Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 85

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 85

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JOHN L. STARK, deceased, was a native of Wis- consin, having been born at Waukesha Decem- ber 2, 1856. Having received an excellent business education in the public schools of his native town,

he learned the cooper's trade and followed the same for many years. Subsequently he located at Fergus Falls, Minn., and here he remained in the prosecution of his trade until 1877. In that year he pushed on westward to Montana, settling first in Augusta, Lewis and Clarke county, where for the following year he found employment on neigh- boring ranches. The succeeding nine years were devoted to various enterprises, and in 1887 he came, in company with Thomas P. Strode, to the Sweet Grass hills country, in Choteau county, locating near Middle Butte, where he built a handsome residence and engaged in sheep growing up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1896.

This ranch, it may be noted, is one of the finest in the Sweet Grass country, comprising 880 acres, to which he had a clear title, and 640 acres of leased state land, making a range of 1,520 acres, devoted to sheep, cattle, horses and hay. Mrs. Stark has succeeded to the management of this estate since the death of her first husband, and she is very success- ful in this line of business. Her maiden name was Marguereta Wolfe, and she was born at Waukesha, Wis., January 2, 1870. Here she received an ex- cellent education, and was married to Mr. Stark in 1892, coming with him to her present home the same year. Her second marriage, which occurred March 19, 1901, united her to Christian Stark.

H ENRY F. STOLTENBERG, one of the enter- prising and progressive German-Americans who have contributed so much to the development of the various industries of Montana, is a resident of Teton county, where he is located on an extensive and well-ordered ranch lying on the Marias river, seven miles from the town of Shelby. In the con- munity in which he resides he is recognized as a man of great force of character and broad and lib- eral views. He was born near Kiel, Germany, No- vember 1, 1861, being the son of Paul and Liele (Goetsch) Stoltenberg. The father was a native of Germany, born in 1818, and in 1867 he came to the United States and located in Scott county, Iowa, where he followed the occupation of a farmer until his death in 1897. His wife, the mother of our sub- ject, was also a native of Germany, and passed away from earth in Scott county in October, 1894.

Henry F. Stoltenberg received a thorough busi- ness education in the public schools of Davenport, Iowa, and improved all of his opportunities to the

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best of his ability. He completed his studies at the age of seventeen years, but remained at home until the attainment of his majority. To his ambitious spirit the west appeared to present advantages not available to the young man situated in the Miss- issippi valley, and accordingly, in 1883, he went to Colorado, where for a year he found employment in a saw-mill near Denver. His initial point of location in Montana was at Dillon, Beaverhead county, where for the following three years he worked on ranches in that vicinity. During the spring of 1886 he removed to Medicine Lodge, Idaho, where for seven years he engaged in cattle- growing with quite a degree of financial success. He then returned to Montana and in the spring of 1893 located his present eligible and handsome ranch on the Marias river, seven miles from Shelby, Teton county, where he has 600 acres of land and plenty of adjoining free range. His attention is directed to the raising of cattle, horses and hay.

At Butte, on January 21, 1896, Mr. Stoltenberg was married to Miss Alice Clara Hardin, a native Montanian, born in Beaverhead county July 21, 1876. To them have been born two interesting children, Carl, aged five years, and Greta, three years old.

The political affiliations of our subject are with the Republican party and he at all times takes a lively interest in its various campaigns. From 1895 until 1898 Mr. Stoltenberg served as constable of Marias precinct, Teton county. He is a member of Shelby Lodge No. 45, K. P., and of Shelby Lodge No. 75, A. O. U. W. He is a man highly respected by all with whom he is thrown in association, either in a business or social way.

