Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 9

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 9

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ner with George H. Stanton in a very large and ex- tensive law practice. Mr. McDonough has handled cases in all the courts of the state, and his reputa- tion as an able lawyer is practically state wide. He is a director and general counsel for the Conrad Banking Company of Great Falls, and has been at- torney for a number of other corporations. He is general counsel for the Valier Land & Water Com- pany, which has constructed the "Valier Irrigation Project," the largest Carey land project in the state. In 1910 he organized the Merrimac Cattle Com- pany and is president and director of this rapidly growing livestock business, also managing director of the Maryland Cattle Company.

Mr. McDonough is sincerely devoted to his pro- fession and his business affairs and has never sought any political honors, though affiliated as a staunch republican. He is a member of Cascade Lodge No. 34, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Great Falls Chapter No. 9, Royal Arch Masons; Black Eagle Commandery No. 8, Knights Templar, and is a Shriner and an Elk.

August 27, 1913, Mr. McDonough married Miss Ella C. Rowles. She was born in Cascade County, Montana, a daughter of Presley H. and Ellen Rowles.

J. H. MATNEY, M. D. Thirty years of labor in his profession gives Doctor Matney much distinction in his profession as a physician and surgeon. Doctor Matney has been a resident of several states in the South and West, but for eighteen years has steadily practiced in Montana. His home is at Mus- selshell.

Doctor Matney was born at Lenoir, North Caro- line, March 15, 1865. He is of the splendid Anglo Saxon stock which is found in the mountain districts of the Western Carolinas. His ancestors came from England and first settled in Virginia. Doctor Mat- ney is a son of a Confederate soldier, though the family were firm believers in the Union.

His father, Thomas W. Matney, spent all his life in North Carolina, born in 1829 and died in 1895. He was a minister of the Methodist Church and as a circuit rider carried his work among many com- munities. He lived for a number of years at Lenoir, where he was reared and married, and after retiring went to Montezuma, where he died. He was all through the Civil war in the Confederate ranks, participated in the battles of Gettysburg and elsewhere, but after the war was identified with the republican party. He married Susie Wilson, who was born in Wilkes county, North Carolina, and died at Walkertown in that state in 1907. A brief record of their children is as follows: M. L., a traveling salesman living at Gage, Montana; W. C., a Methodist minister at Canton; North Carolina; J. F., also a minister of the same church, pastor at Libby, Montana; T. W., who was a professor in Bloomington College in Tennessee, where he died at the age of twenty- seven ; Doctor J. H .; G. W., a Methodist minister at Mountain City, Tennessee; A. R., who died at Montezuma, North Carolina, at the age of twenty- four; W. L., a bookkeeper at Waynesville, North Carolina, and Minnie, wife of Samuel Blalock, county registrar of deeds at Newland, North Carolina.

Doctor Matney acquired his early education in the public schools of East Tennessee and took his medical course in the U. S. Grant University at Chattanooga, graduating from the medical depart- ment in 1891. For two years he practiced at Roane Mountain, Tennessee, and for seven years was busy with his professional labors in old Indian Territory, now the State of Oklahoma. In 1900 he removed to Atlanta, Kansas, and in 1902 came to Birney, Mon-

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tana, and was identified with that community in a professional capacity until October, 1916. Since the latter date he has carried on a general medical and surgical practice at Musselshell. Doctor Matney also owns a ranch of 320 acres devoted to hay, grain and cattle three miles west of Musselshell on the Musselshell River. He is affiliated with the repub- lican party, is a Methodist and is a member of Vic- tory Lodge No. 124, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

In 1891, at Chuckey, Tennessee, he married Miss Cordia E. Donnelly, daughter of Maj. R. H. M. and Eliza (Allen) Donnelly, the latter now deceased. Her father is still living at the age of eighty-five at Chuckey, a retired farmer. He served with the rank of major in the Union Army during the Civil war. Doctor and Mrs. Matney have reared a family of three children, Pauline, the oldest, is the wife of W. K. Harris, a resident of Delphia, Montana ; Thomas W. is a farmer at Sheridan, Wyoming, and the youngest, John H., Jr., now at home, has an interesting military record in the World war. He enlisted in December, 1917, was in the Aviation Corps, was sent overseas in October, 1918, and re- mained abroad for six months, having just been assigned to front line work when the armistice was signed. He was mustered out May 24, 1919.

D. AUGUSTUS JONES has been in Montana for eight years, and throughout that time has been accumulat- ing a steadily growing practice and an increasing reputation as an able lawyer at Ryegate.

