Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 27

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 27

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

Mr. Larson came to Montana in the summer of 1895, locating on the Burton Bench, where he car- ried a stock of general merchandise for one year. He then bought and for two years operated the stage line between Collins and Choteau. Follow- ing this enterprise he began ranching, raising horses, cattle and sheep. He disposed of the bulk of his cattle interests in the spring of 1919. From 1909 until 1919 he also operated one of the best grain farms in Western Montana, raising every year be- tween 10,000 and 32,000 bushels of wheat. He sold his farm in 1918.

Senator Larson has been active in local affairs for the past twenty years. He was elected assessor of Teton County in 1900 and re-elected in 1902. He has been a member of the State Senate for ten years, since his first election in 1910. Senator Lar- son introduced the bill providing for the creation of three counties from the old territory of Teton County. He also introduced into the Senate the Blue Sky law regulating the sale of stocks. He also sponsored the bill establishing the Nineteenth Judi- cial District, and in other ways has been one of the most influential members of the Senate. He served as president pro tem from 1917 to 1919, and for two weeks was acting governor of Montana.

Senator Larson is a prominent Mason, being affi- liated with Choteau Lodge No. 44, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Choteau Chapter No. 25, Royal Arch Masons, Bethany Commandery No. 19, Knights Templar, Helena Consistory of the Scot- tish Rite, and Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of Lodge No. 214 of the Elks at Great Falls.

December 25, 1902, he married Helen Stowe, a native of Moore County, Minnesota. They have two daughters, Elva Gertrude and Harriett Helen.

GEORGE M. COFFEY, SR., is a Montanan of thirty years' standing, and is one of the leading ranchers in the northern section of the state.

He was born on a farm near Lancaster, Missouri, in 1866, and was liberally educated, attending the Missouri State Normal and the University of Mis- souri. He engaged in teaching for two years, fol- lowing which he accepted the post of cashier in the Bank of Scotland County in Memphis, Missouri. From Missouri he came to Montana in 1889 and began ranching north of Bynum in Chouteau County. His ranch is now in Teton County. He is senior partner in the firm of Coffey & Wellensten, a firm that owns between 6,000 and 7,000 acres in ranch and agricultural land. They run large numbers of sheep, cattle and horses, and in later years have been extensively engaged in diversified farming. Mr. Coffey was also one of the organizers of the Citizens State Bank of Choteau in 1909, and held the post of trustee for ten years, and since 1919 has been chairman of the board of directors. He has been a busy and successful man, lias never cared for the honors of public office, though he served as sheep commissioner and on school boards. He is affiliated with Choteau Lodge No. 44, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Montana Chapter No. 25, Royal Arch Masons, Bethany Commandery No. 19, Knights Templar, Helena Consistory and Al- geria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena.

Mr. Coffey married at Memphis, Missouri, Hattie May Cowell. She was born on a farm near Mem- phis in Scotland County. They have four children : George M., Jr., Mary Jane, who died at the age of four years, William Wallace and Clark Cowell.

GEORGE M. COFFEY, JR., is one of the leading mem- bers of the Chouteau County bar and is one of the

best educated lawyers in the northern part of the state.

He was born in Memphis, Scotland County, Mis- souri, September 6, 1887, son of George M. Coffey, Sr., whose career precedes this sketch. Mr. Cof- fey has lived in Montana since early infancy, ac- quiring his primary education in the public schools of Choteau, then in the University of Montana, and graduated A. B. from the University of Mis- souri with the class of 1909. He studied law in Harvard University and Leland Stanford University of California and was admitted to the Montana bar April 20, 1916. He immediately engaged in practice for himself and on January 1, 1917, became associated with John J. Green. Mr. Coffey is a member of the Teton County and Montana State Bar associations. He is a member of several col- lege fraternities, including the Sigma Chi, is a char- ter member of the Alpha Tau Delta oratorical fra- ternity, organized at Harvard University in 1911, and is also a member of the Phi Alpha Delta law frater- nity at Stanford University. He is affiliated with Choteau Lodge No. 44, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Choteau Chapter No. 25, Royal Arch Masons, Helena Consistory of the Scottish Rite and Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine. Politically he is a republican.

September 22, 1917, Mr. Coffey married Marie Leon Brozek, a native of Wisconsin.

ALFRED C. WARNER, of Choteau, is one of the most widely known citizens of Northern Montana. Continuously for thirty years he has filled the post of United States commissioner. He first came to Montana more than forty years ago.

