Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 35

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 35

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BERNARD W. MURRAY .- One of the sterling pioneers of Montana who rendered loyal ser- vice in preserving the integrity of the Union during the war of the Rebellion is Mr. Murray, conspic1- ously identified with early life on the frontier, and who is now one of the substantial and honored far- mers and stockraisers of Cascade county. He is a native of Michigan, having been there born Feb- ruary 20, 1839, the son of Harrison and Julia Mur- ray, natives of New York, the father being of

stanch old Scotch lineage. The latter removed to Michigan when Bernard was a young lad and there engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death. The mother of our subject passed away soon after the removal to Michigan.

Bernard W. Murray was one of four children and early assumed the duties of life, having de- voted his time from his boyhood to such work as was within his power to perform. At the age of fifteen years he commenced to learn the trade of a wheelwright, to which he devoted his attention for many years. When the integrity of the Union was menaced by armed rebellion Mr. Murray manifested his patriotism by enlisting in September, 1861, as a member of the Thirty-fifth Indiana Volunteer In- fantry, with which he served until the expiration of his two-years term when he was honorably dis- charged on account of physical disability. Return- ing to Michigan at the close of his military service Mr. Murray there remained until the spring of 1864, when he started on the long overland trip to Montana, driving a team of mules and being about ninety days in making the trip. He eventually reached Virginia City where he engaged in carpenter work, build- ing log cabins and receiving $6.00 per day. He continued to be thus employed until September when, in company with Thomas Burke and Albert Rogers, he proceeded to Last Chance gulch, where 'the capital city is now located, and in that vicinity engaged in prospecting. They struck an excellent lead in Dry gulch and met with success in their mining operations. The stampede to Last Chance encouraged them to remain there, and during the winter of 1864-5 they were engaged in building log cabins for the accommodation of miners. Mr. Murray was also concerned in the erection of the first hotel in Helena, the property eventually being rented to Major Hutchinson, who paid a rental of $150 per monthı, our subject and his partner prefer- ring to devote their entire attention to their mining enterprise, with which Mr. Murray was identified until 1869, when he removed to Sun River Crossing, Cascade county, having been unsuccessful in the renting of his cabin properties at Helena. At Sun River he entered the employ of the Diamond R Company and engaged in the repairing of their wagons. In the spring of 1870 he went to work for Charles Jeffries, with whom he remained until the fall, when he resumed work with the Diamond R Company. During the summer of 1871 he was employed by the E. Kemp Wagon Company, and

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in the fall gave inception to his present line of enter- prise by starting in the cattle business, the ven- ture being based on the possession of fifty-four head of cattle, while he also purchased the James Coburn ranch of 160 acres, and for which he paid $1, 100. He continued in this line of business until 1882, when he sold out, having at the time 300 head of cattle. Mr. Murray then associated himself with a Mr. Dias in the general merchandise business at Sun River Crossing, and later effected a consoli- dation with George Steele. The combined enter- prise was most successful for a period of eighteen months, after which time its fortunes declined and eventually resulted in failure. Mr. Murray had previously taken up a homestead claim, and this represented his entire property interests at the time of the failure of the mercantile business, but he succeeded in saving the ranch by forestalling the sheriff in arrival at the place, his claim having not then been recorded. Since that time our subject has devoted his entire attention to the ranching and dairy business, and as the years have passed his success has been cumulative in character. He now owns in his home ranch 320 acres of excellent land, eighty acres of which are well adapted for culti- vation and have yielded good crops. In addition to the home place he also owns another eighty-acre tract in the same vicinity, his property being lo- cated two and a half miles east of the village of Sun River.

In his political proclivities Mr. Murray is un- swerving in his allegiance to the Republican party, while fraternally he is a member of the Improved Order of Odd Fellows. On March 14, 1883, Mr. Murray led to the marriage altar Miss Julia E. Price, who was born in Illinois, the daughter of William and Julia Price, the former of whom was born in Illinois and the latter in Ohio. The father, whose vocation was that of an engineer, was a stanch supporter of the Republican party. He en- listed for service in the Union army during the war of the Rebellion, and was killed in the battle of Chickamauga in September, 1863. Both he and his wife were devoted members of the Christian church, and of their six children Mrs. Murray and her brother, Nathaniel E., are the only survivors. Those deceased are Anna, Sarah E., Samuel H. and William H. The mother of Mrs. Murray passed away on the 26th of March, 1894. Our sub- ject and his wife hold membership in the Methodist church and are highly esteemed in all the relations of life.