D R. RICHARD C. HILL, an eminent surgeon and anatomist, of northern Montana, is a resi- dent of Great Falls, Cascade county. He was born in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada, on March 14, 1866. He is the son of Vesey H. and Anna Hill, the father a native of England and the mother of Canada. The paternal grandfather was Vesey C. Hill, who came from England to Canada in 1845. He was the son of a retired English naval officer. The paternal grandmother was Sarah Oldum, whose people came to Canada from the Isle of Guernsey. She was born in Africa, her father who was a cap- tain of dragoons in the British army, being sta- tioned at Sierre Leone at the time. The family

came to Canada to locate upon a grant of land given by the English government upon his retire- ment from military life. Dr. Hill was reared through boyhood's days in Ontario and received his elementary education in the public schools of his native town. At the age of eighteen he passed the matriculation examination and entered the medical department of Toronto University, where the first two years of his medical studies were passed. He then studied one year in the Michigan College of Medicine in Detroit, and, in 1891, he en- tered the Cincinnati (Ohio) College of Medicine and Surgery, where he won the distinction of being awarded the gold medal of that institution the fol- lowing year. He began practice in Michigan, where he remained for three years, later removing to New York city, where he gave his entire atten- tion to perfecting his knowledge of anatomy and surgery, subjects for which he had long displayed a peculiar aptness. Such was the success with which he prosecuted these studies that in 1895 he was appointed lecturer on surgical anatomy in the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery, and assistant lecturer on clinical surgery, which posi- tions he held until 1898, acquiring during this time a wealth of experience in surgery which could not possibly be secured in any other way. In 1898 Dr. Hill removed to Great Falls, where his superior surgical attainments won prompt recognition. He was appointed surgeon to the Montana Deaconess Hospital shortly after his arrival and has since built up a large and constantly increasing surgical practice. Dr. Hill is a member of the Academy of Medicine of Cincinnati, the North Montana Dis- trict Medical Society, the Montana State Medical Society, the American Medical Association and others. Fraternally he is a member of the order of Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. In 1900 Dr. Hill was married to Miss Actoria McGill, of Chatsworth, Ontario, Canada. During his residence in Great Falls he has won many warm personal friends and is highly esteemed for his superior ability and rare social qualities.

J OSEPH T. STUART .- Among the progressive men of northwestern Montana, who have merited success by industry, good judgment and correct business methods, mention should be made of Joseph T. Stuart. It is well known to students of history that our subject bears one of the noblest

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(if not the very noblest) names in the annals of Scotland, the story of the royal family of the naine bearing conspicuous place upon its pages. When the first American ancestor crossed the ocean, where he located, what was the story of his life, these are unknown to us, the first one of the line we can tell aught of being Jacob B. Stuart, the father of the one of whom we write. He was a native of North Carolina and for many years was a highly-prized teacher in the western part of that state. He mar- ried Miss Marion Edwards, by whom he had ten children, and died in 1857, aged sixty-five. His wife, a sterling worker in the Methodist church, survived him until 1876, bringing up her large fam- ily with motherly devotion.

Joseph T. Stuart, youngest child of his parents, was born in Cherokee county, N. C., June 14, 1847. From a mere lad he was a worker. At the age of ten he entered the Ducktown copper mines, in east Tennessee, close to his home, as an air-machine boy at forty-five cents a day wages. He continued in those mines, with an occasional promotion, until September 15, 1863, when he enlisted in the Eleventh Tennessee (Union) Cavalry, with which organization he served for two years, until its muster out of service at Knoxville on September 14, 1865. Returning home, he held the position of coal receiver of the Union Mining Company for three years, afterward being connected with various enterprises. His first visit to the west was in 1876, when he went to San Juan county, Colo., and until 1884* he was mining in various camps near Lead- ville. From there he went to the Coeur d'Alene mines for a season and then came to Butte, Mont. Steady work at profitable wages was his lot here, and when two years had passed, in May, 1886, he came to the Flathead valley and located a home- stead of 160 acres in one of the choicest sections of this extremely fertile valley. Here he made his home and gave his attention to its development, im- provement and cultivation. This labor involved the expenditure of money, which he obtained by work- ing from time to time in the mines of Butte. He has now a splendid home of 160 acres and is con- sidered not only one of the solid and progressive citizens of the county, but a pioneer also. He was the second postmaster of Sheldon, his commission being issued in 1891, and he held office seven years. Republican in political faith and a Methodist in re- ligious belief, he has ever connected himself with the better elements of society and is well and fa- vorably known to a large circle of acquaintances.

He was one of the first candidates initiated in Kalispell Lodge No. 42, A. F. & A. M., and joining James A. Garfield Post of the Grand Army at Lead- ville, still holds his membership there.

