Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 25

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 25

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RTHUR J. CRAVEN .- A district in York-

A shire, England, of peculiar dialect and cus- toms, is known as Craven (originally Craigpen), so- called from the ontcropping rockheads with which it abounds. Families are still resident there bear- ing the name and having a common ancestry with the American branches of the family whose fore- fathers came here during the early days of the col- onies. One of these branches settled in New Jer- sey and afterwards afforded to history names which are illustrious, particularly in the United States Navy. Another branch settled in Pennsylvania, the original American progenitor (or his son James) being a purchaser of land from William Penn, within seven miles of Penn's manor. Ar- thur J. Craven, of Helena, Mont., is descended from the Pennsylvania family. His mother's par- ents (her father a Wilson, her mother a Gaston) represented the best elements of the Scotch-Irish and the French Huguenot, and were also de- scended from families who came to America in the days of the colonies. Both his paternal and ma- ternal ancestors were valiant defenders of Ameri- can liberty in the Revolution and in the war of 1812. Thomas Craven, his great-grandfather, was with Washington at Trenton, Princeton and Val- ley Forge, and, according to the records of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, died in Indiana county in 1832. John Gill Craven, the father of Arthur J., was born in Franklin county, Ind., April 2, 1823. He was graduated from Miami Univer- sity, situated in the neighboring town of Oxford, Ohio, and completed a theological course in a sem- inary at Covington, Ky. He was a teacher and preacher, particularly active in the anti-slavery agitation in favor of the freedom of the slaves. Martha Wilson, the mother of Arthur J. Craven, was a woman of gentle refinement and beautiful character. She was born in Paint Creek town- ship, Ross county, Ohio, on June 8, 1827, and was educated at South Salem Academy. .

From this parentage Arthur J. Craven was born at Lancaster, Ind., on December 12, 1857, where his father had charge of an academy. When he was between three and four years of age the family moved to Minnesota, his father seeking improve- ment in health by a change of climate and resolv- ing to adopt more exclusively his chosen work in the ministry. And thus in Minnesota there com- menced the usual itineracy of the pioneer preacher, an experience full of hardship for himself and his family, fraught with all privations incident to the frontier, and with the dangers and alarms attendant on the Indian massacre in 1862. When ten years of age, after attending his first school at Mankato, his parents moved to Iowa. They settled first at Pella, where Arthur's education was resumed in the schools of that town, ostensibly public schools in those days, but dominated by the Hollanders, whose colonies had settled there and in the coun- try surrounding. From Pella the itineracy of the preacher led the family, which then numbered five boys and two girls, to a brush farm in Inde- pendence township, Jasper county, Iowa. Here the boys learned to rescue a family homestead from hazel brush and scrub oaks, attended school in the winter and enjoyed withal the many pleas- ures coupled with the rigorous discipline of coun- try life. In 1872, the parents seeking an oppor- tunity for the higher education of their children, traded the farm for an academy property with farm lands adjacent at Irving, a small village on the western line of Benton county, Iowa. This academy soon developed into a normal school for advanced pupils from the surrounding country, in which young Craven was thoroughly grounded in the common English branches of an education. When sixteen years of age he passed the examina- tion for a teacher's certificate and taught a public school in one of the country districts, receiving therefor twenty-five dollars a month. Becoming ambitious for a higher education and his parents being without means to send him away to school, he taught five terms in the country schools and bade a final farewell to his home life on departing for the State University at Iowa City, when he was nineteen years of age. Here, by dint of labor in vacations, teaching part of the time in connection with the prosecution of his college studies, editing the college paper, and with the aid of a loan from one of the members of the faculty, he succeeded in being graduated with his class, forty in number, from the classical course in the spring of 1882. In

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college he was eminent in literary work, taking the class prize in the junior year, and winning first place in the year following in a literary contest among the representatives from twelve of the vari- ous colleges of the state. Going then in 1882 as the state representative to Indianapolis, he entered the inter-state contest for oratory, meeting there the representatives of five other states and received second honors.