H ON. HENRY L. MYERS .- It is the glory of our country and one source of its greatness that we have no legally created strata of society- no artificial division of men into classes, but all are equal before the law, and all have equal op- portunity, in theory at least, in the struggle for advancement. This puts each man upon his met- tle and inspires him to make the most of himself. Accordingly every profession and line of business has its hosts of self-made men who are ornaments to their calling and its strong and unyielding bul- warks. Among such .men adorning the legal pro- fession in Montana is Hon. Henry L. Myers, of Hamilton, Ravalli county. He is a native of Boon- ville, Mo., where his life began October 9, 1862. His parents were Henry M. and Maria M. (Adams) Myers, the former a native of Virginia and the lat- ter of Missouri. They had two children, the sub- ject of this sketch being the older. He began his scholastic training in the public schools of his native town, finishing at an academy located there, and when seventeen he went to work on the farm with his father, at different times thereafter teaching school, studying law and doing newspaper work.

He made good progress in his legal studies, in- terrupted and made subsidiary to other pursuits as they were, and was admitted to practice in the supreme court of Missouri at the age of twenty- three, but continued in newspaper work for some time after his admission. Later he began legal practice at Boonville and continued it for a time at West Plains in his native state, but in 1893, seeing in the distant northwest more promising opportun- ities than in the older states, he came to Montana and opened an office at Hamilton, where he has been living and practicing ever since, with a grow- ing reputation in the profession and a correspond- ing growth of clientage. Until 1899 he practiced alone, but then formed a co-partnership with Robert A. O'Hara, which is still existent, the firm being among the leading ones in western Montana. Mr. Myers was elected county attorney in 1894 and re-elected in 1896. In 1898 he was elected state senator from his county, and in the session of the legislature which followed he distinguished himself by his readiness and tact in debate, his knowledge of public affairs, his broad philosophical views and his devotion to the interests of his constituents and the people of the state in general. He was the orig- inator of senate bills nineteen and twenty, requiring courts to instruct juries before argument of counsel and of other important judicial measures. Mr.

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Myers is a member of the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. He was married on July 9, 1869, at Hamilton, to Miss Nora Doran, daughter of T. M. and Mary Doran, prosperous farmers near that town. Mr. and Mrs. Myers have one child, a bright little daughter named Mary Annetta. Mr. Meyers is one of the leading attorneys of his sec- tion of the state, has won distinction on the hust- ings and in the legislative formula, has social quali- ties of a high order and is popular with all classes.

IRA MYERS .- Montana is largely indebted for its rapid development to Ira Myers, and as an honored pioneer of 1863 his fame is state-wide. He was one of the first to see the possibilities of stockraising, and the cattle firm of Myers, Buck & Co. will be long remembered by old-timers. He was born in Mansfield, Ohio, on December 18, 1839, a son of John P. and Susan (Arnett) Myers, Pennsylvanians who settled in Ohio in 1825. The great-grandfather of Ira Myers came from Ger- many, where were born his grandfather and father, the latter in 1805. Two of the sons and one daughter of their six children still survive. John P. Myers was a merchant all of his active life and both himself and wife were active members of the Methodist church. He died in 1865, his wife sur- viving him until 1889, when she died at the age of seventy-nine.

Ira Myers received an academic education in Mansfield, Ohio, and in 1857 went to Davenport, Iowa, where he was a clerk, then he worked in St. Louis and Kansas City until 1859, when the Pike's Peak gold excitement drew him thither. He was one of ten who formed the Colorado City Townsite Company, which in 1859-60 did much in building up that place, and he also located 160 acres in the famous "Garden of the Gods" adjoining the townsite. Then he went to Cali- fornia gulch in Colorado, the richest placer min- ing camp in the territory. He was soon elected sheriff of a district created before the organiza- tion of Colorado. In December, 1860, he joined a party going to Baker's Park in the San Juan country. Deep snow in the mountains forced the postponement of their journey until spring. Then the journey was continued from Taos and Santa Fe under guidance of the famous Kit Carson. Baker's Park did not prove rich and Mr. Myers

returned to California gulch, since Leadville, in July, 1861, and resumed mining until 1862, when he engaged in the hotel business in Denver until April, 1863, when he joined a company bound for Idaho, now Montana. They arrived in Ban- nack on May 15, 1863, and in June he was in the first great stampede to Alder gulch, where he engaged in mining.

