Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 38

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 38

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east of Belt. The property comprised, originally, a homestead claim of 160 acres, but to this Mr. Nulliner has added from time to time until he now has an extensive range of 2,000 acres, including leased lands. His attention is devoted entirely to cattle growing. He is a member of the United Brethren church, and politically is a Democrat.

0 RVILLE B. O'BANNON .- One of the pio- neer members of the Montana bar and one who has been conspicuous in Montana events since the early territorial epoch, is Judge O'Bannon, the nestor of the bar of Deer Lodge county, who has held positions of marked trust and responsibility, not only in a professional way but also in the gov- ernmental service. His experiences in the west have been wide and varied, and a review of his career must assuredly be given place in this work, though its essential limitations are such that ade- quate justice can not be done to one who has led so busy and useful a life. Orville Browning O'Bannon was born on November 23, 1833, at Fal- mouth, Pendleton county, Ky., the son of Elijah and Talitha Ann (Browning) O'Bannon, natives of Harrison and Mason counties, Ky. The original American ancestors in the agnatic line came from County Tipperary, Ireland, in early colonial days, and the O'Bannons are one of the oldest Irish fam- ilies in America. The maternal ancestory of Judge O'Bannon traces back to stanch English and Welsh stock, the grandparents on either side having been born in Virginia, whence they accompanied their respective parents to Kentucky as pioneers. Elijah O'Bannon .was the first sheriff elected in Fayette county, Ky., where he died in 1851, having been a farmer and trader by occupation. His wife sur- vived him about thirteen years. They became the parents of two sons and five daughters. The only surviving son, Orville B., was the eldest of the family, a sister and a brother having died in child- hood, while of the others two yet survive.

Orville B. O'Bannon was seven years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Fayette county, Ky., in which county he was reared and educated, with the exception of one year passed with his uncle at Quincy, Ill. He attended private schools and an academy in Lexington, and com- pleted a literary course in the Transylvania Uni- versity, the famous old educational institution of that quaint and beautiful little city. Mr. O'Bannon

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put his scholastic requirements to a practical test by engaging in pedagogic work for about a year after the completion of his literary course, and in the meanwhile he had determined to prepare him- self for the legal profession. He accordingly matriculated in the law department of his alma mater, the Transylvania University, where he was graduated on February 29, 1856. At that time the law and medical departments of that institution unmistakably held higher prestige than those of any other institution of the kind in the western states, while the precedence of the university at the present day is not of secondary order. Within the month succeeding his graduation Mr. O'Bannon went to Keokuk, Iowa, where he engaged in active legal practice until June, 1858, when he removed to Burlington, and continued his professional labors there until 1861, when, in April, he started with an ox train on the long and then perilous overland trip to California. Reaching the territory of Nevada in August, he left the train and stopped at the Humboldt mines, in what is now the county of that name, and there engaged in prospecting and mining for about four years.

In April, 1866, he joined an exploring expedi- tion in the interests of the Central Pacific Railroad, and for nearly a year was engaged in exploration work in the engineering department. He had fa- miliarized himself with the language of the Sho- shone Indians, and proved an exceptionally valu- able member of the expedition party, whose work was principally in Nevada and Utah. Finally Mr. O'Bannon went to San Francisco, and was in the employ of the government in engineering work at Point Labos, Cal., until May, 1867, when the land office was established at Helena, Mont., and he received the appointment of register, coming to the present capital of the state as the first incun- bent of this important office on June 8, 1867. He continued in the office of register until July, 1869, when he received an appointment as clerk of the district court of the Second judicial district of the territory of Montana, which comprised Deer Lodge, Missoula and Beaverhead counties. He retained this office until May, 1879, practically a full dec- ade, and then resigned it to resume legal practice in Deer Lodge, where he has ever since continued, giving particular attention to land cases, in which branch of legal work his long connection with land matters make him a potent factor, while his judg- ment therein is essentially authoritative.

