw overseas service, and Maynard participated in some of the memorable engagements of the war, including the battle of Argonne Forest.

The common schools and the high school of Princeton, Minnesota, gave to Jess L. Angstman his early literary training, and he later studied law in the St. Paul College of Law, working his way through the latter institution. He then came West to Montana to engage in newspaper work in Helena. He was chosen by the Harlem News stockholders to take the editorial and managerial charge of that publication, and he carried on the work for fourteen months, until the paper was sold to its present owner, H. C. Anderson. During the time Mr. Angst- man was the editor of the paper he was appointed a United States commissioner as the successor of John Collins, and on leaving the paper he opened a real estate office, and has since applied himself assiduously to this and his official duties. He en- tered his homestead in March, 1913, proved it up, and has been farming it and other adjacent lands since.

In his political affiliations Mr. Angstman is a democrat, having voted with that party since cast- ing his first presidential ballot for Woodrow Wilson. He followed in the political footsteps of his father, but his brothers represent about equally the two dominant political parties. Mr. Angstman is a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity, being a Blue Lodge Mason, and during the World war he was actively identified with the work carried on for its sup- port, serving as a bond salesman and was an asso- ciate member of the Legal Advisory Board of Blaine County.

In St. Paul, Minnesota, February 22, 1916, Mr. Angstman was married to Miss Lorena Jesmer, who was born near Princeton, Minnesota, May 26, 1893, a daughter of Sidney and Mary J. (Malotte) Jesmer. She has two brothers, Lyle and Lester, both of St. Paul and Marble, Minnesota, respectively. A son, Jess L., Jr., has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Angstman.

GEORGE THOMAS YOUNG played a conspicuous part in the early history of the City of Livingston. He was regarded as one of the most fearless men in the state, and his bravery was an invaluable asset to the community at a time when life and property were by no means as well respected as at present. He gave up his life while performing his duties as a police officer. Two of his brothers are well known citizens of Montana, Charles Young of Lewis- town, and Dr. W. E. of Three Forks.

George Thomas Young was born near Fredericton, New Brunswick, April 2, 1854, son of William and Margaret (Conway) Young. His father was a native of Scotland and in early manhood settled in New Brunswick, where he married. Miss Conway was a native of New Brunswick. They were the parents of four sons and one daughter: Charles of Lewis- town, Montana; Margaret, who lives at Bangor, Maine; Dr. William E. of Three Forks, Montana; Vol. III-50

Alexander J. of Grass Range, Montana; and George T.

Left an orphan at the age of two years George Thomas Young had to fight his own battles from childhood. At the age of twelve he was carrying mail. At eighteen he volunteered for the service of the Mounted Police in what was then Northwest territory, now the Province of Manitoba, and for two years performed his duty and gained the esteem of his comrades in the service and frequent com- mendation from his superiors. For one year he was steward on a boat plying between Buffalo and Chicago, and another two years were spent in Min- nesota, where in 1879 he married Miss Clara Shaw, formerly of Hartland, New Brunswick.

From Minnesota George T. Young came to Rose- bud, Montana, and joined his brother Charles then engaged in the mail and express service of the Northern Pacific. As the construction of that road was extended George T. Young remained in the service in various capacities until Livingston was reached, when he decided to locate and grow up with the town. For a number of years he was in the draying business, and when the city was incorporated he was appointed its first city marshal by Mayor Miles. He left a wife and four children.

THOMAS C. SHERMAN is the son of Edward and Sarah (White) Sherman and was born in Hum- boldt County, Iowa, January 21, 1867. He was educated in the common schools of his native county and at Humboldt Academy. When still in his teens he entered the First National Bank of Ban- croft, Iowa, and progressed steadily in his chosen field of work until he had become cashier. Tem- porarily forsaking active banking business, he en- . tered the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company as right-of-way agent and was later made assistant secretary, a position which he held for several years. Desiring to re-enter the banking business, he accepted a position as vice president of the First National Bank of Lewistown, Montana, a position which he holds at the present time. Mr. Sherman was married, June 14, 1899, to Miss Eva A. Lantry and three children help to brighten a happy and contented home: Edward Lantry who is a senior at Harvard College, Dorothy E., who was graduated from the Fergus County High School as a member of the class of 1921, and Richard T., who is a student at the same high school. Mr. Sherman has always found time to devote to affairs of public interest and has served as treasurer of the Fergus County Chapter Ameri- can Red Cross, treasurer of the Lewistown Cham- ber of Commerce, member of the executive com- mittee, the Council of Boy Scouts, and trustee of the Fergus County High School. He is a member of the Catholic Church and devoted to the prin- ciples of the democratic party.

