Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 223

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 223

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In 1913 Roy H. Johnson arrived in Montana, a young and enthusiastic lad of nineteen years, and he established himself in the embryo Town of Glas- gow and entered upon the duties of a clerk and stenographer in the office of R. E. Johnson, the founder of the Valley County Abstract Company. When Sheridan County was created two years later R. E. and C. C. Johnson of Mondak and Roy H. Johnson organized the abstract business in Sheridan County, and in November of that year, 1913, Roy H. Johnson assumed the management of the busi- ness and has continued to transact its affairs ever since, save when he wore the uniform of his coun- try as a soldier in training for the World war. The partnership in the Sheridan County Abstract Com- pany was dissolved upon the death of the senior member of the firm, R. E. Johnson. C. C. and Roy H. Johnson are also the owners of the Roose- velt County Abstract Company at Mondak.

With the exception of always casting an intelli- gent and patriotic ballot and working for the up- building of his community Roy H. Johnson has never been an active participant in political affairs. His first presidential vote was given to Colonel Roosevelt, and he became a member of the progres- sive party in 1912, while in 1916 he supported Hughes for the presidency and is a believer in republican principles. He entered the ranks as a soldier April 23, 1918, enlisting in the United States Marines. He was sent to Mare Island, California, where he re- mained until June 11 following, when he was trans- ferred to Galveston, Texas, and remained at that

1447

HISTORY OF MONTANA

camp until discharged in February, 1919. He is a charter member of the Plentywood Post of the American Legion, also its post commander.

Mr. Johnson is unmarried. He was made a Mason in Plentywood in 1915, and he belongs to the Blue Lodge and Chapter of that city, to the Commandery at Glasgow, to the Shrine at Helena, and took the work of the Consistory at Galveston, Texas, in 1918, and belongs to the Scottish Rite bodies there. He is also a member of the Eastern Star in Plentywood. As a Blue Lodge Mason he held the office of secre- tary, and at the present time he is serving as secre- tary of the Chapter.

RICHARD E. (DICK) JOHNSON was born at Nor- cross, Minnesota, September 6, 1881, and died at Glasgow, Montana, December 25, 1916.

Mr. Johnson moved to Kensington, Minnesota, in 1888 with his parents, and his early education was obtained in the public schools of Kensington and Minneapolis. Later he attended the Glenwood Acad- emy at Glenwood, Minnesota, where he completed a course in business.

Mr. Johnson first came to Montana in 1899, when he accepted a position with the Lewis-Wedum Com- pany Store at Glasgow, but after a short time re- turned to Minnesota, where he accepted a position with the Wilcox & Wells Store at Hancock, Minne- sota. This proved an important step in his life, as it was there that he met Marie C. Johnson, and the acquaintance formed blossomed into one of the most beautiful and affectionate love stories that we are privileged to see in life. After a few months at Hancock he again returned to Glasgow and re- entered the employ of the Lewis-Wedum Company, for which firm he served as bookkeeper and assist- ant postmaster. This position he held until he was appointed cashier of the Lewis Brothers Bank (later the First National), at Glasgow, which position he held until he resigned in March, 1904.

April 5, 1904, he was married to Marie C. Johnson at her home near Hancock, Minnesota, and there began what was, as near as earth can give, an earthly paradise. At first the young couple lived at Glen- wood, Minnesota, where Mr. Johnson engaged in the real estate business, but in the fall moved to Flax- ton, North Dakota, where he and associates estab- lished the First State Bank, and he was its cashier. The following year they moved to Rolette, North Dakota, where Mrs. Johnson had the distinction of being the first woman in the town. At this place Mr. Johnson was cashier of the First State Bank, and remained in Rolette until January, 1909, when he disposed of his banking interests.

January, 1909, found Mr. Johnson back in Glas- gow, this time to stay, as he purchased the abstract of title records of W. J. Pierce and formed the Valley County Abstracting Company, which he later incorporated as the Valley County Abstract Com- pany and became its . president. In June, 1910, Charles C. Johnson hecame associated with him and in April, 1911, Roy H. Johnson came, both of whom were constantly associated with him until his un- timely death on Christmas Day, 1916. The firms owned and established by the three Johnsons have always been and still are more popularly known as "Johnson THE Abstractman."

In March, 1913, the Sheridan County Abstract Company was incorporated by the above men, and Mr. Johnson became its president. In March, 1915, a deal was consummated whereby the Johnsons dis- posed of their interests in the abstract of title rec- ords of the Valley County Abstract Company, retain- ing, however, the farm loan and insurance business, which they incorporated into the Johnson Farm

Loan Company, and Mr. Johnson also became its president. Just prior to his death he was instru- mental in organizing the Farmers-Stockgrowers Bank of Glasgow, of which he was to have been interested.

