Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 109

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 109

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SAMUEL V. GETTS, one of the earliest of western pioneers, having come west of the Missouri river in 1858, is now one of the promi- nent ranchmen of Cascade county, being located twelve miles northwest of the town of Cascade. He was born in Monroe county, Pa., August 23, 1836, the son of John and Mary Getts, both na- tives of the Keystone state. The father, who passed away February 6, 1879, was a general farmer and stockgrower. The mother died June 25, 1849. Both parents were devout members of the Presbyterian church, and politically the elder Getts was a Democrat.

Samuel, the son and subject of this mention, received the educational advantages of the com-

mon school, and between the ages of ten and nineteen years he materially assisted his parents on the farm and otherwise. When he was six- teen he began to learn the trade of a carpenter, at which he continued three years and then went to Beloit, Rock county, Wis., still working at his trade. He was employed by the United States government in 1858, driving six-mule teams across the plains under command of Col. Morrison. Fol- lowing this he returned to Wisconsin, where he passed the winter, and then removed to Topeka, Kan., and engaged in well-drilling. In September, 1859, Mr. Getts began driving for the Kansas Stage Company, between Leavenworth and Fort Reilley, and subsequently to Atchison. His experience in stage driving extended to Denver and Salt Lake City, and in 1867 he was with the Union Pacific Railway Company, remaining with that organiza- tion until July 9th, when the road was completed. He carried the last mail conveyed by stage between any of the points on the projected line of the new railroad. ·

The winter of 1869 was passed with his par- ents, and in September, 1870, he returned to Salt Lake and secured employment with Gilmore, Sal- isbury & Co., driving stage between that point and Helena, Mont. Between 1873 and 1880 he was employed on the Coeur d'Alene and Helena route, and from 1880 to 1883 between Bozeman and Sun River. The business of stage driving came to an end with the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and our subject came to Cas- cade county and found employment as a super- intendent on a horse ranch. In 1885 he located his present ranch, near the town of Cascade, compris- ing a total of 1,700 acres, two-thirds of which is susceptible of cultivation. He has met with un- qualified success in raising horses and cattle.

Mr. Getts was married September 16, 1875, to Miss Kate Dellahenty, a native of Canada and daughter of Nicholas and Margaret Dellahenty. The father was engaged in the shoe business. The parents passed away in early days, devout mem- bers of the Catholic church. To Mr. and Mrs. Getts have been born two children, Margaret and Dorothy. Mrs. Getts is a member of the Catholic church. Fraternally Mr. Getts is a member of the Masonic order and politically a Democrat.

Perry Getts, brother of the preceding subject, born in 1839, is located on an extensive ranch on the Sun river, Cascade county. He obtained a limited education in the public schools. On obtaining

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his majority he worked two years on a neighboring farm, and also in manufacturing staves in Lacka- wanna county, Pa., his birthplace. In 1862 he se- cured employment with the Lackawanna Coal and Iron Company, with which he remained until 1873, when he returned home and assumed charge of the farm, continuing thereon ten years. In 1883 he came to Montana and passed the winter with his brother, Samuel, on a ranch seven miles north of Cascade, and subsequently worked two years for Nelson and Ulm. Four months he was with David Churchill, then sheriff of Lewis and Clarke county. He then kept the Johnstown stage house on the stage line between Fort Benton and Hel- ena, which was in charge of his brother Samuel, and remained there until February, 1888, going thence to Portage Section House, on the Great Northern Railroad, thence to Great Falls and from there to Fort Shaw, where he was "corral boss" until November 28, 1891, when this post was abandoned, and Mr. Getts came west to Sun River, Cascade county, and purchased the "Maud S." livery barn ; but this business venture proved unremunerative. From October 14, 1893, until April 7, 1900, he drove stage between Sun River and Great Falls. On October 25, 1898, he pur- chased 280 acres of land, comprising a fine ranch and on which he is now located.

October 11, 1862, Mr. Getts was married to Miss Julia A. Lesh, of Pennsylvania, daughter of Jacob and Christian Lesh. Until 1864 her father con- ducted a wagon shop, but he then secured em- ployment with the Lackawanna & Western Rail- way Company as a car builder. The father died in 1894, having been preceded by his wife in 1872. Their daughter, wife of our subject, died October 22, 1864. On October 28, 1865, Mr. Getts took for his second wife Miss Martha J. Ayers, of Penn- sylvania, daughter of Peter and Maria Ayers, who were born in New Jersey. To Mr. and Mrs. Getts have been born three children, two of whom, John and Eliza are dead. The survivor is Samuel T. Getts. The mother is a member of the Methodist church and the father of the Presbyterian church. Politically his sympathies are with the Democratic party.

