Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 82

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 82

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In these days, when the man is continually seek- ing the office instead of the office going out on the still hunt for the man, the political life of Mr. Blair presents a peculiar incident. In the fall of 1889 he was elected a member of the First legislature of the new state of Montana, never having taken any part in politics. He was not aware that he had been nominated for the office at the time. He saw the name Blair on the ticket, but supposed that the man was a Blair who resided at Anaconda, and did not discover his misapprehension until a short time prior to election day. As a member of that now historic legislature Mr. Blair participated in the memorable ninety-days deadlock. Among the committees on which he gave meritorious service, the most important one was that on labor.

Such is the brief history of the man who landed in the territory of Montana without a dollar. Of what he has accomplished through his tireless energy and steady application he has good reason to be proud, and wealth has come in unstinted measure as the reward of far reaching sagacity. steady application of persistent energy, and no feverish speculation or "striking it rich" in any locality has brought him his financial supremacy. During one long hard winter in Montana he worked for his board, yet he is now numbered among the capitalists of the state, but, plainly and unostentatiously, he continues in the industry that has built up for him the fortune to which he is so justly entitled. High as his business ability has ranked in the special department of Montana's in- dustries to which his energies have been so long and so successfully devoted, it stands not higher than his personal character in the estimation of a large circle of acquaintances at home and abroad,

J.W. Blair

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and of the people of that portion of the state where his large interests are centered, and who recognize in him an honest, just, upright and honorable man.

JOHN R. E. SIEVERS, PH. G., M. D .- In these

later days, marked by the most startling prog- ress in all fields of invention, discovery and in- dividual accomplishment, there is a natural and imperative tendency to specialize, for it is evident that if any one is to perfect himself in any sphere of thought, investigation or action, he must de- vote himself to it with absolute singleness of pur- pose. Among the representative physicians and surgeons of Montana who have directed particular thought and investigation along special lines, the while keeping in touch with generic progress in a professional way, is the one of whom we now write, and his precedence is such as to render par- ticularly consonant this tribute to his efforts and effective labors.

Dr. John Rudolph Emil Sievers, the immediate subject of this review, is a native of Germany, born at Itzehoe, province of Helstein, on May 31, 1869, the son of Jacob and Catherine (Ehlers) Sievers, both of whom still retain their residence in that locality, the father being a successful apia- rist. In the excellent public schools of his native province young Sievers secured his preliminary educational discipline and thereafter prosecuted his studies in private schools where he familiarized himself with foreign languages. As a lad of fifteen years Dr. Sievers came to America in 1884, and located at Chicago, Ill., where he served a two years' apprenticeship in a drug store, making such progress in his studies within this time that he was enabled in 1886 to enter the Chicago College of Pharmacy, where he completed the junior course in 1888, receiving honorable mention from Profs. E. B. Stuart and E. S. Bastin for excellence in scholarship, and receiving in recognition of his efforts the gift of a work entitled the "Principles of Pharmacognosy," from Prof. F. A. Flueckiger, of the University of Strasburg, Germany. In 1889 the Doctor was graduated in the college of phar- macy, receiving the class honors, the Billroth prize (a compound microscope) and gaining his degree of Ph. G. In 1889 also, upon examination before the state board of pharmacy, he was made a reg- istered pharmacist in Illinois. Thereafter he con- tinued the study of analytical chemistry under E. 27

F. Richter, of Chicago, but formerly of Berlin, Germany, and in 1890 he entered upon the specific work of preparing himself for the medical profes- sion, matriculating in the medical department of the Northwestern University, Chicago, and there completing a thorough course, being graduated, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, in 1893.

