Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 81

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 81

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).

Mr. Cowan was married in Schoharie County, New York, December 24, 1891, to Mrs. Mary Brock- way, a daughter of John Payne and a sister of Mrs. Winfield S. Cowan of Harlem. Mrs. Cowan by her first marriage became the mother of three chil- dren: Mabel, the wife of Verd Johnson, a ranch- man on Woody Island Creek; Sidney, engaged in the garage business in Harlem, married Bertha Gardner and has a son, Ashley; and Fred is asso- ciated with Mr. Cowan in stock raising on Woody Island Creek. He married Edna Wood, and they have two children, Eloise and Stanley.

Mr. Cowan began voting as a young man in New York, casting his first presidential ballot for Grover Cleveland in 1884. Since that time he has sup- ported the protective policy of the country and votes for the republican presidential nominees. He is a charter member of the Harlem Lodge of Odd Fel- lows and is a past grand of the order. The family are identified with the Presbyterian Church, and Mrs. Cowan for several years continued her ac-

Clarence & Broadbrooke

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

tivity in the work of that organization and was the church treasurer.

CLARENCE E. BROADBROOKS. Numbered among the old settlers of Saco who have made their names well-known and honored in this region is Clarence E. Broadbrooks, one of the extensive ranch operators of Phillips County. He was born in Decatur Coun- ty, Iowa, April 24, 1867, a son of John M. Broad- brooks, and a grandson of Henry Broadbrooks, the latter a millwright and one of the men connected with the erection of early mills in both Missouri and Iowa.

John M. Broadbrooks was born in New York State, but was taken during his infancy to Ohio by his parents, and the family residence was main- tained in the latter state for ten years, when once more it was changed and settlement was made in Missouri, on the line between that state and Iowa. When still a child under ten years of age John M. Broadbrooks made himself useful, being a driver of mules on the towpath of the Cuyahoga Canal in Ohio, but after he was taken to Missouri he ac- quired a fairly good education, and taught school in both Missouri and Iowa. He also worked with his father as a millwright, and their mill is believed to be the first put up in all of that region.

During the war between the states John M. Broad- brooks served with the Thirty-fourth Iowa Volun- teer Infantry, leaving the schoolroom to enlist, and saw service along the border of Missouri, Kansas, Indian Territory, Arkansas and Texas as a mem- ber of the Western Army. He was in the service for four years, under General Grant, and took part in the campaign against Vicksburg and its surrender, as well as in the other engagements of his regi- ment. When he was mustered out at Jefferson Bar- racks, St. Louis, Missouri, it was with an excel- lent record, and he was fortunate enough to get through without being wounded or captured, al- though he had more than one very narrow escape from both. Several times bullets passed through his cap and other articles of wearing apparel.

John M. Broadbrooks was married in Decatur County, Iowa, to Margaret J. Kerr, a daughter of Edward Kerr. The Kerr family lived at different times in Ohio, Iowa and Western Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Broadbooks spent twelve years in Kansas and then moved to Cass County, Missouri, dying at East Lynn, Missouri, he in 1908, and his widow, in Jan- uary, 1919. The children born to them were as follows: Clarence E., whose name heads this re- view; Harriet, who is the wife of Fred Barker, of Peculiar, Missouri; Della, who is unmarried, is a resident of Kansas City, Missouri; Arthur H., who lives at Peculiar, Missouri; Lillie, who died in 1919, was unmarried; and Bertha, who married Ollie Stone at East Lynn, Missouri, is now a resi- dent of Los Angeles, California.

Clarence E. Broadbrooks was only an infant when his parents moved to Mercer County, Missouri, and, in. 1877, when he was not much over ten years old, the family moved to Ford County, Kansas, near Dodge City, and on the family farm thirty miles from that city, on Pawnee Creek, he was reared to manhood. He attended the local schools, which were rural ones. Pawnee Creek was the center of the cattle industry of that part of the state, and there he learned the business, and when he left Kansas it was to accompany a "cow outfit" bound for Texas.

For the subsequent year he was in the employ of the Home Land and Cattle Company of Panhandle City, Texas, from whence he went to the vicinity of Las Animas, Colorado, where he rode the range

for the Prairie Cattle Company, making the trip of several hundred miles on horseback over the regular cattle trail from Texas to Montana, passing through Eastern Wyoming and entering Montana above the head of the Little Missouri, following Little Powder River almost to its junction with the Big Powder. He then crossed over into what is now the Powder River County on to Mizpah Creek and Stacy at the head of Pumpkin Creek. From there he followed that Creek down to Miles City, where he crossed the Yellowstone River and turned loose the herd he and the rest of the outfit were driving on Big Dry, south of the Missouri River. There were 2,600 cows in the herd, and a crew of eleven men were in the outfit, bossed by Bob Ken- nedy, foreman.

