Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 83

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 83

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).

Peter C. Sydent

1425

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

of Lewistown in close proximity to the old home- stead of the family.

In politics Mr. Weydert is one of the strongest advocates of the principles and policies advanced by the Republican party, and he has been an active worker in the party. He was a delegate from Fer- gus county to the state convention of 1900 and has otherwise manifested a lively interest in public af- fairs. Fraternally he is identified with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.

D ALON FOWLER SLAYTON .- The record of the Slayton family in America is long and honorable in peace and war. It began in 1682 with Capt. Thomas Slayton, a native of England or Scotland, who came to America at that time. He was married to Miss Hannah Culwood in 1707 and they had four children, of whom one son, Thomas, married Abiel Harrington and had a family of nine children. His son David married Martlia Thayer and had a family of nine. The eighth, Ros- well, married Martha Pierce and had ten children, the eighth being Gardner Pierce Slayton, who was born at Nunda, Livingston county, N. Y., and mar- ried with Elizabeth Sagar. The third of their six children, Dalon Fowler Slayton, being born at Vienna, Fairfax county, Va., on January 8, 1857.

There are nine places in six states bearing the name of Slayton in honor of this family. Three of its members took part in the French and Indian wars occurring, 1755 and 1760, while seven were in the contest of the Revolution, three of the number being commissioned officers. There were nine in the war of 1812 and all of them rendered distinguished service. One was in the Seminole war and died in Florida. Alonzo A. was a sergeant in the Black Hawk war, Samuel R. was a volunteer in the Rogue river Indian war in Oregon in 1856. Two of the name were lieutenants, four were captains and one was a colonel in the Mexican war. Sixty-one Slaytons were Union soldiers in the Civil war, and of the number three were corporals, five were sergeants, five lieutenants, five captains and one was brigadier-general.

Mr. Slayton's father, Gardner Pierce Slayton, en- listed in the One Hundred and Sixty-first New York Infantry on December 29, 1863, and was honorably discharged on November 12, 1865. He was a miller by trade and owned considerable property in Vir- 90

ginia which was destroyed during the war. He removed from New York to Fairfax county, Va., and made his home there until his death in 1877. He was highly respected wherever he was known. His son, Dalon F. Slayton, passed his early life in Pennsylvania and New York, and remained with his mother after the father's death until April 19, 1880, when he came west to Bismarck and from there by boat to Fort Benton and on to Helena. Having no capital, he went to Canton, Broadwater county, where he obtained employment and re- mained two years. From Canton he removed to White Sulphur Springs and remained until April, 1885, being joined by his brother, Daniel W., in 1884. In April, 1885, they located the properties which they now occupy and engaged in the sheep industry. At the end of three years they dissolved their partnership, divided their stock, and have since lived on separate ranches. They are located on Folsom creek about sixty-five miles north of Bil- lings. (See sketch of Daniel W. on another page.)

Mr. Slayton has several thousand acres of fine land and a herd of 12,000 sheep, the Merino breed being his favorite. His property is improved with excellent buildings and equipped with the best mod- ern appliances for his business. On October 26, 1886, he was married to Miss Mary A. Ottmer, a native of Germany who was brought to America by her parents when she was but two years old. Their children are Laverne Carter and Max Elwin. August 2, 1901, Mr. Slayton attended a reunion of the Slayton family at East Brookfield, Mass., and afterwards took a sea voyage. He is an enterpris- ing and progressive man and has been very suc- cessful. The fact is worthy of note that through- out his life Mr. Slayton has never used tobacco or intoxicating liquors in any form, a fact worthy of note by young men.

M AURICE C. PRICE .- The subject of this narrative is an exception to the rule of his family on both sides of the house, in that he has wandered far from the paternal rooftree and planted his hearthstone in strange soil, among a new people. He was born in Monroe county, Pa., September 17, 1865. His father, Perry Price, and his mother, Julia Yetter, were also born there, as their forefathers had been since very early in the eighteenth century. There are now living in that vicinity, within a radius of fifteen miles

1.426

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

from the original homestead, nearly 800 direct de- scendants of the original Price, who was one of the first settlers in the state, and perhaps nearly as many Yetters, whose record in the county is of almost equal antiquity.

