Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 34

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 34

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

fenders and made them feel the weight of the law. He shook hands with many noted people visiting the West while he was driving stage to Deadwood. He knew "Calamity Jane" and other freaks in our national life. All the old timers knew his deadly accuracy with a firearm, and when he was in the enemy country his best friends on the box of the stage coach were his rifle and two big pistols. Time has drifted him far away from the rough scenes of the frontier of the '70s. He lives over the inci- dents of those days practically alone, since his pals have nearly all hit the long trail.

At Fergus Falls, Minnesota, November 25, 1880, Mr. Champlin married Miss Carrie E. Cooper, who was born at Winnebago City, Minnesota, in April, 1862, daughter of Joseph and Maria Cooper. Her father was a farmer in early life and later was a partner with Mr. Champlin at Fergus Falls. He died there in 1916, and the mother is now living in the Champlin home at Wolf Point. Mrs. Champ- lin is the younger of two children, her brother being Bert Cooper, of Halbright, Saskatchewan. The chil- dren of Mr. and Mrs. Champlin are : Earl, who mar- ried Catherine Daley and has a daughter, Aleen; Belle, wife of Ross E. Shaver, of Livingston, Mon- tana ; Myrtle, wife of Clifford Hoxie, steward of the Deaf and Dumb Hospital at Faribault, Minnesota ; and Frank, assistant cashier of the First National Bank at Fairview, Montana. Earl Champlin is one of the live business men of Wolf Point, selling im- plements, is a member of the Wolf Point Council and also on the school board of the town.

JOHN H. COFFEY, of Wolf Point, is one of those rare business men with administrative faculties en- abling them to touch and handle successfully many affairs. He was the first merchant of the new town of Wolf Point, and while looking after his indi- vidual business has aided in promoting and estab- lishing many other factors that give Wolf Point character as a town of business and homes.

Mr. Coffey developed his business talents largely through .experience, and even when he came to Montana possessed only such capital as he had been able to earn by a trade. He was born at Bay State, Massachusetts, March 31, 1879, son of John and Mary (Powers) Coffey, the former a native of County Waterford and the latter of County Tip- perary, Ireland. The family lived in Massachusetts until April, 1892, when they moved to Grahamville, Iowa, and both parents died there a few months later. Their children were: Sister Mary Justitia, in St. Mary's Academy at Chicago; Simon, who died as a young man in Iowa; and John H.

John H. Coffey acquired his early education in the public schools of Bay State and from the age of thirteen grew to manhood in Iowa. He worked as a farm hand there, also clerked in a store at Gran- ville, and learned the tinner's trade. He worked as a tinsmith at Eldorado, Kansas, and at Berthold, North Dakota, where he spent three years with J. W. Callan, a local hardware merchant. He pos- sessed sound mechanical sense, probably inherited from his father, who had been a maker of cutlery in Massachusetts.

From North Dakota Mr. Coffey came to Montana and located at the new town of Wolf Point Sep- tember 26, 1911. He brought in a stock of hard- ware, representing an investment of $600, all of which he had earned and saved from his work as a tinner and clerk. This stock he established in the first store at Wolf Point, in a house 24 by 50 feet, located near the site of the Sherman Hotel. His stock comprised shelf hardware, furniture and machinery. The winter of 1913 was an open one

and in January he erected his second business house, but had occupied it only a few months when it was destroyed by fire July 3, 1913. He then replaced it with the building now known as the Coffey Block. Here he continued to expand his work as a merchant until August 1, 1919, when he sold his stock to the Wolf Point Cooperative Association, and since then has been occupied with his collections and the gathering up of the loose ends of his old business. When he sold out in 1919 his stock was valued at $15,000, showing the rapid progress he had made in his business career in less than ten years.

Mr. Coffey was a partner in the Traders Store at Wolf Point, built the first moving picture house in the town, was interested in a local meat market, in the automobile business, and was one of the original stockholders of the First State Bank and of the Sherman Hotel Company. He is also in- terested in a heating and plumbing business at Wolf Point, and in a meat market at Glasgow and is a stockholder in the Northwestern Hardware and Steel Company of Great Falls. All of these facts indicate the constructive character of his citizenship, and the sale of his mercantile business has released him from detailed responsibilities and afforded him lei- sure for other large affairs.

