Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 56

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 56

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

I283

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

and James, had entered the service, and the home was saddened by the loss of Jacob, who fell at the battle of Missionary Ridge while charging the enemy "into the valley of death." Having passed a few months at a select school, at Brookston, White county, following the close of the war, Mr. Van Scoy became a student in 1866 at the Battle Ground Collegiate Institute, located on the historic spot where Gen. Harrison had successfully fouglit the Indians in 1811. During the winter he as- siduously pursued his studies and taught school in the summers, remaining two years. He then at- tended Brookston Academy for a year. Following this Mr. Van Scoy entered the Northwestern University at Evanston, Ill., but at the termination of his sophomore year, when but twenty-three years of age, he was elected principal of Brookston Academy. After three years' efficient and conscien- tious service he resigned for the purpose of con- tinuing his studies in college. In 1875 Mr. Van Scoy was graduated from the Northwestern Uni- versity and entered upon his ministerial duties in the Methodist Episcopal church, having received appointment at Rensselaer, Ind., by the Northwest Indiana Conference. After three years occupancy of the pulpit he retired to complete a theological course in the Garrett Biblical Institute, at Evans- ton .. It was immediately after having successfully passed an examination for graduation in theology that he received a telegram from Salem, Ore., an- nouncing his election to the chair of Greek, in Willamette University, which was accepted. In June, 1891, President Van Scoy tendered his resig- nation at Salem, and was immediately elected dean of the College of Liberal Arts, of Portland (Ore.) University, and professor of ancient languages, Portland. For twelve years he had served on the state board of examiners of that state, giving ex- ceptionally valuable service in this connection.

It was while President Van Scoy was in charge of the church at Rensselaer that he was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Thomas. At the time of the announcement of his election his wife was in declining health and on her account he decided to remove to Oregon. At the close of his adminis- tration, having taught the ancient languages for one year, and been president of the institution, the school had grown from 150 to 495. students and the financial condition had been rendered about $100,000 better. In 1884, at the age of thirty-six years, the University of the Pacific conferred upon Prof. Van Scoy the degree of doctor of di-

vinity. Mrs. Van Scoy having died in 1883, Prof. Van Scoy was married in 1885 to Miss Jessie East- ham, of Salem, Ore., a graduate of Millammel Col- lege. During this time Dr. Van Scoy had charge of the college. By his first marriage there is a daugh- ter, Lena, and a son, Paul, by the second.

The Montana career of President Van Scoy has been equally successful and distinguished. He came to the state in 1898 as president of the Mon- tana Wesleyan University. This institution had formerly been located some three or four miles out- side of the city. limits of Helena. At the close of the work for 1900 it was removed to Helena, and is now on Helena avenue, a commodious and well equipped edifice affording excellent facilities for the accommodation of students. The grade of the university has recently been raised to that of full collegiate work, and students are now graduated with degrees. During the comparatively few years that President Van Scoy has passed among the peo- ple of Helena he has won a host of friends and ad- mirers. His great ability as an instructor has been recognized and the profundity of his learning ap- preciated, but his high integrity and manly quali- ties have endeared him to all the residents of his present home city.

PETER VALITON .- In the career of this adopted son of our republic we find exempli- fication once more of the pertinent fact that America offers notable opportunities for a young man to make his own way in the world and to attain a po- sition of independence. Mr. Valiton came to the United States a young man, with no knowledge of the English language and with no financial reserve. He was brave, loyal and self-reliant, and against almost insuperable obstacles has made his way on- ward, ever honest and straightforward and never depreciating the value and dignity of honest toil. He is today recognized as one of the representative business men and extensive stockgrowers of Deer Lodge county, a pioneer of the state and as a man among men. Peter Valiton was born in "la belle France" on December 13, 1832. the son of Peter and Marguerite (Boulier) Valiton, both represent- atives of the old Huguenot stock, so persecuted in France after the revocation of the edict of Nantes. His father was a farmer in his native land, whence he emigrated to America in 1850, locating near Du-

1284

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

buque, Iowa, where he lived until his death in 1858. His wife survived him several years and made her home with her son, Peter, until she was killed by being run over by a Northern Pacific train in the city of Deer Lodge on June 6, 1889.