D R. ROBERT W. GETTY .- The youngest of five children born to Daniel and Mary (Keller) Getty, the former a native of the north of Ireland who emigrated to America in 1830 and located at

Philadelphia. Here he was reared and learned the cabinetmaker's trade, and married Mary Keller, a native of Philadelphia, born of German parentage. The family later removed to White Bear Lake, Minn. Here the subject of this sketch was born Jan- uary 20, 1868. Dr. Robert Wilson Getty, of Phil- ipsburg, Mont., lost no time in his preparation for the business of life, and has diligently pursued it since he began. His father was a prosperous cabi- netmaker in Philadelphia, but became a general merchant in Minnesota, where he is still living. The Doctor attended the public schools of his native town until he was fifteen years old, and then went to Philadelphia and spent two years at the Louder- bach Commercial Academy. In 1888 he entered the medical department of the University of Minne- sota, and the following year entered the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, grad- uating therefrom in 1891. He spent the following year as assistant to the resident physician at the city and county hospital in St. Paul, Minn., and afterward practiced about five months at North Branch in that state. In November, 1892, he came to Montana, and practiced at Philipsburg, Combi- nation and Rumsey until 1893; located at Glasgow for a year, and after that returned to Philipsburg in November, 1894, where he has since remained, building up a lucrative and increasing practice and growing in the favor and esteem of the people. He was city health officer for three years, surgeon for the Northern Pacific Railroad for three years, and is now coroner of Granite county, serving a sec- ond term. In politics he is an enthusiastic Democrat, and never flags in the service of his party. In the last campaign he was chairman of its county con- vention and held an influential place in its organi- zation, contributing essentially by his counsel and active work to its success.

Fraternally the Doctor is a member of Flint Creek Lodge No. 11, A. F. & A. M., of which he was the worshipful master in 1899 and again in 1900, and is the present treasurer. He is also a member of Pearl Chapter No. 14, O. E. S., while in addition he belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Improved Order of Red Men, the Woodmen of the World, in which he has the rank of past counsel, and the Knights of Pythias. In the last named he is keeper of records and seal, past deputy grand chancellor for his district and past grand representative. He was married June 20, 1900, at Ardmore, Pa., to Miss Helen Butcher, of Philadelphia. They have a daughter, Mary Hel-

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en, born August 1, 1901. Dr. Getty is one of the progressive physicians and rising young men of his section of the state. He is studious and thoughtful in his profession, enterprising and stimulating as a citizen, and entertaining and companionable.

A BRAM DITMARS GILL .- Among the repre- sentative young men of Montana there are few, if any, in whose career are to be found more ele- ments of interest than in that of Mr. Gill. He comes of distinguished and patrician stock, and his ex- periences have been exceptionally varied in charac- ter. Mr. Gill is a native of Brooklyn, N. Y., where he was born on March 26, 1873, the son of Dr. Charles R. Gill, a representative of one of the old families of New York state. He was born on Gov- ernor's Island, in New York harbor, in 1822, and at- tained eminence in the medical profession. He was a close friend and co-adjutor of the distinguished naturalist, John Audubon, and they were, prior to the Civil war, companions on many occasions, en- gaged in hunting and searching for specimens of rare birds and pursuing scientific investigations in Florida and other sections of the world. During the Civil war Dr. Gill served on the staff of Gen. Mc- Clellan, as a volunteer surgeon, and participated in the Peninsula campaign. After the war he retired from active practice, passing his latter years on a beautiful farmstead on the Hudson river, eighty miles above New York city. There he was sum- moned by the "insatiate archer," Death, in 1891, in the fulness of his years and well earned honors.