When Mr. Broadbrooks left the Home Land and Cattle Company he engaged with the Circle Dia- mond Company, and brought a bunch of cattle for them from Colorado to Montana. This outfit, owned by the Bloom Cattle Company, had headquarters near Malta on Milk River, and he remained with the company for a year, leaving it to engage in the cattle business for himself. He established his modest outfit on Milk River, just north of Saco, it then comprising 80 head of horses and 200 head of cattle. As a partner in the horse business he had Elmer Cain, now engaged in ranching just north of Tampico, Montana. In 1897 their ranch was moved to Larb Creek, and remained there three years, when Mr. Broadbrooks sold his inter- est to Dan C. Kyle.

Mr. Broadbrooks then crossed into Canada and bought the "Old Stonepile" place from the Domin- ion Government and established a cattle ranch there, starting in with 250 head. After he had been there a year his stock was bought by the Circle Diamond people. By this time he had become dissatisfied with conditions in Canada, and he came back to the United States, locating once more in the Saco neighborhood. He homesteaded his present ranch, adjacent to the townsite of the little city, and here he has continued to live. Stockraising became an important factor in his business operations, and he branched out considerably, but with the coming of settlers he was forced to change his plans, just as he had been compelled to do at the beginning of his career, when their invasion of Kansas forced him out of that state, and he turned more of his attention to hay raising, although he still raises cattle upon a much smaller scale. The Broadbrooks' lands are under the Milk River project for irriga- tion, and a half section of his valley lands has been brought under the ditch.

Clarence E. Broadbrooks was reared in a home dominated by democratic principles in politics, and when he cast his first presidential vote it went to Grover Cleveland. He has voted for William Jen- nings Bryan three times, and if that celebrated statesman is again a nominee for the presidency he will no doubt receive Mr. Broadbrooks' sup- port, for he is a great admirer of him and his sin- cerity. No public office has burdened him, and he has rendered no official service save that of school trustee.

On September 27, 1894, Mr. Broadbrooks was married at Saco to Miss Dora Kennedy, a daughter of David and Isabella (Bell) Kennedy. Mrs. Broadbrooks was born in County Essex, Ontario, Canada, March 21, 1875, and two years thereafter the Kennedy family moved to the vicinity of Grand Forks, North Dakota, where for five years they were engaged in farming. Once more a change of location was made, Towner, North Dakota, being selected for the new home, and there the Ken-

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

nedys were engaged in stock raising for seven years, and then left there for Montana, arriving in this state in 1889. All of these changes from Canada to Montana were made with a wagon and team. Mr. Kennedy took up a homestead in North Da- kota, but Mrs. Kennedy entered a desert claim near Saco, Montana, proved it up and still owns it. Mr. Kennedy died in I911, when sixty-seven years old. He was born in Lower Canada. His widow was born in County Donegal, Ireland, June 3, 1853. She is a sister of John K. Bell of Saco. Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy had the following children: Lewis, who is a ranchman of Phillips County, Montana; Mrs. Broadbrooks, who was educated in the pub- lic schools of North Dakota and Montana; and Alvina, who married Ernest Pierson, of Beaverton, Montana. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Broad- brooks are as follows: John D., who was born March 7, 1900; and Louis A., who was born April 9, 1903.

Mr. Broadbrooks has had a varied and interesting career and has participated in the many. changes of this region. Coming here when the range was free to all, he developed into one of the heavy cat- tlemen, and then, when changing conditions neces- sitated a change in methods, he was farsighted enough to provide for them. A man of the high- est character, his judgment is relied upon, espe- cially in matters pertaining to the cattle industry and ranching, and his advice is sought by those who have come here at a later date and are not acquainted, as he is, with the history of the region. He has been enthusiastically active in the promo- tion of the Milk River irrigation project, and feels that through its proper development the lands in this section will become very productive and greatly enhanced in value.

J. BERTRAM SWITZER. This is the name of one of the prominent bankers of Eastern Montana, officially identified with several institutions in that section of the state. His home has been at Wolf Point since 1917, and he is vice president of the Security State Bank of that town.

