Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 103

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 103

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M ICHAEL M. CONNERS .- Prominent among the leading business men of Augusta, Mont., is Michael M. Conners, who was born at Brazier Falls, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., the son of Daniel and Julia Conners, natives of Ireland, who, emigrating in early days, settled in New York, where the father was a successful farmer. At one time he made an extended tour through the west, but not finding a satisfactory place to locate he returned to New York, where he remained until his death in 1884. The mother had died in 1873 and they both were members of the Catholic church, while politically the father was a Democrat. Michael M. Conners received only a limited educa- tion but has made excellent use of it by experi- ence and observation and through business relations he has added largely to his original stock. Com- mencing at a very early age to work on the farm he continued this labor until the death of his mother in 1873. He then decided to work for himself and ob- tained employment on a dairy farm at a wage of $7.00 per month. In 1880 he went to Minneapolis, Minn., where he drove a milk wagon. After a short experience in omnibus driving, in the spring of 1882 he came to Montana, taking the railroad as far as the Yellowstone and stopping in the vicinity of Billings, then a mere trading post called Coulson. At this place he made money and in 1883 he went to Boulder, at the mouth of Boulder creek, now called Big Timber. This was then a lively town with a sawmill, three stores and fifteen saloons. Here he started a hotel and was prospering finely . when he was prostrated by a severe illness of sev- eral months' duration. During this time the town was moved one mile up the river and Mr. Conner became financially embarrassed.

During the fall of 1885 he came to Augusta. He had a few teams left from his financial wreck, and with these he went to work on the Florence ditch and the work proved profitable. He secured a homestead claim of 160 acres on the headwaters of Dry creek, and a company of three was formed,

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consisting of himself, his brother Timothy and Alexander Chisholm. Commencing with a small capital they engaged in cattleraising and freighting, and during the five years the enterprise was con- ducted in a partnership it was a grand success. In the spring of 1888 Mr. Conners and his brother formed a new partnership. For four years Michael engaged in stage driving for $50 a month, and his brother ran the ranch with pronounced success. A dissolution of partnership occurred in 1892, and Michael rented his ranch and cattle on shares. Sub- sequently he built a business block in Augusta, and put in a stock of stationery and gentlemen's furnish- ing goods. This successful enterprise was sold four years later to Joseph Vaughn and Mr. Conners re- tired to devote his whole attention to stockraising. In 1892 Mr. Conners was united in marriage to Miss Clara L. Muehlberg, a native of Minnesota, daughter of Herman and Clara Muehlberg, born in Hanover, Germany. They came to the United States in early years. For over twenty years the father followed editorial work, but lately he has devote.1 his attention to politics. He has held the positions of county surveyor and adjutant-general and while a resident of Wisconsin was elected to the house of representatives as a Republican. He is a member of the United Workmen and resides in Carver county, Minn. Mr. and Mrs. Conners have had three children, one of whom has died. Cora Z. and Roma E. are living. Mr. Conners is a member of the Woodmen of the World, and in all national elections supports the Democratic ticket.

M ICHAEL CONNELLY, whose name is promi- nently identified with the business and political affairs of Teton county, Mont., resides near Shelby, on one of the best cattle ranches in that vicinity. He is one of the most prosperous of Teton county's citizens and a man of high integrity and superior business ability. He is of Irish nationality, having been born in County Galway, Ireland, in 1848, the descendant of a prominent Irish family that for many generations have resided in that locality. His father, M. J. Connelly, was born in 1818 and died at his birthplace in 1866. His widow, the mother of our subject, Mary (Gibbons) Connelly, was born in County Galway in 1816. In 1867, soon after the death of her husband, she came to the United States with her family and is now living with her chil- dren, Martin and. Kate Connelly, at Fort Benton,

at the advanced age of eighty-five years. Michael Connelly was then nineteen years old, and his edu- cational advantages had been poor. The family lo- cated near Grant Center, near Port Huron, Mich., and here young Connelly applied himself to his books and by application acquired an excellent busi- ness education. He then removed to Saginaw and found employment with the Tittabawassee Boom Company, with which he remained four years.

