Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 77

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 77

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HARRY T. MARTIN, of Poplar, is one of the lead- ing ranchers and farmers on the Fort Peck Reser- vation. He is a member of the firm Martin and Beiseker, who, during the past three or four years have operated on a large scale, cultivating hundreds of acres, and producing some of the bonanza yields of grain and flax in this country.

Mr. Martin was born at Carthage, Missouri, Feb- ruary 24, 1878. His father, Thomas Martin, was born and reared on the Isle of Man, and was the only member of his family to come to this country. He became a farmer in the rich Illinois corn belt around Champaign, where he was married, and later moved to Missouri, to Jasper County, and concluded his active career as a farmer near Carthage. He spent his last days at Bainville, Montana, where he died in November, I911, at the age of eighty-nine. His wife was Catherine Trumen, born at Cham- paign, Illinois, and the daughter of a farmer. She died in November, 1901. Their children were: Lucy, who died unmarried at Carthage; Horace, a farmer of Sedan, Kansas; Maude, who died as Mrs. S. P. Mitchell at Culbertson, Montana; Arthur, of Great Falls, Montana; Percy T., of Bainville; Blanche, who died at Bainville, the wife of George M. Ste- phenson; and Harry T.

Harry T. Martin spent his early years on a farm near Carthage, Missouri, had a country school edu- cation, and left home about the time he attained his majority and came to Montana.

His first location in the state was at Great Falls. He was then unmarried, had no capital except his hands and his intelligence, and secured work as a ranch hand with H. H. Nelson. He remained in the Nelson service for six years, and then went to Miles City and for four years was foreman of the Hogg and Miller ranch on Tongue River. Leaving that locality he came to Bainville and was associated with his brother Percy T. Martin in farming opera- tions until 1916, when he moved to Poplar and joined C. J. Beiseker.

The Martin-Beiseker firm are doing agriculture in a scientific way. Their chief crop has been flax. Of three plantings there have been three harvests,

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

and in the banner year of 1918 they threshed 30,000 bushels of wheat 12,000 bushels of flax, giving an acre yield of wheat of 10 bushels and of flax 9 bushels. Another feature of their industry is wool growing, and this has also proved profitable.

Mr. Martin was growing to manhood when the People's party flourished in Missouri and Kansas. His father left the republican party to become a populist and later gravitated into the democratic fold. Harry T. Martin cast his first presidential vote for William J. Bryan in 1900, and has since supported the national candidates of the party. He is affiliated with the lodge of the Knights of Pythias at Glasgow, Montana.

The Martin home is one of the splendid modern bungalows of Poplar, comprises eight rooms, was built in 1917, and stands on the hill west of the little city. Mr. Martin married at Bainville July 10, 1917, Miss Margaret Mitchell. Her father was the late Sterling P. Mitchell, a Montana pioneer, who came from Licking, Missouri, in 1878, when a boy of seventeen. He was born in Licking in 1861, son of Spencer Mitchell, a' Missouri farmer and a Confederate soldier of the Civil war. Sterling P. Mitchell's first experiences in Montana were around old Fort Buford. At Culbertson he married for his first wife Mamie Hurley, a native of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, who had come to Montana in 1891. She died in January, 1900, her children be- ing Mrs. Martin, who was born near Bainville June 17, 1894; Spencer Hurley, of Bainville; and William J., of Bainville. Sterling P. Mitchell married for his second wife Maude Martin, mentioned above, and by that marriage there is a son, Harry Mitchell, of Poplar. Sterling Mitchell died at Culbertson in 1912. Mr. and Mrs. Martin have a daughter, Maxine, born May 26, 1918.

WILLIAM L. YOUNG has given Wolf Point one of the best equipped and most progressive retail meat and cold storage houses in Northeastern Mon- tana. He has been in this line of business for many years, though he only came to Montana on March 1, 1918.

Mr. Young was born at Berlin, Wisconsin, March 25, 1877. His grandfather, Alexander Young, was a native of Scotland and in 1850 established his fam- ily at Muskego Center, Wisconsin, taking up a home- stead. He spent the rest of his active life as a farmer and died at Berlin. He married Agnes Lyall, a distant relative of Edna Lyall, the noted Scotch writer. . Their four children were: William L., James E., of Deadwood, South Dakota, George E., of Berlin, Wisconsin, Mrs. John Ferguson, of Ber- lin, Mrs. Agnes Crawford, of Berlin, and Mrs. Mary Peck, of Rhinelander, Wisconsin.

