Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 75

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 75

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signed the duty of selecting a site for the postoffice and federal building in Butte, Mont. In 1901 Mr. Hall was appointed a member of the board of coun- ty commissioners and made chairman of the board, his interest in the welfare of the county being such that he did not refuse to render service in this capacity. On November 16, 1892, Mr. Hall was united in marriage to Miss Emetine Marks, who was born in Sac City, Iowa, the daughter of Thomas J. Marks, one of the pioneers of Iowa. To our subject and wife three daughters have been born: Ruth, who is deceased, Irene and Helen.

JOSEPH LABRIE was born in Kamouraska county, Quebec, January 6, 1852, the son of Majloire and Artemas (Frazer) Labrie, also natives of that county and descended from some of the earliest settlers of the province of Quebec. The Labries were farmers for many generations and Joseph's father followed the family occupation. His family consisted of seventeen children. Jos- eph passed his school years on the homestead, remaining until he was thirteen years old. He then went into the city of Quebec and secured employ- ment in a hotel, where he was so diligent and faith- ful that in a short time he was made clerk. He remained at the hotel four years and then came to Lake Superior and went to work on a railroad. A strike stopping operations on the road, he and a number of others walked to Minneapolis, where he secured work on a farm for eighteen months. The Northern Pacific being then in the course of construction, he engaged in making ties and square timbers, being where Bismarck now stands before the town was laid out. He kept ahead of the road constructors, continuing at this work two years, at the end of which time he came to Mon- tana by mule train from Carroll, on the Missouri, a boom town that has long been off the map. He reached Helena May 30, 1874, and engaged in pros- pecting for Dr. Brooks at Rimini during the sum- mer, and that winter got out cord wood. In the fall of 1875 he was one of the earliest stampeders to the Black Hills, where he remained until 1881, being engaged in various occupations, but princi- pally mining, having some property of his own. He achieved moderate success and then returned 10 his old home at Quebec, remaining there a year.

Coming then to Chicago, Mr. Labrie was, in Feb- ruary, 1882, united in marriage with Miss Ellen

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Bourke, a native of Canada, but at the time living in Chicago. She was a daughter of Antona Bourke, of Canada. Their children are Leopold, deceased ; Renne, a student at Bozeman College; Estelle, a student at Sisters of St. Vincent Academy, Helena ; Tilford, Joseph, Seraphine and Aime, at home. After his marriage in Chicago Mr. Labrie came to the Black Hills and a little later started for Mon- tana by covered-wagon teams. He located at Boze- man and made his home there for seven years. He took contracts on the Northern Pacific at tie- making and grading, and also built a skating rink and conducted it for some time with moderate suc- cess. He then formed a partnership with Joseph Kountz and they bought ranches on the Shields river and engaged in the sheep industry for four years, after which he removed to Helena, selling his interest in the ranch and putting his share of the sheep out on shares. After a year at Helena he bought his present ranch on Lebo creek, six miles south of Harlowton, in partnership with Til- ford Boyd, and again engaged in stockraising. In 1895 he bought Boyd out and has since conducted the business on his own account. He has over 5,000 acres in the home ranch, all fenced and well supplied with water for irrigation as well as for watering the stock. He raises large crops of alfalfa and hay. His favorite cattle are shorthorns, of which he has about 200, and he has also 5,000 sheep. The location of the ranch is excellent for the stock industry, being well protected from storms. Mr. Labrie has earned the success he has achieved and is entitled to enjoy it. He has been the postmaster of Harlowton since 1900, and in his official capacity and in private life he has the respect and esteem of all classes in the community.

L AIRD BROTHERS .- John and Frank Laird, of Choteau county, are natives of Scotland, where John was born April 2, 1866, and Frank September 14, 1864. Their parents, James and Isabel Laird, also natives of that country, are still living there at Aberdeen, where the father is en- gaged in raising sheep. The brothers were edu- cated in the district schools of their native county and remained at home until 1888, when they emi- grated to Colorado and, turning to good accour.' the lessons they had learned while at home, began working in the new country on sheep ranches. After spending a year at this business in Colorado, they

removed to White Sulphur Springs, Mont., and spent another year in the same occupation. In 1890 they located in Big coulee, on Laird creek, among the Sweet Grass hills, and there took up land through squatters' rights and otherwise, until they now have about 2,000 acres of their own, and the advantage of free range all around them. Their location is well adapted to sheepraising and they are engaged in that business on a large scale, aver- aging from 10,000 to 15,000 head all of the time. They also carry on extensively and successfully general farming and gardening, having a large body of their land in an excellent state of cultivation, and tilling it with skill and intelligence according to the most progressive and approved methods.

