Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 33

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 33

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).

forbidding a candidate from running on a ticket un- less he is a member of the party on whose ticket he appears.

On November 27, 1913, Mr. Lewis was married to Eve Russell, who was born in Fargo, North Dakota, the daughter of E. R. and Hattie (Coon) Russell, both of whom are living at Fort Benton, where Mr. Russell has been serving as court reporter since 1901. They are the parents of six children, all of whom are living. To Mr. and, Mrs. Lewis have been born two children, Verneva and Myrna. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Lewis has been especially active in work among young people, being a leader in the Epworth League organization of that church, and at the state convention of the league, held at Billings on July 19, 1919, he was elected president of the state organization. He possesses a social na- ture, and by his genial and kindly attitude to those with whom he comes in contact he has won the con- fidence and respect of all.

JOHN HUNSBERGER was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1840, and his death occurred in 1899, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. His wife, who was born in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1840, is now living in Fort Benton. John Hunsberger was reared and educated in his boyhood home. At the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in the Pennsylvania Volun- teer Infantry, with which he served until the close of the war, having taken part in many of the most important battles of that great conflict. After the conclusion of his military service he came West, locating at Fort Benton, Montana, where he entered the employ of the American Fur Company in a cler- ical capacity. He was later elected treasurer of Chou- teau County and was several times re-elected to the office. He was a pioneer of that locality in the early '70s and bore his full share of the burdens of the new community. After leaving the office of county treasurer he became proprietor of the old Overland Hotel, which he conducted up to 1880, when he bought the Grand Union Hotel, which he ran for a number of years. For several years he was engaged in the saloon business at Great Falls and, later on, at Blackfoot, being also engaged in the hotel busi- ness at the latter place, where his death occurred. Politically he was a democrat.

HARRY A. SCHOENING. While a man of youthful years, just in the full tide of a successful law prac- tice, Harry A. Schoening is the oldest practicing lawyer of Wolf Point, coming to the town not long after it took on new life as a railroad point seven years ago.

Mr. Schoening was born in Renville County, Min- nesota, October 29, 1883, and is one of many native Minnesotans who have contributed their citizenship to Montana. His father, Emil A. Schoening, was born in the city of Berlin, Germany, came to the United States as a young man, and has spent his active life in Minnesota. From work as a farm hand he homesteaded in Renville County, and has made a substantial farm out of his claim and still owns it, though now a resident of Olivia. He is a stanch American citizen and has been identified with the republican party. Emil Schoening married Emily Dosdall, who was born in the Province of Bran- denburg, Germany, and came to the United States as a girl, They have the following children: Max and Emil, of Appleton, Minnesota; Edward, a farmer in Renville County ; Louis, of Rider, North Dakota ; Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, of Minot, North Dakota; Miss Olga, of Olivia; Harry A .; and Benjamin, of Min- neapolis.

771

HISTORY OF MONTANA

Harry A. Schoening grew up in the country and his early experiences were those of a farm. From the district schools he entered high school at Olivia, Minnesota, graduating at the age of twenty. In IgII he received the degree Bachelor of Philosophy from Hamline University, and took his law at the St. Paul College of Law, graduating in 1913.

In casting about for a field for his professional work Mr. Schoening came to Montana, was admitted to the bar before the Montana Supreme Court on motion October 27, 1913, and at once established his office at Wolf Point, having selected that village as his home in the preceding August. The new town of Wolf Point then had about 100 people. His first case at law was a civil suit involving a few hundred dollars, and was finally settled in the Dis- trict Court, in favor of his client. During the past seven years he has been engaged in a general prac- tice, and the majority of his cases have been settled in the local courts. Mr. Schoening has been city attorney of Wolf Point since its incorporation, is attorney for the First National Bank, and handled the legal matters connected with its incorporation as well as for several other business corporations of the town. He has an interest in the Wolf Point Oil & Gas Company, is a stockholder and president of the Herald Publishing Company, and has stock in the Eastern Montana Security Company.

Mr. Schoening was a local leader in war work at Wolf Point, was a four-minute man, was active in the several loan drives, and also in the Red Cross. Mrs. Schoening was identified with the local chapter of the Red Cross, is a member of the Eastern Star and is secretary of the Women's Civic League of Wolf Point. The family are church members, iden- tified with the Methodist organization at Wolf Point. Mr. Schoening is a republican in national affairs, though he supported the opposing candidate in 1916. He is affiliated with Loyalty Lodge No. 121, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Wolf Point. The Schoening home is a nine-room comfortable house on Dawson Street.

