Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 50

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 50

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JAMES B. STEARNS .- Hunter and trapper, scout and rancher and miner, James B. Stearns, the subject of this review, has had a varied and thrilling career. He was born in Orleans county, N. Y., February 26, 1828, the son of Brad- ley B. Stearns, of Massachusetts, whose ancestors came from England to America in Colonial times and settled in the New England states. The grandfather took a prominent part in the Revolu- tion, and every member of the family has been distinguished for loyalty to his country. Mr. Stearns was educated in his native county, and in 1851 he removed to Wisconsin, being a pioneer in that state and remaining seven years, engaged in farming. In 1859 he joined the Pike's Peak stam- pede, and remained in the neighborhood of the Peak until the fall of 1863, prospecting and mining with varying success. He then returned to Michi- gan, and in the spring of 1864 came to Montana, bringing a team from Kalamazoo. At the start

he had one companion, but when near Fort Lara- mie they fell in with a large train and joined one section of it numbering fourteen wagons, of which Mr. Stearns was chosen captain. On their arrival at the Madison river they disbanded and Mr. Stearns went into Virginia City and prospected in the vicinity. In the fall he went to Rattlesnake gulch where he remained until 1875, making that place his headquarters and freighting from there. In 1875 he went to Nevada and engaged in freight- ing ; and the following year returned to Montana and passed a year or two hunting and trapping on the lower Yellowstone. In 1877 he was engaged by Gen. Miles as a scout, and was out with him on the Little Muddy expedition. On this trip they got 550 horses belonging to hostile Indians, killed some of the savages and burnt their lodges, thirty- two in number. He passed November and De- cember in Bozeman, and in January, 1878, took some cattle down the Yellowstone to Junction City. In June of that year he took up a ranch fif- teen miles from Junction City, and engaged in ranching. The following incident will illustrate the dangers of that period.

"On March 17, 1879, he went to work as usual, taking his rifle with him. While cooking his din- ner Indians came to the door, and the spokesman claimed to be a half-Crow. Mr. Stearns said he was not. Then seven came into the house, and a few minutes later an acquaintance named Johnson came in, and Mr. Stearns told him to keep hold of his gun as the Indians were Sioux. One of them, who spoke English, got a piece of tobacco from Mr. Johnson, and another fired at him and killed him. Still another struck at Stearns with his rifle. He warded the blow with his arm and was then struck on the head. He knocked one Indian down, dodged another, and escaping two shots that were fired at him, went around the house and got into the barn which was not yet completed. There he was attacked by an Indian with a war club, but his dog aided him to defend himself. Finally, after considerable effort and danger, he got behind some dead willows, and after lying quiet for awhile, crawled down the stream about a mile where he met his companion who had been away. The next day Mr. Stearns, having been wounded in several places, went to the hospital at Fort Custer, and in consequence of his story two companies of cav- alry went after the Indians, but did not catch them. After sixty days in the hospital he returned to his home to find that the Indians had destroyed or

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stolen everything he had. In June, 1879, Gen. Miles sent telegrams to Mr. Stearns asking him to go out as a scout and try to find the Indians, but the telegrams did not reach him in time. He went to Fort Walsh, to Fort Benton and in other direc- tions, finally landing twenty miles west of the Woody mountains, having been accompanied dur- ing the trip by Lieut. Tillson of the Fifth Cavalry, and having met on the way Maj. Walsh who fur- nished him with a mounted policeman's coat, as- suring him at the same time that if the Indians took him for a plain citizen they would certainly kill him. He remained about ten days in the midst of hostile Indians in large numbers, but had the protection of Maj. Walsh and his body of Cana- dian mounted police, of whom he speaks very highly. They accompanied Mr. Stearns and Lient. Tillson to the United States line, from which they made the trip home with no other trouble than having their horses stolen occasionally. They met Gen. Miles at Little Rock creek with his army. After returning home Mr. Stearns took up his residence on his old farm, and remained there un- til 1892, when he went up Canyon creek and in April, 1893, located his present ranch and again engaged in farming."