He was born at Brooklyn, New York, September 8, 1848, son of Charles H. and Charlotte (Walters) Warner. His parents were both natives of London, England. His father was born April 5, 1825, and died in July, 1899, while his mother was born March 19, 1825, and died March 20, 1899. They were mar- ried in London in September 1847. Of their nine children four are still living : Alfred C., Eleanor M., Edwin Fremont and Walter J. The son Walter in 1916 joined Battery A of the Missouri National Guard Artillery at St. Louis, was first lieutenant and with that rank served on the Mexican border. When this country entered the war with Germany he and his command became part of the First Missouri Artillery, and he was mustered into service with the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Field Artillery of the Thirty-fifth Division. He served as lieutenant colonel during the battle of the Argonne Forest, where he commanded his regiment, was later promoted to colonel of his regiment, and altogether made a brilliant military record for himself.

The parents of Alfred C. Warner came to this country by sailing ship in March, 1848. They were six weeks, on the ocean. At Brooklyn Charles H. Warner was employed as an expert by the Brooklyn Flint Glass Company. In 1852 the company sent him back to London in charge of its exhibit of prod- ucts. These products took the first prize at the great exposition in London. Afterwards Charles Warner was superintendent of the Planters Glass Company at St. Louis, and from 1865 to 1882 was superin- tendent of the Great Western Glass Company. For the last fifteen years or more of his life he lived retired. He was a republican, and cast his first vote for that party in 1856.

Alfred C. Warner spent his early boyhood on his father's farm on Long Island. He attended school there to the age of thirteen. In 1863 he found work in New York City as mailing clerk at wages of $1 a week for the publishing house of D. Appleton &

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Company. In the spring of 1867, when he joined his family in St. Louis, his experience with Appleton qualified him for a position with the Woodward Book Store, an old St. Louis firm with which he remained until 1871. In that year he went back to New York and was chief clerk to J. B. Ford & Company, publishers of Henry Ward Beecher's paper, The Christian Union, and the other literary output of Mr. Beecher.

In 1876 Mr. Warner again rejoined his family in St. Louis, and in the summer of the following year came to Montana. For five years he was clerk at the Blackfoot Indian Agency. He made his pio- neer trip to Montana by railroad as far as Bismarck and thence by steamboat up the Missouri River to Fort Benton. Going back to St. Louis, Mr. Warner lived in that city until 1885, when he established his permanent home at Choteau, Montana. Here for a time he was bookkeeper and clerk for Hamilton and Hazlett, the pioneer merchants of Choteau. He was also associated as a member of the firm Burnet & Warner, one of the earliest saw mill enterprises of Teton County. They operated a mill twenty-five miles above Choteau on Teton Creek. In 1887 Mr. Warner sold his interests in this business, and since 1889 has given his time to office business at Choteau. For many years he has also held a posi- tion as a notary public. He was appointed United States commissioner in 1889, and has filled that office now for thirty years. He was elected county clerk of Teton County in 1896, and by re-election held that post twelve years. Mr. Warner, who has never married, is an active republican and is a charter member of Chevalier Lodge No. 12, Knights ot Pythias, and has held all the offices in the lodge. He is also a member of Great Falls Lodge No. 214 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

EXZELIA J. PEPIN, former postmaster of Havre, has been a factor in the business and civic life of this city nearly thirty years. He is a nephew of that distinguished Montana pioneer, Simon Pepin, who was one of the founders of the City of Havre, be- ing a partner with E. T. Broadwater in the first mercantile enterprise on the townsite. Simon Pepin reached Montana at Virginia City in the fall of 1863, and became prominent in trading, transportation, ranching and merchandising, until his interest cov- ered an immense area of the northwestern country.

Exzelia J. Pepin was born in Canada, November 25, 1867, son of Alexander and Anastasia (Poirier) Pepin. His parents were both natives of Canada, while the grandfather, Samuel Pepin, father of Simon Pepin and grandfather of Exzelia Pepin, spent his life as a farmer. Alexander Pepin also followed farming in younger life, and became an expert in the handling of farm machinery and was a salesman for implement concerns. He also en- gaged in broom making. He died in 1896, at the age of sixty-seven, and his wife passed away at the same age. They were devout Catholics. Exzelia was the fourth in a family of eight children, five of whom are still living.

