Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 134

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 134

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taking from him a band of horses on shares, and at last taking full charge of his cattle. At the end of the six years he engaged in farming and raising horses on his own account at Red Lodge, in which he has been very successful. In the fall of 1900 he sold his ranch three miles northwest of Red Lodge, and purchased the one he now occupies ten miles north of that town. Farming on his properties has been secondary with Mr. Hunter, raising horses being his principal en- terprise, and Norman stock his favorite breed. Of these he regularly has about 100 head, among them some unusually fine specimens. In November, 1888, Mr. Hunter was united in marriage with Miss Evelyn F. Dayton, a native of Long Island, N. Y., and the daughter of Charles Dayton, who came to Montaria, locating at Red Lodge, where he died one year after his arrival. They have three chil- dren : John T., Clarence A. and Frank E., all of school age and at home. Mr. Hunter lived in the district a number of years before it was thrown open to general settlement, and although the In- dians never gave him serious trouble, they were frequently annoying and threatening. In addition to his ranch property and interests, Mr. Hunter owns real estate in Red Lodge, consisting of houses and lots, from which he derives a good rental, and which are rapidly increasing in value. He is deeply interested in the welfare of his community, and does not hesitate to give his time and substance to the advancement of its good enterprises. He has served as public prosecutor, school trustee and road supervisor, and has filled all offices with credit to himself and advantage to the people. In fraternal relations he is identified with the Royal High- landers ; in social and business circles he is uni- versally respected and esteemed.

JOSEPH G. HOPKINSON is a man of wide and varied experience in the west. He has lived to watch its marvelous upbuilding with constantly increasing interest, and is one of the most promi- nent citizens of Teton county, having resided there many years and in that time he has won the esteem and confidence of all with whom he is acquainted. He was born at South Wingfield, Derbyshire, Eng- land, on March 19, 1837. He is the son of Thomas and Anna (Purdy) Hopkinson, both natives of South Wingfield, where they died, the father in 1888, and Mrs. Hopkinson in old age. The public

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and private schools of South Wingfield contributed to the education of Mr. Hopkinson, and in 1859 he came to the United States and his first year was passed in Newark, N. J. In 1861 Mr. Hop- kinson went overland to California, where he lived in Colusa and Tehama counties until 1863. Then he engaged in freighting between Council Bluffs, Jowa, and Utah, while from 1865 until 1868 he re- sided in Belmont, Nevada, and also in Council Bluffs, and during the following two years he prospected and mined with variable success at White Pine, Nev., and also at Tucson, Ariz. Subse- quently, between 1870 and 1882, he engaged in the sheep business at Red Bluff, Tehama county, Cal., and the next year he freighted along the line of the Northern Pacific from Spokane to the mouth of Clark's fork, during the construction of the road. In the fall of 1883 Mr. Hopkinson came to Choteau county, for three years was employed on ranches, while the next four years were devoted to freighting and teaming. In 1890 he established a dairy and a chicken ranch adjoin- ing the town of Choteau, and later secured a 180- acre farm on the Burton bench, where he is now comfortably located, enjoying the comforts of a well conducted home. Mr. Hopkinson takes an active part in local politics, regarding the various issues from a Democratic view point. On January 26, 1893, he was married at Great Falls, to Mrs. Mary Rushford, a native of Michigan. They have three children, Joseph George, Ruth Arlette and Thomas George, aged six, four and two years.

JACOBS BROTHERS .- These gentlemen be- long to a New England family that has had an eventful history in America. Its first appearance was at the Massachusetts Bay colony about the middle of the seventeenth century, having come over from England. When Capt. Kidd was sent out by the English government to suppress piracy, two of this family accompanied him as volunteers, but when he got to sea he turned pirate and com- pelled his crew to obey his will. Finally his ship was captured, but he only was hanged. The great-grandfather Jacobs was in the war of the Revolution, his brother being a colonel and he in his command. The grandfather, Woodman Jacobs, was in the war of 1812. In times of peace the family has been for generations en- gaged in lumbering and in farming. The parents