William L. Young, Sr., father of the Montana merchant, was born in Edinburg, Scotland, April 30, 1842, and was eight years of age when brought to the United States. He grew up and received his education in the country near Waukesha, Wis- consin, and in the first year of the Civil war en- listed in Company G of the Twenty-eighth Wisconsin Infantry. He was under the command of General Grant, at first in the Arkansas campaign, then in the siege of Vicksburg, and after the fall of that city went East and finished his service in Virginia. He was in the Grand Review at the end of the war, and was discharged as a non-commissioned officer. Though in the army for three years and nine months and without once being off duty, he was never wounded. He spent a number of years as a farmer and then engaged in the real estate business, but is now living retired at Waukesha. He has always been a consistent republican and has had great faith

in that organization. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and a Methodist.

William L. Young, Sr., married Libbie McKowen. Her father, John McKowen, came from the North of Ireland and first established himself in Erie, Pennsylvania, where his daughter Libbie was born. In the fall of 1845, a few months after her birth, he moved to Wisconsin, operated a sawmill on the Janesville and Milwaukee road, and during the Civil war left his home one night to go a few blocks and was never seen nor heard of again. The children of John McKowen and wife were: William, who served in the same company and regiment as .Wil- liam L. Young and returned after the war; Libbie; Ellen, who became the wife of John Thompson, of Milwaukee; Mrs. Bert McGowan, of Lake Mills, Wisconsin; Joseph and John McKowen, the former of Milwaukee and the latter a farmer near Wauke- sha. William L. Young and wife had the following children : Ernest A., who was born August 30, 1872, and is with the Metropolitan Construction Company of Milwaukee; Lydia E., wife of Francis Cannon, of Madison, Wisconsin ; William L., of Wolf Point; and James E., of Chicago.

William L. Young grew up at Milwaukee, ac- quired a grammar and high school education there and also took a business college course. At the age of twenty he went to work as a stenographer with the Cross Eclectic Medical College at Milwaukee, but 11/2 years later moved to Soldiers Grove, Wis- consin, where he engaged in the meat and grocery business. He laid the foundation of his success during the fifteen years he spent there, and in the meantime established another store at Gays Mills. Hard work and close attention to business told on his health and he started westward to recuperate, again engaging in the meat business at Granville, North Dakota, where he renewed his health, and then came to Montana.

Mr. Young's business in Wolf Point is on Assini- boine Avenue. He erected a cold storage house with a capacity of ninety tons of ice and space for forty carcasses of beef. Tracks support a carriage for taking the heavy loads of freight into the basement of the building, facilitating the ready transfer of the beeves to the cutting block and for mounting upon the strings of hooks. In the basement is the sausage and rendering room, and also facilities for smoking and seasoning of cured meat. A scientific testing station is a department of the plant for the proper handling and grading of cream. His retail department is arranged conveniently in the center of his store, with his meats exposed behind glass cases, and customers pass around his counters as they order. their good without interfering with the clerks or with each other. The whole plan and ar- rangement of the Young Market and Storage Plant is ingenious and serves to mark the progress made over the meat market and grocery of the olden times.

Mr. Young has also gained other interests in Montana, being one of the directors of the Security State Bank, for a brief time was proprietor of the Arcade Restaurant, and in every way is strictly business. No official service has been thrust upon him. He is a charter member of the Commercial Club and became one of its directors in 1920.

Mr. Young became affiliated with the Masonic Order at Granville, North Dakota, and is a member of Loyalty Lodge No. 121 at Wolf Point. In 1919 he also took his consistory work and became a mem- ber of Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena: He was reared a republican, cast his first presidential vote for Mckinley in 1900 at Soldiers Grove, and has voted at every national election since.

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He supported Colonel Roosevelt in 1904 and as a progressive in 1912.

At Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin, April 23, 1901, he married Miss Jennie T. Smith, who was born in that town March 15, 1882, and was educated there. After completing her education she was associated with her father in the drug business. Her grand- father, George A. Smith, was one of the first set- tlers of Wisconsin at a time when Indians were still numerous, and he had to travel forty miles to reach the most important market town, Prairie du Chien. The Town of Soldiers Grove obtained its name from the fact that it is the site of the last battle with the Kickapoo Indians. Ross L. Smith, father of Mrs. Young, married Isabel Dinsdale, and their three children were: Mrs. Young, Loraine, of Mar- mouth, North Dakota, and Bertha May, a teacher at Alpena, South Dakota. Three children have been born to the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Young : Marlyn Russell, a junior in the Wolf Point High School; Isabel, also in high school; and Marshall, born in 1915.

