Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 126

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 126

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consciousness of having spent an upright life and contributed his due portion to the welfare of his kind; and secure, also, in the high respect and cordial regard of all who have the pleasure and the benefit of an acquaintance with him.

GEORGE HENEAULT. - From his native home in Montreal, Canada, where he was born on July 4, 1837, to that of his present activity and usefulness at the Columbia Gardens at Butte, Mont., George Heneault has come through a varied and serviceable experience which prepared him well for the duties of life in almost any field. His parents were Sylvis and Olive Heneault, also natives of Montreal, from whence they removed to Oswego, N. Y., and later to St. Joseph, Mo., where the father is now living at the age of ninety-two years. Mr. Heneault was educated in the public schools of Oswego, N. Y., removing with his par- ents to St. Joseph, Mo., in 1861, and the next year going to Omaha, Neb., where he was employed in the construction department of the Union Pacific Railroad until 1866. In the spring of that year he came to Montana, and, locating at Alder gulch, year there in mining. In 1868 he was mining and freighting at Laramie, Wyo., and in 1869 was min- ing on Cedar creek, Missoula county, Mont. In 1872 he went to the Crow's Nest in the Coeur d'Alene county and built a store and remained there two years mining and merchandising. From 1874 to 1877 he carried the mail from Missoula to Forest City, and from 1877 to 1882 conducted a restaurant and hotel at Missoula. From 1882 to 1884 he had the contract for carrying the mail from Missoula to Cedar Creek and from Missoula to Horse Plains. In 1884 he removed to Butte, where he has since been interested in mines and mining, having some promising claims in the Highland district, in 1899 he was made deputy sheriff and stationed at the Columbia Gardens in the suburbs of Butte, and since then has had charge of that institution. He is a Republican in politics ; in fraternal relations a Freemason, hold- ing membership in the lodge at Missoula. He was married at Missoula in 1881 to Miss Ora Lee Reno, who was born in that city in 1857, and died there in 1884, leaving one child, George A. Heneault. Mr. Heneault in business and in pri- vate life has so demeaned himself as to win and hold the regard and esteem of his fellowmen and

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the confidence and respect of all who know him. He is a faithful officer, and has been an energetic and conscientious worker in whatever line of in- dustry that has engaged his attention, exhibiting the best traits of good and useful citizenship.

L UCIAN W. HEATH .- A resident for thirteen years among the people of Montana, Lucian Wells Heath, of the real estate and insurance firm of Piatt & Heath, doing business in the Pittsburg Block, may properly be regarded as a representa- tive citizen. He was born at Jaffrey, Cheshire county, N. H., October 21, 1867. In his ancestry the blood of the Scotch Highlander is mingled with that of English origin. The family of his father, Eleazer Heath, were of the latter and that of his mother, Mary M. Gilmore, were of the former. Our subject's parents, however, were na- tives of New Hampshire, where they spent their lives ; the mother there passing away February I, 1899, and the father still a resident of the state, although retired from the active pursuits of life, and enjoying in its calm and mellow evening, at the age of seventy-four, the fruits of his long and successful labors.

Mr. Heath was reared among the granite hills of his native state, began his education in its ex- cellent public schools, passing to the high schools at Andover and Chelmsford, Mass., and rounding it out by a special course at Cannon's Commercial College, Lawrence, Mass. On leaving school he determined to try his fortune in the great west, coming to Montana and locating at Helena, July 6, 1888. The first year was practically one of ob- servation, prospecting for a business agreeable to his tastes and suited to his faculties. Having de- termined that real estate presented proper oppor- tunity, he began business in that line with vigor and a manifest determination to succeed. In 1891 he formed a partnership with George H. Piatt in the real estate and insurance business, which has been agreeable, profitable and lasting, it being now in full activity, with a larger and more remunera- tive patronage than ever before. The firm repre- sents eleven insurance companies and has more than 300 tenants in properties it has to rent. It conducts the leading business of the kind in the county, and is continually increasing its clientage.

