Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 96

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 96

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Mr. Wilson has always taken an active interest in political affairs, and in 1892 he served as chair- man of the Washington Republican state central

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committee, in which office he did much to aid his party in the state. Fraternally he is prominently identified with the order of Free Masons, in which he has advanced to the chivalric degrees and is now a Knight Templar. In 1893 he had the dis- tinction of serving as grand commander of the grand commandery of the state of Washington. The eminent financial ability of Mr. Wilson is recog- nized throughout the states over which he has juris- diction as bank examiner, and his many years of ex- perience in the west have peculiarly fitted him for a thorough comprehension of existing conditions in the commercial field. He has great force of character, is prompt in his actions and decisions and possesses excellent business judgment. On Christmas day, 1877, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Clara Pomeroy, who was born in Oregon. They have four children-Kathryne, Clarence P., Eugene E. and Genevieve.

JESSE R. WHARTON .- Among the progres- sive business men of Butte, where he holds the important office of manager of the street railway system, is Mr. Wharton, who has shown himself to be a most efficient executive officer. In tracing the lineage of Mr. Wharton we find that his an- cestors have for several generations been con- nected with America. He is a native of North Carolina, and was born in Greensboro, Guilford county, on November 4, 1857, the eighth of the eleven children of John C. and Rebecca (Rankin) Wharton. John C. Wharton was born in the same house as was his son Jesse R., and the emigrant representatives of the name came from England to North Carolina as early as 1736. His mother was likewise born in North Carolina, a descendant of one of the old families of the state and whose an- cestors came from the north of Ireland.

Jesse R. Wharton, after his school days were over, at the age of seventeen years, entered the employ of the Bank of Greensboro, and by his fidelity and cumulative ability he soon advanced from the position of collector and messenger boy to that of teller. In January, 1882, he came to Butte, Mont., to become teller in the Clark Bank, retaining this position for seven years. In 1889 he was made superintendent of the Silver Bow Water Company, in which office he served eighteen months and then became manager of the two electric light plants of the city. In 1891 Mr. Whar-

ton was chosen to his present responsible office as manager of the Butte street railway system, in which he has rendered most effective service. He has brought the road to a standard where it com- pares more than favorably with similar systems in other cities. The lines have been increased in mileage from twelve to twenty-five miles under his management, the entire system has been re- built, only one mile of the old trackage being now utilized, and its lines now ramify through the city in such a way as to meet all demands. The line be- tween Butte and Centerville is called one of the best specimens of street-railway engineering in the United States. The company has purchased and improved Butte's popular resort, the Colum- bia Gardens, and extended the road thither. In all these notable improvements Mr. Wharton has been the chief factor, and it is largely due to his business and executive ability that the system is now on a paying basis.

Mr. Wharton is independent in political thought, but believes that in time great good will be accomplished through the socialistic move- ment, that this will develop into a potent political force, and that the condition of the laboring classes will be thereby ameliorated and the "sub- merged tenth" become a thing of the past. The religious faith of Mr. Wharton is that of the Pres- byterian church, in whose work he takes an act- ive interest, and hc is an elder of the Butte church. Fraternally he is identified with Butte Lodge No. 22, A. F. & A. M., and while a resident of North Carolina he was a member of the Guilford Grays, a militia company which has held organiza- tion from the Revolutionary epoch. It also ren- dered service in the Civil war. In Butte, ou March 9, 1886, Mr. Wharton was united in mar- riage with Miss Lizzie Noyes, who was born in Cushing, Quebec, the daughter of Thomas C. and Mary Ann Noyes. Mr. and Mrs. Wharton liave three children, all of whom are attending the schools of Butte. Their names are Jesse N., Caro- lina P. and John C.

C HARLES W. WHITLEY .- As an executive officer and business man, in connection with one of the important industrial enterprises of Montana, Mr. Whitley holds notable preferment, while his ability peculiarly fits him for the effective discharge of his duties as general manager of the

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American Smelting & Refining Co., whose finely equipped plant is located at East Helena. Charles W. Whitley was born on June 20, 1869, in Cook county, Ill., the son of John and Elizabeth (Hol- brook) Whitley, natives of New York and Man- chester, England. His paternal grandfather was en- gaged in shipbuilding, and in this industry John Whitley was also occupied in his earlier years. In 1849 he removed to Chicago, where lie became prom- inently identified with lumbering. In 1853 he estab- lished a hardwood lumber enterprise, as the Hol- brook Lumber Company, which was continued until 1893, so that Mr. Whitley figures distinctively as one of the pioneer lumbermen of the western metropolis. He later became interested in grain elevators in that city, and he and his wife still con- tinue their residence of many years in Chicago.

