Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 31

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 31

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Clyde Wilcox attended public schools in North- western Iowa and also the Iowa Agricultural Col- lege at Ames. At the age of nineteen he was given a place as bookkeeper with the Frst National Bank at Doon, Iowa. Subsequently he was assistant cashier of the Bank of Alvord at Alvord, Iowa, until 1910, when he moved to Bushnell, South Da- kota, and for six years served as cashier of the Farmers and Merchants Bank. Following that he spent two years traveling through the West and California. In 1914 Mr. Wilcox came to Montana and acquired a financial interest in the Merchants State Bank at Broadwater. He was president of that institution for about five years. In May, 1918, he moved his home to Great Falls and has since been vice president of the Cascade Bank, one of the strongest institutions in the financial affairs of the city.

Mr. Wilcox is affiliated with Euclid Lodge of Masons at Elkton, South Dakota, and with Great Falls Lodge of Perfection in the Scottish Rite. He is a republican voter. January 1, 1907, he married Louise M. Kastenholz, a native of Minneapolis. Their two sons are Clyde Emil and Donald William.

THOMAS BURCHINAL MILLER came to Montana in role of a school teacher, but soon left that work to take up insurance, and for the past thirty years has been state agent for the Pacific Mutual Life Insur- ance Company of California at Helena, and has one of the largest general insurance agencies in that city. Mr. Miller is a widely known Montana citi- zen, and has long been prominent as an official in the Masonic Order.

Mr. Miller was born at Rossville, Iowa, March

26, 1862. His people were colonial Americans, and in the different generations have exhibited the quali- ties of the pioneer, and have kept quite close to the advancing line of civilization in the west. The first ancestor came over at the time of Lord Balti- more, and established a home in Pennsylvania.

George R. Miller, father of Thomas B., was born in Pennsylvania January 21, 1831, was reared and married in his native state, and was about twenty- five years of age when in 1856 he located at Ross- ville, Allamakee County, Iowa. He was a tailor by trade, also studied law, but before getting settled down to the routine of his profession he enlisted in 1862 as a private in the Twenty-Seventh Iowa Infantry. He was rapidly promoted, becoming cap- tain of his company, but after a year and a half of service was honorably discharged on account of disability in 1863. He then returned to Rossville, built up a good practice as a lawyer, served Allama- kee County as a member of the Twelfth General Assembly of the State of Iowa, and in 1869 moved to Mason City, Iowa, where he followed his pro- fession until his death in October, 1885. He was long prominent in the democratic party, the minority party in Iowa, and did much to maintain party strength. He was a delegate to various state and national conventions. He was one of the leading Baptists of Mason City and was affiliated with the Masons, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and for several years was grand master workman of the State of Iowa in the last named order. He was also com- mander of the Mason City Post of the Grand Army of the Republic and was vice commander of the State Encampment of Iowa. George R. Miller mar- ried Mary E. Burchinal, who was born at Smith- field, Pennsylvania, December 5, 1835, and died at Los Angeles, June 21, 1920.

Thomas Burchinal Miller acquired a public school education at Mason City, graduating from high school in 1881. The following eight years his work was teaching. He taught one term in Cerro Gordo County, was principal for three years of the schools of Plymouth, Iowa, and for five years principal at Clear Lake. Mr. Miller came to Montana in 1889, the year the state was admitted, and for six months was principal of schools at Dillon.

He resigned his school work to engage in the real estate and insurance business at Butte with Senator Lee Mantle and Gen. Charles S. Warren. Then, in 1890, he bought out the general agency of the Pa- cific Mutual Life Insurance Company for Montana, and in August of the same year moved his home and business headquarters to Helena. While still the general agent for the Pacific Mutual Company in Montana, he has developed a large organization covering the real estate, insurance and investment fields, and is dean of the fire insurance men at Helena, having the oldest agency that has not changed hands in the city. Mr. Miller's offices are at 37 West Sixth Avenue. He also has some other interests, being secretary of the Scratch Gravel Gold Mining Company and director of the Mon- tana Life Insurance Company. He owns a ranch of 330 acres two miles north of Helena and his city home is at 802 Benton Avenue.

From 1896 to 1903, inclusive, Mr. Miller was sec- retary of the Republican State Central Committee and is now a member of the Republican County Cen- tral Committee. For eight years altogether he served as assayer in charge of the United States Assay Office at Helena, his first appointment being con- ferred by President Roosevelt. He served through Taft's administration and eight months under Presi- dent Wilson.