His service having been rendered as a business man, he has never aspired to official honors, though he 'has served as president of the Wolf Point Com- mercial Club. His father became a democrat, and the son has cast his ballot likewise. Mr. Coffey's parents were devout Catholics. Mr. Coffey is ac- quainted with Montana leaders of his party and gave his personal aid to the aspirations of Tom Stout for Congress in 1912 and for Senator Walsh more re- cently. He is affiliated with the Elks Lodge at Wil- liston, North Dakota, and the Knights of Columbus.

He was one of the most generous of local citi- zens with his personal resources and with his in- fluence toward the effective carrying on of the war. He was chairman of several of the committees for promoting bond sales and other war auxiliary drives, and personally he bought the limit in War Savings Stamps, and invested $1,000 in the Fourth Liberty Loan. He was on the Community Council of De- fense.

One of his important contributions to Wolf Point is his modern home, an eight-room stucco bungalow, full basement and hot water heat. At Minot, North Dakota, May II, 1909, Mr. Coffey married Miss Christine Driese, who was born at Granville, Iowa, in February, 1881, the youngest of the nine children of John Driese. Her father was a native of Ger- many and an Iowa farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Coffey have three children, Evelyn, Melbourne and Robert Emmet. Evelyn has the distinction of being the first white child born at Wolf Point.

CLARENCE J. SEVERSON. On the third day of July, 1915, a new face appeared on the streets of Wolf Point, and it was soon understood that the old Glacier Theater was to be operated under a new management through the newcomer, Mr. Clarence J. Severson. Wolf Point people feel a great debt of gratitude to Mr. Severson for what he has done in building up the entertainment interests of the town, giving them one of the highest class movie picture houses in the state.

Mr. Severson was born at Lisbon, North Dakota, December 31, 1889. His father, Andrew J. Sever- son, was born at Trondhjem, Norway, in 1860, and came to the United States with his father at the age of seventeen. For a time he worked in the lumber mills around Menominee, Wisconsin, and go- ing west entered a homestead near Kathryn, North

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Dakota, where he has spent a very active and effec- tive career as a grain and stock raiser. Through the prosperity acquired he has also become interested in merchandising at Kathryn and the bank at that point. He is now living practically retired. Andrew J. Severson married Louise Liverson, who was born at Menominee, Wisconsin, in 1865. She died at Kathryn, North Dakota, in 1913, and Clarence is their only child.

Clarence J. Severson, while reared on a farm, had instincts toward a commercial career and after com- pleting his education in a business college at Fargo was given practical duties and opportunities to ac- quire experience in the Scandinavian-American Bank. He remained with that institution six years, being assistant cashier when he left. At Fargo Mr. Sever- son formed the acquaintance of George L. Onstad, and they have been partners in their theatrical ven- tures in Montana.

Mr. Severson during the past five years has di- rected the expenditure of much capital in the crea- tion of a picture show and theater building at Wolf Point. The modern home of their theater is a story and a half fireproof building 50x140 feet, with am- phitheater accommodation of 615 chairs. The elec- trical equipment is the latest to be had, and was in- stalled at a cost of $3,000. The house has other modern appointments, including hot and cold water, and the total investment represents an outlay of $52,000.

Mr. Severson also has a half interest in the Tri- State Land & Loan Company at Westby, Montana. He and his father have always been republicans in politics, and the son cast his first presidential ballot for Mr. Taft in 1912 and supported Mr. Hughes in 1916. He took his early degrees in Masonry at Plentywood, Montana, is affiliated with Loyalty Lodge No. 121, at Wolf Point, and is affiliated with the Scottish Rite Consistory and Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena.

At Grand Forks, North Dakota, January 15, 1917, Mr. Severson married Miss Hattie Grace Maltby. She was born at Park Rapids, Minnesota, February 25, 1895, fourth of the five children and only daugh- ter of M. S. and Hattie (Smith) Maltby. She was educated in the Park Rapids School, in a business college at Seattle, and was a stenographer and of- fice worker at Wolf Point .when Mr. Severson met her. Mr. and Mrs. Severson have a daughter, Har- riet Louise, born June 28, 1919.

CLYDE PATTON was an army man during the Phil- ippine war, came to Montana a few years later, was an employe of the Government Indian Bureau, and for over ten years has been an active citizen and business man of Wolf Point, where he is pro- prietor of the Clyde Patton Independent Elevator.

