Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 46

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 46

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George D. Hollecker first saw the light of day at Ottawa on November 25, 1866, and was there reared and educated. After going to the elementary and grammar schools he attended the city high school, from which he was graduated at the age of sixteen. He then took a course in a Chicago business college, and in the fall of 1883 secured a position as bookkeeper in the dry goods store of Baum & Schobert, at Marshalltown, Iowa, where he remained two years. In 1886, in partnership with a Mr. Marshall, he opened a general store at Ackley, Iowa, as Hollecker & Marshall. After six months of successful operation they were burned out, and in the fall Mr. Hollecker went to Chicago where he secured, and for seven years held, a responsible position in the wholesale dry goods house of John V. Farwell & Co. In 1893 he came to Glendive, Mont., bought a one-half interest in the general merchandise business of A. M. Cole- man & Co., and, when Mr. Coleman's death oc- curred in September, 1895, purchased his interest in the store and since that time has conducted the business alone. In addition to his merchandising he has a large stock ranch on Deer creek, fifteen miles west of Glendive, and also one on Red Water, forty-five north of Glendive, each embracing thous- ands of acres of good grazing land, on which he raises sheep, cattle and horses, having four flocks of sheep, numbering about 12,000 in all and a large number of cattle and horses. He is also a large shipper of stock to the eastern markets.

In politics Mr. Hollecker belongs to the Re- publican party, but is not a seeker of its honors or emoluments. Fraternally he is allied with the

Masonic order in several of its branches, being a member of Glendive Lodge, Yellowstone Chapter, Damascus Commandery, all of Glendive, and of Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine, at Helena. He was married at Marshalltown, Iowa, January 2, 1890, to Miss Sallie E. Parrett, a native of that town, where she was born in 1869. They have two children, namely, Jesse, aged nine, and Marie, aged seven. Mr. Hollecker is one of the most promi- nent and useful citizens of his community, and has the esteem and confidence of all who have the pleas- ure of his acquaintance.

SAMUEL L. HOLLIDAY .- It Is not an easy task to describe adequately a man who has led an eminently active and busy life and attained a position of high relative distinction in his com- munity. But biography finds its most perfect justification in the tracing and recording of such a life history. Mr. Holliday has won an enviable place as one of the stockgrowers and business men of Park county, and taken a prominent part in public affairs, being an enthusiastic Montanian and having contributed his quota toward the develop- ment of the state. He was born in Hamilton county, Ind., on June 16, 1840, one of the six sons of John P. and Annie (Garrett) Holliday, natives of Ohio, and the former the son of Samuel Holli- day. The ancestry in the agnatic line traces to the seventeenth century and to Belfast, Ireland, where the family was prominent. Mr. Holliday was reared on the Indiana farmstead, and in the public schools acquired his education. In 1854, his father having died, he accompanied his mother to Iowa, there completing an academic course and graduating in 1860. With the exception of himself the family eventually returned to Indiana. He taught two terms of school in Madison county, Iowa, was there- after engaged in farming and in merchandising. becoming one of the influential citizens. He served two terms as county auditor. and was also an alder- man of Winterset, the county seat. He was suc- cessful in business, but became imbued with the idea that Montana offered a superior field for endeavor, and, selling his interests in Iowa in the spring of 1880, he came to Montana, by rail to Ogden, Utah. and thence overland to Helena, whence he pro- ceeded to Bozeman and in the spring of 1881 took up a claim in Park county, on the Yellowstone river, this constituting the nucleus of his present

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valuable property. To his original claim Mr. Hol- liday has added until he now has an estate of 1,200 acres, and here he has been particularly successful in stockgrowing, which he has conducted with marked discrimination. His ranch is located seven miles south of Livingston, where he conducted a meat market for some time in connection with ranching. He then returned to his ranch and to the raising of stock for a number of years, giving pre- cedence in cattle to shorthorns, and usually win- tering from four to six hundred.