Dr. Gill married into a patrician Cuban family, his wife, whose maiden name was Maria Ponce de Leon, was a direct descendant of the famous Span- ish explorer, Ponce de Leon, who discovered Flor- ida on that beautiful Easter morn away back in 1513 while sailing under the crown for the king and queen of Spain. She was born at Matanzas, Cuba, in 1856, the daughter of Juan Ponce de Leon, for many years governor of the province of Matanzas and mayor of its capital city, Matanzas. He was an active participant in several attempts to free Cuba from Spanish rule, his sons being soldiers in his military command, and, previously to the war of 1859, he was one of the four jurists sent from Cuba to intercede with the king of Spain for a new constitution for the island. His death occurred about 1871, and his accomplished daughter, the mother of Abram D. Gill, passed away, in Brooklyn,

N. Y., in 1890. A woman of high ideals and noble character, she was prominent in social circles.

Dr. Charles R. Gill is a prominent physician and surgeon and was with Clara Barton's Red Cross re- lief corps in Cuba during the late Spanish-American war, being for a time on the staff of Gen. Stern- berg and later on that of Gen. Brooks. He was in charge of the hospitals in Matanzas, the native place and long the home of his mother, during the progress of the war, and thus rendered valuable aid in the freeing of Cuba from Spanish tyranny, which was ever the earnest desire of his maternal grand- father, whose efforts had often been given to that end. There is an element of beauty and romance in the service thus rendered by Dr. Gill. He is now on duty in the Philippines, as surgeon in the United States army, with the rank of major. Thomas Gill is a resident architect of Honolulu, Hawaiian Is- lands; John Gill lives on the old plantation in Georgia, a homestead held in the Gill family for long years; Theophilus A. Gill is a clergyman of the Baptist church and holds an important pastorate in New York city; John Audubon Gill is an oper- ator in Wall street, N. Y., and James Gill is con- nected with the American Steel Company, residing in the same city. These are brothers of A. D. Gill.

Abram D. Gill received his education in the public schools of Brooklyn and in the Polytechnic Univer- sity of that city, taking a scientific course as a mem- ber of the class of 1893. He was captain of the university football team and was prominent in ath- letic affairs in the east for ten years. In 1894 and 1895 he was in the United States naval reserve ser- vice, and in the winter of 1895-96 he came to Cho- teau county, Mont., and located on a ranch in the Little Rockies, near the mining camp of Landusky, which is his postoffice address. Here he formed a partnership under the title of Gill & Winter, with his foster brother, James Winter, who met an un- timely death at the hands of a cowardly assassin, at the ranch on the morning of July 25, 1901. Mr. Winter was born in Jacksonville, Fla., in 1858, and was reared and educated by Dr. Chas. R. Gill, who adopted him as his son. In 1877 Mr. Winter went to Texas, and from that time until 1894 he rode the western ranges as a cowboy. In 1894 he located a ranch in the Little Rockies, Choteau county, near the Missouri river, and traversed by Rock creek, and here he remained until 1899, when was formed the partnership alluded to above. Mr. Winter was a man of noble character, brave and fearless, and imbued with a high sense of justice. He heartily

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co-operated with Mr. Gill and they persistently fought to stamp out the lawlessness which so long existed in the more isolated sections of Choteau county and in the community where he lived he was a power for good, ever striving to better ex- isting conditions. His death was a loss deeply felt by all honorable and law-abiding citizens.

In the winter of 1897 Mr. Gill returned to the Atlantic coast and entered the United States naval service as a volunteer, acting as chief gunner's mate in the north Atlantic coast-defense system. During the Spanish-American war he was in service on scouting and dispatch boats, and in 1898 he went with Lieut. Hobson to assist in wrecking operations and in raising Spanish war vessels off the coast of Cuba. He returned to his Montana ranch in the summer of 1899. His fine estate comprises 1,500 acres, and is devoted to agriculture and,to the rais- ing of fine cattle. Mr. Gill has rendered much per- sonal and valuable service to the secretaries of both the United States departments of agriculture and the interior. He also enjoys the firm friendship and trust of our northern Indians in a degree seldom shown to a white man. In 1897 Mr. Gill was ap- pointed United States commissioner of Federal jus- tice for Montana. He is a stanch supporter of the Democratic party, and takes an active interest in public affairs in his county, where he is well known and has a wide circle of friends. He is unmarried.

