Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 84

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 84

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).

In addition to his cattle another feature of his stock business is his horse industry, many high- grade Percherons having been produced on his ranch, some of them reaching from 1,200 to 1,600 pounds. During the late war he furnished the French government with a number of these horses. Recently, the demand decreasing, he has not been so active in this industry. Since Mr. Black came into this region the range conditions have changed to a remarkable degree. Then there was hardly a fence to be seen or encountered in crossing the prairies, while now practically all of the country has been fenced off.

Mr. Black took his homestead where he "squatted" with his first bunch of cattle, and during the more than a score of years he has been in this region he has developed a ranch on Willow Creek of more than 10,000 acres. Eagle Creek and Rock Creek also pass through his ranch, and, although at one time there were 1,000 acres broken, it proved so un- profitable a farm that it has been permitted to revert to the range. The call for more wheat during the war caused Mr. Black to exert himself in order to raise more of this staple, and in order to do so he plowed up sod and contributed in this way to the cultivation of his ranch lands.

Mr. Black's first home in Montana was the pro- verhial log cabin of one room, with dirt roof and floor, and he occupied it with his brother John, who was associated with him as a partner in the stock business. This brother was accidentally dis- abled permanently, but continued a factor in the business for some years. In time Mr. Black erected a frame house, added a substantial barn, later de- stroyed by fire, and made the ranch his home until 1918, when he moved to Hinsdale for a year. He then moved to his present farm, which is three miles northeast of the town.

The Black farm is partly an irrigation proposi- tion. It is under a corporation ditch, the Rock Canal Company, and some 800 of the 1,440 acres are under cultivation. This property is handsomely improved, the bungalow residence, splendid barn, ma- chine shed and other buildings being of modern de- sign and construction. These improvements make the Black ranch one of the best along the Milk River.

On November 9. 1912, Mr. Black was married at Woodburn, Iowa, to Miss Mary B. Wing, who was born at Morris, Illinois, August 3, 1880, but was reared in Iowa. She is a daughter of Rev. F. A. Wing, who belongs to the Wing Clan of Sand- wich, Massachusetts, where the original four Wing

952

HISTORY OF MONTANA

brothers settled as English emigrants during the Colonial epoch of the country. Mr. Wing was mar- ried to Elizabeth Thompson, and their children were as follows: Mrs. Black, who is the eldest; Mrs. Pearl Barger, of Woodburn, Iowa; Clara, who home- steaded in Valley County, Montana, and died here; and Forrest, who lives at Woodburn, Iowa. Mrs. Black was graduated from the normal school of Cedar Falls, Iowa, and for fifteen years was one of the popular educators of Iowa and Montana, her last work being done in the schools of Hins- dale, where she spent three years. Mr. and Mrs. Black have two children, namely: Robert Wing and John Wing. Mr. Black cast his first presi- dential vote for William McKinley in 1896, and has remained in the ranks of the republican party ever since. A Mason, he has taken the thirty-second de- gree, and is also a member of the Mystic Shrine at Helena, Montana.

A man of unusual force of character, he has steadily forged ahead, gradually adapting his busi- ness to meet the changing conditions as the open range was given over to the settlers. That he has succeeded as he has is due to his grit, determination and broad vision, and he is proud of the fact that while he has progressed he has been of use in his community, and that his improvements are an asset to his neighborhood as well as to his own estate.

JAMES A. DENNISON, the leading contractor in painting and decorating at Great Falls, has been a resident of Montana for over thirty years. He started life a poor man, and by persistent industry has achieved the best rewards of success and an honored position in his community.

He was born at Salem in Washington County, New York, March 30, 1855, son of Andrew and Jane (Clark) Dennison. His father was born in Ireland and came to this country when a young man, the voyage on the sailing ship requiring seven weeks and three days. For a time he remained in New York City and then went to Washington Coun- ty, New York, where he lived out his life as an industrious farmer. He died at the age of sixty- five. His wife was a native of Scotland and died at the age of sixty-eight years and thirteen days. Of their 13 children James A. was the seventh son. His father cast a vote for Abraham Lincoln for president.

