Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 149

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 149

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JOHN M. PIERSON .- In reviewing those men prominently concerned in the industrial life of Carbon county and who are honored for their integrity and ability, we must make specific men- tion of Mr. Pierson, whose fine ranch property is located about three miles south of Absarokee, which is his postoffice address. Here he is suc- cessfully engaged in the raising of cattle and is now numbered among the representative citizens of the county. He is a native of Missouri, comes of old southern stock, and was born in Cedar county on January 5, 1859, the son of William and Mahala ( Martin) Pierson, the former of whom was born in Alabama and the latter in Virginia. William Pierson early removed to Missouri and later located in Kentucky for a brief interval, returning to Missouri, where his death occurred, John M. being then but a lad, and being survived by his wife. John M. Pierson re- ceived his early education in the public schools but went to Texas when a boy, where he remained a few years, going from that state to Oregon when sixteen years of age, continuing his residence there until he was twenty-five years old, when, in

1885, he came to Montana, first locating on the upper Yellowstone river, while in the succeed- ing year he secured employment in the mines at Nye City. Finally he entered the employ of Maj. Pease, the first Indian agent of the Crow reser- vation, and resided on the reservation until a por- tion of it was thrown open to settlement, when he located upon his present ranch, now in Carbon county. He took up a homestead claim on the Big Rosebud river, and to this he has added until he now has a valuable and attractive landed estate, having made the best of improvements, includ- ing a commodious residence of modern architect- ural design and equipments. Mr. Pierson gives his attention to the raising of high-grade cattle, utilizing the shorthorn and Hereford types and usually having about 300 head. The major por- tion of his ranch is susceptible of effective irriga- tion, being traversed by the Rosebud river, and he is fortunate in having secured one of the most eligibly located properties in the county. Mr. Pierson ever maintains a public-spirited interest in all that conserves the progress and material prosperity of the community. In October, 1890, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Pierson to a daughter of Maj. David Pease, who was the first Indian agent on the Crow reservation and is now located in Custer county, where he is suc- cessfully engaged in the raising of horses. Mr. and Mrs. Pierson have three interesting young daughters, Virgie, Helen and Ethel.

C LEMENT E. PIERCE .- Passing the early years of his life in lumber camps in the prov- ince of Quebec, Clement E. Pierce, of Rosebud county, Mont., was inured from childhood to the rigors of a northern climate and the exactions of a life of toil. He was born on February 25, 1853, the son of William G. and Polly (Wilson) Pierce, also natives of Quebec, where the latter died in 1883 and the former in 1894.

Their son Clement attended the public schools of Quebec and assisted his father on the farm until he was twenty years old, when he went to the lumber woods of Vermont and worked a year. In 1876 Clement removed to Butler county, Iowa, and the following year came west to Washoe county, Nev., working one season in the lumber camps. In 1878 he and George Scott together bought 2,000 sheep in California and ran them on

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the Nevada ranges until 1879. As most of the sheep died that year, Mr. Pierce sold his interest in the residue to Mr. Scott and in the fall of 1879 came overland to Montana and located a home- stead in what is now Rosebud county, on the Rose- bud river about three miles and a half from the Northern Pacific Railroad. Some time later he purchased an additional tract of 160 acres sur- rounded by an open grazing range, where he has since been successfully engaged in farming and the stock business, breeding a high grade of cattle and horses. Much of the first two years of his residence on the Rosebud was passed in hunting buffalo, at which, becoming an expert, he conducted a profitable business.

In politics Mr. Pierce is a Republican and mani- fests a lively interest in the welfare of his party. He is trustee of his school district and for twelve years has been a justice of the peace. Fraternally he is connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, holding a membership in Forsyth lodge. He was married at Rosebud in April, 1892, to Miss Mary Schwartz, who was born in Germany on March 8, 1871. They have had five children : Mar- garet (dec), Edna, Annie, Clement and Morris.