.Both Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were active in the welfare of the community in which they resided, and were especial boosters for Montana and Glas- gow. Mrs. Johnson preceded Mr. Johnson in death, she passing away on September 26, 1914. No chil- dren were born to this happy marriage.

Mr. Johnson took a keen interest in public enter- prises as well as in politics, but he never held an office. He was a great admirer of "Teddy" Roose- velt, and was a delegate to the National Convention of the progressive party in 1912 at Chicago. Other- wise he was always identified with the republican party.

Mr. Johnson was confirmed in the Lutheran Church, but attended the Congregational Church in Glasgow for a number of years. Prior to his death, however, he became interested in Christian Science. He belonged to the several Masonic bodies, the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Commandery and Eastern Star in Glasgow and the Scottish Rite bodies and Shrine in Helena, Montana, his funeral being in charge of North Star Lodge No. 46, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Glasgow. He also was a member of the Modern Woodmen and Yeomen lodges.

Mr. Johnson's father, Erick H. Johnson, was born December 27, 1842, at Ahus, Sweden, and received his education in Sweden, coming to America in 1863. During the Civil war he served with Com- pany H, 132nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and later was a prominent member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He was postmaster at Kensington, Minne- sota, at the time of his death in October, 1903. He was married December 26, 1867, to Miss Ingri Ringhdahl, who preceded him in death in the spring of 1889. Three children were born to this union: Edward H., the eldest, who was accidentally killed while displaying fireworks in Fargo, North Dakota, in June, 1899; Richard E., now deceased; and Ebba V. (Bee) Halgren, of Watertown, Minnesota.

JOSEPH PETER ZEMAN, who, for many years, was a prosperous merchant in Wisconsin, came to Montana in 1915, and founded and is president of the prin- cipal bank at Ballantine. Mr. Zeman was born near Prague, Bohemia, December 30, 1866. His father, Frank V. Zeman, who was born near the same Bohemian city in 1842, was a stone mason by trade, and in 1867 brought his family to the United States. He settled at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, and lived there the rest of his life, following his trade and also working as a machinist for a railroad. He died in . Prairie du Chien in 1916. He was prominent in municipal affairs in the Wisconsin city, serving as alderman for many years and a member of the school board. He was a democrat and active in the Catholic Church. Frank V. Zeman married Ann Hroch, who was born near Prague in 1842 and is still living at Prairie du Chien. Joseph P. is the oldest of her children; Charles M. was in the cloth- ing business for many years, but is now in the shoe department of the Milwaukee store of Schuster & Company; Mary, who died at Denver, Colorado, September, 1918, was the wife of F. G. Horal who was a carpenter, builder and skilled mechanic in Denver; Annie lives with her mother; Frank died in infancy; Stasia is a teacher at Minneapolis, Min- nesota; Frances is the wife of John H. Widman, a hardware merchant of Prairie du Chien, and was a school teacher for many years before her marriage; John F. is in the motorcycle business at Prairie du

1448

HISTORY OF MONTANA

Chien; and Alvina, the youngest of the family, died at the age of twenty-one.

Joseph Peter Zeman was an infant when brought to the United States, and grew up and received his education in the parochial and public schools of Prairie du Chien. He left school at the age of fourteen. At that time all of Southwestern Wis- consin was the scene of many busy saw mills and other evidences of the flourishing lumber industry. For two years he worked in a saw mill and for another year was employed in a sash and door factory at Chicago. His longest permanent position in business, however, was in Prairie du Chien where from 1889 to 1915 he was a manufacturing and re- tailing confectioner.

Mr. Zeman came to Montana in December, 1915, and became president of the Ballantine State Bank and is one of the men most active in the affairs of that city. The Ballantine State Bank has a capital of $20,000 and surplus of $5,000. The other officials are C. T. Garvey, vice president, Hardin, Montana, and C. O. Stout, of Ballantine, also vice president. Mr. Zeman is interested in Montana farming, having a forty-acre irrigated ranch by the schoolhouse on the town site of Ballantine, and also 280 acres of dry farming land two miles south of Ballantine. His modern home is on Cane and Fourth streets.