At Wolf Point December 19, 1917, Mr. Schoen- ing married Miss Elsie M. Hagen. She was born at Wolcott, North Dakota, Angust 14, 1891, one of the two daughters and three sons of Knute Hagen, who was a native of Norway. Mrs. Schoening was educated in the high school at Williston, North Dakota, and in the Normal School at Valley City, and for several years was a primary teacher. She was teaching at Wolf Point when she met her hus- band. Mr. and Mrs. Schoening have one daughter, Elizabeth Lucile.

OLE C. JOHNSON. Through practically the entire history of the new community of Wolf Point Ole C. Johnson has been one of the most important figures as a merchant, promoter of business enter- prise, leader in public movements, and a man whose public spirit can always be relied upon as a source of benefit to the community.

Mr. Johnson was born in Chippewa County, Min- nesota, April 26, 1883. His father, Knute Johnson, who was born near Christiania, Norway, immigrated alone to the United States at the age of seventeen, and first located in Goodhue County, Minnesota. His capital was his labor. He was an expert timher man, could swing an axe better and shove a saw livelier than most of his fellows, and for a number of years that skill gave him steady employment in the Minnesota woods. From his labor he accumu- lated the capital which enabled him to take up an eighty-acre homestead in Chippewa County. He was one of the early settlers there, made a home and farm, and still lives on his farm, now comprising

240 acres, substantially improved and profitably man- aged. As soon as possible he became an American citizen, has always been devoted to American prin- ciples and ideals, and is a democratic voter. His community has frequently honored him with such offices as road supervisor and school director. He was reared a Lutheran, and both he and his wife were factors in the building of a community church. In Minnesota Knute Johnson married Anna Kvan. She was born near Bergen, Norway, daughter of Jens H. Kvan, and came to the United States with her parents at the age of ten years. Her father was an early settler in Goodhue County, where she grew to womanhood. Knute Johnson and wife had the following children: James H., a merchant of Hitterdal, Minnesota ; John K., a merchant of Ham- mer, South Dakota; Hannah, wife of David Bear- bower, of Davenport, Iowa; Anna, wife of Albert Gjerset, of Fergus Falls, Minnesota; Caroline, who became the wife of O. H. Sconsing, of Paynesville, Minnesota; Ole C .; Amandus, with his brother at Wolf Point; Levi, a merchant at LeMars, North Dakota; Carolis, who farms at the old homestead; and Naomi, also at home.

Ole C. Johnson grew up in a rural district and supplemented his advantages in district schools with a course in Windom College at Montevideo. Before he became a merchant Mr. Johnson was a success- ful school teacher, and has carried his interest in education to his Montana community. For seven years he taught in Minnesota and North Dakota, going to the latter state in the summer of 1905. His last school work was done early in 1910, and in the summer of that year he found a place as clerk in a store at Ray, and after a year used his modest capital to open a small variety store.

In the spring of 1912 Mr. Johnson came to Mon- tana and to Wolf Point, shipping his stock of goods and fixtures from Ray. His former partner and associate, A. J. Isachsen, came with him, and in May the firm of Johnson & Isachsen opened the first gen- eral merchandise store in the new town. Their store was on the site now occupied by the Champlin Im- plement Company. Their stock consisted of groceries, shoes and a few pieces of dry goods. In the spring of 1915 they moved to the McBurney Building, and with increased stock and increasing prestige as good business men they continued there until the fall of 1919, when they sold their stock and business to the Buttery-Swift Company.

In the meantime, in 1918, the men's clothing por- tion of the stock had been separated and an exclu- sive clothing and furnishing business for men was established, called "The Fad," of which O. C. John- son, A. J. Isachsen and Amandus Johnson are owners and active managers today.

