Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 137

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 137

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engaged in raising cattle, having over 200 head. For some years Mr. Lindstrand was employed at ranch work for others. He then started in the sheep industry for himself taking up a location on the Flat Willow, where he has a ranch of over 5,000 acres, much of it under good irrigation and very productive, yielding abundant crops of alfalfa and hay and in 1901 more than 5,000 bushels of grain. There is a private ditch three miles long in one section and several shorter ones which fur- nish him sufficient water to properly irrigate. He has 15,000 sheep and is well equipped with good barns, sheds, corrals and other appliances for his business, and has a good residence. In fraternal relations he is a Freemason and a Woodman of the World. He is an excellent citizen, warmly in- terested in the welfare of the community, and is an enterprising, progressive and wide-awake man.

PIERRE A. LETOURNEAU, M. D .- In Mis- soula county there is a thriving community made up almost entirely of people of French birth or extraction, and here is to be found an intelligent and enterprising class of citizens, whose interests are identical and who have reason to feel a marked satisfaction in their having established a colony where so great harmony prevails. The center of the district is a pleasant little village known as Frenchtown, and among the representative citizens is Dr. Letourneau, an able and popular physician and surgeon, who ministers to those afflicted and who is the only practitioner whose services are called for by the community. The Doctor is a na- tive of St. Sebastian, province of Quebec, Canada, where he was born in 1859, the son of Ferdinand and Catherine (Fortin) Letourneau, both of ster- ling French lineage. The father was a native and lifelong farmer of Quebec, his death occurring at St. Sebastian in 1892. His widow, who was born in the same province, still maintains her home in St. Sebastian, being seventy-four years of age at the time of this writing.

Dr. Letourneau received his early education in his native place and at St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, and then prepared himself for his chosen profession in the medical department of Victoria College in Montreal, where he completed a thorough course of technical and scientific study and was graduated with the class of 1884, receiving his coveted degree of M. D. and being eminently qualified for the

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work of his profession. He began his active prac- tice in Connecticut, where he remained for eight years, gaining prestige as an able and discriminat- ing physician and surgeon. Finally his health be- came impaired, and he returned to his home in Canada, where he remained five years, recuperating his energies and also devoting his attention to medi- cal practice. In 1897 Dr. Letourneau came to Montana, locating among his own people in French- town, where he is held in the deepest affection and confidence, and where he has an excellent prac- tice. He is a man of scholarly attainments and gracious presence, and no resident in this section enjoys a greater popularity. He is a close student and keeps fully abreast of the advances made in the science of medicine, being thoroughly en rapport with his profession and ever standing ready to lend aid and succor to his suffering fellowmen. The Doctor's religious faith is that of the Catholic church, in which he was reared.

T HEODORE H. LIDOLPH .- A native of Saxony, and imbued with the sterling and sturdy characteristics of the race from which he sprang, Mr. Lidolph came to the United States with a willingness to do anything that might af- ford a livelihood and offer opportunity for ad- vancement ; and acting on that principle he has achieved a gratifying success and can feel the sat- isfaction that comes from triumphs won by one's own enterprise and skill. His parents were Adolph F. and Beatrice Lidolph, also natives of Germany, who came to America in 1861 and lo- cated in Van Buren county, Iowa. The father learned the trade of harnessmaking in Germany, and followed that business in the home of his adoption until the time of his death, which oc- curred on October 12, 1877. The business was very profitable and brought him standing and reputation in the community as well as gratifying financial returns. Both parents were members of the Lutheran church, and the father was an ardent supporter of the Democratic party in politics. They had eight children, of whom three survive them. The mother died on November 15, 1893. Theodore H. Lidolph received such educational advantages as were afforded by attendance at the public schools during the winter months until he was fourteen years old, he then began to assist in his father's work and continued with his parents,

loyally aiding all their enterprises until he was twenty-eight. In 1873 he made a brief trip to Nevada, and, returning to Iowa, he began farming on his own responsibility, continuing this business until 1886. He then made another trip west, this time to Arizona, where he engaged in chopping wood for some months and then went to Cali- fornia. There he soon secured a position as fore- man on a sheep ranch, he and his wife working in a hotel in the meantime.