While Mr. Heath has given to his business all necessary attention, permitting nothing to inter- fere with its demands, he has found time to take

an active and useful interest in public affairs and contribute his share of effort and wisdom to the welfare of the community in general. In the spring of 1901 he was elected alderman from the Fifth ward to the city council. In that body he is chairman of the committee on streets and alleys, and as such lets no demand for improvement or claim for redress of a grievance go by without the most thorough investigation and intelligent action. He is also secretary and treasurer of the Helena Improvement Society, and secretary-treasurer of the Helena Business Men's Association. These positions give further scope to the energies of his progressive spirit, and aid him in rendering additional service to the people of the city and vicinity. Mr. Heath was married September, 1895, to Miss Mary Johnson, a native of Philadel- phia, Pa., a daughter of George and Emma (Collis) Johnson. Mr. and Mrs. Heath have one son -- Howard Wells Heath, who is five years old. They are members of the Congregational church, of which Mr. Heath has long been a trustee.

JOSEPH HIRSHBERG .- One of the early pioneers of Montana, and prominent and emi- nently successful in several lines of mercantile and industrial activity, Mr. Hirshberg has borne his full share of the burdens and privations of frontier life, and has achieved a large measure of business distinction and prosperity. He was born in the province of Posen, Germany, January 28, 1847. His parents were also natives of Germany, and died in that country; his father was a prosperous merchant. There were six children in the family, Joseph being the first born. He attended the pub- lic schools of his native land until he was sixteen years old, when he came to America, landing in New York, where he remained only a short time. He went to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, in April, 1863, locating at La Porte, Sierra county, and was employed as a clerk and salesman in a dry goods store. After a few months he began traveling through the country, selling dry goods, his main object being to get acquainted with the language and ways of the peo- ple. In 1864, in company with a friend, he started with a team for Salt Lake City, taking a stock of dry goods, which they sold along the way. His intention was to engage in business in the Salt Lake country, which they reached after months of

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hardship and danger, passing through the deserts of Nevada, and also through Virginia City, Austin and other places in that state. In the winter of '1864 he opened a general store at Smithfield, Cache valley, Utah, and conducted it for a year, but with indifferent success, and at the end of the year disposed of it to a Mormon institute doing business there. In 1866 lie joined the Salmon river stampede, landing at Salmon City in the spring with a train of Utah produce and staple groceries, for which, however, he found no profit- able market, as numbers of the people had no money. He disposed of his stock at a considera- ble loss, purchased with what capital he had left five six-mule teams for freighting purposes, and opened connection between Montana and Salt Lake City. Not liking the business he disposed of his teams at good profit in 1867, and opened a gen- eral store at Lincoln gulch, Mont., in partnership with Louie Caro. They continued this enterprise with success until the Coeur d'Alene stampede oc- curred, in 1870, when they removed their goods to Cedar creek, Missoula county, and there started a store. Remaining until 1874 they sold out and Mr. Hirshberg came to Helena, and was employed a short time as a clerk and bookkeeper in a dry goods store. In 1875 he went to Flathead Lake and engaged in the cattle and a mercantile busi- ness, which he continued until 1878, winning suc- cess although seriously handicapped by the low prices of cattle and the hard winters on the ranges. Not finding Flathead a good cattle country he dis- posed of his mercantile business and took his cat- tle and a lot of horses across the mountains into Canada, arriving there at the time the Dominion government was making a treaty with the Black- feet Indians. He sold his horses to the Indians and his cattle to the settlers. He returned to Hel- ena in 1878, and the same year took a trip to New York city, and while there met and married Miss Eva Davis, his present wife, who was born in Posen, Germany, April 1, 1857, which was also his birthplace, with whom he was united on January 5, 1879. During this trip he also formed a part- nership with A. Nathan, now a prominent mer- chant at Great Falls, and together they purchased a large stock of goods, which they shipped by rail to Bismarck, N. D., and from there by steamer up the Missouri river to Fort Benton, where he arrived in May, 1879, accompanied by his wife and busi- ness partner. They opened a store on Front street in Fort Benton, and continued operations

