Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 116

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 116

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A MOS H. JESS is a living illustration of what " industry and attention to the strict requirements of duty combined with good business judgment can accomplish in Montana. The subject of the fol- lowing sketch and his wife came to the state without a dollar, and have since then attained prominence as one of the successful ranchmen in the vicinity of Cleveland, Choteau county. While his case is not, perhaps, an exceptional one, it is a salutary example to the young men of the present day, and one that they would do well to heed. He was born in Schles- wig-Holstein, Germany, January 16, 1853, the son of Henry and Catherine (Navy) Jess. The son of these parents was reared as a farmer boy and re- ceived an elementary education at the public schools- in the vicinity of his birthplace. The greater por- tion of his early manhood was passed in working for neighboring farmers; but in February, 1892, he landed in New York and immediately began a career for himself in the new world. From the metropo- lis of the Empire state he went to Denison, Iowa, where for a short time he found employment among the farmers of that vicinity. But he was an ambit- ious and progressive youth, and in 1893 he located his present home ranch in Choteau county, near Cleveland, at that time comprising only 160 acres. Meantime he found employment as a sheepherder, in which he continued three years, his savings be- ing intended for his ranch and its future develop- ment. When Mr. Jess finally settled on his prop- erty he at once directed his attention to the cattle industry, adding 160 acres to his property. The valuable improvements he has since added are mani- fold, and he is now surrounded by every conven- ience necessary to the successful prosecution of his- business. This property is completely fenced, and in 1900 he added to it another ranch of 160 acres, which he has wonderfully improved. To this was annexed an additional eighty acres, making 240.

The marriage of Mr. Jess occurred May 6, 1879, when he was united to Miss Margaret Schmidt.

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To this union have been born four children : Kather- ine, Mary, Henry and Max. Such, in brief, is the history of one of the energetic "Progressive Men of Montana."

E D. JONES, practically founder and father of the town of Pondera, Teton county, where he resides and in whose municipal welfare he is deeply interested, is a man of force of character and busi- ness sagacity. He is well and favorably known throughout the county, and is recognized as one of its most prominent citizens. He was born in Bre- conshire, South Wales, on January 4, 1860, a de- scendant of an ancient Welsh family, his father, Da- vid Jones, having been engaged in farming until his death in 1897. His wife, Margaret (Price) Jones, was also born in Breconshire, where she died in 1893, and her surviving husband died in 1897. This worthy couple had twelve children, five boys and seven girls, all of whom are living, three in the United States and the rest in Wales. E. D. Jones remained with his parents in Wales until he attained his majority in 1881, when he came to this country. His education had been received in the excellent public schools of Bre- conshire, where he gave diligent study. On his arrival in the United States he located first at Rad- nor, Ohio, and for three years lived on the farm of an uncle. Becoming favorably impressed with the possibilities of the great west, in the spring of 1884 Mr. Jones came to Montana, locating first at Dupuyer, where for four years he found employment on ranches. In 1888 he secured pre- emption and timber claims on Spring creek, six miles from the site of Pondera, and engaged in raising horses. Mr. Jones disposed of this place in 1890 and in 1891 he took his horses to Ohio, where he sold them at a good profit, and then made a six-months visit to his old home in South Wales. On his return to Montana he located at Fort Benton for three years.

In August, 1895, Mr. Jones came to Pondera and purchased a sheep ranch on the Dry fork of the Marias river, comprising 1,100 acres, and here for five years he conducted the sheep business and wool growing. This place and 5,000 sheep he sold to the Conrad Investment Company in August, 1900. He then bought from Edwin Mor- rison 640 acres, on which is now located the town of Pondera, a prominent station of the Great Falls & Canada Railway, the purchase including

the entire town with the exception of the railroad buildings, consisting of a store, hotel, stable, shearing sheds and several dwellings. Mr. Jones also has city property in Marion, Ohio, and owns three handsome dwellings on Fifth avenue north in Great Falls. At Great Falls, in October, 1897, Mr. Jones was married to Miss Blanche Luce, born in Ohio in 1873, the daughter of Thomas and Sarah Adeline Luce, who reside on a stock ranch near Pondera. The political affiliations of Mr. Jones are with the Republican party. Frater- nally he is a member of Pondera Lodge No. 10,439, M. W. A. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have one child, Clar- ence David Jones, born February 13, 1899.

