Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 93

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 93

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On October 23, 1902, Mr. Ereaux was married at Little Falls, Minnesota, to Miss Claris Houle, a daughter of Henry Houle and his wife, Sarah (Ducette) Houle, both of whom were born in Quebec, Canada, but came to the United States in

1878 and homesteaded in Morrison County, Minne- sota, where they have since resided, having been farming people all of their mature years. Mr. and Mrs. Houle became the parents of the following children: Joseph; Mrs. Ereaux, born on December 14, 1880; Adelor: David; Paul; Clara, who married a Mr. Johnson and died; Jacob, in the parental home; and Eva, who married John Becott. All of the surviving children live near their parents ex- cept Mrs. Ereaux and Mrs. Becott, the latter being a resident of Canada. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Ereaux are as follows: Lillian, Freddie, Theodore and Sadie.

BENJAMIN F. STEVENS, of Dodson, is one of the men who has made history in the Milk River region as a stockman, having been identified with it since 1893. He was born near McGregor, Iowa, January 19, 1863, a son of Christopher Howard Stevens, a native of Georgia but reared in Kentucky. He was married at Sprig Springs, Kentucky, to Catherine Benton, a daughter of William Benton, a native of New York State who moved to Kentucky early in the history of that state. Mrs. Stevens was also born in New York State, and she died at Stockton, California, in 1887, having borne her husband the following children: William Howard, who left home with his brother, Benjamin F., and stopped at Alton, Illinois; Annie, who died in infancy; Benjamin F., and several who died in infancy. The father of these children died in 1866, and when the sons left home their mother went out to the Coast and lived at Stockton. She died as Mrs. Hugh Jackson. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens had lived for a time on a farm near McGregor, Iowa, prior to his death.

When he was only seventeen years old Benjamin F. Stevens started West and came as far as Sidney, Nebraska, by rail, and then went with a freight outfit to Deadwood, South Dakota. There he struck the outfit with which he traveled from Bellefourche to Miles City, Montana. When he left home he had no special objective point in view, but was look- ing for a suitable location, as he and his brother had become tired of the conditions in Clayton County, Iowa, where they had grown up on a farm, and thought Montana would furnish more excitement and better opportunities. On the trip West he passed by Camp Crook on the Little Missouri to old Stoneville, now Alzada, and every day saw herds of buffalo, and occasionally bands of Indians, real war parties which had escaped from the reservation. The horses of the Pennell & Roberts outfit with which he was traveling were guarded nightly to save from the thieving Indians. Mr. Stevens had his share of buffalo hunting to provide fresh meat for the party, and. because of that he is entitled to be numbered among the early "buffalo hunters" of the state. Young as he was he had some means, and had brought quite a number of horses with him, and it was to protect them, quite as much as him- self, that he joined this outfit.

Reaching Miles City, Mr. Stevens secured employ- ment on the construction of the Big Horn Tunnel on the Great Northern Railroad, and he left his horses with a partner and pushed on with the rail- road to Livingston, and spent a year at Junction City. His first work as a cowboy was with the Chouteau Livestock Company, and he came into the Milk River Valley with cattle in company with Shonkin Pool, foreman of the Jungsbury or "two- bar" outfit. with which Mr. Stevens' own cattle were running. Prior to coming to the Valley he had been in the Big Sag country south of Fort Benton as a ranch hand and cowman, A. W. Kingsbury of Great Falls being one of the proprietors of the outfit.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

Not long after he located in the Milk River coun- try he began adding to his cattle, and also handled horses, adopting as his brand for the former the "lazy HA," and the "lazy LA" brand for his horses. When he selected a location for his permanent ranch he settled at the mouth of Peoples Creek, now in Phillips County, then on the Fort Belknap Reserva- tion, and his ranch headquarters occupied his wife's allotment of the reservation. He has maintained his stock interests here ever since, and it is a source of gratification to him that all of his ventures have been connected with the business of food production.

Mr. Stevens connected himself with Dodson as a · resident in 1917, buying the old Waddell residence, the largest and most comfortable in the city, which was erected by a former merchant of Dodson, whose career in this neighborhood terminated some time ago. In addition to his ranch Mr. Stevens is a stockholder in the Dodson Co-operative Association, and he was one of the promoters of the old Dodson Bank, but retired from the banking business in 1920.