A LEX H. PORTER .- The memory of a good man is a fruitful and inspiring subject of con- templation. It is refreshing to the mind and stimu- lates the moral faculties. Alexander H. Porter, late of Philipsburg, Granite county, who there died in the summer of 1897, affords such a subject. He was born June 7, 1855, in the state of Ohio. His father was an Irishman by birth, but was brought to America in his childhood and grew to man- hood in Ohio, where he was married to Miss Har- riet Shoup, a native of Pennsylvania. Some time after his marriage they removed to Illinois and engaged in farming near Chicago. They were the parents of seven children, of whom Alexander was the fourth. Mr. Porter attended the public schools until he was thirteen years old, and was then obliged to work on the farm during the sum- mer and in the coal mines during the winter. When he reached the age of eighteen the family removed to a farm in Missouri near Fort Scott, Kan., but he soon after went to the Black Hills. A few months later he came to Montana, mak- ing his first home at Butte, at that time con- sisting of only a few cabins. From there he went

to Philipsburg and worked in the mines for about two years; then, with a party of fifteen or six- teen he went to Idaho and explored the Clear Water county, prospecting there for two years more. Returning to Philipsburg he again went to work in the mines and prospecting, being success- ful in all his ventures and making everything pay. In company with his brothers he located and took up claims on the east fork of Rock creek, which they worked together, Mr. Porter putting in his spare time speculating in mining deals. In the course of time he bought his brothers out on Rock creek and thereafter owned a body of about 2,000 acres of land, 400 of which are under cultivation and well stocked with fine cattle. In connection with others he made many important mining deals, among them the sale of the Jumbo mine at Quigley for $30,000. In this mine he had a one-third interest, it being one of the many mines which he located, as he did the Granite Belle and the Buckeye.

In the midst of his great usefulness, in the sum- mer of 1897, at the early age of forty-two, Mr. Porter was called from his earthly labors, and his work has since been in the hands of his widow, who has carried it forward with the same vigor and success that he had shown in its management. In the summer of 1901 she leased the ranch and retired to her home in Philipsburg.

This excellent lady was, prior to her marriage, Miss Jennie Spencer, a native of Wales, who came to America with her parents when about four years of age. She and Mr. Porter were mar- ried October 2, 1880, and were the parents of seven children, namely: Mary Frances, Alex- ander H., deceased, Forrest H., Hamilton, de- ceased, an infant deceased, Spencer and Nova.

JUDGE WILLIAM T. PIGOTT, associate judge of Montana, is a resident of Helena, and was born in Cooper county, Mo., on November 3, 1861, the son of John T. and Josephine (Trigg) Pigott. The father was a native of St. Louis, and the mother of Cooper county, Mo. John T. Pigott was a banker of Booneville, Mo., long connected with the banking house of W. H. Trigg & Co., and is now retired from financial life. The paternal grandfather was John Pigott, of Dublin, Ireland, who came to St. Louis in 1814. He was of Eng- lish descent and was a planter. The maternal

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grandfather was William H. Trigg, a native of Ten- nessee, born in 1808, a son of Daniel Trigg, of Abingdon, Va., and who died at Booneville, Mo., in 1895. William T. Pigott has four brothers, one of whom now resides in Helena. Judge Pigott re- ceived his education in the schools of Missouri, graduating from the law department of the Uni- versity of that state in 1880. In August of 1880 he came to Montana and located at Virginia City, and here, at the early age of eighteen years and six months, he began the practice of law and also successfully continued it until 1890, when he formed a law partnership with Ransom Cooper which continued until April, 1894, and during this period his home was in Great Falls. From 1894 until 1897 he was associated with Parker Veazey. During Judge Pigott's residence in Virginia City he was city attorney for ten years, from Novem- ber, 1880, until November, 1890, and also in 1897 he was appointed to fill the vacancy in that office caused by the death of H. R. Buck. In 1883 Judge Pigott married with Miss Jennie Curtis, a native of Milledgeville, Ga. Her father was Judson M. Curtis, a native of Maryland, who was for years an honored clergyman of the Episcopal church and who died in 1890. Judge Pigott and wife have four children, John T., Winfred, Curtis and Will- iam T., Jr. The political sympathies of Judge Pigott are with the Democratic party. In the successive campaigns he manifests a lively inter- est and is high and influential in the councils of that element. Judge Pigott is a man of great force of character and profound knowledge of law, and during the years he has been a resident of Montana he has formed a wide circle of acquaint- ances and is highly esteemed by all.

CHARLES D. PRATHER .- A native of Spring- field, Mo., where he was born May 3, 1868, the son of Jacob and Sarah (Adams) Prather, Germans by nativity who came to the United States in 1854, Charles Daniel Prather, of near Laurel, one of the most extensive and prosperous stockmen in Yellowstone county, has exhibited in his career the sturdy and productive industry of his ances- tors and the business capacity for which his race is distinguished. On their arrival in America his parents settled at Chadwick, Mo., and engaged in farming until the death of the father in 1872. The mother is now living at Dardanelle, Ark. Mr.

