Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 151

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 151

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In the spring of 1863 Mr. Oswald arrived in Virginia City, Mont., and was for eighteen months engaged here in mining. From that time -his ex- periences would make a volume of romantic inter-

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est. He was a captain of a band of "Vigilantes," and was present at the execution of George Ives. Mr. Oswald was then living with "Wild Bill," wlio was subsequently assassinated at Deadwood, in a small log cabin in the gulch at Nevada City. In 1865 Mr. Oswald went to Confederate gulch and was one of the discoverers of the mines of Confed- erate and Montana gulches. During that winter their diet consisted entirely of meat, and mostly of wild game which they killed. The Indians were hostile and caused considerable trouble. In the fall of 1866 Mr. Oswald went to Chicago, but came back in 1868 and was for one year at Dia- mond City, but again returned to Chicago, and thence to Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, joined his wife whom he had married the previous year, and purchased the Woodstock iron works which he successfully conducted for seven years. In 1876 Mr. Oswald went to Denver to work as a ma- chinist, continuing this at Golden City, and subse- quently he was master mechanic at Boot Jack mines in Sierra county, Cal. In 1880 he located in Jefferson county, Mont., in the sawmill busi- ness, and for five years he was master mechanic for Talbot & Davis, and a like period in Butte for the Butte & Boston Company. In 1868 Mr. Oswald married with Miss Catherine Gunn, of Scotland, daughter of William Gunn. They have had five children, George L. (deceased), William G., machinist for the Boston & Montana Smelting Company; Catherine E., Minnie L., Mrs. F .. A. Bigelow, of Anaconda, and Violet M. Mr. Oswald is a Royal Arch Mason and junior warden of King Solomon's Lodge No. 42, A. F. & A. M., of Canada. He is in active sympathy with the principles of the Republican party, and is a popular gentleman who has a large circle of warm friends throughout the state.

In 1861 while in Colorado all of the horses of Mr. Oswald's party were stolen by Indians, and the men were chased into a cave on Rolling Fork, a short distance above the junction of Green and Grand rivers, and which they reached after a hard run of ten miles. In this cave they were confined three days and two of the party were killed. On the third night, while the Indians had for a time abandoned the watch to secure additional forces, Mr. Oswald and his living companions escaped from the cave and traveled 300 miles to reach civ- ilization again, being eight days without food, sub- sisting on the bark of pine trees. While on the trip to Virginia City, at Pine Grove station on the

old California road one of the party was stricken with smallpox. Mr. Oswald remained with the patient and went alone through a country in which large bands of hostile Indians were roaming to the government post to procure medicine, with which he returned and succeeded in curing this patient and two others who had also been seized with the disease. When the Indians saw him driving alone through their country they considered him insane and refrained from killing him. He later had trouble with white people on account of his having been in charge of smallpox patients, but the men were well before they reached Virginia City.

C 'HARLES W. OVERSTREET, reckoned as one of the live and influential citizens of Galla- tin county, is a man highly esteemed in the locality in which he resides and his handsome home near Salesville is surrounded by every indication of great prosperity. He was born in Sullivan coun- ty, Mo., February 7, 1859. On both sides of the house the families have for many generations been prominent southerners, Charles Overstreet, the paternal grandfather, and Eli Dodson, the grand- father on the mother's side, having been natives of Virginia. Our subject is the son of James and Mary A. (Dodson) Overstreet, the former of Tennessee and the latter of Kentucky. Charles Overstreet, the paternal grandfather, removed to Missouri, where he was recognized as one of the pioneers of that state. On his arrival to found a home he discovered that his nearest neighbor re- sided twenty-five miles distant. Here he secured a homestead upon which he remained until his death. The father, James Overstreet, remained in Missouri, engaged in farming and stockraising until his demise, which occurred in 1896. The wife and mother is still living on the Missouri farnı, the surviving parent of four sons and one daughter.