When Mr. Stevens cast his first vote it was for a democratic candidate, and he continued to be allied with that party until the second Cleveland adminis- tration, when he was not in accord with his party on the tariff question and so became a protectionist and republican, and since then has voted for the candidates of the latter party in national affairs. He has never joined any fraternal order or society.

On September 27, 1893, Mr. Stevens was united in marriage at the Ereaux ranch on Peoples Creek to" Miss Rosalie Ereaux, a daughter of "Curley" Ereaux, who came from Quebec, Canada, where he was born, to the United States at a very early day, and then to Montana. He is of French ancestry, and is an uncle of Ezra Ereaux. Mrs. Ereaux was formerly Mary Pipewoman, of the Grosventre tribe of Indians, and was born in Montana. Mrs. Stevens was born on the Teton River near Fort Benton, Mon- tana, December 4, 1875, and is one of the following children: Julia, who is the wife of Al Schultz; Mrs. Stevens, who was the second child; Frank, who is a ranchman of Peoples Creek; and Cecelia, who is deceased, was Mrs. L. Minugh. After attending the convent at Saint Peters, Montana, Mrs. Stevens went to the public schools of Augusta, Montana, and the tribal school at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and is a very well educated and highly accomplished lady. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens have the following children: Es- ther, who married Frank Hutchins, of Dodson, Mon- tana; Benjamin L., who is a ranchman on Peoples Creek, married Gwen Evans, and has a daughter, Alloa; Katie, who is the wife of John D. McDon- nell, has a daughter, Cecelia, and is ranching near Lewiston, Montana; Marie, who married Clarence Mills, of Dodson; Julia, who is a high school student at Chinook; and Helen and Rosalie, both of whom live at home.

ADOLPH EREAUX. The name of Ereaux is con- nected with some of the constructive citizenship of the Milk River country, and the upright gentlemen who bear it are a credit to their parents and the localities in which they have cast their lot. One of them is Adolph Ereaux, manager of the Dodson Co-operative Association, and a man of a varied ex- perience in different lines of business, in some of which he was associated with his brother, Ezra Ereaux, in whose biography is to be found a com- plete history of the Ereaux family.

Adolph Ereaux was born in Morrison County, Minnesota, October 5, 1884, a son of Mitchell Ereaux, a native of Quebec, Canada, of French descent, who came to the United States at an early day and be-

came one of the worth-while citizens of this great country and an important man in Morrison County, Minnesota. The eighth child born to his parents, Adolph Ereaux was reared on a farm near Bell Prairie, Minnesota, and attended the neighborhood schools. When he was twelve years old he lost his father, and he assisted his mother, and the two are still close companions, she making her home with him.

In 1900 Mr. Ereaux came to Montana, his sole capital being one nickel and two pennies when he arrived, and he earned his first money on the ranch of his uncle, "Curley" Ereaux, on Milk River. When he left that ranch he went to the Bear Paw Moun- tains and joined his brother Ezra, and the two were ranch hands for Frank Parker. Subsequently Mr. Ereaux engaged with Mose Anderson, a stock- man near Chinook, Montana, and remained with him all summer, and then he and Ezra returned to their uncle's ranch for the winter of 1901. While work- ing for him they also began to haul logs for the improvement of their claims, which were side by side on Milk River, near Wagner. For nine years Adolph Ereaux remained on his homestead, and dur- ing that time he was engaged in handling cattle and horses, and is still so engaged.

Leaving his ranch Mr. Ereaux embarked in a liv- ery business at Wagner, putting up what was prob- ably the first house in the hamlet, and he also dealt quite extensively in real estate, making both ventures pay him while he spent five years there. He then came to Dodson and erected. the first garage in the city, and ran the second car on its streets, and when he had placed the business on a firm foundation he sold it and turned his attention to merchandising and is now utilizing his energies as manager of the Dod- son Co-operative Association.

Reared in a home where democratic influences held sway, Mr. Ereaux, strange to say, cast his first presi- dential vote for a republican candidate, and he still holds allegiance to the latter party. For several years he has served as a member of the City Council of Dodson, and has been recently re-elected. The present body will have the direction of the expendi- ture of $30,000 for the extension of sewers, side- walks and expansion of the electric light plant.

On January 12, 1916, Mr. Ereaux was married at Dodson, Montana, to Miss Ida Hoope, born in Penn- sylvania in 1887, who came to Montana in 1915 and became a homesteader. Her father, who was a Penn- sylvanian farmer of German ancestry, is deceased, but her mother survives and is now living in Phillips, as are her six children, namely : Henry, Mrs. Ereaux, Fred, Mrs. Margaret Ernest, Bertha and Louis. Mr. and Mrs. Ereaux have two children, Loraine and Victor.