of the Jacobs brothers are John and Hannah (Hutchins) Jacobs, both natives of Maine. They removed to Wisconsin in 1861, and were pioneers of Pierce county, where they settled and engaged in farming. In 1850 the father made a trip around the Horn to California accompanied by his brother. But after two or three years of min- ing with moderate success, the health of both failing they returned home. In 1870 John Jacobs removed to Minnesota and located at the Yel- low Medicine colony where the outbreak of 1862 had taken place, and remained until 1900, when he took up his residence at Herman in that state, where he still lives. His family consisted of eleven children. Charles M. Jacobs was born at East New Portland, Me., on June 25, 1861. He was educated in the schools of Wisconsin, and re- mained at home until the autumn of 1881, when he came to Montana and put in the first winter on Tongue river getting out ties. In the ensuing August he started to Fort Custer with a freight outfit and continued freighting until July, 1883, when he went to Livingston and remained three months, having an interest in a lodging house and restaurant. He then bought his present prop- erty, two and a half miles south of Musselshell crossing, and engaged in raising cattle until 1890 when he was joined by his brother and they changed to sheep, having at times 6,000 on their 6,000 acres of land. Recently they have returned to cattle and are conducting a profitable business. Byron C. Jacobs was born in Pierce county, Wis., in 1868. His education was received in the pub- lic schools and he remained at home until 1890, when he came to Montana and joined his brother Charles and since then he has been actively iden- tified with the stock business, being a partner in it and contributing his portion of the energy, industry and intelligence necessary to make it so successful. He has the respect and esteem of his neighbors and acquaintances as a man of good business capacity, high character and pleasing social qualities, and belongs to the Woodmen of America. The Jacobs brothers have two ranches in Fergus county near Musselshell, which are well irrigated and yield quantities of hay and some grain. Their buildings are good, and are num- erous, including barns, sheds and corrals. They are Democrats in politics, and Charles was elected county commissioner in 1900. He is a Woodman of America. Both have the esteem and regard of a large circle of friends.

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G EORGE HUFFMAN .- Left an orphan in his childhood by the death of his father, and there- after reared with care by his devoted mother until he was eighteen, when she too passed away, George Huffman, of Butte, was well prepared by his early dependence on himself and his thorough training in the hard school of 'adversity and his excellent . home life for the business career in which he has. since been so successful. He was born at Bowling Green, Ky., on August 16, 1836, the son of Henry and Emeline (Rasdall) Huffman, the former a native of Virginia who removed to Kentucky when a young man and was there a prosperous wheel- wright. His wife was a native of Kentucky and daughter of Robert Rasdall, of North Carolina, who was among the first settlers at Bowling Green, locating there soon after the war of the Revolu- tion. Mr. Huffman received a limited education in the public schools, and when he was twenty years old came to Missouri, where he engaged in farming until 1859. In that year he joined the stampede to Pike's Peak, and remained there a short time occupied in mining, and then returned to Missouri. In the fall of 1862 he removed to Kansas and later to Nebraska, having prior to this served in the Confederate army during 1861 and a part of 1862. In 1863 he went to Dakota and in the fall to Iowa, from whence he came to Montana, arriving in Vir- ginia City on August 19, 1864. He passed some months in mining and wintered in the Bitter Root valley. In the spring he removed to Helena and continued mining operations until fall, when he went to Fort Benton and from there down the Missouri on a Mackinaw boat to St. Joseph, Mo., whence he went to Des Moines, Iowa, where he passed the winter. In 1866 he came back to Montana by the Bozeman route and lo- cated a ranch in the Gallatin valley on which he lias since made his home during a portion of the year, residing the rest of the time at Bozeman. Mr. Huffman is a Democrat, but not an active parti- san. In 1881 he was united in marriage with Miss Susan A. Lovell, a native of Illinois and daughter of David and Nancy ( Hammond) Lovell, who were born in Ohio. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Huffman are, Hugh L., born on November 27, 1881 ; George R., born on December 10, 1883; Henry V., born on December 1, 1885, died Decem- ber 17, 1886; Susan A., born on March 10, 1888, and died two days later; Anna B., born March 4, 1889, and Minnie E., born on July 28, 1891, died March 14, 1892.