In 1877 Mr. Lidolph came to Montana seeking a location in which to· settle permanently. For a few months he worked on W. C. Child's ranch, and then returned to Iowa to make preparations to re- move to this state, which he did in the spring of 1888. On his arrival he rented a ranch on Beaver creek, and in 1890 purchased his present home, which comprises 140 acres, a large portion of which is fit for cultivation, and produces good crops of grain, hay and vegetables. He is also engaged in raising cattle with gratifying success and profitable returns. In political relations he is an ardent Democrat, always giving the affairs of the party his attention but not seeking any of its honors. On February 14, 1875, Mr. Lidolph was united in marriage with Miss Anna Roderick, a native of Germany, where the family had been long established. Her parents had emigrated to America in 1853, and located at Davenport, Iowa, where the father was successfully engaged in the manufacture of carriages and wagons. Both par- ents were members of the Catholic church and died in that faith. Two of their four children, Katharine and Anna, survive them.

C HARLES LEITCH .- Born and reared in Rossshire, amid the Highlands of Scotland, where his life began on March 9, 1861, Charles Leitch brought to the land of his adoption the ad- mirable and productive characteristics of that sturdy race whose influence has been felt in all quarters of the globe and in every line of physical and intellectual effort. His parents were John and Catherine (McLean) Leitch, also natives of Rossshire, where their respective families had lived for many generations. The father was an over- seer for the Duke of Rossshire, and died when his son was yet quite young. The mother gave her attention to rearing her family and kept them to- gether until they were old enough to shift for

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themselves. Charles attended school in his native land until 1871, when he came to America with other members of the family and located in Illi- nois. There he remained until 1884, after which he passed a year in Iowa and three in California, engaged in mining. In 1889 he came to Mon- tana, and after remaining two years in Butte, passing the time for the most part in mining, he removed to Granite, and there worked in the mines until 1893, when he located on his present property, which is between Silesia and Gebo. He has a very desirable ranch, all under irrigation and in a good state of cultivation. In addition to cereals and hay, he raises large quantities of fruit of superior quality. In 1899 his exhibit of apples at the county fair at Billings took the first prize. He also has a valuable herd of stock, consisting of Durham cattle, thoroughbred horses and Poland- China hogs. Mr. Leitch was united in marriage on June 18, 1891, with Miss Georgia McLeod, a native of Cape Breton and daughter of John Mc- Leod, of that island. They have had one child, Lincoln, now deceased. Mr. Leitch has made everything go that he has taken hold of, having business capacity, energy, knowledge of men and wise adaptation of means to desired ends. He stands well in the estimation of all classes of his community, to whose advancement he has ma- terially contributed.

A UGUST LUNSTROTH .- Upon the pages of this work will be found individual mention of many who have come from foreign shores to cast in their lot with the progressive young state of Montana, where due measure of success has not been denied them. One of these is this worthy young ranchman of Cascade county. He was born at Steinhagen, Germany, on June 26, 1868, the son of Henry and Katherine Lunstroth, who passed their entire lives in the vicinity of Steinhagen, where the father was a prominent and successful agriculturist until his death at the age of seventy- one years. His wife passed away at the age of fifty-six. August Lunstroth steadily attended the public schools of his native province until he at- tained the age of fifteen, when, in 1883, he se- cured work on a farm for wages, being thus em- ployed one year. In the following spring he secured a position in a men's furnishing store in a clerical capacity until the spring of 1885, when he emigrated to America, landing in New York city

and thence proceeding to Nevada where he was employed on a farm for one year ; thence he came to Helena, Mont., and near here he worked upon a ranch until August, 1866, and was thereafter simi- larly engaged in the vicinity of Great Falls for a time, while in 1887 he was engaged in rafting on the Missouri river between Stickney and Great Falls until the fall of that year, when he secured work on a dairy ranch until the spring of 1889 when he took up a pre-emption claim of 160 acres in the vicinity of Evans, Cascade county, where he has since been engaged in farming and cattle- raising, his indefatigable efforts and mature judg- ment bringing to him a material success. In 1897 he added to the area of his ranch by taking up a homestead claim of 155 acres and the valuation of his ranch property now aggregates $3,000, while fifty acres of the tract are susceptible of cultivation. Politically, Mr. Lunstroth has espoused the cause of the Democratic party to which he renders a stanch allegiance.