Mr. Stuart was married on April 1, 1869, at Ducktown, Tenn., to Miss Nancy J. Witt, daughter of William and Mary (Hancock) Witt. She was born in east Tennessee, where her ancestors have been residents for several generations. Their children are Mary E. (Mrs. D. Sullivan), now of Alberta, born January 31, 1870; Harriet R. (Mrs. Milton T. Small), of Sheldon, Mont., born March I, 1871; William J., born December 11, 1873; Anna R., born March 23, 1876, married John E. Skyles and lives at Columbia Falls; Helen J., born June 15, 1893, and Wendell W. Stuart, born De- cember 1, 1896.

THOMAS P. STRODE .- The subject of this brief biographical notice has been a resident of Montana since 1883, and has found the Treasure state fruitful of good to him in many ways. Here he has accumulated a competency, secured a com- panion for life, established a home and begun the rearing of an interesting and promising family. He was born at Lewisburg, Mason county, Ky., October 26, 1862. His father, William B. Strode, was a native of the same place and died there in 1892; his mother, Anna Eliza Sutton, who also sleeps beneath the blue grass sod of the same county, where she died in 1874, was a native of Fleming county, that state. The father was a well- to-do farmer and stockraiser and did the best he could to give his children a good start in life.

Thomas P. Strode attended the public schools at Lewisburg until 1876, and in the spring of that year went to McLean county, Ill., near Bloomington, where he was engaged in farming for four years. In 1880 he removed to Minnesota, locating at Min neapolis, where he worked as a brakeman on the Albert Lea Railroad for a short time, and then be- gan doing bridge work on the Northern Pacific, which he continued for some time, when he removed to Augusta, on Sun river. There he engaged in ranching and raising horses for five years. In 1888 he traded his horses for sheep, which he drove into the Sweet Grass country, being the first man to bring sheep north of the Marias river. He lo- cated a fine place of 2,000 acres on Sage creek and in the summer of 1899 another one of 480 acres

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on Bear gulch, on which he raises great crops of excellent hay and oats, and has a herd of over 400 registered thoroughbred bucks and ewes. On this tract he has built a good, comfortable residence and a full complement of convenient and commo- dious outhouses. Since 1895 he has been in part- nership in the sheep business with John N. Dorsey, and together they have conducted it on a large scale, having always an average of from 10,000 to 12,000 head, besides a large number of cattle and horses.

Mr. Strode was married at Great Falls, Mont., in November, 1895, to Miss Ella Johnson, who was born and reared at Cokato, Minn. They have four children, all young at this writing (1901), namely : Eva, aged four; Anna, three; Thomas, two; and William, one. He is much esteemed by those who know him for the sterling character of his manhood and his good business capacity. In politics he is a Republican, but takes no very active part in party affairs and seeks no reward of a political nature. He is devoted to his business and finds in that enough to occupy his mind and satisfy his aspira- tions.

PETER THOMANDER .- In the beautiful Bit- ter Root valley there is no worthier represen- tative of the farming and stockraisng industry than the gentleman whose name initiates this review and who well merits the title of a self-made man, since he has depended upon his own resources from his youth up, coming to America from a foreign land and making his way up the ladder step by step until he reached the domain of definite suc- cess by his strenuous exertions,

Mr. Thomander is a native of the ancient city of Lund, laen of Malmo, Sweden, where he was born on the 17th of April, 1838. He received very limited educational advantages in his childhood. At the immature age of ten years he found employ- ment in a tobacco factory, and thereafter he applied himself to such honest work as came to hand until he had attained the age of sixteen, when he made one sea voyage, his intention being to follow a sea- faring life. His captain, however, told him that in order to become anything other than a common sailor he must acquire more of an education, and this led to his abandoning the plan, as he had no money or other means by which he might continue his educational work. He was, however, enabled to attend school during one winter after leaving the ship. He then removed to Copenhagen, Den-

mark, where he learned the dyer's trade and there remained until 1859, when he returned to Sweden, and found employment in the line of his trade until the year 1862. Then he determined to try his fortunes in the new world, his ambition being for- tified by that honesty of purpose, energy and self- reliance which have been the conservators of the success which has come to him in his life here.

