Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 47

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 47

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Politically Mr. Chestnut has always given his sup- port to the democratic party. Fraternally he is a member of Havre Lodge No. 55, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Butte Consistory of the Scottish Rite (thirty-second degree) ; Algeria Temple, An- cient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Helena, and Havre Lodge No. 1201, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is held in high repute in his home city, in evidence of which is the fact that he has been elected to the City Council three times, giving efficient service to his con- stituents.

In March, 1892, Mr. Chestnut was married to Mary Ann Finn, a native of Montana, and they have become the parents of seven children, namely : Lula M., Eva H., Marvin F., Margaret E., Thomas William, Mary L. and John Havre.

NORA K. SHERMAN. The active head of the un- dertaking firm of Sherman & Miller of Kalispell is Mrs. Nora K. Sherman, who for many years was associated with her husband in that business and in its conduct since his death has proved her superior qualifications as a business executive.

The late W. P. Sherman was born at Dubuque, Iowa, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Sherman. When a boy his people moved to Butte, Montana,

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where he grew up and where he met Miss Nora Daugherty. She was born in County Mayo, Ire- land, a daughter of James and Bridget (Kirby) Daugherty. She was educated in her native land and at the age of eighteen came to America with her uncle, John Kirby, and lived at Butte. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Sherman were identi- fied with the undertaking business in Butte for nine years, and then moved their establishment to the new city of Kalispell. Mr. Sherman became well and favorably known all over the Flathead country. He was a good business man, a man of honor, with a genius for friendship, and a kindness of heart and generosity that endeared him to all. It was with great regret that the community was apprised of his death in 1913. He was a member of the Masonic Order, belonged to the Woodmen of the World, the Elks, was a member of the Episcopal Church and a democrat.

After his death Mrs. Sherman continued the busi- ness alone until 1919, when she took in Mr. W. J. Miller as a partner. To Mr. and Mrs. Sherman were born the following children: William E., de- ceased; Nora K., Clara L., Harry, Grace, Edward, Roger and four that died in infancy. Mrs. Sher- man took much care in the rearing and training of her children, and all were graduated from the Kalispell High School. Grace finished her school work in 1920; Harry is now a student in the Poly- technic School of Oakland, California. The daugh- ter Clara has special gifts in music and has studied with some of the best instructors in Chicago. She is now pianist for the Glacier Park Band, and per- forms extended engagements with that organization in the Lewis Hotel of Glacier Park. Mrs. Sher- man and her two daughters Nora and Clara are active members of the Eastern Star.

WILLIAM M. COMBES. Among the few who have been connected with Sidney throughout its entire history, from the inception of the town until the present time, is numbered William M. Combes. He was born near Clinton, Indiana, May 21, 1878, and grew to mature years there. His father, Francis E. Combes, was born in Vermilion County of that state, and spent all his life there as a farmer. He was a soldier of infantry during the war between the North and South, and was discharged at the close of the struggle without injury. He immediately resumed farming, and before his death, which oc- curred at the age of forty-six, attained considerable success. He married Elizabeth Hayes, who was also born in Indiana, her people coming as pioneer farm- ers to that state from Kentucky. She has reached the age of seventy and is living in Sidney. The children in the Combes family were: Elmer, of Vigo County, Indiana; Jennie, who married L. A. Clevenger and died at Lambert, Montana, in 1918; Myrtle, the wife of V. C. Saxton, of Hood River, Oregon; William M., of Sidney; Bonnie P., the wife of Fred Elzicar, of Sidney; and Harry, who also makes his home in Sidney.

Before leaving his native community of Clinton, Indiana, William M. Combes took up the carpenter trade as an apprentice, and he started out for him- self as a mechanic at the age of twenty-one years, and continued at the trade until he abandoned it at Sidney many years later. From his home com- munity he made his way to Colorado, where he spent a few months as a carpenter at Denver, and in May, 1904, arrived in Montana. In the embryo Town of Sidney he became a pioneer carpenter and builder, associating himself with P. O. Blake as the firm of Combes & Blake, and during the three years he continued actively identified with this

line of work many of the early business houses and residences were built by the firm, of which may be mentioned the Bank of the Valley, now the First National Bank, the Thompson Kemmis, Ira M. Allin and Mrs. Meador's residences, the pioneer building of E. A. Kenoyer, occupied first by the Yellowstone Mercantile Company, the J. A. Ferris and John Smith business houses, the Ora Kemmis mercantile house and the post office build- ing.