Mr. Price received a thorough common school education in his native county, and at the age of sixteen began teaching in the public schools, which he continued to do for seven years. In 1889 he emigrated to Pondera, Mont., where he worked one year for his brother-in-law, John Wasesha. In 1890 he removed to Sweet Grass hills, locating on Coral creek, where he remained one year, and then took up his residence on his present ranch on Strawberry creek, seven miles west of the town of Hill. There he has a beautiful home, and in the two ranches a total of about 1,000 acres, devoted to sheep, with an average flock of from 3,000 to 5,000. He raises also large crops of oats of excellent quality. For water he has available one reservoir covering 300 acres and another covering about 1,000. Mr. Price is one of the progressive farmers of his county. He has brought his land to a high state of cultivation, and improved it with suitable buildings and other ap- pliances for his purposes. He keeps abreast of the times in all agricultural matters and dis- charges with intelligence and fidelity the duties of citizenship in every respect. In politics he is a Republican and holds the position of United States commissioner for the district of Montana. He is also a surveyor and renders his neighbor- hood good service in that line of work. He was married at Fort Benton in 1900, to Miss Effie Henry, who is also a native of Monroe county, Pa. They have a daughter named Beatrice. Mr. and Mrs. Price are good citizens, prominent in social circles and actively identified with every good work in their community. They are held in high esteem by all their neighbors and friends, and in the community generally.

M ILTON T. SMALL .- This enterprising agri- culturist of Flathead county comes from the old Pine Tree state, Maine, where he was born August 30, 1855, at Cherryfield, Washington coun- ty. It is a family tradition that in 1740 three brothers named Small emigrated from England to Maine, one locating in Portland, one in Bath and the third, from whom our subject is descended, in

Washington county. The subject's father, Elisha Coffin Small, is a farmer and lumberman of Wash- ington county, an industrious, quiet and unosten- tatious man of sound common sense and strong moral principles. He has "a sound mind in a strong body" and is now, 1901, living at the hale old age of eighty years. He married Agizine Leighton, who closed an active and useful life in 1895, after attaining the age of sixty-four years. Two of the children of this marriage, Milton T. and Walter, have been residents of Montana. Mil- ton T. Small added to an inherited stock of great vitality by active labor on his father's farm and attended Cherryfield high school. When he was twenty-three years of age he went to Braddock, Pa., and for a time was an employe of Andrew Carnegie. In May, 1879, he traveled to Oshkosh, Wis., at the close of the summer season returning to Maine. After one year passed at home he again went west and until 1882 was at work in Wisconsin and Dakota, again returning home for a year's stay. At the end of that period he deter- mined to try the far west, and on October 26, 1883, he arrived at Helena, Mont. After some weeks' work at bridge repairing on the Northern Pacific Railroad he went to the Coeur d'Alene mines in Idaho and remained there until July 24, 1884, when he and his brother Walter, who had been his com- panion on his last trip, bought a horse on which they loaded their effects and started for the highly- praised Bull river gold fields. Their route was through the Flathead valley, and they had gone as far as Point of Rocks, at the head of the lake, where they relinquished the remainder of the journey, as returning miners whom they met gave them unpromising reports of matters at their in- tended destination. Mr. Small then thought the advantages of the country surrounding him were sufficient to afford him a rare opportunity to ac- quire a valuable home, and in this conclusion his brother acquiesced. Both took up homesteads, Milton 160 acres of his present home, and Walter 160 acres not two miles north of this. From that time Mr. Small has diligently labored to attain the best possible results in the accomplishment of his purpose. To get the money demanded for devel- opment and improvement of his property and to increase his holdings, he worked at carpenter work at Anaconda, Butte and also at Missoula, in the Bit- ter Root valley and elsewhere, returning to put his earnings into profitable service at his home. He now owns and cultivates four ranches, comprising

1427

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

640 acres of land; one of these ranches he bought from his brother when he left the valley. He har- vested 300 acres of grain in 1901, has a fine orchard of 600 choice apple trees, and cherry, plum and other fruit trees in proper proportion. His dili- gence and thrift have been well rewarded, and show that the early teaching of his New England parents was well sown in good ground.

