Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 133

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 133

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Here he followed freighting for a number of years, and his residence in Virginia City, Madison

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valley and Deer Lodge being temporary, when winter came he stopped wherever he happened to be. In the spring of 1869 he went to Texas and purchased a herd of cattle which he brought to Montana that season, being the first man to bring a herd over that route in a single season. It was a dangerous undertaking at first, but he proved it could be done and others followed his example. This herd he sold, and another one that he brought from Texas in 1870. In 1871 he brought a third herd from Texas and this one he kept, locating in the Madison valley, and he was, after that, all of his life engaged in stockraising. In 1883 he purchased a flock of sheep in Oregon, and made a specialty of sheepraising. To stockraising, which forms so large and important an element in the productive energy of Montana, the ranch is largely given over, the business being ably carried for- ward by the sons of Mr. Jeffers, who are among the most progressive and popular young men of the county. The estate left by Mr. Jeffers at his death, which occurred May 27, 1900, from a tumor on the brain, was valued at $150,000. In addition to this he left to his family that greatest of all heritages, a good name. His loss was deeply felt in the community, for he was helpful to the needy, encouraging to the timid, stimulating to the inert, and consoling to the sorrowful-a creative, a sustaining and an elevating force. His home life was ideal in character, and none save those nearest and dearest to him can realize the depriva- tion that came in his death. In politics he gave his support to the Democratic party, and at all times he maintained a public-spirited interest in the affairs of his county and state. In 1899 he erected a fine modern residence on his ranch, spacious in dimensions, artistic in architectural style, complete in convenience and equipment, and rich and tasteful in furnishings. It is con- sidered the most complete rural home in this section.

On December 5, 1878, Mr. Jeffers was united in marriage with Miss Florence Switzer, a native of Keokuk county, Iowa, and the daughter of A. W. Switzer, one of Madison county's honored pioneers, of whom extended notice appears else- where in this work. Mrs. Jeffers was educated in Madison county, at the schools of Ennis and Vir- ginia City, and here she has passed her life, gaining and retaining the love and esteem of a wide circle. Her offspring consists of five children, namely: Jefferson Clifford, born in 1879; Wal-

ter Clarence, born in 1881; Paul Myron, born in 1883; Fayette Burton, born in 1885; and Austin Pierrepont, born in 1894. To all of the children the best educational advantages have been given, and the older sons are well known, energetic and honorable business men. The homestead is a mile and a half east of Ennis, and there Mrs. Jeffers resides amid the hallowing memories and associations of the past. She is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church, a member of Trinity Mission congregation of Madison valley.

CHRIS. JENSON .- Now one of the repre- sentative farmers and stockgrowers of Park county, and conspicuously identified with the industrial life of Montana, Mr. Jenson comes of old Danish stock and is himself a native of Denmark, born on the picturesque peninsula of Jutland, on September 12, 1855, the son of Nels and Annie (Nicholson) Jenson, both natives of Denmark. They had three sons and three daughters. The father never left Denmark, but in 1865 the elder sons and one daughter came to America, locating in Pennsylvania, while in the spring of 1870 Chris and his mother also emigrated, coming directly to Omaha, where they remained for some time. In the spring of 1873 Mr. Jenson located in Utah, where for three years he engaged in mining. He then came to Park county, Mont., and was in Paradise valley during the spring of 1877, there- after going to Butte, in and near which city he remained until 1879, engaged in lime-burning, mining and brickmaking, having furnished the material for the first brick building in Butte. He then passed one season in Fort Benton, and in 1880, returned to Paradise valley, where he con- structed a bridge across the Yellowstone. In 1881 he removed to Bozeman and was there en- gaged for two seasons in the manufacture of brick, thereafter conducting a brick yard at Liv- ingston, where he furnished the brick for the Northern Pacific roundhouse.

