Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 139

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 139

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W ILLIAM W. McDONALD .- A scion of old families long and honorably identified with the history of the Scottish Highlands, our subject's father, Duncan McDonald, was born in 1837, and from there he came to this country in the fall of 1864, settling in Pennsylvania, and later removing to Knox county, Neb., where he now lives on a farm, his wife, whose maiden name was Mary Williscraft, being born at Smith Falls, Canada, in 1848, and dying in Knox county, Neb., in 1881. William W. McDonald, was born at Smith Falls, Canada, on September 7, 1864. He attended the public schools of Knox county, Neb., until he was sixteen years old, and then gradually made his way west, working on the ranges in Kansas, Nebraska and Texas until 1883. In the spring of 1883 he came to the Rosebud valley, Mont., where he has ever since been in the stock business. In 1894 he formed a partnership with J. S. Hopkins, with whom he is now interested in a ranch of 1,600 acres on the Rosebud river, and one of 500 acres at the mouth of Big Porcupine creek on the Yellow- stone, both devoted to raising cattle and hay. He is also interested in the meat business at Forsyth with J. W. Lane. Mr. McDonald is recognized as one of the pushing and enterprising citizens of the growing town of Forsyth, and one of the lead- ing men of the new county of Rosebud, of which he was appointed a county commissioner at its forma- tion in March, 1901, but resigned in June of the same year on account of the pressure of private business. He is a Democrat in politics and takes an active interest in the affairs of his party, as he does in all matters effecting the welfare of the

community. He has, in consequence of his public spirit, his upright life and his genial and accommo- dating manner, the cordial good will and esteem of all classes of the people.

J JOHN McGIFFIN is one of the enterprising young farmers and stockraisers who have con- tributed in a material way to the development of the resources of Cascade county, where he has an excellent ranch of 320 acres, located in the district adjacent to Stockett. He is a native of the good old Keystone state, having been born in Washing- ton county, Pa., on September 22, 1862, the son of Thomas McGiffin, also a native of Pennsylvania. The paternal grandfather came from Ireland and the grandmother from Scotland. The mother of our subject died in Pennsylvania in 1866, and two years later Thomas McGiffin consummated a sec- ond marriage, being then united to Margaret Strane, of Washington county, Pa. Thomas Mc- Giffin was engaged in the practice of law until 1870, when he removed to Fairfield, Iowa, and de- voted his attention to farming and stockraising . until his death, in 1889. His widow is still living in Iowa, a devoted member of the Presbyterian church, as was her husband.

John McGiffin attained manhood under the dis- cipline of the farm and attended the public schools until the age of eighteen years, when, in 1880, he took a clerical position in the mercantile estab- lishment of his brother, Nathaniel, where he re- mained until 1885, when he came to Butte, Mont., and entered the employ of the Capitalist Grocery Company, being thus engaged until 1890, when he went on a prospecting tour through the Blackfoot valley in Nevada, being absent until 1892, and meeting with poor success. He came to Great Falls over the Cadout trail, making the trip on horseback and being on the road for one week. In Cascade county he took up a homestead claim of 160 acres, of which he placed twenty acres under cultivation and made further improvements by building a four- room house, good stable and other necessary build- ings. In July, 1896, he bought 160 acres of im- proved land from his brother Abner and he has devoted his attention to raising of horses and cat- tle, and has also secured a good yield of grain, his property at the present time being valued at $3,500. Mr. McGiffin is a young man of forceful individu- ality, is straightforward in all his dealings and

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is worthy of the respect and confidence accorded him. In politics he gives his support to the Re- publican party.

W ILLIAM McMASTER. - A varied and eventful career has been that of this sterling pioneer citizen of Montana. From his boyhood he has depended upon his own resources, and in the varied experiences of a singularly active and useful life he has gained a fund of information and that wisdom which is the result of wide obser- vation, ready power of assimilation and maturity of judgment. He has been identified with Montana for a long term of years and is now the owner of a valuable ranch and of extensive stock interests in Choteau county, where he maintains his home. Mr. McMaster descended from Scottish ancestry, his father having been born in that land of hills and heather. William, however, was born at Thomas- ton, Maine, on January 8, 1838, the son of David McMaster, who came to America when a young man, locating on the New England coast and .being identified with lumbering for the remainder of his life, dying at St. John, N. B., about 1866. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Johnston, was born in Newfoundland, and she survived him many years, dying at a venerable age at Monckton.