G EORGE JONES is a resident of the thriving and attractive village of Chinook, Choteau county, Mont., where he is extensively engaged in the growing of sheep and holds prestige as one of the representative and successful ranchmen of northern Montana. Mr. Jones is a native of Pike county, Ind., having been born in the im- mediate vicinity of the village of Petersburg, on March 12, 1866, being the son of John and Rebecca (Scroggins) Jones, who removed to Missouri when he was a lad of eight years. On the parental farm- stead in the latter state our subject remained until he had attained the age of fifteen years, hav- ing received such educational advantages as were afforded by the public schools. At that early age he assumed the practical responsibilities of life, going to San Francisco, and thereafter being en- gaged in mining operations at Virginia City, Nev., Leadville, Colo., Tombstone, Ariz., and also other points, and finally coming to Montana in 1881. Here he was for two years in the employ of Smith Brothers, prominent stockgrowers of Martins- dale, Meagher county, and at the expiration of that period he located upon a ranch of 160 acres at the east end of the Little Snowy mountains, and engaged in the sheep business. Later he lo- cated south of Malta, in Chotcau county, where he now has an excellent ranch of 700 acres, and here has continued sheepgrowing very successfully, having at the time of this writing 12,000 head. In 1899 he removed to Chinook, where he built a fine modern residence, the present family home. He also owns a hotel and livery stables at Malta, in Valley county.

In political adherency Mr. Jones supports the

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Republican party, while his fraternal relationships are indicated by membership in Chinook Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and in Bearpaw Camp, M. W. A. In 1893 Mr. Jones was united in marriage to Miss Mary Riley, daughter of Peter Riley, of Nevada. They were the parents of one child, Enid, deceased.

JOHN S. JONES .- This gentleman is one of the successful stockgrowers of Cascade county, and one of the pioneers of Montana. His experiences in the early days were interesting but varied in char- acter, for their story tells alternating success and failure. Mr. Jones was born in Hannibal, Mo., on September 21, 1842, his parents being John and Anna E. Jones. (See sketch of father elsewhere.)

John S. Jones assisted his father in his various labors during his youth, and, in 1859, accompanied him to Colorado. Later he came to Bannack, and thence joined in the gold stampede to Alder gulch, there associating himself with G. M. Allen and Jack Hardesty in taking up a profitable mining claim. They sold this claim in the fall of 1863 for $10,000. The next spring Mr. Jones and his father engaged in mining and prospecting, but luck turned against them and they. "went broke," their entire resources being a four-mule team, a wagon and a set of blacksmith tools. Our Montana pioneers are not easily discouraged, and, "picking his flint and trying again," in the spring of 1865 Mr. Jones took up a homestead claim of 160 acres in the Prickly Pear valley, near the site of Helena, and here re- mained for a time. He recalls that hay sold then in that vicinity at from $80 to $90 per ton, while a sack of flour cost $110. Soon becoming dissatisfied with ranch work, Mr. Jones went to the Silver Creek mining district and prospected with little suc- cess, while his resources dwindled to one saddle pony and one steer. With this equipment, however, he returned to his ranch in the fall. In 1866 he had excellent crops and was again in funds. He then purchased teams, went to Fort Benton, and en- aged in successful freighting during 1867-68, and again returned to his ranch, which was his home for some time. In 1881 Mr. Jones visited his old Kentucky home and then went to Missouri, where, on November 2, 1882, he married Mrs. Mary Shanklin, a daughter of James and Bettie E. Bun- nell, natives of Kentucky, from whence they emi- grated to Missouri in 1863, the father there engag- ing in farming. His death occurred in 1874, and his

widow now makes her home in Montana. She is a member of the Baptist church, as was also her hus- band. Mrs. Jones is the mother of two sons and one daughter by her first marriage : Marvin, Lawson and Annie Shanklin. There are no children of the second marriage.

After his marriage Mr. Jones engaged in farming in Missouri for six years, then, in 1893, returned to Montana and located in Chestnut valley, four miles south of Cascade, where he purchased 480 acres, which he has placed under effective cultivation, be- sides raising stock extensively. He was one of those prominently concerned in making the Chest- nut valley irrigating canal, to supply water for the irrigation of the entire valley. This has already cost $30,000, to which Mr. Jones contributed a due quota. Both himself and wife are members of the Baptist church, and he is a strong Democrat.