In 1883 Mr. Jenson took up land in Paradise valley and has added to his holdings until he now has 360 acres, his ranch being located seven miles south of Livingston, his postoffice address. Here he has devoted his attention to farming and stock- growing, securing excellent crops of grain and hay, and raising cattle upon quite an extensive scale, usually wintering about 100 head. Polit-

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ically he supports the Republican party, and for some years he served as school trustee. Frater- nally he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of the World. On June 27, 1895, Mr. Jenson was united in marriage to Mrs. Elizabeth Kearney, born in Darke county, Ohio, on December 15, 1855, the daughter of Andrew and Eve (Hoof- nagle) Hoover, natives of Wittenberg, Germany, and Pennsylvania. They removed to Nebraska where is now their home, and they have had eight sons and eight daughters, and the father is prom- inently engaged in farming. By her first mar- riage Mrs. Jenson had two children, Maud, now the wife of Harry Ettinger, of Livingston, and John Kearney, who assists Mr. Jenson on the ranch. Mr. and Mrs. Jenson have one son, Charles Perry.

JOHN H. JOHNS .- In all sections of the Union are found representatives of good old Welsh stock, and among them is Mr. Johns, who is not only able to trace his genealogy through many generations in Wales, but was himself born in the southern division of that British principality, on November 20, 1853, the eldest of the four children of David and Margaret (Davis) Johns, the former of whom was born in 1828, while his death occurred in 1864. A machinist and marine engineer, his entire life was passed in his native land. His wife was born in 1833, and after the death of her husband she ably provided for her four children, and she came to America in 1866 with them, locating in Goshen, Utah. Here she remained four years, and then removed to Hom- ersville in Little valley, three miles east of Ureka, and conducted the first boarding house in this lit- tle village. She later made her home for a num- ber of years at Sparrowhawk Springs, and now resides in Idaho.

John H. Johns attended school in his native land and in a desultory way after the removal of the family to the United States. In 1872 he joined the party of United States geological surveyors who were exploring the grand canyon of the Col- orado river and thereafter devoted his attention to prospecting for gold and mining, being located at Ophir in northern Utah for some time. He later made the overland trip to Montana, arriving in Silver Bow county on June 9, 1877. He lo- cated at Walkerville, engaged in mining and within that year was one of the volunteers who assisted

in quelling the Indian uprising, when Chief Jos- eph and his followers crossed the state, and after this danger had passed he returned to Walker- ville and his mining operations. In 1891 he here engaged in the hotel business and still conducts this enterprise, as proprietor of the Palace hotel, a well appointed and popular resort. He also has an assaying office and controls a satisfactory business, for he is an expert assayer and has the best of facilities.

Mr. Johns' mother removed to Idaho in 1881 and there he provided her with a good home, her ranch comprising about 900 acres, in which, as well as in the herd of about 700 head of cattle, Mr. Johns holds a half interest. He has shown great care in the selection of cattle and horses for breeding, and the stock on this ranch is of ex- ceptionally high grade. In politics Mr. Johns is independent, exercising his franchise in support of men and measures rather than along strict partisan lines. Fraternally he is identified with the orders of Elks and Odd Fellows, United Work- men and Modern Woodmen of America. He has an extended circle of acquaintances and in both social and business relations commands esteem while he is unmistakably popular. He has been prominently identified with the industrial activities of Walkerville and is one of its representative citizens. On October 12, 1891, Mr. Johns was united in marriage to Mrs. Elizabeth Thomas, born in Cleveland, Ohio, and daughter of An- thony and Margaret (Mott) Seefus, both of whom were born in the Buckeye state. By her first mar- riage she is the mother of four children, Eliza J., Josiah, William and Joseph, whose father, Wil- liam Thomas, died in 1890. Mr. and Mrs. Johns have four children, Frank, Margaret and John (twins) and Violet.

E NOCH JOHN is the son of William John, who was born in Wales in 1816. He came to America first in 1860 and located in New Jer- sey, working at mining. He returned to Wales in 1862, and the next year came back to America locating in Ohio. In 1864 he went again to Wales, and again in 1865 returned to the United States. The next year he came to Montana and engaged in mining at Alder gulch near Diamond City. Here he had trouble with the Indians, narrowly escaping with his life. In 1871 he went to Wales

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Early Life in Montana

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and remained there until he died in 1893. His one of the representative and successful farmers wife, the mother of Enoch, Mary (Davis) John, of Missoula county, his fine ranch being located was also a native of Wales, and passed her life there. She was born in 1821 and survived her husband three years, dying in 1896. Enoch John was born in Wales on May 10, 1842. He was reared and educated in the old country, and when he was twenty-one years old, came to the United States with his father on his second trip. He remained in Ohio, Kentucky and West Vir- ginia for three years, engaged in mining. In 1866 he went to Missouri, but remained only a few months, when he started to Montana with a train across the plains.