The year following liis graduation he was super- intendent of schools at West Branch, Iowa, and was thus able to pay his college debt and have a surplus left for preparing himself for admission to the bar. He read law in the office of Judge H. S. Winslow in Newton, Jasper county, was admitted to practice on July 30, 1884, married Miss Emily Kerr, an estimable lady of Scotch ancestry, the sis- ter of his college chum, and sought a location in the west, coming direct to Helena, where he ar- rived on August 7, 1884, and after an interval of one year passed in teaching, in order to obtain some law books, he engaged in the practice of law. Devoting himself to the earnest prosecution of his profession he has always enjoyed the fullest con- fidence of his numerous clients and friends, and ranks well with his associates at the bar. Seem- ingly desirous in the past to avoid digressions into active politics, he, nevertheless, has often re- sponded in the various campaigns to the demands upon him, and has always proven himself a force- ful, effective speaker, while on numerous public oc- casions, upon topics of patriotic, educational or general interest, he is accorded a place, by his audi- ences, among the best orators of the state. Gener- ous in his estimation of others, sincere in his devo- tion to principles, honest in his dealings, indepen- dent in thought, he is a type of citizenship which counts in the estimation of the elements which make for moral and civic progress. Among useful positions of trust held by him are these : Mem- ber of Helena school board for three years ; city at- torney of Helena ; member of the constitutional convention ; president of the Montana Society of Sons of the American Revolution; member of fourth legislative assembly (in which he was chair- man of the judiciary committee) ; president of Hel- ena Athletic Association ; past master of Morning Star Lodge, A. F. & A. M .; master workman of Capitol Lodge No. 2, A. O. U. W .; chairman com- mittee on laws of the Grand Lodge, A. O. U. W .; member of board of First Unitarian Society of Helena ; member of the board of trustees of Mon-

tana Historical Society (appointed by Governor Smith, re-appointed by Governor Toole). His home is cheered by three children, two boys, Les- lie and Wilson, and one girl, Margaret.

T THEOPHILUS B. CRAVER .- Among the miany gentlemen whose personal sketches with varying nationalities, early environments, individ- ual advantages and accomplishments of those rep- resented as founders and builders of the common- wealth of Montana, which appear in this volume, Mr. Craver stands well to the front. An honored veteran of the Civil war, the greatest the world has ever known, he is now one of the prominent farm- ers and stockgrowers of Beaverhead county, his well improved ranch being located twelve miles northwest of the village of Red Rock, his postoffice address.

Mr. Craver is a native of Gloucester county, N. J., where he was born February 9, 1847, the eightlı in order of birth of the sixteen children of Samuel P. and Elizabeth (Nelson) Craver, the former also born in New Jersey, his father, however, having been born in Hanover, Germany, coming to the United States about the opening of the nineteenth century and locating in New Jersey, where he de- voted the residue of his life to agricultural pursuits. Samuel P. was a farmer in his native state, and in 1852 removed to Indiana, where he remained until 1855, and thence to Iowa, where he followed farm- ing until his death, which occurred in 1894. The mother of our subject was also born in New Jer- sey, as was her father, Samuel Nelson, who was of English lineage and an active participant in the war of 1812. Elizabeth (Nelson) Craver died in For- est Home, Iowa, in the year 1873.

Theophilus B. Craver, our subject, was educated in the public schools of Indiana and Iowa, and was but fourteen years of age when the thundering of rebel guns against the walls of old Fort Sumter aroused his loyal and patriotic nature, and his youth- ful enthusiasm was kindled to definite action. He enlisted in Company E, Fourth Iowa Volunteer Cavalry, and was mustered at Grinnell, that state,

in November, 1863. After a short interval de- voted to drilling and tactical work he joined the regiment at Clear Creek, Miss., in January, 1864, and the first battle in which it participated was that at Guntown. The Union forces were commanded by Gen. Sturgis, but were driven back to Memphis,