Mr. Ereaux is a product of the great West, and having passed through much of the formative period of Montana feels a proprietary interest in the com- monwealth which would not be his if he had come here after. everything had been settled, for he has had the privilege of bearing his part in the great work, both as one of the historic "cowboys" and ranchmen. Later he has rendered equally valuable service as a business man, and has directed wisely and efficiently the civic affairs of his ward as a member of the City Council of his municipality. It is more than likely in the years to come that he will be called upon to exert himself to a still greater extent, for the people need such men as he to rep- resent them in office.

EDGAR LEE, of Dodson, one of the early settlers here, came to this region in 1899 from Winterset, Iowa, having been born in that state, in Madison

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

County, on March 22, 1876. His father was Hamil- ton Lee, born at Utica, Ohio, September 25, 1854, a son of Elisha Bowman Lee, who took his family to Iowa when Hamilton was ten years old. Subse- quently he became one of the early settlers of Kan- sas, and then, still later, went into Nebraska and died near Great Bend a few years later. Elisha B. Lee married Ann Shields, who survived her husband many years and passed away at Great Bend in 1916, aged ninety-three years. Their children who reached mature years were as follows: John, who is a farmer of Ness County, Nebraska; Mary, who mar- ried William Dabney, lives at North Platte, Ne- braska; Hamilton, who became the father of Edgar Lee; Martha, who married Daniel Bird, died in Barton County, Kansas; and Frances, who became the wife of Charley Gunn, of Great Bend.

Elisha B. Lee was a whig and later a republican, and he furnished a son to the Union Army during the war between the North and the South. Physically he was a man of large stature and was very vigorous. For many years he was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

During his young manhood Hamilton Lee was en- gaged in teaching school, but when he married he became a farmer. Several months after his son Edgar had come into Montana and reported favor- ably of the region Hamilton Lee followed, bring- ing his family by rail to Dodson, then represented by one building in addition to the station house. In this was a general store, saloon and post office, all kept by W. S. Collins, and all in one room. Mr. Lee entered his homestead just east of Dodson, and erected on it a frame house of six rooms. This was one of the most comfortable and commodious houses for many miles, and the settlers envied the Lees their home. Here Hamilton Lee began rais- ing horses and cattle, running the former under the brand "E-bar-A" and that of the latter was "re- verse KZ." By the time he retired he was shipping quite extensively, and was a man of large means. Upon leaving his ranch he located at Kalispell, Mon- tana, where he educated his youngest child, but died at Los Angeles, California, May 2, 1919. In his last years he was a democrat in politics, while for many years he maintained fraternal relations with the Masonic lodge.

On January 1, 1874, Hamilton Lee was married to Miss Martha J. Robinson, a daughter of Milton and Mary E. (Spencer) Robinson. Mrs. Lee was born in Delaware County, Iowa, in March, 1855, and was educated in the common schools of her native state. Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton Lee became the par- ents of the following children: Cora, who is the wife of Charles Ross, one of the commissioners of Phillips County and a ranchman near Dodson; Ed- gar, whose name heads this review; Laura, who is a stenographer at Cutbank, Montana; Roy, who is a ranchman near Dodson, married Minnie Nelson ; and Mercedes, who lives at Dodson.

Edgar Lee attended school at Winterset, Iowa, and having learned farming has continued in this line. He entered his homestead when he came to the Milk River country adjoining that of his father, one mile out of Dodson, but his pioneer home was only a one-room log house. When he married he replaced it with one of three rooms, which is now used as the tenant's house on the farm. His was a blue joint hay claim, and he did not disturb much of the soil to farm it until the Government irrigation project came through. Since then he has engaged in alfalfa raising and general farming. Now that his land is irrigated he can do so with a certainty of results, but prior to that farming was only a gamble. In 1915 Mr. Lee improved a property ad-

jacent to Dodson, and has a seven-room cottage. His barn is 30 by 40 feet, with mow room for twenty-five tons of hay, and for a time he was en- gaged in dairying.

Mr. Lee is a democrat, casting his first presidential vote in 1900 for William Jennings Bryan. He has served Dodson as a member of its school board, and was deputy assessor of Chouteau County for a couple of years under Assessor A. E. Lewis.

