USA > Montana > Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1 > Part 4
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financial ability of a representative leader of mone- tary circles. The church there now has a mem- bership of 3,000, and it is undeniable that he ac- complished great beneficial results in his field of labor at Great Falls, as under his clerical super- vision the membership increased to over 300 fam- ilies, representing a total enrollment of some 3,000 communicants. Possessing superior executive ability, as well as fine oratorical powers, he has, during his useful and eventful life in this young commonwealth, won universal esteem and confi- dence, regardless of creed or class. In August, 1901, he was transferred to Bozeman, where he is continuing his good work with the same success that has followed his exertions in all other places. To him has been entrusted a wide field of labor, and the conscientious devotion and unassuming, but winning kindness he manifests in his duties is worthy of and receives the highest commendation.
W ILLIAM A. ALLEN, D. D. S .- An attempt to narrate, even in epitome, the incidents which have characterized the career of the honored Montana pioneer, Dr. W. A. Allen, would transcend the normal province of this work, yet it would be culpable neglect were there failure to ad- vert to their more salient details, for he stands as one of the founders of Billings, as a leading stu- dent of natural history and as a writer of authority on the flora and fauna of the state. He is a veteran hunter and such journals as the Turf, Field and Farm esteem him as a valuable corre- spondent. Born in Summerfield, Noble county, Ohio, on Sept. 2, 1848, he is a son of Robert T. and Rachel (Guiler) Allen, the former of whom was a son of John and Mary (Blundle) Allen. This John Allen was a son of Sir John Allen, of England, and a cousin of Ethan Allen, of Ticonderoga fame. He was early a seafaring man, but later engaged in farming. The mother of the Doctor was a daughter of William and Mary (Franklin) Guiler, the former of whom was born in Ireland, while the latter was a cousin of Benjamin Franklin, the printer, philosopher and diplomat.
William A. Allen has for many years been a leading dentist of Montana, with home office in Billings. When he was twelve years of age, in 1866, he entered the normal school in his native
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town, where he continued his studies for a time, after which he gave attention to the blacksmith trade until 1877, also working as a gunsmith, and showing marked mechanical talent. Early in 1877 he set forth for Dakota and the Black Hills. At Spearfish he joined a party of 250 persons and on the way they were attacked by Indians, and seven men and one woman were killed in the attack. The party eventually was diminished to 154 per- sons and fifty wagons, over which Dr. Allen was placed as captain, and it proceeded on its way to Bozeman, Mont. The Doctor had selected a party and gone in pursuit of the attacking Indians and overtook them in the night, and the next morning gave evidence of the death of eleven savages. While he was thus absent from the train, eight wagons had left it and started for Red Water crossing, where they were surrounded by the Indians and held in a perilous position until after the Doctor's party had returned to the train. With twenty men the Doctor hastened to relieve them, arriving about four o'clock in the morning. Quietly wait- ing until the savages charged on the train at day- break, they successfully repelled the attack and killed about a dozen Indians, the loss to the emi- grants being only one man killed and three wound- ed, one of the wounded being Dr. Allen. He later was wounded several times in Indian conflicts. On the return to the camp at Spearfish, Dr. Allen was made commander and he divided the train into four companies, headed by John Wustun, Hiram Bishoff, Capt. Patent and Capt. Houston, of Texas, the last having charge of the bull outfit. They went up Belle Fourche river, passing old Fort Reno, thence through Wyoming by the site of Buffalo and old Fort Kearney, thence up Goose creek, where one man was killed and two wounded by Indians. The party remained three days 011 the Custer battle-ground for a needed rest, and to give opportunity to examine the historic' scene of the massacre, which occurred eleven months pre- viously. Some of the party remained in that lo- cality, while the others proceeded toward Wind river by Prior's pass and Sage creek to Stinking Water crossing, when another division occurred, some going to the Crow agency, while the others went on to Camp Brown and to Bozeman. Dr. Allen engaged in the blacksmith business in Boze- man, with Frank Harper, and later was blacksmith for the Bozeman & Miles City stage line, also acting as express messenger in the winter of 1877. He next was govern-
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ment blacksmith at Fort Custer, and in 1879 he, in a skiff, went down Big Horn river to Fort Buford to meet his family, who came back .with him. He located on Canyon creek, engaged in stock raising and at his trade. In 1882 he re- moved to Coulson, where he continued black- smithing for some months, when he removed to Billings, then a crude cluster of a few primitive cabins, and Ire there erected the first house in the Yellowstone valley having a shingle roof.