On October 5, 1892, Mr. Small married Miss Harriet Stuart, daughter of Joseph T. Stuart, a wealthy agriculturist and early settler of the Flat -. head country. They have two children, Arthur and Cecil. Mr. Small is original and decided in his opinions, and outspoken in declaration of them. "He pins his faith to no man's sleeve," but thinks and decides for himself on all questions. He was originally a Republican, with "silver" tendencies, and at the last presidential election was a sup- porter of William J. Bryan. He has not cared to leave his personal business to run after political honors. When once a candidate in the convention for representative, he declined the nomination. He belongs to several fraternal organizations, among them the Odd Fellows, Patriotic Sons of America, Ancient Order of United Workmen, Modern Woodmen of America and the Yeomen.

E VERIT L. SLITER, one of the live, pushing, successful young men of Montana, was born in Vicksburg, Mich., on November 29, 1866, a son of Andrew J. and Lucy (Moffett) Sliter. A. J. Sliter was born in Delaware, of Pennsylvania par- ents, and went to Michigan when but nineteen as a pioneer settler, and followed there various suc- cessful occupations, agriculture, horticulture, bee raising, etc. He was possessed of a herculean physique and had a very companionable nature. He weighed in his prime 225 pounds and stood six feet, two inches in height. He was road master of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad in July, 1897, and was in that month killed by his own train, at the age of fifty-five. He was buried by the Odd Fellows, to which brotherhood he be- longed, as well as to the Maccabees and Templars. His wife survives him and resides on the Vicks- burg (Mich.) homestead. Their children are Em- ory J., now of Cape Nome, Alaska ; Lizzie L., now the wife of B. S. Young, professor of pharmacy in the Ohio State University at Ada, Ohio; Everit L., the subject of this review, and Pearl (Mrs. B. L. Elkerton), of Vicksburg, Mich.

After his graduation at the excellent high school of Vicksburg, when he was nineteen years old, Everit L. Sliter came to Blue Hills, Neb., alone. From there he journeyed to Ouray, Arapahoe county, Colo., where he bought a span of horses and a farm of 160 acres for $300, part to be paid in labor. In six months he lost his horses through overwork, left the farm and went to Fremont, Neb., and was there clerk in a hotel for eighteen months. With $300 saved in this employment, he took the old buffalo trail for Helena, Mont., and for forty-four days traveled on that trail, on which he was lost five days in a snow storm in the Bad Lands. He was fortunate enough to kill a range steer or he would have perished for lack of food. At Helena he first worked four months as a car- penter at forty cents an hour, putting in fourteen hours a day. He next helped to build all of the railroad depots between Helena and Butte on the Montana Central Railroad. Quitting this, for the fall and winter of 1888 he kept a peanut and pop- corn stand on the corner of Broadway and Main streets, Helena. In the spring of 1899 he opened the Palace cigar store in the same city, taking as a partner George D. Crie. Desiring recreation, on March 8, 1889, he arrived in the Flathead val- ley on a hunting and fishing trip, and was so pleased with the valley and its possibilities that he purchased a part of his present ranch, consisting of 139.6 acres, of William Ramsdell, paying for it $1,380. The only improvements on the place were six acres under cultivation, a dirt-roofed house and a little log stable. Returning to Hele- na, he closed out his business there and from that time has been permanently settled on his Flathead land. The hunting facilities afforded at that time may be imagined from Mr. Sliter's statement that during the first winter of his life in the valley he killed twenty-six deer. He kept "bachelor's hall" four years and clerked for three years of the time for Mr. Ramsdell at his store in Egan. In the spring of 1892 Mr. Sliter opened the first store at Holt and was commissioned its first postmaster, but soon sold out and made a trip to his Michigan home. Here, on December 14, 1892, he was united in wedlock with his old schoolmate, Miss Lizzie G. Osborn, daughter of Henry D. and Maria (Turber) Osborn. From that time they have la- bored zealously to build up and develop their handsome estate, which now numbers 555 acres of fertile land beautifully located on the head of the Flathead lake. Their fine home, really a capacious

1428

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

hotel, with fifteen sleeping rooms, was built in the spring of 1900. Here the traveler can find enter- tainment surpassing many pretentious city hotels. In 1892 Mr. Sliter made the first start in what promises to be one of the large and productive orchards of the valley by setting out 500 apple, cherry, plum and pear trees. The next year 300 more were added and in 1894 700 trees. He has now 4,000 thrifty trees, of which 1,500 are in active bearing. To show the rapid development of fruit trees in this remarkable section we would state that the trees planted out in 1893 were bearing nicely in 1901 and were well loaded. In addition to his own property, in 1897 Mr. Sliter leased for a term of six years the lands and buildings on Flat- head lake and the steam launch belonging to the Helena Gun and Rod Club. In 1901 he platted the town of Big Fork (100 lots) and secured the establishment of Big Fork postoffice. Commis- sioned its first postmaster, he soon resigned the office in favor of O. A. Colby.