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His affiliations as a Mason are with Helena Lodge No. 3, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; Chapter No. 2, Royal Arch Masons; Helena Commandery No. 2, Knights Templar, of which he is a past . commander ; Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine, which he served as potentate in 1906-07, and Helena Consistory No. 3 of the Scottish Rite. He is a past grand commander of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of the state, and is a thirty-third degree honorary Scottish Rite Mason. When Helena Consistory No. 3 was organized he was deputy in- spector general for all the Scottish Rite bodies in Helena. He is past sovereign of the Red Cross of Constantine and in 1918 was commander of the Council of Kadosh of the Scottish Rite bodies.

Mr. Miller is also a member of the Montana Club and the Country Club of Helena, is a former member of the Rocky Mountain Club of New York City, and of the Silver Bow Club of Butte, and is a member of the Helena Rotary Club and Commercial Club.

September 10, 1902, at Helena, he married Miss Maud Wall, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Hand) Wall. Her parents are deceased. Her father was a farmer in Dakota and lived· retired for several years at Helena. Mrs. Miller is a graduate of the Helena High School. They have two chil- dren: Thomas B., born June 17, 1904, a sopho- more in the Helena High School, and George Ross, born February 17, 1908.

HYPOLITE BESSETTE. Old-time residents of North- ern Montana came to know a great deal of the per- sonalities and the activities of the noted Bessette Brothers, who at one time conducted the largest and most extensive freighting business through the northern counties.

An active member of this firm and later a promi- nent rancher and stockman was the late Hypolite Bessette, who was born at Louvre, France, in 1851. In 1878 he crossed the ocean to Eastern Canada, and during the same year with his six brothers set out for Montana, traveling by stage. The trip from Montreal to Helena took eighteen days. They then traveled on to Fort Benton, where they purchased ox teams and entered the freighting and transpor- tation business. Their wagons ran to all parts of the Northwest and carried goods used in many im- portant enterprises. It is a matter of history that practically all of the material used for the original Fort Assiniboine was hauled by the Bessette Broth- ers.

During the winter months when transportation was at a standstill the brothers lived in a log cabin on the banks of the Marias River. This cabin and its surrounding lands afterward became the ranch of Hypolite Bessette. These headquarters, though in an exposed outpost, were seldom molested by the Indians. The Bessette brothers continued in the freighting business for five or six years. Hypolite Bessette then withdrew from the firm and returned to his native land, where he married and where he lived until drawn again by the spell of Montana to this country.

In 1897 he brouglit his family to Montana and from that time forward lived on the ranch which had been his winter quarters during his freighting experience. He became extensively engaged in the stock business, and lived there until his death on December 23, 1901.

Hypolite Bessette married Miss Marie Lea Car- reau. They were the parents of Adelia, Corona, Eglantine, Valmord and Ademord. The daughter, Adelia, married a Mr. Green and died December 3, 1910, leaving one daughter, Corinne. The daughter,

Corona, died as Mrs. Sprinkle on May 1, 1917, leav- ing three sons, Roger, David and Robert Sprinkle. The other three children and their widowed mother are still living. Eglantine Bessette, now Mrs. Eglan- tine L. Roper, is one of the best educated women in Montana and is a practicing member of the bar. She was educated in the Sacred Heart Academy at Missoula and in the University of California, and was admitted to the Montana bar in 1919. She is now engaged in practice as a land attorney at Havre. Her husband, C. C. Roper, is a farmer. They have two children, Idale and Ronald. On July 19, 1919, Mrs. Roper bought the Northern Auto Company, general garage agents for the Studebaker cars, to which she gives her personal attention.

REV. FREDERICK WILLIAM THOMPSON, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church at Polson, began his career as a minister on the plains of Western Can- ada in mission work.

He was born at Belfast, Ireland, a son of James Sinclair and Sarah J. (Stitt) Thompson. He was liberally educated in his native country, and at the age of twenty-four came to America and under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church did missionary work in Saskatchewan and Alberta. He was or- dained a regular minister at Tisdale, Saskatchewan, in July, 1909, and in I911 removed to North Dakota. For three years he was pastor of the church at Hunter and in 1915 was called to the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church at Mandan. He remained there three years and that ministry was distinguished by much constructive enterprise, including the building of a handsome new church edifice at a cost of $35,000. Mr. Thompson came to Deer Lodge, Montana, in January, 1918, as pastor of the local church, but resigned to accept the call to the First Presbyterian Church at Polson and has been an earnest worker in the church of that community since March, 1919.