After a long and wearying trip, on which he encountered trouble with the Indians, he arrived at Virginia City on July 10, 1866, in company with his father who had come with him, and who remained with him until his final departure for Wales. They did not stay long at Virginia City, but went soon to White's gulch, where the min- ing was promising. Two years later he went to Lincoln's and McClellan's gulches, and worked four years. In this locality he had considerable trouble with the Indians, and went to Coeur d'Alene, but soon returned to Lincoln's gulch. In 1873 he went to Salt Lake, from there to California and the next year to Alaska. . He did not, however, remain long there, but returned to Montana and went to mining again at Alder gulch. Here he remained four years, and removed to Butte, where he has been engaged in mining since. All his wanderings and efforts in different places have not been without result. He owns 160 acres of land in John's addition to Butte, besides other valuable property. He be- longs to the order of Knights of Pythias, a mem- ber of Damon Lodge No. I, of Butte. In politics he is a Republican, but not an active party worker. Mr. John was married in April, 1876, to Miss Mary Jones, a daughter of David Jones, a Penn- sylvania miner who emigrated from Wales in 1850. They have seven children, David, Elizabeth, William, Charles, Tallie, Mary and Frederick, all of whom help to make their home pleasant to their friends.

C HARLES H. JONES is a native son of the west, and has practically passed his entire life here, while he has been a resident of Montana for more than a quarter of a century. He is now 44

only one-half mile south of Lolo, which is his postoffice address. Mr. Jones was born in Vir- ginia City, Nev., on June 14, 1865, the son of Isaac M. and Jane (Babcock) Jones, the former of whom was born in Crawfordsville, Ind., the home of the noted soldier, diplomat and author, Gen. Lew Wallace, while Mrs. Jones is a native of Vermont. Isaac M. Jones is a carpenter, and followed this trade for a number of years. He re- moved from Indiana to Iowa and thence in 1862 to Virginia City, Nev., making the trip across the plains with ox teams. The party was attacked by Indians on several occasions, but successfully repelled them. He took up a claim of timber land near Virginia City, where he remained until 1866, when he passed one year with his family in California, after which they returned to Iowa and made their home until 1871, when they started once more across the plains, this time for Mon- tana. They travelled through Colorado and Salt Lake City to Virginia City, Mont. While en route Mr. Isaac Jones barely escaped being cap- tured by the Indians, becoming separated from the remainder of the party while on a hunting ex- pedition, and his life was saved by the merest good luck. He remained for a number of years in Virginia City, where he operated a saw mill, and he and his wife are now residents of Butte. Their only son and two daughters are all resi- dents of Montana.

Charles H. Jones was reared principally in Vir- ginia City and Butte, securing his educational training in the public schools, and beginning active business with his father in the wood business, in which he continued for ten years, and then he worked three years in the Anaconda mines. For the following five years he devoted his attention to prospecting, locating some good claims at the head of the Big Hole. In 1899 he came to Lolo and purchased the ranch of eighty acres where he now lives, and this is devoted principally to the raising of fruit and hay, excellent yields being secured. The place is well improved, having a commodious and attractive dwelling, and here a gracious hospitality is extended to the many friends of the inmates, who enjoy distinctive popularity. Mr. Jones takes no active part in politics, but maintains an independent attitude, voting as his judgment dictates, without regard to party alle- giance. In the city of Butte, on January 16. 1887,

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Mr. Jones was united in marriage to Miss Marie M. Jahnke, who was born in Germany, and they have four children, William L., Edna M., Carl F. and Paul W., all residing at the parental home.