On February 12, 1907, Mr. Lee was married at Havre, Montana, to Miss Julia G. O'Riley. Mrs. Lee was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 8, 1889, a daughter of Thomas B. and Mary M. (Best) O'Riley. Mr. O'Riley was born in Canada, and was an excavation contractor, who came to Montana dur- ing the construction of the Great Northern Rail- road, as he had some of the contracts for its dump construction. He finally settled at Exeter, took a homestead, and died there in July, 1915, when seventy-eight years old. Mrs. O'Riley survives and lives at Dodson. The O'Riley children are as fol- lows: Mrs. Daniel Nicholson, Mrs. James Fineran, Percy, Bernard, and Mrs. Lee. Mr. and Mrs. Lee have two children, Frances and Donald.

AUG. SCHWACHHEIM. Improvement and progress may well be said to form the keynote of the char- acter of Aug. Schwachheim, a well known citizen of Cascade and one of the representative citizens of Central Montana. He has not only been interested in the work of advancement of individual affairs, but his influence has been felt in the upbuilding of the community which is honored by his citizenship. The prosperity which he enjoys is the result of energy rightly applied and has been won by com- mendable -qualities.

Aug. Schwachheim was born in Germany on Feb- ruary 25, 1864, and is the youngest of the nine chil- dren born to Frank and Caroline (Jung) Schwach- heim, both of whom were also natives of Germany. These parents are both deceased, the father dying in 1914, when eighty-nine years of age, and the mother passing away when the subject of this sketch was a mere child. Frank Schwachheim was a miller by vocation, and spent his entire life in the father- land. He was a member of the Baptist Church and was a man of fine character and industrious habits.

Aug. Schwachheim was reared under the parental roof and secured a good education in the public schools of his native community. At the age of nineteen years he immigrated to the United States, landing at New York City, whence he proceeded to Cleveland, Ohio, where he spent a year, being employed as a miller, which trade he had learned be- fore leaving his native land. From there he went to Pontiac, Illinois, where he worked at the same trade for a year and a half. The next few years were spent at Hudson, New Richmond and Boardman, Wisconsin, working as a miller, and he was next at Goodthunder, Minnesota, and other places, includ- ing Montevideo and Rush City, where he was em- ployed as head miller. In 1899-1900 he superintended the construction of a mill at Cambridge, Minnesota, for the Cambridge Milling Company, of which he was a stockholder and secretary and treasurer. In 1910 he disposed of his interest in that enterprise and came to Cascade, Montana, where he became secre- tary and treasurer of the Cascade Milling & Ele- vator Company. In 1916, in company with others, he bought a flour mill at Manhattan, Montana, and organized the State Milling Company, of which he became president. He is also president of the State Elevator Company, vice president of the First State Bank of Cascade, a stockholder in the State Bank of Power, and president of the Craig Merchandise

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

Company at Craig. In all these enterprises Mr. Schwachheim has been a moving spirit ,and much of the success which has attended them has been due to his energetic and persevering methods, as well as his sound discrimination and shrewd judgment in business affairs.

On June 9, 1892, Mr. Schwachheim was married to Augusta Johnson, who was born in Belleplaine, Minnesota, and to them have been born two children, Mildred, the wife of John R. Rumney, and Franklin, who is attending school.

Mr. Schwachheim is an appreciative member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, having been raised in Elkton Lodge No. 58, at Elkton, South Da- kota, in 1890. He later demitted and became a char- ter member of Meridian Lodge No. 105 at Cascade. He is an attendant of and liberal contributor to the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which his wife is a member. Politically he gives his support to the republican party. As a man of affairs he has long filled a distinctive place in the public eye, and as a leader in important business enterprises he has at- tained distinction in a field where sound erudition, mature judgment and strict integrity are required. Because of these qualities, which he possesses to a marked degree, Mr. Schwachheim enjoys the confi- dence and esteem of the entire community. He has been chairman of the Board of Education of Dis- trict No. 3, Cascade County, for the past eight years.

W. H. BALLY. The State of Montana extends a broad welcome to such progressive and enter- prising families as the Ballys, who a few years ago located in Flathead County, and have identified them- selves with the ranching interests around Kalispell.

Mr. Bally was born in Ford County, Illinois, Oc- tober 22, 1875, a son of Christopher and Nancy (Blackford) Bally, being the oldest in their family of seven children. He was reared and educated in the public schools of Illinois, and in that state he married Barbara Edna Tanton. Mrs. Bally was born in Cazenovia, Woodford County, Illinois, a daughter of T. O. and Barbara (Ginrich) Tanton. Her grandfather was a Union soldier in the Civil war. She was educated in the public schools of Illinois.

