Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 3

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 3

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Bernard Nolan, the colonel's father, spent his en- tire life in County Limerick, Ireland, his birth oc- curring there in 1802, and his death in 1880. He was a stone mason by trade, and was a member of the Fenian organization. He married Catherine Hickey, a life-long resident of County Limerick, and they became the parents of the following children : Thomas, who immigrated to the United States in the '50s, served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, and was afterward employed for thirty years in the postoffice at St. Louis, Missouri, where his death occurred ; Catherine, living in County Limerick, Ireland, near Temple, is the widow of Michael Shaugnessy, a farmer ; Ellen, who married James Dalton, died in Tioga County, New York, leaving six children; Patrick, who died at Newark Valley, New York, was there employed in the tan- nery of Davidge & Lanfield; Bryan, who followed railroading, died in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1890; and Cornelius B., the special subject of this sketch.

Coming to New York in 1873, Cornelius B. Nolan located at Newark Valley, that state, and continued his studies in the academy at Owego, New York. He subsequently worked for two years in track maintenance on the Southern Central and Delaware & Lackawanna railways as a day laborer. Going to Port Allegany, Pennsylvania in 1877, he was em- ployed in a tannery two years, having charge of the drying department, and of the shipping of leather to Buffalo.

In 1878 Mr. Nolan went to Saint Louis, Missouri. to visit his brother Thomas, with whom he remained five years, in the meantime studying law with Rodger Foster, in the Temple Building, and at- tending the Saint Louis Law School, a department of the Washington University. from which he was graduated in 1883. Having in the meantime he- come proficient in the study of stenography, Mr. Nolan accepted a position as stenographer in a Saint Louis house in 1883, and in 1884 went to Chicago, where for two years he was stenographer for an agricultural house. Coming to Helena, Montana, in the fall of 1886. as stenographer for the agent of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, he re- mained in his office for seven months. Being then anpointed hy N. W. McConnell, chief Justice of the Territory of Montana, as court reporter, he re- tained the position until Montana was made a state.

Being then elected county attorney of Lewis and Clark County, Mr. Nolan served ably in that capacity for five years, during which time he was also en- gaged in the practice of his profession on the side. and later opened a law office in Helena. Elected

attorney general of Montana in 1896, he served four years, during which time the celebrated Clark- Daily fight took place, Mr. Nolan having charge of the investigation by the grand jury of the alleged bribery of legislators, the investigation having been ordered by a joint resolution of the Montana Sen- ate and House.

From 1900 until 1910 Mr. Nolan was successfully engaged in the practice of law in Helena, and was then elected to the State Legislature in order that he might help elect Thomas J. Walsh, with whom he had been in partnership for three years, to the United States Senate. Mr. Walsh, by the way, was subsequently elected to that position, and is still serving as United States Senator. After serving his legislative term, Colonel Nolan has since carried on an extensive and lucrative general civil and criminal practice, being a member of the well known firm of Walsh, Nolan & Scallon, with offices in the Penwell Block. He is a democrat in politics, and served with the rank of colonel on General Toole's staff in the State Militia, being inspector general.

Colonel Nolan is a man of excellent business abil- ity, and has acquired property of much value, own- ing a modern residence at 112 East Lawrence Street ; 2,500 acres of ranch land, two ranches be- ing located in Broadwater County, and one in Park County ; and owning in addition real estate in Wheatland County. He is a member of the Mon- tana Club; of the Helena Commercial Club; and of the Lewis and Clark County Bar Association; the State Bar' and the National Bar associations. Fraternally the colonel belongs to Helena Lodge No.' 3, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, of which he was worshipful master in 1890; to Helena Chapter No. 2, Royal Arch Masons; to Helena Commandery No. 2, Knights Templar; to Helena Consistory No. 3, which confers the thirty- second degree of Masonry; to Algeria Temple, An- cient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; and to Helena Lodge No. 193, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Colonel Nolan married, in 1894, in Helena, Miss Hattie Shober, a niece of John H. Shober, a retired attorney of Helena, and a daughter of Herod and Melvina (Scott) Shober, neither of whom are now living. Mrs. Nolan was born in Mantorville, Min- nesota, and after her graduation from Valparaiso University, in Valparaiso, Indiana, taught school in Minnesota and Iowa, from the latter state coming to Montana in 1888. The colonel and Mrs. Nolan have no children.