Until 1877 Charles Overstreet, our subject, re- mained on the homestead, and acquired a fair busi- ness education at the neighboring public schools. He passed one summer in Nebraska, but returned to Missouri and in 1879 started for Montana, hav- ing left home April 3. The party came by mule team, taking the Bozeman cutoff, they being the first immigrants that had, for many years, selected that route to the territory, owing to fear of hos- tile Indians. On June 18, 1879, Mr. Overstreet

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arrived in Bozeman, and there secured employ- ment as a farm hand, at which he continued two years, subsequently engaging in freighting, but had previously purchased a small homestead. In the freighting business, in which he was engaged three years, he met with good success, and at the termination of that period he purchased the Sey- mour ranch, on Middle creek, Gallatin county, The following two seasons were marked by dis- astrous crop failures, and Mr. Overstreet then dis- posed of the property and rented a ranch near Salesville, stocking it with a small herd of cattle. The succeeding two years were more prosperous, and he was enabled to secure his present location of 640 acres, three miles south of Salesville, near the West Gallatin river. A large portion of the ranch is under irrigation, with the exception of the foot-hills, which produce excellent crops of winter wheat.

Mr. Overstreet was married January 18, 1883, to Miss Mary E. Williams, daughter of J. W. Williams, a prosperous resident of the Gallatin valley, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. They have three children : James W., John F. and Emmett W. The residence of the family is in a very eligible location near the foot- hills. It is a fine, commodious building, sur- rounded with large barns and other outbuildings, and the beautiful shade trees are quite an attract- ive addition to the premises. He usually winters 150 head of stock, shorthorns being a favorite breed, besides a number of thoroughbred Norman and Hambletonian horses. For a number of years Mr. Overstrect has served as school trustee, and for three terms was register agent for his district, No. 8. Fraternally his relations are with the Woodmen of the World.

W TILLIAM CLANCY, who is one of the able and distinguished members of the bar of Montana, is now incumbent of the important of- fice of judge of the district court of the Second judicial district of the state, which comprises Sil- ver Bow county, and by his services on the bench and in his profession he has conferred dignity and honor upon the state. In no profession is there a carcer more open to talent than in that of the law, and he who essays the winning of legitimate suc- cess and prestige in it must not only give time and close study in preliminary preparation, but must

ever hold himself as an advocate, defender and conservator of equity and justice. Judge Clancy has steadily advanced along these lines to honor and precedence in his profession. William Clancy is a native of Somerset, Perry county, Ohio, where he was born on May 31, 1843. He was the son of David and Ellen (Hennessy) Clancy, both of whom were born in Ireland. David Clancy was born in County Cork, and was but seventeen years of age when he accompanied his parents on their emi- gration to America. He became a contractor for the construction of canals and railways, and was for eight years division master of the Bellefontaine & Indianapolis Railroad, in Ohio, where he made his home until 1857. He then removed to Mis- souri, and engaged in agriculture until his death, April 6, 1878. His wife was seventeen years old when she came with her parents to the United States, where they settled in Fairfield county, Ohio. She was married to Mr. Clancy in that state, and her death occurred in Missouri, on April 2, 1898, when she was only eight days less than ninety-six years of age. David and Ellen Clancy were parents of five sons and one daughter, and four of their children are now living.

William Clancy, the distinguished jurist, re- ceived his early educational discipline in the public schools of Ohio, and studied three years in Carey College, at Sidney, Ohio. He was fourteen years of age when his parents removed to Missouri, and there he and his brother aided in the clearing of a farm of 391 acres, which they brought into effect- ive cultivation. At the outbreak of the Civil war Judge Clancy manifested his loyalty to the Union by enlisting in 1861 as a private in Company K. Second Missouri Volunteer Cavalry, with which he was engaged in scouting duty through Arkansas and Missouri until mustered out of service on No- vember 16, 1864, with an honorable discharge .. Determined to perfect his education, he was yet compelled to rely upon his own resouces to com- plete it and also in his preparation for law, which he had decided to adopt as his profession. His. ambitions did not waste themselves in supine in- action, for his was the courage of a self-reliant and a resolute nature. Thus he was soon enrolled as a student in St. Paul's College, at Palmyra, Mo., where he completed a two-years course, after which, in 1866, he entered the law office of M. C. Hawkins, a leading attorney of Canton, Mo., with whom he continued reading for some time, so thor- oughly grounding himself in the science of juris-