In 1876 Mr. Connelly came to Montana and lo- cated at Fort Benton, and for three years was in the employment of I. G. Baker & Co. as a driver between Forts Benton, McLeod and Calgary. His initial venture in the cattle business for himself was in 1879 when he located on the Shonkin range and remained four years. Disposing then of his in- terests there he soon purchased a ranch not far away, where he passed four more years in general farming and stockgrowing. In July, 1888, Mr. Connelly settled on the Marias river, eight miles southeast of Shelby, Teton county, and where he now has a handsome ranch of 1,400 acres devoted to the breeding of cattle and horses and the raising of hay. He usually winters an average of 1,200 cattle. At Fort Benton Mr. Connelly was united in marriage on September 1, 1878, to Miss Bertha A. McHale, a native of Ireland, born in 1849. They have six children : John E., Mary F., Michael O., Thomas G., Joseph A. and Anna L. Mr. Connelly is an influential worker in Republican circles and in 1898 was elected commissioner of Teton county for a term of four years, his present efficient ser- vices in this office being deservedly appreciated. Fraternally he is a member of Chotean Lodge No. 44, A. F. & A. M., the Odd Fellows' lodge of Choteau, and Shelby Lodge No. 45, K. P. He is a man of liberal views, excellent business judg- ment and is respected by all.

H ON. JERRY CONNOLLY .- The interesting subject of this brief biographical sketch is a native of Troy, N. Y., where he was born August 26, 1860. His parents, Michael and Mary Con- nolly, were Irish by nativity, and immigrated to the United States when they were young. Mr. Connolly was educated in the public schools of Troy, and at the age of sixteen went to work in a stove foundry, continuing at this and various other occupations until he reached the age of twenty- three. He then went to Kansas and took up land

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near Dodge City, and engaged in ranching and stockraising for three years. At the end of that time he came to Montana, locating first at Butte for a few months, going from there to Anaconda, where he worked in the reduction works for eleven years. In 1896 he was nominated for the office of sheriff of the county, but was not elected. The next year he removed to Granite county and en- gaged in mining at Garnet, Granite and Moose Lake, and in this has prospered well. In 1898 he was elected to the state senate on the Populist ticket, be- ing the only member of that party in the legislative session of 1899. In his capacity he has rendered excellent service to the people, being vigilant in be- half of their interests and having both the ability and the independence to give them good support. A bill to repeal the law compelling the provision of safety-cages in mines which passed the house of representatives by a two-thirds vote, was defeated in the senate by Mr. Connolly's opposition; and the eight hour law and one creating the office of coal mine inspector received his influential advocacy. Throughout the session he showed himself to be a wide-awake, diligent, well equipped and fearless representative of his county, and earned the grate- ful appreciation of his constituents for his vigorous championship of their rights and interests. Mr. Connolly was raised in the faith of the Catholic church, and has never belonged to any secret society except the Knights of Labor and the Miners' Union. There is, however, no interest or enterprise which makes for the welfare of the community in which he is not deeply and actively interested. He is in fact a good representative man, and gives credit to his people wherever he appears, and is by them highly esteemed.

S YLVESTER CORBET'1 .- The subject of this review inherits from both sides of his family qualities which distinguished his ancestors in the past ; a self-reliant resourcefulness and force of character that have made him successful in life without the aid of circumstances, and given him physical vigor and mental power still prominent at the advanced age of seventy-eight. He was born in Putnam, Washington county, N. Y., on August 28, 1824. His father, Peter Corbett, was a native of Edinburgh and a member of the re- nowned Corbett family. His mother was Melinda Adams, a close connection of the famous family that gave to the United States two presidents, the

second and sixth. The father was a farmer and had a large family of eleven children to sustain, of whom our subject was the first born. The family moved into Vermont from Washington county, N. Y., and there Sylvester attended school until he reached the age of twenty-two, com- pleting a teacher's course .· He began life for him- self by teaching school in Rutland county, Vt., in 1846, and continued the vocation in that state and Wisconsin for twenty-five years, serving as super- intendent of schools in Fond du Lac county, Wis., for several years, and as a teacher in Omaha, Neb. Among his pupils in Wisconsin were W. F. Myer, a lawyer and banker at Red Lodge; and his sister, Mrs. Benjamin F. Harris, of Park City. He ceased teaching in 1887 and opened a music store at Waterloo, Iowa, which he conducted for seven years. He then sold out, and in 1894 went to Yellowstone valley, where he bought 160 acres of land from the Minnesota & Montana Land and Improvement Company. This land is nearly all fenced and about 120 acres are under irrigation and brought to a high state of cultivation. He raises large crops of alfalfa and corn ; gives much attention to the production of small fruits; has a fine orchard of 200 apple trees, and is known as a prominent winemaker. Mr. Corbett gives much attention to stockraising, having a large herd of cattle and many horses of fine pedigree, hence he enjoys the reputation of being one of the best farmers in the Yellowstone valley. To accommo- date his stock and for the storage of crops he has ample and well arranged outbuildings, while the home residence is commodious, convenient and furnished with all modern appliances necessary to the comfort of the family.