Mr. Switzer has spent an active career in busi- ness since early manhood and was born in Grant County, Wisconsin, December 6, 1879. His people were pioneers in Wisconsin and remotely were of German ancestry, the name being established in Pennsylvania in colonial times by Peter Switzer. The men of the succeeding generations have been in the main farmers, and representatives of the fam- ily are scattered widely over the country. The grand- father of the Montana banker was John Switzer, a native of Indiana who became identified with the pioneer life of Wisconsin, locating at Fennimore dur- ing the territorial days of the Badger State. Isaac W. Switzer, father of J. Bertram, was born at Fennimore, Wisconsin, in 1847, grew up in a coun- try district and had a common school education. He has been a man of achievement as a farmer and stockman, and still owns extensive land holdings in the Dakotas. His home has been in the Twin Cities at Minneapolis since 1903. He moved there in order that his younger children might have supe- rior educational advantages, and his daughters all went through the State University. Isaac Switzer married Pora Dinsdale, who was born at Fennimore, Wisconsin, while her father, John Dinsdale, came to Wisconsin from England. The children of Isaac W. Switzer and wife are: Mrs. J. H. Marks, of Regent, North Dakota, who died in August, 1920; J. Bertram ; Mrs. J. A. Ferguson, of Loveland, Colo- rado; Harriet, principal of the schools of Harlow- ton, Montarfa; Mrs. G. A. Davis, of Jackson, Min-

nesota ; Mrs. Fred Williams, of Chicago; and Mrs. Earl Ellsworth, of Windom, Minnesota.

J. Bertram Switzer acquired a thorough educa- tion in Wisconsin, being a graduate of the Viroqua High School and the State Normal School at Ste- vens Point. For two years he was a teacher in the Viola High School and then went out to the Pacific Coast, for a time being connected with a dry goods house at Spokane and later with the Spokane and Eastern Trust Company. Returning East, he located in North Dakota, and since that time has been actively identified with banking. He founded a country bank at Sherwood and later at Loraine, and was cashier of these two institutions. Mr. Switzer left Loraine to come to Montana in 1917, and located at Wolf Point for the purpose of instituting a bank. The Security State Bank is the result of his efforts at organization, and it opened its doors for business in July, 1917, with Mr. Switzer as managing head. He subsequently sold his bank- ing interests at Loraine, North Dakota.

His leading associations in the founding of the Security State Bank were C. B. Roberts and P. L. Howe, both men with large Montana interests. They and Mr. Switzer became the chief officers of the bank, which was capitalized at $25,000. Though its career has been through three years of adverse con- ditions, the bank now has deposits of $200,000 and surplus and undivided profits of $3,500. Mr. Howe is president of the bank, Mr. Switzer, vice presi- dent and active manager, and W. H. Belideau, cashier. These three men are directors with L. A. Kragrud and W. L. Young, both of Wolf Point.

Other banking interests in Montana acquired by Mr. Switzer are as vice president of the Bowdoin State Bank and director in the Security State Bank at White Fish and in the Lothair State Bank.

Mr. Switzer is unmarried. He was eligible for the selective draft and his name appears on the rolls of men registered at Wolf Point, though the armistice was signed before he was classified. He cast his first presidential vote for Mckinley in 1900. His only official service was in minor offices in the Dakota towns where they lived. Mr. Switzer is a member of Loyalty Lodge of Masons at Wolf Point, and is a member of the Odd Fellows and Modern Woodmen of America at Loraine, North Dakota. He has passed the chairs of the Loraine Lodge of Odd Fellows.

JERRY FLYNN. While a resident of Wolf Point only a few years, Jerry Flynn is widely known over Montana as a veteran railroad man, and has made his connection with Wolf Point distinctive through contributing the first two-story brick business house to that little metropolis.

Jerry Flynn has seen a great deal of the world in a lifetime of less than sixty years. He was born August 26, 1868, in County Kerry, Ireland. He was the youngest of six children and the only son of John and Hannah (Brosnahan) Flynn and the only member of the family to come to the United States. His parents were natives of County Kerry, and their lineage goes back to the remote history of Ireland. Jerry Flynn has made several trips back to his native country, and two of his five sisters are still living there, Mrs. Julia Foley and Hannah, of Tralee.