Mr. Patton was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, June 2, 1881, only child of Charles and Susie (Johnson) Pat- ton. His parents were natives of Ohio, and both died in Jackson County, Indiana. His father was a railroad engineer.

Clyde Patton from the age of four years lived in Jackson County, Indiana, and acquired most of his education in the public schools of Seymour. He was about seventeen years of age when the Spanish- American war broke out. At Louisville, Kentucky, he enlisted in the Twelfth Cavalry, a volunteer regi- ment, which was inducted into the service of the United States. He was a member of L troop, be- ing its butcher, a trade he had picked up in earlier years. When the command left for the Orient it made the passage on a cattle boat from New York, going by way of England, through the Mediter- ranean Sea, stopped at Port Said on the Suez Canal,

crossed the Indian Ocean, coaled at Hong Kong, and reached Manila after an uneventful voyage of several weeks. Mr. Patton had charge of the army butcher shop in Manila during the "embalmed beef" outcry, and remained there until the Filipino insur- rection was ended. He returned home on the freight boat Kentucky, landed at San Francisco, proceeded to San Antonio, Texas, and was discharged at Fort Clark February 5, 1903. After a few months in In- diana Mr. Patton came out to Montana, reaching this state July 25, 1904. At Lame Deer he became agency butcher under Maj. J. C. Clifford, and was thus employed for about four years, and while on duty he married. On April 19, 1909, he and his wife established themselves on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, at first at Poplar, where he was addi- tional farmer under Maj. C. B. Lohmiller. A year later he was promoted to charge of the sub-agency at Wolf Point, and continued in the government service in that capacity until September 1, 1915. He then resigned to take up business for himself, buying the John Listerud elevator at Wolf Point. During the greater part of the year he has had a busy time buying and shipping grain and handling flour and feed. The elevator has a capacity of 30,000 bushels. In the season of 1916 he shipped out 165,000 bushels of grain and seed, comprising 110 carloads. In each of the five seasons he has sent out a large part of the local production of the farms to market, though for the year 1919, as a result of the terrible drought, only 60,000 bushels went from his plant.

Mr. Patton took stock in the First State Bank when it was organized, and after selling it became a stockholder in the First National Bank and one of its directors. He has no banking interests at the present time.

Mr. Patton performed a notable service in this community as a county official. He served as deputy sheriff under Sheriff Bennett when Wolf Point was still a part of Sheridan County. The town at that time was infested with a bunch of gamblers, women of ill repute, and vice was generally rampant. It devolved upon Mr. Patton in his official capacity to "cleanup" the town. How well he did this is remem- bered by those who were present in the community. Arrests were made, trials and convictions followed, and the resolute qualities of Mr. Patton soon be- came apparent and the backbone of the situation was broken. He continued his vigilence against an oc- casional offender who returned with the hope that the ban had lifted, and for several years past Wolf Point has been a town in which citizens have been proud to live and rear their families. The "punch boards" suffered the same fate as other law viola -- tions, and were hidden away and finally disappeared. Mr. Patton served from January, 1917, and went out of office in March, 1919, when the new County of Roosevelt was created. That period of service also covered the time of the World war, and in his offi- cial capacity he also helped round up slackers and otherwise assumed responsibility for local patriotism. Mrs. Patton was also an active worker as chairman of the local Red Cross Chapter.

Mr. Patton married Miss Elsie Spencer on March 19, 1905, at Busby, the Northern Cheyenne Agency, where she was a government teacher. She was born in Adair County, Iowa, January 2, 1876, daughter of Orson R. and Susan (McConnell) Spencer. Her mother was a daughter of Thomas and Catherine (Buck) McConnell, of Lycoming County, Pennsyl- vania. Orson R. Spencer when Mrs. Patton was six years of age moved out to Dakota Territory, bought land at $3.00 an acre at Elk Point, now South Dakota, but after ten years took his family to South- ern Illinois, and he and his wife are now living at

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Richview in that state. Their children were: Mrs. Mary A. George, of Centralia, Illinois; Mrs. Pat- ton ; Mrs. O. W. Wright, of Washington, District of Columbia; John, of Richview; and Mrs. A. D. Thompson, of Holder, Illinois. Mrs. Patton was edu- cated in the public schools of Elk Point, South Da- kota, and at Richview, Illinois, and completed her education in the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso. For eight years she was a teacher in the public schools at Richview, Illinois, and went from there into the Indian school service in Mon- tana.