In order to perfect himself in dentistry, at which he had worked to some extent, Dr. Allen went to Chicago in 1884, where he took the full course at the Chicago College of Dentistry, from which he was graduated. In 1896 he took a course in Haskell's Post-Graduate School of Dentistry, and he has since acquired a reputation as an expert dentist in both surgical and mechanical branches. In company with John L. Guiler Dr. Allen owns 700 acres of valuable land on Clark's Fork, where they founded the town of Allendale, named in honor of Dr. Allen, and this they maintain by stip- ulation in the conveyances as a prohibition town. Here they have erected a roller process flour- ing mill operated by water power at a cost of fully $15,000. The Doctor is also largely interested in stock raising. Dr. Allen is an "old-timer," a man of honesty of purpose, who is charitable in his judg- ment of his fellow men and ever ready to aid those worthy of succor. In politics he supports the Prohibition party, in which he has been an active worker for years. In religion both he and his
wife are Methodists. Robert T. Allen, a brother of the Doctor, has been engaged in the practice of law in Billings since 1882. In 1874, in Ohio, Dr. Allen was united in marriage to Miss Josephine Houston, daughter of John Houston, who died from disease contracted in the Union army of the Civil war. In 1887 Dr. Allen was married to Miss Mollie Finkelnburg, a daughter of Hon. A. Fin- kelnburg, of Fountain City, Wis. Her father rep- resented his county in both bodies of the Wiscon- sin legislature. Of the first marriage two children were born, William O. and Robert T., both of whom are associated with their father in the prac- tice of dentistry, and the only child of the second marriage is a daughter, Lelah. Dr. Allen is a typical westerner, enjoying the wild, free life of the early days and has had many thrilling adven- tures in his numerous hunting excursions, and has a record as an Indian fighter of distinction. He has in preparation a volume that will be of intense
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PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.
interest to every Montanian and of value to all other Americans, from the light it throws upon the early life of the plains and its minute descriptions of the various animals then roaming over the vast expanse of mountain and plain. He is still in the dental practice in Billings and visits professionally the principal places of the state.
UDGE FRANCIS K. ARMSTRONG .- The J name of this member of Montana's judiciary will be readily recognized as one of the most eminent in the state. He is a leading and highly respected citizen of Bozeman, Gallatin county, and was born in Rockford, N. C., March 6, 1849, a son of Francis K. Armstrong, Sr., who was born in Surry county, N. C., March 28, 1802, at that time a gentle- man of great wealth and prominence, owning a large hotel, plantation and much other property in the state, and distinguished in local politics, for sev- eral years being clerk of the district court, and hold- ing other offices of trust and importance. Financial reverses came, however, and with them a desire to seek rest and recuperation amid the more novel and exciting scenes of the far west. Accordingly, in the early fifties, he removed from North Carolina and located in St. Joseph, Mo., but later he went into Kansas and settled at Iowa Point, where he died in 1861, aged sixty years. He was a most excellent and honorable man, and was loved for his manly qualities of head and heart. The mother of our subject was Jerusha (Belt) Armstrong, also born in North Carolina, October 6, 1807, and died at Iowa Point, aged eighty-two years. She was the mother of seven children, five of whom are still living. Of these Francis K. Armstrong is the only one who adopted the profession of law. At the time of the decease of his father he was but twelve years old, but he realized something of the care of a home, for he immediately assumed the care of his mother. He also found time to attend the district school and finally the university at Highland, Kan. Mr. Armstrong then attended the law department of Columbia College, Mo., from which he graduated with high honors in 1875. Up to nineteen years of age lie cared for his mother, worked on a farm and paid his own way through college. He began the practice of law at Troy, Kan., and later was asso- ciated with Albert Perry, the partnership continu- ing for two years. In January, 1879, Mr. Arm-
strong came to Bozeman, Mont., where he passed most of the year in looking over the ground. He then opened a law office and for a few months asso- ciated himself with Col. Ira Pierce. When that pro- fessional relation was dissolved by the death of Col. Pierce, he formed a copartnership with Judge Llewellyn Augustus Luce, further mention of whom appears in another portion of this volume. This was continued for a brief period, and he formed a partnership with Hon. Charles S. Hartman, which continued up to the time of the election of Judge Armstrong to the bench, in 1890. This responsible position he filled most acceptably up to the close of the nineteenth century, and he is now practically retired from the profession, having acquired a hand- some competence, aside from the high honors which he so richly deserves.