From the first he has retained a representative

clientage, and as a counsel and an attorney 110 member of the bar of the county has gained more distinguished prestige. He has ever manifested a lively interest in public affairs and has been a zeal- ous worker in the Republican party. In 1875 he was the candidate of his party for the office of pro- bate judge of Deer Lodge county, which then in- cluded all the territory now comprised in Deer Lodge, Powell, Silver Bow, Granite counties and most of Teton county and portions of Flathead and Lewis and Clarke counties. He was elected to this office by a majority of eighty-eight votes, being the only Republican elected at that time. He held the office for a term of three years, within which time he entered townsites and executed deeds for the city of Butte and the town of Philipsburg, the former being now the metropolis of the state. For more than twenty-seven years Judge O'Bannon held the office of United States commissioner, resign- ing in 1897. On August 7, 1883, Judge O'Bannon was united in marriage to Miss Fannie C. Irvine, born in Buchanan county, Mo., the daughter of William L. Irvine, a native of Kentucky, who eventually became a resident of Deer Lodge, where his death occurred. To Judge and Mrs. O'Bannon six children were born, of whom four are now liv- ing, Ida B., wife of Morton S. Railey, of Kentucky, Anna P., Mary B. and Eliza P.

FATHER FRANCIS O'FARRELL, now of Townsend, Mont., was born in Woodford, County Galway, Ireland, in May, 1869. He is a son of Francis O'Farrell, a farmer, whose fore- fathers had lived in that famous county for many generations. His early education was received in Woodford, where he demonstrated such a capacity for acquiring knowledge that he was given a classi- cal course in St. Mary's College, conducted by the Mariot Fathers, at Dundalk. (The Mariot Fathers also conduct a college at Salt Lake City, Utah.) In 1893 young Francis decided to enter the priest- hood and in preparation therefor entered St. Pat- rick's College at Carlow, where he remained five years and finished his philosophical and theological studies. Father O'Farrell then received an invita- tion from the president of Notre Dame to go to Montreal as professor of English in that eminent university. He accepted and there passed two years of useful service as a successful teacher, not only of the English language but of mathematics as

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well. Following this he was ordained for the dio- cese of Montana August 12, 1899, by Archbishop Bruchesi, of Montreal. Then, after a month's va- cation, in which he visited friends in New York and Chicago, Father O'Farrell arrived in Montana, and was appointed assistant at the cathedral by Bishop Brondell, having a general supervision of the in- terests of the Catholic church in Jefferson, Broad- water and Meagher counties. The faithful zeal and indefatigable industry which he manifested in that service caused his appointment on August 1, 1900 to care for the societies and missions of Broad- water county, being the first priest appointed to that district.

JOHN H. OWINGS, M. D .- Devoted to the noble and humane work which his profession implies, Dr. Owings has proved a faithful exemplar of the healing art, and has not only earned the due reward of his efforts in a temporal way, but has proven himself worthy to exercise the im- portant functions of his calling through his ability, his abiding sympathy and his earnest zeal in behalf of his fellowmen. His understanding of the science of medicine is broad and comprehensive and the profession and public accord him.an honored place among the medical practitioners of Montana, while he is also known as one of the representative citizens and business men of the city of Deer Lodge, where he has been an established physician and surgeon for two decades. John Hood Owings was born in Howard county, Md., on October 19, 1841, the son of John H. and Amanda C. (Boyle) Owings, who were natives of that state and repre- sentatives of prominent old families. John H. Owings, Sr., was a physician of fine ability and was in active practice in Howard county for more than forty years. He was a stepson of Dr. Samuel K. Jennings, president of Washington Medical School in Baltimore and one of the eminent medical men of that state; and he also had a brother who was a physician. The maternal grandfather of Dr. Owings of this review was a privateer in the war of 1812 and attained no little distinction for his shrewdness, skill and daring in this service.

Dr. John H. Owings, of Deer Lodge, was reared in his native county, receiving an academic edu- cation and thereafter turning his attention to the study of medicine and surgery, under the dis- criminating and efficient direction of his father and older brother, giving inception to this work of

