Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 102

Author: Bowen, A.W., & Co., firm, publishers, Chicago
Publication date: [19-?]
Publisher: Chicago : A. W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1092

USA > Montana > Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2 > Part 102

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SAMUEL E. COOK .- It is noticeable in the history of this state that the most prominent and successful citizens have risen from ranks of ordinary workingmen, practically graduating from sheepherders, unsuccessful miners, cowboys and the once vast army of freighters working for a small stipend per month. Those who have been endowed with indomitable wills, a spirit of indus- try and average business judgment, have univer-

sally succeeded ; those who have not been blessed with these attributes have fallen by the wayside and been heard of no more. The subject of the following biographical mention belongs to the former class. "He came, he saw, he conquered," and has lived to gain prominence as a successful cattle rancher near Cleveland, Choteau county, where he has a fine property. He was born in Wilkesbarre, Pa., December 13, 1854. His par- ents were William and Susan (Shonk) Cook, the father a native of Jersey City, N. J., and the moth- er of Plymouth, Pa. The paternal grandfather, Samuel Cook, settled in Wilkesbarre at an early day, where his son was born, reared and educated, and learned the trade of a carpenter, but in 1868 removed to Iowa, where he engaged in farming, interspersed with contracting and building, and where he still resides. It was upon the Iowa farm that Samuel E. Cook was reared, and in the neigh- boring schools he received the elements of a some- what limited education. Ambitious to push his way in the world he turned his attention to the then rapidly unfolding west; in 1880 he came to Fort Benton, via the Missouri river, and secured his first employment on the ranches in that vicini- ty. In 1884 he came to the Little Rockies and engaged in mining for two years, more or less successfully, and subsequently was profitably em- ployed in furnishing wood to Missouri river steam- boats. But he had carefully watched the progress of events, the gradual unfolding of a new country and noted its possibilities. To his judgment it ap- peared that the stock business, carefully managed, offered superior advantages, and in 1888 he located a claim of 160 acres on Peoples creek, Choteau county, improved the same and engaged in sheep- growing. He was prosperous, and in the fall of 1892 he removed to his present ranch in the Bear Paw mountains, which comprises 400 acres, a good portion of which is fenced and otherwise improved with fine buildings, barns and corrals. Since then the principal industry to which he has directed his attention has been cattle-growing, and it has proved quite profitable.

In 1893 Mr. Cook took unto himself a wife in the person of Miss Madeline, daughter of Alex- ander Gardepee, of Canada, who is a most estimable lady. Their home life is surrounded with every comfort and convenience necessary to the successful conduct of ranch business in Mon- tana. Politically Mr. Cook is an active and in- fluential member of the Republican party.

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F RANK D. COOPER .- In the opening year of the twentieth century it must be noted that progressiveness is the dominating spirit in Amer- ica, and the farmer and stockraiser has not been behind the doctor, the lawyer or the merchant in following and originating improved methods of work. The same keen discrimination, sound judg- ment and forceful executive ability are required in the successful agriculturalist and stockgrower, as are demanded in the leading representatives of commercial or professional interests, and these qualities are possessed by Mr. Cooper, who ranks amongst the foremost stockraisers. He is at the present time a county commissioner of Cascade county and has been very conspicuously identified with the annals of the state.

Mr. Coooper was born near Mount Pleasant, Henry county, Iowa, on the 6th of April, 1849, be- ing the son of David Bryant and Hannah Cooper, natives of Washington county, Pa. The father was extensively engaged in agricultural pursuits during his business life, and was also identified with merchandising, while he took an active part in political affairs and wielded a strong influence upon the public life in the various localities where he maintained his residence. He served for six- teen years as county judge of Scotland county, Mo., having been elected on the Republican tick- et. He moved to Iowa in 1850, and there re- mained until 1858, when he located in Missouri, remaining until his death which occurred in June, 1889. His widow still survives, making her home with her daughter, Mrs. J. E. Mount, of Memphis, Mo. She is a member of the Presbyterian church as was also her husband, who was a man of inflex- ible integrity and character and who gained and re- tained the high regard of all who knew him.