Soon after his graduation Dr. Sievers was ap- pointed house physician of the Sanitorium Wald- heim, at Oconomowoc, Wis., and in September, as the sequel of a competitive examination, he secured the appointment as house physician and surgeon in the Michael Reese Hospital, in Chicago, and at the time he resigned this work he was head physician and surgeon of the hospital. In May, 1895, Dr. Sievers resigned his position, and in the fall matriculated in the medical department of the University of Leipsic, Germany, where he com- pleted a post-graduate course. He thereafter con- tinued his studies in Berlin, and then received an appointment as surgeon on the steamship Bellona, of the German East Asiatic line from Hamburg. In March, 1896, he went to Vienna, where, in con- nection with his studies in bacteriology, pathology, surgical diagnosis, etc., he gave special attention to gynecology and general surgery, holding with Dr. Butler, ex-house surgeon of the Presbyterian Hospital in Chicago, the position of assistant sur- geon under the docent Dr. D. E. Ullman, the oper- ations being performed in Dr. Ullman's presence. Drs. Butler and Sievers alternated in the charge of the surgical cases, performing independently of each other operations every day from 9 a. m. to 2 p. m. Their collection of pathological specimens were utilized for further clinical and microscopical examination by the students, being sent to the Pathological Institute under Prof. Kolisko.

In the fall of 1897 Dr. Sievers returned to the United States, and for four months was in prac- tice at Neihart, Mont., after which he located in Butte. Here he conducts a general practice, but devotes special attention to general and abdominal surgery and gynecology with most gratifying suc- cess. He is local medical examiner for the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company of San Francisco. The Doctor holds membership in the Rocky Moun- tain Inter-State Medical Association and the Montana State Medical Association, while frater- nally he belongs to Silver Bow Lodge, K. of P. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party. On April 26, 1899, in New York city, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Sievers to Miss

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Alma Ridell, who was born in the national metrop- olis, the daughter of Dr. Emil and Bertha (Von Hoffmann) Ridell, the former being a native of Germany, who, after locating in America became a prominent physician in New York city. His wife was born in New York and is a representative of the German nobility in her paternal lineage. Dr. and Mrs. Sievers are the parents of a daughter, . Ruth Ethyl, born in Butte, on January 31, 1900.

T HOMAS D. SLOAN .- Experience has proved the wisdom of the axiom: "The greatness of a nation lies not in the machinery of government nor essential institutions; but in the sterling char- acter of the individual citizens." This may well apply in reviewing the eventful career of the honored Montana pioneer whose name introduces this paragraph, one of the representative farmers and stockgrowers of Deer Lodge county, whose well improved ranch is located one mile east of the village of Lincoln, Lewis and Clarke county, his postoffice address. Mr. Sloan comes of stanch old Scottish lineage, and is a native of the little maritime county of Renfrewshire, Scotland. He was born in Linwood, February 16, 1835, being the son of Thomas and Martha (Douglas) Sloan, both reared in the same county and where they passed their entire lives. They enjoyed the reputation of most inflexible integrity and honor in all the re- lations of life. Our subject was reared in his na- tive county, and there educated in the common schools. As Renfrew is essentially a maritime section of Scotland, it was but natural that Mr. Sloan should turn his attention to a seafaring life and thus we find that at the age of nineteen years he proceeded to the city of Liverpool, where he secured a position as a sailor on a ves- sel bound for the United States. Arriving in America Mr. Sloan went to Rhode Island, where he remained for nineteen months; but the con- ditions and environments were not to his liking and he returned to the sea, embarking on a vessel bound for the Sandwich islands. Ere the voyage was completed some of the sailors, among the number being the subject of this sketch, had some difficulty with the captain in consequence of his treatment, and he abandoned them on one of the Marquesas islands in the Pacific ocean, inhabited solely by cannibalistic natives. The unfortunate sailors thus isolated were in constant danger for

a period of four and one-half months, during which time they subsisted on bread-fruit, oranges and other tropical products. They were finally picked up by a passing vessel and taken to Honolulu, after a cruise into the Arctic ocean. Mr. Sloan tarried in Honolulu for five months, and then worked his way to San Francisco, where he ar- rived in March, 1859. He continued to follow the sea as a sailor from that port for three years.

In 1863 Mr. Sloan became affected with the pre- vailing gold fever, and set forth for the newly discovered mines in Boise Basin, Idaho, then a part of Montana, and upon reaching his destina- tion he turned his attention to mining, and was thus engaged for nearly three years with the varying success that attends operations in this line. He then came to Montana, locating at Lincoln, and for nineteen years was identified with the gold mining industry in this state. Believing that surer success was possible in farming he located on his present ranch, which comprises 300 acres, and has since given his time and attention to general farming and to the raising of excellent grades of livestock. To him and his excellent wife are accorded that consideration and uniform regard which mark the appreciation of their many sterling qualities of mind and heart ; while they in turn are ever appreciative of the true friend- ships which are thus engendered.