It was but a natural result that a man of so marked intellectual vigor and executive ability should be called upon to serve in responsible posi- tions of trust. As a Republican he was a member of the territorial convention of 1887, was promi- nently concerned in the formation of Park county. having been elected to the board of county commis- sioners in 1883, while in 1894 he was elected county treasurer, of which office he was incumbent for two years. Fraternally he is identified wth the time-honored order of Free and Accepted Masons. in which he has advanced to the Knight Templar degree. Mr. Holliday is a man of genial nature and of inflexible integrity and is held in the highest public esteem and confidence. His interest in the advancement and material prosperity of Park county and of his adopted state is unflagging. On January 31, 1861, Mr. Holliday wedded Miss Ellen Dabney, born in Illinois, the daughter of Henry and Maria Dabney. To Mr. and Mrs. Holliday six children have been born : William V., deceased : John H., associated with his father in business; Orrin S., engaged in ranching on Cottonwood creek; Florence M., wife of Charles S. Hefferlin, a banker of Livingston: Adaliza, deceased, and Nellie, wife of John W. Hefferlin, of Seattle. Wash.

WILLIAM L. HOLLOWAY .- A modern philosophical writer has aptly said, "Within yourself lies the cause of whatever enters into your life: to come into the full realization of your own awakened interior powers is to be able to condition your life in exact accord with what you would have it." It is this understanding of his own capac- ities and intrinsic predilections that has unmistak- ably led the subject of this review to select a voca- tion for which he is specially fitted. and thus enabled him to gain distinctive prestige as one of the representative young members of the bar of

Montana. He now holds the responsible office of district judge of the Ninth judicial district of Mon- tana, and is conspicuous among other prominent jurists herein mentioned who lend dignity to the bench and bar of Montana.

William Lawson Holloway is a native of Mis- souri, having been born near Kirksville, Adair county, on November 8, 1867, the son of Silas N. and Charlotte (Alred) Holloway, the former a na- tive of Frankfort, Ky., where he was born in 1828, the latter of Monroe county, Mo., the year of her nativity being 1832. Silas N. Holloway, a farmer by occupation, was a stanch Republican in politics, and once served as probate judge of Adair county. Mo. He served as a volunteer in both the Mexican and the Civil wars, and died in Kirksville, Mo .. in 1896, after a life of earnest usefulness and honor. He was a son of John Holloway, born in Virginia. and died in Milton, Mo., in 1891, at the patriarchal age of ninety years. He was by occupation a planter, was a slaveholder prior to the Civil war, and lost heavily in the emancipation of his slaves. The mother of our subject died at Hurdland, Mo .. in August, 1889. at the age of fifty-seven years. William L. Holloway was the seventh in a family of ten children, and was reared to maturity under the sturdy and invigorating discipline of the old homestead farm. He attended the district schools in the vicinity of his home until he attained the age of fourteen years, continued his studies in a private boarding school and later in the State Normal School at Kirksville, Mo., where he graduated with the class of 1887. Thereafter he turned his atten- tion to pedagogic work, teaching four terms in the vicinity of St. Louis. His plans for a future career were early formulated and matured, and he entered the profession of law. possibly influenced in such choice by his father's experience in the office of probate judge, and the incidental privilege afforded him through ready access to the Missouri statutes. As a youth, and even as a boy, he was fond of perusing and studying these volumes. In 1890 he matriculated in the law department of the Univer- sity of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and was there graduated as a member of the class of 1892. In August of the same year he came to Montana and established himself in the practice of his profession in Bozeman, where he has gained a position as one of the leading members of the bar of the county. his precedence being the natural sequence of his thorough knowledge of the science of jurisprudence. his power of practical application. his signal fidelity

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to the cause of his client and to the ethics of his profession. As advocate, counsellor or judge he has ever shown himself a worthy representative of his profession, thoroughly fortified for its work, and a stern conservator of right and justice.

In politics Judge Holloway has ever rendered unwavering allegiance to the Republican party, his first presidential vote having been cast for William Mckinley. In 1894 he was elected county attorney of Gallatin county, and though the normal political complexion of the county is strongly Democratic, he received a majority of 414 votes. At the general election of 1900, though the district gave the head of the Democratic ticket nearly 400 majority, Mr. Holloway, as the Republican candidate for judge of the Ninth judicial district, received a majority of 147 votes. These facts have significance as showing the personal popularity of Judge Hollo- way and the public appreciation of his ability. Fra- ternally the Judge is identified with the Masonic order, in which he has passed the degrees of the capitular body; the Knights of Pythias, in which he is a member of the Uniform Rank; and is also a member of the Gallatin Valley Club. His relig- ious faith is that of the Christian church. In the city of Butte, Mont., February 17, 1898, was solem- nized the marriage of Judge Holloway and Miss Lalia Holmes, who was born in Grant county, Ore., the daughter of Dr. L. E. and Sarah (Hall) Holmes, the former a physician by occupation. Judge and Mrs. Holloway have an important part in the social life of Bozeman, where they are held in the highest regard.