Mr. and Mrs. Sliter have two children, Blenn, born, October 24, 1896, and Veda, born January 18, 1900. Mr. Sliter is affiliated fraternally with the Modern Woodmen of America. To accom- plish the transformation of the place from the con- dition it was in at his first purchase has required unceasing industry, constructive ability of a high order, and a steady persistence in the overcoming of difficulties that have met just reward in a most beautiful home. He is probably the youngest founder of a town in the state.

H ON. D. F. SMITH, the popular and accont- plished judge of the Eleventh judicial district of the state of Montana, is a native of the old Pine Tree state, his birthplace being Benedicta, Aroos- took county, Me. He was born February 1, 1865, the son of William H. and Sarah A. (Moore) Smith. His father was a merchant and hotel keeper at Benedicta and a native of England. His mother was born in Houlton, Me., of Irish parents who emigrated from their native land in 1810 to be- come early pioneers in the Aroostook country, where they served their day and generation well in the development of the land. Judge Smith was early left an orphan, his father dying when his son was eight years old and his mother one year later. Of their children, the only survivors are the Judge and a brother, Charles M., of Aroostook county,

but at present in the service of the United States as a member of the One Hundred and Eighth United States Coast Artillery. After his parents' death, the Judge was reared by his uncle, David Moore, at Cary, Me .; and received the best of edu- cational advantages. After good common-school instruction he entered Houlton Academy, where he was fitted for college and was graduated in the class of eighty-five. He then matriculated at that institution . of high merit, Colby University, at Waterville, Me., where he received his degree of B. A., in 1889, after four years of study. The periods of vacation of these schools were passed by the young man in teaching, as this presented the best method of acquiring the necessary funds to carry on and complete his education. In school he was diligent and studious and made rapid progress and many friends. From 1890 to 1892 he attended the law school of Boston University and also de- voted himself to the study of law in the office of Cassius Clay Powers, of Boston, a brother of Gov. Llewellyn Powers, of Maine, now congress- man from the Fourth Maine district. A friendship formed at school with a member of that family had much to do with directing the course of life of our young law student. After carefully preparing him- self for the activities of legal practice, he deemed the west a more promising field for success for a young lawyer than the east, decided upon Mon- tana as his future home and was admitted to the bar of Montana at Missoula in January, 1893. Opening an office at Columbia Falls, he at once en- tered into a flattering practice and was soon ranked as one of the able young men of his profession in the state. Strongly, and by force of his tempera- ment always actively a Democrat, in 1894 he was the nominee of his party for county attorney, but was defeated by the Populist candidate, Sidney M. Logan; two years later, in 1896, he was placed in nomination as the candidate for judge of the Eleventh judicial district of Montana, comprising the counties of Flathead and Teton. After an ex- citing campaign, in which he was opposed by the brilliant Judge Pomeroy, then incumbent of the office, Mr. Smith was elected by a small but safe majority and removed to Kalispell to enter upon his official duties. Rarely, even in this land of the west, where young men are more often placed in the front, does it occur that a place of so high and grave responsibilities is accorded to so young a man, and rarer still is it the case that so much of honor and worth have been conferred upon the

1429

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

office by its incumbent as in Judge Smith's case. He has been careful and conservative, has shown acquaintance with the intricacies of legal enact- ments and subtleties, and filled the station to the pleasure of his friends and the satisfaction of the public. The best evidence of this is, that he is now serving his second term as judge, the term expir- ing January 1, 1905.

In society and fraternal circles the Judge is in great demand, and holds membership in numerous organizations. He was elected in 1901 the first ex- alted ruler of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, then organized at Kalispell, of which body he was a charter member. His marriage with Miss Harriet M. Collins, daughter of the Rev. W. H. H. and Elizabeth (Hartwell) Collins, of Haverhill, Mass., occurred on his twenty-seventh birthday, February 1, 1892. Mrs. Smith was born in San- down, N. H., and was educated at the high schools of Chester, N. H., and Haverhill, Mass., supple- mented by attendance at the famous Female Academy, of Bradford, Mass. Their pleasant fam- ily circle is enlivened by three children, Harold Francis, born July 16, 1893 ; Charles Hartwell, born August 3, 1899, and Walter Joseph, born March 25, 1902. To sum up, Judge Smith has a large circle of friends, who esteem him for many fine . personal qualities and honor him for the dignity with which he maintains the purity of the ermine of the judicial office and the interest he manifests in the uplifting of the moral, religious and busi- ness interests of the community and state.