CHARLES W. WAITE represents a family of set- tlers of Powder River County who came into Mon- tana in 1902 and located along the Little Powder River. The family comprised Charles W. Waite, his brother William T. and their father, Charles B. Waite. The latter was born at Kalamazoo, Michigan, on October 4, 1841, but in young manhood migrated to St. Joseph, Missouri, and was there engaged in outfitting the plainsmen or freighters crossing the plains. Subsequently he went by steamer to Coun- cil Bluffs, Iowa, and there offered his services to the Union during the war between the states, but was rejected. He then established himself in a wagon and implement business and continued to con- duct his store, the first of its kind in the city, until he left Iowa for Wyoming. In his political convic- tions he was a republican, served as commissioner of Pottawatomie County, Iowa, and on the school board of Council Bluffs for a number of years. His purse strings were always loosened in behalf of church work and the spreading of church influence, and he attended the services of the Congregational Church, of which his wife was a member. On No- vember 22, 1869, Charles B. Waite was married at Council Bluffs, Iowa, to Miss Emma Wilbur, a daughter of Albert E. and Sarah E. (Thurston) Wilbur. The Wilburs were married on September 18, 1844, and Mrs. Waite was born in the State of New York on November 29, 1845. Charles B. Waite and his wife became the parents of the following children : Charles W .; William T .; and Emma May, who is Mrs. L. H. Cutler, of Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Charles W. Waite was born at Council Bluffs, Iowa, June 21, 1873, and his brother was born in the same city. After his graduation from the Coun- cil Bluffs High School Mr. Waite entered a whole- sale jobbing house as clerk, remaining with it until in 1900 he, his brother and father went to Wyoming and for two years were engaged in prospecting and handling horses and cattle. They had expected to locate in Wyoming, but did not find conditions to suit them, so came on into Montana. At that time the land was public domain and unsurveyed, with here and there a squatter, one of them being the old pioneer John Stringfellow, from whom Charles W. Waite bought his squatter right, and when the Gov- ernment survey was completed entered the land upon which Mr. Stringfellow's log shack stood. He and his brother continued to live in this pioneer home. their parents being with them, for several years, all being willing to endure privations in order to get well established. They had brought a small bunch

of cattle with them from Wyoming and turned them loose on the range under the brand "MB." More cattle were brought in later and added to the herd, and for fifteen years all three men were associated together in the ownership of the cattle run under this brand, but in 1917 Charles B. Waite withdrew, moved to Long Beach, and there he and his wife are now residing.

Charles W. Waite now owns the old homestead, his brother dropping down the river four miles and buying a ranch at the mouth of East Fork. The primitive log shack which served the family at first was later replaced by a more commodious building, erected by Charles B. Waite. He also built the barn of galvanized iron in 1914. It is 40 by 40 feet, and is one of the conspicuous improvements of the valley. The development of shade was a matter which claimed the attention of the Waites early in their period of residence, and when they secured flowing wells they were able to carry out their ideas with reference to beautifying their premises. Now a forest of shade surrounds the homestead, and is a refreshing and comfortable spot on his 2,446-acre ranch and for the surrounding country, few of the settlers being so forehanded. The lowlands on the ranch have been mainly devoted to grain growing until recently, when Mr. Waite has put in alfalfa with gratifying results. Hay is grown on 210 acres, all of it and the other feed produced being con- sumed by the large number of cattle with which the ranch is stocked.

On November 20, 19II, Charles W. Waite was married at Belle Fourche, South Dakota, to Miss Minnie Henderson, born in Texas, January 4, 1892. She is a daughter of Charles E. Henderson, a farmer of Perkins, Oklahoma, who became the father of six sons and five daughters, of whom Mrs. Waite and Mrs. Lat Osgood, of Powder River County, live in Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Waite have two daughters and a son, namely: Helen Louise and Winnie May, and Charles, Jr. Mr. Waite was very active in war work during the great war, and was one of the most liberal subscribers to the Lib- erty Loan issues of his district. A man of intense Americanism, he proved his patriotism then, as he has always done in his every day method of living, and is rightly numbered among the desirable citi- zens and typical ranchmen of Montana.