Williams Clancy

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PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

prudence and the literature of law that he secured admission to the bar of the state at Monticello on November 8, 1868. He at once entered upon the active practice of his profession at Edina, the county-seat of Knox county, Mo., where he be- came one of the leading attorneys, and where his fidelity to his clients, his inflexible honesty and his fine abilities were soon acknowledged. While a resident of Knox county he held the office of judge of special court and served one term as county at- torney, elected to this office by popular vote and re- ceiving a majority which clearly indicated that the voters of the county had given him their support without regard to political affiliations. Judge Clancy has ever been fearless in the expression of his opinions where he has believed that wrong was being done or where there was malversation on the part of those entrusted with public trust and re- sponsibility. While a resident of Knox county, through his efforts the corrupt official "ring" in the county was effectually disrupted and its wrong doings brought to light, certain officials having systematically deflected school and county funds from their legitimate channels into a reinforcement of their personal exchequers. The expose thus brought about by Judge Clancy won him the grati- tude and encomiums of the people. While in Knox county he also inaugurated, in Edina, the publication of the Knox County Democrat, a paper which, under his editorial supervision, exercised a potent influence in political affairs and which is still published as the organ of the county Democ- racy.

Judge Clancy had always espoused the cause of the Democratic party until 1892, when, true to his convictions in this, as in all other matters, he transferred his support to the Populist party, of whose principles he has since been a stanch advo- cate. Upon July 14, 1893, the Judge located in Butte, Mont., where he opened a law office and has since been recognized as one of the represent- ative members of the bar of Silver Bow county. In 1896, as candidate on the fusion ticket, he was elected to the bench of the Second judicial district, and in November, 1900, he was re-elected to this important office, receiving a plurality of 1,388 votes, his term continuing for another four years from the expiration of his first term. On the bench Judge Clancy has tried some of the most im- portant mining cases ever brought before the courts of the United States, and in these, as in all other litigations upon which he has been called to

pass judgment, he has been signally fair and im- partial in his rulings, showing a true judicial mind and seeming to grasp intuitively the salient points in every cause presented. His career as district judge has added to his prestige, and he is held in the highest esteem by the members of the bar and by the general public, being, as a judge and as a man among men, sans peur et san reproche. Judge Clancy has never married.

J AMES M. PAGE .- Honored and esteemed by all, there is no man in the state more worthy of representation in this volume than Mr. Page, whose life has been one of signal honor and use- fulness. He served with marked valor and dis- tinction in the Civil war, endured the horrors of southern prison pens, has been intimately con- cerned from early days with the development of Montana ; has been identified with the surveys of every county in the commonwealth, and stands to- day one of the popular pioneers of Madison coun- ty. James Madison Page was born in Crawford county, Pa., on July 22, 1839, the youngest of the five children of Wallace and Nancy B. (Bon- ney) Page, natives of Massachusetts, born re- spectively in 1810 and 1816. They were married at Ellington, Chautauqua county, N. Y., on April 18, 1832, and became the parents of five children, Elvira, Wallace Robert, Elmina, Rodna Walter and James Madison, the first three born in Elling- ton, and the last two in Conneaut, Crawford coun- ty, Pa. Wallace Page removed from Ellington to Crawford county in 1837 as a pioneer farmer, and here he died in 1840, and his wife died in 1852 in Henry county, Ill. Both paternal and maternal grandfathers of Mr. Page were soldiers of the Revolution and both families were established on American soil in the early Colonial epoch. Separating after the death of their parents all of the five children eventually came to Montana, and all now reside in Madison county.

About 1843 Mrs. Page removed to Michigan, re- married, and had her home near Battle Creek, and in the public schools at West Leroy, James M. Page received his first schooling. He was but four years old when his mother came west. From his tenth to his twelfth year he was in the home of an uncle in the north part of the state and here he attended school. He then ran away and secured work on a farm, and was enabled to attend school dur-