William McMaster had practically no educational advantages in his youth, for at the early age of eight years he adopted a seafaring life, continu- ing this vocation from 1846 until 1862, in the mer- chant marine service, sailing principally on vessels plying between America and England. In 1862 Mr. McMaster came across the plains to Mon- tana, driving a bull team the entire distance and ar- riving in Alder, gulch in the early summer. He soon joined the first stampede of gold-seekers to the Black Hills, and thereafter was engaged in prospecting and mining in Indian gulch and at Fort Logan and vicinity until 1881. Later he was for seven years on the sheep ranch of John Wooden on Smith river, and in 1888 he came to Choteau county, purchasing a squatter's claim of 160 acres, on Birch creek, thirty miles from Big Sandy sta- tion of the Great Northern Railroad, and here he now has a fine property, whose aggregate area is 480 acres, while he has also a large tract of open range. His postoffice address is Warwick. Mr. McMaster devotes his ranch principally to sheep, running an average of 3,000, and also se-

cures large annual yields of hay. For the last few years he has leased his ranch. Mr. McMaster is an ardent Republican, and fraternally is identified with the time-honored order of Masonry, having been raised in 1860 to the master's degree in Al- bert Lodge, A. F. & A. M., in Glasgow, Scotland, from which he later dimited to Prince of Wales Lodge, Liverpool, N. S., from which latter he holds a dimit. He is one of the oldest Masons in the state.

J AMES MANNIX was born at Hartford, Conn., on February 8, 1843, of Irish ancestry, his father, John Mannix, having come from Ireland while still a young man and settling at Hartford, where he died in 1875. His mother was also born in Ireland and passed away at Fort Wayne, Ind., in 1870. The advantages of the excellent public schools of Hartford were afforded James Mannix, and of these he liberally availed himself, following his school days by mastering the trade of stone and brickmason. As journeyman and contractor he pursued this calling in Hartford until 1877, in the spring of that year coming to Montana by the Missouri river to Fort Benton. His first act was one of fraternal duty visiting his brother, Philip A. Mannix, of Fort Shaw, prominent at that period throughout Montana, He soon located at Sun River Crossing, where was his home for twelve years, from 1877 until 1889. In those days there was plenty of work in the rapid development of the country and business opportunities were on every hand. He built the brick hotel, the Metho- dist church and many other edifices at Sun River, and continued work at his trade at Fort Shaw, Fort Benton, Cascade, the Piegan Indian agency, Cho- teau and other places. Through the medium of church associations Mr. Mannix acquired a wide acquaintance in the state and won the friendship of hundreds of pioneers. While following his oc- cupation he was severely frozen, since which de- plorable event he has found it impossible to perform manual labor, but he regards himself as fortunate in having escaped with his life. In 1880 Mr. Man- nix purchased a ranch one mile from Sun River Crossing, where he ably conducted a profitable dairy for nine years. In 1889 he removed to the north fork of the Dry Forks of the Marias river in Te- ton county, and purchased a squatter's claim and there made the family home. To this has since been added government claims sufficient to form a ranch

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of 1,000 acres. This extensive tract of land is well improved and devoted to general farming, hay and stockraising under the direct and efficient manage- ment of Mrs. Mannix and her son, Thomas Michael Mannix. In 1864, at Hartford, Conn., Mr. Man- nix married Miss Bridget Murray, a native of Ireland. They have four children : Mary, wife of Benson English, of Dupuyer; Margaret, Mrs. George Quail, of Dupuyer, and Anne and Thomas M., residing on the ranch.

JOHN N. MANNING .- On the roll of those who are prominently concerned with the mining industry of Montana and who hold prestige as representative citizens of the state, is Mr. Man- ning, who stands as the practical founder of the town of Landusky, Choteau county, where he has made his home for the past decade. He was born at Petersburg, Menard county, Ill., on December 5: 1843. His father, Gilbert Sweet Manning, was born near Schenectady, N. Y., in 1802, and de- voted his active business life to mercantile and manufacturing enterprises, taking up his residence in Illinois in the early days and conducting opera- tions in Springfield, Danville and Petersburg. He died in Danville in 1876, honored by all that knew him and regarded as an able business man and en- terprising citizen. His wife, whose maiden name was Fanny L. Murray, was born in the Dominion of Canada, and she entered into eternal rest in 1862 at Springfield, Ill. John N. Manning at- tended the public schools of the capital city of Illinois until eligible to entrance in the Methodist Seminary at Quincy, where he was a student until he was eighteen years old. In' 1861 Mr. Manning went to Chicago and was employed for one year in the establishment of Cram Brothers, manufact- urers of machinery, and then for four years he engaged in the steam-heating business for himself. In 1882 Mr. Manning purchased a ranch in Linn county, Mo., and was there engaged in farming for eight years, when he sold his interests in Missouri and made a prospecting tour in Mexico.