H ARRY P. LIMPERT, the capable and enter- prising foreman of the fine ranch of the Wil- low Creek Stock Company, located ten miles south- west of Augusta in Lewis and Clarke county, is a young man who has secured a position of marked responsibility and trust since coming to Montana, and this fact is indicative of his sterling integrity, his fidelity and his executive ability. Mr. Lim- pert is a native of the village of Hesper, Ontario, Canada, where he was born on January 19, 1864, the son of Valentine and Susanna Limpert, the former of whom was born in Germany and the latter in Canada. The father has for many years been a house painter, and a man of sterling char- acter and a member of the Lutheran church, while the religious faith of his wife is that of the Pres- byterian denomination. The early educational ad- vantages of Harry P. Limpert were such as were afforded in the public schools in his native town, and his school days ended when he was thirteen years of age, when he became an employe in a woolen mill. Later he engaged in house painting, to which he devoted his attention for thirteen years.

In 1892 Mr. Limpert came to Montana, believ- ing that superior opportunities for individual ef- fort were afforded in this new and growing com- monwealth, and after passing two months in Helena and in the vicinity of Dillon, he came to

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the ranch on which he is now installed as foreman, the same comprising 4,200 acres and being specially devoted to the raising of cattle. Mr. Limpert is unflagging in his zeal in promoting the interests over which he is thus placed in charge, and holds the confidence of his employers, the men whom he superintends and of all others with whom he is thrown in contact in the various relations of life. His political support is given to the Republican party without reservation, and fraternally he holds membership in the Modern Woodmen of the World. On January 16, 1895, he was united in marriage with Miss Bertha M. Smith, who was born in Canada, the daughter of Hiram and Maggie Smith, natives respectively of Canada and Ireland, and the father being the manager of a large woolen mill in Canada. He is a member of the Methodist church, while his wife is a communicant of the Catholic church. Mr. and Mrs. Limpert have had three children, John being deceased, the two sur- viving are Bernice and William V.

D ANIEL N. MACDONALD, of Philipsburg, is a native of Lewis island, Scotland. He was the first born of the six children of Norman and Catherine MacDonald, who were also Scotch by na- tivity. In early life he accompanied his parents to Linowick, province of Quebec, Canada. There he attended the public schools until he was twelve years old, and then for four years worked on the farm with his father. At the age of sixteen he removed to the United States and was employed on a farm near Charleston, W. Va., for two years; and then went to the White mountains, N. H., and spent a year employed in a lumber camp. From there he went to Boston and worked in a slaughter house and a fertilizer factory during the summer, returning to the lumber camp in the White Moun- tains for the winter in 1880. About this time Mr. MacDonald felt a longing for the larger oppor- tunities and wider range of experience to be found in the far west, and made his way to Marshall Pass, Colo., where he worked for the Rio Grande Rail- road Company for ten months. From there he went to Denver and kept a restaurant for three months, coming thence to Butte, Mont., and worked in a sawmill for Messrs. Walker & Newton. After remaining with that firm about six months he went to Missoula on a horse which he bought for the purpose of making the trip, there being no rail-

road to that place at the time. There he worked at sawmilling in the capacity of riding the carriage, for Joe Hartwell, who was getting out timber for the Northern Pacific Railroad. In the spring of 1883 he returned to Butte by way of Anaconda, when the present site of that town was a sheep ranch. On his return to Butte he went to work chopping wood, getting out logs for a sawmill with which to build the Parrott Smelter. The next spring he worked for William Buck, near Ana- conda, in a sawmill, running the saw, and later did the same kind of work for a man named Savery, who owned the Cable gold mine. In 1886 he made a visit of six months to his old home in Canada, and on his return to Anaconda worked for eighteen months in a smelter. From Anaconda he removed to Philipsburg and for four years con- ducted a wood yard. In April, 1893, he started business as a lumber merchant, and added coal, building material, flour and feed, in which he now engages, meeting with great success.