Mr. Johnson has been liberal of his time and means in promoting other business enterprises. He was one of the founders, stockholders and a director of the First National Bank, is a stockholder and president of the Wolf Point Electric Light & Power Company, a stockholder and director in the Wolf Point Herald Company, and was a member and president of the first council of Wolf Point. For three years he was a working member of the city government, and he also helped organize the Wolf Point Fire Department. During the World war he was a member of different committees to raise funds. Mr. Johnson voted in the first national election in 1904, supporting Colonel Roosevelt, and has been a republican in national elections except in 1916. He is affiliated with Loyalty Lodge No. 121, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, while Mrs. Johnson is a member of the Eastern Star.

Mr. Johnson has contributed two residences to

772

HISTORY OF MONTANA

Wolf Point. His present home is a house of eight rooms, with basement and hot water heat, and mod- ern in all respects. Mr. Johnson married Miss Edith Worthy at Nashlin, Canada, July 16, 1918. She was born at Eureka, South Dakota, August 5, 1889, one of the family of three daughters and two sons of Joseph and Martha G. (Bonner) Worthy. Her father was a native of England and her mother of Stewarts- ville, Minnesota. She spent part of her girlhood at her native town and also at Ashley, North Dakota, was well educated, and deserves some credit for the part she took in the early school or educational his- tory of Wolf Point. She was a teacher in the In - dian Mission at the old town and later in the public schools of the new town. Mrs. Johnson is chairman of the Relief Committee of the Red Cross Chapter, being one of the leaders of that organization during the war, and is also active in the Presbyterian Church and Sunday School. Mr. Johnson has by a former marriage a son, Vincent Marion Johnson, who is now an important factor in the home of his grandmother, Mrs. Joseph Hickel, at Ray, North Dakota. A son, Donald Worth, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson August 2, 1920.

JOHN MATHEW KAY, coroner of Hill County, and one of the solid citizens of Havre, is engaged in the under- taking and art goods business. He was born in a tent on the trail southwest of Dillon, May 21, 1867, a son of James and Mary (Hope) Kay. James Kay was born in the south of Scotland and died in December, 1913, at the age of eighty-six years, while his wife, a native of England, died in 1909, aged seventy-nine years. They were married in England and after the birth of three children decided to come to the United States, so took passage on a sailing vessel. The six-weeks' voyage was a tragedy for them, as during it their dear little son and daughters died of scarlet [ever and had to be buried at sea. The heart-broken parents landed at New York City and for a time lived at Schuylkill, Pennsylvania, where James Kay found plenty of employment, for he was a skilled carpenter and joiner and cabinetmaker. He preferred the West, however, and left Pennsyl- vania for Missouri, and formed connections with a bridge building company in the vicinity of St. Louis. During the war between the North and South James Kay served in a company of militia to pro- tect Missouri. With the opening up of Western land through the exploration of Pike's Peak, the Kays traveled overland to Colorado 'and later to Utah. For some time he was engaged in teaming at Highland, near Red Mountains, eighteen miles southwest of Butte, and then James Kay went to the Gallatin Valley, where he took up a homestead, but later he went to Bozeman, Montana, and was engaged in the furniture and undertaking business, which he continued until his death. He was a Knight of Pythias fraternally and in politics a democrat. He and his wife had twelve children, three of whom are now living, namely: Joseph H., John Mathew, who is the seventh son of the seventh son, and Mary, who is the wife of James M. Rob- ertson, of Bozeman, Montana. Mrs. Robertson was connected with the State Agricultural College in that city, being the college librarian for seventeen years.

John Mathew Kay has been carefully educated, as he was graduated from the Bozeman High School, also attended the Montana State Agricultural Col- lege, the Helena Business College and the Highland Park College at Des Moines, Iowa, from which he was graduated in 1902. He learned the Eckels sys- tem of undertaking with his father, and uses it in his own business, which he established in Havre in

1913. However, Mr. Kay's chief work has been of an educational nature, he beginning his career as a school teacher when only seventeen years of age. After teaching in rural schools for some years he became principal of the East Side schools at Boze- man, which position he held for four years. Dur- eight years he was superintendent of the city schools of Red Lodge and in 1904 ran for the office of state ing 1892 and 1893 he served as superintendent of schools of Gallatin County. For the subsequent superintendent of schools on the democratic ticket, but was defeated, and accepted the principalship of the Broadwater County High School, and held it for eight years, thus giving twenty-eight years of the best part of his life to training the minds of the rising generation.