From contracting Mr. Combes drifted into the electrical business, organizing the Water Users Elec- tric Company, and he also became identified with the telephone business, constructing and operating the long distance lines in the valley and connecting the territory from Mondak to Intake. He was made the manager of the enterprise. About this time also he took up undertaking, and when he added to the enterprise the furniture line he became one of Sidney's merchants. Later Mr. Combes became connected with the automobile industry, being one of the first automobile owners in the valley, and he has ever since dealt in cars and has erected a brick building for his livery and sales business. This business house, a two-story building 31 by 70 feet, is located on Morrill Street.

In 1916, in association with John P. Meadows, Mr. Combes built the pontoon bridge across the Yel- lowstone, and he is president of the bridge company. He is also one of the stockholders of the Deaconess Hospital of Sidney, and was a member of its build- ing board and for a time served as a trustee of the hospital. He still continues in the undertaking busi- ness, owning two establishments, one at Savage and another at Lambert, Montana. In Richland County he was first appointed to the office of coroner, and was then elected to that position on the republican ticket, now serving his second term in the office. During his administration he conducted the inquiry concerning the death of Charles Mignaugh, assisted in unraveling the mystery of the killing and saw the murderer go to the penitentiary for life.

In Johnsonville, Illinois, in June, 1901, Mr. Comhes married Miss Dicy D. Pastre, who was born in that community of Illinois June 20, 1883. They are the parents of two daughters, Geneva and Esther, both attending the Sidney High School, and members re- spectively of the classes of 1920 and 1921.

GARRY JACKSON JEFFRIES, lawyer and mine oper- ator, was born on his father's farm in Saint Clair County, Missouri, October 23, 1885, a son of John D. and Susan E. (Price) Jeffries. John D. Jeffries was born in Kentucky, August 4, 1850, and his wife was born in Iowa, March 20, 1858. Their five chil- dren are all living, and of them Garry Jackson Jef- fries is the third in order of birth. John D. Jeffries spent his youth in Kentucky, and in 1860 was taken to Missouri by his parents, who located in Putnam County. After the war the family removed to St. Clair County. In this region John D. Jeffries ma- tured and developed into a successful farmer and stockraiser, and also became a buyer and shipper of stock to the St. Louis and Kansas City, Mis- souri, markets. On his farm he engaged in the breeding of Percheron horses. Ever since he cast his first vote he has given the republican party his warm support. The Christian Church in him has a faithful and earnest member.

Garry Jackson Jeffries was reared in his native state, and attended the public schools of Saint Clair County and the Kansas City School of Law, from which he was graduated in 1908. Following his graduation he was associated with Attorney Israel Cowen of Chicago; also employed as assistant night

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librarian in the Chicago Law Institute. Mr. Jef- fries then took a special course in the law depart- ment of Yale University. In the fall of 1911 he came West and was associated with J. C. Huntoon at Lewistown until January, 1912, when he formed a partnership with Mr. Huntoon, under the name of Huntoon & Jeffries, with a branch office at Round- up, Mr. Jeffries taking charge of the same. In the November election of 1912 Mr. Jeffries was elected county attorney of Musselshell County, and the partnership was dissolved. He was reelected in 1914, and after serving two terms resumed his private practice. In July, 1918, Mr. Jeffries formed a partnership with A. G. McNaught, under the name of Jeffries & McNaught. Mr. Jeffries is a mem- ber of the Montana Bar Association. In politics he is a republican. A Mason, he belongs to Unity Lodge No. 71, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons. He formerly belonged to Billings Chapter No. 6, Royal Arch Masons, but demitted to and is a charter mem- ber of Roundup Chapter No. 30, Royal Arch Masons.

On June 17, 1914, Mr. Jeffries was married to Miss M. Josephine McGaughan, who was born in South Dakota, a daughter of Michael McGaughan and second in the family of six children born to her parents.

In 1916 Mr. Jeffries became interested in coal mining. He developed and owns the Independent Mining Company at Roundup, the only coal prop- erty in the Northwest operated exclusively on the "Long-Wall" system of mining. He is a stock- holder in the Newton Hardware & Implement Com- pany of Roundup; the Roundup National Bank, of which he is a director; also the owner of ranching property in the vicinity of Roundup.