Although Mr. MacDonald's business has been extensive and exacting, he has not allowed it to ab- sorb all his time or energy. He has manifested a lively and continuous interest in public affairs, and has rendered good service to the community in va- rious civil capacities. He has been a school trustee and is now alderman of his ward in the city of Philipsburg. He is a Republican in politics, and takes an active part in all the campaigns of his party. The good fellowship and pleasant associa- tions engendered by the fraternal orders have ap- pealed with force to his mind, and he has given a good share of his time and attention to their in- terests. He is a member of the Independent Order of Foresters, of the Knights of Pythias, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In the two last named he has been through the chairs, and is regarded as one of the best posted and most skill- ful workers in the lodges. Since 1891 he has also been an elder in the Presbyterian church, and much of the progress and prosperity of the church is di- rectly traceable to his intelligent direction of its affairs, and the enthusiasm he has infused into the organization. In May, 1901, he was elected to represent the Butte Presbytery in the general assembly of the church, the sessions of which were held in Philadelphia, Pa. Mr. MacDonald was married April 7, 1886, at Hampton, in the prov- ince of Quebec, Canada, to Miss Anna A., daugh- ter of Allen and Margaret Smith. Her father is a leading farmer and stockman of his section, and

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she is the second of a family of four daughters. Mr. and Mrs. McDonald have four children, three sons and a daughter, namely: Allen, Ken- neth D., Margaret and Ray Lincoln. They have a beautiful home in Philipsburg, which is a favorite resort of their numerous devoted friends, and is noted for its refined and genial hospitality. Mr. MacDonald also owns six good houses in Philips- burg, all of which are rented, and a large double, two-story brick store building. He has besides a number of good mining prospects. In all the re- lations of life he has borne himself with eminent propriety and usefulness, and has won the deep and lasting regard of all classes of the community.

T `HOMAS McGERL, of Yellowstone valley, early began and long continued the hard ex- periences of adverse circumstances, and hearkened to the stern calls of duty where the dependence is wholly on one's self. He was born in County Lei- trim, Ireland, in November, 1845. His father, Pat- rick McGerl, also a native of Erin, was there en- gaged in farming and died at his home in 1846. His widow, nee Sarah McGovern, gathered her fam- ily of eight small children around her in 1848, and set sail for the United States, locating at Woon- socket, R. I., from whence she removed in 1855. to Lexington, Mo., where she died in 1878. Mr. Mc- Gerl received a very limited education in the schools of Woonsocket, R. I., and Lafayette county, Mo., being obliged to leave school at the age of nine years and take his place as a laborer on the farm. He remained at home until April, 1863, when he enlisted in the Union army as a member of the Fifth Missouri Regiment. He served until the end of the war, being the youngest of eight brothers, five of whom were in the Union army. In the spring of 1865 he crossed the plains from Leav- enworth, Kan., to Fort Union, N. M., returning the same year to his old Missouri home, where he remained until 1873 engaged in farming and stock- raising in partnership with his brother James. In the fall of 1873 he went to Texas, where he re- mained for two years, and in 1875 removed to Rock Springs, Wyo., where he worked with a bridge crew on the Union Pacific. In the spring of 1876 he came to Montana, and locating at Butte he worked in the mines for a year. On May 20, 1877, he located homestead and pre-emption claims at Huntley, near the old Baker battleground on the

Yellowstone. Here he and his partners established a stopping and trading place, and built a cable ferry across the river. He remained there until 1882, and, having engaged in the cattle business in 1880, during the next two years supplied the track and grading forces of the Northern Pacific Railroad with beef. Since 1884 Mr. McGerl has devoted his attention entirely to raising sheep and cattle on his Huntley ranch, which consists of 1,400 acres, and produces over 1,000 tons of alfalfa a year. Its substantial and superior improvements make it one of. the most desirable and admired ranches in the Yellowstone valley, where there are many that are well improved and highly cultivated. Mr. McGerl is a member of the Masonic lodge, chapter and commandery at Billings, and of Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena.