L EE HUGHES is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Clearfield county, December 1, 1853, the son of John and Elizabeth (Lewis) Hughes, both of whom were born in England, where their marriage was solemnized. They came to the United States in 1845, locating in Clearfield county, where the father was a pioneer farmer until his death, al- though he was a stonemason by trade, and had been engaged in that occupation in England. The moth- er also died at the Pennsylvania homestead. They were people of sterling character and held in high regard. Lee Hughes was afforded the advantages of the public schools, and in the fall of 1877, at the age of twenty-four, he left home and made his way to Illinois, whence he removed to Kansas with- in a year, while in 1879 he went to Colorado, and then to New Mexico in 1880, after which he re- turned to Colorado, whence in September, 1882, he came to Montana and resided at Helena about four years, being variously employed. In the fall of 1887 Mr. Hughes came to Deer Lodge county and took up a ranch four miles east of the village of Lincoln, which is his postoffice address. His ranch now comprises 1,080 acres of. fine land, situ- ated in the upper Big Blackfoot valley, which is recognized as one of the most prolific of the many fertile valleys of the state. Mr. Hughes has made the best of improvements on his ranch, and devotes his attention to diversified farming and to the raising of cattle. His discrimination and progress- ive methods have brought to him a marked success in his operations, and he is looked upon as one of the representative ranchers of this section, where he is well known and where he enjoys the friend- ship of the best people. He has not been a seeker of public office, preferring to devote his entire time and attention to his business interests, though ever ready to lend his aid and influence to any movement whose object is the advancing of the material wel- fare of his county and state. On July 18, 1898, in Helena, Mr. Hughes was united in marriage to Mrs. Mary (Tuohy) Sharp.

JOHN JACOBS .- This progressive and enter- prising ranchman and farmer of the Rosebud valley was born in Austria on June 20, 1867. His parents were John and Mary (Polsen) Jacobs, who are still living in their native land on a farm. Their son John was educated in the state schools of his native land, and came to the United States

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when he was sixteen years old, and locating in the Schuylkill valley attended school for a short time and then worked in the coal mines for about six years. In 1890 he came to Montana and stopping at Fort Keogh, enlisted in the regular army, Com- pany G, Twenty-second Regiment, in which he served two years on the frontier. In 1892 he left the army and came to Rosebud valley, and herded sheep for John Davidson for two years. He then bought a flock of sheep for himself, and ran them on the ranges for four years, thus gaining a suc- cessful start in life. In 1898 he took up a 160 acre homestead on the Rosebud river and two sections of railroad land, on which he has since been successfully engaged in raising cattle and hay. In politics Mr. Jacobs is a Republican, earn- estly interested in the success of his party, but not seeking any of its favors for himself.

M ICHAEL JAKOBI .- Born in Germany on February 12, 1838, and son of Frank Jakobi, who like his wife was a lifelong resident of that country where they died, the mother in 1849 and the father in 1850, Mr. Jakobi was an orphan when twelve, it does not appear who took charge of him, but it is known that he was distinguished among his youthful companions for his power of taking care of himself, seeing his way through difficulties, meeting danger with resolute courage and performing duty with fidelity and skill. He was educated in his native country, and in 1867 came to the United States. With the fruits of his previous labor he bought a farm in Grant county, Wis., farming it profitably for eleven years. In 1878 he came to Montana and made Helena his home until 1891. During the first two years of his residence in the city he was engaged in contracting and building, erecting many edifices, among them the Montana brewery, which he built for Kleinschmidt Brothers, and which he after- wards rented and operated for three years. Leav- ing the brewery in 1883, he engaged in the liquor business, and for five years was proprietor of four saloons in Helena. Selling them in 1888 he re- moved to the Yellowstone valley near Forsyth, where he located a homestead in 1891 and later purchased an adjoining 160 acres. Here he has since been engaged in farming and raising cattle, giving his attention principally to the agricultural part of the business, and with such intelligence

and discrimination that he has demonstrated the possibility of raising almost any kind of farm pro- ducts with profit in the Yellowstone valley. In political affiliation Mr. Jakobi is a zealous Demo- crat, firm in his party faith and loyal in party service. While residing in Helena he was influ- · ential in party councils and a valued worker in all the campaigns. Since his removal to the country he has not given the same attention to political affairs, but is still recognized as a wise and force- ful counselor. Fraternally he is connected with the Odd Fellows' lodge at Forsyth, having joined the order at Lancaster, Wis., in 1874. He is also a member of the United Workmen at Forsyth. In 1861, before leaving Germany, he married with Miss Regina Foght, who was born in that coun- try in 1835. They have four children, August, Dora, Joseph and Peter. August is married and has a ranch on the Yellowstone; Dora is the wife of Charles Ratsch, of Butte, while Joseph and Peter are living at home. While Mr. Jakobi has seen no military service in America, he was obliged to serve four years in the German army, from 1858 to 1862, and although there was no war, the service was arduous and exacting. But its discip- line was valuable and has been of great benefit.

