Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 15

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 15

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he worked at hauling wood and mining. He traveled around Great Falls and located at Wicks in the spring of 1888, working. in the smelter. From there he went to Elkhorn in 1890, and later to the Cleopatra mine near Butte. In August he located in Butte, pursuing various occupations until 1895.

· During all this time and throughout all his wan- derings he was studying law and looking forward to a professional career. After 1895 he gave his whole attention to this study and with such suc- cess that he was admitted to practice in Novem- ber, 1898. He immediately formed a partnership with G. L. Langford, but subsequently dissolved this and formed another with his present partner. Mr. Breen has been active and forceful in politics and began early to take a leading place in his party and to give his talents to the service of his people. He represented the Twenty-first district in the second constitutional convention of the state, and was elected as a Democrat to the First and Second state legislatures from Jefferson coun- ty. He is at present a Populist, and as such was elected in 1890 to the office of county attorney of Silver Bow county, the duties of which he is now (1901) discharging with ability and acceptability, being commended for his strict attention to its busi- ness and his fairness and skill, by political associates and opponents alike. Mr. Breen was married March 3, 1897, to Miss Katie Griffin, a native of Independence, Iowa, whose father was one of the early settlers in that locality. In religious faith he is a Roman Catholic, and belongs to the Robert Emmett Literary Society, composed principally of men of that faith. He is also a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His prom- inence in his profession and his firm hold on the confidence and regard of the people are not acci- dental or the result of adventitious circumstances. He has gained every foot of his way by merit and persistent and honest labor. The very difficulty with which he secured his legal training has given him a more tenacious grasp of its details than if it had come to him easily, and the exigencies of his adventurous life have strengthened the fibre and multiplied the fertility of his sterling manner.

J JOHN C. BRENNER .- Fortunate is the man who has an ancestry of distinguished order and sterling worth ; and we of this intensely utilitarian

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

twentieth century cannot hold in light esteem the record of noble lives and worthy deeds, and, as Ma- caulay has pertinently stated the fact, "A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of re- mote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descend- ants." The gentleman whose name initiates this review is a scion of staunch old Pennsylvania stock, and the name is one that has been prominent in the annals of the old Keystone state, as has that of his mother's family, each successive generation having accomplished something which may well be "remembered with pride by remote descend- ants." It is not within the province of this work to enter into details as to genealogical records, but sufficient reference will be made to indicate the lesson and incentive which may be read "between the lines." Mr. Brenner, one of the representa- tive citizens and prominent stock growers of Beav- erhead county, is progressive in his methods and honored and esteemed by those who know him, and thus he is most eligible for representation within the pages of this volume.

John C. Brenner is a native son of the famous old "City of Brotherly Love," having been born in Philadelphia on March 23, 1845. His father, John G. Brenner, was born in Lancaster county, Pa., and was reared and educated in his native state, where he passed his entire life, his deatlı oc- curring in 1879. He was a man of fine intellectual powers, and one of the prominent citizens of his state. He was a stalwart Democrat in his politi- cal proclivities and was on the electoral tickets of his party each campaign from the candidacy of Jackson to and including that of Breckenridge for the office of president. He was an intimate per- sonal friend of President Buchanan, and also of Simon Cameron, the Pennsylvania statesman. Mr. Brenner was one of the organizers of the Pennsyl- vania Mutual Life Insurance Company, and was a member of its board of trustees until his death. He held the third policy issued by this company. He was a director of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and of the Girard National Bank, of Philadelphia, and before the city of Spring Garden became an integral part of Philadelphia he was a member of its board of commissioners. He was one of the leading merchants of Philadelphia, where he was engaged in the hardware business up to the time when death put an end to his labors. His maternal grandfather was Brigadier-General Klotz, who commanded Pennsylvania troops in the

war of the Revolution. The family has been of marked prominence in the Keystone state from the early colonial epoch until the present day.