Prather attended the schools at Chadwick, remain- ing at home until he was twenty-one years old. In 1888 he went to Arkansas, and was there engaged in farming until 1891, when he came to Montana and took charge of the Windy Nelson ranch, a mile and a half from Laurel, managing it for A. C. Tompkins until he sold it to the First National Bank of Billings in 1895; after which Mr. Prather managed it for the bank until 1900, when he bought it, paying $16,000. On it he runs regularly from 10,000 to 20,000 head of sheep and some 300 cat- tle, carrying on the stock business more exten- sively than almost any other man in the Yellow- stone valley, and managing it with so much shrewd- ness and breadth of view that he is eminently suc- cessful in his operations.

In politics Mr. Prather is a Republican, but he is not an active partisan. Fraternally he holds membership in Star Lodge, I. O. O. F., at Billings. He was united in marriage at Wayside, Kan., in the fall of 1900, with Miss Maud Jones, a native of Missouri, where she was born in 1878. They have one child, Elsie, born September 5, 1901.

D AVID PIMPERTON .- Among those who have materially assisted in the rapid devel- opment of the stock interests of Cascade county is this energetic person, who has won high suc- cess. He can be classed among the earlier set- tlers of the county, coming there long before Great Falls was founded. He was born in Ontario, Canada, on July 9, 1854, the son of David and Elizabeth Pimperton, English people who emi- grated to Canada in early years and there followed farming. The father, who died some years ago, was a member of the church of England, as is the mother, who is still living.

Young David attended the common schools and during the summers assisted his father on the farm until he reached the age of seventeen years. He then employed himself in various occupations, among them being a clerk in a store and working in a flouring mill. In 1874 he removed to Winni- peg, Manitoba, and later to Alberta where he re- mained three years. Up to 1878 he was prin- cipally employed in surveying and teaming, and then removed to Butte, Mont., where he con- ducted a successful livery business. In 1882 Mr. Pimperton went to Washington, where during the winter he purchased horses which he brought to

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his present ranch, which he located eleven miles southeast of Belt. ' Since then he has engaged extensively in stockraising, meeting with good suc- cess except in sheepraising, which he has not found profitable. His property embraces 1,000 acres of land, 300 acres being devoted to grain and hay. He is a strong Democrat. Mr. Pim- perton was united in wedlock with Miss Katherine Fergus, a native of Port Huron, Mich., daughter of Edward and Anna Fergus, natives of Ireland and members of the Catholic church, as is Mrs. Pimperton. The father, who died in 1880, was a lifelong farmer. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Pimperton, Alma, Earl, Edward and Sydney.

T HOMAS W. PURSELL has established a rep- utation as one of the progressive and success- ful farmers and stockraisers of Montana, being ex- tensively engaged in the lines of industry men- tioned, and maintaining his home on his fine ranch property, located sixteen miles south of the thriv- ing little city of Cascade. A native of Arkansas, Mr. Pursell was born at Fayetteville, Washington county, on October 17, 1859, the son of William J. and Madeline Pursell, both of whom were born in Tennessee. The father was for many years a successful farmer in Arkansas. In politics he is a stalwart Democrat; and both he and his wife became devoted members of the Christian church. The mother of our subject was summoned into eternal life on February 9, 1901, secure in the love and esteem of all who had knowledge of her beautiful character.

Thomas W. Pursell received a common school education in his boyhood, and was thereafter en- gaged in assisting his father in farming operations until he attained his legal majority, when he set forth to seek his fortune. In 1880 he went to Texas and was employed on a farm until the fall of the year, when he returned to Arkansas, where he was married. In the winter of the same year he made his way overland to the reservation of the Greek Indian nation, in Indian Territory, making his home at Okmulgee. He engaged in freighting in that locality until the fall of 1881, when he re- turned to Arkansas, rented 160 acres of land and engaged in agricultural pursuits until the autumn of 1883. He then sold his interests for $350 and went to Helena, Mont., where he arrived in the spring of 1884, being thereafter employed in vari-

ous capacities for a year. In the spring of 1885 Mr. Pursell was employed at the Mullery & Can- non ranch until the fall of 1889, when he took up a squatter's claim of 160 acres on Soldiers' creek, sixteen miles south of Cascade. He has since added 400 acres to the area of his ranch, hav- ing secured the land by the filing of homestead and desert claims, his possessions being further augmented by the purchase of 560 acres from the Northern Pacific Railroad Company at a cost of $1,120. Of this valuable ranch property 300 acres are susceptible of cultivation. He has made excellent improvements, and is now doing an ex- tensive business in the way of general farming and stockraising. The expansion of his business operations has resulted in his leasing an entire section of land from the Northern Pacific Rail- road, the tract being utilized for grazing purposes.