Charles W. Whitley received excellent educa- tional advantages in Chicago, and supplemented them by a thorough course in the Boston Insti- tute of Technology, where he was graduated with the class of 1891. After leaving school he was for a time in the employ of the General Electric Company, in Chicago, and thereafter engaged with the Chicago City Railway Company as an electrical engineer, and was associated there with the late M. R. Bowen. Here Mr. Whitley re- mained until 1896, when he made his advent in Montana, locating in the capital city and forthwith becoming associated with the Helena Water & Elec- tric Power Company as its manager. This office he retained for about a year, when he was ad- vanced to his present responsible position of gen- eral manager of the American Smelting & Refining Company, of the duties of which he has given a most discriminating and capable administration, both technically and in an executive way.

Mr. Whitley has had an eventful and busy career. His superior abilities in mechanical and electrical engineering early received the recogni- tion they so justly deserve. Endowed with strong intellectual powers and having a firm grasp upon the multifarious details of his profession, he has added to them energy, industry and persever- ance. With the widely diversified lines of me- chanics, bookkeeping, commercial accounts and applied science, especially electrical, he is equally familiar, such is the comprehensive grasp of his mind. To all with whom Mr. Whitley is associ- ated it is plainly evident that he lias before him a brilliant future. Though young in years, it can be truthfully said that no man could more satis fac-

torily fill the position he now holds. He has been in the state and has made his home in Helena but a few years, but has won the confidence and esteem of a large circle of friends and acquaint- ances throughout Montana, and is recognized as one of the state's progressive and capable busi- ness men. In politics Mr. Whitley gives his alle- giance to the Republican party. He is not, however, an active party worker, and in no degree is he an office seeker.

EDMUND WHITCOMB .- A history of the representative men of Montana would be in- complete without notice of Edmund Whitcomb, whose residence here covers a period of nearly forty years. He saw on his arrival in Montana only primitive mining camps, but he undauntedly bore his part in the work of development, and has been a potent factor in making Montana one of the im- portant states of the Union. Edmund Whitcomb was born in Ashland county, Ohio, November 23, 1837, and is of German extraction, though his father, John Whitcomb, was born in Maryland, in 1802. He removed to Pennsylvania when a young man and there married Miss Mary Draughbaugh, of Germany, about the year 1827. In 1837 they re- moved to Ashland county, Ohio, where the father devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits until his death, in 1886, at the venerable age of eighty- three. His widow died two years later, aged sev- enty-six years. The subject of this review at- tended the public schools near the old homestead in Ohio, and later added a course of study in the Ash- land Academy. In 1860 he went to Kansas, and in 1862 to Colorado, the gold excitement being then at its height. Upon locating in Colorado he en- gaged in mining and lumbering, and there remained until 1863, when he outfitted several mule teanis and set forth for Montana, to which locality there was an exodus of the miners of Colorado. He says in graphic language:

"On leaving Denver considerable snow still re- mained in the ravines and canyons, and progress was slow and difficult, and we had to shovel our way for many days. On leaving old Fort Bridger for Salt Lake City the snow was heavily encrusted. rendering traveling anything but pleasurable. The night before arriving in Salt Lake City we camped in snow fifteen inches deep on the summit of 'Zion," but in the valley there was every evidence of spring,

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and the change in a single day to balmy summer was delightful to us, worn out by the cold weather and heavy snow. We spent fifteen days in Salt Lake City and then went on to Bannack, then in Idaho. We reached there April 27, 1863, and camped on Bannack flats. Later we were in the midst of an attack by the road agents upon the Ban- nack Indians in the vicinity, who, they claimed, had threatened to kill eleven miners that had left Ban- nack the preceding autumn, and in the fight 'Old Brag,' a cripple, and three other Indians were killed."