JOHN SCOTT HARRISON. As assistant supervisor of surveys for Montana, J. Scott Harrison, of Helena, is intimately acquainted not only with the topog- raphy of the state, but with its geological conditions and mineral resources, his knowledge of its physical features being extensive and comprehensive. A son of the late James Findlay Harrison, he was born, April 30, 1867, in Linn County, Kansas, of distin- guished ancestry, being a descendant in the eighth generation of Benjamin Harrison, the immigrant ; in the fifth generation of Benjamin Harrison, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence; and in the fourth generation of Gen. William Henry Harrison, the ninth President of the United States.

Benjamin Harrison, the immigrant ancestor, came to America from England about 1642, settling in Virginia, where he subsequently served as clerk of the Common Council at Jamestown. Benjamin Harrison, the next in line of descent, became prom- inent in public affairs, serving as a member of the House of Burgesses, and being known as Counsellor

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Harrison. The line was continued through his son, Benjamin Harrison, who served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. The maiden name of his wife was Anna Carter. Their son, Benjamin Harrison, the succeeding ancestor, a life-long resident of Vir- ginia, was born in 1740, and died in 1791. He served as colonel of a regiment in the Revolutionary war, and was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He married Elizabeth Bassett, and through their son William Henry the line of de- scent was continued.

William Henry Harrison was born in Berkeley, Charles City County, Virginia, February 9, 1773, and in 1790 was graduated from the Hampden Sidney College. His military spirit being aroused by the Indian barbarities along the frontier, he applied to General Washington for a commission, and in 1795, as captain of a company of brave soldiers, was given charge of Fort Washington, the present site of the City of Cincinnati. On March 4, 1841, he was in- augurated President of the United States, and on April 4, 1841, just one month later, his death oc- curred in Washington, District of Columbia. While at Fort Washington he wooed and won "sweet Anne Symmes," and they became the parents of several sons and daughters.

William Henry Harrison was born near Cin- cinnati, Ohio, in 1802. He was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1823, and located at North Bend, Ohio, where he was successfully engaged as an attorney- at-law until his death in 1838. For seven years he served as colonel of the Ohio State Militia. His wife, whose maiden name was Jane Irwin, was born in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, in 1802, and died in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1847.

James Findlay Harrison was born March 9, 1825, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and died at Mound City, Linn County, Kansas, February 14, 1907. As a youth he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, but left during his senior year, and was later graduated from the University of Cin- cinnati. As a member of the First Ohio Volunteer Infantry he served throughout the Mexican war, being under command of Colonel Mitchell and Gen. Zachary Taylor. Returning to Cincinnati at the close of the conflict, he was admitted to the bar at Terre Haute, Indiana, where he engaged in the practice of his profession a number of years. Re- moving to Dayton, Ohio, he assumed possession of property he had there inherited, and lived upon its income for a while. In 1855 he was appointed first lieutenant of the Tenth Infantry, United States Army, but never served in that capacity. At the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted for three months and raised the Eleventh Ohio Volunteer In- fantry, of which he was commissioned colonel. Re- signing at the expiration of his term of enlistment, he subsequently served throughout the war, having been on the staffs of both Gen. W. H. Lyte and Gen. Phil Sheridan and being present at the battle of Chickamauga. Going to Linn County, Kansas, after the close of the war, he was en- gaged in farming and civil engineering for several years, remaining there until his death. He filled various official positions in Linn County, and was a prominent member of the Grand Army of the Reptiblic. He was a stanch republican in politics, and an active member of the Episcopal Church.

James Findlay Harrison was twice married. He married first Caroline Alston, who was born in South Carolina, and died in Dayton, Ohio, in 1862. The three children born of their union all died in childhood. He married for his second wife Alice M. Kennedy, who was born in Natchez, Mississippi, in 1842, and died in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1911.

Five children blessed their union, as follows: John Scott, the special subject of this sketch; William Henry, a real estate broker of Kansas City, Mis- souri; Mary Randolph, wife of John Walter Farrar, a well known attorney of Kansas City, Missouri; James Findlay, a homesteader of Dell, Montana; and Archibald Irwin, who died March 7, 1920. He served in the Engineers Corps during the World war.

Although J. Scott Harrison attended the rural schools of Linn County, Kansas, he was in reality under the tutorship of his father, through whom he received a complete academic education. He subse- quently read law at Mound City, Kansas, for two years, but a professional career did not appeal to him. Leaving home on attaining his majority, he followed civil engineering for a while, working in both Kansas and Oklahoma. From 1895 until 1899 Mr. Harrison was employed by the Geological Sur- vey in the survey of the Indian Territory. Accepting then a position in the General Land Office at Wash- ington, District of Columbia, he made surveys in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Oregon, Wash- ington and North Dakota, being examiner of surveys from 1900, when he made his first appearance in Montana, until 1910. In that year he was appointed assistant supervisor of surveys, and in 1911 was given charge of all the general land office surveys of District No. I, which covers the entire state of Montana, his offices being located at 20 Federal Building. In 1919-20 he was director of the Lewis and Clark County War Savings Organization.