Frank D. Cooper, the immediate subject of this review, obtained excellent educational advantages in his early youth and when a boy of but ten years, commenced to assist in the work of the parental homestead, remaining thereon until he attained his legal majority, when he started for Kansas, but was soon compelled to return home on account of impaired health. Becoming convinced that the climate of Montana would prove beneficial to his health he decided to cast in his lot with this section of the Union, and accordingly, in 1872, we find him located at Boulder, Jefferson county, where he spent one year in the study of bookkeeping and surveying. In 1873 he took 1,000 head of sheep on shares and devoted his attention to their keep-

ing until 1877, by which time the flock had in- creased to 6,300 head, of which his proportionate share was placed at 2,650. In the year last men- tioned, by mutual consent, the association existing between himself and Messrs. Davenport & Ray, was dissolved, and Mr. Cooper then located on a portion of his present ranch, which is situated twelve miles northwest of Cascade where he origi- nally took up homestead, pre-emption, desert and tree claims, aggregating 1,040 acres in extent. Since that time he has added 19,790 acres, has leased 3,520 acres of school land and holds option on 19,200 acres of railroad land. In addition to this he is the owner of 1,160 acres of valuable land located on Birch creek in Choteau county. He has devoted his entire time and attention to raising horses, cattle and sheep, and so extensive are his interests in this field of enterprise that it is self- evident that his executive ability, discrimination and judgment are above the average, as otherwise he would not be able to hold his affairs so thor- oughly well in hand. He has had, at various times, bands of sheep numbering as high as 30,000 head, cattle to the number of 500 and horses 200. At the time of this writing (1901) his sheep number 17,000 head.

It is but a natural sequel that a man of so alert and vigorous a mentality, and one whose ability has manifested itself in so marked a degree, should take deep and abiding interest in matters of public import, and that he should have been called upon to serve in offices of great trust and responsibility. Mr. Cooper is one of the leaders of the Republican party in Cascade county, and as a candidate of his party was elected to represent that county in the legislative sessions of 1882-1883, this being before Montana had arrived at the dignity of statehood. He faithfully and ably upheld the interests of his constituency and was an active worker in the pro- motion of the aspirations of the territory for mem- bership in the Union. In 1895 he was appointed by Judge Benton to serve as a member of the board of county commissioners and in the fall of 1896, at the regular election, was the Republican candidate for the same office ; but the exigencies of political contest resulted in his defeat, the com- plexion of the county being strongly Democratic. In the fall of 1900, however, he was elected to this important office, being one of three Republican candidates who were successful at the polls. In 1894 he held the appointment of appraiser of per- sonal property in the county. Mr. Cooper is well

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known and held in the highest regard as one of the influential men of Cascade county. Fraternally he holds membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

On the 24th of April, 1884, was consummated the marriage of Mr. Cooper to Miss Alice Green, who was born in Missouri, being the daughter of Thomas W. and Nancy Green, both of whom were born in Virginia, whence they removed to Missouri a few years subsequent to their marriage. Both were members of the Baptist church. Mr. Green was for a time engaged in the mercantile business, later turning his attention to agricultural pursuits which he followed until the time of his death, which occurred May 27, 1892. In politics he was an active supporter of the Democracy, having served as sheriff of his county in 1861, and later as repre- sentative in the state legislature of Missouri, while at the time of his death he was treasurer of Scot- land county, Mo. Fraternally he was identified with the Masonic order. His widow is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Cooper are the parents of four chil- dren, Linnie, Nelson, Francis and Alice. Mrs. Cooper is a member of the Baptist church.

R OBERT L. CONATSER .- A representative of good old southern stock, and now one of the popular and progressive young men of Valley county, where he rendered acceptable service as sheriff, giving a most able administration, is Robert L. Conatser, a son of Joseph Conatser, who was born in Jamestown, Tenn., about 1832, where he was a farmer and stockgrower and a lifelong resi- dent. He died at Lebanon, Tenn., in 1873. His wife, who, before marriage was Clementine Evans, also born at Jamestown, now resides at Lebanon, in that state. Their son, Robert, was born in Nashville, Tenn., on February 20, 1869. He was educated in the public schools of Monticello and Lebanon, Tenn., and in 1886 went to western Texas and was employed as a hierder on the cattle range until 1890, when he came to Dawson county, Mont., and for three years was employed by the N. N. Cattle Company at old Fort Peck, on the Missouri river.