John C. Brenner, the immediate subject of this review, was the fifth in order of birth in a family of nine children, and received his educational discip- line in the schools of his native city. He there- after became identified with his father's hardware business, of which he had charge after the death of his honored sire. In 1883 he came to Mon- cana, locating in Beaverhead county, and here pur- chasing his present ranch, which now comprises 5,000 acres and is one of the finest in the state, both in the matter of natural characteristics and in the improvements which have been made. Here he has been engaged in farming and stockraising upon an extensive scale, and is recognized as one of the leading operators in these important lines of indus- try in the state. His place is located twenty-five miles from Red Rock, and the family residence is one of the most attractive in this favored section. In politics Mr. Brenner gives his support to the Democratic party, and fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order. He is also a popu- lar member of the Silver Bow Club, in the city of Butte.

On October 29, 1874, Mr. Brenner was united in marriage to Miss Isabel White, who was born in the vicinity of Pittsburg, Pa., the daughter of Henry White, many years engaged in the lumber- ing business at Williamsport, Pa., where his death occurred. He was prominent in both political and business life, having been the candidate of the Dem- ocratic party for member of congress in 1874. Mrs. Brenner's paternal grandfather, Col. Hugh White, is a part of Pennsylvania's record in the war of 1812. He was "captain of a company of foot in the First Battalion of associators in the county of Northumberland." He was colonel in the war of 1812, and was killed in 1822 by being thrown from a horse. An ancestor in the direct line was a captain in the Continental army during the war of the Revolution. Hon. Joseph B. Anthony, the maternal grandfather of Mrs. Brenner, was a grad- uate of Princeton University ; was admitted to the bar of Pennsylvania in 1818, and was elected to the state senate in 1830, serving until 1833. He was elected to congress and re-elected in 1835, carry- ing every precinct in his district. He was a stal- wart Democrat in his political faith.

Mr. and Mrs. Brenner are the parents of three sons : Henry White, who was born May 30, 1879,

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

was educated at St. Paul's School, at Concord, N. H .; William Potts was born February 26, 1882; and Charles Potts was born August 31, 1884.

H ENRY ELLING .- There are names which are in themselves an inspiration and a history -themes which are their own eloquent interpreters beyond the power of speech or writing-and who is there that can add a word or a thought to the story when, in this section of the country, and espe- cially in Montana, one names the name and calls up the memory of Henry Elling? Mr. Elling was born in Germany, December 9, 1842, the son of German parents, possessing a modest competence in worldly wealth, and a devout religious spirit that found expression in the prescribed formulas of the Luth- eran church. Death robbed him of both parents before he was fifteen years of age, and he then emi- grated with a younger brother to the United States, locating in Missouri, where an older brother had already secured a stable foothold. In the fatherland he received a fair education in his na- tive tongue, and in America he at once applied him- self with characteristic diligence to the study of English, working as a farm hand while learning the language, and later securing a position in a mer- cantile house at the munificent compensation of six dollars a month and his board for the first year, and something additional for each of the subse- quent years he remained with the firm. In 1861 he removed to Leavenworth, Kan., and a year later to Denver, Colo., where he was a clerk and salesman in a clothing house until 1864. In that year he determined to start business for himself, and brought a stock of goods by ox teams to Virginia City, Mont., and in October opened a store. In 1865 Last Chance gulch, now Helena, burst forth as the newest Eldorado of this western world, and, securing a partner, Mr. Elling removed his busi- ness thither, and in a little log house with a saw- dust floor, they opened a store and sold their stock at almost fabulous prices and handsome profits. A short time after they were established at Helena, his partner went east with most of their money to pay bills and purchase more goods, and Mr. Elling began to deal in gold. The supply increased and prices went down so that he soon lost all his means and was obliged to close out his stock, after which he also went east.

