Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 116

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 116

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her marriage. She is a lady of energy and public spirit, conducting her business affairs with indus- try and success, and in addition taking part in the proceedings of the Order of the Eastern Star and the Independent Order of Good Templars, and in the latter she has served as vice-grand templar of the state. In 1896, four years before the death of her husband, she suffered a serious bereavement in the death by typhoid fever of her youngest daughter, Bertie May Curtis, a very attractive young lady of great popularity. This leaves only three of her nine children surviving to comfort her declining years.

JOHN W. DALE .- One of the leading educa- tors of Montana, active and serviceable in sev- eral of her public schools as principal and force- ful in her school councils as an enlightening and stimulating factor, John W. Dale, principal of the Garfield school in Butte, brought to the dis- charge of his important and delicate duties the fruits of a long and exhaustive course of prepara- tion and the power of a well ripened judgment. He was born at Toronto, Ontario, October 14, 1855, the son of Matthew and Mary (Dodsworth) Dale, the former a native of Toronto and the lat- ter of York, England. They are now living re- tired at Toronto after a successful career at farm- ing. Mr. Dale received a thorough education, at- tending the public schools of Toronto, which he followed with a full course in the academic depart- ment of Collingwood Collegiate Institute, from which he was graduated in 1877. The next year he was graduated from the New Market Model School, and in 1881 from the Teachers' Normal School of Toronto. Thereafter, until 1886, he was a teacher in the Ontario public schools. He then removed to Pontiac, Mich., and later to Leon- ard, Mich., where he served as principal of the pub- lic schools for seven years. In 1893 he came to Montana and, settling at Forsyth, was principal of the schools for eight months, at the end of which he removed to Elkhorn and there held the same position for a year, and after that held it for two years at Boulder. In 1897 he took up his residence at Butte and became principal of the Meaderville school, but two months later was made principal of the Garfield school, a position he has since continuously filled with credit to him- self and satisfaction to the patrons of the school. In politics Mr. Dale is a Republican and takes

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an active interest in the affairs of the party. Fraternally he belongs to Pontiac Tent No. 47, K. O. T. M. He has also been closely and potentially connected with the labor organiza- tions of the city and state, and was president of the Workingmen's Union five consecutive terms, the oldest labor organization in the city, and from it is formed the Trades Assembly. Mr. Dale is secretary of the Silver Bow Trades and Labor Assembly, and for a number of years has been a delegate from the Workingmen's Union to the State Central Council. He was married at Ham- ilton, Ontario, in 1882, to Miss Mary Ashbury, a native of that city, where she was born in 1862. For twelve years she was a teacher in the schools of Michigan and Montana. They have two chil- dren: Harry, aged eighteen, and Lily, aged six- teen.

ILLIAM H. DAVEY .- Recognized as an able and discriminating executive and as one of the leading business men of Butte, it is certainly incumbent that specific mention should be made of Mr. Davey. He was born in Louisville, St. Law- rence county, N. Y., on August 1, 1862, the only child of Thomas and Elizabeth (Gilmore) Davey. Thomas Davey, likewise a New Yorker, descended from ancestors resident of the state for over a century. An active man of affairs, he followed various vocations and was successively a hotel keeper, a merchant and a farmer. Both Thomas and Elizabeth Davey died in New York, where she was also born and where her father located shortly after the close of the Revolution.

William H. Davey, after receiving a good edu- cation in the public schools, engaged in teaching. He started westward in 1881, and passed two years in the Michigan lumbering districts, then went to Wisconsin, locating at Washburn in the con- fectionery and restaurant business, continuing in this employment in that state until 1889, when he went to the Pacific coast, locating at Spokane for a time and coming to Butte in 1890. Here he established a restaurant business in which he has continued, having now one of the most attractive resorts in the city, catering to a representative pat- ronage, the enterprise having grown to be one of the most important of the city. Mr. Davey enjoys a distinctive personal popularity, palpable evidence of this was given at his election as mayor, when he received the support of the citizens almost ir- respective of political affiliations. He is a stanch

Democrat, and in 1896-7 he represented the Sixth ward of Butte on the board of aldermen, and has ever shown interest in the progress and material prosperity of the city. At the municipal election in 1901 he was chosen mayor by a signally flat- tering majority, carrying every ward. This is the first instance of the kind in the annals of Butte, and it is worthy of note that the Seventh, nor- mally one of the strongest Republican wards in the city, favored him with a majority of over 100. Mr. Davey has already shown himself a most capable executive, handling the reins of govern- ment with much discretion and in a way to insure the best interests of the city.

