Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 106

Author: Bowen, A.W., & Co., firm, publishers, Chicago
Publication date: [19-?]
Publisher: Chicago : A. W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1374

USA > Montana > Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1 > Part 106

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George W. Blackman attended the public schools

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of Iowa, and in 1857 located in Kansas, where he was identified with agriculture until 1859, when he made the overland journey to Colorado, where the gold excitement was then at its height. He re- mained there a few years and returned home for a visit and then, in 1864, accompanied by his wife, he started with horse teams on the overland journey to Montana. They made the journey from Colorado in the same train with Major Boyce and Charles Curtis, whose names are familiar to old timers. Lo- cating in Nevada City, Mr. Blackman engaged in placer mining in Alder gulch, the great gold camp, until 1868, when he came to the vicinity of the present village of Silver Star, where he continued mining and took up a tract of land and engaged in general ranching. Devoting his attention to agricul- ture and stock growing and also engaging in mer- chandising, Mr. Blackman was actively employed until his death, which occurred on the 27th of February, 1892. The place and business has since been in charge of his sons, who are enterprising and capable young men.

Mr. Blackman always took an intelligent interest in politics and gave an unwavering allegiance to the Democratic party. Fraternally he held membership in the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He com- manded uniform respect and esteem and had the confidence and good will of the community where he made his home for nearly a quarter of a century. In Colorado, on April 28, 1864, Mr. Blackman was united in marriage with Mrs. Augusta (Stewart) Chase, who was born in Michigan and who survives him, as do also three of their four children : George C., engaged in ranching in this county and post- master at Silver Star during Cleveland's second administration ; Addie B., the wife of J. R. Cochran, of Silver Star, and Charles S., who remains on the old homestead.

T ILLIAM J. BORTHWICK is one of the em- inently successful ranch men of Madison county, and was born at Ottawa, Canada, on August 21, 1870, the son of James and Matilda (Marlin) Borthwick, both natives of Ottawa, Canada, where his father followed first blacksmithing and later suc- cessful merchandising. He met his death. in 1896 by being thrown from a vehicle while the team was running at a high rate of speed. He was a brother of William Borthwick, mayor of Ottawa. His Scotch paternalgrandparents, Thomas and Margaret (Tem-

pleton) Borthwick, natives of Edinburgh and Glas- gow, emigrated to Ottawa where Thomas Borth- wick built the first house in the city. Later he fol- lowed farming about six miles from Ottawa, and there discovered the celebrated Borthwick mineral springs. This water has had an extensive sale, and been shipped in large quantities to Europe. Thomas Borthwick died in 1895 aged ninety-five years and the business is being conducted by William Borth- wick, his son.

William J. Borthwick received his education in the excellent public schools of Ottawa, and in 1885, at the age of fifteen, he became an assistant to his father in the store, but shortly afterwards the family removed to Butte, Mont. Here he was employed in a saw mill, and after a few months became a clerk for a short period, soon associating himself with his father in conducting a large restaurant. Six months later they disposed of this enterprise and opened a blacksmith shop, which for ten years was operated successfully. In 1898 Mr. Borthwick enlisted in Company G, First Montana Infantry, and went with his regiment to the Philippines, gallantly participating in all the engagements in which his regiment had part. At the battle of Caloocan, on February 10, 1899, he was wounded in the left arm, and was in the hospital until April 5, when he joined his regiment at San Tomas, continuing to take active part in all engagements and the arduous service in which his regiment participated until July 3, 1899, when they returned to Manila. One week later his company was ordered to Sapoty Bridge, where it did reconnoitering and again re- turned to Manila. On September 20, 1899, the regi- ment arrived at San Francisco and in October it was mustered out of service. Mr. Borthwick is a mem- ber of the Spanish-American War Veterans.

Mr. Borthwick then returned to Butte, and for four months was engaged in the Lowland Mining Company, after which he entered the grocery bus- iness with his brother, Thomas G., which in July. [900, they sold and purchased the Defiance ranch at South Boulder. Here they are profitably engaged in stock raising, having a most eligible location, and they are progressive and enterprising. Thomas G. Borthwick, the younger brother, was born on August 8, 1877. He joined his brother in Montana in 1886, and has since been associated with him in business enterprises, he continued the grocery brisi- ness established by his father, and on his .brother William's return from Manila he associated him as a partner with him in the great "Cash 333

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Grocery" in Butte, and he is now also an equal partner with him in the ranching enterprise in Madison county, near Jefferson Island, the firm being Borthwick Brothers. The mother and a sis- ter came to Montana in 1886 with Thomas G. Borth- wick.

