Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 172

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 172

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refused a job because it was small. He is impelled by a sense of duty which teaches him that it is well to do whatever is offered, his chief concern being not what is the size of his undertaking, but what is the quality of the work. He insists upon having the best that is attainable under the circumstances, keeping both the letter and the spirit of his agree- ments.

Before he left Boston Mr. Thurston was happily married to Miss Caroline Humphrey, a native of Maine, who walked life's troubled way with him until 1882, and then departed this life. They had four children, all of whom are living at Elizabeth, N. J. From his early manhood, for more than forty-one years, he has been identified with the Order of Ancient and Accepted Freemasons, in the symbolic degrees of which he has held high official stations. In this order he has found much quiet and profitable enjoyment, as he has in his religious affiliations, which are with the Baptist church.

Mr. Thurston has passed the alloted span of human life, and is still hale and vigorous. And as, with a clear mind, a light heart and a quiet con- science, he reviews the record of his well spent years, he cannot but rejoice in the beneficence which gave him so much to do and the will and power to accomplish it all.

PHILIP THORPE .- A native son of Montana and a representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of the state, the subject of this re- view has attained a position of honor and prom- inence as one of the progressive and eminently successful stockgrowers and farmers of Beaverhead county. Mr. Thorpe was born in Gallatin valley on May 18, 1870, being the youngest of the four chil- dren of Philip and Sarah (Selway) Thorp, both of whom were born in England, their marriage having been solemnized in the state of Wisconsin. The father of our subject came to the United States about the year 1848, locating in Racine, Wis.

He was a druggist by profession, and continued his residence in Racine until 1865, when he made a trip to California, returning to Wisconsin the same year. In 1866 he removed to Montana, and in 1880 located in Dillon, where he passed the resi- clue of his life, his death occurring in 1885. The mother of our subject is also deceased, having passed to the great beyond in 1888.

Philip Thorpe received his early educational dis-

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cipline in the public schools of Gallatin county and the city of Helena, supplemented by a course of study in Albion College, a celebrated institution lo- cated in Albion, Mich. As soon as he had com- pleted his educational work he turned his atten- tion to stockraising, and now has a fine estate of 2.500 acres, located near Dillon. Here he is ex- tensively engaged in the raising of sheep and cattle, running an average of 6,000 head of sheep. His business ability is pronounced, and he is ever on the alert to adopt improved methods and take such course as will tend to enhance the value of his stock and to forward the interests of the industry in the state. He is a young man of vigorous men- tality, and his affability and sterling rectitude have gained to him the esteem and friendship of the people of the community in which he has practically passed his entire life.

His political allegiance is given to the Republi- can party, but he takes no active part in political affairs. He and his wife are attendants of the Protestant Episcopal church. Mr. Thorpe finds di- version in frequent hunting expeditions, and in coursing for coyotes, and owns a fine pack of stag hounds which he uses in connection with this ex- hilarating sport. On the 20th of June, 1894, Mr. Thorpe was united in marriage to Miss Mamie E. Hart, who was born at Red Bluff, Madison county, Mont., the daughter of Edward L. and Anna E. Hart, who came to this state about 1869. Edward L. Hart died in 1887; his widow, Anna E., is a resident of Dillon. Mr. and Mrs. Thorpe have one son, Philip Edward, who was born June 15, 1897.

)EV. E. O. TILBURN, PH. D. - Author, R playwright, actor. editor, essayist, evangel- ist and pastor, Rev. Edward Oliver Tilburn, Ph. D., "a man so various that he seems to be, not one, but all mankind's epitome," has contributed to the enjoyment and edification of his fellows in many lines of intellectual effort, and has wrought skillfully in all. He was born on June 4, 1859, at Philadelphia, Pa., where his father was also born on March 17, 1836. In 1861 he responded to the first call for volun- teers to defend the Union and enlisted in the Nine- tieth Pennsylvania Regiment. He saw active ser- vice on many a bloody field and was at Antietam, and in the second battle of Bull Run he was wounded severely, in consequence contracting a