A LEXANDER J. JOHNSTON .- Birth and en- vironment are potential forces in determining the success or failure of human life. When these forces act in concert as uplifting factors, success is assured unless there is some underlying weak- 'ness which no circumstances could overcome ; and when they do not, there is imminent danger of failure. The determining agencies which give trend to their potency often date far back in an- cestral history. In their most helpful form these potential forces were present in the case of Alex- ander J. Johnston, cashier of the bank owned by Hon. William A. Clarke at Butte. His father, Joseph Johnston, and his grandfather, were prom- inent in mercantile and banking circles, in his native town of Connellsville, Pa., for nearly three-quar- ters of a century, and he breathed, as it were, an atmosphere of finance from his very cradle. His mother, Florida (Maguire) Johnston, belonged to a family which ranked among the best in her section of Maryland, her native state. She was carefully trained in the duties of afe, so that when she had a household of her own to gov- ern she made it a school of moral and virtuous practice, leading to elevated standards of man- hood and womanhood. Such were the conspicu- ous antecedents of the life which it is the. pur- pose of this sketch to briefly record.

Mr. Johnston was born October 6, 1852, at Con- nellsville, Pa., and was reared and received his elementary scholastic training in his native town, afterward taking a finishing course of study at an excellent academy at Chambersburg, Pa. Dur- ing the financial stress of 1873 his father met with reverses in business, and from that time Mr. Johnston was obliged to make his own way in the world. He accepted the issue courageously and cheerfully, concluded to begin his new life in a new country, and leaving the scenes of his former happy home, came to Montana, locat- ing at Butte in November, 1876. There he soon found congenial employment in the office depart- ment of Hon. William A. Clarke's quartz mill. He remained in that service until July, 1877, and then accepted a position as clerk and bookkeeper

in Mr. Clarke's bank, rising therein by rapid pro- motion during the year, due to fidelity and ca- pacity in the discharge of his duties, to the post of cashier, which he still holds (1902). In the meantime he has been frugal of his time and the fruits of his labor, and by judicious investments has many times multiplied his resources. He is vice-president of the Montana Hardware Com- pany, of which he was one of the organizers and is now one of the principal stockholders, and is an officer in half a dozen mining companies and many other enterprises, besides being president of the West Mayflower and a trustee of the May- flower Mining Company. He has capital invested in many mines, leases, etc., and is interested in several corporations in addition to those already mentioned. In political relations he affiliates with the Democratic party, but is not an active worker in its ranks. He is an enthusiastic Mason in all the branches of the fraternity, from the founda- tion to and including the thirty-second degree in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. He has also been a member of the Silver Bow Club for more than fifteen years. He is an acknowledged authority on all questions connected with the bank- ing business, and in social life ranks among the most agreeable and entertaining of gentlemen.

THOMAS T. JONES .- The enterprising, ener- getic and progressive ranchman who forms the subject of this sketch, bears a name numerous and long distinguished in Wales, the home of his ancestors, where his parents, Thomas and Mary Jones, and both his grandfathers, Morgan and John Jones, were born. The grandfathers immi- grated to America with their families when the father of our subject was eighteen years old and the mother but three, locating in Pennsylvania. The father engaged in mining for some years, and then removed to Iowa county, Wis., where our subject was born, April 18, 1866, and where the family remained until 1879, the father making a trip to California in 1850 and remaining six years, after which he returned to Wisconsin, and in 1862 enlisted in Company C, Thirty-first Wiscon- sin Infantry Volunteers, and was mustered out at the end of his enlistment in 1865. In 1879 the family came west, locating first in Nevada, where they remained two years, and then came overland by mule teams to Montana. The trip was one of

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hardships and difficulties, owing to their having been burnt out in Nevada, and therefore poorly equipped for the long journey, made more diffi- cult by the sand hills on the route. However, they arrived at length in the great Treasure state, and spent their first winter in Butte, after which they removed to the Gallatin valley, where the father took up land and engaged in farming, an occupation which he continued until his death on January 25, 1890. Thos. T. Jones, his son and our immediate subject, began his education in the public schools of Wisconsin and completed it in those of Montana. He has remained on the homestead, of which he now has charge. It is a large and valuable tract, and is farmed with intel- ligence and spirit, yielding to its wide-awake and skillful husbandman abundant crops of wheat, oats and barley, and showing in its generally excellent condition and the completeness of its equipment the evidences of his superiority and enterprise as a farmer.