In 1893 Mr. Conatser came to Glasgow, Valley county, conducted a liquor business for two years and in 1895 was appointed jailor under Sheriff Daniel Kyle. He held this position two years. In the fall of 1898 Mr. Conatser was elected sheriff

of Valley county on the Democratic ticket, and during his two years service he gave a very able administration of the office. . He has been em- ployed in a responsible position in the Coleman hotel in Glasgow since he closed his official life. He has been an active worker in the cause of Democracy and has done much to promote its in- terests. Fraternally he is a member of North- ern Light Lodge No. 33, K. of P., at Glasgow. On February 26, 1900, Mr. Conatser was united in marriage to Miss Mollie Friedel, who was born in Germany, the daugher of Frank Xavier Friedel, who died a few years after coming to the United States. Mr. and Mrs. Conatser have one child, Louise, who was born March 14, 1901.

EDGAR E. CONGDON .- Nature often seems illiberal in the bestowal of her gifts; but upon a just analysis one can find that she usually evens things up with a system of balances and compensa- tions. Some are specially fitted for rare and diffi- cult accomplishments, but the great mass of hu- manity seems to be like the many parts of delicate and complicated machinery, each well fitted for his particular sphere of usefulness. To make use of those qualities is man's first duty, and duty well and faithfully performed brings that reward which benefits others while giving pleasure to the faithful worker. Edgar E. Congdon, of Philips- burg, the subject of this sketch, is a gentleman whose progress has ever been marked with that steadfast application which in early years shows the future of the youth, and forms the character- istics which will ever be dominant in the man. He was born at Aurora, Ill., April 2, 1858, the second of the seven children of Lewis H. and Nancy E. (Brace) Congdon, the former a native of Connecti- cut and the latter of New York. He attended pub- lic and private schools in Aurora until he was twenty years old, then taught school one year in the town. But feeling within him the impulse toward a business career and looking for the largest opportunities for its development accord- ing to his taste, in 1880 he came to Montana, stopping at Virginia City for a year as bookkeeper for John A. Spencer, then made a two years con- tract with the John W. Lowell Wagon & Machine Company, Salt Lake City, to keep their books at Silver Bow Junction and Deer Lodge. From there he went to Butte and spent three years as their gen-

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eral manager in the service of Bennett Brothers, extensive dealers in vehicles, implements and pro- duce ; and when the firm was incorporated he was made treasurer and general manager, and then vice-president and general manager of its several stores in the state, with headquarters at Butte until 1896. In 1889 he was made general manager of Butte's consolidated street railways, having been previous to that time a director and secretary of the company. In 1897 he and his brothers pur- chased their present business and incorporated it under the name of the Bi-Metallic Mercantile Company, with Lewis H. Congdon as president ; George S. Congdon, vice president ; Isaac N. Cong- don, treasurer, and Edgar E. Congdon, secretary and manager, with a paid up capital stock of $50,000. The accumulated profits of the concern at this time (1902) are $40,000, and the business is constantly expanding in volume and rising in quality. Mr. Congdon is interested also in mining in the Homestake district, is president of the Butte Mining & Milling Company, and has a well improved and profitable ranch in the Bitter Root valley. He is a gentleman of fine executive ability, with the genius for details that is essential to successful management in any enterprise em- bracing numerous elements, and with an instinct- ive perception of the business possibilities and needs of any given state or condition. He is, moreover, as genial and companionable socially, as he is energetic and far-seeing in a business way, and has the universal esteem of all classes of the community.

JOSEPH W. CONNER was born on October 28, 1862, at Vernon, Jennings county, Ind. He had good advantages of education at the excellent public schools of that county and of Indianapolis, and when fourteen entered the printing office of the Central Printing Company at Indianapolis. In the nine years he remained in this establishment he became thoroughly conversant with all the branches and details of book and job printing, book binding, etc. In 1888 he went to southern California for a year, then came to Montana, tak- ing a position on the Helena Daily Journal. In July, 1891, he came to Kalispell and established its postoffice for the United States in August, 1891, and was commissioned its first postmaster, resigning this office after one year's service. In

company with H. J. Mock he purchased the Kalis- pell Graphic, the county organ of the Republican party and the first newspaper established in Kalis- pell. After a three-years connection with this paper he sold to his partner and engaged in fire insurance. This business he sold in February, 1900, and since that time has held a clerkship in the United States land office in Kalispell. He has been an active Republican and has been secretary of the Flathead county central committee for two years. He has been the efficient secretary of the Kalispell board of trade for the past five years.