'HARLES HOLMES .- A native of the south- ( ern part of Sweden, where he was born on May 11, 1834, the son of Hulmes Quixote Holmes, a prosperous farmer, and reared among the quiet scenery of that progressive country, Charles Holmes saw in his childhood visions none of the terrible exhibitions of savage cruelty of which he was a witness in his later western life. He attended the excellent Swedish schools until he was thirteen years old, and then, with a sister and an older brother, embarked in 1847 for America, the land of promise. After landing in New York they went at once to Knoxville, Ill., where he passed a year or more, and then went with an uncle to Min- nesota, remaining there until the spring of 1858, working at house building and other attainable oc-

cupations. In that year he joined the Minnesota and Dakota Land Company, organized for coloniz- ing purposes. They began settlement on what they supposed to be government land in Dakota and commenced to lay out towns, farms, etc. But Yankton Indians from the Missouri valley, number- ing fully 1,000 braves, claimed the land and ordered the colonists to leave and, owing to the superiority of the opposing forces, they were obliged to go, although they had laid out one town, Madeira, and made extensive preparations for colonizing.

Mr. Holmes then returned to Minnesota and worked for Major Brown on the Yellow Medicine about a year, then crossing the river he took up a ranch on which he lived while making improve- inents and until the fall of 1862, when the Sioux outbreak occurred and compelled him to leave. The first disaster was the massacre of the lower agency. At Major Brown's, Mr. Holmes and a number of the neighboring residents collected. The Major was not at home but his son was organizing the settlers for defense, there being five men and a larger number of women and children. The night before he left home a friendly Indian, Little Dog, had waked him and told him that the Cut Head Indians had come down and were killing every- body and burning and destroying all property, but did not say that the lower Indians were on the war- patlı, and this the party at Major Brown's did not know. Among the buildings at the Major's head- quarters was a large stone house which Mr. Blair wished the men to fortify and occupy as a fort. But some objected and finally they all agreed to go to Fort Ridgley, thirty-five miles down the river. When they had gone eight or ten miles, they met Chief Cut Nose, who refused to shake hands with Mr. Holmes, telling him that all the Indians were on the warpath and intended to exterminate the whites and take back the land. Major Brown's wife, a halfbreed, who was one of the party, gave her pipe to Mr. Holmes and he offered it to the chief, who smoked a little and passed it to the other Indians, some of whom smoked and some did not.

The chief then made a speech stating that his or- ders from Little Crow, the head of the Sioux, were to kill the men and take the women and children prisoners, but, as some of this party were of his own blood and others were their friends, he did not wish any of them killed. He took them prison- ers, but later allowed Mr. Holmes and two other men to go free, advising them how to escape. After leaving the Indians they got within three miles of

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Fort Ridgley, where they heard the firing in the fight at that place. They retraced their course, reaching Cumming's place by night, where they got food and remained till morning. Then they started for St. Peter, on the Minnesota river, and, as the feet of his two companions had become very sore, Mr. Holmes left them and reached St. Peter, where he found Major Brown, who was raising sol- diers for the war. Mr. Holmes enlisted, and the regiment of 1,600 men started for Fort Ridgley under command of Gen. Sibley. On the way, while Mr. Holmes was on picket duty, he shot an Indian who came too near in a threatening manner. Major Brown, taking two companies, one for each side of the river, started for the lower agency to bury the dead under orders to return in two days. Mr. Holmes was of the party and did valuable scouting.