His father was a prominent Wisconsin lawyer, and in that state, at Sparta, Monroe County, D. Augustus Jones was born February 5, 1887. He is of Welch ancestry. His grandfather, David Foulkes Jones, was born in Wales in 1828 and married in that country Gwendolin Evans, who was born there in 1825. David F. Jones on coming to America settled at Utica, New York, where he followed his trade as a blacksmith, later took his family to Sparta, Wisconsin, and also worked at his trade there until 1869, when he removed to Ottawa, Minnesota. In Minnesota he was chiefly engaged in his duties as a Welsh lay preacher, performing missionary labors and upbuilding various churches in the state. He died at Ottawa, Minnesota, in 1889, and his wife at Mankato in the same state in 1910.

David F. Jones, father of the Ryegate lawyer. was born at Utica, New York, May II, 1859. He spent his early life at Utica and at Sparta, Wis- consin, was educated as a lawyer and practiced his profession for many years in Wisconsin. At the time of his death, which occurred at Sparta, De- cember 20, 1900, he was filling the post of United States district attorney in Wisconsin. For the re- sponsibilities of this office he was chosen by Presi- dent Mckinley. He was an active republican and a member of the Congregational Church and the

Masonic fraternity. David F. Jones married Flora L. Smith, who was born at Sparta, Wisconsin, May 23, 1859, and is now living in Fort Wayne, Indiana. D. Augustus is the oldest of three children. Mark F. is also a lawyer, a graduate of the law school of the University of Wisconsin, and is now practicing at Beach, North Dakota. Ida L., the only daughter, is secretary of the Y. W. C. A. at Fort Wayne, Indiana.

D. Augustus Jones was educated in the public schools as Sparta, Wisconsin, graduating from high school in 1908, and acquiring his higher literary education and took his law course at Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was a student in Grant College of that city for two years, and in 1912 was given the degree LL. B. from the Chattanooga College of

Law. A few months later, on December 1, 1912, he arrived at Ryegate, Montana, and has since been busily engaged in handling a general civil and criminal practice. Mr. Jones, who is unmarried, is a republican, a member of the State Bar Association, and is affiliated with Lewistown Lodge No. 456, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

ROBERT C. CURRIE, present mayor of Ryegate, came to Montana comparatively late in life, after he had achieved independent means in the East. He has invested extensively in lands and other property in Montana and has given much of his time to public duties.

Mr. Currie was born at Dubuque, Iowa, September 23, 1850. His father, Robert L. Currie, was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, in 1810, and mar- ried in that city Miss Agnes Gardner, who was born in Southern England April 17, 1820. Two of their children were born in England. Robert L. Currie was a marble cutter by trade. In 1840 he brought his family to the United States and settled at Dubuque, Iowa, where he followed his trade. In 1849 he went to California and a year's residence in the gold fields netted him a small fortune. After- ward he returned east and died at Dubuque in 1856. The last two years of his life had been chiefly spent at Nashville, Tennessee, where he was em- ployed during the construction of the State Capitol building. He was a whig in politics, a member of . the Church of England and of the Masonic fra- ternity. His widow survived him many years and died at Colesburg, Iowa, in 1905. At that time she was the widow of Thomas Brock, a native of Scot- land, who died at Colesburg, Iowa, in 1869. Mr. Brock was a stone cutter. The only child of her second marriage is Franklin M. Brock, who is well known in Musselshell County, Montana, owning a wheat ranch of 1,140 acres near Ryegate. Robert L. Currie and wife had seven children. John, the oldest died in England in infancy: Jane L., who was born in England in 1840, lives at Colesburg, Iowa, widow of Henry A. Goodrich, a shoemaker, who died during the San Francisco earthquake. John G. Currie is a Montana pioneer, now living retired at Butte. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1842, and came to Helena in 1866. He was identi- fied with the placer mining activities in that vicinity, later at Butte, and acquired several mining claims and is now living on his original claim in that city. The fourth child, Agnes, married Abraham Nune- maker, and both died, Mr. Nunemaker being a carpenter and builder in South Dakota. Mary Ann, the fifth in the family, died at the age of sixteen. Robert C. is the sixth, while the youngest, Sarah Ann, died in infancy.

Robert C. Currie acquired a public school edu- cation in Delaware County, Iowa, attending the high school at Colesburg in that county. When he was about twenty years of age he left school and began learning the trade of brick maker at Du- buque. Returning to Colesburg, he bought a half interest in a local pottery plant, but sold this at the end of five years and acquired a farm in Colony Township in Delaware County. Mr. Currie laid the basis of his substantial prosperity as an Iowa farmer, and gave his personal supervision to his farming interests for nineteen years. He still owns a farm in Iowa and another in Missouri. In the fall of 1808 he took up his residence in Colesburg and while in that town served as mayor two terms. In the spring of 1907 he left for California, spending a year at Los Angeles, and then returned to Iowa for a year.