GEORGE C. BENNETT. Possessing much executive force and ability, and thoroughly conversant with everything pertaining to mechanical engineering, George C. Bennett, of Butte, superintendent of the Leonard Mine, at Meaderville, is actively and promi- nently identified with one of the foremost industries of Montana, which has, seemingly, an inexhaustible supply of rich and valuable minerals. A son of John G. Bennett, he was born, September 20, 1869, in Keweenaw County, Michigan, of English ancestry.

Born in England in 1845, John G. Bennett im- migrated to the United States in early life, locating first in Pennsylvania, from there going to Keweenaw County, Michigan, where he was successfully en-

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gaged in mining pursuits for many years, accumu- lating considerable property. Moving to Duluth, Minnesota, in 1899, he lived there practically retired from business cares until his death in 1910. He was a republican in politics, and while in Michigan served a number of terms as justice of the peace. Religiously he belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and fraternally he was a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; and of the Knights of Pythias.

John G. Bennett married, in Keweenaw County, Michigan, Laura Cox, who was born in Wisconsin, in 1850, and is now residing in Duluth, Minnesota. Seven children were born of their union, as follows: George C., of this sketch; Laura, who died in childhood; John, of Duluth, Minnesota, is employed in the Government service; Myra, wife of Capt. Charles Green, captain of a harbor. tug at Duluth, Minnesota, died in 1915; William, of Portland, Oregon, is proprietor of a foundry and machine shop ; Jennie, a stenographer, resides with her mother in Duluth; and Frank, residing in Houghton, Mich- igan, is manager of the wholesale department of the Bridgeman & Russell Company, of Duluth, produce brokers.

Obtaining his first knowledge of books in the rural schools of Keweenaw County, Michigan, George C. Bennett subsequently attended night schools in Duluth, and after coming to Butte con- tinued his studies, specializing in mechanical engi- neering and geology, acquiring an education that has amply fitted him for his present responsible position in the mining world. But twenty years old when he arrived in Butte, Mr. Bennett entered the employ of the Anaconda Copper Mining Com- pany as a miner, and displayed such interest in his work, and so much ability, that he was ere long made timber boss, afterwards being promoted to shift boss, and then advanced to assistant foreman, a position that he ably filled until 1913. In that year he was made superintendent of the Leonard Mine, an important and responsible position which he has since filled to the entire satisfaction of the company, and in a manner reflecting credit upon himself as an adviser and as a manager. This mine, which is situated at the eastern end of the firm's holdings, in Meaderville, was formerly one of the Boston-Montana Company's properties, and is quite valuable.

Mr. Bennett married, December 24, 1895, Lydia Tyack, a graduate of the public schools of Vir- ginia City, Nevada. Her father, James Tyack, born and reared in the East, journeyed by way of the Isthmus of Panama to California, thence to Nevada, where he was a pioneer worker at the old Comstock Mine. In 1889, having accumulated a competency in his mining operations, he located, in Butte, Montana, where he spent the remaining years of his life. His wife, whose maiden name was Hannah Peters, still resides in Butte. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett have one child, Harry P. Bennett, born December 11, 1896. In 1915 he entered the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, where he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and is now, in the spring of 1920, a senior in the law department of that institution, working for the degree of Doctor of Laws. Mr. Bennett is identified with the republican party, and affiliates with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Epis- copal Church. Socially he is a member of the Silver Bow Club. His home, at No. 420 North Jackson Street, is very attractive, and its doors

are ever open to the many friends of himself and family.

JOHN WACHHOLZ. As a builder and upbuilder of the community of Forsyth no one individual has been more conspicuous than John Wachholz, the prominent contractor whose name is synonymous with practical skill in the art of carpentry and also with efficient executive management that has enabled him to build up a complete and adequate force and organization for the handling of every type of construction work.

Mr. Wachholz who first came to this section of Montana in 1893, was born at Luzk in the State of Volhynia in Little Russia March 22, 1868. His father Andrew Wachholz was born in the province of Brandenburg, Germany, and as a child accom- panied his family to Russia during the exodus of the Germans to that country. Andrew spent the rest of his life in Little Russia. He married Eliza- beth Kistmann. The oldest of their seven children, Christ Wachholz, is also a resident of Forsyth, is a mechanic, and furnished two sons for the World war. both going overseas, one with the navy and the other in a machine gun company.