In 1865 he was successfully operating mines at Blackfoot and later in Helena, where he made his home. The first hydraulic mining in Montana was done at Diamond City in 1867, and Mr. Myers was one of the interested parties. Water cost $1.30 an inch, 200 inches was the average daily consumption, and $260 was daily paid for this necessity. This mining resulted in loss, and in 1868 Mr. Myers returned to Helena, where he remained until 1876, when with the opening of the Black Hills country he went to Deadwood, formed the Pioneer Ditch Company and was en- gaged in the construction of mining ditches until 1878. In 1879 he was the organizer of the ex- tensive stock firm of Myers, Buck & Co. They purchased 2,300 head of cattle in Oregon which were driven to the range in Teton county. To this enterprise Mr. Myers gave the full strength of his wonderful business powers until 1883. In 1884 he settled at Great Falls. Paris Gibson was then living in a tent on the bank of the Missouri, and was industriously engaged in platting the city.

Mr. Myers at once constructed a sawmill with a daily capacity of 25,000 feet, then the largest mill in Montana east of the main range, continu- ing to operate it until 1892. Logs were brought to this mill from a hundred miles up the river, and it became an important factor in the building up of the city and the surrounding country. Mr. Myers is president and was one of the organizers of the Eldorado Canal Company, which owns 1,500 acres of land and has constructed a ditch which carries 12,000 inches of water to a bench above the town of Choteau. In 1888. Mr. Myers organized the Great Falls Electric Light Com- pany, which he operated until it was merged in the present company. In 1889, in connection with others, he originated the Great Falls Water Com- pany. He was largely interested in the building of the opera house at Great Falls, the develop- ment of the fair grounds and other matters of public interest. He has disposed of his cattle, is opening promising mines in the Gold Butte or Sweet Water Hills and conducting real estate

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operations. In December, 1886, he married, at Minneapolis, Miss Catherine McGurk, a native of Ohio. They have two children, Ira J. and Charles S. In many of the business ramifications of Mon- tana's vast industries the influence and progres- sive spirit of Ira Myers have been important fac- tors, and by his sagacious and well-directed ef- forts the communities in which he has resided have been advanced and improved.

W ILLIAM VANCE MYERS, of Boulder, Jefferson county, is one of the finest types of the oldtime western miners, men who have blazed a path through the wilderness to gratify- ing success. They endured untold hardships, they braved dangers and they wrought faithfully and well that succeeding generations might find homes, prosperity and peace. William Vance Myers was born near Washington C. H., Fay- ette county, Ohio, on March 24, 1839. His father was Isaac S. Myers, born in eastern Ohio in 1810; his mother Elizabeth (Vance) Myers, was born in Oldtown, Ross county, Ohio, in 1811. His grandfather Myers was a Virginian planter, de- scending from old Dutch stock. The maternal grandmother was Mary Scott, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, a native of Kentucky. The paternal grandfather removed from Virginia to Ohio in 1810, locating in Fayette county, where he died, leaving a family of five sons and two daughters, and where grandmother Myers also died. Isaac S. Meyers was born in eastern Ohio and educated in the schools of that state. In 1858 he removed to Iowa with his family, six boys and four girls, settling in Adair county, where he continued his former vocation of farming.

William Vance Myers remained on this Iowa homestead until 1860, when he settled in Colorado where he engaged first in placer and later in quartz mining. Three years were passed here with indifferent success; then in 1863 he came to Montana, where he prospected for some time in the vicinity of Alder creek. In the fall of 1864 he went to Last Chance gulch, the Mecca of so many early day miners, and by this time he had experienced nearly all the ups and downs of a miner's life. From Last Chance he removed to Over gulch, continued prospecting industriously and purchasing a claim that proved worthless.

In the fall of that year he prospected along Mc- Clellan gulch with fairly good success. During 1866 he roamed the state with a prospecting out- fit, but discovered nothing that would pay the expense of working. He worked in Nelson gulch for wages during the winter of 1866 and 1867, and in the spring went to Confederate gulch, where better fortune awaited him. Remaining there until July, 1869, he crossed the Missouri river to Indian creek and purchased another claim which developed fairly well. He remained in this locality until 1876, a part of the time being suc- cessfully engaged in merchandising. He then re- moved to Radersburg, still continuing to deal in merchandise. In the fall of 1878 he disposed of his business and, for the first time in eighteen years, returned to the old homestead in Iowa for a year's visit. In 1879 Mr. Myers returned to Montana, this time locating in Crow creek val- ley and turning his attention to stockraising. He has successfully continued this business in that locality until the present. In 1881 Mr. Myers was united in marriage to Miss Mary Jackson, a native of northern Ohio, who departed this life in 1882. On November 7, 1896, he married the widow of the late Judge Elder. Politically he has ever been a Republican and has at all times manifested a lively interest in the success of that party. In 1888 he was elected county commissioner of Jef- ferson county, serving four years. In 1894 he was elected county treasurer and was re-elected in 1896. At present he is a member of the board of trustees of the Montana School for the Deaf and Blind, located at Boulder, and is an active mem- ber of the United Workmen.