During the time he was connected with the Graphic and since, Mr. Conner has been the local correspondent of several daily newspapers pub- lished in various cities and has been enabled through this correspondence to be of great bene- fit to the Flathead valley in extensively advertising its manifold advantages. In 1892 Mr. Conner organized the first fire company of the city, the Kalispell Volunteer Fire Department, equipped with ladders, spike-poles and buckets. This, prior to the introduction of water, was the only organ- ized method of fighting fire, and the present ef- ficient fire company is merely its successor. Dur- ing the Spanish-American war Mr. Conner, as correspondent of the Anaconda Standard, received daily telegrams from that paper advising him of the progress of events. These he copied and posted as bulletins in various parts of Kalispell, thus supplying the people with the news much in advance of any other means of information, and by preserving these telegrams he possesses one of the most concise and urique histories of the war. In October, 1895, Mr. Conner married Mary V. Hill, a daughter of Hon. W. D. Hill, of Defi- ance, Ohio, who has served as congressman of his district for four terms. His home has been in Kalispell since 1891, and he is a member of the Episcopal church. It will be seen that Mr. Con- ner has been an active factor in the building up of the city of Kalispell, and has made on it an im- press not soon to be effaced.

Hon. John B. Conner, the father of Joseph W., was born in Indiana in 1831 of English stock. His immigrant ancestor settled in Virginia, his descendants in Kentucky, and theirs in Indiana, and all were familiar with the rude life and dan- ger from hostile Indians that was the lot of the pioneers. What school advantages Mr. Conner had were obtained by walking three, four and even seven miles to the short term winter schools

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of the new country, but he was a student by nature, and, seizing every means to learn and self- taught, he acquired a fine education. Brought up on a farm he later learned the cabinet trade, and was working at this in the little village of Indi- anapolis in 1852, when occurred his marriage to Miss Anna M. Weidman, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Shortly after his marriage Mr. Conner went to Vernon, Ind., to learn the printer's trade, and was engaged in this congenial occupation when the great Civil war burst upon the country. With loyal patriotism he threw down his composing stick, went to Indianapolis and recruited Company A of the Twelfth Indiana Infantry and was com- missioned its second lieutenant. Three years of eventful and bloody service followed, and he was mustered out as captain. He has since lived in Indianapolis, and in 1873 he purchased an in- terest in the Indiana Farmer, published at Indi- anapolis, to which place he removed and ever since he has been the business manager of that able paper. Mr. Conner has five surviving children, Willis H., Florence (Mrs. Dr. Joseph H. George, of Indianapolis), May, Ada and Joseph W.

0 LIVER G. COOPER .- The lineage of Mr. Cooper is of distinguished order, bespeaking long and prominent identification with the annals of American history, while his personal career has been exceptionally varied and interesting. He is a native son of Pennsylvania, having been born in Washington county on December 4, 1846. His father, David B. Cooper, was born in the same county in 1817, and in 1850 removed to Lee county, Iowa, and seven years later located in Memphis, Mo., where he died in June, 1893, having been a lifelong farmer. The advent of the original Amer- ican ancestors of the Cooper family in the United States dates back nine generations, beginning with John Cooper, who came hither from England in 1635, settling in Lynn, Mass., where he lived until his death. Subsequently other descendants went to Long Island, N. Y., where they resided for many generations, while others settled in Washington county, Pa. John Cooper was born in England in 1594, and died in 1662. From him the long line of direct descent comes down through John, James, James, John, Zebulon, Sylvanus and David B. to Oliver G., to whom this sketch is dedicated. His mother's maiden name

was Hannah Dille, and she was born in Washing- ton county, Pa., in 1822, her marriage to David B. Cooper being there solemnized in 1838. She now makes her home in Memphis, Mo. The paternal grandmother of Mr. Cooper was a de- scendant of the Bryant family who came from England to the Plymouth colony in the seven- teenth century, and was a cousin of the distin- guished poet, William Cullen Bryant. On the Cooper side a representative in a collateral branch was Peter Cooper, the well known philanthropist.