In politics the Lairds are Republicans, but regardless of any political considerations they are good citizens, who see in the advancement and improvement of the community the best guarantee for the general welfare, and who give earnest at- tention and practical aid to every enterprise tend- ing towards that end.

C HARLES W. McDONALD, a progressive and enterprising ranchman of Fergus county, was born in Boston, Mass., October 16, 1856. His par- ents were Charles and Nancy (Ramsdell) McDon- ald, of Maine, who made their home in Boston be- cause the father was a seafaring man and had bet- ter facilities for his business in that city. The McDonalds came from Scotland and settled in New England in early days. Charles W. was educated in Boston and remained there until he was twenty- four years old. He then made a trip to Cali- fornia, after a short stay there returned to Boston and in 1882 again started west, visiting friends in Michigan and eventually coming on to Montana. The first two years of his residence in this state were passed at Miles City. From there he re- moved to Maiden, being one of the original set- tlers in that mining camp. There for two years he conducted a hotel and restaurant, but not meet- ing with success he spent a year in Bozeman, Helena and Miles City. At the end of that time he located on Elk creek and engaged in farming and raising stock. After two years of pleasant and profitable occupation on this ranch he sold out to Beane Bros. and bought an interest in his present ranch on Yellow Water creek, ten miles north of Flat Water postoffice, and soon after bought out his

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partner, Wilson's, interest and continued ranch- ing alone. He has 2,400 acres, all fenced with cedar and well supplied with water and good shelter from storms. He usually winters 5,000 head of sheep and has large sheds, corrals, etc., for their accommodation. On October 15, 1894, he was united in marriage with Miss Gertrude Messenger, · a native of Illinois, whose parents had removed from that state to Montana some years before. Mr. McDonald is a representative man of Fergus county.

G EORGE TRAVIS .- This honored pioneer of Montana has been prominently concerned with the various phases of her industrial development from the early days, when he devoted his attention to mining, until the present, when he is numbered as one of the prosperous and representative stock- growers of Cascade county. Mr. Travis was born at Bishop's-Sutton, a parish of Somersetshire, England, on March 12, 1842, the son of James and Elizabeth Travis, both natives of England, where the father was a freeholder and a blacksmith and engineer. Both he and his wife were Methodists and passed their entire lives in England, Mrs. Tra- vis dying in 1869 and her husband in 1874.

George Travis, after a good English education in public schools, in his early youth, at the suggestion of his parents, removed to Wales and engaged in engine and mine work until 1859, when he emi- grated to America, locating in Maryland, where he was employed in the coal mines until the spring of 1864 when the gold excitement at Alder gulch, Mont., led him to come hither. Coming by railroad to Iowa City, Iowa, he there purchased an outfit and made the overland journey to his destination. In Alder gulch he engaged in placer mining, the wages paid being $7.00 per day for outside work and from $9.00 to $10 for underground work. Later he went to Bozeman and unsuccessfully prospected in Bridger canyon, then returned to Virginia City, where he was an active participant in the memorable flour riot, securing ten pounds of flour for fifty cents per pound, the price demanded being $1.50 per pound. In 1865 Mr. Travis made a trip to the Yellowstone country, where he mined with fair suc- cess, devoting his winters to hunting, in which he gained a reputation as a "mighty Nimrod," and he is today considered one of the best shots in Chest- nut valley. In 1866 he went to Helena and Black- foot City and in the fall re-located Ophir gulch

and bar, where he started two ditches and brought the requisite water for his mining work. His efforts did not prove very successful and great difficulty was experienced in securing provisions, since every- thing had to be transported fifty miles, while the wagons had to have an armed escort to prevent the attacks of Indians.

In November, 1867, Mr. Travis went to Helena and engaged in mining at Greenhorn gulch until the following spring, when he removed to the head of Ten-mile gulch, where he is still interested in mining. In 1867 he and his brother Philemon in company took up a homestead ranch of 160 acres, which is part of the present home of Mr. Travis. The association continued until the death of his brother. The ranch is eight miles northeast of Cas- cade and has since added 1,200 acres and is very successfully engaged in the raising of cattle, con- ducting operations upon an extensive scale. With true filial solicitude Mr. Travis provided for the support of his parents from 1868 until 1875, within which interval both passed from earth. Mr. Travis is an enthusiastic supporter of the Republican party, while fraternally he is identified with the United Workmen. The marriage of Mr. Travis to Miss Eliza Ann Perry occurred on March 20, 1879, she being a native of England and the daughter of Frederick and Maria Perry, who emigrated to America in 1868, the father engaging in coal mining and being a successful business man ; his death oc- curred on May 12, 1891, his wife dying on June 26, 1879; both were members of the Methodist church. Mr. and Mrs. Travis have five children : Maria E., Thomas F., George J., Isabel A. and Philemon J.