technical training in 1859. Later he matriculated in the medical department of the University of Maryland, this being the fourth oldest medical school in the United States, and he was there grad- uated with the class of 1861, at the age of twenty. The following years he took a post-graduate course of lectures in the same institution and then was for about two years associated in practice with his father and brother, his original preceptors, in the meantime keeping up his studies and investiga- tions. In the crucial period immediately preceding the Civil war, and after the conflict had been in- stituted, Dr. Owings was in sympathy with the south, and it was only through the influence of his parents that he relinquished engaging in the Confederate service. He was present at Harper's Ferry and witnessed the capture of John Brown. He continued in medical practice in Maryland and western Pennsylvania until 1873, when he removed to Colorado, where he remained about three and one-half years, after which he went to the Black Hills, where he was in practice until 1881, when he came to Deer Lodge, where he has since re- tained a representative support, controlling a large business in his profession, his skill and discrimina- tion being not less popularly appreciated than his unfailing courtesy and sympathy. In 1885 the Doctor became identified with the drug business in Deer Lodge, conducting a well equipped estab- lishment for one year under the firm name of J. H. Eastman & Co. Mr. Eastman then retiring, Dr. Owings has since individually conducted the enterprise. He is essentially a student, and keeps fully abreast of the advances made in medicine and surgery, while he devotes much time to orig- inal research and investigation. He is a mem- ber of the American Medical Association, the Na- tional Association of Railway Surgeons and is ex-president of the Montana State Medical Society. The Doctor has been for the past seventeen years local surgeon for the Northern Pacific Railroad, and was physician to the United States penitentiary in Deer Lodge from 1889 until it was made a state institution, and was thereafter retained in the same capacity for four years. He has been attending physician at St. Mary's Academy from its estab- lishment, was county physician of Deer Lodge county on several different occasions, and is now serving in that capacity for Powell county.

Dr. Owings has always taken a lively interest in political affairs as a true Jeffersonian Democrat, contributing in every possible way to the advance-

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ment of the party cause, serving as delegate to various county and state conventions, but never seeking political honors or emoluments. In all that touches the advancement and material pros- perity of the city of his home he has shown a public-spirited concern, and he has been called upon to serve as a member of the city council, where he labored earnestly to insure a wise ad- ministration of municipal affairs. Fraternally he is prominently identified with the Knights of Pythias, being at the present time grand prelate of the grand lodge of the state, while he is sur- geon of the First Montana Regiment of the Uni- form Rank of the order, with the rank of major. He identified himself with this fraternity in 1866, and has had an abiding interest in its work. Since 1883 he has also been connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, in which organization he has been repeatedly elected medical examiner. Dr. Owings has been twice married. On March 13, 1863, he wedded Amanda E. Wickert, and they were the parents of four daughters, Minna G., Amanda E., Stella I. and Ida R., all of whom re- side in the east. On August 18, 1875, the Doctor consummated a second marriage, being then united to Miss Susan M. Butcher, of Boulder, Colo., she being a native of Kentucky, and of this union two daughters have been born, Vonnie and Marguerite. The elder daughter has shown marked talent as an artist in oils and water colors and has acquired reputation throughout the state, having given in- structions in these lines of art various state in- stitutes. She is now in Chicago, where she is a student in the Art Institute.

C HARLES F. OLGARDT, who with his father conducts a profitable stock ranch in Cascade county, first came to Great Falls in 1889. He was born at Stapleton, Staten Island, N. Y., on Decem- ber 2, 1872, the son of Henry J. and Margaret (Lange) Olgardt. The mother was born in Bre- men, Germany, which city she left in 1859, coming to Staten Island where she remained until 1867, when she made her home at Sun river, and remained there until her death which occurred on March 17, 1887. The father, Henry J. Olgardt, first left Germany in 1855 as a small boy, and came to New York. He returned to that country in 1862 and remained there until 1866, following the trade of a carpenter. In 1876 he joined the Third

United States Infantry as a musician, and in 1882 was mustered out at Fort Shaw, his term hav- ing expired. He took up a homestead claim on Sun river, which he improved and on it raised cattle, remaining there until 1889, when he re- moved to Great Falls. Here he engaged in car- penter work until 1896. In 1890 he married Miss Anna, of Franklin county, Mass., and the daugh- ter of Neill and Ellen O'Kane, who had come from Ireland at an early day. Her father was a stone- mason, and died at Roseman, Christian county, 111., in 1865. Her mother died at Aspen, Colo., in 1896. Charles F. Olgardt took up a homestead claim in Boston coulee, Cascade county, cultivated forty acres of the land, and utilized the rest for pasturage for cattle and horses. He has twenty- four head of cattle and six horses. His father took up a desert claim of 200 acres, all of which is improved. Charles F. Olgardt is the only living child, his sister Minnie being dead. He considers that he has been very prosperous since his arrival in Montana ..