WINFIELD S. YOUNG. From every state of the Union have come vigorous, enterprising men to lend a hand in developing Montana's many industries. Among the substantial ranchmen of Blaine County may be found rather notable examples, and some whose selection of this section as a home came after travel and thorough investigation in many others. One who may be cited is Winfield S. Young, who is widely known and for thirty years has been in the cattle business in this part of the state.

Winfield S. Young was born on his father's farm in Morris County, New Jersey, September 23, 1854, the fourth in a family of six children born to Thomas and Lydia (Lawrence) Young, both parents being natives of Morris County. The father was born March 30, 1816, and lived to be eighty-one years old. The mother, born October 26, 1822, survived until 1906. The father was a farmer in Morris County in the neighborhood of Schooley Mountain, his farm adjoining Budd Lake, and for many sea- sons he conducted a summer resort there. He was a man of consequence in that section, for many years was a school trustee and held other offices with public efficiency. During early political life he was a whig, but later united with the republican party

After completing the public school course in Mor- ris County Winfield S. Young assisted his father in his various . enterprises until he was twenty-two years of age, at which time he started out for him- self. He came as far west as Princeton, Illinois, in which neighborhood he worked for two years as a farm hand. In the spring of 1878 he reached Den- ver, Colorado, and remained two years in that locality engaged in mining and prospecting.

In the interval between his mining and prospect- ing life in Colorado and his settlement as a citizen of Blaine County, Mr. Young had experiences that probably thoroughly satisfied his adventurous spirit. He was more or less successful in a financial way, but the time came when a quiet, well ordered home appealed to him, with its regular, everyday responsi- bilities, and a happy domestic circle where family affection would abide. Thus, on January 2, 1900, Mr. Young was united in marriage to Mrs. Emma Jane (Perrett) Whittier, who was born in West Meath, Ontario, Canada. She had two children, Gordon and Genevieve Whittier, both of whom are regarded as his own by Mr. Young.

In 1880 Mr. Young left Colorado and for two years was a miner and prospector in the Black Mountains in New Mexico. In the meantime he had chosen from his mining friends one who proved a congenial partner, a young man named Jack Rouse, who had come west from Columbus, Ohio. Up to this time they had owned horses and pack burros, but the animals, with the exception of one Texas burro, were stolen from them, and therefore when the partner prospectors decided to try their fortunes in the new mining field at Durango, La Plata County, Colorado, they had no choice but to walk the 400 miles. They spent about one year at Durango, then went to Salt Lake City, Utah, where

Mr. Young remained during the winter of 1886. In the spring of 1887 he traveled over the country again prospecting and thus reached Butte, Montana. One year later he moved on to Dillon and during the next year worked on a cattle ranch in Beaver Head County. It was then he determined to locate permanentlty and go into the cattle business, and in pursuance of this plan drove his fine team to Bear Paw Mountain, Chouteau County, now Blaine, where he acquired squatter right land. To his original tract he has added and now has at least 1,600 acres. He immediately went into the cattle business and has prospered greatly. For six years he also handled sheep, but sold out in 1916.

Mr. Young is a most entertaining talker, having first hand knowledge of much that belongs to the history of this great state. He is a republican in his political views and occasionally has accepted a pub- lic office from a sense of duty to his neighborhood, having served on the local school board ever since his school district was organized. Away back in 1877 he was made a member of the Fraternal Order of Odd Fellows, at Victoria, Illinois, and has never failed to live up to the obligations he then assumed. He and family are well known at Havre, and their friends are often hospitably welcomed to their beau- tiful ranch located thirty-two miles south of that city.

JOHN B. RANDALL, who is United States commis- sioner of Wolf Point, has been in Montana through- out the period of statehood, coming here as a cow- boy, followed the range for a number of years, de- veloped a modest business of his own, and for a number of years has been doing the work of a live- stock man and farmer in the Wolf Point vicinity.