until 1887, when the partnership was dissolved by mutual consent, and Mr. Nathan went into busi- ness in Butte, Mr. Hirshberg remaining at Fort Benton until 1889. During this period he pur- chased of Burd & Armstrong a general store at Choteau, now the county seat of Teton county, and after 1889 closed out his business at Fort Ben- ton and removed the remnant of merchandise to Choteau, dividing his attention there between his mercantile interests and the sheep business, be- ing unusually successful in both ventures. His brother Julius joined him in the store in 1889, and taking full charge of it in 1890, gave Mr. Hirsh- berg a better opportunity to devote his attention to the stock business. In 1894 they opened an additional store at Dupuyer, Teton county, in which their cousin, Carl Harris, also joined them and took the active management of the enterprise upon himself. In 1890 Mr. Hirshberg engaged in extensive sheepraising and woolgrowing, on what was known as the Belknap Indian reservation in the Bear Paw mountains. The government hav- ing opened this territory for settlement he has purchased, entered and leased considerable of it, and is running a large number of Rambouillet Merino sheep on the range. In 1890 Mr. Hirsh- berg bought and removed to his present beautiful home on Madison avenue, Helena, his principal reason being to secure good educational ad- vantages for his four sons : Edward, born at Fort Benton, April 10, 1880; Sidney, born at Fort Ben- ton, June 12, 1881 ; Mortimer, born at Fort Ben- ton, June 27, 1883; and Frank, born at Fort Ben- ton, April 1, 1889.

In politics Mr. Hirshberg is a Republican, but has never been an active partisan. Fraternally he belongs to King Solomon's Masonic Lodge, of Hel- ena ; and in religious affiliation is connected with Temple Emanu-El, of which his wife is also a mem- ber. He is still in vigorous health and has no idea of retiring from business for years to come. On the contrary, he is contemplating an enlargement of his enterprise by establishing a banking house at Choteau, in which he will be joined by his brother Julius. In fact, with the activity of mind, the fertility of resources, the fine executive ability, the accurate grasp of multitudinous details and the restless energy of spirit which have made him a merchant prince and given him such a command- ing position throughout the business world, it would be impossible for him to be idle or even par- tially occupied, he being one of the creative agen-

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cies who must see their productions growing and thriving around them, and must be doing some- thing to develop or improve the sphere in which they live. And as he has been successful and en- terprising in business, so are he, his excellent wife and his cultivated sons popular and potential in social life, and influential for good in every industry which contributes to the welfare of the community and the elevation of their fellows. His life exam- ple is a force that can not die ; but in its actual, tan- gible achievements, will endure in ever expanding usefulness when he shall have passed away.

AMES HIGGINS .- Enlisted in the various de-

partments of the great mining industry in Butte is an army of workmen, and among those placed in position of distinctive trust and respon- sibility is Mr. Higgins, superintendent of the Bell mine, who directs the labors of a large corps of em- ployes. He was born in Worcestershire, England, on November 10, 1856, the youngest of the four children of James and Bridget (Griffin) Higgins, both of whom were born in Ireland, whence the father removed to England in 1848, being an iron- worker. James Higgins attended the parochial schools in his native country until he was thirteen, when he obtained employment in a carpet factory for a time and then served an apprenticeship of about one year at the brick mason's trade.

In 1872 Mr. Higgins came to America, locating in Boston until 1874, when he went to Philadelphia, worked for a time as a longshoreman and was later a patrolman on the police force until the centennial year. In the fall of 1876 he came to Colorado and soon went to the Little Cottonwood mining district in Utah, where he was engaged in mining, and thereafter at Silver Reef, in southern Utah. He eventually returned to his former lo- cation and thence came to Montana in 1878, locating at Glendale, Beaverhead county, being employed in the old Alice mine for six months, then going to Wickes, he was in the Alta mine for six months also. From there he came to Butte and entered the employ of the late Marcus Daly, and was identified with the first work done in devel- oping the Anaconda mine. He later was connected with the Bell mine, of which he became foreman in 1890, his services being so efficient that in 1894 he was made superintendent in which position he has

since served, being recognized as an able executive and one particularly fitted for the office. Mr. Higgins has himself made a number of investments in mining properties, owning promising claims in Flathead and Jefferson counties. In political ad- herency he supports the Democratic party, and fraternally he belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His religious faith is that of the Catholic church, under whose discipline he received his early educational training.

Mr. Higgins has been twice married, first in July, 1876, to Miss Kate Durkin, who was born in Ireland, and who died in 1883, leaving one son, James E. On January 6, 1892, Mr. Higgins was again married, the bride being Miss Mary Sullivan, born in Michigan, the daughter of Jeremiah Sul- livan, one of the pioneers of Montana. Mr. Hig- gins' only child, James E., is a young man of dis- tinctive talent. He was born in Philadelphia, June 17, 1877. He has been finely educated, first in the public and parochial schools, and All Hal- lows College, at Salt Lake City, taking also a year's course in St. Mary's College, at St. Mary's, Kansas. In 1898 he matriculated in the department of mining engineering at Columbia College, New York city, where he will graduate as a member of the class of 1902, after which he will become actively identified with the management of work in the smelter and mines. He had studied survey- ing and minor mechanical engineering before entering Columbia, so that he was well equipped for continuing his technical studies.