disease that necessitated an operation from which he never fully recovered. He was attached to the sanitary commission the latter part of his service. After the war he engaged in the commission busi- ness at Philadelphia for a number of years. In 1870 he associated himself with the Bryant & Stratton Commercial College, the first commercial school of Philadelphia, and was one of its faculty for six years and then became an expert account- ant, following that profession in his native city until 1898 and thereafter in Butte, Mont., until he died on May 1, 1901. His remains were taken back to Philadelphia for burial by his son, the Rev. E. O. Tilburn. The mother of the Doctor was Mary Elizabeth Bailey, a native of Leeds, Eng- land, where she was born May 1, 1839, a daughter of Knight L. and Elizabeth (Oliver) Bailey, who brought her to America when she was about a year old, and settled in Baltimore, Md. Her father was the inventor and patentee of the reverse motion of locomotives. She died at Philadelphia in 1873. Of their four children E. O. Tilburn was the eldest. He lived with his grandmother at Philadelphia, until he was five years old, and then with a Baptist minister at Colmar, Pa., until he was eleven, receiving his education up to this time at private schools. He then entered Pepperell (Mass.) Academy, a private school for boys, and at sixteen entered Yale where he took a full classical course and was graduated therefrom in 1881.

.During his academic and college career he took an active part in concerts and theatrical perform- ances, and when he left Yale he went on the stage under the name of N. T. Oliver as an associate of Rollin Howard. He was particularly strong in character work and took that line in winter. In summer he was engaged in comic opera. During his histrionic work he gave much attention to dramatization, converting several good stories into successful plays, and writing many original ones. Among his productions, issued under the pseudonym of Dr. N. T. Oliver, are: "An Uncon- scious Crime," "Almeda," "A Tale of Mexico," "Dr. Wilbur's Note-Book," "The Confession of Lorraine Herschel," "The King of Gold," "The Whitechapel Mystery," "Mexican Bill," "The Fateful Hand," "A Woman of Nerve," "The Cal- vanist and the Thespian," "In Peril of His Life, or Valpinson," "Out at Sea," "The King of Gold," "Hunted Down," "Twenty Thousand Pounds, or the Bartlett Mine," and "Baffled," the last

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six being plays. Dr. Tilburn made a profes- sional tour of the world as an actor, play- ing in the principal cities across the Ameri- can continent from Philadelphia to San Fran- cisco, from there going to Honolulu, Tokio, Hong Kong, Adelaide and Manila. In addition Liverpool and the other leading cities of England, Scotland and Ireland were visited. On his return to New York he organized "Oliver's Entertain- ers," a concert and specialty company, and made a tour of the principal cities of the Middle and South Atlantic states.

Mr. Tilburn, while in Texas on this tour, he was converted to active Christianity under the preach- ing of Rev. W. G. Templeton, and at once began evangelistic work, preaching two days after his conversion and within a month being regularly licensed by the Presbyterian church authorities. In the spring of 1889 he entered McCormick Semi- nary, Chicago, and for three years pursued a thor- ough course of theological study, preaching as a supply all the tiine in various churches. Just after his graduation in 1891 he lost his voice and was obliged to relinquish preaching for three years. These he passed in the service of the Chi- cago houses of Rand, McNally & Co. and Laird & Lee, serving the last as literary editor. In the the spring of 1895, his voice having been restored and having become convinced that the doctrine of the Christian church was least open to objection, he entered the ministry of this church and preached for several months successively at Valparaiso, Wanatah, Warsaw and Washington, Ind., and was then transferred to his present field of labor, Short- ridge Memorial Christian church at Butte, Mont., of which he became pastor in 1899.

The Doctor was married February 26, 1881, to Miss Ave Marie Wagner, a native of Germany and a relative of the great musical composer. She came to America when she was seven years old with her parents, who settled in Baltimore, Md. They have two living children, Gertrude Lillian and Albert Edward. The Doctor is president of the Christian Endeavor Society and vice-president of the Christian Association of his denomination in Montana and president of the Christian En- deavor Union of the state, embracing all denomi- nations, also of the Silver Bow Ministerial Associ- ation. He was at one time a Mason, an Odd Fel- low, a Knight of Pythias, a Red Man, a Knight of the Golden Eagle, a Forester, a Chosen Friend and a member of the National Union. But he has

dropped them all simply because his church work takes all his time. His life is busy and full of use- fulness.

T THOMAS D. TICE, a representative and pros- perous farmer and stockgrower near Logan, Gallatin county, Mont., is a descendant of one of the old Knickerbocker families of New York. He was born at Elmira, February 23, 1851, a son of Jacob and Harriet (More) Tice, natives of Elmira and belonging to families long resident in that city. The Tices originally came from Holland, settling in the Empire state early in the seventeenth century.