Mr. Randall was born at Farmington, Maine, May 26, 1867, son of Dr. William and Elizabeth (Mor- rison) Randall. His parents were also natives of Maine. His mother's people were farmers, while his father was a graduate of the Massachusetts Medical School and spent his life in professional work at Farmington where he died in 1889, at the age of sixty-seven. His widow survived until 1913, dying at the age of seventy-two. Their children were : William M., a commercial salesman at Belfast, Maine, and John B. Mr. Randall by a previous wife had three daughters: Mrs. Jane Blethen, who died at Newark, New Jersey; Katie B., who became the wife of Samuel O. Tarbox, of Farmington; and Eunice H., Mrs. Fred P. Wilson, of Brockton, Mas- sachusetts.

John B. Randall left his studies in the Farming- ton High School to join in the experiences and ad- ventures of the southwestern country, leaving home in company with Carson M. Jacobs for the old In- dian Territory. In what is now Oklahoma young Randall became an employe of the Comanche Pool Cattle Company, and there learned the business of riding the range and doing the other arduous work of a cowboy. From Oklahoma he crossed over into the Texas Panhandle with a herd, and there became an employe of the Phillips Cattle Company, known as the "LUBar" outfit. This company had established a Montana ranch in 1886, and in July, 1889. Mr. Randall helped bring 4,500 head of cattle up from the Panhandle country to the Montana head- quarters. The cattle were shipped from Amarillo to Windover, Wyoming, and after being unloaded from the cars were driven overland a distance of 700 or 800 miles to the LUBar rauch on the Little Dry, between the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers.

In the spring of 1890 Mr. Randall came north to the Prairie Elk, joining the Home Land & Cat- tle Company, known as the "Nbar N" outfit. This

Dr. S. young. and family

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was the largest cattle company in the state at the time, handling about eighty thousand head through the year. The owners were the Niederinghous brothers of St. Louis. Mr. Randall remained in their service for seven years as a range man and part of the time as commissary manager. Another period of seven years he was foreman for S. T. Cogswell's outfit. This employment brought him into the region of his present residence. The Cogs- well ranch was just across the Missouri River from Wolf Point. It was one of the smaller ranch con- cerns, with about 200 or 300 head of horses and 5,000 head of sheep. The market during Mr. Ran- dall's management was Chicago and the shipping point Oswego.

When he left Mr. Cogswell. Mr. Randall took up a homestead south of the Missouri River, and in contrast to many of the early settlers not only occu- pied it during the period of proving up but has made it a permanent home. The substantial and commo- dious log house of eleven rooms which he built there is still doing duty as a place of comfort for his numerous family. Mr. Randall handles horses and cattle in sufficient number to utilize the resources of his land, and has also had a profitable experience with alfalfa, a crop that has proven its adaptability to the soil and climate. In seasonable years it cuts three crops. His is a valley farm four miles south- east of Wolf Point. The surrounding community is still undeveloped with such modern conveniences as telephones, railroad delivery and the like. Large- ly through his influence the Randall School District has been established, first in what is now McCone County, and he was district trustee for ten years.

He was appointed United States commissioner in 1904, being the first officer to represent the Federal Government in the district. He instituted the office before land entries had begun in earnest, and has performed the court work for the proving of title to nearly all the lands entered here. His office also makes him the local court to try violators of the liquor law of the United States, and numerous cases have already passed in review before him.

Mr. Randall has always been a republican in poli- tical sympathies. In early years he was out on the frontier and out of touch with election campaigns, but has voted in practically all the presidential elec- tions since Montana became a state. He joined the Masonic fraternity at Wolf Point, being affiliated with Loyalty Lodge No. 121, and his son John is also a member of that order.

At Glasgow, Montana, October 3, 1896, Mr. Ran- dall married Miss Margaret Clark. Her father was George Clark, who died at Ogalalla, Nebraska, as a farmer. The Clarks were pioneers in Kansas, where Mrs. Randall was born in 1870. Three of her brothers are living in Montana, George, Claud and Warren, all in McCone County. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Randall are John C., William, Eliza- beth, Kate, Donald, Bruce, Margaret and Una. John during the war was attached to the Medical Corps of the United States Cavalry, in training at Fort Wright, Monterey, California, where he received his honorable discharge. He is now a member of the American Legion Post at Wolf Point.

SAMUEL S. STEWART is well known as an early settler of Tailor Creek, a tributary of Otter Creek, and is a resident of Powder River County, having dated the month of his coming March, 1880, and spending his first residence in the locality of Deer Lodge as a hand. April of the next year saw him at Miles City viewing the metropolis of Eastern Montana for the first time. However, he remained

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 34

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