In 1867 Mr. Sloan returned to Scotland for a visit, and in the village of Linwood, Renfrewshire, on New Year's eve, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Mary McCallum, who was born in the same village as himself, and whose parents were Archibald and Annie (McEwan) McCallum, who came to the United States in their latter years to make their home with their children. They died in that beautiful section of Essex county, N. J., known as North Orange. Mr. and Mrs. Sloan have two children: Robert, who was born in 1879; and Annie, whose birth occurred in 1886.

JOHN H. SHOBER, one of the distinguished members of the Montana bar, is a resident of Helena, where he is well known as a reliable and most successful attorney. He is a native of Lou- doun county, Va., born January 5, 1832. He is the son of George and Susan (Sandbauer) Shober. They were also natives of Loudoun county, and died in Dodge county, Minn. Their Swiss ancestors

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came to Virginia prior to the Revolution, and George Shober, who was a teacher, was also a soldier in the war of 1812, and served gallantly under Gen. Winfield Scott.

John H. Shober was but a child when the family removed to Ohio, and thence to Illinois and still later to Iowa, and in that state young Shober received his primary education in the pub- lic schools. He was later a pupil in the schools of Jacksonville, Ill., and afterwards attended an excellent law school in Cincinnati, and was in 1855 admitted to the practice of law in Min- nesota, where the family had long been resident. Here Mr. Shober was elected county clerk of Dodge county, and was also by appointment clerk of the district court. He continued his residence in Minnesota until 1858, when he removed to Dakota, and engaged in the successful practice of his profession at Yankton, and in 1861 was elected to the territorial legislature. He was the president of the territorial council during the first session in March, 1862. In that year occurred the terrible Sioux Indian outbreak, the tragical traditions of which are still told in historical so- cieties, by the firesides of Minnesota pioneers, and written in song and story. In that war Mr. Shober served bravely for ninety days as a volunteer, participating in quite a number of sharp skirmishes, one of which took place on the site of the flourishing city of Sioux Falls, S. D.

In the second territorial council of Dakota Mr. Shober was an active member and served with great distinction as chairman of the judiciary com- mittee. In 1864 he started for the territory of Montana, and at Sioux City, Iowa, joined the expedition commanded by Gen. Sully and accom- panied it to Fort Union. Continuing his journey he arrived at Helena in August, 1864, and at once began the practice of law. He also en- gaged to some extent in mining in Nelson and Holmes gulches. He was elected district attor- ney in the fall of 1865, and in 1867 was re-elected. The same year he formed a law partnership with Thomas Lowry, which was continued for a num- ber of years, and in 1866 he was a prominent and very efficient member of the constitutional convention of the territory. Politically the affili- ations of Mr. Shober are with the Democratic party, and he manifests a patriotic interest in its success. His legal abilities, which are un- questioned, are warmly appreciated by his personal

and business associates, and he is recognized as a man of sound business judgment and sterling integrity.

A NDREW SMITH .- Born in New York city May 2, 1855, Mr. Smith may be truly called a product of the west, for, when he was only two years old, he was brought by his parents to Wisconsin, and from there two years later to Iowa. His parents, Thomas and Maria L. (O'Brien) Smith, were natives of Ireland, where the former was born in 1828 and the latter in 1833. They came to the United States when they were young, were in New York for a short time and then came to Wisconsin, where the father en- gaged in farming for ten years, then, moving to Iowa, labored fifteen years there at the same busi- ness. In 1883 they all came to Montana, where the father and son together followed stockraising un- til the father died at his son's home in 1891. The mother died at the same place October 7, 1901.