Upon arriving in America Mr. Thomander made his way to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he learned the trade of cabinetmaking, at which he worked at various points in that state for a period of ten years. At one time during this interval he was nicely located in southern Utah, but he and his neighbors, with their families, were driven from their homes by the Indians, leaving everything be- hind them and never returning. After leaving Utah Mr. Thomander removed to Idaho, being en- gaged in various pursuits in Oneida county, that state, for a period of three years, at the expiration of which time, in 1879, he came to Montana and settled in the Bitter Root valley, locating at a point on the west side of the river and five miles south of the present town of Victor. At the time of his locating there his ranch was in Missoula county, but upon the erection of Ravalli county therefrom, his estate was placed in the latter. He came to this section with practically no financial reinforce- ment, but took up a homestead and has since that time never owed a dollar nor paid a cent of inter- est, so that the attributes of the man may be readily conjectured when we state that he now has a finely improved and most eligibly located ranch property of 400 acres. He devotes his at- tention more particularly to the raising of stock, though nearly the entire area of his ranch is avail- able for cultivation, the land in this section being unexcelled in arability in the state. Mr. Tho- mander has ever had a deep respect for the dignity of honest toil, has won success by his own efforts, and yet has never neglected the duties of citizenship, being public-spirited and progressive in his atti- tude and giving his aid and influence in support of worthy causes. His political proclivities are in- dicated in the allegiance which he accords to the Democratic party, and he has served for many years in the office of school trustee, though never a seeker of political preferment or the honors or emoluments thereto attaching.

At Payson, Utah county, Utah, on the 2d of Sep- tember, 1875, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Thomander to Miss Hannah Pereson, the cere-

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mony being performed by Justice T. H. Wilson. To this union have been born five children, Oscar H., Arthur, Edna (who is now the wife of Jason J. Jones, of Missoula), Phoebe and May.

G EORGE W. THOMPSON, of Elliston, Mont., was born in Scioto county, Ohio, on June 4, 1857. He received only a common education ; al- though he had ample opportunities for higher branches, his desire for business predominated. At an early age he devoted his time to contracting in various lines. His ambitious nature impelling him to the west, in 1884 he located at Marysville, Mont., continuing the same line of business. In 1890 he removed to his present home, which is situated in a beautiful country five miles southeast of Elliston, His ranch produces excellent crops of grain, and his horses and cattle are also very valuable. He is largely interested in copper mines, which have proved successful and for some time he was en- gaged in the lime business, but having an oppor- tunity to dispose of it profitably he let it go. In politics he is a Democrat, and fraternally is as- sociated with the Modern Woodmen of America.

On January 27, 1893, Mr. Thompson was mar- ried to Miss Grace Geist, also a native of Scioto county, Ohio, daughter of Frederick W. and Mar- garet (Watts) Geist, of New York. Farming is their principal resource, from which they have re- alized a comfortable competency. They are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church and the father votes the Republican ticket. They were the parents of eight children, of whom one, Stanley M., has passed away, while the living children, are, Lou M., Mattie E., Grace, William M., Lena, Edna and Jacob.

Mr. Thompson, the subject of this sketch, is the son of Jacob and Sarah (Johnson) Thompson, na- tives of the state of Ohio, where the father is a farmer. He is a leading man in his own county, and has been elected to several minor offices by the Dem- ocratic party, of which he is an ardent partisan. He holds membership in the Missionary Baptist church, and his wife who belonged to the same de- nomination, departed this life on August 29, 1873. Nine children were born to this union, of whom Katherine, Samantha and Sarah have passed away, and the surviving children are John B., George W., Elizabeth, Jacob, Mollie and Armenia.

George W. Thompson is a man of high attain-

ments, quick in thought and resource, far-seeing and usually successful in all his undertakings. He is prompt to support all measures that are advocated by the best citizens and prolific in finding ways and means to advance the interests of his adopted state. He is considered an authority on the various busi- ness matters pertaining to the advantage of Elliston, for which he predicts a prosperous future. He thoroughly appreciates his own successful career in this country, insomuch that he prefers living in Montana to any state in the Union. To Mr. Thomp- son and his wife have been born four children, Harry, Lester, Esther and George W.