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Tenn. Gen. A. J. Smith then assumed command, and the next engagement in which the regiment took part was that at Tupelo, Miss., after which it returned to Memphis and later took part in the battle at Oxford, and thence sent across the Mis- sissippi river to head off Gen. Price. At Browns- ville, Ark., Price succeeded in getting his command. through, and the Fourth Iowa thereafter followed him through the White and Black river valleys in Arkansas and into Missouri. Thence the regiment proceeded to Cape Girardeau and on to St. Louis, after which it crossed the state and overtook Price at Independence, up to which time Gen. Alfred Pleasanton had been in command. At that point Gen. Curtis assumed command and the regiment was under him until the close of the Price cam- paign. A number of engagements took place be- tween Independence and Fort Scott, following Price through Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and In- dian Territory. Mr. Craver participated in the charge near Pleasanton, Kan., in which Gen. Mar- maduke was taken prisoner, the troops engaged being Winslow's and Phillip's brigades of cavalry. The Fourth Iowa was at Webber's Falls, I. T., when Lincoln was elected president for his second term. They returned to Springfield, Mo., and during the eight days' march to that point from Arkansas but one day's rations were issued. Arriving in St. Louis they were sent to Louisville, Ky., where they remained until February, 1865, and then ordered to Gravelly Spring, Ala., and assigned to Gen. James H. Wilson's cavalry corps, and partici- pated in the campaign through that state and Geor- gia. The regiment was engaged at Montevallo; was in the hard fight near Ebenezer church on the first of April, and on the next day the command took the city of Selma. From that point they marched across Alabama by way of Mont- gomery, after having devoted a week to building a bridge across the river at Selma. On the 16th of April they had a severe engagement with the enemy at Columbus, Ga. At that time they had not learned of Lee's surrender and continued the march to Macon, Ga., where the good tidings reached them. The regiment remained in Georgia until August, when it was mustered out, our sub- ject receiving an honorable discharge on the 24th of that month at Davenport, Iowa.

Having thus rendered valiant service to the re- public, Mr. Craver returned to his home and re- sumed his educational work. He attended school in Mount Pleasant and Grinnell, and thereafter com-

pleted a course in the business college at Daven- port, where he was graduated in 1871. He then found employment in connection with a lumbering business at Grinnell, and was thus engaged for four years. In 1873 he engaged in the drug business at Grinnell and conducted this enterprise until 1878, when he sold out. In 1879 Mr. Craver came to Montana, locating at Noblesville, where he ran a quartz-mill during the winter of 1879-80, and in June removed to the city of Butte, and for two years was engaged in lumbering and as a grocery clerk. In the spring of 1882 he came to Beaver- head county, leasing a band of sheep, and has since been identified with the stock-growing industry in this section of the state. In December, 1886, he purchased a tract of land, the nucleus of his present ranch, which, with leased tracts, aggregates 3,000 acres. He herds an average of 6,000 sheep, prin- cipally of the Rambouillet, or American Delaine, type ; he also raises cattle, and is a fancier of poul- try, to which line he has devoted no little attention. He has been very successful in his efforts and is known as one of the progressive ranch men of this section, whose integrity and honor in all the rela- tions of life have gained uniform respect and con- fidence.

Politically Mr. Craver is identified with the Re- publican party, and in 1892 he was elected county commissioner, serving one year. He has also done effective service as justice of the peace and as a member of the board of school trustees. Fra- ternally he is a member of Steadman Post No. 8, G. A. R., at Dillon, in which he has been honored with the office of commander ; is also identified with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church, which he has served as steward, trustee and superintendent of the Sunday school.

On August 31, 1874, Mr. Craver was united in marriage to Miss Mary D. Noble, who was born in Iowa, whence she came to Montana the year prior to her marriage. Of the eight children of this union three are living: Flora E., Oleta E. and Thomas Arthur. The family stands high in the esteem of the community and are prominent in connection with its best social life.

H ENRY CROUS .- Among the prominent and successful farmers and stockgrowers of Gal- latin valley is Mr. Crous, a sterling pioneer of Mon-

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tana, and held in esteem by the entire community, his life having been one of signal honor and use- fulness. Mr. Crous is a native of Marion county, Ohio, where he was born October 9, 1834, a son of William Crous, who emigrated from Germany, lo- cating in Ohio. He was a tailor by occupation, but after coming to America devoted his attention principally to agricultural pursuits. He eventual- ly removed to Illinois, where he passed the re- mainder of his life. His wife bore the name of Mary Crous ; they became the parents of six chil- dren, five of whom are now living.