S ILAS P. GAINFORTH .- The dental profes- sion combines both a cultured science and a mechanical art, and he who gains prestige in it must have a thorough preliminary training and be en- dowed with a natural nicety of judgment. One of the able and successful young representatives of this important profession in Montana is Dr. Gain- forth, a popular dental surgeon of Billings, where he has secured an excellent reputation and business by reason of his unmistakable fitness for his pro- fession. He is a native of Grant county, Wis., born on March 28, 1871, the son of Thomas and Mary (Cook) Gainforth, the father being there engaged in agricultural pursuits. Silas P. Gainforth prose- cuted his studies in the public schools of Wisconsin until 1882, when he went with his parents to Phelps county, Neb., where he assisted his father in the cultivation of his farm and also continued his edu- cation. In 1888 the family located in Holdredge, the county-seat town, and there he entered the high school, and completing his course, graduated in the class of 1890. He was for a time engaged in peda- gogic work, after which he was placed in charge of a large clothing establishment in Holdredge until 1897, when he went to Kansas City, Mo., and there matriculated in the Western Dental College, con- tinuing his technical study and its work until 1898, when he became a student in the dental college of the Northwestern University, in Chicago, graduat- ing from there in May, 1900, with the degree of doctor of dental surgery. He then returned to

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Nebraska for a short time and started for a trip through the west to select a location. He thus went to Portland, Ore., and other sections of the northwest, and finally took up his home in Billings, in September, 1900, opening an office and entering upon active practice. His genial personality and unmistakable ability have gained him a represent- ative patronage, and he is held in high esteem. In politics he belongs to the Republican party, and fra- ternally to the Loyal Mystic Legion, at Holdredge, Neb., and the Woodmen of the World at Billings. On New Years day, 1901, Dr. Gainforth was united in marriage to Miss M. Gertrude Rhea, daughter of George P. and Louisa (Mannan) Rhea, of Weiser, Idaho, where the father is a prominent attorney.

LJENRY KEISER .- Coming from his West Vir- ginia home to Montana when he was a mere boy, and being intimately associated with the pio- neers of the state in its early settlement and subse- quent development, Henry Keiser is well entitled to honorable mention wherever the deeds and achievements of the progressive men of Montana are recorded. He was born at Phillippi, W. Va., September 14, 1849. His parents were Daniel M. and Elizabeth (Auvil) Keiser, both natives of West Virginia, where the latter died in 1863. The father was of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry, and a success- ful lawyer in that state until 1866, when he moved to Maryland, where he died in 1871.

Their son Henry attended school in his native town until 1864. At the age of fifteen he came to the northwest and has since contributed his share to the development and improvement of this section. After passing a few months at the Gros Ventre Indian agency, he went to Fort Union, then in com- mand of Maj. Pease. In 1866 and 1867 he was at the mouth of Milk river, engaged in hunting and trapping. He then joined the Crow Indian tribe at Fort Peck and remained with it a year. In 1868 he was at the mouth of the Musselshell, again en- aged in hunting, trapping and fighting the Sioux Indians, who were troublesome at that time. In 1869 and 1870 he was interpreter at Fort Hawley for the Northwestern Fur Company, and during 1870 was mining in the Coeur d'Alene district. In 1871-72 he was in the Whoop-up country across the Canadian line, trading with the Indians, and from there went to Fort Claggett, where for two years he was in the employ of T. C. Power, the post trader.

In 1874 he went to the old Crow agency, near Liv- ingston, and was employed by the government as sub-agent until 1876. In the winter of that year he established a trading post on Keiser creek (named in his honor), where the town of Columbus now stands. He remained there until the spring of 1877, when he went to Fort Custer and served as guide and interpreter for two years. During 1879 and 1880 he conducted a post trader's store at Junction City. In the summer of 1880 he took a company of In- dians east on exhibition, as part of a traveling show. From 1881 to 1885 he was employed as chief scout, guide and interpreter for Gen. Miles. He then went into the stock business on a squatter's claim near Fort Custer, and conducted that business in connec- tion with contracting on the Northern Pacific Rail- road until 1890. He was also engaged in building ir- rigation ditches on the Crow reservation, and had an interest in three stores there, trading with the Indians. In 1900 he sold all his interests in this lo- cality and has since been engaged in construction work on the Northern Pacific and other railroads.