W ILLIAM T. NEILL .- The subject of this re- view, who is now incumbent of the respon- sible office of county commissioner of Fergus county, is regarded as one of the representative stockgrowers of Fergus county, having a valuable property and reaching prosperity's portals entirely through his own efforts. Such men merit a place on the pages of a work of this nature.

Mr. Neill was born in the province of Quebec, Canada, on the 6th of December, 1859, being the son of William T. and Elizabeth Neill, the former of whom was born in Canada and the latter in Ireland. The father of our subject was engaged in farming and also operated saw and grist mills

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in Ontario, and he was identified with the industrial activities of that section until his death, on the 9th of August, 1877. He supported the liberal ticket in politics and both he and his wife, who is now living at the old home in Quebec, were com- municants of the Protestant Episcopal church. Of their ten children Edward B. is deceased, the others being Robert, Samuel, Martha, Annie, James, Wil- liam T., Reginald K., Joseph H. and Margaret.

William T. Neill received a good common school education, but when fifteen years old he began to depend upon his own resources, first being employed at farm work and then becoming identified with the sawmilling industry. He was thus employed until March, 1877, when he decided to come io Montana, which was not yet a state. He came to Helena and there engaged to work on a ranch in the neighboring valley, receiving $15 per month. He continued to work for others until the spring of 1887, when he came to Fergus county and located upon his present fine ranch, nine miles east of Garneill. Here he originally took up a homestead and desert claim, and to his estate he has since added until he now has an aggregate area of 1,600 acres and has been successfully engaged in the raising of high-grade cattle. In politics Mr. Neill is one of the wheelhorses of the Republican party in the county, and his eligibility for the office led to his being nominated for mem- bership on the board of county commissioners in the fall of 1900. He was accorded a gratifying majority at the polls and is now rendering efficient service, ever aiming to protect the public welfare. Fraternally he has passed the ancient craft degrees in the order of Free and Accepted Masons.

On the 25th of January, 1893, Mr. Neill was united in marriage to Miss Garnette Currier, who was born in the state of Maine, the daughter of George E. and Elizabeth Currier, the first of whom was born in Massachusetts and the second at St. Johns, Newfoundland, whence the mother came to Montana and remarried with John McCourt, and now, a widow, resides at Garneill. Mrs. Neill was the only survivor of the four children of her par- ents, the others dying in infancy. The pleasant home of Mr. and Mrs. Neill is brightened by four interesting children, Margaret F., Frank B., Le- roy and Marian. We will here note that the post- office and village of Garneill were named in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Neill, the first syllable of her Christian name and his surname being combined to form the appellation.

JOHN W. NELSON .- Having passed through J

the "Bad Lands" on his way west it is but natural that the traveler should seek to rest his eyes on some "garden spot," and this he does at Bozeman, Mont., and here John W. Nelson re- sides in a beautiful home with surroundings cal- culated to make a cheerful life. As one of the pioneers of Montana he must be specially men- tioned. He was born in Guilford county, N. C., April 15, 1835, the son of George and Celia (Woods) Nelson. For many generations the Nel- son family resided in the south, the forefathers coming to North Carolina fully 200 years ago. The paternal great-grandfather and the grand- father participated in the Revolution and several of the name took active part in the war of 1812. In 1840 George Nelson removed to Indiana, the family home for six years; thence he went to Iowa to locate on land he had purchased of the Black Hawk Indians, but on account of the Black Hawk war his family did not join him until a year later, when they made there their permanent home, the father dying in 1882.

John W. Nelson obtained an excellent educa- tion in the schools of Indiana and Iowa, and in keeping with the patriotism of his forefathers he enlisted in July, 1862, in Company B, Twenty- fifth Iowa Infantry. He was mustered in at Mt. Pleasant, and in September the regiment was or- dered to Helena, Ark., and in February, 1863, went to Vicksburg, at the head of Butler's Canal, La., where they bombarded the citadel until the surrender. In May, 1863, owing to sickness, Mr. Nelson was honorably discharged, came north and for a year remained on the old Iowa home- stead. By the advice of his physician Mr. Nelson started for California in Capt. Hensley's train. Arriving at Red Butte on the Big Platte, their party of seventy-two, hearing most favorable re- ports from Montana, determined to make that their destination, and, meeting no serious trouble from Indians, arrived in the Gallatin valley July 14, 1864. Within a month Mr. Nelson had se- cured land in the West Gallatin country and en- gaged in farming and stockraising and remained there twelve years.