Peter Valiton, of this review, was reared on the parental farmstead in France, and his educational advantages were very limited. In 1850, when nine- teen years of age, he came to the United States, without money or friends, and unable to speak a word of English. That he endured many hard- ships and vicissitudes may well be imagined, but he was determined to make for himself a place in the world, and turned his attention to whatever work came to hand to make an honest living, and remained in the vicinity of Dubuque, Iowa, about two years. In 1855 he went to Marysville, Kan., and became manager for Gen. Marshall, an exten- sive government contractor, who also operated a trading post and conducted freighting. In 1859 Mr. Valiton went to Colorado in charge of two wagon trains and remained there during the ensuing win- ter to look after the goods thus transported, and in the spring of 1860 he opened a general supply store in Georgia gulch, operating it on his own re- sponsibility and securing his stock with money he had saved. The enterprise proved successful, and he continued it until the fall of 1861, when he opened a restaurant in Denver, then a mere mining camp, and this also yielded him good returns.

In August, 1862, Mr. Valiton disposed of this business and secured a stock of supplies and with his widowed mother and her two children started on the long trip over the plains and mountains to what is called the "Salmon river country," Mon- tana not yet having received its present name and being still a part of Idaho. He procceded as far as Fort Bridger, Utah, where he received reports that the Indians were causing much trouble in the Salmon river country and that prospects were not encouraging. He then decided to go to California, but on arriving at Virginia City, Nev., he decided to locate there. He accordingly opened and con- ducted a restaurant there until the fall of 1864, having in the meanwhile speculated in mining stocks and lost practically all the money he had accumu- lated and having only sufficient funds to enable him to return to Colorado. He passed the winter in Denver, and on February 1, 1865, started out as wagonmaster of a freighting train whose desti- nation was Virginia City, Mont., where he duly arrived. Subsequently he located at Diamond City

in Confederate gulch, where he opened and con- ducted a store profitably for some time, after which he unsuccessfully tried mining again.

In the fall of 1867 Mr. Valiton located in Deer Lodge, his present home, being one of the pioneers of this attractive little city and one of its repre- sentative men. Here he has been identified with various and important lines of industry, and done much to forward the development and insure the material prosperity of this section of the state. In 1875 he became a member of the firm of Mar- chessau & Valiton, wholesale and retail grocers, of Butte, and this association has since been main- tained. Mr. Valiton has very extensive stock inter- ests and owns much valuable real estate, utilizing about 10,000 acres of land in connection with his stockgrowing, the greater portion of this being deeded land. He has devoted especial attention to the raising of cattle and horses, usually having an average of 1,000 head of cattle and about 100 head of horses. His land is all located in what is now Powell county. Mr. Valiton belongs to the Democratic party, but his private interests de- mand his entire time and he has never sought political preferment. Fraternally he has been a Mason since 1860. In 1875 Mr. Valiton was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Epler, who was born in Michigan, the daughter of Christian Epler, and to them one child was born, who survived the moth- er only three months, her death having occurred in November, 1877. In 1885 Mr. Valiton consummated a second marriage, wedding Miss Anna N. King, who was born in New Jersey, the daughter of George and Cordelia (Cavender) King. Mr. and Mrs. Valiton have had four children : Francis, de- ceased ; Peter C., Carnot and Ribot.

JOHN J. VANCE is one of the progressive ranchmen of Cascade county, where he is well known and held in the highest esteem. Mr. Vance traces his genealogy back to sturdy Scottish extraction. He is a native of Woodstock, Oxford county, Canada, where he was born on September 15, 1866, the son of John and Matilda Vance, the former born in Scotland and the latter in England. The father of our subject was a carpenter by trade, to which he devoted his attention for many years, and was also engaged in agricultural pursuits. He died in August, 1891, his wife having passed away in November, 1874. Both were consistent

I285

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

members of the Presbyterian church and were peo- ple of sterling character. They became the par- ents of eight children : Sarah, Joseph, Elizabeth, Mary, John J., Matilda, Maggie and Jeannette.