However, it was John Wachholz the youngest of the family, who first left the old home in Little Russia and came to the United States. He had acquired a fair education in his native land, and though his father was a carpenter he learned his trade under a different master as the result of a three year apprenticeship. In 1889 at the age of twenty-one he sailed alone on a White Star liner from Hamburg, Germany, and on the 8th day ar- rived at Halifax, thence going across Canada to Winnipeg, and coming into the United States in North Dakota, making his first stop at Nitche. Al- though an accomplished worker with tools, he de- termined to make himself familiar with the English language and gain a knowledge of American ways as a farm worker. He hired out to a farmer by the month in North Dakota. and remained about two and a half years in that employment. By that time he had acquired a considerable knowledge of the English language, which enabled him to resume his trade. Thus in 1893 he came to Forsyth as a carpenter in the employ of the Northern Pacific Railway Company. Later he was made foreman of a crew of house carpenters and remained in the service of the Great Northern eighteen years and six months. With this long record of faithful and efficient service he left the railway company and set up an independent business of his own as a contractor and builder at Forsyth, though in recent years his personal business affairs have, become so extensive as to require practically all his time.

Some of his conspicuous work as a builder is in evidence in the homes of Myerhoff, McCuiston, Frank Runyan, and also his own splendid resi- dence. He also put up the brick block known as the Wachholz Block, an office and store structure, the chief of its kind in the county seat. Through his enterprise a number of other houses and blocks have been erected and sold to others.

John Wachholz though of European birth ex- emplifies those qualities which make a type of citizenship of the highest value to America. He practiced industry from the first, became a student of our customs and laws, and fitted himself for the intelligent use of the franchise, though office seeking has never been attractive to him and he has been satisfied to preside over the destinies of his own fortune. He took out his first papers in

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

St. Paul, and was granted final proof of citizenship in Glendive. His first national ballot was cast for General Harrison for President in 1892, and he has been steadily a republican.

At Forsyth Mr. Wachholz married Mrs. Sophia Gunderson. She was born in Sweden and came to the United States at the age of sixteen. In Min- nesota she became the wife of Nels Gunderson and soon afterward they came to Montana and located at Forsyth, where Mr. Gunderson died leaving no children. Mr. and Mrs. Wachholz have a daughter Marie Elizabeth, born February 27, 1910.

The Wachholz home, an example of its owner's skill and industry, was erected in 1916, and nothing was omitted to make its appointments complete as a model residence. It contains eight rooms, full basement and laundry, and is one of the very at- tractive residences of Rosebud County.

Mr. Wachholz is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Independent Order of Foresters. During the World war he gave free office space in the Wachholz Block for the use of the Council of Defense. Moreover, he purchased his quota of securities and contributed to other war objects, and left nothing undone in the way of a complete patriotic record.

JOHN A. LOWRY, mayor of Big Timber and presi- dent of the board of trustees of the Big Timber Carnegie Library, is a prominent business man of that city and has been in Montana for over twenty years.

He was born at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, De- cember 24, 1871. His maternal ancestors were Scotch-Irish and settled in Pennsylvania in colonial times. His father Albert S. Lowry was born at Chambersburg in 1843, was reared in his native state, was married in Franklin County, and in 1878 moved to Dickinson County, Kansas, where he was an early settler and farmer. He died there in 1912. He was a republican and a member of the Lutheran Church and for a number of years was a trustee of the Dickinson County High School and held other township offices. He was affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Sons and Daughters of Justice. Albert S. Lowry married Amanda Snyder, who was. born near Cham- bersburg, Pennsylvania, in 1846 and died in Dickin- son County, Kansas, in 1914. Of their children John A. was the third. Anna L., the oldest, lives at Waverly, Massachusetts, wife of Martin L. Baughey. Carrie L. is the wife of Ira J. Miller, bookkeeper and timekeeper for the Government in the Bremerton Navy Yards at Washington and a resident of Seattle. Curtis M. is a salesman living at Enid, Oklahoma; Maude is the wife of Guy Hall, county surveyor, living at Chapman, Kansas ; Elsie F. is unmarried and is a stenographer and bookkeeper at Seattle, Washington; William L. is a mail clerk living in. Kansas City, Kansas; Lesta B., the youngest of the family, is the wife of J. B. Gleason, auditor for the Northern Pacific Railway at Billings.