Mr. Zeman married Miss M. Patricia Garvey of Sheridan, Wyoming, in 1912. She was born in his home city, Prairie du Chien, was educated at St. Mary's Catholic College there, being a graduate in literature and music and took a post-graduate course with the Madames of the Sacred Heart in Omaha. Mrs. Zeman is a talented musician, and taught that art for several years. She is active in the Catholic Church and is a member of the Women's Catholic Order of Foresters. Her father, Christopher Gar- vey, was born in Ireland in 1834, and came to the United States at the age of sixteen, and for many years was the leading general merchant at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, where he died in 1894. He was a democrat, and a Catholic. Mrs. Zeman's mother was Maria Prant, who is still living at Prairie du Chien. She was born at Kenosha, Wis- consin. Mrs. Zeman was the oldest of four children. .Her sister Stasia is the wife of Dwight T. Chambers, an artist on State Street, in Chicago; Rose Marie is the wife of Dr. F. J. Antoine, a physician at Prairie du Chien and Christopher Trant is cashier of the Stockmen's National Bank at Hardin, Montana.

JOHN H. BOOTH. The general public has ever taken great pleasure in tracing the history of a man who started on life's career handicapped in many ways, but who, notwithstanding innumerable obstacles, pushed forward manfully and finally reached the goal of suc- cess set before him. The career of the gentleman whose name appears above has been full of unusual incidents, some agreeable and others unpleasant, and he is eminently deserving of the title "self-made," for all that he has and is has been gained entirely by his own efforts, without assistance from others.

John H. Booth was born in Liberty, Bedford County, Virginia, February 22, 1850, and is a son of John Curtis Booth. The latter was a native of Connecticut, but established a merchant tailoring business on Canal Street, New York City. He mar- ried a Miss Nichols, of Virginia, who died in New York three months after the birth of their son John H. The other children born to that union were as follows: Daniel, who died in California, and Sarah, who became the wife of David S. Holt, of Liberty, Virginia. John C. Booth was afterward married to Margaret Leavenworth, by whom he had a daughter,

Henrietta. Mr. Booth died in Sacramento, Califor- nia, in 1862 and his son John was left to his step- mother for rearing and education. Mrs. Booth subsequently became the wife of Judge Leonard W. Ferris, a Vermont man, who proved a friend of the orphan boy. The stepmother had no such interest, however, and made life at home so uncomfortable for him that in his early teens he left home and took refuge with an old friend of his father in Vir- ginia City.

Mr. Booth's coming to the West was of an unusual and thrilling nature. He was brought here as a child, accompanying his grandmother from New York by boat by way of Panama to San Francisco in 1861, and stopping at Sacramento, where the father had established a business two years before. However, the grandmother on visiting San Francisco and Oak- land became dissatisfied with the coast country and wished to return to New York. It was finally de- cided that young Booth, then in his teens, should return with her and enter school in New York City. They took passage on the "Golden Gate" for the Isth- mus, and when almost opposite Mazatlan, Mexico, the ship caught fire and was burned, the grandmother losing her life. The lad remained on the boat until driven into the sea by the fire, when he jumped and was eventually rescued and taken to Mazatlan, where he awaited the coming of the "St. Louis," by which he returned north and to his father at Sacramento.

Mr. Booth was given the opportunity to do some service in the military establishment of the United States during the last years of the Civil war, Judge Ferris securing him a position in the quartermaster's department at Salt Lake City, under Lieutenant Mel- ville, under whom young Booth had attended school at Virginia City. However, the experience was not very satisfactory, as the young man was defrauded out of his capital and his wages by the commander, who disappeared from the fort with his ward's funds. His next employment was at Fort Bridger in 1864, where he was in the cattle business with Dan Leavitt, after whom he worked for W. A. Johnson, of Green River, Wyoming, for five years, at fifty dollars a month. Johnson saw there was more than ordinary ability in the boy, who had also accumulated some property of his own, and he proposed a partnership on such fair terms that Booth accepted, the result being that at the end of seven years, when they divided and settled up, Mr. Johnson paid him about $12,000 in cash. With this capital Booth went to Buf- falo, Wyoming, and engaged in the livery business. However, over-confidence in friends and the total loss of his stable by fire so reduced his resources that he abandoned the business and the town. He then made the journey from Buffalo to Miles City, Montana, by horseback and became a cowboy for the Murphy Cat- tle Company, with whom he was employed for three years. He then formed a partnership with W. F. Jordan in the retail liquor business at Ekalaka, Mr. Booth taking charge of the business and conducting it until 1910, when he sold out. He then formed an- other partnership and became interested in a ranch eleven miles southeast of Ekalaka, though he retained his residence in the village. In 1915 Mr. Booth was appointed postmaster of Ekalaka, holding the office for four and a half years, or until January 1, 1919, though he had tendered his resignation in the pre- vious October. In the following March, Mr. Booth engaged in the confectionery and tobacco business in what is known as the Postoffice Store, in a build- ing erected by himself, and which business he is still conducting.