In politics Mr. Pursell gives his support to the Democratic party so far as national issues are involved, but in local affairs he is independent of strict party lines. On November 3, 1880, Mr. Pur- sell was united in marriage to Miss Mary L. Breech, who was born in Missouri, the daughter of John C. and Nancy Breech, the former a native of Missouri and the latter of Tennessee. Her father is a successful and influential farmer of southwest Missouri ; in politics he is a stanch Re- publican. The mother of Mrs. Pursell passed away in 1887. Our subject and his estimable wife have one child, Hattie B., born November 6, 1881.

AMES F. PLATT .- Although born in the east

and reared and educated in the middle west, as he came to the great northwest when he was fifteen years old and in the early days of its his- tory, Mr. Platt may appropriately be considered not only a pioneer of the section, but almost its distinctive product. He is a native of Brockett's Bridge, N. Y., where his life began on March 15, 1848. His parents, George and Adeline (Ayres) Platt, were natives of the same place, both born in 1813. The former was a prosperous blacksmith there. He removed with his family to Switzer- land county, Ind., in 1850, and six years later to Rock Island county, Ill., where he died in July, 1883, having survived his wife but four months.

Mr. Platt was educated in the schools of Rock Island county, Ill., and when he was fifteen years old left home for Montana, driving an ox team

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across the plains and reaching Bannack in the summer of 1863. After a short stay there he re- moved to Virginia City, where he passed three years in successful mining operations. In 1866. he located at Green River, Wyo., (then a part of Idaho), and there worked at various occupations for five years, during two of which he operated a ferry across Green river for Col. Granger, at the point where the town of Granger now stands. In 1871 he returned to Rock Island, Ill., and there passed the next twenty years in farming and stock- raising. In 1891 he again came to the northwest, this time making his home at Tacoma, Wash., where he was profitably engaged in the lumber business for a period of five years, at the end of which he removed to Billings, Mont., and at this point has since been in the sheep business, having an average of about 5,000 head on the ranges along Antelope creek, sixty miles from Billings, although he makes his home in the city.

During the time of his first residence in Montana the Vigilantes were at the height of their crusade against evil-doers, and he witnessed the hanging of several of the notorious outlaws of the period. In politics he is a Republican, but is not an active partisan. Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order, holding membership in Perrin Lodge, Olive Chapter, Mt. Zion Commandery and the Eastern Star, at Harlan, Iowa. He was married at Buffalo Prairie, Rock Island county, Ill., in 1871, to Elizabeth Kistler, a native of that place, where she was born in 1849 and where her marriage occurred in the same house as her birth. They have four children : Adeline, a teacher in the Butte schools ; Martha, wife of Henry Swain, living at Harlan, Iowa, and Elizabeth and James B., living at home.

JOHN R. QUIGLEY, SR., the principal mer- chant and a leading citizen of Ophir, Powell county, was born in Logan county, Virginia, near the historical Harper's Ferry, April 17, 1834. Of his parents, John and Annie (McNulty) Quigley, the former was a native of County Derry, and the latter of County Tyrone, Ireland. They came to the United States when quite young and were mar- ried in Baltimore, Md., subsequently locating in Logan county on a farm. The elder Quigley also did considerable contract work for the Baltimore & Ohio Railway Company. In 1845 he removed,

with his family, to Lafayette county, Wis., engaged in farming and lived there until his death at the advanced age of ninety-seven years in 1899. His wife, and the mother of our subject, had passed away several years previous at the age of seventy.

The family of John R. Quigley were pioneers in Wisconsin, and he was eleven years old when they settled in Lafayette county and secured gov- ernment land. It was a new country and the edu- cational advantages were limited, but our sub- ject made the most of his opportunities, studied at home, and at about the time he attained his majority he was enabled to complete a college course of two. years at Sinsinawa Mound, Wis. The three subsequent years Mr. Quigley taught school, and later served three years as deputy sher- iff of Lafayette county, resigning this position when he started west, April 16, 1864. Accom- panied by a party in three wagons he left Omaha and came overland, via the Platte river route to Virginia City, Mont., arriving July 20, 1864. He at once opened a small store at the upper end of Nevada City, which enterprise he successfully con- ducted until May, 1865, when he went to Diamond City, but shortly afterwards moved his stock of goods to Ophir, at that period known as Blackfoot City. This was the era of great gold stampedes, and one of these periodical sensations carried a large number into a "stampede" to Washington gulch. Mr. Quigley accompanied them and opened a store at that point which he conducted until about the middle of November, when he returned to Dia- mond City, erected a large-sized building for store purposes and remained there until May, 1866, when he went to Carpenter's bar, leaving his money, however, invested in the business at Diamond City. The following autumn he was compelled to dispose of his property at a loss. His total cash capital on his arrival at Carpenter's bar amounted to ninety cents, and he was $350 in debt. But not at all dismayed he opened a store and continued the same successfully three years. During the fall of 1868 he disposed of his interest in the store, and returned to Wisconsin, as he says, in search of a wife, and was unsuccessful.