For a number of years after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Bally lived at Burnside in Hancock Coun- ty, Illinois, where he developed a prosperous busi- ness as a plumber. Three children were born to their marriage, Edith Tanton, Maud Loomis and Lois Nancy.

Deciding to seek a new home in the Far West, Mr. and Mrs. Bally came to Montana in 1914, and subsequently bought their home ranch of 197 acres ten miles northeast of Kalispell. Mr. Bally at once entered with characteristic energy and public spirit into his own work and the welfare of the com- munity. He was associated with other men of the locality in 1920 in organizing the Northwest Po- tato Exchange, the purpose of which is to facili- tate production by better seeding and cultivation, the grading and standardization and the marketing of farm products in general. It is an organization in line with the most advanced thought on agricul- tural matters and promises great benefit to its mem- bership. Mr. Bally is one of those most enthusiastic in the Exchange and is a stockholder and director.

Mr. and Mrs. Bally attend the Methodist Episcopal Church at Kalispell, of which Mrs. Bally is a mem- ber. Politically he makes his choice of candidates and measures with little respect to party lines. He is a member of the fraternal Order of Elks. Mr. and Mrs. Bally have utilized their resources and

opportunities wisely, and have ideals to guide them, believing in a full and well ordered life. During the early summer of 1920 they enjoyed an interest- ing excursion, accompanied by their three daugh- ters, taking an automobile tour through Washing- ton, Oregon and California.

HENRY THIEN established and has been one of the active officials of the State Bank of Ryegate for the past ten years. Mr. Thien was formerly engaged in banking and in other lines of commer- cial activity in Minnesota and North Dakota. He has achieved much business success, is a man highly regarded in his home community, and has also reared a family to do him honor, several of his sons having made patriotic records during the World war.

Mr. Thien was born at Richmond, Minnesota, De- cember 12, 1863. His father, Joseph Thien, was born in Hanover, Germany, in 1821, son of a Han- overian farmer. Joseph Thien as a young man was employed in the postal service in Germany. In 1846 he came to the United States, and was a general contractor at St. Louis for a number of years. In 1861 he went to Minnesota, then a pioneer country, and established his home on new land at Richmond. He acquired extensive land interests and developed a large farm there. He was retired after 1886 and lived at Richmond until his death in 1894. He always considered the interests of the community his own, held several local offices, was a democrat in politics and a member of the Catholic Church. Joseph Thien married Maria Helena Terhorst, who was born in Hanover in 1828 and died at Richmond, Minnesota, in 1901. They were the parents of five children : Catherine, who died at Richmond aged fourteen; Anna, who died at Richmond, where her husband, John Suerken, a retired farmer, still lives; Henry; Margaret, wife of A. Abeln, a farmer at Richmond, Minnesota; and Josephine, who died young.

Henry Thien acquired a rural school education in Stearns County, Minnesota, and graduated in 1880 in the commercial course of St. John's University at Collegeville in the same county. His business career comprises a record of forty years. For two years he was a deputy in some of the county offices of Stearns County, spent 11/2 years in the office of D. B. Searle, an attorney at St. Cloud, was for two years cashier of the Bank of Melrose, Minne- sota, and then organized and for four years was cashier of the Bank of Browerville, Minnesota. Leaving his native state he went to Bisbee, North Dakota, and was actively associated there with the banking and lumber business from 1897 to 1910.

Mr. Thien identified himself with Ryegate in 1911, and soon afterward organized the State Bank. He was its cashier for several years and since 1918 has been vice president and active manager. The other officers of the bank are: P. A. Hilbert, pres- ident; and H. G. Jacobson, cashier. The bank has performed a distinctive service to Musselshell Coun- ty. It has a capital of $20,000, surplus and undi- vided profits of $20,000, and its deposits aggregate $250,000. Mr. Thien is also president of the Hil- bert-Thien Company, handling real estate and loans at Ryegate.

In politics he is a republican, is a member of the Town Council of Ryegate, and is affiliated with the Catholic Church. Mr. Thien married at St. Cloud, Minnesota, in 1886, Miss Ida Huhn, daughter of Rudolph and Elizabeth (Mockenhaupt) Huhn, her mother still living at St. Cloud. The father, who died at St. Cloud, was one of the first residents of that Minnesota community, going there in 1858 and

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 93

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