In' 1914 he married Miss Jeanne Elizabeth Pol- lock. Mrs. Thompson was born in Monaghan, Ire- land, a daughter of James and Elizabeth (Cobine) Pollock. She was well educated, and during several years of service in the British postal service made herself a valuable and responsible worker. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have three children: James Sinclair, John Reginald and Dorothy Jean.

Rev. Mr. Thompson is affiliated with the Masonic Order and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, both he and his wife are Rebekahs and Mrs. Thomp- son is a member of the Eastern Star. Politically he is a discriminating voter, but long before he acquired American citizenship was an admirer of the stalwart principles of the late Theodore Roose- velt. As a boy in school in Ireland he and his col- lege mates enjoyed reading the books of Theodore Roosevelt and at that time he took to heart many of the fine ideas exemplified and emphasized by the great American progressive. Rev. Mr. Thompson is a faithful consecrated worker, an able speaker, his voice being raised in support of every good movement for the good of the community, and he and his good wife are making their influence count for good in Polson.

WILLIAM R. CRUM. This representative and hon- ored citizen of Cascade County has been distinctively the architect of his own fortunes, has been true and loyal in all the relations of life and stands as a type of that sterling manhood which ever commands re- spect and honor. He is a man who would have won his way in any locality where fate might have placed him, for he has sound judgment, coupled with great energy and business tact, together with upright prin-

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ciples, all of which make for success wherever and whenever they are rightly and persistently applied. By reason of these principles he has won and re- tained a host of friends in whatever community he is known.

William R. Crum was born in Champaign County, Illinois, on December 9, 1870, and is the son of Ryal and Cassie (O'Brian) Crum. The father, who was a native of Kentucky died in 1876, when William R. of this sketch was but six years of age. His widow, who survived him many years, dying in 1907, when sixty years of age, was born in Vermil- ion County, Illinois. They were the parents of four children, two sons and two daughters, the subject being the second child in order of birth.

William R. Crum is practically a self-educated man, for owing to the loss of his father when he was yet but a small child, he was compelled at an early age to make his own living. His first money was earned by loading a wagon with corn cobs, for which he received 25 cents a day. Later he was employed as a farm hand until he was sixteen years of age, and in the meantime he managed to attend winter schools to some extent. Removing to Web- ster City, Iowa, he rented a farm and for about three years devoted himself to its operation on his own account. In the spring of 1891 Mr. Crum came to Cascade County, Montana, and during the fol- lowing eight years was employed as foreman by H. L. Mortag. In the meantime he homesteaded 160 acres and took up a desert claim of the same area and in 1895 he bought the old Fred Frost ranch at the Sullivan Divide and engaged in the buying, raising and selling of cattle and horses, which has since commanded his attention. He has been fairly successful in his operations and now has an average of 150 head of cattle and forty horses, having sold quite a number of cattle on account of the drought. He is a good business manager and is conducting his affairs in a conservative yet pro- gressive way that guarantees success. Mr. Crum is one of the directors of the Cascade Co-operative Association, which is engaged in the general mer- chandise business at Cascade and which is a won- derfully 'successful enterprise.

Politically Mr. Crum is a stanch supporter of the republican party and his religious membership is with the Methodist Episcopal Church.

On January 4, 1912, Mr. Crum was married to Julia Lasuskey, a native of Minnesota, and they have become the parents of two children, Vivian and Wilmar.

By a straightforward and commendable course Mr. Crum has made his way from a somewhat humble environment to a respectable position in the business world, winning the hearty admiration of the people of his adopted county and earning a reputation as an enterprising, progressive man of affairs.

LAWRENCE K. DEVLIN came to Montana Territory forty years ago as an employe of the United States Army quartermaster, who was in charge of the construction of Fort Assiniboine. His interests have since remained identified with the northern section of the state. For many years Mr. Devlin was head of the Pioneer Meat Company, one of the largest firms of meat contributors in the state. He has played a notable part in public affairs, particularly at Havre. Mr. Devlin is one of the influential demo- crats of Montana.