JON. WM. W. MORRIS .- The descendant of H two old Kentucky families of distinguished ancestry, and long prominent in the civil, military and mercantile history of that state, Hon. William W. Morris, of Pony, Madison county, in force of character, masterful self reliance, breadth of cul- ture, courtesy of manner and general good citi- zenship, well bears out the suggestions of his lineage and typifies the excellence of his family.

He was born in Clay county, Mo., April 19, 1840. His parents, John and Emily (Warder) Morris, were natives of Mason county, Ky., where his two grandfathers, David Morris and Walter Warder, were both prominent and influential men, the latter being a renowned Baptist preacher. His father married in Kentucky and removed to Mis- souri early in the 'thirties, locating on a farm three or four miles east of Liberty, in Clay county, and prospered according to the measure of agricultural success in those days. But, with the ambition which characterizes the men of his type, he was on the lookout for something better; and when the gold fever was started by the news from Col. Sut- ton's millrace near Coloma, in California, he be- came a "Forty-niner," crossing the plains as an argonaut in an expedition which occupied three years of his time and rewarded his quest with moderate success. Some years later he made an- other trip, but did not remain long, and soon after his return died in 1866, having survived his wife, who died in 1855. The family consisted of three sons and four daughters. Two of the sons of- fered up their lives on the altar of their country in the Civil war, one dying under the flag of the Confederacy at the battle of Wilson's creek (the first one fought in his native state), and the other soon after the close of the war, from the effects of a cold contracted in service under the flag of the Union.

William W. Morris, the only surviving son, passed his early days and secured his elementary education near Liberty, in his native county, fin- ishing with an academic course at William Jewell College, after which he engaged in business in

Kansas City, remaining and prospering for about three years, from 1859 to 1862. Then, being a pronounced southern sympathizer, he found the at- mosphere of Kansas City unfavorable to his busi- ness and not conducive to his personal safety. On August 25, 1862, he left the place, with almost nothing but the clothes on his back, and went to Santa Fe, N. M., where, after a year, he became a traveling salesman for a St. Louis wholesale drug house. While in this service he sold a bill of goods to John D. Clayton, who was contemplating a removal to Montana. They talked the matter over and decided to make the trip together, coming overland from Nebraska with mule teams. Trains before and after them had trouble with the Indians, but they experienced none. They traveled by way of Forts Bridger and Laramie and the old Cal- ifornia route, arriving in Virginia City June 18, 1864. Here they remained until 1888, starting first in the drug business by opening a drug store in the building in which Jack Gallagher, Boone Helm and the rest of the Plummer gang were hanged. Mr. Morris still owns the building and the beam from which the outlaws were suspended is still there and plainly visible. During these years Mr. Mor- ris was always more or less interested in quartz mining, meeting with varying success. He had an interest in the Broadway mine, which he had ac- quired in the 'seventies, and was very profitable. He sold it in 1881, and the year following bought into the Strawberry, Willow creek and Ned mines, located a mile and a half north of Pony. Since that time he has given his attention almost ex- clusively to developing mines in and near Pony, some of which he owns in equal conjunction with the Elling estate. The properties extend three miles up the range, and include the Clipper and Tweed mines, which have been successfully worked for seven or eight years, and others in active operation.

Mr. Morris has been very active and useful in the development of the commercial, civil and social affairs of the county and state, and justly holds high rank among the leading citizens of the com- monwealth. He was treasurer of Madison county for seven years, represented the county in the state senate three terms, has been school trustee for a long time, and in 1900 was one of the presiden- tial electors for the state, and was deputized by the electoral college to take the vote to Washington. He is a Democrat in politics, and fraternally is a member of the order of Elks. He was married

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February 21, 1867, to Miss Adeline Winifred Chew, a native of Missouri, daughter of Dr. Joseph Chew, a Virginian, who removed from his native state when a young man and settled in Missouri, where he rose to eminence in his profession and in the affairs of the state, being several times chosen to the state legislature, and called to fill other important positions. Mr. and Mrs. Morris have three children. Of the sons, W. C. was educated at William Jewell College, and C. E. at the Ogden Military School. Both are in business with their father, the latter is an assayer and mining engineer and is the assayer for the mines in which they are all interested. He was married February 24, 1897, to Miss Nina Aileen, daughter of R. B. and V. J. (Jordan) Wampler, of Pony, of whom extended mention is made elsewhere in this volume. The daughter, Mary Leah Morris, is a young lady of unusual promise and accomplishments. Through- out her life she has diligently improved her oppor- tunities, and has thereby become a well informed and cultivated lady in scholastic and social lines, and has also acquired great skill in the graceful and dainty handicraft by which ladies make home at- tractive. Of all the children it is but fair to say that they are worthy followers of the parents who have trained them, and exemplify in their lives the fine old southern chivalry, as well as the enterprise, thrift and business acumen, for which their pro- genitors are so highly and so justly esteemed.