Mr. Davey has given thought and care to the sanitary conditions of the city and to insur- ing cleanliness in all sections, thus increas- ing the attractiveness of Butte as a place of resi- dence. The anti-expectoration ordinance met with his hearty endorsement and approval, and under his regime the city hall is being remodeled and im- proved, the offices being now located on the ground floor, while the headquarters of the fire depart- ment are elsewhere established, the change in- creasing the efficiency of the latter and its facilities for proper service. A strong effort is being made to refund the public debt of the city and to place its financial affairs upon a cash basis with lower rate of interest. The course of the mayor shows him to possess marked executive force and keen business acumen, and his evident intention is to place the municipal affairs upon a strictly business basis, insuring progress in every legitimate way but discouraging lavish and indiscriminate ex- penditure of the public funds. Fraternally Mayor Davey is prominently identified with the Masonic order, in which he has advanced to the thirty-sec- ond degree of the Scottish Rite. He is also a member of Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine and holds membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. On November 13, 1893, Mr. Davey was united in marriage to Miss Sophia Kogler, who was born in Germany, whence she accom- panied her parents to the United States in her ear- ly infancy.

G EORGE W. DANA, proprietor of one of the most extensive dairies near Deer Lodge, Pow- ell county, was born at New South Wales, Austra- lia, March 8, 1860, a son of Loren and Jane (Sulli- van) Dana, the former a native of New York and

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the latter of Australia. Loren Dana was among those who went to California in 1849, at the time of the first discovery of gold, and later sailed for Aus- tralia, where he successfully continued mining op- erations. On his return to the United States in 1863, he came to Montana; passed the winter of 1863 in Gallatin valley, going thence to Idaho, British Columbia and California. In 1882 he re- turned to this state and settled on a ranch in Little Blackfoot valley, where he continued to reside until his death, January 13, 1888. His first wife, mother of our subject, died in California in 1886.

At the age of three years George W. Dana was brought to the United States by his mother, his father having preceded them. He was reared and educated in Shasta county, Cal., and, his father being a citizen of the United States, it was unnecessary for him to be naturalized. In 1882, at the age of twenty-two years, he came to Mon- tana and located on a ranch in Little Blackfoot valley, Deer Lodge county, seven miles below Avon. At the last session of the Montana legis- lature the county was divided, and the property is now in Powell county. It comprises 1,240 acres, on which is a fine residence and all conveniences for the maintenance of the lucrative business he now controls. Beginning with but eleven cows, he now nas twenty-nine fine Holsteins and Jer- seys, and one of the latest improved cream sep- arators finds a place in his dairy. Mr. Dana finds a good market at Deer Lodge for his prod- uct, which amounts to more than 5,000 pounds of butter per year, and a considerable quantity of cream. He has recently completed a new barn, the interior of which is very systematically ar- ranged, and erected an elegant residence. One hundred acres of land of the ranch is thoroughly ditched, sixty acres of which is devoted to hay, of which he annually cuts 112 tons.

Mr. Dana was married May 6, 1882, to Miss Glaphry C. Morris, a native of Jefferson county, Iowa, and a daughter of George and Sarah (Rob- inson) Morris, both of Kentucky. In early days they removed to Iowa, where Mr. Morris died. His widow and the mother of Mrs. Dana is now residing in California. To Mr. and Mrs. Dana have been born eight children: Clara J., is de- ceased ; the living are Lewis E., Charles O., Paul R., George W., Loren L., Ruth G. and Edwin M. Mr. Dana and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and are highly es- teemed in a large circle of acquaintances.

T C. DAVIDSON .- Farmer, soldier, emigrant across the plains, miner, ranchman, politician, capitalist-the career of T. C. Davidson, of Ana- conda, illustrates forcibly, as do thousands of others, the possibilities which lie before American farmers' sons if they have but the thrift and energy to take advantage of them. His life opened with- out unusual incident or promise on St. Patrick's Day, 1843, in Scioto county, Ohio. His father was Joseph Davidson, also a native of Ohio, but the son of a Pennsylvania farmer of Scotch de- scent, who had "gone west" into Madison county, Ohio, when a young man. His mother was Lu- cinda Bond, who was born and raised at Harper's Ferry, Va., but came to Ohio when a young lady to visit an uncle, and while there met her fate and married. She was of Revolutionary stock.