He was born at East Rutland, Vermont, June 29, 1859, son of Patrick and Margaret (Kinsella) Dev- lin. His parents were both natives of Ireland and were brought to .this country as children by their

respective parents. Patrick Devlin crossed the ocean in a sailing vessel during the early '40s, and grew up in Vermont, where he was educated and where he spent his active career as a worker in marble quar- ries. He died in Vermont in January, 1859, at the age of twenty-eight. His widow is still living, now in her eighty-fifth year.

Lawrence K. Devlin was' the youngest and is the only survivor of three children. He acquired a limited education in the public schools of Troy, New York, and most of his training has been a matter of contact with men and affairs. He earned his first money weeding onions at 30 cents a day. As an employe of the quartermaster's department, United States Army, he came to Montana in 1879 to assist in the construction of Fort Assiniboine. He made the journey from Bismarck to Coal Banks, now Virgelle, by steamer. At that time Coal Banks was the landing for Fort Assiniboine. Mr. Devlin brought eleven men, expert quarrymen, with him and was superintendent during the first work in laying the foundation walls of the old fort. He then entered the employ of C. A. Broadwater & Company, later the Broadwater McCulloh Com- pany; became manager of the company in 1891 and closed out the business in 1894. After closing out the affairs of the business at Fort Assiniboine he located at Havre, and now, more than twenty-five years later, ranks as perhaps the oldest living citi- zen of that community. He acquired some interests in the Pioneer Meat Company, which was a part of the larger business of the Pt Cattle Company. He was manager of the business at Havre and after- ward president of the company until June 1, 1919. The company was incorporated in 1906.

Mr. Devlin was elected and served as a member of the Board of County Commissioners of Chouteau County in 1897-98, and during that term did much to put the financial affairs of the county on a firm basis. In 1895 he was chosen a member of the Havre School Board, and was its president for nineteen years. He was also an alderman from 1902 to 1911. In 1909 Governor Norris appointed him a deputy of the State Bureau of Child and Animal Protection, a position he occupied until January 31, 1920, when he resigned to accept the position of Federal prohibition director for the State of Montana. Mr. Devlin is a Catholic and a member of the Knights of Columbus.

November 3, 1903, at Havre, he married Miss Laura Ames Lepper. Mrs. Devlin was born at Fort Benton Montana, a daughter of Frank and Luella (Ames) Lepper, both now deceased. Mrs. Devlin was the oldest of three children. Her parents were pioneers of Montana, her father being proprietor of a blacksmith establishment at Fort Benton. Mr. and Mrs. Devlin have two children: Lawrence K., Jr., born at Havre, February 2, 1905; and Margaret Mary, born February 20, 1907.

WILLIAM B. RHOADES. Formerly judge of the Eighteenth Judicial District, William B. Rhoades has found his abilities well rewarded since coming to Montana. He has been prominent as a lawyer and in the public life of several communities, and for a number of years his home was at Kalispell. He is now a resident of Great Falls.

Judge Rhoades was born on his father's farm in Saline County, Missouri, April 5, 1878, son of John T. and Belle (Novell) Rhoades. His parents were also natives of Saline County, Missouri. His father was born in October, 1848, was educated in local public schools, and for many vears was a lead- ing farmer and stock raiser in Saline County one of the most progressive agricultural sections of that

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state. He was a breeder of Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs, and did an extensive business in feeding and shipping livestock. He also worked for the best interests of his home community, served on the school board many years, took an active part in democratic politics and is a member of the Bap- tist Church. He is now living retired at Slater in Saline County. His wife was born August 30, 1854, and died in 1907. Judge Rhoades is the second of their eight children, four of whom are still living.

Judge Rhoades attended the public schools of his native county, including the high school at Slater, where he graduated in 1895. He then entered Wil- liam Jewell College at Liberty, Missouri, and grad- uated A. B. in 1899. He took his professional course in the Kansas City Law School, and also studied under a private preceptor. He was admitted to the Missouri bar in 1901 and in the same year came to Montana and after his admission to the bar began practice at Deer Lodge. In 1903 he removed to Kalispell and was a busy lawyer and effective citi- zen of the Flathead district until 1915. He not only acquired a leading position as a lawyer, but made his services and influences felt in other ways. For three years he was secretary of the Chamber of Commerce of Kalispell, and in 1906-08 was city attorney. He was also a member of the Kalispell School Board. In 1915 Judge Rhoades located at Havre. He was appointed to serve two years as secretary of the Railway and Public Service Commission, and dur- ing that time his office was at Helena. Governor Stewart appointed him judge of the Eighteenth Judicial District in 1917, with chambers at Havre, and on November 5, 1918, he was regularly elected to that office. He resigned the office of District judge in 1920 to re-enter private practice with ex- Governor E. L. Norris and George E. Hurd, and located in Great Falls. In 1912 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives from Flat- head County, serving one term.