T THOMAS D. BOYLE .- Since our race is not yet thoroughly harmonized in feeling, exalted in purpose or convergent in effort, and the robber, and the murderer, and the petty criminal still skulk and prowl among us, insulting the lone majesty of night by revealments of their hideous work, render- ing the presence of numerous police and tipstaves necessary, no class of public servants is deserving of greater consideration than those engaged in the administration of its police system-the conservators of the peace and guardians of life and property. Among the men who exhibit in this department the most agreeable conjunction of qualities for its best results is Thomas D. Boyle, justice of the police court in Butte. He was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, on April 13, 1847, both his parents, Martin M. and Catharine (Sause) Boyle, being natives of the same county. When he was a year old they emigrated to America, and settled in Pennsylvania.

There his father engaged in mining until his death. They had eleven children, Judge Boyle being the tenth. He attended the district schools of the neighborhood until he was sixteen years old, and then enlisted in Company C, Forty-eighth Pennsyl- vania Volunteers, and went into active service in 1863.

His regiment was a part of the Ninth Army Corps in Burnside's command, and his first battle was that of Knoxville, Tenn. He was wounded at Shady Grove Church on June 3, 1864, and sent to the field hospital. But not considering the wound serious and eager to be in the midst of the fight, lame as he was, he hobbled to the front and joined his regiment in time to be deep in the deluge of death at Cold Harbor and to go through all the sub- sequent bloody struggles of that campaign. For, al- though wounded again in August in front of Peters- burg, he continued with his regiment with only a week's intermission, and was in every campaign to the end of the war, being mustered out of the service on July 28, 1865, as a private and next to the youngest in the regiment. He then returned to Pennsylvania and engaged for ten years in mining. In1 1876 he removed to Colorado, stopping first at San Juan county and after a few months going to Leadville. In 1880 he went to Arizona and mined and prospected for a while, later returning to Colo- rado, there joining the stampede to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, where he remained until 1884. when he changed his base of operations to Butte, which has become his permanent home. He was measurably successful in his mining, having owned some of the largest mines in Colorado.

In Butte he also engaged in mining with success, but in 1896 he accepted the position of city jailer, which he held until 1901, when he was elected judge of the police court of the city, and is now serving in that capacity. He was the candidate of the regular or straight Democracy and received a plurality of 462 votes over three opponents. It is almost needless to say that with his preparation for work by his varied and arduous experience and the naturally judicial turn of his mind, he is administer- ing the duties of his office in a manner which is winning him the approbation of all the best ele- ments of the community, and the respect as well as the righteous fear of all the worst. Off the bench he has all the geniality, ready wit and other social qualities of his race, and a great fund of entertain- ing and instructive information. Judge Boyle was united in marriage to Miss Catharine Call, a native

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of Pennsylvania, before he left that state. They have three daughters, Annie, born in 1872, now Mrs. Smith; she has four children; Mary, born in 1874, now Mrs. Bert Carr, and Katie, born in 1876, who abides with him and aids in making the pa- rental home a pleasant one. In religious faith he is a Roman Catholic, zealously attentive to his church duties. He is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was at one time senior vice-com- mander of Lincoln Post No. 2, of Butte.