Mr. Harrison is a steadfast republican in poli- tics. Fraternally he is a member of Mound City Lodge No. 33, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, of Mound City, Kansas; of Helena Chap- ter No. 2, Royal Arch Masons, of which he is a past high priest; a member and past commander of Helena Commandery No. 2, Knights Templar; of Helena Council No. 1, Royal and Select Masters, of which he is thrice illustrious master; of Helena Consistory No. 3, which confers the thirty-second degree; and of Algeria Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Mr. Harrison is also a member and past president of the Mon- tana Society of the Sons of the American Revolu- tion ; a member of the Society of Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence; and of the Helena Country Club. His attractive home is located at 801 Holter Street.

Mr. Harrison married, in Helena, Montana, in 1903, Miss Mary S. Hill, a woman of culture and refinement, who was educated at a ladies' seminary in Faribault, Minnesota. Her father, the late Joseph S. Hill, a pioneer settler of Fort Benton, Montana, and a prominent business man of that place, married Augusta F. Ford, who now resides in Helena, Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Harrison are the parents of three children, namely: James Findlay Hill, who died in infancy; William Henry, born August 14, 1906; and Scott Hill, born September 30, 1907.

OLE FLATEN. During a residence in Montana of about ten years Ole Flaten has figured promi- nently both in business and educational affairs. He has a very fine record as a teacher and school administrator, made both in this state and in Minne- sota. Mr. Flaten own's a homestead which he took up and developed in Montana, but at present is giving all his time to his duties as manager of the Montana Lumber Company at Judith Gap.

Mr. Flaten was born in Goodhue County, Minne- sota, December 10, 1883. His people for generations were prominent at Vang, Valdres, Norway. His

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great-grandfather on his mother's side was at one time a magistrate in that Norwegian community and otherwise active and influential in civic and politi- cal affairs. Mr. Flaten's paternal grandfather was Ingvald Flaten, who was born at Vang and died there, though for several years he lived in Goodhue County, Minnesota. His life was spent as a farmer.

Ole Flaten, Sr., was born at Vang, Norway, in 1842, and was reared and married there. His wife was Maren Wangenstein, who was born at Vang in 1842 and died in Goodhue County, Minnesota, in 1891. Ole Flaten was a studious and thoughtful man, very liberally educated, and was widely known for his knowledge of history. In Norway he taught in the Lutheran parochial schools. Shortly after the close of the American Civil war he came to this country, and was a pioneer settler in Goodhue County, Minnesota. He developed a farm, cultivated it and also taught in parochial schools. He died at Northfield in 1914. A stanch republican, he served as township assessor and also as a member of the school board. During his residence at Northfield he conducted a book store. He was one of the leading lay members of the Lutheran Church. Most of his children acquired liberal educations. The oldest, Nils, graduated with the A. B. degree from the Uni- versity of Minnesota in 1893, received the Master of Arts degree in 1896 and the Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1900 from the same university, and has long been a prominent educator in Minnesota. He is now professor of French and Spanish at St. Olaf College, Northfield. During the war he was sent abroad by the Young Men's Christian Association War Council, and was on duty in Northern Italy. The second child is Randi, wife of Russell Bar- clay, an employe of the Western Union Telegraph Company at Minneapolis. Ingvold is a merchant at Rolette, North Dakota. Sigrid is the wife of Emil Brostrom, an employe of Tenant & Hoyt, millers, with home at Lake City, Minnesota. Dorothea is the wife of N. C. Pearson, of Minot, North Dakota. Ole, Jr., is the youngest of six children of his mother. His father married for a second wife Mrs. Heil, who is still living at Northfield. Her only child, Rudolph, is in the Northfield High School.