He was considered one of the leaders in educa- tional thought in Montana. He was a member of the executive committee of the State Teachers' As- sociation for a number of years and was honored by being elected president of the association. The sub- ject for his annual address was "Educational Remi- niscences of Montana." So important from an his- torical standpoint was this lecture considered that the association had one thousand copies printed. For a number of years he was the secretary-treasurer of the Montana State Athletic Association and also served as its president for one year. He did much to advance clean high school athletics in this state.

During the second session of the Montana State Assembly Mr. Kay was engrossing clerk, and he was assistant enrolling and engrossing clerk of the Constitutional Convention of Montana. In 1918 Mr. Kay was elected coroner of Hill County by a grati- fying majority. He is a member of Havre Lodge No. 55, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Zona Chapter No. 12, Royal Arch Masons, of Bozeman. and De Molny Commandery, of Havre; Havre Lodge No. 56, Independent Order of Foresters; and Havre Lodge No. 1201, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

On July 26, 1891, Mr. Kay was married to Clara Lelia Murray, born in Missouri, when her parents were visiting the old home, a daughter of C. P. and Elizabeth (Ridgway) Murray, who had three chil- dren, two daughters and one son, of whom Mrs. Kay is the eldest. The Murrays were pioneers in Mon- tana, coming here overland in 1864, and stopping first at old Diamond City, but later going to Hunter's Hot Springs. Mr. Murray was one of the pioneer ranchmen of the Yellowstone Valley and a pros- perous man. The family is traced back to the colonial period of this country's history.

Mr. and Mrs. Kay became the parents of six chil- dren, as follows: Edna, who is the wife of Merle E. Smith; Vevah, who is the second in order of birth ; John M., who is mentioned below; Perry M., who is mentioned below, and Kenneth L. and Doro- thy L., both of whom are at home.

The service flag in the window of the Kay home during the great war bore two stars, for John M. and Perry M., were among the brave young men of this generation who voluntarily enlisted in defense of their country. John M. Kay volunteered January 28, 1918, at Havre in the Twenty-Sixth United States Engineers, and was sent to Fort Wright and thence to Camp Dix. New Jersey, being in training from February 17 to August 17, 1918, when he was sent overseas to France, where he ar- rived September 2, 1918, and was in the engagement at Saint Mihiel, the Argonne drive and continued at the front with the American forces until the signing of the armistice. He was severely gassed twice. He received his honorable discharge at Fort D. A. Russell on April 5, 1919.

773

HISTORY OF MONTANA

Perry M. Kay volunteered at Great Falls, Mon- tana, in March, 1918, in the quartermaster's depart- ment, and after being at Fort Wright was sent to Camp Joseph E. Johnston at Jacksonville, Florida, where he was assigned to the remount station, and suffered an injury from a horse. After his recovery he was sent to Newport News, Virginia, and started from there overseas, but when two days out was ordered back on account of the influenza. Later he was transferred to the hospital at Washington, Dis- trict of Columbia, and was subsequently sent home on account of disability. He received his honorable discharge in April, 1919.

JAMES L. CHAMPLIN, of Wolf Point, is one of the few surviving of the old plainsmen. For years he was a stage driver in some of the most hostile and dangerous sections of the Northwest. The deepest passion of his life has been the love of horses, and he is still in the business today at Wolf Point as a liveryman. Oddly enough, the title by which he is best known among his old asso- ciates is that of "Farmer Jim" Champlin.

Farmer Jim was born at Elmira, New York, July 4, 1853. His grandfather, Oliver Champlin, was for fifteen years captain of a whaling vessel, but left the sea and came inland and died at Berlin, Wis- consin, in 1867, when about sixty-six years of age. He married Elizabeth Wright, and their children included John, Henry, Ira, Carl, James O., and Mary who became the wife of Henry Clark. The son John died while the family was living in Kan- sas and is buried near Topeka.