G EORGE W. GOODMAN .- In 1882 there lo- cated in Montana a man who is now one of the leading stockmen of Cascade county, and resid- ing on Belt creek, seven miles from Armington. His name is George W. Goodman, and he was born in Roann county, Tenn., on June 10, 1844. He is the son of Henry and Charlotte (Moore) Goodman, the father a native of Virginia and the mother of Mississippi. The father was a success- ful farmer and both parents were active and de- vout Baptists. The father died in 1874, and two years later he was followed by his devoted wife. Five children survive them, Mary, Cassander, En- terprise, Loduska and George. The time, the place and the condition of affairs prevented Mr. Goodman from receiving anything but a very lim- ited education, for when seventeen years old, in 1861, he enlisted in the Confederate army and served four years in one of the fighting regiments, participating in many severe engagements, among them Pittsburg Landing, where he was severely

wounded by a musket ball in the thigh. After four years of exhausting service he was mustered out in September, 1865, went to Monroe county, Ill., and, renting a farm of 200 acres, he remained upon it ten years, although meeting many losses from overflows by the Mississippi. In 1876 he re- moved to Jefferson county, Mo., continued farming and also conducted a hotel at Crystal City.

Mr. Goodman first came to Montana in 1882 and settled at Barker. Here he engaged in cutting timber on contract, and for eight months con- ducted a boarding house. Thence he removed to his present ranch, which comprises 1,000 acres of land. While the enterprise in which he is chiefly interested is the raising of cattle and horses, he has devoted six acres of his valley land to an orchard and small fruits, and this is one of the rarest and most interesting enterprises of the kind in the state. It embraces a large number of the wild Montana plums, all in bearing order, and apples, peaches, cherries, etc., showing great prom- ise. It contains in addition native fruit trees from every state in the Union, of varieties indig- enous to their home localities. In October, 1869, he was married to Miss Julia Bradshaw, who was born in Illinois. She is the daughter of George and Jane Bradshaw, born in the same state and were Catholics, while politically the father was a Republican. He died in 1868 and his wife in 1888. They are survived by eight children, Will- iam, Susan, George, Malinda, Josie, Malina, Julia and Savina. Of the twelve children of Mr. and Mrs. Goodman two died in infancy. The sur- vivors are William, Forrest, Walter, Nellie, Lee, Shelby, George, Sidney, Della and Bettie. The wife and mother died on November 9, 1898. Fra- ternally Mr. Goodman is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, while politically he is in hearty sympathy with the Democratic party. Probably no resident of the Belt creek valley en- joys to a higher degree the regard and esteem of the public than does Mr. Goodman. The sta- tion of Goodman on the railroad will long per- petuate his name.

TJENRY C. GELDER .- Individual mention of many representative stockgrowers and farmers of Choteau county will be found in this volume and among that class of observing gentlemen identified with this favored section of the state who are noted for executive ability is Mr. Gelder, a native

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of Yates county, N. Y., having been born on a farm in Benton township, September 25, 1844. His parents were Henry and Ann (Session) Gelder, the former a son of Barney Gelder, who was born in old England, whence he came to Yates county, N. Y., and there died at an advanced age. The father of our subject was born in Yorkshire, England, whence he emigrated about the year 1837, locating on a farm in Yates county, N. Y., where he passed the remainder of his days engaged in agricultural pursuits. His death occurred in 1895; his wife passed away in 1886. They were the parents of eight children, the subject of this review being the third in order of birth.

Henry C. Gelder was reared on the old home- stead farm in Yates county, receiving such edu- cational advantages as were afforded by the com- mon schools. At the age of twenty-eight years he rented a farm in his native county which he operated for a time, after which he rented a farm in Seneca county, N. Y., continuing its cultiva- tion for eight years. In August, 1889, Mr. Gelder moved to Helena, Mont., and in the following year came to Choteau county and purchased his present ranch of 150 acres, located on the west fork of Milk river, one mile east of the thriving village of Chinook. He has made excellent im- provements on the ranch, having a good dwell- ing and requisite outbuildings, and here has de- voted his attention to raising cattle. He is a stockholder in the Fort Belknap Canal & Irriga- tion Company, and takes an interest in all that concerns the advancement of the agricultural and stockgrowing industries of this section.

In politics he exercises his franchise in support of the Republican party ; fraternally he is a mem- ber of Bear Paw Lodge I. O. O. F., and Chinook Lodge, A. O. U. W. He was reared in the Methodist church, of which he is a regular attend- ant, and to whose cause he liberally contributes. On February 17, 1874, Mr. Gelder was united in marriage to Miss Celia Prosser, daughter of David Prosser, to whom specific reference is made on another page of this work, and their home is one in which true hospitality is ever in evidence.