H' JENRY S. PAGE .- Is is safe to say that no man in Ravalli county is better known or more highly esteemed than Henry S. Page, proprietor of the Hamilton hotel, which he conducts in such a way as to gain the patronage and good will of a discriminating public, being well deserving of the title of "mine host." He purchased the first lot in the townsite of the thriving little city of Hamilton, and has contributed in a large measure to the de- velopment of this section and the material prosper- ity of his home town.

Mr. Page is a native of Belmont, Allegany county, N. Y., born on May 27, 1842, the eldest of the six children of Lewis and Deborah Page, both of them natives of Vermont. The early educa- tional advantages of Henry S. Page were afforded by a somewhat irregular attendance in the excellent schools of Friendship, N. Y., since he there pur- sued his studies during the winter months only, while he assisted on the parental farmstead in the summer. He was but eighteen years of age when came the Civil war, but he enlisted in 1861 as a private of Company I, Eighty-fifth New York In- fantry, with which he was in active service until May, 1863, and corporal of his company when he was captured and sent to the notorious prison at Andersonville. He was at Charleston at the time of

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its bombardment, and he was in service for four years, including the time he was in prison. He was at home on a furlough when President Lincoln was assassinated, and there received his honorable dis- charge.

Mr. Page remained in New York until 1866 when he was engaged in farming in Madison county, Wis., for nearly a decade. He then re- moved to Worth county, Iowa, and continued in agricultural pursuits two years, and disposed of his Iowa interests and came westward to Fargo, N. D., where he was employed in a wholesale machine and implement house, being in the warehouse part of the time and the rest of the time on the road as a traveling representative of the firm. He had owned a farm near Oneida, S. D., for some time, and finally took up his residence there and engaged in farming for two years. He then disposed of the property and came to Montana, first locating near Corvallis, Ravalli county, where he devoted his at- tention to farming for about three years, and then came to Hamilton, and, as before stated, bought the first lot sold in the town. He forthwith began the erection of the Hamilton hotel, a wooden struc- ture, and thereafter conducted it most successfully, in connection with a livery and blacksmithing bus- iness, until August, 1900, when all three of his buildings were burned, entailing a loss of more than $30,000, with practically no insurance.

The ashes of his burned hotel were scarcely cold ere Mr. Page began the erection of his present at- tractive and substantial brick hotel, which is com- modious, secure and equipped with modern im- provements. He is thus able to give the best of ac- commodations to his guests and his place is a favor- ite resort of the traveling public. The cuisine is exceptionally attractive, since Mr. Page has a nice ranch, located only two miles from the town, and from this secures the greater portion of the sup- plies for his table, thus insuring fresh and palat- able food. In politics he gives an active support to the Republican party, and fraternally he is identi- fied with the Grand Army of the Republic. On April 3, 1871, at Madison, Wis., Mr. Page was united in marriage to Miss Adelphia Squires, a daughter of Ezra and Marretta Squires, pioneers of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Page are the parents of two daughters, Nellie, wife of W. O. Fisk, who is clerk in the Hamilton hotel, and Maude, the wife of Edward Smith, who is connected with the hard- ware department of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company in Hamilton.

ROBERT A. PAMENTER .- The subject of this

sketch merits recognition as one of the progres- sive young men of Fergus county, where he has re- sided for the past decade. Mr. Pamenter is a na- tive of Canada, having been born in the town of Stratford, in the county of Perth, on the 17th of November, 1873, the son of Richard and Eliza Pa- menter, who were born in England, whence they emigrated to Canada in 1860, where they still main- tain their home. In his earlier years Richard Pa- menter was a baker, and by his earnings at this trade he paid his passage to America on a sailing vessel, which occupied three months in the trip. Both he and his wife are communicants of the Church of England. Three of their thirteen chil- dren are deceased, the others being George, Charles, Lizzie, Harriet, Mary, Annie, Allen, Sam- uel and John. One child died in infancy and the other two who have passed away are Eliza and Richard.