W ILLIAM C. HICKEY .- For many genera- tions the ancestors of Mr. Hickey lived in Ireland and contributed to its advancement and improvement. His parents, Thomas and Kather- ine Hickey, emigrated therefrom in 1828, settling in New York state, where our subject was born October 1, 1846. The father was a prosperous farmer, a Democrat in politics and a communicant of the Catholic church. They were the parents of eight children, of whom six are living, namely : William C., Thomas, Edward, Michael, Margaret and Johanna. The father died in 1875, and the mother in 1894.

Mr. Hickey's educational advantages were con- fined to what he could obtain from irregular at- tendance at the district school in his neighborhood at such times as he could escape the exactions of

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necessary toil. He assisted his parents in the arduous requirements of rearing the family until 1865, when he came west as far as Wisconsin, but returned to the east after a brief stay. In 1868 he came to Montana and located at Butte, where he devoted his time to placer mining until 1870, but has since confined his operations to quartz mining. Mr. Hickey's success in mining has been very gratifying to him and his friends, and he has pursued the calling with a singleness of purpose and a determined perseverance that would have won success in almost any line. He has also been largely interested in real estate operations that have also proved successful, seeming to have that rare combination of excellent judgment and prompt action which make a good business man.

On July 16, 1876, he was united in marriage to Miss Matilda White, a native of England. They were the parents of three children : Nellie, Frances and Myrtle. Mrs. Hickey died September 28, 1884, after eight years of happy wedded life, and on August 22, 1888, Mr. Hickey contracted a second marriage, his choice being Miss Agnes Moran, a native of Montana and daughter of Patrick and Katharine Moran, natives of Ireland, who came to America in their early married life, locating first at Cincinnati but removing to Montana in 1863. The father was engaged in freighting and also con- ducted a hotel on the road to Bozeman and Gallatin. In both occupations he was fairly successful. Both parents were members of the Catholic church, and both have passed into eternal life-the father in 1888 and the mother in 1896. Mr. Hickey, by his second marriage, is the father of six children : William, Edward, Irene, Benetia, Flora and Zella. The parents are members of the Catholic church. They find Montana an agreeable place to live in, and are as well esteemed throughout their large circle of friends and the community in general, as they have been successful in business and useful to their city and county.

A NDREW JACKSON HUNTER, M. D .- This excellent physician, influential citizen, esteemed public official and enterprising business man, whose useful life closed at Bozeman April 19, 1894, at the age of seventv-eight, was born in Prince Edward county, Va., March 18, 1816, the son of John Hunter, who removed to Kentucky in 1818. His wife, the Doctor's mother, was Sarah Price. a

first cousin of Gen. Price, conspicuous on the Confederate side in the Civil war. They owned large tracts of land in the Horseshoe bend of the Ohio river on the Kentucky side, and John Hunter died there early in the 'forties. The Doctor was the youngest of sixteen children, and after pre- liminary training in the public schools, entered the office of Dr. Rogers, of Louisville, Ky., where he remained four or five years and then took a thorough professional course at a good medical col- lege. After completing this he went to Louisiana and passed five years in the practice of his pro- fession. About 1850 he was engaged as company physician by the Illinois Central Railroad, having moved into Illinois prior to that time. He remained in the employ of this company until 1857. He then removed to Missouri and opened an office in Warsaw, where he remained a year, but returned to Illinois and settled at Georgetown, where he built up a very large practice. In 1861 he went back to Missouri and lived in the town of Mexico until 1864. when he started for Montana by way of Nebraska City, going up the North Platte and Wind rivers and down the Rosebud to the Yel- lowstone, then up the Yellowstone to what is now known as Hunter's Hot Springs, which he dis- covered in July, and which was named in his honor. At that time the country was so thickly peopled with Indians that he deemed it unsafe to remain in that neighborhood and removed to Bozeman and soon after to Virginia City. After a few months he changed his base of operations to Helena, where he remained nearly two years. During all this time he had been practicing medicine, but in 1866, being persuaded by the gold excitement then prevailing, he went to Diamond City, and there, in connection with his professional labors, he engaged in mining. While residing there he was appointed probate judge of Meagher county by Gov. Smith, and in 1869. upon removing to Bozeman, he was appointed to the same position in Gallatin county and filled it until 1871. At that time he resigned and re- moved to Hunter's Hot Springs, but, until 1875. was unable to remain there during the summer seasons on account of the Indians. In that year he removed his family to the Springs and con- tinued to reside there until 1884. when he sold his interests, returned to Bozeman and there lived re- tired until his death, April 19, 1894.