The Judge was united in marriage on December 27, 1881, in Bozeman, to Miss Lora Lamme, a na- tive of St. Joseph Mo. To them were born three children, of whom one, Mabel, died at the age of six years. Two daughters, Lena and Edith, are liv- ing. Mrs. Armstrong's father, Achilles Lamme, was a very prominent citizen and early settler of Gallatin county, who came to Montana in 1864 or 1865, and began practice as a physician. But in so new a country there was but little business for a doctor, and he soon turned his attention to mercan- tile pursuits, which he continued up to the time of his death. At that period he was the heaviest mer- chant in eastern Montana and prominently identified with the growth and development of the state. Although in the strictest sense a business man more than a politician, he served one term in the Mon- tana legislature.
Judge Francis K. Armstrong has always taken an active interest in the political affairs of the day, locally and otherwise. Not that he sought office, but he found that he could not avoid the political duties that were forced upon him. All classes, from the humblest poor man to the wealthiest miner, stock- man or bondholder, knew him to be a man sans peuret sans reproche, of the strictest integrity, and of unassailable character. He accepted office for the best interests of his constituency and from the purest and most patriotic motives that could actuate a man. At a time when Montana consisted of but three judicial districts Judge Armstrong was prose- cuting attorney for one of them, with a deputy in each of the counties comprising the district. He also served as president of the territorial council, and while a member of the legislature he was
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PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.
speaker of the house. At the first state convention Judge Armstrong was nominated for the supreme bench, but was defeated, although he ran ahead of the ticket and was defeated by a small majority. Gov. Toole at once appointed him judge of the Ninth judicial district, after which he was twice elected to the same position. Politically he has always worked and voted in the interest of the Dem- ocratic party. He has been a Democrat who voted the Democratic ticket, and has never utilized his political badge for dress parade purposes only. In the language of some of his warmest supporters, "every one knows where to find Francis K. Arm- strong." He is a man of commanding presence, kindly, yet dignified and courteous to all. Socially, financially and morally, he stands high among the leaders of Montana, and enjoys the esteem and friendship of a wide circle of business and personal associates.
H ON. JAMES FERGUS .- While we can not, except in a relative sense, call anything in Montana old, or claim for it the sanctity of real antiquity, there has been crowded into the his- tory of the state and territory so much of heroic ef- fort and heroic achievement, so much that is daring and admirable, so much that is far-reaching and productive, that the annals of the section are as voluminous, and the mark of its triumph is as high as those of many places on which sits the majesty of centuries. Surely no race of men have ever any- where endured more, braved more or really accom- plished more, within the limits of human possibility, than the pioneers of this state, when the element of time is taken into the account even in a cursory way. And among the heroic figures of that noble class, no individual stands out more conspicuously or has a higher claim on our interest than that early pioneer of pioneers, the venerable James Fergus, a long time resident of the county which bears his honored name.
Mr. Fergus is a native of Lanarkshire, Scotland, where he was born October 8, 1813. His father was a well-to-do farmer, owning some real estate- a rigid Presbyterian in faith and practice, his mother being more liberal in her spiritual views. Under this kind of home influence and with the advantage of the common schools as educators he passed the first nineteen years of his life, showing a constant disposition to do everything well that
he undertook, and developing early a fondness for good books. Further than this, he received a thor- ough commercial education under the best instruct- ors. These characteristics of thoroughness, accur- acy and love of reading have distinguished him through life, becoming intensified as he grew older.
At the age of nineteen, not seeing in his native land much chance for a young man to rise in the world, and longing for less restraint and more lib- erty and equality than he could find at home, im- pelled too, it may be, by the song of the siren that held out hopes of great reward for honest labor and frugality in the new country across the sea, he came to the United States by way of Canada, stopping three years in the latter country, and using the time to advantage in learning the trade of millwright. He passed his first summer in the United States working at his trade on a public work at Green Bay, Wis., passing from there to Milwaukee, Chi- cago, and on to Buffalo Grove, near Dixon's Ferry, where he spent the winter of 1836-7. While in Chi- cago he was offered 160 acres of land in what is now the heart of the city, at $8 an acre, partly on time.