G EORGE FRANCIS STANNARD was born November 11, 1860, on the island of Guernsey, during the temporary stay in that place of his par- ents, James and Elizabeth (Power) Stannard. They were on their way to the continent, from their ancient ancestral estate at Bricketstown, Taghmon, County Wexford, Ireland, to attend to the proper education of their children in France and Germany. The Stannard family has been for generations prominent in Ireland. Burke's Peerage shows that they are an old, knightly family, entitled to bear arms. The coat-of-arms, is three eagles displayed per pale or and sable; it carries the Latin motto: Acquila Non Captat Muscat. We trace the descent of Mr. Stannard from Capt. Robert Stannard, of Kilmallock, who died in 1655. This Capt. Stannard married Mar-

tha Travers, a daughter of Sir Robert Travers and his wife, Eliza (Boyle) Travers, daughter of Arch- bishop of Taum, and sister of Michael, Archbishop of Armagh, lord chancellor of Ireland, and father of Morrough, created Lord Blessington. (The Boyles were ancestors of Lord Cork.) His widow married Sir Richard Aldworth, provost marshal of Munster from 1610 to 1629, commissioner of mar- tial affairs in Munster in 1624, and later promoted, by King James I, to the high post of chief leader of the army in Munster. By this marriage she be- came ancestor of the Lords Doneraile and of the husband of the Hon. Mrs. Aldworth, whose admis- sion to a membership in Freemasonry is one of the romantic chapters in Masonic annals, as she is the only woman on whom the Masonic degrees were ever conferred.

Rev. Robert, son of Sir Robert, chancellor of Ferns, justice of the peace of County Wexford, 1682, under age in 1655, died in 1687. He mar- ried Jane, daughter of Henry Hedges. To him, by his father's will, was left the Bricketstown estate, in County Wexford, granted by Charles II to Sir Robert in fee simple.

George Stannard, son of Rev. Robert, of Bally- hooley castle, County Cork, died in 1749. His oldest son, Aldworth, died unmarried. His sur- viving son, Eaton, M. R., of Middletown, County Cork, from 1627 to his death in 1755, educated at Trinity College, Dublin, was graduated as B. A. in 1706. He was a barrister at law and was ap- pointed recorder of Cork in 1728, but did not ac- cept the office. He was then recorder (equivalent to our city judge) of Dublin. He was counsel for the defendant in the noted Anglesea peerage case in 1743. He was chosen to convey, from the cor- poration of Cork to Dean Swift, the box contain- ing the patent. of freedom of the city, conferred upon the Dean in 1737. He was also one of the executors of the Dean's will, and very prominent in public life. He married Miss Neagle. Their son George married Miss Butler, and their son, Thomas Butler Stannard, grandfather of George Francis Stannard, captain of the Sixth Dragoon Guards, served in the Peninsular war and had his sword broken by a bullet at the battle of Meda. Capt. Stannard married Katherine, daughter of Michael McAuliffe, had issue one son, James, and one daughter, Katherine (died young).

James Stannard, justice of the peace for County Wexford, born January 6, 1814. He married, May 20, 1843, Eliza Augusta, elder daughter of

1430

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

Pierce Power, justice of the peace of Rosskeen, County Cork, and succeeded to the family estates on the death of his father. "He was a kindly, con- siderate gentleman, who during life made many fast friends and few enemies, and was extremely popular in his immediate neighborhood. He pos- sessed a fund of historical information about his country, as well as remarkable and droll stories of local happenings during his long life. As a local judge who presided over the Taghmon bench, he was both just and merciful. In his younger days he was an ardent sportsman and was probably the last survivor of the old-time sporting Irish gentry who were resident on their estates, spent their in- comes amongst the people and were the life of the country side. He attained the hale old age of near- ly eighty-six years, dying on December 23, 1899, outliving his wife ten years. He had seven sons and seven daughters.

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 83

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