Ole Flaten spent most of his boyhood on a farm in Goodhue County, Minnesota. While there he attended rural schools, completed the work of the eighth grade at Dennison, graduated in 1904 from the preparatory department of St. Olaf, and then took the regular course of St. Olaf College, gradu- ating Bachelor of Science in 1908. In college he was a member of the Alpha Beta Chi fraternity. Before coming to Montana Mr. Flaten was princi- pal of the high school at Halstad, Minnesota, one year, and for five months teacher of chemistry and physics in the Redwing High School. He reached Montana at Lewistown in April, 1910, but soon went to Grass Range in Fergus County, where he took up a quarter section homestead, located twelve miles south of Grass Range. He proved up his claim and now owns altogether 200 acres. This land is in the immediate region where some prom- ising oil developments have been carried on and his farm is under lease to an oil development com- pany. From his claim Mr. Flaten went back to Minnesota and spent nine months at Sauk Rapids, and during the school year of 1913-14 was princi- pal of the school at the Blackfoot Indian Reserva- tion. He then resumed his ranch work. In 1916 he was candidate at the republican primaries for county superintendent of schools of Fergus County and lost the nomination by a very small figure. He has been in the lumber business since 1917, begin-

ning as bookkeeper for the Montana Lumber Com- pany at Grass Range. He was transferred and for one year was second man in charge of the com- Dany's business at Roundup, and then became man- ager of the plant at Judith Gap, where he has had his home since February, 1919.

Mr. Flaten, who is unmarried, is an independent republican, is affiliated with the Lutheran Church, is a past master workman of Judith Gap Lodge No. 46, Ancient Order of United Workmen, and a mem- ber of Grass Range Lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Besides his ranch property he owns a modern residence on High Street.

WILLIAM N. SMITH. The march of improvement is accelerated day by day, and each successive moment seems to demand of men a broader intelli- gence and a greater discernment than did the pre- ceding, showing that successful men must be live men in this age, bristling with activity. The pur- pose of biography is to preserve the records of such men for the edification of succeeding genera- tions; thus the lessons of biography may be far- reaching to an extent not superficially evident. A man's reputation is the property of the world, for the laws of nature have forbidden isolation. Every human being either submits to or rises above the controlling influence which touches, controls, guides or misdirects others. If he be honest and success- ful in his chosen field of endeavor, investigation will brighten his reputation and point the way along which others may follow with like success. The career of William N. Smith, well known business man and banker of Harlowton, is of that class of enterprising citizens whose example is calculated to be an incentive to others, for his efforts have met with a fair measure of success in life's affairs.

William N. Smith was born at St. Cloud, Minne- sota, on September 15, 1868, and is the son of Charles W. and Laura E. (Thompson) Smith. Charles W. Thompson is a native of the State of Illinois, where he was born in 1840. He early learned the trade of a printer and in young manhood located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he was employed in a printing office. At the outbreak of the Civil war he was one of the first three to enlist in Com- pany D of the old First Regiment of Minnesota Infantry, for three years. With this regiment he participated in many of the most important battles and skirmishes of that great struggle between the states, and at the end of the first enlistment period the strength of the regiment had been reduced to less than 500 men. Upon being mustered out at the end of his first period of enlistment, Mr. Smith at once re-enlisted in the Heavy Artillery, in which he was commissioned a captain, and as such served until the close of the war. He then located in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, where he engaged in the farm machinery business until 1917, when he retired and has since made his home in Miami, Florida. He served as deputy sheriff of Ottertail County, Minne- sota, several terms, and also served several terms as chief of police of Fergus Falls. He was also honored in being selected as a member of the staff of Governor John Lind. Politically he was for- merly a republican, but of late years has given his support to the democratic ticket. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the Masonic fraternity. Laura E. Smith, mother of the subject, was born in Vermont in 1843, and her death occurred in Miami, Florida, in 1919, at the age of seventy-six years. To this worthy couple were born five children, of which number the sub- ject of this sketch is the eldest.

William N. Smith received a good practical educa-

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tion in the public schools of Fergus Falls, Minne- sota, and at the age of eighteen years he began working in a flour mill there, receiving $1.25 a day. Soon afterward he became superintendent of the Page Flour Mill at Fergus Falls. He became an expert miller, and in 1891 he was appointed head miller and superintendent of the Grafton Flour Mill at Graftan, North Dakota, with which mill he was identified in that capacity for nineteen years. This mill subsequently became known as the Grafton Roller Milling Company, in which Mr. Smith be- came a stockholder, and in 1910 he was elected vice president of the company and superintendent of its milling operations. In 1911 he located in Harlow- ton, Montana, where he constructed the first flour mill in the Musselshell Valley. In 1912 Mr. Smith was one of the organizers of the Montana Flour Mills Company, one of the largest and most im- portant milling companies in Montana. The com- pany has flour mills at Great Falls, Lewiston and Bozeman, Montana, and a line of over fifty grain elevators, and of all this equipment Mr. Smith is the actual and responsible superintendent, as well as vice president of the company. On July 14, 1913, he became a director and vice president of the First National Bank of Harlowton, and on July 13, 1914, he was elected president of that institution.