After this he worked at various places at his trade and in the foundry and machine business, the latter of which he was compelled to give up on ac- count of ill health, and thereafter was for some time a member of the firm of Wheelock & Fergus, early paper manufacturers at Moline, Il1.
In this connection it is well to note that in the city of Rock Island there stands a granite monu- ment erected to honor the memory of the pioneers of the great mechanical interests of that section of the state. And on one side of that great shaft prominently stands the name of James Fergus.
About 1840 Mr. Fergus engaged in the construc- tion and operation of powder mills at Savannah, Ill. In fact, during his mechanical life he constructed and improved all kinds of mills and machinery, never finding a mechanical problem that he could not readily solve nor a principle that he could not place into action.
In 1854 he transferred his activities and energy to Minnesota, and after laying out the town of Lit- tle Falls in that state, and bridging the Mississippi at that point, thus adding greatly to the value of the town site, of which he owned five-twelfths, he be- came identified with Fergus Falls, of which he owned one-half. But as the enterprise did not prove as successful as he wished, he came further
James Fergus
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PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.
west, stopping in Colorado, until the report of gold discoveries in Montana, or Idaho as it was then, induced him to seek his fortune in the new field of promise. In 1862 he joined Capt. James L. Fisk's expedition, driving his own ox team from Little Falls, Minn., to Bannack, the first mining camp in Montana. He entered actively into mining opera- tions, and from his advent into the territory took a prominent place in its affairs and was looked up to as a safe counselor. He was the, first judge of the miners' court, the first recorder for Alder Gulch, or Virginia City, and the first county com- missioner appointed in the territory, being ap- pointed for Madison county, in which Virginia City is situated. He afterward removed to Lewis and Clarke county, near Helena, where he enjoyed in a high degree the esteem and respect of his fellow men. He was elected and served two terms as com- missioner of this county, and represented the same constituency in the legislature one term.
To Mr. Fergus must be given the credit of orig- inating the Yellowstone National Park. His per- sonal friend, Hon. Ignatius Donnelly, while serving as member of congress from Minnesota acted as agent for Montana in that body. To him Mr. Fer- gus sent a letter suggesting the setting apart and es- tablishing a national park. Mr, Donnelly approved of the idea and introduced the matter to congress. The bill creating the park was passed not long after on substantially the lines indicated by Mr. Fergus in his letter to Mr. Donnelly.
Mr. Fergus had early engaged in the stock busi- ness, and realizing the necessity of controlling a wide range, about or nearly a quarter of a century ago, he located on Armell's creek in what was then Meagher, but is now Fergus county. Here has since been his home, in the center of a vast domain of land on which his flocks and herds have had wide ranges. He also has a patented mine-the Voltaire -in the Judith mountains, on which $20,000 has been expended. He represented Meager county in the first constitutional convention and aft- erward in the upper branch of the legis- lature. During this latter service he was influential in getting a new county set off from Meagher, which in compliment to him bears his name. The motion to call it Fergus re- ceived every vote in both branches of the legislature except his own.
In political affiliation Mr. Fergus is a Republi- can, but in politics as in religious belief he is very liberal. Speaking after another who knows him
well, it should be said that "his main characteristics are a natural aptitude for mechanical enterprises, a sturdy independence of thought, a strict integrity of purpose and a love for study and good books." He has the largest and best selected library belong- ing to any stock man in Montana, and as he has been an industrious reader of both American and foreign publications for many years, it follows that he is abreast with the day on all subjects of active thought. He was married March 16, 1845, to Miss Pamelia Dillin, of Moline, Ill., where the marriage occurred. For nearly half a century she trod life's troubled way with him, and passed into eternal rest October 6, 1887. So far as there is credit in being a pioneer, Mrs. Fergus shared with her husband in that credit. This worthy couple had four children, namely, a son, Andrew, two daughters living at Helena, Mrs. R. S. Hamilton and Mrs. S. C. Gil- patrick, and one living in Washington county, Ore., Mrs. Frank H. Maury.