IVER JOHNSON, who is recognized as one of the successful business men in Teton county, is engaged in a number of profitable enterprises, including a general store at Farmington, and an extensive ranch on the famous Burton bench. He was born in Norway, on January 18, 1855. His father, John Johnson, was also a native of Nor- way, where he died in 1885. By occupation he was a farmer. Segre Johnson, the mother, was also born and resided throughout her life in Norway, where she passed away in 1885, the same year in which her husband died. In the public schools of Norway Iver Johnson received his education, but at the age of eighteen years, in 1873, he came to the United States, locating in Wisconsin, where he worked as a farm laborer for three years. Thence Mr. Johnson removed to Minnesota, where for twenty years he was engaged in wheat farming on a very large scale. In 1898 he came to Teton county, Mont., where he purchased three claims and secured three other 160-acre claims, making 960 acres in all, and this property is one of the largest and most handsomely improved ranches

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in the vicinity of the Burton bench. In the con- duct of his various enterprises Mr. Johnson brings into requisition both brain and muscle, and he is reaping most substantial rewards for his industry. The ranch is devoted to the cultivation of hay and the growing of cattle. He is also a partner in the Farmington Mercantile Company, in which es- tablishment is located the postoffice, and he has the government contract for carrying the mail between Farmington and Choteau. In Lac qui Parle county, Minn., in 1877, Mr. Johnson was united in marriage to Miss Carrie Peterson, a na- tive of Norway, born in 1855. They have four children, Joseph, Minnie, Cora and Edon, the latter being twins.

W L. JOHNSON is a young Nova Scotian, now a resident of Evaro, Missoula county, Mont., who has made a bright success of his west- ern life. He was born in Nova Scotia in 1862. There his parents, Dunlap and Margaret (Archi- bald) Johnson, were both born and are still living, and the father by occupation is a farmer. At the age of nineteen years, in 1881, Mr. Johnson came to Butte, Mont., then in its "boom" period. Everything was lively and everybody was “on the hustle." Money was plenty, easily made and freely expended. During the two years of his residence in Butte Mr. Johnson was engaged in teaming and hauling wood, clearing between $2,000 and $3,000 annually, owing to the great de- mand for labor in those enterprising days. At the termination of his two-years residence he left Butte for the Bitter Root valley, in Ravalli county, where was his home for eight years while he de- voted his attention to farming and teaming. Sub- sequently he was located in the mining and lumber region in the vicinity of Nine Mile for two years. He then came to Missoula county and at once engaged in farming and stockraising. During the past seven years he has continued to reside on his homestead at Evaro (Blanchard postoffice ). sixteen miles northwest from Missoula. He has two ranches in the county, both of which are conducted successfully and profitably. He con- ducts general ranching and is accumulating a fine lot of cattle. He is ambitious, industrious and a money maker. He is also warm-hearted and liberal, spending money freely in travel and for the comforts and luxuries of life.

A RTHUR JORDAN, M. D .- Born and reared on a farm near Atlantic, Iowa, the youngest son of James and Agnes Jordan, educated in part in the public schools and then teaching in them to earn money for continuing his education at the Cass County Normal School and at a medical college, Dr. Arthur Jordan, of Marysville, has come up from moderate circumstances and has advanced chiefly by his own efforts to the position of standing and consequence in his profession and the good opinion of the community which he now occupies. His life began on September 17, 1869, and until he was nearly of age he attended the district schools of his native county, being grad- uated from the high school at Atlantic with a very creditable record. He then took a four-years course in the Cass county Normal School, and followed that with a four-years medical course at the State University of Iowa, teaching school in the meantime to get the necessary funds to pay his expenses of his student life. He was grad- uated from the university in March, 1895, and im- mediately entered upon an active medical practice at Coon Rapids, Iowa, but soon „thereafter re- moved to Marysville, Mont., where he still resides and is building up a practice gratifying both in its magnitude and the character of its patrons, and for a year after his arrival in Montana he was assistant to Dr. G. W. King, the company physi- cian for the Montana Mining Company, and at the close of the year he entered into partnership with Dr. King and is still associated with him.