John J. Vance, to whom this sketch is dedicated, grew up under the sturdy discipline of the farm · and secured such educational advantages as were afforded in the public schools of Ontario, Canada. At the age of fifteen years he began to render ef- ficient service in the cultivation of the home farm, and was thus employed for three years in Mani- toba, where his father had located and engaged in agricultural pursuits. Later he took up home- stead and pre-emption claims in that section of the northwest, but was not very successful in his opera- tions, his place being sixty miles distant from the nearest shipping point on the railroad. He con- tinued operations, however, until 1885, in the fall of which year he began working on various farms for wages. The following spring he returned to his farm and put in crops, but frosts did much damage and he did not realize the returns hoped for. In the fall he was employed in getting out ties for the Canadian Pacific Railroad, and the fol- lowing spring he utilized his team in putting in crops for various farmers ; in the summer engaged in teaming, and in the fall brought his team into requisition in cutting grain. In 1889 Mr. Vance returned to Ontario for a visit, and there remained until the following spring, when he once more went to Manitoba and devoted his time to various lines of work incidental to the conducting of farms un- til the spring of 1891, when he came to Montana and secured employment on the ranch of Thomas Chamberlain, south of the city of Great Falls. At the expiration of three months he secured work in the Great Falls smelter, and assisting in the erec- tion of the concentrator building. Thereafter he entered the employ of H. H. Nelson, with whom he remained three years, and was variously en- gaged until the winter of 1893-4, which he passed in Manitoba, returning to Montana in the spring and locating in Cascade county, his present home. Here he entered a homestead claim of 160 acres and in the fall secured a desert claim of eighty acres; in February of the following year his wife took up an adjoining 120-acre track as a desert claim. The ranch is well improved in every re- spect and is eligibly located eight miles north of the thriving village of Cascade. Of the tract 160 acres are well adapted for cultivation, but Mr. Vance devotes his attention more particularly to

the raising of cattle, in which line his success has been most gratifying. In addition to his ranch he leases a half section of school land, which is utilized for grazing purposes, for which it is splen- didly adapted.

In politics our subject is known as a stanch sup- porter of the Republican party. On August 27, 1894, was consummated the marriage of Mr. Vance to Miss Margaret Bremner, who was born in Scot- land, the daughter of Roderick and Christina Bremner, both of whom were born in the land of hills and heather. Mr. Bremner and family came to America in 1894 and has since devoted his at- tention to ranching and railroad work, being now foreman of a section gang on the line of the Great Northern Railroad. He gives his allegiance to the Democratic party ; he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church. They became the par- ents of seven children, of whom one is deceased- Alexandria. The others are Ina, Margaret, Eliza- beth, John, James and Rhoda. Mr. and Mrs. Vance have three children : Roderick J., Christina and William J.

JAMES VESTAL .- One who has gained an en- viable name in Sweet Grass county, Mont., owing to his progressive spirit and honorable meth- ods of dealing with his fellow men, and one who, so deeply imbued with high American patriotism that he loyally gave his sons to the cause of his country, James Vestal, was also called to mourn the death of the oldest, who had not yet reached the prime of life. Cut down on the threshold of man- hood, he still lives in the memory of his home community. James Vestal was born within thirty miles of Kansas City., Mo., on January 21, 1853. His parents were John Acy and Nancy (Howe) Vestal, the former of Tennessee and the latter of Kentucky. At the venerable age of seventy the father still lives in Missouri, the owner of an ex- tensive and profitable farm. The early years of James Vestal were passed in his native county, where he received his education in private schools. Removing to Oregon in 1870, he passed one year in the stock business and then moved on to Para- dise valley, Nev., where, until 1883, he was inter- ested in sheep and stockraising. That year he came to Montana driving a band of sheep, and one year later, having made a second profitable trip, he purchased the Little Timber ranch, and at once