Mr. Tice was one of ten children, and was reared on his father's farin, attending school as he had opportunity during the winter months. As they grew up the boys left home and started in life for themselves. Three of them were in the Union army during the Civil war, and one was killed at Antietam. Thomas D. Tice left home in 1870, headed for Montana. At Salt Lake City he met his uncle, well known as "Two Dot Wilson," and to- gether they brought a herd of cattle to Montana. After his arrival Mr. Tice located at Jefferson City, where he remained six years engaged in min- ing and prospecting. But not striking the pay streak he went to work building smelters, notably the one at Corbin. In 1880 he homesteaded on his present location, adding to his possessions by subsequent purchases until he now has 900 acres in the home ranch and 2,300 acres of grazing land in Madison county, on the Madison river. On the two tracts he raises great numbers of fine Here- ford cattle, usually having from 600 to 1,000 head. His place is plentifully supplied with sheds, corrals, barns and other necessary buildings, including an ample, well-built modern residence, nicely finished and comfortably furnished. He also raises great quantities of excellent hay, so that he is particularly well fixed for carrying on the cattle business on an extensive scale.

Mr. Tice was married July 9, 1876, to Miss Emma V Merriman, a native of Valparaiso, Ind., but of prominent old Maryland ancestry on her father's side, and descended from a good Vermont family on that of her mother. Her father was one of the stampeders to Pike's Peak in 1860, and re- mained there three years. Mr. and Mrs. Tice have two children living : Mand E. and Thomas M., and Henry L., deceased. They have a fine, attractive

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home which their numerous friends make a place of frequent resort. Mr. Tice is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, being one of the charter members of his lodge, giving it good service as far as his other duties willl permit.

H ON. JOHN F. FITZPATRICK has been a resident of Montana for more than a quarter of a century and he has served in offices of distinc- tive trust and responsibility and been closely identi- fied with the productive activities which have brought the state to her present position of promi- nence. The artificer of his own fortunes, winning success in Montana in varied lines of endeavor, Mr. Fitzpatrick illustrates what is possible of ac- complishment by young men who are willing to work, plan and wait, and to take advantage of the opportunities which are presented. He is now one of the leading ranchers and dairymen of that sec- tion of Montana recently segregated from Deer Lodge county and erected into the new county of Powell.

Mr. Fitzpatrick was born on September 24, 1854, in the state of New York, the son of Edward and Anna (McGuire) Fitzpatrick, of whom both were born in Ireland, where their marriage was solemnized, and three days subsequent to this event they embarked to make their home in the new world. They first located in the old Empire state, and when their son, John, was but three years of age they removed to Wisconsin, settling at High- land, near Mineral Point, where the father became a lead miner, and while thus' engaged he met an accidental and sudden death a few years later from the caving in of a portion of the mine in which he was at work. His widow survived him a number of years, and her death occurred at Galena, Ill.

John F. Fitzpatrick received his early education in the public schools of Wisconsin, where he was reared to the age of nineteen years, when, on April 30, 1873, he left his home for Kansas, his in- tention being to there take up land. Instead of doing this Mr. Fitzpatrick went to Junction City, Kan., and engaged with a construction gang which was building the round house for the Kansas Pa- cific Railroad. After two months' occupation here he determined to come to Montana, and started up the Missouri river, going by rail to Yankton, S. D., where he caught the De Smet steamboat

on its first trip to Fort Benton. This trip lasted thirty-five days, and he devoted six additional days to continuing his journey from Fort Benton to Helena. Mr. Fitzpatrick's first occupation in Mon- tana was that of working on a ranch for wages in Jefferson county, and this line of work con- tinued for a year. He then became identified with the mining industry, first as a car-runner in quartz mines and later engaging in regular min- ing work for four years.