Andrew Smith when he was nineteen years old went to Wyoming, and worked at teaming and on ranches in the Wind river and the Big Horn regions for about two years. He passed the spring and summer of 1876 prospecting and mining in the Black Hills, and in the fall went to Bismarck and on, overland, to Fort Buford, where he worked at teaming for the Government between Buford and Glendive until 1877. In the spring of that year he made a trip overland from Fort Buford to Miles City, helped to build Fort Keogh, and also carried the mails for several months between the fort and Buford. Later he was a teamster with the United States troops on several expeditions, and was with Gen. Miles' command in 1877 when he captured and broke up Chief Lame Deer's band of Cheyenne Indians. From the fall of 1877 to the spring of 1879 he was freighting from Bis- marck to the Black Hills-in 1879 and 1880 he had grading contracts on the Northern Pacific between Bismarck and the Little Missouri, and in the winter of 1881 and 1882 he was hunting buffalo near Glendive. In 1882 he went to Iowa and brought his father, mother and two sisters to Montana, and also sixty-five head of cattle and twenty-five horses, making the trip overland to Dawson county, where he settled on his present home site on Beaver creek, two miles from Wi- baux. He had previously taken up the home- stead and on it built the first house erected on

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Beaver creek. Here he has given attention to raising a high grade of cattle and norses. In this business he has been successful, has extensive · grazing ranges surrounding the homestead, and has prospered.

In politics Mr. Smith is an unwavering Demo- crat, and has served his party well and wisely, both in the ranks and in official stations. From 1894 to 1898 he was county commissioner of Dawson county, and, for many years subsequent to 1884, a trustee and clerk of the school board of district No. 6. Fraternally he is allied with the Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen. He was married at Ida Grove, Iowa, in May, 1883, with Miss Mary A. Moody, a native of Michigan, where she was born in 1860. They have six children, Jennie, Olive, Roscoe, Ruth, Hazel and Herbert, the last being an adopted son. Another son, Har- ry, was burned to death January 1, 1899, at the age of thirteen. The family has a strong hold on the good will and esteem of the community.

LEXANDER SMITH .- It is to the glory of

A our great American republic that the man of honor and integrity who is willing to utilize his opportunities with reasonable energy may attain success. Montana has been the scene of successful endeavor of many self-made men, and among the number is Mr. Smith, a prosperous farmer and honored citizen of Gallatin county, his fine farm- stead being located five miles southwest of Bel- grade, his postoffice address. Mr. Smith comes of stanch old Irish stock, though a native son of Lanarkshire, Scotland, where he was born March 24, 1850, being one of a family of ten children, six sons and four daughters, who were born to William and Jane (Adams) Smith, natives of Ireland, whence they removed to Scotland in the early 'forties and there passed the, residue of their days. They were folk of sterling character and unflagging industry, and were respected by all who knew them.

Alexander Smith was reared to maturity in Scotland, received a common school education and early assumed individual responsibilities by secur- ing work in the coal mines, being identified with this line of industry until 1871, when he attained his legal majority, whereupon he determined to seek his fortune in America, feeling assured he would find broader opportunities for attaining a

position of independence through his own industry. He accordingly came to the United States, taking up his abode in Tioga county, Pa., where he de- voted his attention to coal mining until 1882, coming thence to Montana and locating in Gallatin county, found employment in the Chestnut coal mines. Subsequently he removed to the beautiful section known as Central park, Gallatin valley, where for a time he worked for wages and then, purchasing a portion of the Hunter ranch, began farming for himself. Alert and energetic, ever ready to utilize the most available means at hand, a student of methods and signally progressive, suc- cess has not been denied him, and that it has been cumulative is evident from the fact that he now has a valuable and prolific farm of 280 acres, all avail- able for effective cultivation and practically under irrigation at the present time. By an ingenious hydraulic device, invented by himself, Mr. Smith is enabled to secure a sufficient supply of water on the higher levels to effectively irrigate the same, the water power being derived from the ditches on the lower level, and being used on days when the water is not demanded on said lower level. The scheme is a very successful one in its operation and indicates the discrimination and scientific meth- ods which Mr. Smith brings to bear in the carrying on of his farming industry. The principal products of the farm are wheat, oats and barley, and ex- cellent yields are secured. It may properly be said . that Mr. Smith stands as a living example of what it is possible for a man of brains and energy to accomplish in the state of Montana, if he will make definite application of his abilities. He pur- chased his present farm without the immediate pay- ment of a dollar, his only security being his honor, and he is now owner of a fine farm, thoroughly improved and all under cultivation. A substantial and commodious farm residence and excellent barns and other outbuildings are among the permanent improvements to be noted, and the success in all this is the result of only fifteen years of labor and application. Mr. Smith has ordered his life upon a high plane of honor and integrity, and to him is given the unqualified esteem and confidence of the community. He gives his political support to the Republican party, while his religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church, in whose work he takes a deep and active interest, being an elder of the Hamilton church, of which his wife also is a devoted member.