Before daylight on their second morning out they were furiously attacked in their camp at Birch Coulee, and all their horses and twenty-six men were killed, not a soldier escaping without a wound, Mr. Holmes being struck on the lip by a spent ball. The fighting lasted until noon of the second day when relief came. At the end of his six- ty days' enlistment Mr. Holmes enlisted again for a year, and when this second service was over he re-enlisted in Company H, Second Minnesota Cav- alry. During all his services his commands were ac- tively fighting the savages with varying success, at one place killing 140 of them. He was mustered ont as a sergeant in 1866, and, as all was then quiet, he started overland to Montana with cattle he and Richard Hobeck had bought in company, and brought them to Helena without mishap. Mr. Holmes prospected on the Boulder during the win- ter, and the next summer mined with moder- ate success on French bar. In the fall of 1867 he worked as a carpenter at Fort Ellis until the fort was completed, then held a wood contract un- til 1872, making fair profits. He then homesteaded on his present ranch, a mile and a half from Boze- man court house. where he has since lived enjoying the fruits of his faithful labor in large crops of oats and barley, and the cordial regard of his fellows. He was married in October, 1875, to Mrs. Mary J. Banks, a native of Illinois, a widow with one daughter, Eveline, now Mrs. William Nelson. They have three children: Rose B., now Mrs. Ed. Hughes ; Charles W. and Morris. Mr. Holmes is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the Odd Fellows, in which he has passed the

chairs. For the past sixteen years he has been keeping the county poor and has won commenda- tion for his management.

0 LIVER M. HOLMES .- "The talent of suc- cess is nothing more than what you can do well, and doing well whatever you do without any thought of fame," are the pertinent words of Long- fellow, and the career of Mr. Holmes is illustrative of the sentiment, for he has lived and labored to good ends with a capacity for determined consecu- tive endeavor that merits and generally achieves success. He was born in St. Paul, Minn., on April 16, 1861, the third child of the large family of James B. and Carolina V. (Friend) Holmes, the former of whom was born in Pittsburg, and the lat- ter in Philadelphia, Pa. In his earlier years James B. Holmes was engaged in the rolling mill business and later in a wholesale hardware enterprise in the then western country bordering the Mississippi, and later still was on the grain market, owning eleva- tors through the Red river wheat belt, where he inaugurated the Duluth & Manitoba Railway, incor- porated it, secured the money for its construction and built it. This is now the Winnipeg branch of the Northern Pacific Railway.

Oliver M. Holmes received his education in pri- vate educational institutions, and the first years of his labors were associated with his father. In Oc- tober, 1891, he came to Montana, locating in Great Falls, where he established the Great Falls News, continuing its publication as editor and proprietor until the fall of 1898. During this period Mr. Holmes took active part in politics, lending his ad- vocacy and personal efforts to the side of reform and acting with the Populist party, which secured marked success in several state and local canı- paigns. In the fall of 1898, Mr. Holmes came to Helena as assistant commissioner of agriculture, labor and industry, which office he filled with ac- knowledged credit until lie resigned to become dep- uty state auditor, which position he is now occupy- ing. He is also interested in the development of large mining properties and was the first to have the Flathead oil region explored, and, associated with J. H. Calderhead, the state auditor, has se- cured a large tract of land in the most promising section of the district. Mr. Holmes was married at Detroit, Minn., on December 27, 1883, to Miss Virginia Johnston, the second daughter of Col.

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George H. Johnston, and they have had four chil- dren : George Brickel, Marion Ethel and Dorothy, who are living, and Oliver Maxwell, who died be- fore the family came to Montana.

EDWARD C. HOWARD .- An enterprising and honored citizen of Custer county is the gentleman whose name appears at the initiation of this sketch, and such is his standing in the com- munity that he is particularly eligible for represen- tation in this volume. Mr. Howard was born on November 6, 1833, in Canada, of English lineage on the father's side and of Irish on the mother's. His father, Tilton Howard, was likewise born in Canada, where the family was established in an early day. He served for a number of years as sheriff of County Lambton, Canada, whence he re- moved to Minnesota in the early 'sixties and there passed the remainder of his life in comfort and ease surrounded by his children. His wife, who in girl- hood was Jane Stevens, was born in Ireland of Scotch stock. She accompanied her parents on their emigration to Canada when she was ten years old. She also died in Minnesota. She was mother of nine children, of whom three are living. Ed- ward C. Howard having been the fifth of the fam- ily, his twin sister, Mrs. W. L. Watson, is now a resident of Minnesota.