Judge Rhoades is a democrat and is affiliated with Havre Lodge No. 55, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Havre Lodge No. 1201 of the Elks.

July 18, 1905, at Everett, Washington, Judge Rhoades married Miss Josephine Force, a native of Beatrice, Nebraska. They have three children : Jane, born in 1907; Robert, born in 1910, and Ruth, born in 19II.

MATHEW MCLAIN, sheriff of Hill County, and one of the most fearless and efficient men in this office in Montana, has made his name a terror to law- breakers, who recognize that when they come into his jurisdiction they strike a man who "means busi- ness" and will not abandon a hunt until he has cap- tured "his man." He was born at Springfield, Illi- nois, July 27, 1887, a son of Hugh and Eliza (Mc- Bride) McLain, natives of County Down, Ireland, where he was born in 1865 and she in 1867. Hugh McLain came to the United States in young man- hood and for some years was engaged in working for others as a stone and brick mason, but later went into business for himself, and after coming to this country lived principally in Illinois and Iowa. His death occurred at Chicago, April 20, 1894, and his wife died in 1887, they being only twenty-nine and twenty years old, respectively, at death. They left two children, namely: Ella Jane, who married C. B. Lineweaver, of Havre, Montana, and Sheriff McLain. In politics Hugh McLain was a repub- lican.

After the death of his parents Mathew McLain was taken by his grandparents, Samuel and Mary (Jackson) McLain, and was reared in Iowa, where he attended the rural schools of his neighborhood

and learned farming. In 1908 he started out travel- ing through North Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota, see- ing the country and earning his living by work as he found it, and then in January, 1912, he located permanently in what is now Hill County, but was then Chouteau County, homesteading in the vicinity of Havre. Here he erected a house and lived until he was elected sheriff of Hill County, on November 5, 1918, which necessitated his removal to the county seat. His vigorous action with reference to the Anti-Horse Thief Association brought him before the people of his county in such a manner as to im- press the law abiding element that he was the right man for the office of sheriff and he was elected by a gratifying majority.

On January 12, 1912, Mr. McLain was united in marriage with Jessie Peterson, born in Minnesota. They have three children, namely: Opal E., Orville Norman and Gladys. Mr. McLain is a man of inde- pendent means, and has made what he now possesses through his own efforts since coming to Hill County, for when he arrived here all of his earthly posses- sions consisted of $1.75 in money, or what he terms a "grubstake." There are few men who could rise so rapidly and steadily as he has done, and he fully deserves the confidence and respect he has won as well as his material prosperity.

JOHN MILLER PARSONS. The newspaper profes- sion in Northern Montana has an able and worthy representative in the person of John Miller Parsons, formerly one of the owners and editors of the Havre Promoter, whose success since locating there has won him a high place among his contemporaries and many admirers in the city and county for his straightforward and public-spirited policy. His in- fluence has been for the general upbuilding of this locality in every way possible, for he evidently has unswerving faith in its future and its interests at heart.

J. Miller Parsons was born in Faribault, Minne- sota, on October 7, 1878, and is the son of Frank P. and Genevieve (Shipley) Parsons, the father still living. He is a native of Connecticut and the mother was born in Iowa. Frank P. Parsons was educated in the public schools of Connecticut and Wisconsin. His first employment was in early youth with the old Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, now the Chi- cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, at Madison, Wisconsin, where he learned the vocation of tele- graph operator. Later he was appointed operator and station agent at Renville, Minnesota, with the same road, retaining that position for fifteen or twenty years. In 1900 he came to Montana as sta- tion agent for the Great Northern Railway at Dod- son, holding the position for some time. He then engaged in farming in Old Valley, in what is now Sheridan County, Montana, to which he devoted himself until 1917, when he resumed his old voca- tion of telegraph operator with the Great Northern Railway at Enid, Montana, where he now remains. Politically he is a stanch republican, while frater- nally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Telegraphers' Union.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 31

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