John A. Lowry attended the rural schools of Dickinson County, Kansas, from the time he was seven years of age and graduated from the County High School there in 1892. He became a teacher and it was in that capacity that he was first known in Montana. For many years he taught in Dickin- son County and in 1896 graduated from the State Normal School at Emporia, Kansas. He then taught another period of two years in Dickinson County and in April, 1898, came to Lewis and Clark County, Montana, where he taught for four years. The

fourth year he was principal of the East Helena school. In 1902 he came to Big Timber and was principal of schools for three years. In 1905 Mr. Lowry engaged in the real estate, loans, abstract, bonds and insurance business, and has perfected an organization immediately directed under his per- sonal supervision that is one of the most complete and adequate of its kind in Southern Montana. In 1908 he also bought out the undertaking business of James A. Mulkern, and is owner of that estab- lishment. He owns the office building and a lot on the north side of the Grand Hotel at Big Timber and has a modern home at 7th Avenue and An- derson Street. His undertaking parlors are at the corner of Anderson and Third Avenue.

An evidence of his prosperity since becoming a Montana resident is found in the fact that he owns a ranch of 305 acres twenty miles north of Big Timber in Sweetgrass County.

Mr. Lowry is county coroner, having been ap- pointed in the fall of 1918 and regularly elected to the office in April, 1919. For six years he also served as a trustee of the public schools and is now president of the Sweetgrass County High School Board as well as president of the Carnegie Library Board. Mr. Lowry is a republican, a member of the Lutheran Church, is clerk of Big Timber Camp No. 10610, Modern Woodmen of America, is chan- cellor commander of Big Timber Lodge No. 25, Knights of Pythias, and a member of the Big Timber Chamber of Commerce and the Sweetgrass County Good Roads Association. He is a director and treasurer of the Big Timber Building & Loan Asso- ciation.

In 1910 at Billings Mr. Lowry married Miss Addie L. Dean. Her mother is deceased. Her father George Dean is a retired farmer at Groton, South Dakota. Mrs. Lowry is a graduate of the high' school at Grand Meadow, Minnesota, and re- ceived her Bachelor of Science degree from the Wesleyan University at Indianapolis, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Lowry have one son, Curtis Dean, born April 11, 19II.

AL WRIGHT. Many people have a vague sort of impression that a successful career is something apart from the day's work, that it is a mysterious something, determined largely by fate or destiny. The truth is, as experience and observation con- stantly demonstrate, success depends entirely on how a man manipulates his personal assets. The material from which success is built is in the hand of each person, and the building is the work of every day. It consists in living life up to its maximum, and not in watching the clock. It is just a question of honest, earnest, persistent endeavor every day, every hour; of always trying to do the best and make the highest moment permanent. Because so many will not recognize these self-evident facts there will always be divisions between workers in the world. The man who takes these facts to heart will become the property owner, the employer, the man of inde- pendent means. The one who refuses to believe in them will continue to be the employe, the renter, the atom in the masses of humanity.

There are very few who inherit great wealth and of those few, not all by any manner of means retain their riches, so that it can be truthfully said that the majority of prosperous men of any community have attained to their success by the proper use of their natural and cultivated abilities, and one of the men of Broadwater County who measures up fully to the above requirements and suggestions is

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Al Wright of Townsend, well known over a wide area as a farmer and stockraiser, and one of the members of the board of directors of that sound financial institution of this region, the State Bank of Townsend. .

Al Wright came into the world at Winona, Minne- sota, on April 22, 1864, as a son of Albert Wright, a native of Scotland, born in 1836. When a young man Albert Wright left his native land and came to the United States, and selecting Winona, Minne- sota, as his new home, settled there, but died in the spring of 1864. He was married at Winona to Catherine Snyder, born in Bohemia in 1839. She died at Radersburg, Montana, in 1897, aged fifty- eight years, having married as her second husband Robert Hossfeld, who was born in Saxony, Germany, in 1836, and was murdered at Radersburg. By her first marriage Mrs. Hossfeld had but one child, Al Wright, and those by her second union were as follows: John, who is a rancher of Crow Creek Valley, Montana; Robert, who is a rancher of Radersburg, Montana; George, who is a rancher of Chico Springs, Montana; Minnie, who married Wil- liam Holdaway, a stockraiser and mine owner of Radersburg; Richard, who is on the coast in Ore- gon; Joseph, who is a miner of Butte, Montana, and Catherine, who married Peter Tuchner, a rancher of Florence, Montana.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 221

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