The early educational advantages of Edward C. Howard were those of the public schools of his native province, where he learned the trade of blacksmith, serving an apprenticeship of about four years. He removed to Terre Haute, Ind., about 1857, and at the outbreak of the great Civil war his sympathies were fully given to the cause of the Union. After his residence in Indiana he located as a blacksmith at Red Wing, Minn., where he re- mained two years, and turned his attention to farm- ing in Goodhue county, where he resided ten years. He then located at River Falls, where he was en- gaged as a hardware merchant for six years, dis- posing of his business in 1862 and coming to Mon- tana. Shortly after his arrival he located on his present ranch, which is located thirty miles south of Miles City, Garland being his postoffice address. His estate has an aggregate area of seven hundred acres, and is equipped with the best of improve- ments and devoted to the raising of cattle and sheep, in which latter line of stock he runs an aver- age of 3,000. He has a good residence and other

substantial buildings on his place. In his political adherency Mr. Howard is stanchly arrayed in sup- port of the Republican party, and fraternally he is identified with the Masons. He is a man of strong mentality, well read in the best literature and thor- oughly public-spirited in his attitude, while he and his family are held in the highest esteem in the com- munity, being prominent in its social affairs. On October 16, 1859, at Featherstone, Mr. Howard was united in marriage to Miss Annie Featherstone, who was born in Paynesville, Ohio, the daughter of William Featherstone, whom the town of Feather- stone was named after. Her father was a farmer and a banker who removed from Ohio to Minne- sota, where he died in the town of Red Wing, as did also his wife. Mr. and Mrs. Howard have had four children : Frank and William, who are de- ceased : Wells T., a successful ranch man of Custer county ; and Kate, the wife of Elmer E. Crawford, who is engaged in farming and stock growing on Tongue river, Custer county.

HON. JOHN HORSKY, receiver of the United States land office at Helena, Mont., was born in Austria on May 16, 1838. At the age of seven- teen he came with his parents to the United States in 1855, and settled in Johnson county, Iowa, near Cedar Rapids. He acquired a good education in his native land, and added to this a knowledge of English in the schools of Iowa. From Iowa after an indeterminate residence the family removed to Nebraska. In 1864 Mr. Horsky started from Omaha for Idaho, but on reaching Virginia City, Mont., on August 30 of that year he stopped his travel and there remained until April, 1865, when he came to Helena, and of which city he has been a resident since. Up to 1898 Mr. Horsky was en- gaged in the brewing business in connection with mining, and in these enterprises he was successful.

His qualities as an upright business man of high ability caused his appointment on May 6, 1898, by President Mckinley, to the office of receiver of the United States land office at Helena, and he is now ably and efficiently discharging the duties of that office. Politically Mr. Horsky has always been an ardent Republican, and is ever alive to the interests of that party. He served in the first and second sessions of the Montana state legislature in 1890 and 1891, and in 1892 he served the unexpired term of Mr. Burris, county commissioner of Lewis and

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Clarke county, and was elected to succeed himself, his service in this office occupying two years. He then resigned in order to become a candidate for the legislature, to which he was elected a second time in 1895. He represented the First ward of Helena from the time of its incorporation for two terms in the city council. In brotherhood circles Mr. Horsky is a valued Freemason and a United Workman. In 1869 Mr. Horsky was united in marriage to Miss Louisa Seykora, a native of Austria, who came to the United States when a child. To them have been born three sons : Rudolph, Edward and John. The career of Mr. Horsky has been marked by an industrious application to all the duties of life as they presented themselves. He is a man of sound business judgment, of hroad, progressive views and the strictest integrity. Financially, politically and socially his life has been eminently successful. In the municipal welfare of the city of Helena he takes a lively interest, and is highly esteemed in the com- munity in which he has for so many years made his home and been an active citizen.

DR. RUDOLPH HORSKY, one of Helena's leading physicians and surgeons, is a native of Montana. He was born in the capital city on No- vember 27, 1870. His parents were John and Lou- isa (Seykora) Horsky, natives of Bohemia, born near historic Prague. They came to the United States in 1855, met and were married in Iowa, and in 1869 came to the territory of Montana. Fur- ther mention of the family will be found elsewhere in this work. Rudolph Horsky was reared in the salutiferous climate of Montana, where in early life he laid the foundation of an excellent physical constitution. His preliminary education was re- ceived in the schools of Helena, and his classical and literary accomplishments were acquired at the University of Iowa and the Montana Wesleyan University at Helena, from which he was graduated in 1891. The same year he entered the Philadel- phia College of Pharmacy, where he took the junior course, and he was graduated from the medical de- partment of the University of Pennsylvania with honors on June 13, 1895.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 46

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