ALBERT JOHN ISACHSEN. The fourth business en- terprise started in the new Town of Wolf Point was the firm of Johnson and Isachsen, general mer- chants, and the members of this firm, Ole C. John- son and Albert John Isachsen, have been continu- ously associated in business here for eight years, and came here after several years of partnership in North Dakota.

Mr. Isachsen, who as an early settler has played a spirited part in the development of Wolf Point, was born at Furra, District of Ofoten, in Northern Norway, June 14, 1877. His father was Isaac An- derson and his mother, Sophie Peterson, a daughter of Carl Peterson, a Norwegian farmer. Isaac An- derson spent his life as a farmer and fisherman in Furra. He was the father of six children: Con- rad, in Norway; Nellie, wife of Jens Andreson, in Norway; Engstrom, a farmer near McVelle, North Dakota; Albert J .; and Amandus, of Boulder, Colo- rado.

Albert John Isachsen lived in Norway until he was about twenty-seven years of age. He secured a common school education, took a business course at Bode, was employed as clerk in a store for a time, and for three years was in the Government postof- fice at Norway.

le. W. WaitE & NifE.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

September 14, 1904, Mr. Isachsen sailed from Trondhjem on the Parisian bound for Quebec, reach- ing that city October 9th, came into the United States at Detroit, and continued his journey to Lakota, North Dakota, where he joined an uncle. He remained in the country there for about seven months and earned his first dollar as workman with a threshing outfit the day after he arrived at La- kota. He continued threshing for two months, and the following winter picked up a knowledge of Eng- lish while attending a term of country school. When he left school he went to work in Lakota as clerk for A. J. Gronna, now prominent as a national legis- lator and congressman from North Dakota. He was with the Gronna business as a clerk for 37/2 years, and then moved to Ray, North Dakota, where he was a clerk for Linville Nason for about four years.

In 1912 they shipped their stock of goods to Wolf Point and established one of the pioneer enterprises of the town. About a year ago the firm sold their general stock, and has since been partners in the exclusive men's clothing and furnishing store known as "The Fad." Mr. Isachsen was also one of the founders of the Citizens National Bank of Wolf Point, subsequently merged with the First National Bank, and is a stockholder in the latter. He is a stockholder in the Wolf Point Electric Light and Power Company, the Wolf Point Herald Company, the Equity Elevator Company, 'and the Sherman Hotel Company. Some of his capital went into the construction of the Johnson and Isachsen store, and besides his own bungalow home of five rooms he erected another residence of five rooms.

Besides the benefits of his private enterprise he has been an active worker with his fellow citizens in the Commercial Club, of which he is a charter member. Through the miscarriage of some of his early efforts in that direction, largely due to resi- dence in different localities, Mr. Isachsen did not complete his American naturalization until recently, and he cast his first presidential vote in 1920. He and his wife were both reared in the Lutheran faith, and are members of that church.

At Glasgow, Montana, Mr. Isachsen married on May 30, 1916, Miss Josephine Hanson. She was born in Grand Forks County, North Dakota, April 25, 1885, a daughter of Jacob and Jacobine (Ander- son) Hanson. Her parents came from Ibestad in Northern Norway, lived in Michigan and Wisconsin, and later became farmers in North Dakota. They are now living at Stanwood, Washington. Mrs. Isachsen is a sister of Charles M. Hanson, the Wolf Point postmaster. ' Mr. and Mrs. Isachsen have two children, Harold Irvin and Alvin Marselius.

OLE ERICKSON. The first real hotel at Wolf Point was the Wolf Point Hotel, opened by Ole Erickson. Mr. Erickson is a veteran in hotel management, and has not only given his house at Wolf Point a well justified popularity but has shown a high degree of public spirit in every phase of the town's develop- ment.

Mr. Erickson was born at Honnefas, about sixty miles west of Christiania, Norway, December 25, 1867. His parents were Eric and Maren (Helge- son) Erickson. His father owned a small grain farm in Southern Norway, cultivating it in summer, while winters he spent in logging camps of the North. On one of these trips in charge of a log- ging outfit he died in Russian Finland. His widow followed her son Ole to the United States, coming over about 1889, and kept her six children together and brought them up on a farm in Ashby, Minne- sota. She came to Montana with her son Ole in 1912, and is still living in his home at the age of

seventy-six. Her children are: Elias, a farmer near Fergus Falls, Minnesota; Lizzie, wife of John Can- non, of Tacoma, Washington; Annie, who was married to Frank Barney, of Minneapolis; Tille, wife of William Harms, of Seattle, Washington ; and Olive, who died in Norway as Mrs. Nels Wick- hammer.