James A. Dennison received his early education in New York and Ohio. At the age of fourteen he left home and began working as a farm hand in New York. At eighteen he moved to Ohio, worked on a farm and in a nursery for about a year, and then invested his modest capital in a stock of no- tions and for the next three years traveled over the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, selling his stock to the retail trade. Returning to Ravenna, Ohio, he married and for about a year worked on a farm. He and his wife then went to Michigan, where he used his team to haul cord- wood, and Mrs. Dennison also contributed to the support of their household by husking corn. With her wages she bought a young calf, and that proved an important part of their capital in farming. In 1888 Mr. and Mrs. Dennison came to Billings, Mon- tana, where he was engaged in the saloon business until 1894. Since the latter year his home has been in Great Falls. He was employed in the smelters until 1899, and since then for twenty years has been a contracting painter and decorator. He now has a well equipped store on Fifth Street, stocked with a complete supply of paints, wall paper and other commodities used in his trade. Mr. Dennison is a republican in politics.

February 16, 1877, he married Alice Calvin. She was born in Berrien County, Michigan, a daughter of Orin B. and Maria (Allen) Calvin, both natives of Pennsylvania. Her father went to Michigan when a young man and as a carpenter built many houses and barns in the southern part of the state. Mrs. Dennison was the second in a family of three sons and one daughter, two of whom are still living.

JOHN T. LOUCKS. The mercantile interests of Froid are in the hands of capable men who take a pride in supplying the needs of their customers and keeping their stocks abreast of the times, and among them one worthy of special mention is John T. Loucks, who has been numbered among the busi- ness men of this place since 1911, expending his establishment during this period as the town has grown.

John T. Loucks was born at Avoca, New York, on April 4, 1869, a son of William and Mary (Shults) Loucks, both born near Albany, New York, in the Mohawk Valley. They were farming peo- ple during the active period of their lives, and the mother survives and makes her home at Avoca, but the father died in 1904, aged seventy-eight years. William Loucks was a son of Henry A. Loucks, also a native of New York State, and a life-long farmer. He was descended from one of the first families to settle in New York from Holland. Henry A. Loucks married a Miss Cook, and their chil- dren were as follows : Margaret, who married Mathew Fox; Kate, who married Henry Gray; John, who spent his life in Steuben County, New York; William, who was the father of John T .; Nancy, who married Thomas Zilly; Maria, who married Wesley Calkins; Amanda, who married John H. Shaver; and Lucinda, who married Reu- ben Parkhill.

Mary Shults, mother of John T. Loucks, was a daughter of Josiah and Katie (Nellis) Shults, both families being of Holland descent and long establishment in the Empire State. All were en- gaged in agricultural occupations and were most worthy people who bore their full share of the civil and military burden of their times. William Loucks and his wife became the parents of the following children: Wesley C. and Clark D., both of whom are residents of Avoca, New York; Belle, who is Mrs. W. H. Dygart, of Wheeler, New York; Kate, who is the widow of Charles E. Peck, of Elkton, South Dakota; Maggie, who is a resident of Avoca, New York; John T., whose name heads this re- view ; and Walter P., who is a resident of Buffalo, New York.

John T. Loucks was reared on the home farm of which he continued to be a factor until past his majority, and received a schooling of the com- mon sort. Leaving the parental roof for the first time he came West and spent six years as an em- ploye in a flouring mill in Elkton, South Dakota, and then returned home, carrying with him the sav- ings from these years of labor. Mr. Loucks joined a brother in conducting a small clothing and men's furnishings store at Avoca, but having become ac- customed to the broader life of the West he found he could not be content in the East, and so once more left New York, this time selecting Bowbells, North Dakota, when in 1906 he again came West. For some 472 years he was engaged in business at that point as a general merchant and made good there, but his ambition was not satisfied and he be- gan looking about him for a new location. In 19II he found what he wanted in the promising little Vil- lage of Froid, Montana, and came to it, and for the past nine years has been devoting himself to the

953

HISTORY OF MONTANA

building up of the business house he established, which ranks among the leading mercantile estab- lishments of this region, and commands an excel- lent trade.

Coming to manhood's estate under the political in- fluence of his father, John T. Loucks is a democrat, his father always having adhered to that party, and by it was elected to some local offices. John T. Loucks, following in his father's footsteps, cast his first presidential ballot for Grover Cleveland in 1892, and has not missed a presidential election since with the exception of 1904, when he did not feel he could conscientiously support either candidate of the two old-line parties. He is a member of the City Coun- cil of Froid, contributing his influence toward the incorporation of the town, and was active in the controversy which resulted in the creation of Roose- velt County, he being in favor of that action.