Oliver Goldsmith Cooper received his educa- tional discipline in the district schools of Iowa and Missouri, the high school at Memphis, Mo., and the State Normal School, at Kirksville, Mo. At the time of the Civil war he enlisted in support of the integrity of the Union as a private in Com- pany I, Fifty-first Missouri Infantry, with which he served until the close of the war. During 1868 and a portion of 1869 he was employed in a mer- cantile establishment conducted by his father at Memphis, Mo., and in August, 1869, he drove a band of horses to Minnesota, where he sold them, and returning to Missouri, he located in Sedalia, where he applied himself to the study of law from the fall of 1869 until the spring of 1871. He then went to Texas, and for about three years was oc- cupied in buying and selling cattle and horses and in riding the ranges. He next came to Montana, arriving at Boulder on October 4, 1874. He en- gaged in teaching school, one term on Crow creek below Radersburg, and later at Boulder. In 1876 he devoted his attention to freighting between Helena and Fort Benton, utilizing two ten-yoke teams of oxen. In September of the following year, with Frank Farmer and Fred Barker, he contracted with E. G. McClay & Co., of the Dia- mond R freight outfit, to bring supplies from Cow island. This proved a disastrous trip. On the return journey he and his partners had fifteen heavily loaded wagons. During the afternoon of September 24th a band of Nez Perces passed them, and on the next morning they found themselves within two miles of the Indian camp. Mr. Barker, who was alone some distance from the wagons, was killed by the savages. The Indians burned the wagons and supplies and took away all the horses with the exception of two. Messrs. Cooper and Farmer, who were absent looking for some of their stock, returned. before the fire was extinguished but had made a detour in order not to attract the attention of the red skins. That same day a party

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of twenty-eight armed citizens in command of Maj. Ilges, of the Seventh Infantry, came up from Cow island and engaged the Indians in a fight, eventually driving them away. After the fight the Cow island party returned home, but at this juncture Gen. Howard came up the Missouri river with a squad of troops, and from some unaccountable reason sent one of his men to Cooper and his com- panions, demanding their two remaining horses. The request was naturally refused, whereupon threats were made that the animals would be taken by force. The plan was abandoned, but had this not been the case, Mr. Cooper suc- cinctly remarks that there would probably have been one less general enrolled in the service of Uncle Sam.

In September, 1877, Mr. Cooper disposed of what was left of his oxen and purchased mule teams, with which he was thereafter engaged for four years in freighting between Fort Benton, Corinne, Utah, Missoula and Fort McLeod. In 1882 he dis- posed of his freighting outfit and business and pur- chased 960 head of cattle, putting them on the range near Dupuyer, Teton county, and disposing of the stock the next February to the Oxley Cat- tle Company. In the following fall he purchased 12,500 head of sheep and conducted a profitable business in this line until 1887. He then became associated in the Cooper-Martin Sheep Company and the E. E. Leech Company, and they ran an average of 12,000 to 35,000 head of sheep. In 1896 Mr. Cooper retired from the firms he had been associated with, but still retains valuable ranch and stock interests in Teton county. Mr. Cooper has ever been stanchly arrayed in support of the Republican party and has been an active worker in its cause. In 1896 he was elected to the state senate, but was not seated, owing to a deci- sion that the senator elected two years previously should hold over. In August, 1898, D. J. Brown United States revenue 'collector, appointed Mr. Cooper an inspector of customs with headquarters at Sweet Grass, and this office he filled with signal ability. Fraternally he is identified with Sheridan Post, G. A. R., of Great Falls. Turn- ing, in conclusion, to the domestic chapter in the life history of Mr. Cooper, we may state that on January 17, 1882, in Scotland county, Mo., was solemnized his marriage to Miss Amanda M. Downing, who was born in that- county on De- cember 23, 1852. They became the parents of two children, Downing Bryant, who was born on April

2, 1885, and died on October 5, 1896, and Fran- ces, who was born March 5, 1887. After the mar -* riage of Mr. and Mrs. Cooper they came immedi- ately to Montana and located upon the ranch in Teton county, their home being a log cabin. At that time there were but three white women in the territory which comprises Teton county.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 102

Author: Bowen, A.W., & Co., firm, publishers, Chicago Publication date: [19-?] Publisher: Chicago : A. W. Bowen & Co. Number of Pages: 1092

Author: Bowen, A.W., & Co., firm, publishers, Chicago
Publication date: [19-?]
Publisher: Chicago : A. W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1092