Mr. Whitcomb engaged in miring at Bannack until the time of the stampede to Alder gulch, the greatest placer camp in the history of gold seeking, and remained there until August, when, in company with Col. DeLacy and his party of forty-four men he started for Snake river, to prospect for gold, said to have been discovered there. Soon learning the falsity of the report the party disbanded and Mr. Whitcomb, with four others, proceeded to Yellow- stone lake, by way of Madison river, passing down Yankee Jim's canyon, crossing the east Gallatin and eventually reaching Virginia City in November. . thus making one of the initial expeditions into what is now the Yellowstone National Park. Mr. Whit- comb passed the winter at Vivian gulch, twelve miles from Virginia City; it was at the time the Vigilance Committee was making such strenuous efforts to do away with the highwaymen who men- aced life and property on every hand. He person- ally witnessed the execution of George Ives, the first road agent hung in the state, and that of five others who were hung in Virginia City early one morning. Later several others expiated their crimes at the rope's end. "Desperate deeds requiring desperate remedies," the honest men of the mining camps had no other course than the summary execution of such miscreants, the processes of law being easily evaded at that early period. During the first seven years of his residence in Montana Mr. Whitcomb devoted his attention largely to placer mining ; and on Silver creek, where good sluicing was possible, he aver- aged about $15 per day. In 1865 Mr. Whitcomb had taken up a pre-emption claim of 160 acres of meadow land in the beautiful Prickly Pear valley, and this property he still owns. When he abandoned mining, in 1869, he located the fine ranch of 160 acres on which he now makes his home, which is just to the south of the fine building erected by the Montana Wesleyan University. In 1890 he donated ten acres of the homestead to the

university and sold 145 acres, retaining the re- maining five acres for a residence place. In 1893 he erected a fine brick residence of modern archi- tectural design, and here the family have since re- sided, Mr. Whitcomb's past well-directed opera- tions having yielded a handsome competence. The attention he gave to farming and stock-raising after leaving the mines was also signally prospered, be- cause he ever had the confidence and esteem of all he inet in the various relations of life.

His political support is given to the Republican party, so far as national isssues are involved. Fra- ternally he has been identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for many years. On June 29, 1871, Mr. Whitcomb was united in marriage to Miss Catharine A. Durgen, who was born in Maine, coming to Bannack in 1862. She was one of the noble pioneer women of Montana and narrowly escaped being killed in the great Indian massacre of that year. She died on November 23. 1888. In 1891 Mr. Whitcomb married Mrs. Margaret Kit- son, the widow of John Kitson, and the daughter of Edward Welsh, of Massachusetts. By her first marriage she became the mother of three children- Mary, Walter and Charles ; by her marriage to Mr. Whitcomb one daughter-Effa May. Mr. Whit- comb also has an adopted son, John Edwin Whit- comb, who is now on the ranch on East Half-Mile creek, Cascade county. Mr. Whitcomb keeps on this ranch an average of 600 head of cattle, but in 1887 sold out the horses except what are needed for ranch purposes.

T HE GREAT FALLS IRON WORKS, of Great Falls, Mont., were founded in 1890 by L. S. Woodbury and partners. It was a private insti- tution until 1892, when a stock company was or- ganized with a capital of $100,000, officered by L. S. Woodbury, president : Paris Gibson, vice-presi- dent, and Miss L. A. Woodbury, secretary and treasurer. L. S. Woodbury, the original promoter of this important industry, was born in Hillsbor- ough county, N. H. His parents were Seth and Mary R. (Batchelor) Woodbury, both natives of Massachusetts. The father, Seth Woodbury, Jr., followed his trade of tanner and currier, coming from Massachusetts to New Hampshire, where he conducted business until his death at fifty-two years of age. Mr. Woodbury's mother is still living. The grandfather was also a Seth Woodbury, and he

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was a sea captain, commanding some of the largest ships at that time sailing between the United States and foreign countries. He had retired from the sea some years before his death, which occurred at the age of ninety-six in New Hampshire.