He paid the debts of the firm, bought a new stock of goods on time and started in business at

Nebraska City, then the supply point for the freighting outfits to the west. For awhile he was successful there, but, when Omaha became the supply station, he had a large stock of goods and no demand for them-and, more than that, he was in debt for the goods and unable to meet his obliga- tions. But his creditors had confidence in his in- tegrity, and allowed him to take his goods any- where he deemed best. Accordingly he again lo- cated in Virginia City, Mont., where he was emi- nently successful from the beginning. He continued in trade until 1873, and then opened a banking house. He now was, at least, in the line for which he was particularly well qualified, for he had an instinctive sense in matters of finance that never let him go astray. Although at times his daring seemed akin to rashness, it was short vision in others that pronounced this judgment-he saw the end from the beginning. He trusted men freely, always doing a large credit business, yet his confi- dence was rarely betrayed or abused. He became the richest man in Madison county, owning mines and mills and miles of acres teeming with their ver- dant meadows, their golden harvests, their sheep and cattle on a thousand hills-items scarce worth mentioning save for the fact that his wealth was the product of his own capabilities properly used. He was also the leading business man, and the most potential factor in multiplying productive fiscal and commercial enterprises-and this is much to say in any man's favor. For, prate as we may of increasing armies and expanding navies for the national defense, the real armor of the twentieth century is a plethoric pocketbook; its strong fort- resses will be fire-proof vaults, well filled with notes, mortgages and title-deeds. Good agencies which produce these, good men who spread their benefits and direct the distribution, are real bene- factors of mankind, and will be so recognized in the age now dawning, wherein man, the creator and beautifier, shall be honored and feted, and man, the destroyer, discrowned.

Through his banking operations Mr. Elling be- came actively interested in many financial and mer- cantile institutions, including three of the largest banks in Virginia City, one at Sheridan, and others at various places in the county. But this vast field was too small to give due scope and amplitude to his financial powers. He was necessary to the fiscal interests of the state, and he obeyed their call. In 1894, just after a disastrous panic, he was asked by officers of the Commercial Exchange Bank at

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

Bozeman to take a block of the proposed increase of its capital and become its president. He accepted the invitation and soon had the bank well estab- lished as a healthy member of the national system. Not long after he assisted in organizing the Carbon County Bank, at Red Lodge, and also became its president. This was followed by his election as a director of the State National Bank, of Miles City. He then took stock in the National Bank at Big Timber in Park county, and in January, 1898, be- came interested in the bank of Fergus county at Lewistown. In the same month he organized the Union Bank and Trust Company, of Helena, be- coming its president and leading spirit. In 1896 he joined the syndicate which purchased the Gallatin Light, Power and Railway Company, of Bozeman, that held the street railway and electric lighting franchises of the city. To the affairs of all these in- stitutions Mr. Elling gave personal attention and the benefit of his high standing in the financial and business world, and from his broad experience and keen, careful, superior judgment they all profited and prospered.

Mr. Elling was a member of the Masonic frater- nity, connected with the Master Masons lodge, the Royal Arch chapter and the commandery of Knights Templar. He also belonged to the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He was a Republican, but never sought or accepted a purely political office. His party often wished to honor him with nominations for prominent positions, but he firmly refused all of them. At one time he was obliged to positively decline the nomination for gov- ernor. His interest in the welfare of the commun- ity did once, however, induce him to become mayor of his home town, a position in which he rendered service of great and permanent value. He was married July 20, 1870, to Miss Mary B. Cooley, a native of Iowa, and daughter of W. A. Cooley, an esteemed citizen of Madison county who made his home there in 1868. Mr. and Mrs. Elling were parents of ten children, Helena K., now Mrs. Arey ; Henrietta M., now Mrs. Gohn; Mable, now Mrs. Hutt; Carlotta, Horace B., Karl and Harrison C., living, and Alice, Henry and Herman, deceased.