Mr. Jeffries is one of those men who seem to succeed in whatever they undertake. Possessed of a superabundance of efficiency and initiative, he forges ahead. He takes deep interest in his law practice, his business enterprises, his ranching and his work as a good citizen. There are few more actively connected with various enterprises than he. Pos- sessed of a striking personality, he attracts men and holds them by virtue of his rugged honesty and sterling qualities. He never forgets a favor, al- though he . is the last man to ask one, and he feels that he owes his community a part of his time and financial support.

ELIAS FENN LYMAN. Although for some years a distinguished divine of the Congregational denomina- tion, Elias Fenn Lyman has been equally successful along another avenue of usefulness, and is now one of the leading ranchers of Cascade County, his finely improved ranch lying three miles south of Cascade. He comes of two of the oldest families in the country, the Lymans and Fenns, representatives of both coming to the American colonies in 1633 and locating at Salem, Massachusetts. Mr. Lyman's grandfather, Elias Lyman, was born at Southamp- ton, Massachusetts, from whence he moved to Trum- bull County in the Western Reserve of Ohio, where he was one of the pioneers.

Elias Fenn Lyman was born in Garden Prairie Township, Boone County, Iowa, February 15, 1872, on the farm of his parents, Howard Fisk and Emerah Merriam (Fenn) Lyman. Howard Fisk Lyman was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, on November. 30, 1841, and his wife was born in Ash- tabula, Ohio, September 9, 1848, and died on Febru- ary 22, 1872, having borne her husband two children, namely: Edna A., who is the wife of Joseph E. Haight; and Elias Fenn Lyman, whose name heads this review.

Howard F. Lyman attended the public schools

of Ohio and learned to be a farmer. With the outbreak of hostilities between the North and the South he tried to join the army, but was rejected, but later was able to enlist in the Eighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry on April 14, 1865, and did guard duty at Chattanooga, Tennessee, but as his health was poor he was placed in a hospital and remained there until the close of the war, when he was hon- orably discharged. In 1866 he went to Boone Coun- ty, Iowa, and was engaged there in farming and stock raising until 1883, when he went to Dakota territory, locating near the present site of Armour, South Dakota, and continuing his agricultural op- erations there until the spring of 1901, when he sold his ranch. Going then to Redlands, Cali- fornia, he lived there in retirement until 1908. In the latter year he came to Cascade County, Mon- tana, and bought a ranch of 920 acres in the vicinity of Great Falls, and is living on it, although retired from the activities of conducting it. He has never cared for public office, but gives an in- telligent support to the republican party. All his life he has been a strong adherent of the Con- gregational Church.

Elias Fenn Lyman attended the public schools of Iowa and Yankton College at Yankton, South Dakota, from which he was graduated in 1895, following which he took a theological course at the Chicago Theological Seminary and was gradu- ated therefrom in 1899 as a Bachelor of Divinity. His first charge subsequent to his graduation was the Congregational Church at Alcester, South Da- kota, his last charge in South Dakota being at Milbank. In 1905 he was made pastor of the First Congregational Church of Great Falls, Mon- tana, and continued as such for three years, when he resigned from the ministry and spent the sub- sequent year on his father's farm. He then began farming and stock raising in Chestnut Valley and has made a success of his undertaking. A man of progressive ideas, he has inaugurated a number of changes, and to him belongs the distinction of build- ing the first silo in Cascade County. Mr. Lyman is specializing in breeding Holstein-Friesian cattle, and also carries on a dairy business, shipping his milk to Great Falls. During the Montana State Fair of 1919 Mr. Lyman received the grand champion prize on his nine month bull calf. He is an in- dependent republican. At present he is president of the board of trustees of the Rural School Dis- trict of Cascade County, this having been the first county to be organized under the county unit law. In addition to his other interests Mr. Lyman is president of the Cascade Co-operative Association, a mercantile concern.

On December 30, 1897, Mr. Lyman was united in marriage with Emily Ada Perrin, born at Garden Grove, Iowa. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Lyman, namely: Perrin F .; Carolyn, who died 'in infancy; Howard M .; Marion, who died six years ago; and Elbridge Fenn. One of the best educated men in the county, Mr. Lyman is naturally an authority upon many matters, and as he has proven his ability to carry on his present under- taking his associates look upon him as an expert in it, so that he exerts a strong influence, and al- ways in the direction of development and constructive citizenship.