In politics Dr. Hunter was an ardent Democrat, and although he never sought or desired official station he was obliged by circumstances to accept

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appointments from time to time. He was govern- ment physician at Fort Ellis in 1872, and in 1876 occupied the same position for the Crow agency at Rosebud. In religious affiliation he was a devoted member of the Christian church at Bozeman. In October, 1858, he was united in marriage with Miss Susan Murray, a daughter of John Murray, of Ohio, who was a millwright and cabinetmaker, and removed to Missouri in 1844, where he worked at his trade and also engaged in farming. He was the first county treasurer of Richland county, Ohio, was a colonel in the state militia, and a prominent thirty-second-degree Mason. He died in Missouri in 1848, leaving a family of six sons and six daughters, of whom Mrs. Hunter was the seventh in order of birth. Her mother was Elizabeth Urie, daughter of Solomon Urie, a native of Scotland who came to America before the Revolutionary war. He settled in Pennsylvania, and later re- moved to Ohio early in its history, and was killed there by the Indians in colonial times. Mrs. Hunter's grandfather, Patrick Murray, was born in Scotland in 1747. He came to America prior to the Revolution. fought in that war as a Pennsyl- vania soldier and afterward removed to Ohio, where he died in 1846 at the age of ninety-nine years and nine months. His wife, Mary ( Beattie) Murray, who was born in Scotland in 1757, died the same year as her husband, aged eighty-nine.

Dr. and Mrs. Hunter had six children : Mary Lee, now Mrs. G. C. Doane; Davis Beauregard. a resident of Seattle; Lizzie Longstreet, now Mrs. Frank W. Rich, of Spokane: Stonewall Jackson, who was drowned in the Yellowstone river at the age of eleven, in 1874; Sallie Price, now Mrs. H. A. Jancs, of Lewistown, Idaho ; and Emma Sidley Johnston, who died at the age of four years.

Among the honored names of Montana's pro- gressive citizens that of Dr. Hunter will always be revered. He was a representative man, and his con- tributions to the advancement of the state were sub- stantial and of great value.

RTHUR HUGILL, one of the pioneer miners

A and now a prosperous stockman, resides on his valuable ranch near Gold creek, Powell county. He was born in Toronto, Canada, July 22, 1834. a son of Thomas and Sarah (Brown) Hugill, na- tives of Yorkshire, England, where they were reared, educated and married. They came to Can-

ada early in the year 1834, the father engaging in farming at Woodstock, near Toronto, for many years.

Arthur Hugill, one of a family of nine children, was reared on the Canadian homestead, but received limited educational advantages. Until he was twenty-seven years of age he worked on the farm, and in 1863 went to California via New York and the Isthmus of Panama. The trip to San Fran- cisco occupied nearly a month, and he remained a year in the vicinity of that city employed on ranches and such other work as he could find to do. During the spring of 1864 he went to Idaho, where he was engaged in mining in "Warren's Diggings," coming to Montana in the fall of 1865. At that period there was considerable mining excitement at Beartown, Deer Lodge county, now a part of Granite county, and for the following three years Mr. Hugill mined and prospected in that vicinity, but with indifferent success. In the spring of 1868 he removed to Pioneer, where he was employed as foreman of the Rock Creek Ditch Company for a number of years. Subsequently, while in the service of Messrs. Clark & Rogers, he went into the Butte district to prospect, and while there he took out the first ore that was assayed from the Original mine. During the fall of 1886 Mr. Hugill purchased 420 acres of land in "Hell Gate" valley, two miles below Gold creek station, Powell county, and in the spring of 1887 located on the same. Since that time, with the exception of two years when he was engaged in mining in Washington and American gulches, he has resided there. The ranch is the oldest property of this description in the valley, having been originally owned by Nich- olas Connolly. Mr. Hugill is principally engaged in stockraising, paying particular attention to cat- tle.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 126

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