Henry Crous passed his early life in Ohio and Illinois, and his educational advantages were se- cured in the public schools. He early became in- ured to work on the homestead farm, and after at- taining maturity continued to devote his attention to that line of occupation until 1864, when he start- ed on the long journey which made him one of Montana's pioneers. En route the party found many newly-made graves, some being hardly a day old, thus designating the fatalities that had at- tended preceding emigrant trains. Incongruous as it may seem, Mr. Crous recalls that he saw one supposed grave, above which was placed a board on which were inscribed the names of those whose bodies were ostensibly interred beneath. It trans- pired later, however, that the "grave" was the de- pository of two barrels of whisky. He arrived at Bannack on July 8, 1864, and there remained until March of the following year, having engaged in mining with but meagre success. He next moved to Virginia City, where he remained until the follow- ing September. During that month an election was held in the camp, and the day following Mr. Crous became a member of quite a large party that start- ed on the return trip to the east. They encount- ered no particular difficulty, though they passed the charred remains of several camps, and found a number of Indian bodies, indicating conflicts that had occurred between the red men and the emi- grants. Reaching Illinois Mr. Crous remained until the spring of 1866, when he once more made the trip to Montana, arriving in Virginia City in due course of time and thence proceeding to the Highland district, where he devoted some three month's to prospecting. His next enterprise was that of teaming to Forts Benton and Peck, and was identified with the freighting business for a period of two years. In July, 1869, he came to Gallatin valley ; in the fall of the succeeding year he took up a tract of land with a view to establishing a

home and engaging in farming, having devoted a fruitless summer to prospecting. The land which he entered in the early days is the nucleus of his present fine ranch, which embraces 560 acres, a large portion being under effective irrigation and yielding handsome crops of wheat, oats and other farm products. The permanent improvements on the place are excellent, including a substantial and commodious residence, beautifully located. The creek which runs across the farm is well protected and affords an adequate supply of water for irrigat- ing a considerable portion of the farm. Mr. Crous has two fine orchards on his place, principally apple and crab-apple trees ; but he has large herds of horses and high-grade cattle, so that his opera- tions are in every way analogous to those in other sections of the state, and aggregate greater re- turns than are possible in the eastern states. The ranch homestead is located near Spring Hill, his postoffice address. Mr. Crous gives his political support to the Democrat party, and in every way shows a deep interest in whatever appertains to the material prosperity and advancement of the community. He is thoroughly public-spirited and progressive and is recognized as one of the reliable and straightforward citizens of this favored sec- tion, which has been his home for more than a quarter of a century, and where he has proven that successful effort in agricultural pursuits is but the result of intelligent application and determination.

On April 10, 1877, Mr. Crous was united in marriage to Miss Anna Millhouse, who was born in Illinois, the daughter of Frederick Millhouse, who has devoted his active life to blacksmith- ing and is now (1901) living in Illinois, at the patri- archial age of ninety-one years. Mr. and Mrs. Crous are the parents of eight children: Lizzie Cora, Fred William, Minnie Catherine, Orvis George, Walter Henry, Arthur Edward, Bertha Edith and Lester Earl. Mr. Crous is a member of the board of school trustees, and fraternally is identified with the Sons of Hermann.

H ON. WILLIAM E. CULLEN .- In no field of human endeavor is there greater oppor- tunity for advancement than in that of the law-a profession whose votaries must, if successful, be endowed with native talent, sterling rectitude of character and singleness of purpose ; while equally important concomitants are close study, careful application and broad general knowledge super-

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added to that of more specific and technical order. Among the distinguished legists who have lent dignity to the bar of Montana and who have taken a prominent part in shaping the political history of the territory and state is Hon. William E. Cullen, one of Montana's sterling pioneers and a member of the present firm of Cullen, Day & Cullen, of Helena. He is familiarly known as Judge Cullen, and though he now maintains his home in the city of Spokane, Wash., he still continues in active practice in Montana, and this resume will be of in- terest to his many friends here and of value as a memorial amid the annals of the state.

William E. Cullen is a native of Richland county, Ohio, born in the city of Mansfield, on June 30, 1837, his parents having been numbered among the pioneers of the Buckeye state. In the agnatic line Judge Cullen traces his lineage back to stanch Scottish extraction. The original American rep- resentative was the great-grandfather of the Judge, and he emigrated from the city of Edinburg to America in 1768. He was a man of fine intellec- tual attainments and scholarly habits, being a pro- fessor of Greek, and in such capacity becoming a member of the faculty of one of the early colleges in the State of Pennsylvania. He left a son John, whose son Thomas W. was the father of the im- mediate subject of this review. Thomas W. Cul- len was a manufacturer of woolen goods in Penn- sylvania, where was consummated his marriage to Miss Isabel Morrison in the year 1805. Remov- ing to Ohio in the year 1835, they passed the resi- due of their lives in that state, where the father died at the age of seventy-seven and the mother at the age of sixty. They were communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church, and ordered their lives upon the highest plane. They became the parents of six children, of whom William E. was the first born.