In December, 1852, he was married to Miss Louisa Brown, of New York. She died in 1883, leaving five children : Frank, a rancher on Clark's Fork; Fred, a clergyman in Michigan ; Euphie, Mrs. McNutt, of Augusta, Mich .; Cap, at Federals- burg, Mich., and James, living in Yellowstone county, Mont. In 1886 he was married a second time, being united on this occasion to Miss Jane Cluff, of Yorkshire, England. Mr. Stearns has served as assessor, deputy sheriff, sealer of weights and measures and justice of the peace. He is well known and highly respected by all classes of his fellowmen.

W TILLIAM H. STEELE .- Descending from Kentucky ancestry and a native of Bath county, Mo., where he was born in December, 1835, the second of the fourteen children of Lewel- len J. and Sarah J. (Walker) Steele, William H. Steele has lived in a number of places and has made a reputation for straightforward and digni- fied manliness, good business capacity and useful citizenship wherever he has been. When he was two years old the family removed to Pike county, Ill., where he attended the public schools until he

was eighteen, and learned carriage black- smithing at which he worked in various places for twenty-five years. In 1883 he came to Montana and located at Grantsdale, where he followed the carpenter's trade for six years and then engaged in the confectionery business with his son, George M. Steele, and they have developed the business into a general store of magnitude' and with a con- stantly expanding trade and growing reputation.

Mr. Steele is an active Republican and has served his party and his people well in several of- ficial positions. He was postmaster of his home town for eight years and was succeeded by his son, who held the office for four years, his term having recently expired. Mr. Steele was a justice of the peace for fourteen years at Schuyler, Mo., and oc- cupied a similar position for twelve years at Grantsdale. He was successful in the adminis- tration of his official duties and won thereby the commendation of the community. On June 10, 1855, he was married at Barry, Ill., to Miss Re- becca J. Thompson, daughter of Abraham and Mary Thompson. They had six children, of whom five are living: Harriet, wife of Joseph Kaley, of Hamilton ; Sarah J., wife of C. P. Dye, of Boise, Idaho; George M .; Mary J., wife of F. V. See, a Bitter Root valley rancher, and Della, wife of Hugh McLean. Another daughter, Alice, is deceased. Mrs. Steele also died July 4, 1901.

GEORGE M. STEELE, the son and business partner of William H. Steele, was born on October 14, 1861, in Shelby county, Mo., and attended the public school at Schuyler until he reached the age of eighteen years, then worked at carpentering and railroading for some years. He was in the employ of Broadwater, Hubble & Co., of Miles City, in 1881 in lumber operations. From there he returned to Missouri and in 1883 again came to Montana, accompanied by the family. He en- gaged in farming in company with his father for two years, passed the next two in carpentering, and then engaged in merchandising in partnership with his father and in this he is still engaged and has been continuously since 1888, four years of the time he being also postmaster. During his entire residence in Montana, except his first year in the state, before the family came out, he has lived with his father, with whom he made his home prior to his first trip west, and they have worked har-

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moniously and successfully in all their undertak- ings. Both are highly esteemed in the community as leading citizens and forceful factors in the de- velopment and advancement of their town and county.

D R. HARRY L. STEELE, the leading physician and surgeon of Neihart, Cascade county, al- though a young man, has attained prominence and won public confidence. He is a native of Ohio county, W. Va., and was born on June 17, 1872. His parents were William H. and Mary E. Steele, also natives of West Virginia, where for many years the father followed the mercantile business as a traveling salesman and was eminently suc- cessful, and he now holds the important position of superintendent of the Wheeling Corrugating Company, of Wheeling, W. Va. Fraternally he is a Freemason and a Knight of Pythias ; politically he belongs to the Democratic party. His wife, who was a devout Presbyterian, died in October, 1875, leaving four children : William H., Eliza H., Nellie C. and Harry L. Dr. Steele received an education of exceptional excellence. Having completed his studies in the public and high schools of Wheeling he pursued a course at a leading commercial col- lege, and then matriculated at Beaumont College, St. Louis, from which he was graduated with hon- ors. In that city he passed eighteen valuable months as an assistant physician at St. Mary's In- firmary, and for one year he was with Dr. W. A. McCandless as an assistant. He then received the appointment of government physician at McAllis- ter, Indian territory, which he filled with marked ability for a year. At the conclusion of this meri- torious service he came to Neihart, where he is now located, and was soon in the possession of,a most lucrative practice. His skill and ability as a surgeon have often been demonstrated, and the Union Mine Workers of Belt Mountain Hospital hold him under contract to serve as acting phy- sician and surgeon for that institution. Frater- nally Dr. Steele is a member of the Knights of Pythias ; politically he is a strong Democrat. He has valuable interests in mining properties in the Neihart district, and in all ways stands as one of the best representatives of the professional and cultured people of the state, holding distinc- tive precedence in medical circles. Among a wide circle of acquaintances he numbers a host of warm personal friends, and he is highly esteemed.