In 1891 Mr. Manning came to Montana, where his brother, George G. Manning, had located as a pioneer in 1862, and forthwith became the first resident of what is now the thriving little town of Landusky, Choteau county, in the Little Rockies. He here erected a three-stamp quartz mill in 1893, and this was the nucleus around which the village

has grown. From the time of his arrival he has been associated with his brother George in pros- pecting and mining, and their efforts have been at- tended with gratifying success. In the year 1900 they sold a number of their claims to the Mission Peak Mining Company for $37,000, and they still retain valuable properties in the same vicinity. Mr. Manning maintains a lively interest in all that conserves the advancement and material prosperity of his section of the state, and is recognized as a thoroughly public-spirited and progressive business man, retaining uniform confidence and esteem in the community. His political proclivities are in- dicated in the stanch support he accords to the Democratic party. In Chicago, Ill., in 1861, Mr. Manning was united in marriage to Miss Carrie Carrico, a native of Sangamon county, Ill., in 1844, and of their three children we incorporate a brief record, as follows: George E. is engaged in the plumbing business in Omaha, Neb .; Maud S. is the wife of Foster Simpson, of St. Louis, Mo., and Guy C. is a justice of the peace at Landusky, the home of his parents.

THOMAS B. MAGEE, who is successfully en- gaged in the drug business at Dupuyer, Teton county, and who has distinctly shown himself to be one of the enterprising and progressive young business men of the state, was born in East Doug- las, Worcester county, Mass., on May 30, 1862, the son of Thomas N. and Mary ( Buffum) Magee. See the sketch of George W. Magee on another page of this work.

Thomas B. Magee commenced his education in the public schools of Pawtucket, R. I., but left school at the immature age of twelve years to begin the practical duties of life. After three years of farm life he was engaged in laboring at Hope cemetery in Worcester, Mass., for two years. In 1880 he came to Cedar Rapids, Ia., and soon after- ward went to Atlanta, Ga., where for three years he had charge of a construction gang on the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railroad. In 1883 he came to Miles City, Mont., worked in the coal mines for a year, and in 1884 removed to Great Falls, where with Daniel Mckay he established the first brickyard of the city. Afterward he had charge of a livery stable at Fort Benton for one year, and from 1886 to 1888 was employed on ranches in the neighborhood of Dupuyer, Teton county. From

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1888 to 1893 Mr. Magee was employed in the gen- eral store of Joseph Hirshberg & Co. at Robare, and then until 1896 was in charge of Joseph Kipp's posttrader's store at the Blackfoot Indian agency. He had the distinction of being the first postmaster at Browning and the last one at Robare. From 1896 until 1900 his attention was given to the rais- ing of cattle near Browning. He then came to Dupuyer, purchased the drug business of C. M. Lanning & Co., and has here conducted the enter- prise successfully to the present time, being one of the representative business men of the town. He is an active worker in the Republican party and in 1901 was elected school trustee for Dupuyer township. He was appointed coroner of Teton county in June, 1900, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Dr. W. H. Titus. Fraternally he is identified with Dupuyer Lodge No. 48, A. O. U. W., and Mountain Meadow Lodge No. 234, Wood- men of the World.

On New Year's day, 1890, at Robare, Mr. Magee was united in marriage to Miss Julia Grant, daugh- ter of James Grant, a pioneer of this section of Montana, and they have five children: Thomas, George, Walter, Henry and Dewey.