William E. Cullen secured his preliminary educa- tion in the public schools of his native place, and completed his literary education by a three-years course in what is now known as Kenyon College, a celebrated Episcopal institution at Gambier, Ohio. After leaving school he removed to Min- nesota, where he was appointed superintendent of instruction for the Winnebago Indians, retaining this incumbency for a period of two years, within which time he had determined to prepare himself for the legal profession and had already given in- ception to his technical reading. In 1860 he en- tered the office of Judge Charles E. Flandreau, at

that time associate justice of the supreme court of Minnesota, and there continued his studies un- der most effective direction until 1862, when he was admitted to the bar. During the Indian up- rising in Minnesota in 1862, culminating in the massacre at New Ulm, Judge Cullen served as second lieutenant in the state troops and assisted in suppressing the Sioux. He began the active practice of his profession at St. Peter, Nicollet county, Minn., where he associated himself with Maj. S. A. Buell, a brother of Gen. Don. C. Buell, and this professional alliance continued until 1866, when Mr. Cullen started on the overland journey to Montana. His method of transportation was that afforded by ox team, and as a member of the party which made the trip under Col. James Fisk, which reached Helena in August.

Upon arriving in what is now the beautiful capi- tal city of Montana Mr. Cullen forthwith opened an office and made ready for continuing the active work of his profession. Skilled lawyers were not numerous in the territory in those days and Mr. Cullen soon gained prestige and found his service in ready demand. The year after his arrival in the territory he was elected a member of its leg- islative assembly or council, at that time composed of only seven members, and was the first to con- vene subsequent to the annullment of the laws of 1866. At later dates and on several occasions Mr. Cullen served as a member of the legislature of the territory and state, and his ability always re- dounded to the benefit of the people and the ad- vancement of public interests. Among those with whom Judge Cullen has been associated in practice was Judge H. P. A. Smith, previously banished from the territory by reason of his too ardent de- fense of road agents. He was a man of signal loyalty to any cause which he espoused, and his efforts in the connection noted brought down upon him the ire of the vigilance committee; but was eventually permitted to return to the territory, where he was held in high esteem at the time of his death, in 1870. In 1876 Judge Cullen entered into partnership with Col. W. F. Sanders, one of the most distinguished members of the bar of the state ; later he was associated with George F. Shel- ton, and still later with Gov. J. K. Toole ; and for many years was division counsel for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. The present firm of Cullen, Day & Cullen was formed in 1898, Judge Cullen being the senior member, while the other interested principals are Edward C. Day and Ern-

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est Cullen, the only son of our subject. Since 1901 Judge Cullen has maintained an office in the city of Spokane, where he passes the major portion of his time, though his services are in frequent requisi- tion in connection with important litigation handled by the firm in the courts of Montana.

In 1888 the Judge received from Gov. Leslie the appointment of attorney-general for the territory, an office which he filled for one year; while under the regime of Gov. Samuel T. Hauser he served as adjutant-general. In politics Judge Cullen has ever been a stalwart supporter of the Democratic party, and in 1884 he served as chairman of the ter- ritorial central committee. He has ever realized that the law is a jealous mistress, and his time has been given to the work of his profession rather than to affairs political. His law practice has been general and of a very important character, for large interests are seldom placed in unskilled hands. His ability is recognized by the public and the profession, and is the outcome of close study, thorough preparation of his cases, keen analysis of facts and a logical application of the law. Be- fore a jury or court he enters easily and naturally into the argument. There is no straining after effect, but a precision and clearness in statement, an acuteness and strength in argument which in- dicate a mind trained in the severest school of in- vestigation, and to which analytical reasoning is habitual. During his long and honorable career as lawyer and citizen Judge Cullen has ever re- tained the respect and esteem of his professional confreres and of the community at large and among those who have lent dignity to the bar of Montana none is more deserving of representation in this work.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 25

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