L. S. Woodbury was reared and educated in New Hampshire, and there, after his graduation from an excellent high school, he laid the foundation of his future success by thoroughly learning the machin- ist's trade in all its branches. He worked in various tool shops, on steam fire engines, locomo- tives, and woodworking machinery, continuing at this for a number of years, and then he began rail- roading, and his field was Vermont and New Hampshire. Beginning as a foreman in the ma- chine shops, he was connected with this business for several years, and until the Civil war. During the four years of that eventful period of our history he served in the United States navy as an assistant en- gineer. In 1865 he resigned his position on the United States frigate Powhatan, and again took up the occupations of civil life. He was then made superintendent of the Hope iron works at Provi- dence, R. I., continuing here for a year. Following this he was made consulting engineer and superin- tendent of machinery for Sheppard, Morse & Co., of Burlington, Vt., and later he became a member of the firm of B. S. Nichols & Co., iron manufac- turers, and with this firm he remained a number of years. In 1879 Mr. Woodbury went to Michigan, where subsequently he became assistant general su- ycrintendent of the Calumet Hecla Mining Com- pany. Later he was general manager of the Cana- dian Copper Company's mines at Sudbury, Ontario. Resigning in 1890, he came to Great Falls and founded the iron works of which he is president.

Mr. Woodbury is also interested in a number of mining companies in this state. He is a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, so that in every way he is qualified for the work to which he has devoted his life. It is to men of his mechanical powers and mentality that the United States is indebted for the country's rapid advance as a world power and its development in mechanical progress and invention. In mechanical engineer- ing and construction America leads the world. To this grand success the inventive genius of New England has largely contributed, and in Mr. Wood- bury Great Falls has an able representative of this class of progressive men. Mr. Woodbury was made a Royal Arch Mason in Burlington, Vt., and

he is also one of the Sons of the American Revolu- tion. He was married in New Hampshire to Miss Emma E. Wayne, a native of Massachusetts, and they have five children, Fred E., a well known min- ing man : Mary C., Laurietta A., Josephine A. and Florentine. Mr. Woodbury is a Republican, but he has never taken an active part in political affairs. A public-spirited citizen, energetic and progressive, he numbers a host of friends and is esteemed and re- spected by all.

H ON. JOSEPH P. WOOLMAN .- Witnessing the magic growth of Montana, and doing his full part toward advancing its prosperity and the supremacy of Helena, his home city, and at pres- ent United States marshal for Montana. Joseph P. Woolman was born in Woodstown, Salem county, N. J. His English ancestors came to this country in 1678, and his great-great-uncle John Woolman, was a noted Quaker preacher of New Jersey. He is the son of James and Mary Ann (Pedrick) Woolman, natives of New Jersey, where his father was born in 1804, and of the eleven children of his parents seven are living. James Woolman died at the age of seventy-six, and his wife at that of seventy-five. He was a farmer and a leather manufacturer. Both were birthright members of the Society of Friends. Until he was nineteen years old Joseph P. Woolman, the fourth child of the family, worked on the old homestead. He re- ceived his elementary education at the public schools of Woodstown, and this was supplemented by attendance at the state normal school at Millers- ville, Pa. He subsequently was for a short time a successful teacher and then accepted a position in a wholesale and retail store in Philadelphia. In 1864 he started across the plains for far-away Idaho. The pioneers of those early territorial days will un- derstand what such an undertaking implied. It was a trip combining hardship, daily and nightly peril and continual anxiety, but stopping in Utah, Mr. Woolman passed the first winter in teaching at Cen- terville, near the populous Mormon metropolis, Salt Lake City. Thus deflected from his original des- tination, the next year he came to Helena, and here for a time he engaged in placer mining in Last Chance gulch, where Helena now stands. Later he conducted merchandising for a number of years successfully. At present ( 1901) he is diversifying his industries, being heavily interested in sheep, real

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estate and merchandising at Dawson, Yukon Terri- tory, Canada, as a member of the firm of Holman, Miller & Co. He is also one of the owners of the at one time celebrated Jay Gould mine.