H ENRY GILLES, a representative farmer and stockgrower of Cascade county, was born in the city of Dubuque, Iowa, on February 1, 1856, a product of stanch old German stock. His par- ents, Henry and Katie Gilles, were born in the

grand duchy of Luxemburg, whence they emi- grated and located finally in Wisconsin, where the father was engaged in agricultural pursuits, but is now retired from active labors. He and his estimable wife maintain their home at La Crosse, Wis. Our subject secured his educational training in the pub- lic schools at La Crosse. He early begun to as- sist his father in the work of the farm, at which he continued until 1877, when he began working for wages, visiting various sections of the Union and devoting his attention principally to farm work. In 1879 he applied himself to the carpen- ter's trade, and was thereafter engaged in con- tracting along that line until 1889. He then came to Montana, stopping at Great Falls for a short interval, and then proceeding to Box Elder creek district he secured by pre-emption 160 acres of his present ranch, adding a homestead of forty acres to the original tract in the spring of 1899. Here he has since been successfully engaged in farming and stockraising, 100 acres of his ranch being available for cultivation, while the property is constantly increasing in value. Mr. Gilles is well known in the community, and has the re- spect and confidence of all.

Politically he exercises his franchise in support of the Democratic party. In the year of 1878 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Gilles with Miss Mary Shommer, who was born in Iowa, and the daughter of Nicholas and Katie Shommer, natives of Germany. The father, who was a farmer by occupation, died in 1897, and his widow now makes her home with her son at Mankato, Minn. She is a member of the Catholic church, as was also her husband. Mrs. Gilles was summoned into the life eternal in 1888, her death occurring at La Crosse, Wis., and in the fall of 1891 our subject consummated a second marriage, being then united to Miss Mary · Loomis, daughter of Anton and , Maggie Loomis, who were born in Germany, whence they emigrated and settled in the vicinity of La Crosse, Wis., where the father became a prominent farmer, and where his death occurred in 1880, after which his widow continued in charge of the farm, con- ducting its affairs very successfully. Of the sec- ond marriage of Mr. Gilles two children have been born: Maggie and Mary. Our subject and his wife are devoted members of the Catholic church, and they have a pleasant home on their ranch, located five miles south of Stockett, their postoffice address.

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S AMUEL GORDON .- The American press dif- fers from that of every other country in its versatility, enterprise, the adaptation of means to ends, and in feeling and recording the public pulse. It lays under tribute the talent and best equipment of every land and nationality, and com- bines in its service the fruits of all. Of those con- nected with this great potentiality in Montana none are more worthy of honorable mention than Sam- uel Gordon, the proprietor of the Yellowstone Journal, published at Miles City. He was born of Irish parentage in the city of New York in 1843. His early activity was in the line of work he has in later years dignified and adorned, as he began in early boyhood to carry and sell papers. The mechanisms of the printing office were then decidedly primitive, and the means of transpor- tation of the same character, so that the life of a newsboy was full of adventure and hardship. It was necessary to start early in order to supply the insatiate public with the morning dailies in time to be taken with the coffee at breakfast, and the boys were often compelled to wait for hours in some uncomfortable place from 3 a. m. until the papers came from the press. The difficulties, however, gave the newsboys self-reliance and readi- ness, strength of limb and loftiness of spirit.

In 1858 Mr. Gordon came with his mother to St. Paul, Minn., where an older brother was in business. Here he found employment, first as an errand boy in a drygoods store and later as a salesman, continuing thus employed until 1861, when, returning to New York, he found congenial employment on the Independent, then under the brilliant editorship of Henry Ward Beecher and Theodore Tilton. In the three years he was on this paper he secured the intimate friendship of the two great editors, and a friendly relation with many of its contributors, Wendell Phillips, Hor- ace Greeley, William Lloyd Garrison and others, and Mr. Gordon looks upon this period as one of the most agreeable and valuable occurrences of his life. In 1864 Mr. Gordon obtained an appoint- ment as quartermaster's clerk at Fort Abercrom- bie on the Red River of the North, then the ex- treme outpost of the western frontier, and after a year's service he was placed in the same position with the chief quartermaster at St. Paul, remaining there until the fall of 1865, when he left the ser- vice. During the next fourteen years he was confidential clerk and private secretary to Amherst H. Wilder, of St. Paul, with constantly increas-

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 109

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