Robert A. Pamenter at the age of eighteen years began to assist his father in the bakery business, continuing in this line until 1890, when he became a fireman in the biscuit factory at Hamilton, Can- ada, for two years. Then he determined to seek his fortune in Montana. He was ambitious to make a place for himself and to win success by legitimate effort, by energy, industry and honesty of purpose, and decided that Montana was the place for this. He came to Montana in 1892, arriving at Belt on April IO, and then walked sixty-five miles to Utica. He found himself there a stranger in a strange con- munity, while his cash capital was thirteen cents. He soon found work on the ranch of J. C. Huntoon, receiving $50 per month as wages. He continued at this work for several years. He was industrious and economical and saved enough money to pur- chase his present ranch in 1898. This comprises 155 acres and is located one and one-half miles southwest of Utica. He paid $1,300 for the property, and here he has since been successfully engaged in market gardening, raising vegetables on an extensive scale and finding a ready market for them. It is gratifying to note the suc- cess which has attended his efforts, for it demon- strates what reward Montana will give to industry and thrift. In politics he adheres to the Republi- can party and his religious faith is that of the Prot- estant Episcopal church, of which both he and his wife are communicants.

On the 22d of December, 1897, Mr. Pamenter was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth M. Arm-

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strong, who was born in Toronto, Canada, the daughter of William and Elizabeth Armstrong, both of whom were born in the dominion, the former still retaining his residence in Toronto and both being members of the Church of England. Mrs. Armstrong passing from earth on the Ist of Oc- tober, 1887, leaving three children, Minnie, John and Elizabeth. Mr. and Mrs. Pamenter have two children, Richard A. and Elizabeth M.

ISAAC ROE .- It has been said, and more or less -

truthfully, that steam has robbed the sea of much of the hazard incurred by men who went "down to the sea in ships" when only sailing ves- sels were known; when from the hour of embarka- tion to that of safe anchorage in the final harbor the element of uncertainty was ever present and hope and fear were alternate masters, the ship be- ing the sport of every wind and wave. This has strong proof in the experience of Isaac Roe, the subject of this narrative, who spent thirty-eight days of uncertainty in a sailing vessel on the stormy Atlantic before reaching the land of hope and promise to which he voyaged from his native Lincolnshire, England, where he was born No- vember 1, 1835. He received the usual scholastic training apportioned to boys of his class in Eng- land at the time, and after leaving school worked on a farm for a number of years, drifting then into business as a coal merchant, which he continued to be for some time. In 1858 he came to the United States, landing at New York, whence he traveled by easy stages to Grinnell, Iowa, and re- mained three years. In 1861 he made the trip across the plains to Colorado with an ox team, and after his arrival engaged in freighting between Denver and Central City until 1863. In that year he loaded his wagons with merchandise and came to Montana, arriving in July at Bannack, where. he sold out his entire outfit, goods, oxen and wagons, at high prices. In January following he and a Mr. Coppersmith started back to Iowa by way of Salt Lake City, Denver and Omaha, leav- ing Bannack on horseback, with pack horses at- tached. The snow was deep and the weather bit- ter cold, the thermometer being 40 degrees below zero. On the way food gave out, and they nearly starved as well as froze before reaching the Mor- mon settlements, where they recuperated some-

what, and then took a stage for Denver. At that place they were detained on account of the hos- tility of the Indians until an escort of United States troops could be furnished. At more than one stage station they found nothing but smould- ering ruins and dead bodies of whites and Indians, some of which had been partially consumed by the fire into which they had been thrown. It was a time of great hardship and privation. The snow was deep and the weather bitter cold, and provis- ions were scarce, it being difficult to get food for either man or beast. When our subject reached Omaha, on March 10, he found the Missouri frozen over and further progress blocked. But one man who had traveled on the stage with Mr. Roe was so eager to go forward and reach his home in Iowa that, against the protest of all pres- ent, he started to cross the river on the ice, taking a long pole with him for aid and protection. When he was in midstream the ice gave way and he went down, never again to be seen by human eyes. For some time he kept punching the pole through the ice, showing that he kept the use of his faculties, but finally was exhausted, and sank to rise no more.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 38

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