RT. REV. L. R. BREWER .- That "Righteous- ness exalteth a nation, while sin is a reproach to any people," has the sanction of Divine authority and long centuries of human experience. If the zeal and devotion of her missionaries and clergy, the spirit and vigor of her church organizations, the industry and earnestness of her congregations and the liberality and loyalty of her individual com- municants of all denominations, be any gauge of the religious condition of a state, Montana, new, wild and undeveloped as she is, gives abundant proof of righteousness among her people. It is true that the graceful spire or lofty dome, the vaulted roof or storied window, the plain pediment or polished pillar, indicating the place of some sa- cred altar, does not confront them at every turn, as in older communities. "The sound of the church- going bell" is not always in their ears, as in those denser populations. For the field is large and, though it may be white with the harvest, the labor- ers are few in comparison with sections long settled and civilized. But the spirit of conquest and conse- cration is present, and the gratifying evidences of progress are everywhere manifest to the discerning eye. Of the evangelizing forces among her people, none is wiser in counsel, more assiduous in effort, more resolute in endurance or more prolific in good results than the Protestant Episcopal church, under the direction of Bishop Leigh Richmond Brewer, of Helena. This organization, while not the first on the ground nor the most voluminous in force, has nevertheless accomplished a work highly creditable to the agencies the church has been able to employ, and which has set in motion widening streams of benefaction throughout the commonwealth.

The first Episcopal service within the limits of Montana was held at Virginia City on July 18, 1867, by Bishop Tuttle, then just arrived from the east as missionary bishop of Montana, Utah and

Idaho, assisted by Rev. E. N. Goddard. But be- fore the anniversary of this date, St. Paul's church was built at a cost of about $3,500, and on May 24, 1868, it was first used for worship. Progress was necessarily slow, and many times those most inter- ested almost lost heart. But that good seed was sown and that much of it fell on fruitful ground, can be shown by a comparison of conditions. During his first year Bishop Tuttle visited only two places in Montana, and in the fourth year the number was but twelve. His record for 1874 gives thirty-four baptisms, thirty-one confirmations, 116 communi- cants, seventeen Sunday-school teachers and 14I scholars. Three months were occupied in his visi- tation and services were held in twenty-eight places. For 1879 the record shows fifty-one confirmations, 368 communicants and 487 Sunday school scholars. Four and a half months were consumed in his visi- tation. This was his last report, for the next year, ir. compliance with his urgent and oft-repeated ap- peal, Montana was set apart as a separate mission- ary field. He chose Utah and Idaho as his part of the divided jurisdiction, and the Rev. Leigh Rich- mond Brewer was elected missionary bishop of Montana. He was consecrated in December and reached his field of labor two months later, in Feb- ruary, 1881.

Bishop Brewer was born at Berkshire, Vt., on January 20, 1839. His parents were Sykes and Laura (Crawton) Brewer, also natives of Vermont, where his father was a prosperous farmer. There were eight children in the family, of whom the future bishop was the fifth. He attended the pub- lic schools at Berkshire and Enosburg until he was sixteen years old, then at Canton Academy prepared for Hobart College where he was graduated in 1863. After leaving college he taught school two . years, acting as a private tutor and studying theolo- gy at the same time. He was graduated from the General Theological Seminary in 1866, was ad- mitted to the diaconate by Bishop H. Potter in the Church of the Annunciation, New York, on July 1, 1866, and was advanced to the priesthood by Bishop Coxe in Christ church, Oswego, N. Y., on June 16, 1867. He was the next six years in charge of Grace church at Carthage, and then be- came rector of Trinity church at Watertown, where he remained until elected missionary bishop of Montana. There he was consecrated in his own parish church on December 8, 1880, by Bishops Huntington, Tuttle, Bissell. B. H. Paddock and B. Victor Morris. In 1881 his alma mater, Hobart

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College, conferred upon him the degree of S. T. D. Since his arrival in Montana the Bishop has resided in Helena, and has given himself wholly to the work of his bishopric. The church has grown un- der his tireless and skillful ministrations with grati- fying steadiness, if not always with desired rapidity. He has witnesssed its healthy development through the primary stages, first the blade, then the ear, and is now laboring, as earnestly, as sedulously, as con- scientiously as ever, to bring forth the full corn in the car. He found four church edifices and two rectories, worth in all about $23,000, belonging to the church when he came. Besides himself there were eight clergymen, reaching eighteen places with services, and the number of communicants was less than 400. In his first visitation he traveled more than 4,000 miles, only thirty of them by rail, held services in fifty-two places, and had forty-seven con- firmations. During the year hie paid off a debt of more than $2,000 on St. Peter's church at Helena, consecrated the church and purchased a rectory. He also built St. John's church in Butte, at a cost of $13,000, and began work in a new field in Beav- erhead county under the ministrations of Rev. E. G. Prout.