He then purchased 300 acres five miles north- west of Bozeman, where he made his home until 1897, when he removed to Bozeman, which has since been his place of residence. In 1883 he pur- chased the Howles place of 160 acres, and in 1897 bought the Turner ranch, also of 160 acres, near

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Story mill, and these properties he now owns and is constantly improving and developing them. He is engaged in general farming, raising fine crops of wheat, oats and barley.

On January 10, 1853, Mr. Nelson was married to Miss Lavina A. Clark, of Ohio, daughter of William Clark, a native of Maryland, who had re- moved from Ohio to Iowa. They have nine chil- dren : Marshall T., a prosperous rancher residing near Bozeman ; George, a prominent business man of Bozeman; John, a rancher residing eight miles north of Bozeman; Monroe, living on the home property five miles from Bozeman; William a rancher in Sweet Grass county, was born in Gallatin valley July 27, 1864, the first white child born in the valley; Frank, who owns property in Bozeman and follows his profession of engineer ; Alice, wife of R. H. Williams, a rancher near Bozeman, and was born in the Gallatin valley July 27, 1864; Louis, now in Sweet Grass county, is in the stock industry, and Lester, at home. Mr. Nelson has a herd of 250 head of cattle, in which his son Louis is interested. He is one of the rep- resentative men of Gallatin county, and is highly respected by those who know him the best.

D R. WILLIAM PARBERRY .- Pleasurable in- deed it is to read the biography of a man who is an American of Americans and a loyal descendant of those who willingly fought for their country in its early struggles for independence and led with brave hearts the toilsome, dangerous lives of hardy pioneers. Such a son and man, inheriting the best of a long line of true-hearted ancestors, is Dr. Wm. Parberry, of White Sulphur Springs, Mont. Born in Bourbon county, Ky., March 12, 1833, to James M. and Susan (Neubill) Parberry, descendants of Virginia stock from the very earliest days of colonial times, but of Scotch-English and Irish lineage, he came into the storied heritage of two brave grandsires of Revolutionary fame and of a father who was in the famous Battle of the Thames, between the American troops under Gen. Har- rison and the English and Indian allies under Proc- tor in the war of 1812, where Tecumseh, the noted Indian chief, lost his life. His parents were mar- ried in Virginia and moved to Kentucky in the year 1826. They later moved unto a farm about ten miles from Jefferson City, Mo., his father dying there and his mother passing away at Lex-

ington, Mo. Dr. Parberry was reared in Missouri with few educational advantages, but determined and persevering, he continued through his hard- ships and limitations, studying often by the flick- ering firelight when tired with the day's toil, until he was able to teach, securing his first school in 1854 at Jefferson City, Mo. Soon afterward he began the study of medicine and took a course of lectures in St. Louis Medical College in 1856. He graduated from Jefferson Medical College, of Phila- delphia, in 1858, returning to Missouri and prac- ticing there until the winter of 1864, when he en- tered Bellevue Hospital Medical College. In the spring of 1865 he came to Montana, crossing the plains and located at Diamond City, then the county seat of Meagher county, where he was in active practice for many years. In 1877 he bought what was then known as Brewer's Hot Springs and laid out the town of White Sulphur Springs, becoming a prominent factor in its growth and present pros- perity. Here he still has his home, though he long since retired from the active duties of his profes- sion, as well as from those of his extensive stock ranch of 15,000 acres in Sweet Grass county. Dr. Parberry has by no means confined his talents and energies to self-aggrandizement, but has served his city and state in prominent business and official ca- pacities, which have not only made him well known as a man among men, but have conserved the best interests of the state. As president of the First National Bank of White Sulphur Springs, as as- sessor, county commissioner, county treasurer, a member of the territorial council in 1879, member of the constitutional convention, and senator from Meagher county to the First state legislature, he has shown himself to be a man of versatile talent, of far-reaching insight into good government, of irreproachable honor and of unbounded liberality. Dr. Parberry's political affiliations are with the Democratic party, which he has ever honored with unswerving loyalty and unstinted service. Frater- nally he is a Knight Templar in the Masonic order.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 35

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