Politically Mr. Woolman has always been a Re- publican, an active worker in the interests of his party, standing high in its councils. For two years he served with distinction as chairman of the Re- publican territorial central committee, and served during 1898 and 1899 as chairman of the Montana Republican state central committee. In 1876 he represented Montana at the centennial exposition at Philadelphia, and was appointed commissioner to the Paris exposition of 1878. In 1879 Mr. Wool- man was appointed auditor of the territory of Mon- tana by Governor Potts, and was re-appointed by Governors Crosby and Carpenter, serving eight years in all. In 1894 he acted as chairman of the executive committee in the location of the state cap- ital during the memorable contest between Helena and Anaconda. In 1880 Mr. Woolman was united in marriage to Mrs. Sarah E. Glendinen, of Ohio, who died in 1890. He was again married, in 1893, to Mrs. Cornelia M. Goodwin, a native of Dela- ware. In 1897 Mr. Woolman was appointed by President Mckinley United States marshal for Montana, the duties of which office he is now ably discharging. In business life and among his per- sonal associates Mr. Woolman is highly esteemed and he has the confidence, not only of the com- munity in which he resides, but of the people of the state at large. He is a gentleman of great force of character, rare executive ability and of the strict- est probity.

H' JON. SAMUEL WORD, a pioneer and an emi- nent citizen of Helena, who came west before there was even a territory of Montana, is still a resi- dent of the state in which he has been an important factor. Among the early settlers of South Caro- lina were his ancestors, coming from Scotland pre- vious to the American Revolution. From two of these, brothers, sprang the Words now scattered throughout Virginia and other southern states. Samuel Word is the son of William and Susan Boyd (Banton) Word. His father was born in Powell's Valley, Tenn., in 1808, and removed, a young man, from Tennessee to Knox county, Ky., where he was married, and where Samuel was born at Barboursville, on January 19, 1837. The Words

then went to Somerset, Pulaski county, and sub- sequently in 1856 to Kansas, and thence to St. Joseph, Mo. Here the father died in the seventy- third year of his age. His wife survived him a short time and passed away at about the same age. The occupation of the father was that of a farmer, and both he and his good wife were devoted Chris- tians, of the faith of Alexander Campbell. In dif- ferent public schools Samuel Word secured the rudiments of an education. In those days facilities for scholastic training were far from what there are in the present era of thriving schools and richly endowed universities, but the taste for learning was just as strong (and possibly stronger) in young Word as it is today among our children. His early predilection was for the law, and he developed a greater desire for it the more he knew of it. Ac- cordingly he entered the office of Andrew J. James, afterwards attorney-general of Kentucky, and ap- plied himself assiduously, but found himself handi- capped by the deficiencies of his education, and also by the want of financial means. The latter diffi- culty he sought to conquer by instructing others. After teaching for a time (meanwhile keeping up his law studies) he entered Bethany College, Va., where he continued until his health failed, when he returned home for rest and recuperation, and that obtained he entered the law office of Silas Wood- son, afterwards governor of Missouri. Under this competent instructor he continued his studies until 1858, and then entered upon his professional career at Oregon, Holt county, Mo., having obtained a license to practice law. In company with his part- ner, Col. James Foster, he soon acquired a lucrative practice. He here became acquainted with and later married Miss Sarah Margaret Foster. She was born in Clay county, Mo., of Scotch-Irish ancestry, her father being a native of Ireland, and her mother, formerly Miss Helen J. Thompson, of Scotch de- scent. They have four children, William F., a prominent mining engineer of Butte; Robert Lee, a judge of the supreme court ; Charles F. and May.

Soon after his marriage Mr. Word, ambitious to obtain success at an early day, started west. Mon- tana was then embraced by Idaho territory, but it was to the central point of Alder gulch, a place mem- orable in mining history, that Mr. Word directed his steps. He arrived there in 1863 and at once en- gaged in mining, but the sagacity of Mr. Word early convinced him that he could more readily acquire a competence by his profession than through the oftentimes disappointing labor of a

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miner. So he became an attorney at Alder gulch, Mont. One year later he returned to Missouri, settled his business affairs in the "states" and brought his wife to Virginia City.

In 1865 Mr. Word was appointed by Governor Edgerton territorial prosecuting attorney to fill an unexpired term in the First judicial district. His abilities for this position were soon manifest, and he was afterwards elected to the office in which he served with distinction two years. For nine years he was counsel for the Union Pacific Railroad. It is claimed that Mr. Word, in connection with Mr. Jefferson Lowrey and Mr. Mallory, imparted great impetus to the mining industry in the territory in 1884-5. It was he who conceived the idea of placing the stock of the famous Drum Lummon mine on the market, and their efforts certainly did much to increase activity in mining in Montana.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 96

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