At the organization of the Society of Montana Pioneers, Mr. Fergus was elected first president of the society, and upon taking the chair said: "I would rather occupy this position than be president of the United States." At the annual meeting of this organization held at Missoula on October 3, 1901, (eighteenth reunion) the "Sons and Daugh- ters of Montana Pioneers" presented Mr. Fergus with an elegant souvenir-a gold badge-in recog- nition and remembrance of his services as the first president of this society. And in writing of this organization and its first president, Captain James H. Mills said in the New Northwest : "Mr. Fergus is a thoroughly honest man-the noblest work of God-in every sense of the word. His character is as sturdy as the mountains of his chosen home and his life as pure as the snows that tip their summits. May James Fergus be hailed in fellowship at many succeeding convocations of the pioneers."
E 'LIJAH AMES is one of the representative farmers and stock growers of Beaverhead county, his finely improved ranch being lo- cated one and a half miles north of Grant, his post- office address. Mr. Ames is descended from dis- tinguished old colonial stock, and the family has been prominently identified with the annals of New England for many generations.
Elijah Ames is a native of the old Bay state, hav- ing been born in Marshfield, Mass., on October 26,
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1850, the fifth in order of birth of the nine children of Elijah and Sarah (Thomas) Ames, natives of Massachusetts, the father having there devoted his life to farming and to work at carpentering. Sarah (Thomas) Ames was also born in Marshfield, as was her father, he being a farmer by occupation, and it is a matter of record that he sold to Daniel Webster a house in which the great statesman made his home for some time and where he died. The great-grandfather of Mrs. Ames was Gen. Thomas of Revolutionary fame, and the house in which she was born and passed her youth was erected during the Revolutionary period. The Thomas family is descended in a direct line from John Alden, that notable character in the history of Plymouth colony, and the hero of Longfellow's beautiful poem. Mrs. Ames was of the seventh generation descended from this noble colonist.
Elijah Ames, the immediate subject of this re- view, received a common-school education in his native state and was reared to the sturdy discipline of the New England farm. He there continued in agricultural pursuits until 1872, when he came to the west, locating in the vicinity of Cheyenne, Wyo., where he engaged in stock raising for ten years, at the expiration of which he came to Mon- tana and purchased his present ranch, most eli- gibly located in Beaverhead county and now com- prises 3,000 acres. Here he devotes his atten- tion to the raising of high grade beef cattle, run- ning an average of 3,000 head. He also secures large yields of hay from his ranch. He has been - energetic and progressive in his methods, and his success stands in evidence of the advantages Mon- tana offers to men who have the energy to apply themselves vigorously. In 1900 Mr. Ames erected an attractive modern residence on his ranch, now one of the fine country homes of this section of the state, while all other improvements on the estate are of the best order. In politics Mr. Ames ob- serves the duties of citizenship by exercising his franchise in support of the Republican party, but has never sought nor desired official preferment.
On Jan. 17, 1900, Mr. Ames was united in mar- riage to Miss May Sprague, a native of Marsh- field, Mass., and the daughter of Albert T. Sprague, a sea captain who sailed out of San Francisco for a number of years ; his father also having followed a seafaring life and was the first to carry the Amer- ican flag up the Black sea. The Sprague family was established in New England in the days of the Pilgrim fathers, and in the ancestral line were John Alden and Peregrine White.
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TIMAN W. ANDRUS, M. D .- "Earn thy re- ward; the gods give naught to sloth," said the wise Epicharmus, and the truth of this saying has been verified in all the ages since his day. Dr. Andrus has won prestige through his own efforts, and is recognized as an able physician and a leading citizen of Miles City, where he is now holding the office of mayor. Dr. Andrus has been prominent in athletics, as a professional base ball player he acquired the money to defray the ex- penses of his collegiate technical course, and fitted him for his medical profession. Although des- cended from two old and influential families of New York, Dr. Andrus was born in Orono, Ont., Canada, on October 14, 1858. His father, Edson Andrus, was a native of New York, and there en- gaged in the sawmill and lumbering business. In 1845 he removed to Ontario, Can., where he con- tinued the manufacture of lumber until his death. The Doctor's mother was Mary Ann Wiman, also of an old New York family. She is now living in Bowmanville, Ont. Of the three children in the family Dr. Andrus is the youngest and the only one of the family in Montana.
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