M CIVOY BROTHERS .- Patrick and James McIvoy, prosperous and progressive farmers and stockmen of Rosebud county, Mont., having endured the hardships of frontier life in a country sparsely settled and without railroads and having used their opportunities to good advantage, have gathered a comfortable store of this world's wealth and can now enjoy what they have worked faith- fully to secure. They are the sons of Christopher and Mary McIvoy, natives of Ireland, who came to the United States in early life, where at Jeffer- son Barracks, Kan., the father enlisted in the reg- ular army, and for thirty-three years was a soldier on the frontier, taking part in all the Indian cam- paigns of moment in that long period of years. On leaving the army in 1880 he located on a ranch in the Yellowstone valley about half way between Miles City and Forsyth, where he bought a squat- ter's claim and took up an adjoining homestead. Here he died in 1894, and his wife followed him two years later. Patrick McIvoy was born at Jef- ferson Barracks, Kan., on November 1, 1845, and has been on the ranch with his brother since 1880. James was born at Fort Sumner, N. M., in Janu-

ary, 1868, and was educated at Leavenworth, Kan., and Fort Keogh, Mont. He accompanied his par- ents to the Yellowstone valley in 1880, locating on the ranch his father occupied until his death, and which the brothers have made one of the finest and most attractive in the valley. It consists of 900 acres and is well improved and well stocked. The principal industry they follow is raising cattle and hay, and they are very successful in the business. The brothers are Democrats in politics, and take an active interest in local affairs, giving their party good service and aiding intelligently in conducting its campaigns. They are unmarried and make their residence in the pleasant home of a married sister, Mrs. William Morrison. Both in the standing they have won in the community and the success they have achieved in their business they are creditable to the state, furnishing an excellent example of thrift and industry.

EDGAR F. MANN is one of the best known stockmen in Cascade county. His well equip- ped ranch lies four miles due north of Belt, and is supplied with every convenience for conducting the cattle business successfully, and he is a large- hearted, generous westerner, one who came to this section while still a youth, and who has endured its dangers and hardships and shared in its manifold triumphs. As miner, rancher and general business man he has won merited success and the high es- teem of a wide circle of friends. He is a native of Ontario, Canada, born on October 20, 1843. His parents were Lewis W. and Margaret Mann, also Canadians, and the father was a carpenter and a farmer. Both parents were members of the Univer- salist church. The father died in 1867, the wife surviving him until 1898.

Edgar F. Mann had only a common school edu- cation, as from childhood he assisted his parents on the farm and engaged in other occupations wherein he could earn a little money. At the age of sixteen he hired out as a farmer for $16 a month. He started overland for California before he was twenty, meeting no Indians on the way, but finding numerous dead bodies of murdered emigrants. In the fall of 1860 he arrived at Salt Lake and took charge of several mule trains for William Kimball, one of the Twelve Apostles of the Mormon church, and began freighting between Salt Lake and Omaha, and also made one trip to Los

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Angeles, Cal. He received a salary of $65 per month. The price for carrying freight between these points was twenty-five cents per pound and the business was profitable, although attended with danger from attacks of Indians. The following spring he began driving stage, and in 1864 joined the stampede to Sweetwater, Wyo., mining and prospecting there two years. Here he settled upon what was later the Milk ranch, which he developed and stocked with cows at $40 per head. The milk readily sold for eighty cents a gallon, while butter retailed for $1.25 per pound. This enterprise was very successful. This ranch Mr. Mann profitably disposed of in 1866 and returned to Sweetwater, where he remained two months. During this time Indians stole 150 horses here and killed and scalped the day herder. The residents were aroused and scouting parties endeavored to find and exterminate the savages, and twenty-four men went to Salt Lake to purchase more stock, on foot, fighting their way through hostile bands of Indians. They re- turned with fifty horses and equipments, for which they paid $60 apiece. Mr. Mann was one of this party, and on his return he found that the Indians had burned all the stage stations and murdered many of the agents.

On his return to Sweetwater he engaged for two months in mining and then located at Big Sandy, fifty miles from Sweetwater. He was compelled to pay $75 a load for logs for a cabin and stable, but the enterprise proved profitable and he contin- ued it for four years, then trading this property for cattle, which he sold for $6,000. Purchasing an outfit he went to Kansas, and in the spring of 1866 he hunted buffalo along the boundary line of Kan- sas and Colorado, killing an average of forty buf- falo a day, and disposing of their hides for $2.50 apiece. Two years later he wintered at Walla Walla, Wash., where he freighted between that city and Umatilla Landing. In 1871 he went to the Weaser country, Idaho, secured a homestead claim, which he improved and sold for $250. Mr. Mann then went to Spokane Falls, then containing only one store and two dwellings. Here he celebrated the Fourth of July quite jubilantly with many mountaineers who had come in to enjoy the cele- bration. After an unsucessful attempt to reach Montana by the old Mullen road, the party con- verted the expedition into a picnic excursion and lived on mountain trout and raspberries, both of these delicacies being plentiful, returning to Spo- kane, where they secured packhorses and con- tinued their journey to Fort Benton.