Mr. Loucks was married in Steuben County, New York, in February, 1899, to Miss May Wagner, born . at Avoca, New York, a daughter of Lewis C. and Eliza (Shults) Wagner. Mrs. Loucks also comes from an old-established New York family and her people have been associated with the agricultural de- velopment of the Empire State. She is the only daughter in the family of her parents, her brothers being as follows: Homer, Orrin, Guy, Walter and Clarence. Mr. and Mrs. Loucks have had the fol- lowing children born to them: Laura and Kath- leen, both of whom are attending the State Normal School of Valley City, North Dakota; Ruth, who died when five years of age; and John T., Jr., who was born May 19, 1918. Mr. Loucks belongs to Minot Lodge, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, which he joined in 1908. His commodious residence at Froid is one of ten rooms with basement, and is supplied with a furnace and other modern improve- ments. It would be difficult to find a family which stands higher in general estimation than that one bearing the name of Loucks. Mr. and Mrs. Loucks are generous to a fault, and there are few move- ments for the betterment of the community or the assisting of the unfortunate which do not have their hearty and substantial support. Their comfortable home is open to their friends and is oftentimes the scene of pleasant social gatherings. Mr. Loucks has made his own way in the world and has every rea- son to be content with what he has accomplished, for he has not only succeeded in a material way somewhat beyond the ordinary, but he has also gained and held the confidence of his fellow citizens and the warm regard of a number of personal friends not only at Froid but in every community in which he has made his home.

SARAH E. ROEBUCK, of Whitefish, is one of the most interesting women in that section of Montana, and despite her advanced years keeps closer in touch with world affairs than many younger people. Mrs. Roebuck before her marriage was Sarah E. Williams and was born in Licking County, Ohio, a daughter of Zophar and Eliza (Pumphrey) Wil- liams. Her great-grandmother was a niece of Oliver Cromwell. Miss Williams was married in Mercer County, Ohio. She had three sons: Charles Mc- Kendree, James Watson and William Albert. Her son Charles was educated in the high school at Van Wert, Ohio, and is married. James married Elsie G. Cox, of Canton, Ohio, and has a son, Frederick, now a wireless operator on a steamship plying be- tween San Francisco and Manila. William Albert, a resident of Hinsdale, Illinois, married Louise Huss and has a daughter, Rozella.

Mrs. Roebuck came West in 1903, locating at Kalispell, and kept house for her son Charles at

Kalispell. Later she moved to Whitefish, when that was still a very small and isolated village. She has known Montana through an interesting period of its development, and is familiar with the his- tory of Whitefish from its very beginning. She is a devoted member of the Methodist Church. Mrs. Roebuck's grandmother rode horseback over the Al- leghany Mountains from Newark, New Jersey, car- rying a babe in her arms, to her new home in Ohio. Mrs. Roebuck is a member of the Easter Star and in politics is a republican. While in Ohio she taught school eighteen years, having charge of the pri- mary department at Van Wert, Ohio, at one time. After coming to Montana she opened a kinder- garten school.

Three members of the Roebuck family came to this country from England. One branch of the family settled in Chicago, and representing this branch was a member of the great mail order house, Sears, Roebuck & Company.

When eighty-four years of age Mrs. Roebuck walked to Whitefish to attend the Chautauqua of 1919. She is a constant reader, especially of politics, and is an enthusiastic advocate of the League of Nations. She has kept a running commentary of her own life and events connected therewith, and has it arranged in chapters or sections, each section covering a period of ten years.

. ARCHIBALD W. MAHON. In March, 1911, Mr. Mahon became state engineer of Montana, but re- signed from that office April 1, 1920, to enter as a partner in the Western Construction Company of Helena, Montana, general contractors in this state. He is a man of seasoned experience and tested abili- ties as a civil engineer, and was trained for his profession while living in the East. He was born near Rochester, Monroe County, New York, April 3, 1869. His father, Alderman D. Mahon, was born in Indiana in 1844, was reared in that state, and in 1861 enlisted in the 47th Indiana Infantry. He was all through the war, in all the battles in which his regi- ment took part, including the Siege of Vicksburg and Fort Donelson. Soon after the war he went to Monroe County, New York, was married there and settled on a farm. Later he established the Brock- port Democrat, a newspaper at Brockport, New York, and from there moved his home to New York City. For several years he was a traveling salesman out of New York and later engaged in the brokerage business. He died in New York City in 1906. He was a democrat and a member of the Masonic Fra- ternity. Alderman D. Mahon married Miss Janette Janes, who was born in Michigan in 1846 and is now living with her only surviving child at Helena.