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ing the winter months. He resided in Michigan until he was twenty-three years old, when, on August 14, 1862, he enlisted in Company A, Sixth Michigan Volunteer Cavalry, of which he became commissary sergeant. Joining the Army of the Potomac the regiment was assigned to picket duty at Fairfax Court House during the winter of 1862- 3, and then went forth against the army of Gen. Lee. The first great battle in which his regiment participated was Gettysburg, and of the seventy- seven men in Mr. Page's company who went into the fight only twenty-six came out alive. On September 21, 1863, Mr. Page was one of the twen- ty-four members of his regiment captured by the Confederates, after the battle of Orange Court House. The lamented Gen. Custer was brigade commander of the cavalry centered at Culpeper Court House, and at that battle Custer was wounded and the command devolved upon Col. Sawyer, of the First Vermont Cavalry. The same day the Sixth Michigan Cavalry engaged with Gen. A. P. Hill's corps, and one result was the capture noted above. Of the twenty-three pris- oners who were confined in Libby, Belle Isle, An- dersonville and Millen prisons, only Mr. Page and one other lived to be paroled on November 21, 1864, and had not succumbed to the frightful pri- vations and sufferings of the incarceration. His weight was normally 205 pounds, and when re- leased he weighed only 120 pounds. On rejoining his company Mr. Page was made first sergeant, and later promoted second lieutenant. He re- ceived his honorable discharge on June 25, 1865, and then he entered the Eastman Business College in Chicago, where he was graduated in 1866.

In the spring of that year Mr. Page came to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., from which place he started on the trip across the plains to Montana, and arrived in Virginia City on the 20th of June. His party encountered a band of Sioux Indians, not far from Fort Bridger, Utah, and though a conflict seemed imminent it was averted without the shedding of blood. In the fall of 1866 Mr. Page turned his attention to ranching in the Mad- ison valley, associating himself with O. B. Varney in breaking eighty acres, the land being a portion of the valley then designated as Sodom. They paid eight cents a pound in gold for seed wheat, and Mr. Page invested his entire capital in this way. Grasshoppers destroyed the crop the fol- lowing spring, but Mr. Page continued farming

until 1869, when he went to Utah and purchased horses, which he brought through to the Beaver- head valley, Madison county, where he has ever since maintained his home. He now owns about 1,700 acres, in different ranches, and is one of the leading farmers and stockgrowers of this section. He raises sufficient grain for his own use and large crops of hay, but devotes his attention more partic- ularly to cattle and horses, breeding highgrade shorthorn cattle and a fine Belgian strain of horses. His homestead ranch is located five miles south of Twin Bridges. The town of Pageville was named in his honor, and this is his postoffice address. Before the Civil war Mr. Page was con- nected with public surveys in Minnesota, and in 1873 he again took up his profession of civil en- gineer, and has been employed in the government surveys of every county in Montana.

Mr. Page is unmistakably the leader of the Re- publican party in Madison county. In 1875 he was elected county surveyor of Madison county, and, in 1882, joint representative of Madison and Beaverhead counties in the territorial legislature, and was re-elected in 1884. In 1895 Mr. Page received from Gov. Rickards the appointment of state land agent, to fill the unexpired term of R. O. Hickman, who had died, and served until Octo- ber, 1897. In addition to his ranching interests Mr. Page has invested fully $10,000 in developing mining properties and is now the owner of valu- able mines in Madison county. He is a stock- holder and trustee of the Twin Bridges Bank and has other capitalistic interests of importance. Mr. Page was initiated as a Mason when twenty- two years old, and now holds membership in lodge, chapter and commandery, and in the Order of the Eastern Star, while he is also identified with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. On July 7, 1872, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Page to Miss Mary Christianson, born in Holstein, Den- mark, whence she accompanied her parents to the United States in 1864, when nine years of age. Her father, Christian Christianson, was a success- ful ranchman of Madison county, and at the old homestead, near Sheridan, her marriage to Mr. Page was celebrated. She has been a resident of Montana since the age of twelve years. Mr. and Mrs. Page had four daughters-Helen E., wife of Irwin R. Blaisdell, of Butte; Mina E., wife of C. W. Van Orsdall, of Pageville; Mary E., wife of Dwight Bushnell, of Twin Bridges, and Lena M.

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TILLIAM PALMER .- About one and one- fourth miles from the mouth of Shields river is located Fairview stock farm, one of the valuable ranch properties of Park county, improved with a modern residence of attractive architectural de- sign, and having the best of equipments in every line. This property is owned by and is the home of Mr. William Palmer, one of the pioneers of the northwest. He is a native of Whiteside county, Ill., born on March 9, 1845, the son of John and Mary (Wilkinson) Palmer, natives of Pennsyl- vania, whence they removed to Illinois in an early day, the father there engaging in agriculture until his death.