H ENRY G. McINTIRE, one of the oldest-es- tablished and best-known attorneys of Helena, was born in Savannah, Ga., February 8, 1855, and is a brother of Judge S. H. McIntire. The subject of this biographical mention was educated in Brooklyn, N. Y., and in Germany, at the Poly- technic Darmstadt. On his return to the United States he settled at Detroit, Mich., and in the same year, 1876, assiduously began the study of law in the office of Edward E. Kane, of Detroit, being admitted to the bar of the supreme court of Michigan in 1878. In 1879 Mr. McIntire removed to St. Louis, Mo., and was admitted to practice before the St. Louis court of appeals. He re- mained there until 1881 when, in December of

George Travis

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that year, he came to Helena, Mont. He then located at Fort Benton and was associated in the practice of his profession with Max Waterman, which partnership was continued until the summer of 1885. At that period it was dissolved, but Mr. McIntire remained at Fort Benton until 1888. He then returned to Helena and formed a law partner- ship with I. D. Mccutcheon, which was continued up to 1891. From 1895 until 1896 he was with Sidney H. McIntire. In the pursuit of his pro- fession Mr. McIntire made a specialty of civil prac- tice.

In 1882 Mr. McIntire was married to Miss Helen Foster, of Whitehall, N. Y. They have three chil- dren, Robert, Henry G. and Frances N. Mr. Mc- Intire is a member of the Montana State Bar As- sociation. Politically his affiliations are with the Republican party, but he has never been an office- seeker in any sense of the word.

Among the members of the Montana bar Mr. McIntire is regarded as one of the ablest. From an educational point of view his attainments are of the highest. He is at present in the enjoy- ment of a large and lucrative practice, and he has the esteem and confidence of a wide circle of acquaintances throughout the state.

D ANIEL McH. McKAY, M. D .- The son of a prominent, official representative citizen of Nova Scotia, and associated from his childhood with the best citizens of the province, Dr. Daniel McHeffey McKay, of White Sulphur Springs, Mont., had every opportunity in early life for the best social and intellectual culture, and exhibits in his useful and honorable career that the op- portunities were not thrown away on him. He was born November 25, 1842, at Shubenacadia, Nova Scotia, the son of John and Annie (McHeffey) Mc- Kay, also natives of Nova Scotia. His paternal grandfather, Evan McKay, was born and reared at Inverness, Scotland, and came to America when a young man, settling in Hants county, Nova Scotia, where he was engaged in the hotel busi- ness, also conducting a large farm. The ma- ternal grandfather was also a large land owner, and when he died the most of his property de- scended to the Mckays.

The father of our subject was appointed a jus- tice of the peace by the provincial government and was known throughout the country as Squire Mc-

Kay. He resided at Gays river, carried on there a large milling business and farmed a considerable landed estate which he owned. He was one of the leading citizens of the place, and after a long and conspicuously serviceable career retired to private life and spent the rest of his days in Halifax.

Dr. Mckay received his elementary education in the schools of his native town, and later en- tered the Presbyterian college at Truro, from which he was graduated in 1859. It was his de- sire and intention to study medicine, but his father prevailed on him to make the law his profes- sion and he began its study under the direction of Sir Adams G. Archibald, the first executive of Manitoba and later governor of the province. The class in which the Doctor was admitted to the bar at Halifax, in 1864, contained a number of men who afterwards won distinction in professional or public life. Among them was Sir John Thomp- son, later prime minister of the dominion of Can- ada, who died in Windsor castle while receiving the highest honors that the English government confers on a colonist. His remains were brought back to his native province on the warship Blake, which was furnished by the British government for the purpose, and the Canadian authorities ex- pended the sum of $25,000 on his funeral. The class also contained F. Lawrence, who was made a knight commander of the Bath by the British government ; Samuel G. Rigby, afterwards judge of the supreme court of the province ; D. B. Wood- worth, for many years leader of the provincial gov- ernment, and a number of other men who attained high rank in their profession.