A second trip the following winter resulted more satisfactorily, and on May 1, 1870, he was united in marriage to Miss Catherine M. Seeley, a native of Wisconsin, and a daughter of David Seeley, formerly a member of the Wisconsin legislature, and of the constitutional convention of that state. To Mr. and Mrs. Quigley have been born seven

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children, viz: Annie, Raymond, Mary, John R., Jr., Thomas, Helen and Hattie.

During the spring of 1869 Mr. Quigley engaged in the mercantile business at Blackfoot City, now Ophir, and in which he has remained successfully ever since, and has never refused a man a sack of flour, bacon or clothing. For many years he has continued to invest money in neighboring placer mines, but has not realized from them to any ex- tent, although he owns valuable water rights and other mining interests. He is also extensively engaged in ranching in the . Helmville district, having 400 acres in that vicinity, and a store in the town of Helmville. He is proprietor of another ranch of 1,200 acres on Three Mile creek, which is managed by his sons, making a specialty of cattle. Politically Mr. Quigley is a Democrat. He has been chairman of county conventions for eighteen consecutive campaigns, a notary public for the past twenty years, and has served as justice of the peace a number of terms. As a representa- tive man of the highest type, broad-minded, liberal and progressive, Mr. Quigley has won the esteem and confidence of all of the people.

W ILLIAM RAY, M. D .- Dr. Ray has reached eminence in the profession of medicine by long practice in fruitful fields of valuable experi- ence, and entered upon it after thorough prepara- tion in both academic and scientific lines. He was born at Natchez, Miss., January 3, 1843. His father, Henry Ray, was an extensive planter of that state, and a soldier in the Confederate army. After the war he removed to Minneapolis, and there died in 1892. Mrs. Ray, the mother of the Doctor, was Miss Emily Snell, of Revolutionary stock, a daughter of Capt. Calvin Snell, who died at Vicksburg, Miss., of wounds received in the ser- vice. They were the parents of eight children, of whom the Doctor was the third. He attended the public schools at Natchez until he was twelve years of age, when he entered Natchez Institute and remained there until he was graduated in 1860. He then took a course of medical lectures at Mc- Dowel Medical College, St. Louis, now the medi- cal department of the University of Missouri. In 1861 he followed the fortunes of his state into the Civil war, entering the Confederate service as a surgeon and going through the struggle, suffering all the hardships and privations and performing the

heroic labors which it entailed. After the war he was surgeon for the La Motte Lead Mining Com- pany, of Missouri, from 1869 to 1872, then prac- ticed medicine for two years at St. Louis. From there he went to St. Paul and practiced until 1889. when he came to Montana, locating at Philipsburg, where he has since practiced. He was official sur- geon for a number of large corporations, includ- ing the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, the Hope Mining Company, the Philipsburg Mining & Milling Company, the Midnight Mining & Mill- ing Company and the Sunrise Mining Company. In the last named he was a large stockholder. Before the organization of Granite county he was coroner and also county physician of Deer Lodge county, and since the division of the territory has occupied both positions at various times in Granite county, being at the present time chairman of the Philipsburg board of health. He is a Demo- crat in politics, and always takes an active and influential part in the campaigns. Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order, being a mem- ber of Khurum Lodge No. 112, of Minneapolis, and of the grand lodge of Minnesota. He also belongs to Selish tribe of Red Men at Philipsburg, and was at one time an active member and worker in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His religious affiliations are with the Protestant Epis- copal church. Dr. Ray was married at St. Louis April 9, 1872, to Miss Olive Keye, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Reiger) Keye. Her father was a cousin of Francis Scott Keye, author of the "Star Spangled Banner," and his ancestors were among the early settlers of Virginia. Her mother's were among the founders of Pennsylvania. Only one child has been born to Dr. and Mrs. Ray, a son whom they named Harry Keye Ray, who died June 22, 1873, at the age of four months.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 149

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