In politics Mr. Keiser is a Republican, but has never been an active partisan. He was first mar- ried at Junction City in 1879. At Chicago, in 1897, he contracted a second marriage, uniting with Miss Julia Dwyer. By the first marriage there were three children : Maggie; Frank and Myrtle. By the sec- ond, one -- Virginia.

JACOB H. JONES .- Four miles east of the vil- lage of Cascade is located the well-improved and finely equipped ranch of Mr. Jones, one of the most successful farmers and stockraisers of Cas- cade county, his position in the community being one of influence and general esteem. He was born in Boone county, Ky., on February 15, 1853, the son of John and Rebecca F. Jones, natives of Pennsylvania and Kentucky. John Jones was one of the pioneers of Colorado, the first judge of the miner's court of the territory and a brief sketch .of him appears on other pages of this work.

Jacob H. Jones received his education in the public schools and aided his father in his ranching and other business operations. After his death, in accordance with his father's request, he assumed control of the estate, retaining the responsibilities thereof until the fall of 1890, when the property was sold. In the spring of 1891, Mr. Jones removed to his present ranch, which comprises

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800 acres of excellent land, where he has since de- voted his attention to the raising of cattle and hay upon an extensive scale. This ranch has been made a most valuable one by the wise, dis- criminating and far-seeing sagacity of Mr. Jones, who has supplied it with one of the best and most systematic irrigating systems of the state. Mr. Jones stands universally acknowledged as one of the best types of the better class of Mon- tana's agriculturists, intelligent, broad-gauged and systematic. On national questions he is a Demo- crat, in local matters is independent. He is fra- ternally connected with the Freemasons and the United Workmen. On January 1, 1888, Mr. Jones married Miss Bessie H. Bunnell, a daughter of James and Elizabeth A. Bunnell, the former a Pennsylvanian and the latter of Kentucky. Mr. Bunnell was for many years engaged in farming in Missouri, where Mrs. Jones was born, and in later years he followed merchandising. He was a mem- ber of the Baptist church, in which faith he died on September 20, 1875. His widow, also a Baptist, now makes her home in Montana. The family cir- cle of Mr. and Mrs. Jones comprises six children : Thomas L., Mabel R., Robert L., Charles S., Mary E. and Russell B. Mr. Jones is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church South, while his es- timable wife is connected with the Baptist society.

LFRED J. KIMBALL, one of the leading A stockgrowers and general farmers of Cleve- land, Choteau county, is a descendant of distin- guished ancestry. He was born at Salt Lake City, Utah, December 16, 1862, the son of Heber P. and Phebe (Judd) Kimball. His father was a native of Ohio and his mother of Vermont. The pater- nal grandfather, Heber C. Kimball, was one of the original Mormon settlers of Utah and prominent as one of the Twelve Apostles who, in company with Brigham Young, did so much in the way of developing the resources of the territory and par- ticularly the vicinity of Salt Lake. Heber C. Kim- ball was a native of Vermont who went to Salt Lake at an early day and achieved eminence in the Mormon church. The father of our subject, He- ber P. Kimball, followed the business of a stock- grower and merchant at Salt Lake City, where young Kimball was reared and educated. At the early age of sixteen years the latter was engaged in the stock business on Grouse creek, on the line

of Utah and Idaho. Later he settled in Idaho, where he continued the same business, meeting with a fair degree of prosperity. In the year 1892 he first came to Montana, locating two and a half miles from Cleveland, Choteau county, where he began general farming on 160 acres of land. In 1898 he secured his present eligible ranch, situated on the southwest line of the town of Cleveland. In all the property embraces 640 acres, completely fenced and otherwise improved. Mr. Kimball de- votes his attention to cattle, horses and general farming, and is making money rapidly. In 1893, November 16, he was married to Miss Esther M., daughter of Elizabeth C. and Edward B. Seymour. She was a native of Illinois but a resident of Idaho. They have two children, Herbert F. and Phebe T. The family is highly esteemed by a large circle of friends and acquaintances.