After his admission to the bar Dr. Mckay formed a partnership with Robie Morton, stipen- diary magistrate at Halifax and the leading crim- inal lawyer of the province. After two years he quit the practice of law and removed to north- western Missouri, where he engaged in the real estate business and also gave some attention to legal work. While there he framed a form for abstracts which is still in use in the state. Dur- ing his residence in that part of the country he turned to his former inclination, purchased an in- terest in a drug business and began the study of medicine, being graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Keokuk, Iowa, Feb- ruary 14, 1878. He began the practice of this new profession at Marysville, Mo. In 1879 he came to Montana and remained in this state until

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1880, when he returned to Missouri, locating at Tarkio, where he conducted a drug store in con- nection with his practice. He subsequently re- turned to Montana, taking up his residence in 1882 at Barker, where he had acquired an interest in some mining property. In 1884 he removed to White Sulphur Springs and, with the excep- tion of one year's residence in Helena, has made this his home ever since.

Dr. Mckay was married March 20, 1871, to Mrs. Hester Fisher (nee Thoroughman). She is a na- tive of Kentucky and the daughter of Charles W. Thoroughman, who removed with his family from Kentucky to St. Joseph, Mo. Mrs. McKay is a sister of the late Col. Thomas Thoroughman, who was a prominent attorney of St. Louis, Mo., and the late Oliver Perry Thoroughman, of Butte, Mont. Dr. and Mrs. McKay have two sons living and one deceased. The living sons are Edgar T., located at White Sulphur Springs, and Daniel McHeffey, Jr., M. D., a graduate of Marion Simms Medical College, and now .located at Absarokee, Montana.

Dr. Mckay has taken an active interest in the affairs of the community and has given its citizens the benefit of his high character and excellent judgment in various public positions of trust and responsibility, serving as mayor of the town for four years and as coroner for a long time. In fraternal relations he is identified with the Masonic order. In his profession he stands very high and has justly a wide and excellent reputation. He has been and is a diligent student, and keeps in touch with everything in the way of progress and advancement in the calling. He has recently added to his office an X-ray apparatus, a compressed air mechanism and a cabinet for electric treat- ment. He is much sought for in consultations on extreme and serious cases, often going a dis- tance of fifty miles on such an errand. Socially he is a general favorite, and in every way has the unquestioning confidence and regard of his fellow citizens of the county and state.

JAMES W. McKNIGHT is one of the progress- ive young business men who have done much to promote the progress and material prosperity of Montana, and in all his efforts he has manifested those sturdy characteristics which have ever con- served the success of the Scotch stock, from

which he is descended on either side. He is now numbered among the successful business men of Kalispell, Flathead county, but has interests of important nature in other sections, as will be duly noted. Mr. McKnight. is a native of the city of Ironton, Ohio, where he was born on the 3d of March, 1862, the son of Anthony McKnight, who was born at Marion, in the same state, and who eventually removed to Ironton, where he was identified with the great iron works up to the out- break of the war of the Rebellion. In 1861 he enlisted as a member of the Sixty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he was in active service for four years, being captain of his com- pany at the time of his death, in 1865, in a hospital near Nashville, Tenn. The paternal grandfather of our subject was Pleasant McKnight, of Scottish descent, who was a prominent farmer and stockgrower in Lawrence county, Ohio, where he died in 1881, at the remarkable age of 101 years.

The maiden name of our subject's mother was Mary. J. Roberts, and she was born in Marion, Ohio, being the daughter of William J. Roberts, who later became a prominent manufacturer of furniture at Booneville, Ind. She is still living, making her home with her daughter, Mrs. Susan J. Bradley, of Newburg, Ind.

James W. McKnight received his educational discipline in St. Mary's College, at Marysville, Ohio, where he was graduated as a member of the class of 1877, after which he went to Cincinnati and there retained a position in the office of the Adams Express Company for a period of one and one-half years, after which he was for a year en- gaged in the grocery business at Shelbyville, Ky. In 1880 Mr. McKnight came to Montana, being connected with the United States army and lo- cating at Fort Shaw, where he served for four years as superintendent of schools. In 1889 he opened a general merchandise store at the fort, also serving simultaneously as postmaster, express agent and as notary public for eighteen months. In 1890 he succeeded the J. H. McKnight Company as post trader at Fort Shaw, where he remained until the fall of 1892, when he went to the present site of Dupuyer, Teton county. He laid out and built the town and there continued to be engaged in the general merchandise business for a period of seven years, disposing of his interests in this line in 1899, though he still retains the ownership of the townsite and many important buildings. He sold out by reason of ill health, and was not in