On April 23, 1873, Mr. Smith was united in

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marriage to Miss Rebecca Saulsberry, who was born in Pennsylvania, the daughter of Henry Saulsberry, who migrated to the United States from the north of Ireland. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith fourteen children have been born, and only once has death invaded the family circle. The names of the children, in order of birth, are as follows: Susie is the wife of D. P. Stone, of Cen- tral Park; William is at the parental home; Jennie,

'ARL J. SMITH .- A native of Sweden, the C proud realm made glorious in song and story by the deeds of Gustavus Adolphus and Charles the Twelfth in military prowess, and by the tri- umphs of John Ericsson in steam engineering and naval architecture, Carl J. Smith, of Butte, a law- yer of good standing in his profession which he has won by his own merits in our land of oppor- tunity, has inspiration for lofty endeavor from the country of his nativity and that of his adoption. He was born on May 12, 1865. His parents, Andrew and Johanna (Anderson) Smith, were also Swedes. They had a small farm where they reared their eleven children, of whom Carl was the third. Edu- cated at the excellent schools of his native land, when he was eighteen years old he emigrated to America locating first at Minneapolis, where he worked during the day and supplemented his Swedish educational advantages at home by at- tending night school. From Minnesota he removed in 1888 to South Dakota and engaged in the hotel business until 1892, when he went to Salt Lake City and became a real estate dealer, at the same time studying law. In 1896 he came to Montana, and locating at Butte, continued both his law studies and his real estate operations. In that city he was admitted to the bar on January 12, 1899, and since then has devoted himself almost ex- clusively to legal practice and securing a good standing at the bar and a large and growing cli- entage. He is independent in politics, but maintains a lively interest in public affairs and in the welfare of the community. Fraternally he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and gives his lodge earnest and helpful support. In

religious thought he is a zealous and enthusiastic Theosophist and in private life a worthy exemplar of the best in social relations and citizenship.

T THE NATIONAL BANK OF MONTANA, formerly the Montana National Bank, is the result of a reorganization of the latter institution wife of George E. L. Dawes, of Central Park; , on January 10, 1901. The officers of the new Henry, a successful rancher in the same vicinity ; Annie; Alexander, Jr .; Maggie, deceased; and Wilda Martha, Carrie, Ruth, Belle, Esther and Earl, all of whom remain at the homestead. bank are: Thomas A. Marlow, president ; Albert L. Smith, vice-president ; Thomas C. Kurtz, cash- icr; W. H. Dickinson, assistant cashier. The paidup capital and surplus of the bank is $312,500. Among those financially interested in the new in- stitution are James J. Hill, president of the Great Northern Railway Company, of St. Paul; James H. Eckels, ex-comptroller of the currency, of Chi- cago; Joseph Rosenbaum, live stock commission, and A. G. Becker, banker, Chicago; Henry Brat- nober, capitalist, San Francisco; Andrew J. Davis (estate of), banker, Butte ; Robert S. Ford, banker, Great Falls; C. J. McNamara, live stock, Big Sandy, and B. D. Phillios, live stock, Malta, Mont. Among the Helena business men connected with this bank have been Peter Larson, J. T. Murphy, Herman Gans, B. H. Tatem, J. P. Woolman, H. G. McIntire, N. Kessler, E. B. Braden, S. H. Mc- Intire, T. A. Marlow. The original Montana National Bank was organized in 1882, with these officers : President, Col. C. A. Broadwater ; vice- president, A. G. Clarke, and cashier, E. Sharp. The capital stock was $250,000. This was later increased, but again reduced to the original amount. Col. Broadwater was president until the time of his death in 1892. He was succeeded by John T. Murphy, who was in office until De- cember, 1893, and he was followed by T. A. Mar- low, who served until 1897, when A. L. Smith took office.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 82

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