Dr. Jordan was united in marriage with Miss Adele M. Dillon, daugher of B. B. Dillon, superin- tendent of the Bald Mountain mines, on October 20, 1897. They have one child, a young son. Fraternally Dr. Jordan belongs to the Order of Woodmen of the World, the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In all of these or- ganizations he finds pleasant entertainment and opportunity for the graceful amenities of life, for which he is well fitted by nature and training. In politics he is a Republican, but has not turned aside from the claims of his profession to hearken to the voice of political temptation. He is as yet a young man, but so firmly established in the confidence and esteem of the people of his new home, both as a physician and a gentleman of cul- ture and lofty aims and principles, that his pres- ent prosperity and professional reputation are well assured.

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B ALDWIN KAU, well known and highly es- teemed in business, political and social circles in Powell county, and residing in the vicinity of Pioneer, was born in Waukesha county, Wis., on March 26, 1865, the son of Matthew and Agnes (Schaffer) Kau, natives of Germany, who came to the United States when young and settled in Wisconsin, where they were married and began domestic life on the farm where they continued to live until their deaths. Upon this farm Baldwin Kau was reared and in the neighboring public schools he received a rather limited education. In 1881, when he was sixteen years old, he came to Pioneer, Mont., and during the following few years worked on neighboring ranches. But he was an ambitious young man, and in the spring of 1865 he purchased seventy acres of land lying on Gold creek, four miles north of Pioneer, upon which was a small log cabin. Upon this property he has since lived, directing his attention especially to the raising of horses and cattle, and made many valuable im- provements, including a fine residence, outbuildings and other conveniences for the successful conduct of his extensive and prosperous ranch business. To his original seventy acres he has added until he now owns 3,000 acres, all of which is fenced, he having built twenty miles of enclosure since the first year of his ranch life. On April 10, 1888, he was married to Miss Lena Lossl, daughter of Joseph and Louise Lossl, natives of Germany, and they have one child, George. Mr. Kau is an active and influential worker in the ranks of the Demo- cratic party. Upon the organization of Powell county, in the bill creating it Mr. Kau was ap- pointed public adminstrator, which office he now holds. He is a man of progressive views, broad- minded and highly esteemed.

D ANIEI, E. KAUFMAN .- This popular, enter- prising and successful ranchman and stock- grower of Carbon county, is a native of Reading, Pa., where he was born on July 5, 1875, the son of Cyrus and Susan (Stitzel) Kaufman, also natives of Reading, where their families have lived for generations. The Kaufmans were for a long time residents of Poelitz, Germany, where a large tract of land was granted to them in remote times. The progenitors of the American branch of the family came to the United States in 1670, and settled in Berks county, Pa., there being two brothers of

them. They took up a large body of land on Maiden creek in what is now Olie township, a part of which is still in possession of the family. The Stitzels were also of German ancestry and came to America in Colonial times. Mr. Kaufman's maternal grandfather, John Stitzel, married Sarah Evans, who came with her parents direct from Wales to Berks county, where they settled. His grandfather, Daniel B. Kaufman, was a captain in the Civil war and served through the contest with distinction. His father is living in Reading engaged in supplying mules and horses to the Phila- delphia & Reading Railroad, sometimes as many as a hundred a week being required to meet the demands. He has recently (1902) paid his sons in Montana a visit, and surprised all who met him with his splendid physical development, excellent health and exuberant spirits. Of his family of nine children only two are living, and both are residents of Montana.

Daniel Kaufman received his scholastic training in the public schools of his native city, and in the spring of 1895 came to Montana, locating on Little Rosebud creek in Carbon county, where he at once began operations in the cattle business, which he has successfully continued, now having a fine herd of Herefords. and being a progressive and enter- prising man. In 1899 his younger brother, Harry S. Kaufman, joined him, and they are now conduct- ing the business together. They are fine speci- mens of men, physically, mentally, and socially, and are highly esteemed. Daniel is a member of the Order of Elks and of the Knights of the Golden Eagle. · He has been active in politics, and in 1901 was appointed deputy sheriff under Sheriff Potter, in company with whom he has had many thrilling experiences, among them being the chase after Nathan Todd and companion, two noted horse- thieves, in which Todd was killed and his comrade was captured. He has also had daring and danger- ous duties to perform without assistance, notably to arrest a notorious character who had been in a shooting affair on Rock creek five miles below Red Lodge, and one who had shot a man on Five Mile creek. He "got the drop" on both these men and brought them in. He has one of the best equipped ranches in the county, having made the most of its fine natural advantages, which include excellent fishing and a natural game preserve equal to any in the country, furnishing a foundation for an estate that will compare more than favorably with those of some German princes.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 134

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