It is as true a saying as it is old that "Death loves a shining mark." In the midst of his great plans and his many-sided usefulness, while yet not far past the noon of life, a fatal attack of pneumonia closed his earthly career on Wednesday, November 14, 1900, after an illness of less than four days. 5

The life of Henry Elling was a positive, far- reaching, fruitful potency for good. Its contempla- tion can never be void or valueless to thinking men. He not only wrought out great ends himself, but fired others with energy and zeal. His presence and example were pregnant with a vitality that sus- tained the old, inspired the young, and aided all. In business and social attributes he was centripetal, concentrating and conserving like energies in other men, and holding all together in harmonious revolu- tion. His honor and his honesty went unassailed, his morals were above reproach, his charities werc bountiful but unproclaimed, and his domestic traits were lovable unto the last degree. Withal, his life was quiet and serene. His way lay not along the points and pinnacles of great affairs where history holds her splendid march. He gave the faculties that might have swayed a realm to quiet usefulness and unpraised toil, teaching by precept and example the lesson of fidelity in daily duty, and, through that, good service to his kind. And so that life commands the admiration, not only of the many with whom devotion might naturally stand in place of criticism, but of those whose dis- tance from the man and resultant want of bias entitles them to render authoritative judgment. And when they tell us, as they do, those wiser, bet- ter brethren of ours in the east-and tell the world so they may make it history-that this, our west- ern civilization, is half barbarism, we may be pardoned if we answer : Behold its product and its representative! "Of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes." Here is Henry Elling-show us his fellow!

E "DWIN H. BREWSTER .- The only real suc- cess in human effort is to work in the right direction. One must elect his work, and then put all his force on it to secure results. Concentration is the secret of success. The one prudence in life is concentration, the one evil dissipation of energy. Rays of light, nearly powerless when scattered, burn brilliantly when brought to a focus. These truths are well exemplified in the active life of Edwin Har- ris Brewster, of Wibaux, one of the high grade stock-breeders of Montana, who has given up his energies to the accomplishment of a set purpose from which he allows nothing to divert him. He is a native of Chicago, Ill., where he was born June 20, 1866. His scholastic training was acquired in

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

the public schools and in a good commercial col- lege. When he was about sixteen years old he ob- tained employment with a cattle company in Ari- zona, where he acquired a comprehensive knowl- edge of one side of the business, and an ardent de- sire to fully master it and then carry it on for him- self. Accordingly, after three years' service in Ari- zona, he secured a position with the Berry-Boice Cattle Company of eastern Montana, and began an apprenticeship in range work. This continued until April, 1892, when he made a homestead entry of a quarter section of land on Beaver Creek, about a mile and a half north of Wibaux, in Dawson coun- ty, and two months later married Miss Elizabeth Salisbury, of Henderson, Minn., and settled down to ranch life "under his own vine and fig tree." He started in the cattle business in a small way, but soon began "breeding up" his range stock. His experiments in this line opened his eyes to its large possibilities for good to the community, and deter- mined him to pass from the domain of stock-rais- ing to that of stock-breeding. Imbued with this laudable ambition, a few years ago he purchased the Higgins herd of thoroughbred Herefords at Rancher, Mont., and abandoned range work for the more congenial field. His herd of pure-bred Here- fords now numbers 110 head of white-faced beau- ties, nearly all of which are "native here and to the manor born," therefore thoroughly acclimated, and certainly equal in breeding to any herd in the coun- try. Their offspring are sold to any proper pur- chaser, and a pedigree is furnished with each ani- mal, bearing the signature of the secretary of the American Hereford Breeders' Association, of which Mr. Brewster is a member, as he is also of the Montana Stock Growers' Association. At the head of this herd stands the renowned John Jacob Astor, bred by Charles Cross, of the Sunny Slope herd of Herefords at Emporia, Kan. He is well worthy of the name he bears in the richness of his lineage, his physical vigor, his dignified bearing and his powers of procreation. Rumor has been busy with the price paid by the nervy breeder for this great acquisition, and has not settled the matter. All that is known is that Mr. Brewster was offered and promptly declined $500 for his bargain a few days after the purchase.