1286

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

engaged in sheep raising, usually having 4,000 or 5,000 and 100 cattle. In 1897 Mr. Vestal became manager of the Briggs & Ellis ranch at Big Tim- ber in Sweet Grass county, and of half a dozen others, two of them in Sweet Grass county and four in Custer. These ranches are devoted to sheep- growing, and the company controls 40,000 head of sheep. All this immense business is under the direct- supervision of Mr. Vestal, whose home is at the ranch opposite Big Timber, in an elegant resi- dence equipped with all modern improvements and surrounded with everything necessary for the most successful management of the business, commodious stables and other outbuildings and appliances of every necessary kind. On the principal ranch there is an irrigating ditch carrying 1,000 inches of water, another one carrying 500 and another 250 inches. They are fed by Little Timber creek and supply 500 acres of land. Governor Toole appointed Mr. Vestal sheep inspector for Sweet Grass county, an appointment which was entirely un- solicited by him. Mr. Vestal is an Odd Fellow and has passed the chairs of his lodge. On July 16, 1877, he was united in marriage with Miss Harriet Tureman, of Oregon, daughter of L. E. and Mary (Schafer) Tureman, both natives of Pennsylvania. Her death occurred July 25, 1891. Of their four children, Ora, the eldest son, received, through the influence of United States Senator Thomas H. Carter, a position in the United States navy on the U. S. S. Yosemite, and served through the Spanish- American war in Cuba. On the second call for volunteers, he enlisted in October, 1899, in the First Montana Regiment and was made first sergeant. He served gallantly in the Philippines until May 20, 1900, when he was drowned in the Cowgaric river, on the Island of Luzon, while taking provisions across the stream. The boat capsized and threw him into the river, and it is thought that he must have been seized by a crocodile, for he was an excellent swimmer and should have swam to the shore. He was then not twenty-two years old. Clarence Bird, another son, enlisted in Company L, First Mon- tana Regiment, and took part in twenty-three en- gagements. He was one of the troop that made the brilliant charges on February 23, 1899, when Lieut. French was killed. He returned home with the regiment and was honorably discharged. In 1900 he was married to Miss May Baxter, of Pennsyl- vania. Maud and Otto, younger children, are at- tending school, Maud being a student at Missoula College. In February, 1892, Mr. Vestal married

Miss Isabel Aldridge, a daughter of Benjamin and Mary E. Aldridge, who was born in Missouri. Her father was a native of Alabama and her mother of Tennessee.

J OHN W. WADE, one of the most prominent civil engineers in the state and a resident of Helena, first came to Montana twenty years ago. During that time he has been connected with some very important engineering work. On the Wade homestead near Columbia, Mo., he was born on September 10, 1853. The progenitor of his branch of the Wade family was Pearce Wade, a licensed Baptist minister, a native of Ohio, and of English ancestry, who, in 1810, removed from Ohio to Kentucky and a few years later accompanied his son, John Wade, grandfather of J. W. Wade, to Missouri, where he subsequently died. John Wade went to Missouri as a teamster in the employ of a man named Wisdom, and later he married Lucy Wisdom, his employer's daughter. They settled in Missouri and engaged in farming, to which in- dustry Mr. Wade added dealing in horses and mules for the southern market. In this he built up quite an extensive business which he continued for years. He was born in 1799, the year of the death of George Washington, and died in 1847. His wife survived him many years, dying in 1882, aged eighty-two. Their children were: Pearce, Thomas M .; Elizabeth, wife of John Sims; Nancy, wife of Frank Stivers; William J. and James B. Thomas M. Wade, the second son and the father of John W. Wade, was born February 5, 1828, on the Mis- souri homestead, where he passed his life in farm- ing until 1898, when he retired from active busi- ness life and now resides in Columbia, Mo. In 1850 he was united in marriage to Elizabeth J., daughter of William T. Barry, of Staunton, Va., who had settled in Missouri. Their children are: Mary F., wife of B. F. Sublette, she has three children ; Lucy M., wife of John S. Riley, has two children ; John W .; Amanda C., unmarried; Henry B., of Helena; Andrew F., an attorney of Los Angeles, Cal .; James M., residing at Spokane, Wash.

John W. Wade completed his education at the State University of Missouri, where he graduated in 1879. Previous to and subsequent to his gradu- ation he taught school in Missouri for four years. In 1880 he came to Montana as assistant engineer of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. In 1880 he taught in Jefferson City, Mont., and later

I287

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

was traveling correspondent for the Helena (Mont.) Independent. Subsequently he was as- sistant and locating engineer for the Northern Pa- cific Railroad Company, in which position he re- mained until the completion of the road in 1883. Mr. Wade then opened an engineer's office at Helena, where he has since practiced his profession, and in this line of work he has no superior in the northwest. In 1883 he was appointed United States deputy mineral surveyor; has held the office of county surveyor of Lewis and Clarke county for four terms, and that of city engineer of Helena for two terms. He has also been road superintendent for Lewis and Clarke county for two years.