Of their six children Mr. Davidson was the second. He had the usual experience of country boys in that day, working on the farm in the sum- mer and attending the district school in the win- ter until he grew up. Just at the dawn of his manhood, when hope was beckoning him to a career of usefulness and profit in the productive walks of life, the cloud of civil war descended on our unhappy country, and he answered the call to duty by enlisting, in 1862, in the Eighty-fifth Ohio Regiment of thirty-day volunteers. At the end of his term he re-enlisted in the Fifth Independent Cavalry Regiment of Ohio, in which he served one year, and was then transferred to the One Hun- dred and Thirty-third Ohio, raised for 100 days service. While in the cavalry he was in active service in Kentucky following Morgan after his famous raid, and while in the One Hundred and Thirty-third he was engaged in front of Petersburg during the awful struggle known as the "Seven Days' Fight." He was mustered out of service in October, 1865, and returned to his Ohio home. A year later he removed to southwestern Missouri, and engaged in farming. After remaining there thirteen years and carrying on his business with substantial and gratifying success, failing health impelled him to seek a change in climate and occupation. For the same reason, the improvement of his health, in- stead of traveling by rail he came to Montana overland in a train of eight wagons, of which two with mule teams were his. He arrived at Butte in July, 1879, and at once went to freight- ing and hauling ore. After one year of this vig- orous occupation in and around Butte, he changed

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the base of his operations to Deer Lodge county. He located near Anaconda and started in business as a cattle dealer. He next turned his attention to gardening, and in 1882 raised a good crop of potatoes where the main street of Anaconda now is. Soon after he purchased a ranch east of the town, and after conducting it successfully for a period of twelve years, he sold it to the Anaconda Copper Company, and moved into the city of Anaconda to live. Here he took an active interest in munic- ipal affairs, and served the community for two terms as a member of the city council. Then broadening the sweep of his public usefulness, he consented to stand for the office of county com- missioner, was elected by a good vote, and is now (1901) in the midst of his term, administering the office without fear or favor, with an eye single to the good of the whole people whose interests he has in charge.

Mr. Davidson cherishes the recollections of his army service, and the relations growing out of it, with cordial and tender regard. He has a never failing interest in the great post-bellum organiza- tion of veterans, the Grand Army of the Republic, and has given it his time, attention and best efforts whenever necessary for its benefit. He has been commander of the local post in Anaconda a num- ber of times, and in 1898 was department com- mander for the entire state. In church affiliations he is a Methodist. In the councils of the church he has been a trustee and an active worker for many years. His domestic life has been happy and fruitful. He was married in the fall of 1869 to Miss Margaret Whitely, of Missouri, the daughter of an Ohio family which had settled in the further western state in 1868. She has shared his joys and sorrows, borne her portions of the burdens of their life and taken her portion of its comforts. They have ten children. The oldest son, Clarence M., is a lawyer in active practice in Butte. He was graduated from the law depart- ment of Ann Arbor University in the class of 1899. Two daughters are married, and Roy and another son are in the mining business.

Mr. Davidson is in the prime of life and has no idea of retiring from business and cutting short his active usefulness. He is interested, with others, in placer mining in French gulch, where he has a dredge boat vigorously at work. He also has some quartz mines which are silver properties, and are just now (1901) idle. In the city of Ana- conda he has extensive holdings of business and

residence properties, notably the Davidson block, 50x140 feet in dimensions, corner of Park avenue and Cherry streets. In all the relations of life he has so borne himself as to win and hold the good will and sincere esteem of all who know him.

A RTHUR DAVIS, clerk of the district court, of Park county, Mont., is an enterprising and highly esteemed citizen of Livingston. He was born at Sauk Center, Minn., on November 29, 1871, the son of A. C. and Sarah (Mary) Davis, natives of New Hampshire, who had emigrated to Minne- sota, and conducted farming in Stearns county, near Sauk Center, until 1878, when their son Ar- thur was seven years of age, then removing to the territory of Dakota, several years before its divi- sion. They located at Bismarck, where they re- mained five years, the father engaged in general farming. In 1883 they came to Montana, set- tling at Livingston, where A. C. Davis still has his home. The elementary education of Arthur Davis was acquired in the Dakota schools and those of Livingston, his present residence. This education was greatly reinforced by attendance at the college in Valparaiso, Ind., from which he was duly graduated. His first business activity was that of bookkeeper, and next that of a clerk in a mercantile house, where he remained seven years and acquired much valuable experience. At the termination of this clerkship he was, in the fall of 1900, elected clerk of the district court, which position he still holds, and in which he has given unqualified satisfaction.