Though a man of unpretentious demeanor, Mr. Booth possesses qualities which attract men, and he enjoys the respect and good will of the people

1449

HISTORY OF MONTANA

of the community to a degree that indicates him to be a man of some merit. He is public spirited and gives his support to every movement for the advance- ment of the community in any way.

HORACE G. LANTIS. It is generally considered by those in the habit of superficial thinking that the . history of so-called great men only is worthy of preservation, and that little merit exists among the masses to call forth the praise of the historian or the cheers and appreciation of mankind. A greater mistake was never made. No man is great in all things, and very few are great in many things. Many by a lucky stroke achieve lasting fame who before that had no reputation beyond immediate neighborhoods. It is not a history of the lucky stroke which benefits humanity most, but the long study and effort which made the lucky stroke pos- sible. It is the preliminary work, the method, that serves as a guide for the success of others. Among those in Carter County who have achieved success along steady lines of action is the subject of this review.

Horace G. Lantis was born at Newton, Kansas, July 8, 1886, a son of Moses and Cornelia (Feigh- ner) Lantis. Moses Lantis was a native of Penn- sylvania, born in 1836, but in childhood was taken by his parents to Tazewell County, Illinois, where he grew to manhood and was educated. During the Civil war he was in the West, mining and fighting Indians from Puget Sound to the mouth of the Yellowstone River. He was over the west coast from old Mexico up through California, and cov- ered the Rocky Mountain region. His wife was of Scotch ancestry, and was born in Ohio in 1854. To Moses and Cornelia Lantis were born the following children: Effie, the widow of Henry Guiot, of Peabody, Kansas; Addie, wife of John W. Eilert, of Carter County, Montana; Homer, deceased; Lewis H., of Camp Crook, South Dakota; Alonzo M., also of Camp Crook; Bessie, the wife of Harry Eves, of Wichita, Kansas; Horace G., the imme- diate subject of this review; Almeda R., wife of James B. Armstrong, a ranchman of Carter County; and Laura E., the wife of Robert Livingston, of Ekalaka.

Horace G. Lantis had but little opportunity to secure a school education, but he has been a close student of nature and a careful observer, so that he has acquired a comprehensive fund of general in- formation. His early life in Montana was spent as a cowboy on the range. In 1902 he came to what

is now Carter County. At that time Custer County embraced all this region of the state, and he began his career in what was known as the Long-pine Division of the Sioux National Forest, at the head of Speelmon Creek, and at that time unsurveyed land. When the Lantis boys first located there they engaged in ranching. Horace G. was then but a lad of sixteen years, and until 1907 he aided his father on the ranch. In that year the Lantis broth- ers established a saw mill in that region and man- ufactured all kinds and dimensions of lumber, operating a planing mill in connection with it. Horace Lantis remained a partner in the enterprise until in April, 1909, when he went to Dakota and entered a homestead near Camp Crook. He main- tained his home there until he proved up on it, built himself a log house 18 by 18 feet in size, and he raised a good crop each of the three years he was there.

Leaving his homestead, Mr. Lantis removed to the Ekalaka division of the Sioux National Forest, locat- ing a saw mill at the head of Mussell Creek. He operated at that site from June, 1911, to April, 1914, when he moved the plant to Allenbaugh Springs, where he continued the manufacture of lumber until the spring of 1919, when he leased the mill and became a resident of Ekalaka. Here he engaged in the lumber business, stocking his yard from his old mill plant and adding several cars of commercial material. At that time he associated himself with C. G. Rickard, and they are doing a prosperous business. Besides being general dealers in lumber they also deal in building lots and have erected a number of houses on their lots, which they then sell, and in this way they have contrib- uted in a very definite way to the upbuilding and improvement of Ekalaka. Mr. Lantis is also a stockholder in the Ekalaka Amusement Company.

Horace G. Lantis was married in November, 1909, to Callie Armstrong, a daughter of Marion Arm- strong, who came to Montana in 1905 from Ama- rillo, Texas, being now a prosperous sheep ranch- man here. To Mr. and Mrs. Lantis have been born four children: Ralph and Ruth, twins, Helen and Mildred. Politically Mr. Lantis is a democrat, though he does not take a very active part in pub- lic affairs. Personally he is a man of fine qualities of character, and to a marked degree enjoys the confidence and good will of the people of his com- munity, for he has consistently stood at all times for the welfare of the people.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 223

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