A LBERT J. STEPHENS .- Making his way

through privation, hardships and dangers to competence and ease, Albert Joseph Stephens has felt much of the hard discipline of life and real- izes forcibly the good results that follow it when properly applied and appreciated. His parents were Jarah and Lynda S. (Webb) Stephens, and he was born at Montrose, Susquehanna county, Pa., November 17, 1837. Jarahı Stephens was born in Milton, N. Y., September 10, 1806. His wife descended from early New England Colonial an- cestors, and was herself a native of Litchfield, Conn., where she was born October 11, 1810. They were married October 1, 1829, at Bridge- water, Pa., and had ten children, Franklin A., Ethan P., Albert Joseph and Alfred James (twins), Daniel H. (died from wounds received at the bat- tle of the Wilderness May 9, 1864), Francis M., Ira O. (deceased), Oscar C., Olive M. (Mrs. A. Reynolds) and Emeline E. (Mrs. J. S. Calph). Of these four reside in Montana-Albert J. and his twin brother, Alfred J., the popular postmas- ter of Lewistown, Oscar C., one of the stock kings of the state, and Mrs. Calph, living with her brother Oscar in Fergus county. Jarah Stephens, a pioneer farmer and lumberman, owned and oper- ated a sawmill for many years in Montrose, and, an old-line Whig, he held various local offices. He died in Binghamton, N. Y., aged eighty-four years. Mrs. Stephens long preceded him, dying in 1865, aged fifty-five, after a long life of useful and Christian activities.

Albert Joseph Stephens passed his youth in his native county, and in 1855 began life independently for himself, going from home to Tunkhannock, where he remained two years. In December, 1856, he went to Evanston, Ill., and farmed there two years and a half; and there in 1858 and '59 he was a schoolmate of Miss Frances Willard. In March, 1859, he joined the Pike's Peak stam- pede, outfitting at Lawrence, Kan. From there he went on to Denver, Colo., and then to Central City, where he was mining the next four years with varying success. From 1861 to 1862 he was in California gulch. He also went to New Mex- ico on the San Joaquin stampede. In March, 1863, then came to Montana, making the trip by ox teams, arriving at Bannack in June, having had no trouble with the Indians. He soon lo- cated at Virginia City, passed two years in suc- cessful mining, and then removed to Confeder- ate gulch. Here for four years he was mining

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and conducting a bakery, following this time with three years service as a tollgate keeper. In April, 1867, with Thomas G. Cooper, now of the Judith Basin, Mr. Stephens located the ranch which he has occupied continuously since that date. The location is one of the most picturesque in the state. It is three miles from Fort Logan, and immediately surrounded by hills and mountains, with Smith river coursing gracefully through it. Here he is extensively engaged in raising fine breeds of sheep. He was married December 20, 1875, to Miss Fannie Hillis, a native of Indi- ana, and daughter of John P. Hillis, who came to Montana in 1863 and remained until his death in 1893. Their children are Frank and John, now of Fergus county; Alice, of Berkley, Cal., and Edith, Andrew and Lucy and Jarah (twins), who are all attending school in Helena, where Mr. Stephens has a residence which he occupies dur- ing the school months to give his children the benefit of the city's superior educational advan- tages.

Mr. Stephens has always manifested an intel- ligent interest in local affairs. He has been as- sessor, county commissioner and school trustee for many years, and has an influential voice in matters of public improvement. Besides the dan- gers of his journeys on the plains, his life has not lacked the spice of hazard always prevalent on the frontier. In 1869 he had nine horses stolen from his stables. A year or two later sev- eral Indians tried to steal the horses of the hunt- ing party of which he was a member, and the man in charge of the camp shot one of them. A few hours afterward the Indians shot one of the white men in sight of the camp. In 1860, while Mr. Stephens was in Colorado, a horse thief was ordered out of the camp and refused to go. The horses were picketed and all hands went to sleep. During the night the horses were stolen and the thief had disappeared, and none of the horses were recovered. Mr. Stephens went to a road house nearby to get something to eat, and when he was admitted after some parley, he was led through room after room, the door of each being closed behind him. In the last room he was confronted by Jim Walters with a revolver in his hand, who thought Mr. Stephens was one of an expected party searching for him as one of a gang of "rust- lers." Mr. Stephens soon convinced him of his error, and there was no further trouble. These incidents are here related to show that every hour

in those times was fraught with danger, and that the men of that day had to be continuously on their guard.