He spent most of his boyhood at St. Paul, Minne- sota, where he was educated in the public schools, but at the age of fourteen began work at the butch- er's trade at $8 a month and board. At sixteen he left the butcher shop and became an employe of the wholesale dry goods house of Auerbach, Finch & Van Slyck, remaining in their service about two years. He then resumed work at his trade, and on July 5, 1889, at the age of twenty-two, reached Fort Assiniboine, where he was appointed chief butcher for the firm of Broadwater & McCulloch, the army

and government contractors at that post. He re- mained with this firm, subsequently the Broadwater- Pepin Company, until 1898, and in the meantime located at Havre, where his uncle and Mr. Broad- water had established their business headquarters in 1891. Mr. Pepin served for about two years as an assistant postmaster in the early days of Havre, and then resumed the meat business independently for some three years. Much of his success has been due to ranching, and he still owns about 480 acres of land, though he sold his stock of cattle and horses in 1914. After serving as assistant postmaster for eight years Mr. Pepin was appointed postmaster of Havre May 16, 1914, and was reappointed by Presi- dent Wilson in 1918. Mr. Pepin is affiliated with Havre Lodge No. 1201 of the Elks, and in politics is a democrat.

June 15, 1898, he married Miss Anna Nemetz, a native of Beaver Falls, Minnesota. They have one son, Exzelia J., Jr.

JOHN A. SWEAT, M. D. For many years actively engaged in the practice of his profession as a physi- cian and surgeon at Great Falls, Doctor Sweat since 1915 has been retired from his professional labors and has been living at his homestead ranch at Dut- ton in Teton County. Doctor Sweat rendered some valuable service as a member of the exemption board at Great Falls during the World war.

He was born at Brownfield, Maine, October 23, 1856, of English Puritan ancestry. His parents, Jesse P. and Eliza (Spring) Sweat, were also na- tives of Maine. His father was a graduate of Bow- doin College both in the literary and medical course, and practiced medicine for fifty years in his native state. During the Civil war he was surgeon of the Twenty-third Maine Regiment. He spent his last days at Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Dr. John A. Sweat, only son of his parents, ac- quired his early education in Maine and was four- teen years of age when he went with the family to Minnesota. He graduated in 1876 from the Univer- sity of Minnesota, and subsequently entered the Medical School of Bowdoin College, his father's alma mater, graduating in 1880. He also attended medical lectures at Columbia University in New York, and practiced at Minneapolis until 1883. In that year he became a surgeon of the Pacific Divi- sion of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and in 1890 located and began his practice at Great Falls. He was formerly president of the Montana State Board of Medical Examiners, and also served as president of the North Montana Medical Association and is a member of the American Medical Association. In his native state he served as a member of the Leg- islature in 1880-81. Doctor Sweat is a democrat, and is affiliated with the Masons and Elks.

In 1888 Doctor Sweat married Miss Mary Towle, of Maine. Their first two children, Valarie and Robert, died in infancy. The three younger chil- dren are Ruth, Jack and Helen. These young people are highly educated and have already made names for themselves. Ruth received her Bachelor of Science degree from Montana State College at Boze- man in 1916. She did her first work as a teacher in Cascade County, was an instructor in the Teton County High School at Choteau, and in November, 1918, was elected county superintendent of the Teton County schools, beginning her official term on Jan- uary 1, 1919.

The son Jack during his junior year at the Uni- versity of Montana in 1917 left school to join the First Officers Training Camp at The Presidio in California, and was commissioned a second lieuten- ant. He was with the army camp at Camp Lewis,

3.J. Pepin

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Washington, and went overseas as a member of Company F, Three Hundred and Sixty-first Regi- ment, Ninety-first Division. He was in the great battles of the Argonne and other phases of the fighting in the summer and early fall of 1918. He was mustered out with the rank of second lieutenant in May, 1919.

The younger daughter, Helen, graduated from the Great Falls High School in 1915, spent one year in the University of Montana, and is now assistant superintendent under her sister Ruth.

OTTO WAGNILD, present county assessor of Teton County, grew up on his father's ranch in Northern Montana, and is a practical grain farmer by his own experience.

Mr. Wagnild was born at Minneapolis, Minnesota, September 14, 1888, son of Ole and Margaret (Vang) Wagnild. His parents were both born in Norway, his father in 1851 and his mother in 1861. They were married in Norway, where Ole Wagnild was a railway employe. After coming to this country he was engaged with a lumber company and sash and door factory at Minneapolis for a number of years. In 1896 he moved to Teton County, Montana, and established a ranch on the Burton Bench. Here he has been extensively engaged in stock raising and farming. He is affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His wife died in 1901. They had six children: Caroline, wife of Adolph Saterlee; Signe, who died in May, 1913, the wife of Peter Wold; Otto; Alf, who on November 4, 1917, entered the Government service and was with Com- pany A of the Three Hundred and Forty-sixth Sup- ply Train at the army headquarters at Chaumont, France; Olga, wife of Gordon E. Monkman; and Mayda.