Archibald W. Mahon acquired his early education in the public schools of Rochester. He served a long apprenticeship at surveying and engineering with a firm at Rochester, and did a great deal of municipal work. For two years he was with the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg Railway as transit man and draftsman. For the thirty years past his experience has been in the Northwest, most of the time in Montana. In 1891 he went to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he served as deputy county surveyor. He then became resident engineer for the Great Northern Railway in extension work with headquarters at Sioux Falls. In September, 1893, Mr. Mahon came to Montana, first locating in Har- lem, thence moving to Glasgow, and subsequently to Helena, where the general offices of his company are located. He was appointed county surveyor of Valley County, and in the fall of 1894 was elected to that office and re-elected in 1896. He held office until 1898. In the meantime, in 1895, he was ap-

954

HISTORY OF MONTANA

pointed engineer and superintendent of irrigation of the Fort Belknap Reservation in Choteau County, now Blaine County. That work required much of his time until 1897. In 1898 Mr. Mahon was chosen to represent Valley County in the State Senate, was re-elected in 1902, and in 1906 received another nom- ination but declined to make the campaign. He was an able and vigilant representative of his county in the Senate during the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth sessions.

In 1906 Mr. Mahon resumed his private practice and gave all his time to engineering and irrigation work, with home in Glasgow until 1911. He re- ceived his first appointment to the office of state engineer by Governor Morris, and entered upon his official duties at Helena in March, 1911. Governor Stewart reappointed him in 1915, and for a third term in 1919. Each term is for four years. Mr. Mahon is secretary and treasurer of the Glasgow Land and Water Company at Glasgow, and owns a modern home in that city.

Immediately after America entered the war with Germany in 1917 Montana was called upon by the Western Department of the United States Army for a military reconnaissance of the state. As the man best qualified by technical experience and also by office for that task, Mr. Mahon was appointed and performed the service in addition to his duties as state engineer. In recognition of the work the title. of Military Intelligence Officer with the rank of major in the National Guards of Montana was be- stowed upon him.

The new Highway Commission Law of Montana went into effect in 1917, and Governor Stewart chose Mr. Mahon as a member of the commission. He was elected a member of its executive committee. He served as secretary of the commission, but resigned those duties on January 15, 1920.

In Mr. Mahon, Montana Masonry has one of its distinguished members and officials. He has held many of the highest offices in the different branches of Masonry. His lodge affiliation is with North Star Lodge, No. 46, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Glasgow. He is a past high priest of Glasgow Chapter, No. 17, Royal Arch Masons, is deputy thrice illustrious master of Helena Council, No. I, Royal and Select Masons, is a past commander of Glasgow Commandery, No. 13, Knights Templar, is a past potentate of Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena, and is a member of Helena Con- sistory, No. 3, and is an honorary member of the Supreme Council of the Thirty-third Degree. He has served as venerable master of the Lodge of Per- fection, as commander of the Council of Kadosh, is now preceptor of the Consistory, is past grand high priest of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of the state, and is a past grand commander of the Grand Commandery, Knights Templar, of the state.

Mr. Mahon is a member of the Sons of the Amer- ican Revolution and also of the Sons of Veterans. Politically he is a democrat.

In 1904, at Glasgow, Montana, he married Frances G. Hoyt, who was born at St. Paul, Minnesota, and died at Glasgow in 1907, leaving two children, Ho- bart H., born August 8, 1907, and Archibald War- ham, Jr., horn January 10, 1906, hut the younger died February 26, 1913. In 1909, at St. Paul, Mr. Mahon married for his present wife Miss Ocie M. Hazzard, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George H. Hazzard. Her father is a distinguished resident of St. Paul and is secretary of the Historical Society of Minnesota. Mrs. Mahon is a graduate in domestic science from the Lewis Institute of Chicago.