Mr. Currie came to Montana in 1909. He exer-

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cised his privilege as a homesteader in the Big Cou- lee Valley, acquiring 160 acres in what was then Yel- lowstone but is now Musselshell County. He proved up his claim, lived on it four years, and later sold. Since 1913 his home has been at Ryegate, and he is now practically retired. He is a stockholder in the Ryegate Creamery. He has been in a position to give much of his time to public affairs, and for the past three years has held the office of justice of the peace and was elected the first mayor when Ryegate was incorporated in 1917. After one year he was re- elected, in 1918, for a two-year term, his second term expiring in April, 1920. Mr. Currie had a great deal of experience in public office in Delaware County, Iowa, serving as justice of the peace at Colesburg two terms, as assessor of Colony Town- ship ten years, was a director of the Independent District of Colony Township School Board fourteen years and also served as town marshal and con- stable a number of years. At one time he was an Iowa school teacher.

Mr. Currie is a republican in politics. He was made a Mason in Constellation Lodge No. 67, An- cient Free and Accepted Masons, at Colesburg in 1874, and is a past master of that lodge. He demitted and in 1915 helped organize Temple Lodge No. 101 at Ryegate, serving as the first worshipful master. Mr. Currie also helped organize and was the first worthy patron of Ryegate Chapter No. 77 of the Eastern Star, Mrs. Currie being the first worthy matron. He joined the Eastern Star in Colesburg, Iowa. His Royal Arch affiliations are with Greeley Chapter at Greeley, Iowa. He has taken all the degrees in Odd Fellowship, including- the Lodge, Encampment and the Canton of Patriarchs Militant. He is a past grand of Colony Lodge No. 50 of the order at Colesburg.

At Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, in 1876, Mr. Currie married Miss Isabelle M. Bolsinger. She was born at Colesburg and she and her husband were schoolmates in public and high schools there. She is an active member of the Congregational Church at Ryegate and the Ladies' Aid Society. The Bol- singer family originated in Germany but were colonial settlers in Pennsylvania. Mrs. Currie's grandfather, Christopher Bolsinger, a native of Pennsylvania, served in the War of 1812, and after- ward was a pioneer in Iowa, where he owned ex- tensive farming interests. He died at Colesburg. Mrs. Currie's father was P. C. Bolsinger, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1816, and went to Iowa about 1846. He was one of the early settlers, a merchant, land owner, and built and operated for many years grist mills at Colesburg and Jefferson, Iowa. He died at Colesburg in 1879. Politically he was a democrat. He was one of the stanch mem- bers of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and in his home town in Iowa practically built and sup- ported the church of that denomination for many years. P. C. Bolsinger married Margaret Wiggins, who was born at Wooster, Ohio, in 1826 and died at Colesburg, Iowa, in 1902. Mr. and Mrs. Currie have three children: John, living with his parents at Ryegate, is owner of two ranches. Ezra Cordel is the wife of Manuel Wiltse, a ranch owner. Alba Jane is the wife of Sidney Walker, who operates the Currie farm at Colesburg, Iowa.

JOSEPH A. FERRIS. Montana and the Northwest number Joseph A. Ferris among their frontiersmen and pioneers, for he identified himself with the Western region in pioneer days, and as a hunter, rancher, merchant and business man he took part in the work which transformed this region from a frontier country.

It was in 1880 that Mr. Ferris came into this Western territory from New Brunswick, Canada, where his birth had occurred December 12, 1856. His great-grandfather was the English founder of the family in that Canadian province, where he established his home on a farm and also engaged in lumbering. He was among the very earliest set- tlers of New Brunswick. Among his children are Joseph, the grandfather of Joseph A., and whose home was on the St. Johns River. Like his worthy father, he was both a farmer and lumberman. Joseph married a Miss Ferris, probably a distant relative, and included among their several children was Thomas R., who became the father of Joseph A. The other members of the family were Benja- min, who went to Western Canada and established his home in the Province of Ontario; Nathaniel ; Charles, who became a New Brunswick farmer; Albert, who passed his active life in lumber mills as an engineer; Mrs. John Wasson; Mrs. Robert Wasson and Sarah, who married Absalom Day and moved to Texas.