Mr. Corbett was married in 1854 to Miss Mary M. Kellogg, of Wisconsin, a member of the noted family of that name, long and prominently identi- fied with the history of that state. Mr. and Mrs. Corbett have three children, namely: Alice B. is the wife of D. A. Benedict, of Park City; Ermin- nie P. is the wife of W. H. Cramer, of Logan, Utah, and Walter S., who resides at the homestead with his parents, is the owner of a large herd of cattle and many fine bred horses. He is thirty- five years old. Although seventy-eight years of age, Mr. Corbett is still vigorous and active, at- tending to the irrigation of his crops and other farm work. He has never used liquor or tobacco in any form, and attributes his fine physical and men- tal conditions to this fact. A cultured gentleman

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and a natural poet, he is universally designated in the community and newspapers about him as "Park City's poet." He is well posted in history and is an excellent mathematician. Fraternally he has been for many years a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Politically he has long been an active Republican, but does not approve of the demonetization of silver. For a time he believed in the Bryan doctrine, but time demon- strated its policy and he quickly returned to the Republican fold. He has a strong hold on the es- teem of his fellow citizens, who recognize him as an ornament to society, a blessing to mankind and a serviceable force in the community.

W S. COWAN .- Among those who are promi- nently identified with the great ranching in- dustries of Choteau county and who hold standing as reliable and enterprising business men is Mr. Cowan, who is a native of New York, born in Greene county, on the beautiful Hudson river and only a few miles distant from the national metropo- lis. His father, William Cowan, was born in Ire- land in 1823, and as a young man he emigrated to America, becoming a successful farmer and stockgrower in New York state, where he main- tained his home for many years. He is now a re- tired resident of Harlem, Choteau county, Mont. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary A. Waters, was likewise a native of the Emerald Isle, and she died in New York in 1897. W. S. Cowan attended the public schools of Schoharie county, N. Y., until he had reached the age of thirteen years, and there- after contributed his quota to the operation of the homestead farm until he attained his legal majority. In 1878 Mr. Cowan started for the west in quest of fortune, or, at least, an independent position in life. He passed two years in the lumber camps of Minne- sota and in 1881 he came to Montana, making Miles City his headquarters and devoting his attention to hunting and trapping for a year or more, greatly enjoying the exhilarating sport thus secured. Later he was for four years employed on the stock ranch of James Fergus in the Judith basin, and in 1887 he purchased a band of sheep from Mr. Fergus and, in company with James D. Grant, a ranch in Fer- gus county from James Atkinson, where they de- voted attention to the sheep business for four years, their efforts being attended with a due measure of success.

In 1892 Mr. Cowan sold his sheep to W. H. Peck and his share of the ranch to Mr. Grant, and came to Choteau county, locating on his present ranch at Woody island, forty-five miles from the village of Harlem, and lying north of Milk river and near the Canadian line. The ranch comprises 1,000 acres, has been equipped with good improvements by its owner and is devoted to the raising of sheep and cattle upon an extensive scale, while large yields of hay are also secured annually. Mr. Cowan has been signally active and enterprising, has guided his life according to the laws of integrity and honor, and has achieved a gratifying success through his own efforts, while to him is given popular respect and esteem. He gives allegiance to the Republican party, and fraternally is identified with the lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen at Harlem, which is his postoffice address. At Malta, Valley county, on October 18, 1893, Mr. Cowan was united in marriage to Miss Maggie E. Payne, who was born in Schoharie county, N. Y., and they have two sons and one daughter : Harold E., Winfield S. and Grace Shirley.