In April, 1877, Mr. Fitzpatrick located in Butte and became a teamster for the Alice Mining Com- pany in whose employ he remained more than two . years. His next business venture was the pur- chase of a ranch sixteen miles from Butte, in the Deer Lodge valley, and there he began operations in farming and stockraising in 1879 which con- tinued for four years. In the summer of 1883 he sold his ranch and took his teams to what is now the city of Anaconda, and was there engaged in teaming for the Anaconda Company for two years. In 1885 Mr. Fitzpatrick purchased and located on the ranch in the upper Nevada valley, which is now his home, in Powell county, but then a part of Deer Lodge. He brought his family to the ranch on June 1, 1885, and here they have since maintained their home. The place is a valuable one of 1,000 acres, located four miles west of Wash- ington Gulch postoffice. The best of improve- ments have been made, including the recent erec- tion of a fine residence of modern design and con- veniences, one of the most attractive farm homes in this section of the state, and one in which re- finement and an atmosphere of culture are ever found. Attention is not only given to diversified farming, but a specialty is made of dairying, which is here conducted on an extensive scale, with the most improved accessories and facilities. The finest quality of butter is shipped in wholesale lots, and the products of his dairy find a ready demand, having gained a reputation that insures a business of cumulative order.

Mr. Fitzpatrick is a man of intellectual force- and marked executive ability, while his public- spirited attitude has brought him to the front as a representative of popular interests in various of- ficial capacities. In politics he gives allegiance to the Democratic party, in which he has been an active worker. After taking up his abode on his ranch he was for three years incumbent of the office of road supervisor, and in 1892 he was elect- ed to the important office of county commissioner

J. F. Fitzpatrick

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of Deer Lodge county, while in 1894 he was ber 29, 1857, the son of James and Catherine elected sheriff of the county, for a term of two (Rabbitt) Hanley, natives of the same county, where his father was a large landholder and an influential man. He owned twenty-six houses in the city of Galway, and had a potential voice in the affairs of his city and county. years, and was chosen his own successor in 1896 for another term of equal duration. Mr. Fitzpatrick's able and faithful service in the interests of the public led to the conferring of higher official hon- ors upon him, since at the election in the fall of Mr. Hanley came to the United States when a boy, and, although relatives of prominence and influence in St. Louis took charge of him and saw to his education in the Christian Brothers College, in that city, he was from the beginning resolute, self-reliant and resourceful, and on all occasions showed a disposition to take care of himself. As soon as he left school he started for California, but did not linger long in that state. Soon after his arrival he joined a party coming to Virginia City, Mont., and on his arrival in the territory he engaged in business in Livingston, and also did some mining. Later he passed six or seven years mining at Cook City with varying success. He then removed to Red Lodge, where he was mar- ried in 1892 to Miss Anna L. Brown, daughter of a large ranch owner and cattleman of Texas. Her mother, Mrs. Kelley, is a sister to Mrs. Gov. Downey, of California, and one of the heirs to the large estate left by the Governor, which is in litigation. Mr. and Mrs. Hanley have six chil- dren : William A., James, Clarence, Harry, Katie and Mary. 1898 he was the successful candidate of his party for representative of Deer Lodge in the lower house of the state legislature. He was thus an active working member in the Sixth general as- sembly, and was assigned to membership on a number of the most important committees, in- cluding that on irrigation, roads and highways. He is at the present time a member of the board of school trustees, and Mrs. Fitzpatrick is secre- tary of the board. He is a man of generous im- pulses and genial temperament, and his long re- tention in public office indicates the popularity which is his in the community of which he is a representative citizen. On October 19, 1879, Mr. Fitzpatrick was united in marriage to Miss Anna Fitzgerald, who was born in England, the daugh- ter of Patrick and Mary (Ryan) Fitzgerald, na- tives of Ireland, whence they removed to England and later to the United States, first settling in North Adams, Mass., and in the early 'seventies coming to Montana and taking up their residence in Butte, Mrs. Fitzgerald being now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Fitzpatrick have fourteen children : Mary A., wife of M. J. Keiley; Edward, Teresa, John, Joseph, Rosa, William, Marcus, Patrick, Thomas, Nellie, Gerald, Durnen and Virginia.