Mr. Davis was united in marriage to Miss Mollie Stevenson, of Ohio, a daughter of John Stevenson. They have one child, Virgil S. Mr. Davis is a member of and also one of the man- agers of the local branch of the Woodmen of the World, and he is also a member of the Knights of the Maccabees. Politically he affiliates with the Republican party, and takes an active interest in all the various campaigns. In connection with his brother, A. A. Davis, he is heavily engaged in ranching and stockraising, and the successful en- terprise has been conducted as a firm since 1894. In that year they took up desert land, later pur- chasing 640 acres from the Northern Paci- fic, and still another half section, making in all 960 acres, located ten miles northwest of Livingston. The brothers usually winter from

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one to two hundred head of cattle. The partnership existing between the two Davis broth- ers is a most harmonious one, A. A. Davis being the manager of the ranch. A. A. Davis married with Mary Craig, a native of Scot- land, who came to Montana with her parents. Her father, Thomas Craig, made the family home ten miles west of Livingston, where he was en- gaged in ranching at the time of his death.

G EORGE H. DECKER .- This genial, culti- vated gentleman, hustling business man and generally esteemed citizen of Butte, was born at Chicago, Ill., on November 3, 1858. His parents were Gerard J. and Helena (D'Orpinghaus) Decker, the former a native of Saxony, Germany, where he was born in 1817, and the latter of Aus- tria, a descendant of the royal house of the Hapsburg. They came to America early in the 'fifties and settled at Chicago, where the father died in 1898 and the mother in 1899.

Mr. Decker received his early education in the Chicago public schools, after which he pursued a three-years course of instruction in a Jesuit college, "Stella Matutiua" at Vorallberg, Tyrol, Switzerland. On his return to Chicago after the great fire in 1870 he entered the wholesale gro- cery establishment of Sibley, Dudley & Co., as a clerk, and remained with the firm twelve years, rising by rapid promotion to the position of manager of the business. After their failure in 1883, he followed his adopted vocation of expert accountant. While residing in Chicago he be- came acquainted with the late Marcus Daly, and at his solicitation came to Butte, Mont., in 1886, where he has since been connected with the Washoe Copper Company. He is a member of the Royal League, holding membership in the organization at Chicago. In 1878 he was united in marriage with Miss Sierra Nevada Streator, a member of the well-known Streator family of Illinois, prominent in public affairs, both state and national, for generations. Her father, Allen D. Streator, was a noted surgeon in the Union army during the Civil war, and died at Pilot Knob, Mo., while on duty there in 1863. He was a native of Allegany county, N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. Decker have a pleasant home where they dis- pense an agreeable hospitality to their hosts of friends.

UGUST DESSEL .- In an enumeration of A those men who have been identified with the pioneer history of Montana, familiar with the scenes and incidents of life on the frontier, it is fitting that reference be made to August Dessel, who has done his share in the founding of a great state. He is now a resident of Choteau county, his valuable ranch property being contiguous to the town site of the thriving little city of Havre, which was laid out on a portion of his original claim. Mr. Dessel is a native of St. Juda, in the province of Quebec, Canada, where he was born on August 28, 1848, the son of Joseph and Mattie Dessel, both natives of Canada, where they passed their lives. The father was born in Vienna in 1811, and his death occurred in 1891. His wife, who was born about 1809, passed away in 1874. August Dessel was reared on the old homestead farm in the province of Quebec, and his educational advantages in his youth were notable only by their absence. When eighteen years of age he went to Holyoke, Mass., and was employed in a woolen mill and a paper factory for two years. In 1868 he came west in search of fortune, passed one year in the Sweetwater mines in Wyoming, after which he came to Helena, Mont., and was engaged in freighting and mining for about five years. He passed the greater por- tion of 1876 prospecting in the Black Hills.