Twenty years of toil always arduous, of struggle sometimes seemingly hopeless, of disappointments often keen and privations ever pressing, have passed since then, and they have registered a steady and substantial growth. The number of clergymen besides the bishop in Montana has increased to twenty-four, church buildings to twenty-nine, rec- tories to fourteen, communicants to more than 2,500 and the value of the church property to more than $300,000. There are four parishes and forty-three organized missions where regular services are held and more than twenty additional places reached by occasional ministrations. A bishop's house has been purchased and endowments for the future diocese, starting in 1883 with an offering of $12 and now amounting to about $20,000, have been secured. Moreover, a parish school and a hospital have been put in active operation and conducted with the best facilities available for their work. The hospital, St. Peter's in Helena, was erected in 1887 at a first cost of $30,000, and, after thirteen years of noble work in ameliorating human suffer- ing and caring for the sick, it was destroyed by fire on March 16, 1901, thus laying the church and the friends of humanity under tribute for an additional sum of $5,000 for its restoration to usefulness. This has been provided and the hospital has been

rebuilt. But both it and the parish schools are yet . totally inadequate to the demands upon them, which grow in volume as the population increases. It is proposed to build a new hospital in the imme- diate future to cost the church more than the old one.

Throughout all the difficulties of his situation Bishop Brewer has preserved the mens aequa in arduis which characterizes men of heroic mold. Every detail of the work in all the vast scope of his territory has passed under his critical review. To the schools and the hospital he has given the closest and most constant personal attention. To his coadjutors in ministerial and parochial labor, he has applied with a judicious hand stimulus where zeal was flagging and restraint where pru- dence slept. To the body of the church he has communicated his own energy, enthusiasm and cheerful faith in ultimate results. To the liberal friends of the organization elsewhere he has ap- pealed for aid with dignity, discretion and good returns. And to men of all classes, creeds and conditions around him he has been gracious, help- ful, tolerant and obliging. He was married at Canton, N. Y., on July 10, 1866, to Miss Henrietta W. Foote, daughter of Henry and Amelia Foote, of that, town, and has one daughter, Jennie E., now the wife of Richard Mead Atwater, a mining engineer living in Australia.

V VIRGIL F. BLANKENBAKER .- The gentle- man to whose career we now direct attention traces his lineage to stanch old southern stock and he is today one of the representative young stock- growers of Choteau county, where he has extensive interests and is held in the highest estimation. Pro- gressive and ambitious, he has discerned and taken advantage of the opportunities presenting, and has won success worthy the name. Mr. Blankenbaker is a native of Missouri, having been born in Howard county, on October 20, 1864. His father, Andrew S. Blankenbaker, was born in Madison county, Va .. in October, 1832, and was but three years of age when his parents removed to Missouri, his father, Jonas Blankenbaker, being a pioneer of that state, where Andrew S. was reared and educated and where he has been identified with agricultural pur- suits from his youth. His wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Knox, is a native of South Caro- lina, where she was born in 1842, and she accom- panied her parents to Missouri in her childhood.

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Virgil F. Blankenbaker attended the public schools of Howard county, Mo., and completed his education in the Hooper Institute at Clarksburg, Mo. In March, 1886, he came to Montana, and for about three years was employed on the sheep ranch of his cousin, Robert Blankenbaker, near Great Falls. In the fall of 1889 he located Homestead and Desert claims on the Missouri river, near the present station of Big Sandy, on the Great Northern, the place being then known as Coalbank Landing. Here he now has a fine ranch property of 1,500 acres, in addition to which he has a large amount of excellent open range for grazing purposes, and gives his entire attention to the sheep business, handling a high grade. Success has attended his operations, which are constantly increasing in scope. He is also interested in the cattle business with the Blankenbaker Brothers and with R. L. Thompson & Co. The station of the Great Northern located on his ranch was named Virgelle, in honor of himself and his wife, from a combination of the first syl- lables of their first names. Mr. Blankenbaker takes an active interest in local affairs, and is a stalwart supporter of the Democratic party. In Howard county, Mo., on October 27, 1897, Mr. Blankenbaker wedded Miss Ella M. Chancellor, who was born in that county on December 8, 1866, the daughter of Brown M. Chancellor, a prominent farmer of that county and a native of Virginia.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 106

Author: Bowen, A.W., & Co., firm, publishers, Chicago Publication date: [19-?] Publisher: Chicago : A. W. Bowen & Co. Number of Pages: 1374

Author: Bowen, A.W., & Co., firm, publishers, Chicago
Publication date: [19-?]
Publisher: Chicago : A. W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1374