ATICHOLAS CONNOLLY is a native of County Armagh, Ireland, where he was born August 19, 1825, fourth of the six children of his parents, descendants of families long resident in the island. He came to America when he was twenty-three years old, first locating for a time in Philadelphia, and then, settling down in Montana when it was an almost untrodden wilderness, Mr. Nicholas Con- nolly has seen both the lights and shades of life, and has had an experience which gives him an im- pressive idea of the greatness and promise of the United States and the universal adaptability of the human family to circumstances. He was reared on his father's farm and educated at the district schools of the neighborhood. In 1848 he landed at New York alone and was a total stranger in a foreign land, but with characteristic energy and push went to work as a clerk and salesman in a dry goods store in Philadelphia, and continued at this labor until 1855, when he removed to St. Louis, Mo., and engaged in the same occupation there. In 1863 he came to Montana, then a part of Idaho, making the trip up the Missouri river to Fort Benton, and hav- ing Judge Pemberton as a fellow passenger on the boat from St. Joseph. He located in Deer Lodge county, at that time of immense area, includ-

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ing what are now Silver Bow, Granite and Powell counties. In 1865 he opened a general store at Gold creek, and remained there in business until 1877, when he located at Philipsburg and conducted the same kind of business until 1883. In that year he retired from active business of all kinds. In 1898 he was appointed justice of the peace and police magistrate, and was elected to the office for a full term in 1900. Prior to this time, and while the territory was still a part of Deer Lodge county, he had served as county assessor and as county con- missioner ; and during the administrations of Presi- dents Lincoln and Johnson he was postmaster of Gold creek, always taking an active interest in public affairs and giving intelligent attention to the welfare of the community. In 1862, before leaving Philadelphia, he was married to Miss Elizabeth McDonnell. They have four children, namely : Mary E., Maggie V., Nicholas J. and Anna P.

D ALE O. COWEN .- In the eastern part of Valley county there is no man more favorably known or more highly esteemed than Maj. Cowen, whose career has been of signal usefulness and of honor. Maj. Cowen is a native of the old Buck- eye state, having been born in Batavia, Clermont county, Ohio, June 29, 1845. His father, Michael Cowen, was born in Bedford county, Pa., in 1808, removed thence to Ohio and devoted his life to ag- ricultural pursuits and to conducting a hotel at Milford, Clermont county, where his death oc- curred in the year 1854. He was a man of inflex- ible integrity and an influential citizen of Cler- mont county, where he held the office of sheriff for two years. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary A. Roudebush, was born in Clermont county, Ohio, in 1811, and died at Batavia in 1891 at the venerable age of eighty years, having passed her entire life in her native county.

As a boy Maj. Dale O. Cowen attended the public schools of his native county and thereafter supplemented the discipline thus secured by com- pleting a course of study in the Milford seminary, graduating with the class of 1872. He then entered the Woodward high school, in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was a student for two years. In 1864-5 he was clerk in the quartermaster's department at Fort Denison, Ohio, during the closing days of the Civil war. After the close of the war he re- mained at his home in Milford until 1867, when

he went to Batavia, his native town, and accepted a clerkship in the office of his brother, Allen T., who occupied the bench of both the probate court and the court of common pleas for Clermont county, where he remained for a period of five years. In 1872, in company with his brother, Wil- lis M. Cowen, the Major effected the purchase of the Clermont Sun, a weekly paper published at Ba- tavia, which they successfully conducted for a per- iod of fourteen years. In 1886 Maj. Cowen was ap- pointed Indian agent at Fort Peck, Mont., for a period of three years. In 1889 he located in Hel- ena, and after a short residence went to Colorado, hoping the change of climate might benefit the health of his invalid wife and remained in that state about eight years, being variously engaged at Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Denver. In 1898 he returned to Montana and located in the new town of Culbertson, Valley county, where he assumed charge and management of the branch mercantile establishment of Hederich Brothers & Co., whose headquarters are at Williston, N. D. The establishment is a well equipped general mer- chandise store, controlling a trade which reaches throughout the territory tributary to the town.

At Batavia, Ohio, February II, 1873, Maj. Cowen was united in marriage to Miss Mary C. Dustin, who was there born in 1849, the daughter of Jesse S. Dustin, a pioneer of Batavia and for many years a leading merchant of the town. Mrs. Cowen was in impaired health for several years, and on July 3, 1901, at Culbertson, was summoned into eternal rest. She was a lady of great gentleness and purity of character, and her abiding sympathy and charity, her patience under suffering and her unmeasured regard for others, endeared her to all with whom she came in contact. Her death was a personal bereavement to a wide circle of de- voted friends.