EDMUND W. REID. While building and contract- ing, manufacturing and ranching, have made up the bulk of his experience since he came to Great Falls thirty years ago, Edmund W. Reid during the past ten years has also been a factor in pro- moting and developing the mining interests of Mon-

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tana. He is the largest stockholder in the Reid Mining, Milling and Smelting Company of Great Falls, a company that owns and has in process of development a property in Teton County near the north line of the state whose assays show runs very rich in copper, silver and gold.

Mr. Reid was born near Montreal, Canada, Sep- tember 19, 1856, son of James and Eliza Jane (Weir) Reid. His father, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, was born in the Province of Quebec in 1825 and as a young man went into the wilderness section of Canada and cleared up a farm from the woods and spent his life as a farmer and stockman, and cultivating all the virtues of a citizen devoted to the soil. He was an active member of the Pres- byterian Church. He died in 1902 and his wife survived him until 1919, when she was ninety- six years of age. They have nine children, six still living, Edmund W. being the second in age.

Edmund W. Reid spent his boyhood days in Can- ada, attended public school, worked on the farm, and also began to learn the carpenter's trade. At the age of seventeen he went to New York state and served an apprenticeship as a carpenter. In 1882 Mr. Reid was at Winnipeg, Canada, and was employed at his trade by the Canadian Pacific Rail- way, building stations and doing other work on some of the first towns along the line. In January, 1883, he went to Rat Portage, Lake of the Woods, Ontario, and the following summer did carpentry work. He was at Minneapolis from 1884 to 1890. During this time, in 1888, he first visited Montana and worked at Fort Assinniboine, laying out the tasks of the carpenters in the construction of that post. Mr. Reid became a permanent resident of Great Falls in 1890, and developed a general build- ing and contracting business. In 1891 most of his time was spent at Havre, where he built the Place Hotel, the Hotel Rivers, and a building for a drug store. In 1894 he organized the- Black Eagle Car- riage Company at Great Falls, and has since been president of that thriving industry. In 1912 he filed on a homestead claim in Teton County, and in connection with other business affairs is still operating a 320 acre ranch, raising cattle and horses.

Mr. Reid is affiliated with Great Falls Lodge No. 214, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is a charter member of the local camp, Woodmen of the World. In politics he is a democrat and cast his first presidential vote for Grover Cleveland. Au- gust 25, 1891, at Great Falls, he married Addie Steele, a native of New York state, born near Buffalo. They had two children: Maud, who died in infancy; and Ethel.

FRANK C. VANATTA, M. D., physician and surgeon of Cascade, is one of the members of his profes- sion in Montana who gave his country military service during the great war, and has now returned to private practice. He was born in Fremont County, Iowa, August 17, 1883, a son of Hugh C. and Phebe (Reckard) Vanatta. Hugh C. Vanatta was born in Logan County, Ohio, March 17, 1846, and his wife was born in Indiana June 2, 1851. They were married in Fremont County, Iowa, and had four children born to them, of whom three survive, Doctor Vanatta being the youngest born. After receiving his educational training in his na- tive state Hugh C. Vanatta went to Missouri, and from there traveled overland by ox team to Grant County, Iowa, and still later to Fremont County, where he was engaged in farming and stock raising until 1916, when he retired. A republican, he served in a number of offices, including those of school director, township assessor and supervisor, and is

one of the best known men of his neighborhood. Fraternally he belongs to Crown Lodge No. 439. Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Randolph, Iowa; and Shenandoah Chapter, Royal Arch Masons.

Following his completion of the courses of the public schools of his neighborhood Doctor Vanatta took his classical course at Drake University of Des Moines, Iowa, and then his medical course in the medical schools of Northwestern University, from which he was graduated in 1909. Subse- quently he was interne at Saint Luke's Hospital, Chicago, for a time, and then spent eighteen months in the General Hospital at Sheridan, Wyoming. From there Doctor Vanatta came to Montana, first practicing at Maysville, but later moving to Cas- cade. In 1911 he joined the Medical Reserve Corps of the United States army with the rank of lieu- tenant, and received his commission as captain April 9, 1917, and was assigned to Fort William Henry Harrison, from whence he was later transferred to Camp Lewis, September 17, 1917, and remained in the service until March 3, 1919, when he was dis- charged and returned home.