Thomas R. Ferris was born in the early '20s, his birth occurring about sixty miles above St. Johns City, and his entire life was spent in that com- munity, where he pursued the vocations of his fore- fathers. He lived during an era of peace and order, when political excitement was unknown in his com- munity, but he always attended elections and cast his vote as his conscience dictated. He was a con- sistent Christian from early manhood, and reared his children in the fear and love of God. He lived to the good old age of seventy-five, his death oc- curring about twenty years ago.

Thomas R. Ferris married Catherine Ferris, a daughter of William Ferris. She still lives at the old family home in New Brunswick, having attained the age of eighty-eight. Of their eight children six lived to maturity: Mary, who married Christopher Douglas and died at Whites Cove, New Brunswick; William, of St. Johns, New Brunswick; Joseph A., of Terry, Montana; Sylvanus M., of Dickinson, North Dakota; Lillie, who married Sidney Steward and lives on the old Ferris homestead, and Maud, who married Charles M. Robertson, of the Ferris community at Whites Cove.

Joseph A. Ferris after obtaining his common school education remained on the farm until he had passed the age of maturity, and he also followed lumbering to some extent farther back in the interior. On leaving home as a youth he went on board a sail- ing craft trading between St. Johns and Portland, Maine, and intermediate points, and while thus en- gaged for three seasons he became familiar with the Bay of Fundy, the point where the highest tides in the world rises. Leaving that country in the fall of 1880, after a few seasons engaged in farming with other young men of his acquaintance he went on board a boat at Lower Jemseg, his destination being somewhere "Out West." The little party en- trained at St. Johns, passed through Quebec and Montreal, through Ontario to Detroit, on through Chicago, and thence to St. Paul and Duluth, where they joined an outfit making ready for the lumber woods, and at Spiritwood Farm Mr. Ferris found his first work. His brother, Sylvanius, was also a mem- ber of the party, and after they had worked there a month they decided they had had enough of this strenuous labor and went on to the valley of the Red River of the North, the land of extensive farm- ing operations, but they remained there but a short time.

Little Missouri was at that time the mecca of the West and the brothers and their sole companion decided to try their fortunes there, without knowl-

Vol. 111-3

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edge of its whereabouts or conditions. They found it at the very edge of civilization, and being without bedding a haystack accommodated them the first night and on the following night a box car served them in lieu of a hotel, but finally they found a section house which offered them shelter. Looking about for some occupation, the trio observed that large quantities of wild game was brought into the tent town, and inquiry led to the information that hunters were shooting it back in the interior, and they decided to engage in the same business. Equip- ping themselves with a team and wagon, Winchesters and other necessary supplies, they set out for the region of big game along the Dakota-Montana line, establishing their camp on the Little Missouri River. For two years they hunted the antelope, deer and mountain sheep, and then went into the milder region and hunted buffalo. With the coming of spring they abandoned the business, as the meat could not be preserved fresh and they would not kill for the hides alone, and Joseph A. Ferris then took charge of the remnant of the Grange ranch stock.

In the fall of 1883 a young New Yorker came into the region to hunt buffalo, and it fell to the lot of Mr. Ferris to act as his guide, and the two spent a week or so together along the line of the two territories hunting the big game. The young east- erner proved to be a hunter of skill, and this outing suggested to him the idea of the stock business. He was a man of means and established his ranch south of Medora, and from this point he obtained his experience and data · for his articles on ranch- ing in the West which he published in the Century Magazine and which were signed by Theodore Roosevelt.

After the termination of his successful career as a hunter Mr. Ferris turned his attention to a new enterprise and became a merchant. For more than twenty years he sold goods in Medora, his mer- cantile career being a successful one, but the town was sustained almost entirely by cattle men and ranchers, and when they abandoned the country business declined and Medora became the little vil- lage it is today. Toward the closing days of the ranching industry Mr. Ferris disposed of his mer- cantile interests and crossed over into Montana, where he established his home at Sidney. There he spent six or more years as a merchant, and then engaged in ranching at Malta, but after a brief season in this occupation he was offered a good price for his stock, accepted it and went out of business. He then came to Terry to make his home, locating here in November, 1918, and he has since lived retired. In his political affiliations he has given his allegiance to the republican party since becoming a naturalized citizen at Dickinson, North Dakota. For more than twenty years he served Medora as its postmaster. For a similar period he has been identified with Odd Fellowship, and in Masonry he is a member of the Blue Lodge and Chapter in Terry, and is a member of Glendive Commandery.