JOHN C. COULSON, recognized as one of tlie enterprising and reliable agriculturalists and stockraisers of Cascade county, is a native of Ba- tavia, Kane county, Ill., where he was born on May II, 1860, the son of John and Mary Coulson, who were born in England and emigrated from that country in 1857. The father first located at Batavia, Ill., and later conducted a hotel in Cleveland, Ill., and from there he moved to Geneseo, in that state, where he had charge of a coal mine. He and his

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estimable wife are residents of Cleveland, Ill., and are among the honored pioneers of the state.

Jolın C. Coulson attended the public schools of his native state as a boy, and as a lad of eleven years assisted his parents by his practical work until he had attained his legal majority, after which he con- tinued to work for them for wages until 1887, the date of his arrival in Montana, whither he came to "try his fortunes in a territory then seeking the dis- tinction of statehood. Locating in Cascade, Mr. Coulson was for a time in the employ of J. A. Har- ris and George Coulson, his brother, and in the fall of 1889 he was engaged in laying track in the mines at Sand Coulee. Having acquired a 160-acre pre- emption claim, in 1893 he took up a homestead claim of 160 acres, his ranch being eligibly located twelve and a half miles southeast of Cascade. He has since increased his acreage by the purchase of 120 acres from John Eller, and now has 150 acres under ef- fective cultivation. He has devoted his attention to general farming and stockraising, and the success which has attended his efforts has been most grati- fying, hence he feels that he made no mistake when he identified his interests with Montana.

On August 4, 1886, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Coulson and Miss Jennette Eller, who was born in Iowa, the daughter of John and Angeline Eller, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Wisconsin. Her mother died in the spring of 1879, and in 1892 her father came to Montana and located in Cascade county, where he is a promi- nent rancher. To Mr. and Mrs. Coulson eight chil- dren have been born : Hattie M., Leonard J., Robert H., George C., Alice M., Wilbur, Roy N. and Thomas E. In his political proclivities Mr. Coulson gives his support to the Republican party so far as national issues are concerned, but in local affairs he maintains an independent attitude. Fraternally he is identified with the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica. The family are well known and highly es- teemed in the community where they reside, and to such worthy citizens Montana owes much of her normal development and material prosperity.

B ARNEY S. CRAWSHAW .- The exigencies of American life, especially during early days in the far west, called for stern endurance and fertility of resources, and frequently summoned into the field of self-supporting endeavor the very young. It was so with Barney S. Crawshaw, of

Forsyth, Mont., whose career of independent and self-reliant usefulness and interest began in his early youth. He was born at Chillicothe, Mo., January 19, 1864. His parents are Philip and Sarah (Hutchinson) Crawshaw, the former born in England in August, 1825, and the latter at Utica, N. Y., in 1829. The father came to the United States when he was twenty years old and located at Rochester, N. Y., where he was em- ployed as a bookkeeper for a few years. He then went to Chillicothe, Mo., where he engaged in farming until 1861. In 1861 he removed to Den- ver, Colo., and was occupied in the hotel business and in farming, and he and his wife are now liv- ing in the suburbs of Denver.

Their son Barney attended school at Denver and Spring Valley, Colo., until he was eleven years old, and then, seeking his own way in the world, went to work for R. W. Stewart & Co. in the lum- ber woods of Colorado. He remained in their em- ploy three years and passed the following two in the employ of Berry & Boise, on their cattle ranch in southern Colorado. In 1884 he trailed cattle for them to Wibaux, Mont., and during the au- tumın and winter of that year lived at Miles City. In the summer of 1885 he worked on the C. T. ranch, the winter following on the E. K. Kerwin horse ranch on Tongue river, and in the summer of 1886 for the Mule Shoe outfit on Tongue river. From 1886 to 1888 he was on the stock ranch of Rosenbaum Brothers in Crow reservation, and on December 25, 1888, came to Forsyth, where he passed the first year and a half clerking in the old American hotel. After that, until 1889, he was employed in the freight department of the North- ern Pacific Railroad, running from Billings to Glendive ; but since 1900 he has been in the dray, transfer and livery business at Forsyth.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 103

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