W ILLIAM J. STEPHENS .- No state can boast of more heroic pioneers than Mon-

tana. Their privations, hardships and earnest labors have resulted in establishing a common- wealth which takes high rank in the sisterhood of states. These worthy pioneers laid solidly the foundations of the state. Their indefatigable ef- forts were the building stones. And among them is the distinguished citizen and honored pioneer whose name initiates this sketch. Judge William J. Stephens was born at Kingston, County Dub- lin, Ireland, on May 30, 1834, the son of Henry A. Stephens. Of the four sons of his parents he was the only one who came to the United States. His mother died at his birth, and he early as- sumed the responsibilities of life. Until he was thirteen years old he attended the public schools, and in 1847 went to sea for two years. In 1850 he shipped from Baltimore on a merchantman bound for San Francisco, arriving at the Golden Gate in July. He remained in San Francisco for a few days and, then being sixteen years of age, made his way into the interior of the state where the mining excitement was at its height. At In -. dian bar on the Tuolumne river he secured a clerkship in the general store of Curtis & Chase for one year, after which he was for two years engaged in placer mining. He next opened a grocery at the little mining town of Poverty Hill, Tuolumne county, continuing this enterprise five years, when he returned to San Francisco and began the study of law under Judge Townsend, continuing in his office until 1861, when he went to Virginia City, Nev., where he resumed his studies in the office of Quint & Hardy until 1864, when he was examined before the supreme court of Nevada and admitted to the bar. Beginning practice in Nevada, in 1865 he removed to Idaho City, Idaho, where he practiced law for one year ; in 1866 he located in Beartown,. Deer Lodge county, Mont., where he was engaged in practice for one year, was elected as the first district at- torney of the Second district, embracing Deer Lodge, Beaverhead and Missoula counties, and served from 1867 until 1869, making his residence in the city of Deer Lodge. During his term of

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service as district attorney occurred the first con- viction for murder in the first degree in the his- tory of the state, Mr. Stephens having convicted, at the April term of court at the town of Deer Lodge, Sullivan, Mullen and Baggs, for the mur- der of John Smoot at McClelland gulch, that county. The three condemned men effected their escape from jail and were never apprehended. Lawlessness and crime were much in evidence in the early days, when restrictions were lax, and many criminal cases were brought before the courts, Judge Stephens being concerned in many such trials.

He was at that time junior member of the firm of Thornton, Robinson & Stephens. In 1870 the office of the firm burned and their valuable library was destroyed. After this Judge Stephens removed to Missoula, then a mere hamlet serv- ing as a base of supplies for a large mining dis- trict, and having an importance out of proportion with its appearance and population. Here he found a large and valuable clientage and contin- ued an individual legal practice until 1883, when he was elected county clerk and ex-officio pro- bate judge of Missoula county, retaining this dual office for two years. He then formed a law part- nership with W. M. Bickford, as Stephens & Bick- ford, which association continued for three years, when Frank Higgins was admitted to the firm, which became Stephens, Bickford & Higgins. In 1889 Judge Stephens retired, going to the Pacific coast for eighteen months, and on his return be- came the candidate of his party for district judge, but was defeated by Judge Woody in the ensuing election. He accumulated a handsome property by his well directed efforts in his profession; and his private interests in mining and the extend- ing of financial loans now demand his entire at- tention.