P ATRICK F. HANLEY .- The land of Tom Moore and Robert Emmet, the land of fair women and brave men, the land of poetry and song, old Ireland, has contributed substantially and generously to the great army of industrial progress that has redeemed America from a sav- age wilderness and planted her with hope and fruitfulness. Among the contributions of the Emerald Isle to our developing forces, none is entitled to higher rank or more credit than Pat- rick F. Hanley, of Bridger, who, although he has passed almost his whole life on American soil, is still characterized by the qualities of his race and has made them subservient to a career of success and usefulness in his adopted country. He was born in County Galway, Ireland, Decem-

Mr. Hanley is one of the prominent and en- terprising business men of Bridger, but has been interested in mining since his arrival in Montana. · He holds valuable claims in Cook City, and in a commercial way is interested in the Carbon County Stucco Company and the Bridger Plaster Company ; also in an asbestos claim. Mr. Han- ley is earnestly and deeply interested in his busi- ness, and gives it close and constant attention. But he is none the less a man of social tastes and tendencies. He is prominent in the order of Masonry, having taken all the degrees of the Scottish rite. In the meetings of the various organizations he is active and zealous, and his counsel and assistance are much appreciated. Be- ginning his Masonic career in 1890, he has made rapid progress, and has proven himself a diligent and worthy craftsman. In his mining operations he is enterprising and far-seeing. He has suc- ceeded in interesting eastern capitalists in his claims, and through their aid is preparing to enlarge his holdings and carry on the business more extensively and make it his chief enterprise.

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In addition to his establishment at Bridger he lias a beautiful home at Red Lodge, where his family resides in order to secure for his children the superior educational advantages offered by that city. In business and in social circles Mr. Hanley has high standing. He is looked upon as one of the leading citizens of the county, and is always found at the front when an enterprise for the advancement of the community is started or contemplated. He has breadth of view, un- yielding energy, public spirit of a high order, and generosity in every good cause.

W ILSON B. HARLAN .- There seems to be no limit to the fruitfulness of our Mother Earth, or her willingness to respond to the hopes of the husbandman, when properly invoked. It is within comparatively short time that fruit raising has had attention in Montana, and yet, so in- telligently has the industry been cultivated, and so responsive has the soil become, that, even though yet an infant, this new enterprise is vig- orous, profitable and most promising. Among the men of brain to whom Montana is indebted for this development, perhaps none is entitled to more credit than Wilson B. Harlan, of Como, Ravalli county. Mr. Harlan traces his ancestry back, on his father's side, in an unbroken line to one James Harlan, who came to the new world · in search of religious liberty with William Penn, His family have belonged to the Society of Friends or Quakers ever since, both of his parents, Sam- 11el C. and Elizabeth (Barber) Harlan, being birth- right members of that denomination.

Mr. Harlan himself was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, on April 6, 1848. He was educated at the public schools in Indiana and Minnesota, leaving school at the age of sixteen to enlist in the First Minnesota Heavy Artillery for service in defense of the Union, and seeing war's most angry visage until the close of the war. In 1866 he came to Montana with the Fisk expedition, traveling the northern route across Dakota and around the north bank of the Missouri to Fort Benton and thence to Helena. He spent two years mining near Helena, and then settled in the Bitter Root valley, where he has remained con- tinuously since. In 1880 he became interested in orchard planting and soon had one of the first successful and profitable orchards in the state.

This has been expanded by subsequent plantings until he now has forty acres in fruit, which yielded in 1901 over 4,000 bushels of apples and 20,000 pounds of plums, besides quantities of pears, cher- ries and small fruits.

Mr. Harlan organized the Montana Fruit Grow- ers' Association in 1892, and was its president until it was merged into the State Horticultural So- ciety in 1897. He was also president of the Ra- valli county fair and racing association from its organization in 1894 until 1901. He proposed and carried to a successful conclusion the first fruit fair held in Montana, that at Stevensville, beginning on September 29, 1894, and was asso- ciate editor of the Montana Fruit Grower dur- ing the six years of its life. He has been state inspector of orchards for the last three years and has always taken great interest and a leading part in meetings of fruit growers and the represent- atives of kindred interests. In politics Mr. Har- lan is a consistent but conservative Republican, exhibiting a lively interest in the welfare of his party but not being in any sense an offensive partisan. His counsel and liis aid have been freely sought and highly valued in party matters and he has been put forward as his party's representa- tive in various capacities. Besides being the post- master at Como for over twenty years, he was a member of the lower house in the First and Second state legislatures, and was afterwards county commissioner of Ravalli county. He was married on January 25, 1875, at Corvallis, Mont., to Miss Mary Horn, the ceremony being performed by Rev. Samuel J. Catlin. They have three chil- dren, Carrie, Wilson and Edith, all living. He is highly esteemed by all classes of the community and has the confidence of everybody.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 172

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