Jerry Flynn grew up in the home of a farmer, and his people were in comfortable circumstances. He attended the common schools of Ireland and at the age of seventeen left home and going to Lon- don secured a place as a station guard for the Mid- land Railway Company. That was the beginning of almost a life time of service in the transportation

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

industry. After a year he started for the United States, sailing from Liverpool on the Servia and went through Castle Garden bound for Toledo. He reached Toledo with about $45 and within a week found some employment and worked at different things until he became a freight brakeman for the New York Central Railway Company at Toledo. After a few years of service there he went out to Minnesota in 1895, and at St. Cloud joined the Great Northern Company, and he has completed almost a quarter of a century of service with that railroad. For a time he was a yard man at West Superior, and also worked for the Great Northern at Melrose and St. Cloud.

In 1898 Mr. Flynn came into Montana and on the 5th of May of that year was assigned as a freight conductor running out of Glasgow. He lived in Glasgow, in Havre and Cutbank at times until he came to Wolf Point in April, 1917. He was in the train service for sixteen years, almost the entire time as a conductor. His record is marked by the lack of either a wreck or an accident. For a time he engaged in business at Cutbank, and again he recently resumed his work for the Great Northern in the yards at Wolf Point. Mr. Flynn can count up thirty-two years of his life spent in railroading.

He showed his faith in the future of Wolf Point by the erection in 1917 of one of the best business buildings. It is a two-story brick, with the second story for his home, while the lower story is occupied by the Fad Clothing Company. For a time he operated extensively in the buying and selling of real estate. He bought the corner on which the First National Bank stands for $4,500, and though in some quarters it was regarded as a foolhardy . transaction, in less than thirty days he sold the ground at a profit of more than 40 per cent. This and his other local investments demonstrated his foresight and wisdom.

Mr. Flynn is an American by naturalization and by sincerity of convictions. While living in Toledo he cast his first ballot as a democrat, supporting Mr. Cleveland for President, and did not vote again until 1908, when he supported Mr. Bryan. He has always been faithful to the Catholic Church, in which he was reared. At St. Paul he married Miss Julia G. Bailey, youngest of the seven children of Patrick and Hannah (O'Connor) Bailey. Her father was a farmer and spent his last days at St. Paul, where he is buried.

HON. CHARLES C. HURLEY, judge of the Seventh Judicial District of Montana, is one of the most distinguished residents of Glendive and illustrious members of the bench. He has been identified with the state since 1899, when he came to Glendive and established himself in a general practice. Judge Hurley was born in Clinton County, Indiana, Feb- ruary 12, 1869, a son of James W. Hurley a native of Pennsylvania.

When he was fourteen years old Judge C. C. Hurley was brought west to Cameron, Hall County, Nebraska, by his parents, and was there reared. After he had completed his studies in the public schools of Hall County he went to the Fremont Normal School, and still later was a student of the Nebraska Normal School at Wayne, Nebraska. Subsequently he entered the law department of the Nebraska State University at Lincoln, Nebraska, and was graduated therefrom in 1898. In order to se- cure the money to pursue his studies Judge Hur- ley taught school, beginning with the little country school at the cross-road, Nantascot, Buffalo County, Nebraska, from which he rose to graded school work as principal at Newman Grove and Osmand, Ne-

braska, and then for a year he was 'principal at Elko, Nevada. Following his graduation in law Judge Hurley went to Glenns Ferry, Idaho, and then, in 1899, located at Glendive and in this city began his career as a professional man.

In November, 1902, Judge Hurley first came be- fore the people for office, being the nominee of the democratic party for attorney of Dawson County to succeed Thomas C. Holmes. He received 340 votes and his opponent received 308 votes. At that time Dawson County was about three to one re- publican, so it is easy to see that his election came through his personal popularity and the realization on the part of the people of his fitness for office. In 1904 he was elected to succeed himself, and served in all two terms or four years.

When Judge Hurley assumed the duties of the judgeship his jurisdiction covered old Dawson and old Custer counties, out of which eight new coun- ties have since been carved. He was elected to succeed himself in November, 1916, and his service on the bench has extended over a period active in the litigation of the eastern part of Montana.

In his politics Judge Hurley is a democrat, and cast his first presidential ballot for Grover Cleve- land while he was still a resident of Nebraska, and has not swerved from his loyalty to the party since then.