C HARLES A. LYNCH .- Filling with great ac- ceptability the office of postmaster at Meadow, Mont., which was established as a postoffice in the winter of 1901, and taking an active interest in the affairs of the community, Charles A. Lynch, of Flathead county, is looked upon as one of the leading citizens of his section of the state. He was born in Howard county, Mo., November 16, 1848. His father, Neptune Lynch, was born near Calway, Ireland, and came to the United States when he was a boy in charge of one of his uncles. He located in Howard county, Mo., where he lived until 1862, when he crossed the plains to Idaho, with his family. In the spring of 1866 he came to Montana and bought a ranch on Deep creek near Townsend. Three years later he sold this ranch and bought ox teams, and in 1869 and 1870 was engaged in freighting between Fort Benton and Helena. In the summer of 1870 he located at Horse Plains, where he remained until his death in 1898. His widow, Elizabeth (Alex- ander) Lynch, a native of Kentucky, is living with her daughter at Horse Plains. Charles A. Lynch was educated in the district schools of Howard county, Mo., and leaving school in 1862, when he was fourteen years old, he crossed the plains with his parents, and was connected with his father in his ranching and freighting enterprises until 1876. Then he and his brother Neptune engaged in the stock business, they buying cattle, etc., in Montana and Washington, and driving them to markets in the Northwest Territory. From 1883 to 1891 they

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were raising cattle and handling beef contracts for the railroads and other corporations, with head- quarters at Horse Plains. In 1891 he located on his present fine ranch of 900 acres in Pleasant Valley, Flathead county, and four miles from the Great Northern Railroad, on which he is ex- tensively engaged in raising cattle and hay. He takes an active part in politics as a Democrat, and, as has been noted, holds the office of postmaster at Meadow. He is a member of Kalispell Lodge No. 725, B. P. O. E. He was married at Kalispell in July, 1897, to Miss Kate Nowlan, who was born near Wilno, Minn. They have one child, Charles A. Lynch.

RODERICK McRAE. - A contribution to American citizenship from the Dominion of Canada, the subject of this sketch illustrates in his career the admirable qualities of manhood and busi- ness capacity for which the people of Canada are noted, and reflects credit on his Scotch ancestry. He was born in the province of Ontario on July 15, 1873. His parents, Murdock and Catherine ( McLennan) McRae, are natives of Scotland, and emigrated from that country in 1858. They are still living in the Dominion, enjoying the fruits of their well spent lives. Their son Roderick commenced his education in the public schools of Port Elgin, Ontario, rounding it out at the Port Elgin Insti- tute. In the fall of 1896 he came to Rosebud, Mont., and engaged for a year in teaching school. He then accepted employment as a clerk and sales- man in the store of the McRae Supply Company, which has since been merged into the McRae Mer- cantile Company, now under the direct personal management of himself and his brother, John Mc- Rae. They have been very successful in enlarg- ing the business and raising the standard of its trade, and have shown themselves to be capable, progressive and far-seeing business men. In politi- cal affiliations Mr. McRae is a Republican. Frater- nally he is allied with Forsyth Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and Rosebud Lodge, K. P., both located at Forsyth.

AVID N. MACBILLINGSLY .- Known from his boyhood as "Dave Mack," and among many even of his intimate friends not known to have any other name, Mr. MacBillingsly has passed his useful life in military and civil lines without pre-

tense, but with a heart always cheerful and a hand always ready to do whatever duty brought to him. He was born on a farm near Cleveland, Bradley county, Tenn., on May 4, 1828, the son of Joseph H. and Nancy (MacMillan) MacBillingsly, both natives of Tennessee and of Scotch ancestry. The father, a farmer and soldier in the Confederate army during the Civil war, died in Bradley county, Tenn., in 1865. The mother belonged to the cele- brated MacMillan family of Tennessee which has been long prominent in public life and she also died at the Bradley county homestead.

Mr. MacBillingsly was educated in the district schools and in 1852 he and his sister Susan removed to Newton county, Mo., and from 1853 to 1856 he bought cattle and drove them to the Sacramento valley, Cal. From 1856 to 1858 he was mining in California, then went to Boston bar, on the Fraser river, B. C., where he was engaged in placer mining until 1860. In 1861 he visited his old home in Tennessee, and from there went again to Newton county, Mo., where he enlisted in the Confederate army in the fall of 1861. He served under Gen. Price for three years and a half, participating in many notable engagements of the war, and still holds as a war relic an old muzzle-loading Colt's revolver, in the use of which he was an acknowl- edged expert. In the spring of 1865 he crossed the plains to Idaho City, Idaho, a year later came to Montana, and, locating at Elk creek in Deer Lodge county, was engaged in mining there and in the Bear and Lincoln gulches until 1870.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 137

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