Mr. Brewster is a gentleman of enterprise and breadth of view and is inspired by a desire higher and wider than mere commercial considerations. It is his patriotic and generous, as well as sound business intention to aid, as far as he can, in im-

proving the stock of the state for both ranchmen and feeders, and by his example and his efforts, awaken them to the fact that such improvement is necessary to enable them to keep pace with pro- gress elsewhere. It is nearly time, in his opinion, that the "scrub" steer should disappear from the ranches and stock markets of Montana, under the general order of nature-the survival of the fittest -and his endeavors in this direction are entitled to the highest commendation of all interested parties. Mr. Brewster's family consists of his wife and two charming little girls, whose home is a handsome cottage adorned with every evidence of good taste. His stock also lacks nothing that money can buy or skill fashion for its proper shelter, development and keep. In fraternal circles Mr. Brewster is an en- thusiastic Mason, having given to the order much time and valuable service, both in the ranks in its various branches and in exalted official stations. He is at this time deputy grand commander of the Knights Templar of the state.

In his ancestry Mr. Brewster is as distinguished as in his creative and productive business enter- prises. He is of the ninth generation in direct de- scent from Elder William Brewster who came as a part of the precious importation brought to Ply- mouth Rock by the Mayflower in 1620. His father, James P. Brewster, is a leading business man of Chicago, a hatter by trade, but merchandising in the commodity rather than making it. He was in- strumental in organizing the Hat Finishers' Union, and was first identified with it as a clerk. He then, in partnership with one Hunniwell, pur- chased the union and continued with success the business it had conducted. In 1856 he sold out and, after traveling extensively in the west, in partner- ship with one Loomis, he opened a hat store under Warners' Hall on Randolph street, Chicago. He soon purchased the interest of his partner, and con- cincted business alone until the great Chicago fire. After the smoke of the conflagration had cleared away, he opened a store opposite Marshall Field's temporary business location on State street, near Twenty-second. From there he moved to West Madison street, and when the business district had been partially rebuilt, again removed to the South Side, locating on Clarke and Madison streets. In 1881 he became a member of the firm of Dunlap & Co., with a magnificent store in the Palmer House block, on State street. Though prosperity and ad- versity he always exhibited the same lofty self-confi- dence, resourcefulness and energy, always consider-

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

ate of the rights and feelings of others, always atten- tive to every detail of his own affairs-permitting no leaks in his business which a close and constant vig- ilance could prevent, yet conducting it ever on a lofty plain of integrity, enterprise and progressive- ness, exemplifying in all its bearings the highest type of the American merchant. In January, 1902, he retired from active business at the age of seventy- six years. He was married in New York, in 1858, to Miss Laura R. Smith Cox, a daughter of John and Adaline (Harris) Cox, who were born and brought up within a block of each other in New York City. . They were rocked in the same cradle and took their first and last lessons in school to- gether. John Cox was a son of Jamieson Cox, the famous New York fire chief in the terrible fire of 1836, when many of the large buildings were blown up with powder to prevent the spread of the devas- tation. John Cox was then foreman of an engine company, and was buried in the ruins, but was res- cued without serious injury.

Mrs. Laura R. S. Brewster was a descendant of the early Knickerbocker stock, and a family proud of its name and honor. She was finely educated, and after removing to Chicago, was identified with many movements of philanthropy. Especially was her work valuable during the Civil war in behalf of the Union soldiers. She was one of hive Chicago ladies to organize the Chicago Washington Hos- pital for wounded soldiers, where these heroic women did a noble work in alleviating human suf- fering. They were Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, Mrs. A. H. Hogue, Mrs. O. E. Hosmer, Mrs. O. D. Ran- ney and Mrs. J. P. Brewster. The last named was also instrumental in organizing the Sanitary Fair, held in Bryant's Hall, Chicago, the first of the kind in the United States. She was an incorporator of the Chicago Orphan Asylum, and till her death was an honorary member of its board of directors. Her last years were passed in the beautiful suburb of the city called Glencoe ; and here she was very act- ive in beautifying and developing the place.

Thus bearing from his birth the responsibility of an honored family name and history on both sides of his house, Mr. Brewster has not lowered its crest or lessened its luster. He has held up the best tra- ditions of his race in his successful business enter- prises, both by their character and their achieve- ments, and in his devotion to every social, educa- tional and moral force in the community, and every public affair which might tend to its advancement, has shown that his lineage is well sustained.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 15

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