On June 13, 1906, Judge Hurley was united in marriage with Miss Fannie Skiles at Wayne, Ne- braska. She was a daughter of Robert Skiles, a farmer who moved to Nebraska from Wisconsin a number of years ago. Mrs. Hurley was born in Wisconsin, but was reared and educated in Nebraska, attending the State Normal School at Wayne. Following her graduation she was engaged in teaching school at Wayne and Norfolk, Nebraska, and Brainerd, Minnesota. She died at Glendive, January 3. 1919, leaving two children, Skiles and Charles.

ARTHUR WHITE, one of the county commissioners of Richland County and a merchant at Burns, has been a resident and active business man of Montana for the past decade, and has spent most of his life in the Northwest. He is an honored veteran of the Philippine war and has been as prompt in his patriot- ism as in his local citizenship and business enterprise.

Mr. White was born in Marshall County, Indiana, January 27, 1875. His paternal ancestry goes back to old Virginia, where the first of the name set- tled around Jamestown on coming from the Isle of Wight in colonial days. His grandfather, Phineas A. White, was an early settler and farmer in Jen- nings County, Indiana, but prior to the Civil war moved to Marshall County. He enlisted and served as a private in the Union army, most of his time being spent around Washington in Virginia. He was a stanch and stirring citizen, possessed a natural gift of speech and was a contributor to the news- papers of his home locality. In politics he was a republican and was a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. Phineas White married Deborah Robinson, and they reared seven sons and one daughter.

The oldest child was Edward Hicks White, who was born October 22, 1850, and was reared in Mar- shall County, Indiana. He acquired the education of the common schools and spent his active life as a farmer, sawmill man and operator of threshing machines. In the early nineties he moved out to South Dakota and lived there until his death in 1910. Edward H. White married Martha Jane Mor- ris, who is still living at Huron, South Dakota. They were the parents of three children: Arthur ;

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Mrs. Emma Thompson, of Huron; and Chester N., who is a lieutenant junior grade in the United States Navy and now commanding officer of a sea- going tug.

Arthur White acquired his early education in the public schools of Marshall County, Indiana, and was seventeen years of age when his parents moved to Beadle County, South Dakota. He came to man- hood in the vicinity of Huron, and his early ex- periences were those of a South Dakota farm sec- tion. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American war he was at Douglas, Wyoming, where he volunteered, enlisting in the First Battalion of Volunteer Infan- try, under Captain J. D. O'Brien and Major Foote. The troop rendezvoused at Cheyenne, was sent to Camp Merrit, San Francisco, and crossed the Pa- cific on the transport Ohio, reaching Manila Bay by way of Honolulu July 31, 1898. Mr. White ar- rived about a month after the Battle of Manila Bay and aided in the capture of the City of Manila. After that he performed garrison duty until the outbreak of the Philippine insurrection on February 4, 1899. He was in two days' fighting at the begin- ning of the outbreak, and his troops were then trans- ferred to that portion of the line protecting the waterworks and pipe line supply of the city. They were brigaded with General Hall's brigade during the Morong expedition. Later he was transferred to the south line on the Zapota River. Mr. White and his comrades were relieved from duty and or- dered home about the middle of July, 1899, sailing from Manila on the transport Grant and returning to San Francisco by way of Japan. He landed on the United States shores about the Ist of September, was discharged the 23rd of the same month, and at once returned to his home at Huron, South Dakota. Mr. White joined the Spanish-American War Veterans Association at Fargo.

After more than eighteen months of experience as a soldier Mr. White taught a short term of school and spent a few months in a business college. With a native and acquired ability as a mechanic he was then employed as an expert by the Acme Har- vesting Machine Company and after two or three years in the Northwest was sent to South America in the fall of 1903, and that winter worked as a machine expert around Buenos Aires. While in Argentina he became strongly impressed with its wonderful agricultural possibilties. Returning to this country in the spring of 1904, he was retained by the same company as a "block man" or salesman at Aberdeen, South Dakota, until 1907, when he was promoted to assistant general agent at Fargo. The following year he was made general agent of the company's business in North Dakota, and con- tinned the supervision of the company's sales and other work over that state until he resigned to come to Montana in 1910.

The ten years of Mr. White's Montana experience has been divided between the practical work of homesteading and claim improvements and business and civic affairs. He entered his homestead west of Savage and hauled lumber from Glendive to put up a simple one-room shack. With the con- struction of the Northern Pacific line he improved his home to one of three rooms. He proved up in the usual time and had enough success as a farmer to give him a favorable impression of the country and is still owner of his claim.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 81

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