William Palmer was reared on the Illinois homestead and secured his education in the public schools. In 1864, having attained his legal major- ity, he set forth for Montana with an ox team and the trip was a very pleasant one. From Salt Lake Mr. Palmer proceeded to Bitter creek, where he engaged in stage driving during the winter for Ben Holliday. In the spring Mr. Palmer started for Alder gulch, where he arrived in April, 1865, this being then the great mining camp of Montana. After a short stay, he continued his trip to Last Chance gulch (Helena), and a month later he, with Alexander Franklin, started for the Blackfoot country. They discovered gold in Snowshoe gulch, where after a short time they sold out to good advantage and then made their way to Corinne, Utah, where Mr. Palmer purchased teams and started a freighting business, which he continued a few years and then came to Bozeman, where he sold his teams and engaged in mining. Shortly after the Custer massacre he went to Fort Keogh and was engaged in the wood and hay business about two years, during which time the rifle was as necessary an equipment as the hay- fork or ax. In the fall of 1878 he went to Bis- marck, N. D., where he conducted freighting be- tween that place and Fort Mead and Deadwood. In the spring of 1879 he engaged in successful sub- contract work on the Northern Pacific, following its advancing construction through to Livingston.

He then went to British Columbia and engaged in similar work on the Canadian Pacific for one summer, after which he returned to Montana, lo- cating on Swamp creek and engaged in cattle and sheepraising for about a decade in that locality, after which he purchased Fairview stock farm, his present ranch. Here he has continued stockrais- ing successfully, and is now replacing his stock as

rapidly as expedient with the Hereford and short- horn types. He usually winters from 200 to 300 head, and raises large crops of hay, usually having several hundred tons for sale each year. He has erected a large and attractive residence at Fair- view, one of the show places of this part of the county. Politically Mr. Palmer arrays himself in the ranks of the Republican party. He has served as school trustee and, while a resident of Dawson county, he was appointed sheriff but declined the honor, the emoluments of the office being in an in- verse proportion to the duties. On December 3, 1879, Mr. Palmer was united in marriage to Miss Emaline Youngblood, born in Buffalo, N. Y., the daughter of Christopher and Mary (Wack) Young- blood, who were parents of one son and five daughters. The father was a native of Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Palmer have five children, Harry, Lyman, Ralph, Warren and Earl.

F "RED J. PARKER has passed nearly all his life in Montana, coming here with his parents in the early pioneer days as a child. He is now one of the prosperous and progressive farmers of the beautiful Missoula valley, his fine ranch being located four miles west of the city of Missoula, his postoffice address. Mr. Parker was born on July 13, 1862, in St. Joseph, Mo., his parents being tem- porarily located there while en route to Pike's Peak, Colo. He is the son of James and Eliza J. (Martin) Parker, natives of Genesee county, N. Y., the date of the father's birth having been 1837. He is a son of John and Julia M. Parker, natives of Ireland, whence they emigrated to the United States, and thereafter lived in the state of New York, where the former was a farmer. James Parker was educated in his native state, and in [854 removed to Illinois, and later resided in Kan- sas and Missouri, following his trade of shoe- maker. In 1858 he and his family started for Colo- rado, and proceeded as far as St. Joseph, Mo., where they remained until 1859, when they con- tinued their journey to Pike's Peak, where the father engaged in mining until the outbreak of the Civil war when he enlisted in Company F, of the Colorado Home Guards, in which connection he was on duty in the city of Denver for six months.

In 1863 James Parker came to Bannack, Mont., where he remained for a time and then removed to Alder gulch, where he engaged in mining and also

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worked at his trade. The family here had its home until 1865, when it removed to Last Chance gulch, and there Mr. Parker followed his trade un- til 1871, when he came to Missoula county and located a claim on Cedar creek. Remaining here one season, he then opened a shoe shop in Missoula and continued there at work at his trade for a number of years. He has since been interested in mining in the vicinity of Clinton, where he owns some good claims. He was married in New York state to Julia M. Martin, and they became the parents of three children, of whom Fred J. of this review and his sister, Mrs. Murry, yet survive.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 151

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