The political affiliations of Mr. Wade are Demo- cratic, and he takes a lively interest in the various campaigns. He was a charter member of the first body of the Baptist church organized in Montana, and has belonged to the society from early life. He is a member of the Helena Baptist church, in which. he has been clerk for eight years, and since 1888 he has been a deacon, superintendent of the Sunday school and also clerk of the State Baptist Associa- tion. He is a member of the state board of the Montana Children's Home Society, and president of the Helena local board of the same society. In 1886 Mr. Wade was united in marriage to Miss Claude Hilman, daughter of Capt. J. Rowland Hil- man, commandant of the Montana Soldier's Home. They have three children : Ruth A., Esther C. and Preston A. Since coming to Montana Mr. Wade has led an energetic and successful business life, and by his deep religious convictions and philan- thropic character has won the esteem of the resi- dents of not only Helena, but of a large number of people throughout the state.

J AMES WALKER is numbered among the suc- cessful business men of Helena, where he con- ducts a grocery, at the corner of Broadway and Davis street, having a well-equipped establishment and catering to a representative trade. He is a native of the Emerald Isle, having been born in the vicinity of the city of Belfast on February 24, 1861, the son of John and Elizabeth (Swain) Walk- er. The father, who conducted a grocery and was also engaged in agricultural pursuits, was a Lib- eral leader in his native land, where he wielded much influence in public affairs ; his religious faith was that of the established Church of England.

He came to the United States in 1887, and here his death occurred August 18, 1892. His wife, who was given birthright membership in the Society of Friends, or Quakers, died in 1867, in Ireland. James Walker received his preliminary education in the Lurgan Model School, near Belfast, leaving the same in 1872, but later taking a special course of study in magnetism and electricity in the Brook- field Quaker School, where he graduated in 1875. He began his business career by serving an ap- prenticeship at the grocery business in Belfast, Ireland, entering the establishment of Foster, Green & Co., the most extensive grocers in the United Kingdom. He continued with this house for a period of five years, but in 1881 came to New York city, where he entered the employ of Jackson & Fletcher, after which he associated himself with his father, John Walker, in the produce commis- sion business, under the firm name of Walker & Walker. At the expiration of six months he re- turned to Ireland, where he tarried but a short time, returning to the United States and locating in Dakota, devoting his attention to ranching and also to the grocery and hotel business. He was thus occupied for seven years, when he closed out his business interests and came to Montana, lo- cated in Helena and was employed in the grocery of John T. Murphy until 1889, when he engaged in the grocery trade with George Gander, under the firm title of Gander & Co. At the expiration of a year Mr. Gander sold his interests to John Walk- er, Jr., and the business was continued under the firm name of Walker Bros. until 1893, when our subject purchased his brother's interest and has continued the business successfully, keeping a large and well-selected stock and sparing no pains to meet the demands of a discriminating patron- age. He has also been identified with the mining industry, having invested more than $10,000 in prospects.

In politics he formerly gave his support to the Populist party, and was its candidate for alderman in 1896, the exigencies of political affairs compass- ing his defeat. Fraternally Mr. Walker is identi- fied with the Modern Woodmen, the Pioneers of the Pacific, and the Royal Highlanders ; in religion he holds the faith of the Methodist church, being highly esteemed in both business and social cir- cles. In 1889 Mr. Walker was united in marriage, in Helena, to Miss Ida Peterson, who was born in Sweden. They have one son-James Edwin, who was born in 1891.

I288

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

G EORGE R. (TWO DOT) WILSON .- The story of human life is a wide, a boundless theme. Sadly, wildly have poets sung of it ; calmly, lucidly, have historians traced its meanderings ; gravely, seriously, have priests and sages reproved its errors. It is the supreme topic of thought, and, both in its entirety and its individual aspects, is always interesting and always unfathomable. From the cradle over which the young mother bends with wondering delight to the bier around which all are gathered in the brotherhood of a common sorrow, each human life is a marvel and a poem. In few are the elements of comedy and tragedy, the lights and shades, more strangely commingled than in that of the man whom we have now under review. His characteristics have impressed the very body of the time, not only here in young, untamed Montana, but in the commercial marts and business centres of the east. He was born at Elmira, N. Y., Sep- tember 30, 1830, the son of George Wilson, a native of London, England, and Mary Goldsmith, of Elmira, whose father originally owned the whole town site of that city, but divided it among his four sons, leaving her a small portion because he was opposed to her marriage. The Wilsons were for- merly Quakers, and both they and the Goldsmiths came to this country from Scotland.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 56

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