Ole Erickson acquired his early education and some knowledge of farming in Norway. He left his native country at the age of eighteen, sailing on the Hecla from Christiania, and came to the new world alone. He passed through Castle Gar- den bound for Ashby, Minnesota, where his oldest sister lived. Mr. Erickson earned his first Ameri- can dollar by pitching hay for his uncle at $15 a month. After a few months as a farm hand he found employment in the flouring mill at Ashby, spending two years there. For three months he worked only for his board in order to learn the English language. His wages in the mills were the same as on the farm, and his next business expe- rience was learning the butcher's trade at Ashby. Though wages were low he economized severely and saved enough to send for his mother and younger sisters.

For eleven years Mr. Erickson lived at Mayville, North Dakota, where he worked in a meat market at wages of between $20 and $25 a month. Capital was saved slowly, but in time he had something to entice him into business on his own account. At Minneapolis he bought an interest in a market on Crystal Lake Avenue, and after 11/2 years has ex- pended his capital. Returning to North Dakota, he again began at the foot of the ladder and for three years lived on a homestead near Norwich. While proving up he kept bachelor's hall in a little shack 10 by 12 ft. After acquiring title to his land he sold it, and that was the capital with which he engaged in the restaurant and hotel business at Velva, North Dakota. He remained there for seven years, and at that point really laid the foundation of his business career. Coming from North Da- kota to Montana, he opened the Wolf Point Hotel, and all the early commercial men and other trav- elers have interesting and grateful memories of Mr. Erickson as a landlord. His hotel was the fourth business place in Wolf Point.

Mr. Erickson is one of the charter members of the Wolf Point Commercial Club. That club was founded in his hotel by half a dozen local business men who started the movement. Mr. Erickson is one of the stockholders and directors of the First National Bank of Wolf Point, and is affiliated with the Odd Fellows Lodge, holding his membership at Velva, North Dakota. He took out his first Ameri- can citizenship papers at Elbow Lake, Minnesota, and his final papers at Hillsboro, North Dakota. His first presidential vote went to Major Mckinley in 1896, and he has been a stanch republican ever since. He was one of the first aldermen of Wolf Point, and gave his influence and advice in the organiza- tion of the municipal government.

July 1, 1903, Mr. Erickson married at Velva, North Dakota, Mary Skarison. She was born at Calmar, Iowa, August 25, 1875, daughter ,of Mathias and Thora (Christopherson) Skarison. Her father was born in the ancient Norwegian Town of Tonsberg, and her mother at Odallen in the same country. Her parents were married at Calmar, Iowa, where her father was a painter, and the family afterward lived at Mayville, North Dakota. Mathias Skari- son served in the Forty-fourth Missouri Infantry during the Civil war, and was in General Thomas' Corps and General Smith's Brigade. Though he was a faithful soldier for 31/2 years he escaped

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wounds. After the war he was affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic. The children of Mathias Skarison and wife were: Albert, of May- ville; Mrs. Erickson; Louise, wife of Pete Krislock, of Velva, North Dakota; Clara, wife of William Selk, of Velva; Lottie, who married Fred Neu- halfen, of Velva; George, a Velva merchant; and Aleda, wife of Ed Wisland, of Velva. Mr. and Mrs. Erickson have three children: Marguerite T., Edwin O. and Harold L.

FRED E. RATHERT, whose active business service in Montana has been as a banker at Wolf Point and who during the past five years has been closely allied with the progressive citizens of the community, is a native of Iowa, but gained his banking experience in South Dakota prior to coming to Montana.

He was born at Cresco, Iowa, September 7, 1886. His father, William Rathert, born in Indiana in 1856, went to Iowa as a boy and is one of the old residents of Cresco, where he is still active in the fuel business. He married at Cresco Miss Sarah Price, a native of Wisconsin. Their children are: Clara, wife of Asa Farnsworth, and Maude, wife of J. J. Clemmer, both of Cresco; Fred E .; Don and Raymond, still at Cresco.

Fred E. Rathert after finishing a high school edu- cation at Cresco went out to North Dakota and at Fessenden was employed for three years in ab- stract work by M. E. Wilson and Company. That company gave him also his early training as a banker, sending him to Chance, South Dakota, with the Per- kins County State Bank, owned by the Wilson and Company. Mr. Rathert was with that institution almost six years, and finally resigned as cashier to come to Montana.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 77

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