JOHN L. JOOSTEN .- A native of Holland, where he was born October 3, 1846, the son of a soldier and himself a soldier in the Union army, having endured both arduous field service and the hardships of prison life during the Civil war and af- terward a soldier in the regular service, John L. Joosten has given his adopted country good service and is worthy of honorable mention in any record of the achievements of Montana's progressive men. His parents were Bartholomew and Louise (Alden- heyser) Joosten, natives of Holland who came to the United States with their children in 1859. The father was a volunteer in the Union army, and after six months' service died at Brashier City, La. The mother lived in Brooklyn a number of years after his death, but in 1884 returned to Holland, where she died ten years later. Mr. Joosten was edu- cated at a boarding school in the province of Lim- burg, Holland, and at the age of thirteen accom- panied his parents to Brooklyn, N. Y. In 1862, when he was but sixteen years old, he enlisted in the One Hundred and Seventy-third New York Volun- teer Infantry, and served under Gens. Banks and Canby until June, 1865, participating in the battles of Mansfield Hill, Pleasant Hill, Port Hudson and many others. At the battle of Pleasant Hill, La., April 9, 1864, he was taken prisoner and held in captivity fourteen months, being released at Camp Ford, Tex., May 27, 1865. He then returned to New York city and went to work as a carpenter, continuing that line of enterprise for three years.

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In 1868 he enlisted at Cincinnati in the Third United States Cavalry and saw active service in New Mex- ico, Arizona and Wyoming until 1873, when he was discharged at Fort Fetterman, Wyo. Before the end of the year he re-enlisted at Salt Lake in the Second United States Cavalry and served on the western frontier until 1878, when he was dis- charged at John C. Guy's ranch, Pease's Bottom, Custer county, Mont., where his regiment had been stationed to protect the settlers from Indian depre- dations. After his discharge he located on a ranch in Pease's Bottom, and for many years was en- agged in raising stock. In 1893 he sold his stock and has since devoted his attention to farming. In politics he is a Republican, and takes an active part in the campaigns of his party.

JOHN A. KENNEDY .- This gentleman was born near Ottawa, Canada, in 1850, the son of Alexander and Mary (Meldrum) Kennedy, both natives of Invernesshire, Scotland. They emigrated to the dominion in 1840, settling at Osgood, Carlton county, Ontario. Mr. Kennedy attended the public schools of his native land, also pursuing a one-year's course at the Canadian Literary Institute, and finishing with two years' attendance at the Albion Academy, Orleans county, N. Y. Acting upon the advice of Horace Greeley, "go west, young man," he directed his course westward, arriving in Michi- gan in 1874. There he engaged in logging on the west branch of the Muskegon. Continuing his travel still farther west, he passed the winter of 1876 in Itasca county, Minn., estimating pine lands, and scaling logs for the firm of Ankney & Newton. In the spring of 1877 he landed in Minneapolis, then a flourishing city of 40,000 inhabitants, and secured employment as shipping clerk in the excelsior mill, with the firm of C. A. Pillsbury & Co., in whose service he continued until August, 1880, when he came to Montana. He located in the Prickly Pear valley near Helena, where he engaged in farming, dairying and school-teaching. Here he assisted in the organization of the Silver Creek school district, and was elected to teach its school during the first school year.

In 1883 Mr. Kennedy removed to what is now Teton county and began ranching and cattleraising on the Teton, six miles west of what is now thie thriving town of Choteau, the county seat of Teton county. As a factor in the development of this new

section he took an active part in the division of old Choteau county, and was rewarded soon afterward, in 1894, by being elected Teton county's first repre- sentative in the Fourth legislative assembly, as a Republican. In 1897 he was appointed by D. G. Browne, United States Collector of Customs for . the District of Montana and Idaho, to the position of deputy collector of the subdistrict of Blackfoot. This appointment necessitated the sale of his cattle, the proceeds of which he invested in sheep, be- coming a full partner with William McDonald Wright, constituting the firm of Wright & Kennedy. Their united holdings numbers 10,000 head.

It should not be overlooked that while in the leg- islature Mr. Kennedy was the author of the bill creating the Eleventh judicial district of Montana. He served on the committees on ways and means, education, and internal improvements, and was chairman of the committee on stockgrowing and agriculture, representing his county with signal ability and a high sense of duty. He was an ardent supporter of the codes, and to his efforts, in no small measure, is due our present stock laws, which govern this great and important industry. Frater- nally Mr. Kennedy is identified with the Masons, being an active and valued member of Choteau Lodge No. 44. He was married at Minneapolis on September 10, 1878, to Miss Catherine McQuaig, who was born at Prescott, Canada, on October 15, 1861. They have three children, Gael M., Pearl May and Catherine. The children are unusually bright and accomplished. Pearl has the distinction of being the second white child born in this section of the state, and has gained local distinction as the author of poetical and prose productions of decided literary merit.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 116

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