During the Nez Perces war of 1877 Missoula was threatened by chiefs Looking Glass and White Bird with 300 braves. A company was organized to protect the town and Judge Stephens was made first lieutenant. The company officers organized a scouting party, which met the above mentioned chiefs on Lolo creek and agreed with them to. have a consultation on the next day with Capt. Bacon, of the Missoula military post. This con- sultation was not successful, and the Indian chiefs and their warriors on the one side and Capt. Bacon and his troops on the other prepared for battle. The Indians, however, made a successful detour,

got below the entrenchments of Capt. Bacon and succeeded in going up the Bitter Root valley to Trail creek, where they camped, and a few days later took part in the memorable Big Hole bat- tle with Gen. Gibbons. In 1884 Judge Stephens was a member of the first constitutional conven- tion looking to statehood, and represented his county in the lower house of the Fifth and Sixth general assemblies of the state legislature. He has long been one of the leaders of the Demo- cratic party in the state. He has been distin- guished in his profession, in the public service of county and state, and honored in all the relations of life. In July, 1868, Judge Stephens married Miss Emma H. Tabeau, a native of St. Louis, Mo., who traces her origin to pure French line- age. Their eight children, all living and all na- tives of Montana, are: Harry A., an abstractor and promoter ; Laura A., Alexander H., Lawrence E., Eleanor F., Adeline A., Eva R. and Alice M.

M ELZER N. STEVENS .- One of the active and enterprising as well as extensive promoters of the sheep industry of Meagher county is Mel- zer N. Stevens, of Winnecook. He was born June 12, 1864, at Unity, Me., the son of Edwin S. and Ellen (Rackliff) Stevens, both natives of Unity. The Stevens family came from Scotland during Colonial days and settled in New England, where they were prosperous farmers for generations. In addition to his farming enterprise Edwin S. Stev- ens was engaged in sawmilling and trading, in both the east and the west, having made several trips to Montana in the line of business. He is now living in Maine seventy-four years old, still hale and vigorous. He has always been a man of great public spirit, taking an earnest interest in politics as a Democrat and frequently being the choice of his party for the legislature. In his early man- hood he was a school teacher.

Melzer Stevens was educated in the public schools of his native town, and on leaving school passed two years in a cotton mill at Waterville, Me., then a year on the homestead. In the spring of 1884 he came to Montana, and after putting in a month at Martindale he was employed on the ranch he now occupies, ten miles east of Har- lowton, then belonging to Ralph Berry, for whom he worked a year and a half. At the end of that time he returned east and started in the express business in Boston, which he continued for a

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short time. Longing for Montana, he returned and located on the Musselshell. Later he spent a year in Judith basin, where he engaged in ranch- ing, finally selling out to the Sage Creek Sheep Company. He next went into the sheep business with Gould Brothers on the Musselshell, fourteen miles below his present location. At the end of two years he bought his partners out, and although the panic of 1893 followed almost immediately he managed to pull through and continued in the business until 1896, when he began speculating in sheep, passing his winters in the east where he fed one winter, feeding at the same time a flock in Montana, which he successfully continued until 1900. In July of that year he bought a third in- terest in Ralph Berry's Musselshell ranch of 20,000 acres, ten miles below Harlowton, where they winter more than 15,000 sheep as well as 200 cattle. The firm name is Berry & Stevens, and is doing a very profitable business. The ranch is particularly well adapted to the stock industry, be- ing well supplied with water by the Musselshell, which runs through it for a distance of seven miles. It is improved with good buildings of every kind and receives the utmost care from its proprietors.

On July 30, 1891, Mr. Stevens was united in marriage to Miss Theresa M. Clark, a native of Maine and daughter of Dudley Clark, of that state. He was a representative farmer in New England, and was also a "forty-niner." Mr. and Mrs. Stevens have two children, Irving Thayer and Richard Stevens. Mr. Stevens is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a public- spirited, progressive man, earnestly interested in the welfare of his adopted state, and Meagher county in particular, where he is highly respected. He is also postmaster at Winnecook.

NELSON STORY is one of the business princes of Montana. The history of his eventful career is pre-eminently the story of the typical successful westerner-successful beyond the most sanguine hopes of early manhood. He is a native of Meigs county, Ohio, where he was born in the year 1838. His father, Ira Story, was born near Lebanon, N. H., October 29, 1804, and died in Meigs county, Ohio, at the age of fifty-six years. He was a son of John, Jr., and Priscilla (Choate) Story, and the great-grandparents were

John, Sr., and Hannah Story. John Story, Sr., was a son of Deacon Seth Story and Elizabeth Story. Seth Story, Sr., was a son of William, the first Story of whom there is any authentic record in the chronology of the family. He came from England and located in New England in 1637. At that early day it is recorded that he was "granted liberty to erect and operate a sawmill."

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 50

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