Mr. Mann rented a ranch on the Teton for the winter and then removed to the Judith basin, which then contained but one house, Bowles and Reed's old fort, on Big Spring creek, a trading post con- trolled by these gentlemen, who were then promi- nent characters. Mr. Mann's party camped on a creek two miles north of this post, and the Indians stole their fourteen horses. After two days' hunt- ing they recovered seven of them and then went to the Highwood mountains for the winter. In the winter of 1878 Mr. Mann located on a ranch on Belt creek, which he improved and sold to Paris Gibson for $500. A gold discovery at Yogo gulch induced Mr. Mann to visit the gulch, but here his mining had poor success. He then went to Lone Tree, on Arrow creek, secured another ranch, im- proved it and sold it for $20. In the fall of 1900 Mr. Mann sold his beautiful Otter creek ranch for $3,500 to Roy L. Fish. His present ranch con- sists of 480 acres, for which he paid $1,000. He is interested in quartz mining at Neihart and in poli- tics votes the Republican ticket. On April 4, 1863, Mr. Mann married Miss Martha Triplett, a native of Little Rock, Ark., daughter of Jesse and Rebecca Triplett. Her parents were born in Kentucky and her father was a farmer. They both died early in life. To Mr. and Mrs. Mann have been born two children, Frederick E., deceased, and Edith L.

JAMES P. MANSFIELD .- Born and reared in the thrifty, progressive and well governed prov- ince of Ontario, Canada, a son of the better class of emigrants from the Emerald Isle to America, and spending his early life attending the district schools of the vicinity and working on the farm, James P. Mansfield, of Cascade county, learned when he was quite young the necessity of depend- ing on his own resources to make his way in the world, and began the struggle when he was but fifteen years old. He was born June 6, 1875, the son of Michael and Mary Mansfield, who left the verdant shores of Erin, and in the beginning of their domestic life settled in Ontario, where they followed farming and secured a moderate amount of this world's goods. They grew old in the Do- minion, but the father died in Great Falls, Novem- ber 4, 1900, and the mother is still living. Both were devout members of the Catholic church and raised their children in that faith.

The subject of this sketch began life for himself as a farmer at the age of fifteen, leaving his home

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and venturing alone into the western wilderness. He reached Montana and at once located on his present hornestead, thirty-three miles east of Belt, Cascade county, and by close attention to its re- quirements and frugal care in the use of its pro- ducts, he has been able to add to it and partially im- prove a desert claim which now embraces 320 acres, about two-thirds being under excellent cul- tivation. He devotes his attention mainly to rais- ing cattle and hay, and has gratifying success in both, finding pleasure in his work and securing good returns from the generous soil of Montana, in whose praise he is enthusiastic. Mr. Mansfield is a good, quiet, law-abiding citizen, who has no ambition above doing his whole duty to every man and every interest connected with him in any way, lending his aid to every public enterprise of merit and rejoicing in the welfare of every element of progress in the community to which he belongs. In political relations he is a Republican, but takes no active part in party management.

J OHN MANY, whose well improved ranch prop- erties are located in the Milk river valley, about two miles west of the village of Chinook, Choteau county, Mont., is recognized as one of the leading stockgrowers of this section of the state and as one of the influential men of the community, being president of the Fort Belknap Canal & Irrigation Company, organized in 1891, and which is respon- sible for the great improvements in effective irri- gation in the county and contiguous districts. Mr. Many is a native of Illinois, having been born in Morgan county on July 4, 1859, the son of Richard and Ann (Considine) Many, both of whom were born in the Emerald Isle. Richard Many emi- grated from Ireland in 1840 and settled in Illinois, where he engaged in farming and where his mar- riage occurred. His death occurred in 1873, and his widow survived him until 1891, in which year she passed away at the home of her son, the subject of this review. They were the parents of four sons and four daughters, John being the eldest of the children.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 139

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