Mr. Smith has been twice married, first to Bessie Mead, of Fergus Falls, who bore him three daugh- ters, Gladys, Marian and Bessie. Some time after the death of his first wife Mr. Smith was married to Abby Hays, of St. Charles, Minnesota.

Politically Mr. Smith has been nominally a demo- crat, though at the present time he occupies an independent attitude. Never a seeker after public office, nevertheless he was induced by the citizens of Grafton, North Dakota, to serve as mayor and was elected to a second term in that office. His administration was an efficient one and was particu- larly characterized by the cleaning up of the boot- legging crowd which at that time infested that town. He served two terms as chief game warden of the State of North Dakota, and he served for many terms as a member of the local school board. As chairman of the Liberty Loan drives during the World war Mr. Smith made a record of which he has every reason to be proud. He was general chair- man of all five drives in the county and was also chairman of the County Council of Defense, in which capacity he had every school district in the county thoroughly organized. It was mainly through his systematic organization and his personal efforts that Wheatland County was awarded the silver cup, with the following self-explanatory inscription :

Awarded to Wheatland County For the Largest Oversubscription in Montana Fourth Liberty Loan Ninth Federal Reserve District at the Launching of the U. S. S. S. Wheatland, Montana, by the Skinner & Eddy Corporation, August 4, 1919, Seattle, Wash.

Mr. Smith refers to this distinction with consid- erable pride, for it reflects not alone the result of his personal efforts, but also the loyalty and generos- ity of the people of this county, who failed in no demand made on them during the great world crisis. Fraternally Mr. Smith is a member of Musselshell Lodge No. 69, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; Harlowton Chapter No. 22, Royal Arch Masons; Palestine Commandery No. 18, Knights Templar, and Algeria Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles

of the Mystic Shrine, at Helena. Mr. Smith is uni- versally recognized as a splendid citizen, one of Har- lowton's leading men of affairs, progressive in all that the term implies; a man of lofty character, sturdy integrity and unswerving honesty.

ROBERT S. TINGLEY. This well known citizen is a descendant of one of the honored old pioneers of Montana, who left his ancestral hills in the old Buckeye State many years ago and came to Mon- tana, taking an active and effective part in the great work of development which was incumbent on the first settlers of the country. They did their work wisely and well, those brave and hardy old pioneers, and today we of the present generation are reaping the fruitage of their labors. The subject of this sketch has successfully carried forward the work which was inaugurated by his father and today he is numbered among the representative men of his section of the state.

Robert S. Tingley was born on Smith River, Deep Creek, Chouteau County, Montana, on October 24, 1870, and is the third in order of birth of the six children born to his parents, Robert S. and Louise (Campbell) Tingley. The father was born in the State of Ohio in 1841, and he died at his home here in August, 1889. His widow, who is a native of Montana, is yet living, in the seventy-fourth year of her age. Robert S. Tingley, Sr., moved from Ohio to Wisconsin with his parents when a mere child, and there he secured his school education. Later the family moved to Iowa, where he lived until 1862, when he came to Montana with his father and brother, Clark T. They made the long and at that time dangerous trip overland and thence by boat up the Missouri River to Fort Benton, whence they drove overland to Bannock. There Mr. Tingley engaged in prospecting, mining and trapping, but later "squatted" on a tract of Government land in the Prickly Pear Valley. There in 1872 he engaged in the cattle business, which he pursued for a time, but some time later he located near where the City of Great Falls now stands. In 1874 he located in Fort Benton and engaged in the meat business, in connection with which he took Government contracts for supplying meat and furnished supplies for the steamboats which plied the Missouri River. In the spring of 1879 Mr. Tingley sold out his business interests in Fort Benton and went to Texas, where he bought cattle, which he drove over the trail to the Black Hills of Dakota, where he disposed of them. Subsequently he bought the J. L. Perkins stock herd of nearly 4,000 cattle, which he took to the Moccasin and Cone Butte ranges, and to this business he continued to give his attention up to the time of his death, making his home at Big Sandy. He had the distinction of being one of the first set- tlers west of the Missouri River and north of the Marais River, in the neighborhood of the Black- foot Reservation. In politics he was first a whig and later a republican. He had a large part in the history of the early period of Montana. He was one of the pioneer freighters in the territory, driving out of Fort Benton, Helena, McCloud and Cow Island. In 1878 he lived in Fort Benton, his family occupying the upper floor of the old fort there.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 3

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