Mr. Dessel returned to Montana in March, 1877, making Miles City his headquarters and for four years he devoted his attention to pros- pecting and to serving as scout and guide, he being familiar with the country to an extent equalled by but few even of the old-timers. The following two years Mr. Dessel was engaged in mining in Alder gulch, in the Little Rockies, and in 1883 he went to Gold Butte, in the Sweetgrass hills, where he was very successful in placer min- ing. With the modest fortune which he had ac- cumulated, Mr. Dessel came to Choteau county in 1888 and took up a ranch on Bull Hook creek, securing a squatter's claim in which was included the land on which the city of Havre is located. About the time the government survey was made the Havre Townsite Company was organized which secured forty acres of Mr. Dessel's claim as the site for the town. He retained the re- mainder of his claim for a homestead, and here he has since been engaged in raising horses and in horticulture, finding a ready market for his garden products. He has erected an attractive

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residence just outside the limits of the city and has platted five acres in town lots, as an addition to the village. This property is now on the market and will soon become a part of the town. In politics Mr. Dessel gives an unqualified allegiance to the Republican party and he has been active in the promotion of its cause, ever maintaining a lively interest in all that concerns the welfare of his county and the state of which he is an hon- ored pioneer. At Fort Assinniboine, on May 22, 1892, Mr. Dessel was united in marriage to Miss Alice Geiting, who was born near Chicago, Ill., in 1849.

F FIELDING L. GRAVES .- More than thirty years have passed since Mr. Graves became identified with the varied interests of the old city of Bannack, the original capital of Montana, and during that period he has been known as one of its most reliable and enterprising business men. Time has but brightened his reputation in business cir- cles and among the representative men of the city has given him marked prestige. His interest in matters pertaining to the public welfare has made him a most valued citizen, and not to know him is to argue one's self unknown in Beaverhead county. The history of the county, therefore, would be in- complete without the record of his life, for his name is engraved high on the roll of those whose efforts, energy and directing power have advanced the intellectual and material interests of the com- munity. Mr. Graves is a native of Kentucky, hav- ing been born in the vicinity of Lexington, Fay- ette county, on July 19, 1833, being the second in a family of seven children. His father, George W. Graves, was born in the same state, and was there reared and educated, devoting his life to agricultural pursuits and becoming a man of prom- inence in the community. He was a stalwart Democrat, and served as judge of the county court. His religious faith was that of the Baptist church. His father, John Graves, removed to Kentucky from Virginia, where the family was established in colonial days. He was an active participant in the war of 1812. The mother of Fielding L. bore break of the Civil war. His sympathies were nat- urally enlisted in the cause of the south, and, in having been Robinson. She was the sister of James F. Robinson, the war governor of Kentucky. The Daugherty family came from Ireland to Amer- ica at an early epoch in our national history.

Fielding L. Graves received his early education in the public schools of his native county, and thereafter entered Georgetown College, at George- town, Scott county, Ky., where he graduated with the class of 1853, after which he assisted in the conducting of the homestead farm until the out- break of the Civil war. His sympathies were na- turally enlisted in the cause of the south, and, in 1861, he volunteered for service in Gen. Price's army, with whom he served in Missouri. Mr. Graves was taken prisoner in 1863, was held cap- tive in St. Louis for several months and then pa- roled. In 1865 he left Lexington, Mo., and started for Montana. Reaching Fort Leavenworth, Kan., he worked his way through by driving a mule team, there being fifty men in the party. W. H. Childs, who later became one of the leading lawyers of Bannack, was a partner of our sub- ject in making this journey. They started from Fort Leavenworth on the Ist of March and ar- rived in Virginia City, Mont., June 22, 1865. Soon afterward Mr. Graves removed to Helena, where he entered the employ of John T. Murphy, still a representative citizen of the capital city, with whom he remained until 1869. He removed to Ban- nack in June and established himself in the general merchandise business, in which he has continued to the present time, being distinctively one of the pioneer merchants of the state. He was also iden- tified with placer mining in this section, and in connection with his store he purchased gold dust and transacted a banking business, having the necessary equipment and facilities characteristic of the time and place. His present mercantile business, which is one of the most important in the city, is carried on in the oldest building in Bannack, the same having been utilized as a danc- ing hall in the pioneer days and is now one of the landmarks of the frontier mining town. Mr. Graves is financially interested in the Gold Dredging Com- pany, at Bannack ; is president of the State Bank of Dillon, and formerly owned valuable ranch prop- erties in this section of the state, but disposed of his interests in this line some few years ago. In politics Mr. Graves has ever been arrayed in the ranks of the Democracy and been an active sup- porter of the party cause. In 1871 he was first elected treasurer of Beaverhead county, and his consecutive tenure of office extended over a period of eight years. He has ever shown a deep inter- est in all that conserves the advancement of the state, and has withheld his influence and sup-

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 116

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