On May 26, 1918, Doctor Vanatta was married to Ella M. Trimble, born in Kansas, a daughter of William J. and Jane ( Marshall) Trimble, natives of Canada, who are still living. Mr. and Mrs. Trimble became the parents of four children, of whom three survive, Mrs. Vanatta being the second in order of birth. Doctor Vanatta was made a Mason by Crown Lodge No. 439, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Randolph, Iowa, but demitted and be- came a charter member of Meridan Lodge No. 105, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Cas- cade, Montana. He is also a member of Helena Consistory No. 3, which has made him a thirty- second degree Mason. Doctor Vanatta belongs to the County, State and National Medical associations. Like his father he is a strong republican. An able and skilled physician and surgeon, Doctor Vanatta belongs to the younger school of medicine, and is recognized as one of the most representative men of his calling in this part of the state.

W. J. BRENNEN. While one of the oldest resi- dents of Flathead County, where he has devoted many years to the practice of law at Kalispell, W. J. Brennen is almost nationally well known, and as a lawyer and public leader is undoubtedly one of the most prominent men in Montana.

Reminescent of his early political activities is the sobriquet "Tin Plate Bill," a phrase that was given him some twenty years or more ago. During the nineties he did a good deal of campaigning through- out Montana as a republican speaker, and one of his political opponents as a gift sent him a diminutive tin plate, recommending it for a watchguard. The significance of 'the tin plate was due to Mr. Bren- nen's strenuous advocacy of the Mckinley tariff bill, the famous protective measure which stimulated the tin plate and other American industries. Mr. Bren- nen promptly returned the proposed watchguard, say- ing that if the following inscription could be en- graved on it he would cheerfully wear it and cherish it. The inscription was as follows:

"McKinley's banner guards our land From England's greed and pauper pay, And when I play Great Britain's hand Just take me for a Blooming Jay. Bill."

The plate was returned to Mr. Brennen with the verse properly engraved and he wore it for many years. After that Mr. Brennen was advertised by

M.g. Brannen

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

the republican national committee as "Tin Plate Bill," and at campaign meetings he was an orator who drew out immense crowds.

Mr. Brennen was born at Watertown, Jefferson County, New York, a son of W. J. and Mary A. (Porter) Brennen. His mother was a graduate from one of the first schools of telegraphy, receiving her diploma of efficiency in 1859. In 1862, when W. J. Brennen was two years old, the family moved out to Colorado, where his parents went through many pioneer experiences and hardships. Their home was burned out three times by raiding bands of Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians. Mr. Brennen's mother was employed as one of the first telegraph operators in Colorado, and handled the telegraph key at an office forty-two miles south of Denver for the Barlow & Sanderson stage line on the old Pike's Peak road, twenty-three miles from the foot of Pike's Peak.

W. J. Brennen attended the public schools of Colorado and later graduated from Washington Uni- versity at St. Louis. Immediately after leaving col- lege he came to the Pacific Coast in 1880, locating in Seattle, then a small city of only 1,000 people. He was employed in the legal department of the Northern Pacific Railroad during the process of con- struction of its various lines between 1880 and 1889. After that Mr. Brennen began a private law practice at Helena. His associate was Dudley Dubose. Du- bose was a grandson of Robert Toombs, the famous Georgia statesman. Dudley Dubose is the character "Durham" depicted in Rex Beach's story "The Spoilers." Dubose and Brennen were close friends for years, and Mr. Brennen pays his old associate the highest tribute as being a true friend and a man of big heart and true manhood. Dubose at one time was a district judge in Montana, and was ever a strenuous force in behalf of law and order in the territory and state.

In 1891 Mr. Brennen moved to the Flathead coun- try. He had visited this district in 1887 and 1889, and his impressions of the district determined him to make it his permanent home. At Helena he mar- ried Miss Martha J. Allison. She was born at Eugene, Oregon. Their one son, Jasper Allison Brennen, born in 1889, was educated in the Shat- tuck Academy at Faribault, Minnesota, graduated in 1911. He married. Miss Stella Locke, a native of Idaho, and a daughter of James Locke. They have a son, William James Brennen. Jasper Allison Bren- nen is a successful young farmer and stock grower in Flathead County.

From 1904 to 1908 Mr. Brennen represented his district in the State Senate, being elected on the republican ticket. He introduced the first Railway Commission Bill, and the provisions of that law are practically on the statute books today. He also in- troduced the law regulating fees of executors and administrators. Another piece of legislation was that providing for the organization of cemetery associa- tions, insuring perpetual care for the cemeteries.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 47

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