James O. Champlin, father of Farmer Jim, moved out to Wisconsin with his family when his son James was four years of age. Soon afterward the Champlins were part of a colony that migrated from Berlin, Wisconsin, to Kansas. They spent two sea- sons in the territory, one at Topeka and the other at Fort Scott. Ague and fever, bad Indians and the border warfare were the discouragements that sent the Champlins back to Wisconsin. While on the Kansas frontier the Champlins came to know two conspicuous characters, John Brown and "Wild Bill," and the family were glad to regard both as their protectors. "Farmer Jim" has an indelible memory of John Brown, because the latter killed a little dog that was the chief companion and favor- ite of the boy. Wild Bill was a close friend of the family by reason of his brother marrying Har- riet Baker, an aunt of James L. Champlin. James O. Champlin after his return to Wisconsin became a Union soldier in Company A of the 16th Wiscon- sin Infantry, and lost his life in the battle of Corinth, Mississippi, early in the war. He married Fanny Baker, a daughter of Benjamin B. Baker, who went to Wisconsin from Pennsylvania, and died in the former state as a farmer. Mrs. James O. Champlin died in 1859. Her children were : James L .; Florence L., wife of Eugene Metcalf, of Kerman, California; Orlando Morton, of Berke- ley, California; and Frank, who died in Buffalo, New York, leaving two children.

James L. Champlin was ten years old when his father was killed, and he shifted around "from pil- lar to post" and got his education in the country, doing chores for his board and frequently walking as far as three miles to school. Most of his school- ing was obtained at Berlin.

At the age of sixteen circumstances and his own desire made him master of his destiny and willing to take a man's part in life. Crossing the Missis- sippi, he started for the great West in the summer of 1869. For a time he was in the transfer and livery business at Faribault, Minnesota, and also was

interested in race horses, following the circuit of country fairs and races during the season. In 1874 he moved to Fergus Falls, which was his head- quarters for a number of years, while in the stage and plains service. For six years he was connected with the Minnesota Stage Company. From 1874 to 1877 he was in the Red River Valley, and drove the first stage coach into Crookston, Minnesota, when the only trail was a cowpath. He was a stage driver on the line between Moorhead and Winnipeg for 31/2 years. As he drove the stage only here and there was a sign of civilization found in a cabin home and in a few stock owned by a Scandinavian or half-breed. In March, 1877, he moved to Bis- marck and became driver of the stage line from there to Deadwood. He crossed. the Missouri River on his first trip April Ist of that year, and for more than three years was stationed at different points along the way. Indians were then on the warpath, striving to oppose the entry of the white men into the coveted region of the Black Hills. Several times he was attacked, but never lost his scalp. On one occasion he was sent as driver of a coach containing Colonel Crooke and General Ros- ser from old Fort Lincoln to the crossing of the . Big Heart River, where the general was making an inspection of the ground for a bridge for the Great Northern Railway. As soon as the two officers left Fort Lincoln the Indians broke out and killed the guards of the Government horses and ran the latter off and also threatened the safety of the distin- guished party being driven by Mr. Champlin. Cour- iers and additional guards were hurried out to them, and they reached headquarters without en- countering danger, although Mr. Champlin was prac- tically exhausted by the responsibility of driving new horses in company with clanking of sabres and hurry and confusion incident to a cavalry party when danger is imminent.

After leaving the stage service Mr. Champlin en- gaged in the livery and transfer business for ten years at Fergus Falls and fifteen years at Osakis in the same state. Selling out in 1905, he began buying and shipping horses to the Minot market, handling both fancy drivers and work horses. For several years he was also a roadman for machinery companies, including the International Harvester Company.

After leaving the road Mr. Champlin came to Wolf Point in July, 1916, and built a mammoth barn and resumed his old business, livery, transfer and feed.

While this was the beginning of his permanent residence in Montana, Mr. Champlin knew the old territory as early as 1878. In that year a stage company employed him as a scout to search out some horses and mules that had been run away by the Indians in Dakota. He crossed the Yellowstone River where Glendive is now, and with a saddle horse and pack horse traveled alone through the region as far west as Fort Benton. Most of the journey was made under cover of night to escape the watchful Indians. He found his animals twenty miles south of Fort Benton, and took them back and delivered them safely at Fort Lincoln, now Bis- marck, after an absence of seventeen days. In later years he made other incursions into the state as a stock shipper to Great Falls, and has known Mon- tana and its people for a number of years.

It would not be possible in a brief sketch to describe all. the interesting points of such a varied career and wide experience as that of Farmer Jim Champlin. For some years in his middle life he was a deputy United States marshal. In that ca- pacity he came into contact with some important of-

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 33

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