Mr. Jones was married April 4, 1900, to Miss Lillie L. Murray, a native of Galt, in the province of Ontario, Canada, and daughter of Joseph Mur- ray, a Scotchman by nativity, who came to Mon- tạna in 1876, and located at Bridger in 1878. They have one child, a daughter named Mary Cecilia. Mr. Jones is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and of the Knights of Pythias. He stands well among his neighbors and friends, and is regarded as one of the most promising men of the county.

A NDREW JOHNSON, one of the progressive and successful farmers and stockgrowers of Sweet Grass county, is a native son of the Norse- land, having been born in Norway on March 19, 1863, the son of Ole and Carrie (Eggen) Johnson, both of whom passed their entire lives in the land of their nativity, where the father was a farmer by occupation. They became the parents of six sons and six daughters. Andrew Johnson, our sub- ject, grew up on his father's farm and assisted in its cultivation, enjoying such educational advan- tages as were afforded in the common schools of his native country. Impressed with the superior advantages afforded in America he came to the United States in 1881, being at the time eighteen years of age. He had the courage to do, and his success has been a natural result of application

and muflagging industry. He first located near Sioux Falls, S. D., where he devoted his attention to work on a farm for about eighteen months, when he removed to Wisconsin and worked a season in the lumbering camps. Mr. Johnson be- came a resident of Montana in 1883, locating first in Butte, where he found employment for four years in one of the great smelters, after which he came to Melville, Sweet Grass county, and pur- chased a section of railroad land from the North- ern Pacific Company, located about five miles from the village and engaged in farming and stock- raising. He has made a specialty of shorthorn cattle, and usually winters from 200 to 300 head. He also devotes some attention to sheep grow- ing, and his operations have been well directed and given him excellent returns. Mr. Johnson has a particularly fortunate acquisition in a natural and never-failing spring of water in front of his house, which supplies effective irrigation for fully 300 acres of land on which he raises both grain and alfalfa. He is one of the progressive and industri- ous ranchmen of the county, and is held in high esteem by reason of his sterling worth of character.

ILLIAM F. JOHNSON .- One of the pro- gressive and able young business men of the city of Butte, being identified with a branch of enterprise which has important bearing on the development and material upbuilding of any com- munity-that involved in real estate transactions -the operations in this field of William F. John- son have been of wide scope and importance. He was born in Greene county, N. Y., on Decem- ber 10, 1861, the fifth of the six children of Matthew and Fannie (Ford) Johnson, both of whom were also born in New York. The father, who devoted the greater portion of his active life to merchandising, died in 1880, at the age of four score years. Their three sons and three daughters are all living. When William F. Johnson was a child of three his parents removed to Nebraska, where he was reared to maturity and educated in the public schools. This tuition was supplemented by a thorough course in a commercial college at Keokuk, Iowa, where he was graduated in the class of 1881. For several years after leaving school Mr. Johnson was employed in mercan- tile establishments in Omaha, Neb., and in 1891 he came to Montana, which has ever since been

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his home and base of operations in a business way. Upon coming to this state he was em- ployed in the First National Bank of Boulder, Jefferson county, and was an executive in this financial institution for three years, within which time he became interested in a stone quarry, in the development of which industry a successful busi- ness was controlled.

About ten years ago Mr. Johnson removed to Butte, and entered into the real estate business, in which unqualified success has attended his ef- forts, many desirable investments being repre- sented on the books of his agency, while special attention is given to rentals and to collections and the extending of financial loans upon approved securities at reasonable terms. In his political adherency Mr. Johnson is a Republican, and fra- ternally he holds membership in the Odd Fellows, in which he has in his local lodge held the various official chairs, and also in the Benevolent Pro- tective Order of Elks. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American war Mr. Johnson tendered his services to his country, enlisting in Griggsby's "Rough Riders" and going to Chickamauga Park, where he was clerk of Troop L, Third United States Volunteer Cavalry, under Captain D. Gay Stevens. He was mustered in on May 15, 1898, and was mustered out on the 8th of the follow- ing September, his command having not been called into active service. In 1883 Mr. Johnson was united in marriage to Miss Florence Smith, who was born in 1866 and who died in the fall of 1894. Their only child died in infancy.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 133

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