Mr. Ferris returned to his boyhood's home for his wife, whom he married at Whites Cove, New Brunswick, January 27, 1886, Miss Lillie S. S. Rob- ertson then becoming his wife. She is a daughter of Samuel B. Robertson and Ellen (Gibson) Robert- son. She was born in Cambridge County, and at-' tended school with her husband at Whites Cove. She is one of her parents' two children to reach ma- ture years, her brother being Charles M. Robert- son, of Whites Cove, New Brunswick. To Mr. and Mrs. Ferris have been born the following chil- dren: Arnold Douglas, of Sidney, Montana, under-

sheriff of Richland County; Carrie Ethel, who mar- ried Wilbert A. Brubaker and died in Terry Octo- ber 4, 1918, the mother of three children, Albert, Harold and Jack; Ada Scott, who married Ralph E. Richardson, of Malta, and has two children, Ber- nadine and Hazel.

Arnold D. Ferris, a son of the well known pioneer. Joseph A. Ferris, was born at Medora, North Da- kota, January 31, 1887, and he grew to years of maturity in his native town and received his educa- tional training there, while later he attended the . State University at Grand Forks. After complet- ing the preparatory course of that institution he came to Montana, arriving here in the spring of 1909. While he was growing into manhood's estate he spent a portion of his time in his father's store in Medora, and also for a time was a cowboy on the range, but after coming to Sidney in 1909 he engaged in business with his father, who purchased the pio- neer industry of Sidney and became the second merchant in the town. The father and son con- tinned in business together until the enterprise was sold in 1914. Arnold D. Ferris then spent a year as a clerk in a clothing store in Sidney, subsequently had charge of the express and oil business of Au- gustus Vaux, was then appointed assistant post- master under Burton S. Adams, and left that posi- tion to become undersheriff of Richland County under Sheriff Sullivan.

Mr. Ferris grew up under republican influences and cast his first presidential vote for Mr. Taft in 1908. He was elected one of the first aldermen of Sidney, became president of the Board of Aldermen, and at the death of the mayor he was appointed to fill the unexpired term in that office. He thus has the honor of serving on the first Board of Alder- men of Sidney and has in many ways played an important part in shaping its history and placing it on a firm foundation. He has passed all the chairs in Odd Fellowship and in Masonry, serving as mas- ter of Lower Yellowstone Lodge No. 90 for two years, and several times has been a member of the Masonic Grand Lodge, and has sat as a delegate for the Sidney Lodge of Odd Fellows in the Grand Lodge of the state.

Near Sidney, Montana, March 20, 1912, Mr. Fer- ris was married to Miss Marie Staffanson, who was born at Anaconda, Montana, September 6, 1888, a daughter of Ephraim and Elizabeth James Staff- anson. In the early and formative days of this state the father came from Utah to Montana in an ox wagon and became a ranchman first in the Deer Lodge Valley, later, in 1907, casting in his lot with the farmers of the Yellowstone Valley at Sidney. He was born in Sweden, but came to the United States in childhood with his parents, and he grew to mature years in Iowa. From that state he went with the family to Utah, and about the time he reached manhood's estate he made his way to Montana. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Staf- fanson are : Addie, wife of Frank Finlayson, of Fairview, Montana; George, of Sidney; Marie, who became the wife of Mr. Ferris; Frank, of Sidney; Gwendolin, wife of Arthur Jorgenson, of Richland County, and Inez, the youngest of the children and a student in the Montana State Normal at Dillon. Two children have been born to bless the union of Mr. and Mrs. Ferris, Ethel and Arnold Douglas, Jr.

HOWARD G. BENNET. A resident of Great Falls since 1901, present county attorney of Cascade County, Howard G. Bennet has divided his time between his profession as a lawyer and several busi- ness and official connections.

Mr. Bennet was born at Port Jervis, Orange Coun-

Howardh. Brunch

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

ty, New York, February 23, 1875, and represents a very old and honored line of American ancestry. The Bennets were originally French Huguenots. They were connected with the earliest history of the French lace making industry. On account of religious persecution they left France, went to Hol- land, and thence to England. James Bennet came from England to America and settled in the valley of the Delaware River as early as 1668. Mr. Ben- net's grandfather was James Bennet, a New Yorker. The parents of Howard G. Bennet were Galen and Elizabeth (Conkling) Bennet, both natives of Port Jervis, New York, where they were born in the year 1837. The father died at the age of seventy- five in 1912 and the mother in 1900. Elizabeth Conk- ling was a daughter of Dr. John Conkling, a New York state physician, who about 1818 made a pros- pecting tour through the then great West, and ac- quired some extensive real estate investments in Chicago and St. Louis. Galen Bennet was for many years a prominent business man at Port Jervis, New York, owning a flour mill, a saw mill and also a marble and granite business. He was distinguished by a love for fine driving horses. He was an Odd Fellow, a republican and a member of the Dutch Reformed Church.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 9

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