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active business for some time, but in the spring of the present year (1901) he established at Kalis- pell a wholesale liquor business, which he is now successfully conducting. He is largely interested in the Crown Butte Canal and Reservoir Company, being secretary of the company, whose head- quarters were formerly at Fort Shaw, but now at Great Falls. The company is incorporated for $100,000, and the capacity of the plant is for the supplying of 60,000 cubic inches of water per minute, thus affording adequate irrigation for 20,000 acres of land in the Fort Shaw district. Mr. McKnight was United States Indian trader at the Blackfeet reservation from 1894 to 1897, and in this connection built the first store at Brown- ing. In politics he gives his support to the Re- publican party, while he is identified in a fraternal way with the blue lodge of the Masonic order, with the lodge and encampment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks lodge at Great Falls, enjoying a distinctive popularity among the fra- ters of each organization.

At Sun River, Cascade county, Mont., on the 13th of September, 1885, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. McKnight to Miss Carrie A. Morton, a cousin of the Hon. Levi P. Morton, of New York, the distinguished statesman and diplomat. Mrs. McKnight is a native of the old city of Wey- mouth, Mass. Her father, Thomas Bartlett Mor- ton, was a prominent mining operator in New Mexico. Our subject and his wife are the par- ents of three children, Bernice Cara, Verres Mor- ton and Willmae Charl.

W ILLIAM PRESTON McMANNAMY, of Kalispell, Mont., is a man well known in that city, inasmuch as he is proprietor of a plan- ingmill, producing articles necessary to the con- struction of a house, doors, windows, etc. It makes no difference how poor a man may be if he desires to build a house and thus avoid the burdens of renting, Mr. McMannamy will fur- nish him the materials for this and take his pay in small installments. In this way he is a public .benefactor, for the number of houses he has thus provided may be enumerated by the hundreds.

Mr. McMannamy was born near Port Jefferson, Shelby county, Ohio, January 31, 1842, son of Samuel S. and Orinda (Kelly) McMannamy. He

early acquired a knowledge of woodworking from his father, a skilled carpenter in Shelby county for years and noted for his integrity of life and labor. He was a native of Virginia and long a deacon of the Baptist church. Young Samuel accompanied his father, William McMannamy, to his pioneer life in the heavy forest of Ohio, where the latter lived to an old age and cleared himself a fine farm by diligent industry. Both Samuel and William were Henry Clay Whigs. Samuel was of fine physique, weighing in his prime fully 200 pounds, and was of a quiet and unassuming nature. His wife was a daughter of Cornelius Kelly, who came from Ireland to Ohio as one of Shelby coun- ty's earliest settlers. He owned a large tract of land, from much of which he cleared off the heavy growth of timber, and lived to a great age. His daughter, Arianda, was the oldest of a large fam- ily and early trained to numerous and onerous duties of domestic life in a pioneer cabin. She died when her son William P. was a small lad. The father remarried, had three children by that marriage, and died in 1865. He served in the army in an Ohio battery and did guard service at Cincinnati for a year. W. P. McMannamy passed his early life in Shelby county, and when the Civil war came on enlisted for three months in the Fifteenth Ohio Regiment, and served his term out in West Virginia. After the muster out of the regiment at Columbus, Ohio, he re-enlisted in the infantry bodyguard of Gen. John C. Fre- mont, called the Benton Cadets. In this he served in Missouri in close relation with Fremont's head- quarters until the General was superseded in com- mand, when the organization was mustered out at St. Louis. Returning to Ohio, Mr. McMan- namy again enlisted, this time for three years, in Company K, Twentieth Ohio Regiment, in which he was made a corporal. The Twentieth Ohio was one of the fighting regiments of the heroic army of the Tennessee and with his regiment our sub- ject took active part in the numerous and bloody battles that occurred in its memorable career. This record began at Shiloh. At Bolivar our sub- ject was taken prisoner, held thirty days, exchanged at Vicksburg, and rejoined his regiment. To give in detail the war history of Mr. McMannamy would involve the recording of years of warfare in the most brilliant campaigns known to history, those of the armies of the Tennessee and the Cum- berland, the remarkable and successful siege of Vicksburg, and Sherman's unparalleled march to

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 75

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