Otto Wagnild acquired his early education at Farmington in Teton County. The first money he earned was herding sheep at $15 a month. He did that work when only eleven years of age. Between the ages of fifteen and nineteen he was a regular cowboy employed on the Flying U Ranch. He left the range to become an employe of the Collins Mer- cantile Company at Collins, and in 1909 engaged in business with the Choteau Mercantile Company, re- maining with that firm seven years until 1916. Dur- ing 1916-17-18 he was also engaged in farming, growing wheat on between 150 and 200 acres.

Mr. Wagnild became deputy assessor of Teton County in 1916, and was elected as chief of that office in November, 1918. He is a democrat in poli- tics and is a past master of Choteau Lodge No. 44, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

June 3. 1914, Mr. Wagnild married Miss Hattie M. Gewald. She was born at Alpena, South Dakota.

MICHAEL A. O'NEIL, county clerk and recorder of Teton County, has had a great deal of business, agri- cultural and official experience. He was a public official back in his old home state of Iowa for several years. He began life a poor boy, and by self reliance and industry has made himself a factor in the affairs of every locality which he has called his home.

Mr. O'Neil was born at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 31, 1853, son of Daniel and Mary (Donovan) O'Neil. His parents were both natives of Ireland. His father was born in County Cork in 1795, and lived to the venerable age of ninety-three, passing away in 1888. As a young man he was a British sailor and went to nearly all the ports of the world. In 1854, after his marriage, he took his family to the vicinity of Bellevue, Jackson County, Iowa, buying Government land at $1.25 an acre. He proved a

sturdy and successful pioneer, developing his land, and, beginning with a log house, eventually had 200 acres in cultivation and supplied his family with all the substantial comforts. He finally retired and spent his last days at Green Island. He served as a notary public, was a Catholic, and a Jackson demo- crat. His wife was born in County Tipperary in 1825, and died in 1910, at the age of eighty-five. They were married in Pennsylvania, and of their six children three are still living.

Michael A. O'Neil, fifth among these children, was educated in the public schools of Iowa. He earned his first money dropping corn at 25 cents a day. As a young man he learned the stone mason's trade and followed that for several years. For about twenty years he was a contractor in building work in Iowa. He also owned a farm and did practical farming in that state. Mr. O'Neil sold his interests in Iowa in 1908 and came to the Flathead Valley of Montana. 'He farmed there until 1912, when he homesteaded in Teton County, and now has a complete section of land, well developed as a farm and ranch.

In 1888 he was elected assessor of Clinton County, Iowa, and held that office for eleven years, finally resigning when he came West. He also served as justice of the peace. He was deputy assessor of the north end of Teton County, and on November 5, 1918, was elected clerk and recorder, beginning his official duties at Choteau on January 6, 1919.

Mr. O'Neil is a skillful orator, and his ability in that field has made him a man of much influence in the democratic party in Northern Montana. He is a Catholic and is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus.

Probably his greatest pride and satisfaction are derived from his children and grandchildren. On November 9, 1875, he married Elizabeth Cain, a na- tive of Michigan. Mrs. O'Neil died in October, 1911, the mother of three sons and seven daughters; Anna S., the oldest, is the wife of William Rutenbeck, and they have three children; Edward Daniel mar- ried Lillian Peeler; Josephine is the wife of George Smith; Lucy is the wife of Jay Scott and had one child; Cecilia, a nurse, died in 1916, at the age of twenty-seven; Mary is the wife of Dr. H. J. Mc- Gregor and is the mother of two sons; Frances is married, and the three younger children are Walter, Elinora and Mabel.

R. W. DE NOIELLE is the founder and active head of the largest planing mill and wood working estab- lishment in Lewis and Clark County. He was for many years a building contractor at Helena, and was a boy in Helena during the exciting epoch of the '6os and has many interesting recollections of pioneer events and personalities.