JOHN C. TIPTON .- The subject of this brief review, who is one of the leading citizens, pub- lic officials and progressive farmers of Meagher county, Mont., has come to his present estate of worldly comfort, social influence and general pub- lic esteem, through many tribulations and much toil of body and worry of mind. He was born at Mt. Sterling, Ky., July 5, 1835, the son of William and Sarah (Brown) Tipton, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Louisiana. The Tipton family has a long and honorable record in American history. Its American progenitors came from Wales and were among the first settlers of the Old Dominion, where they bore a conspicuous part in the affairs of the colony in peace and war, ex- emplifying in public and private life the force of character, patriotism and general worth for which they have been noted.

Mrs. Tipton, nee Aurelia H. Ryan, a native of Pennsylvania, also comes of a family distinguished and highly useful in the development, defense and improvement of our country. Her father and Mr. Tipton's father were in active service in the war of 1812. Both died December 4, 1871, and the same mail brought to our subject and his wife letters in- forming them of their respective father's death.

Our subject's grandfather removed from Virginia to Kentucky, where he settled down to farming near Mt. Sterling. His son William, father of our subject, succeeded him in the farming and stock- raising on the same place, and conducted the busi- ness without interruption, except while he was in the war, until his death, at which he left a family of nine children.

John C. Tipton, the immediate subject of these paragraphs, remained on the homestead until 1853,

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attending the schools in the neighborhood and working at intervals on the farm. In the year last mentioned, in company with his brother and "Uncle Charlie," one of his father's slaves, and Charlie's wife, he came to California by way of the isthmus, the elder Tipton refusing his consent to the jour- ney unless they took Uncle Charlie along as a guide and guard, he having crossed the plains in 1849 with the oldest son, William, and returned in 1853.

Mr. Tipton remained in California until 1878, spending the first eight years in freighting and the other seventeen in merchandising, with varying success. In June, 1878, he came to Montana in company with L. D. Burt, who had charge of a large flock of sheep for Messrs. Gans & Klein. The trip occupied four months, as this was in the time of the Bannack war and they were obliged to make all manner of moves to get through, even going around by Reno, 180 miles out of their way. At Birch creek, on the Salmon river road, where there was a stage station, they camped and sent out scouts, who discovered that the station had been sacked by the Indians. At or near Sand Hole they fell in with a body of soldiers from whom they got the first account of the event. One of the men at the station had been wounded and escaped. He was with the soldiers and told Mr. Tipton and his companion that the savages had driven off the coach, taken the horses and destroyed other things. Mr. Tipton and Mr. Burt proceeded direct to Helena, and spent the winter there. In the spring of 1879 our subject removed to Smith River val- ley and took up land for the purpose of engaging in stockraising, with which he has been successfully occupied ever since. He has a fine ranch, well im- proved and in a high state of productiveness.

Mr. Tipton was married October 17, 1861, to Miss Aurelia Himrod Ryan, a native of Meadville, Pa., whose family history runs back in an unbroken line to the arrival of the first ancestor on American soil in 1732. His name was Johannes Moelich, and he was Mrs. Tipton's grandmother's father. The family has contributed heroes to all our wars, on land and sea, and leading public men in times of peace, who have occupied high official stations. Mr. and Mrs. Tipton have seven children, namely : Kleber S., located at Great Falls; Clifton, at White Sulphur Springs; Walter D., at Helena; Butte Himrod, a stenographer at Helena; C. Junius, em- ployed on the Helena Herald; and Effie A. and Marjorie E., who are yet at home.

Mr. Tipton has taken an active part in public af-

fairs, and served the people of his county in a nuni- ber of responsible official positions. He was elected county assessor of Meagher county in 1886, and was re-elected in 1888. In 1889 he was chosen county treasurer, and was re-elected to that office in 1892, the law forbids a third successive term, or he could have had it. In 1896 he was appointed county commissioner, and in 1899 was elected to the office for a full term and is now chairman of the board. He was also school trustee for a number of years. Fraternally he is connected with the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, which he joined in 1868. He has been prominent in the order, hav- ing passed through all the chairs and become a member of the grand lodge.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 85

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