PETER ARENA, proprietor of the Union Hotel of Whitefish, is an excellent example of what can be

accomplished by one of foreign birth under the beneficent influences afforded by the United States, the most generous of countries to its adopted sons. Mr. Arena was born on the Island of Sicily, Italy, a son of Frank and Gratia Arena. In 1886, when he was twenty-three years old, Peter Arena came to the United States, and in 1888 located in the State of Washington, where he was engaged in a hotel business. Coming to Flathead County in 1890, he opened a bakery, continuing in that line of busi- ness for sixteen years, but in 1904 came to White- fish and established his present hotel, which has be- come a popular one.

Before leaving his native land Mr. Arena was married, but his wife died after bearing him two sons and one daughter, namely: Frank, Orazio and Concetta. His sons were killed in an earthquake, but his daughter survived and was married and is now living on the Island of Sicily. During the great earthquake in Sicily, when so many of the inhab- itants were killed or injured and property was destroyed, Frank was killed outright and Orazio was so injured that he died afterward from the effects, leaving two children, Peter and Mary.

Having achieved a fair measure of prosperity, Mr. Arena now desires to bring his orphaned grandchil- dren to live with him and grow up amid American surroundings and be educated in the excellent schools here. If he is granted the passport for which he has applied he proposes returning to Sicily and after a visit among his old friends to come back here and bring little Peter and Mary with him.

Mr. Arena's prosperity has not come to him with- out hard, unremitting work and strict economy. For years he labored, scarcely taking time for needful rest, but now that he has some leisure he feels that he wants to share his good fortune with those of his own flesh and blood. The people of Whitefish ap -. preciate his good points and his entire reliability, and have patronized his hotel in the past and will continue to do so in the future, for it renders ex- cellent service at a fair price. Men like Mr. Arena are desirable additions to any community, for they set an example of industry and close application to business that is well worth following.

DAVID G. BROWNE, a resident of Fort Benton for forty years, gained his first prommence in the Ter- ritory of Montana as a factor in the old time trans- portation industry, as manager and owner of the enterprises that performed the great bulk of trans- porting goods in and out of the territory prior to the coming of railways. Mr. Browne, who had many other distinctions to his credit, as a merchant. banker, and public official, passed away on the roth of December, 1919.

For his early equipment he had only the assets of a strong mind and earnest resolution. largely an inheritance from his Scotch ancestors. He did the duty that lay nearest, was willing to accept re- sponsibilities, and in the Old West proved not only a man among men, but a leader.

He was born in a modest home near Belfast, Ire- land, January 16, 1859, and his school education was concluded in his fourteenth year. For two or three years after that his work brought him knowl- edge as an accountant and bookkeeper. At the age of seventeen he came to the United States, joining an uncle in the Territory of Utah. He was soon made agent for the Wells Fargo and Company Express at Kelton, Utah, and during the following year made use of his position to acquire a practical knowledge of the transportation industry of the Far West.

In 1878, resigning his position in the express office, he became conductor of a mule train, and

Cand . Browne

955

HISTORY OF MONTANA

in charge of one of these freighting units made his first trips into Montana from Corinne, Utah. Soon afterward he bought the necessary equip- ment and became proprietor of a mule team outfit, bought a second outfit within a year, and when he established his home at Fort Benton in 1880 he was owner of four 12-mule teams and their necessary equipment. Mr. Browne was one of the leading operators of transportation in that region of Montana from 1879 to 1885.

In the meantime many other responsibilities rapidly accumulated, and only a man of real ex- ecutive genius could have handled them so success- fully. In the spring of 1881 he took charge of the local office of W. S. Wetzel and Company, merchants at Fort Benton. In 1882 he acquired a monopoly of the ferry business at Fort Benton. In 1883 he was appointed assignee of Wetzel and Company, and handled the affairs of that house so that the business was wound up to the complete satisfaction of all the creditors.

For a number of years Mr. Browne handled many important Government contracts, one of the first being a hay contract at Fort Assiniboine in 1883. He also handled Government transportation con- tracts in Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska, and was highly commended by Government authorities for the prompt and efficient manner with which he supplied such military posts as Assiniboine, Ma- ginnis, Shaw and Custer.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 84

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