Mr. De Noielle was born in Tuolumne County, California, July 19, 1852. He is of French Huguenot stock, and his grandfather was the founder of the family in Massachusetts. His father, Arnold De Noielle was born about 1820 at Boston, Massachu- setts, was reared and educated and married in that city, and followed the trade of stone mason. He was one of the real argonauts of the glorious golden period of California in the days of forty-nine. He left Boston in 1848, accompanied by his wife, trav- eled around the Horn, and was just a year to the day in making the voyage. He was one of the early arrivals in the gold regions, and spent the rest of his life in California, principally engaged in min- ing. He retired to San Francisco, and died in that city about 1880. All his children were born in Cali- fornia, and out of his success he reared and educated them for successful careers. He was a republican

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in politics. Arnold De Noielle married Sarah E. Fields. She was born April 10, 1828, and after the death of her first husband became the wife of Frank S. Getchell. Mr. Getchell was born at Benton, Maine, October 17, 1833, and died at Helena, Mon- tana, July 7, 1915. Frank S. Getchell was one of the earliest pioneer Montanans, reaching Virginia City in 1862. He was both a miner and millwright. Mrs. Sarah Getchell was the mother of one son, Charles Getchell, a merchant at Bakersfield, Califor- nia. Arnold De Noielle and wife had four children : George, who died young at Columbia, California; R. W .; Samuel P., who was born November 23, 1854, at Columbia, California, was brought to Helena in 1866, and spent his active life as a blacksmith, dying February 2, 1902; Sarah E., born May 6, 1861, is the wife of Engene B. Braden, superintendent of the Selby Smelter at Oakland, California. The mother of these children died at Helena July 26, 1905.

R. W. De Noielle was brought to Virginia City, Montana, in 1865 and to Helena in 1866, and ac- quired part of his education in the public schools of Helena. Mr. De Noielle finished his education in one of the famous preparatory schools of the East, Phillips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts, where he graduated in the scientific course in 1872. He was a member of the Philomathian Society at the Academy. Mr. De Noielle in 1873 began learning the trade of carpenter at the historic City of Salem, Massachusetts, and for a number of years followed his trade in the East. He returned to Helena in 1881, and thenceforth was a carpenter and builder, and a large amount of construction work still standing attests his skill.

Mr. De Noielle in 1913 founded the firm of De Noielle, Gebauer & Mason, a partnership. They are manufacturers of mill work, including doors, sash, office and house finish and cabinet work, the planing mill and other plants being located at 1800 East Lynndale Avenue. The output of the factory is shipped all over Montana, and Mr. De Noielle as manager has the chief credit for giving this im- portant institution to Helena.

Mr. De Noielle is an old line republican, but has never aspired to office. He is affiliated with the Congregational Church, is a past noble grand of Excelsior Lodge No. 5, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a representative to the Grand Lodge of the state. He is also affiliated with Helena Lodge No. 3, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Garnet Camp No. 105, Woodmen of the World, and the Helena Commercial Club.

Mr. De Noielle owns a modern home at 823 Ninth Avenue. In 1876, at Salem, Massachusetts, he mar- ried Miss Hattie I. Grover, who was born in that city in 1851. She died at Helena in 1888. Mr. De Noielle's only child is by his first wife. This daugh- ter, Grace E., was born at Helena in 1888, and is now the wife of Samuel Langhorne, a resident of East Helena, and foreman in the East Helena plant of the American Smelting & Refining Company. Mr. De Noielle also went back to Salem for his second wife, whom he married in 1892. She was Mrs. Annie E. (Watts) Webb, born at Salem in 1851.

OLAF G. SKYLSTEAD. Among the leading citizens of Havre, a prominent place has been filled for more than twenty-five years by Olaf G. Skylstead, insur- ance and real estate man, who has been a factor of importance in the commercial affairs of this city. His influence has been of still wider scope, for county and state have also been benefited through his official administration of sound business prin-

ciples and his example of high-minded American citizenship.

Olaf G. Skylstead was born June 13, 1870, in the City of Bergen, Norway. His parents were Capt. Ole I. and Gurine (Thorkilsen) Skylstead, the for- mer of whom was born in 1839, on a Norway farm, but during all his active life was a sailor and com- manded vessels in the merchant marine service. When he left the sea he retired, and his death oc- curred in his native land in 1914. The mother of Mr. Skylstead was born in 1849 in Norway, and she still resides there. Of their six children three are living, Olaf G. being the eldest of the family. He was educated in the excellent schools of the City of Bergen and when graduated from the high school was well prepared educationally to make his own way in the world. His father did not oppose his coming to America, and on August 14, 1887, the young man landed in the harbor of New York City, and being of a practical turn of mind, lost but little time in the great metropolis before setting out for his proposed point of location, which was Minot City, North Dakota. There he became a clerk in a general store and was so well satisfied with his sur- roundings and prospects that he remained at Minot City for the next five years, preparing in the mean- while to enter into business for himself.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 27

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