Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 98

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 98

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the light in New York city March 30, 1859, the only child of Clements and Eva (Becker) Braun, natives of Germany who immigrated to America in their early married life and located in the great city of the new country. The father was a dress- maker and ladies' tailor. He found abundant pat- ronage in his new home, and numbered among his customers many of the richest and most fashion- able ladies of the metropolis. The mother did her duty to her family without stint until her deatlı, which occurred in 1871.

The subject of this sketch seemed destined by nature for a life of struggle and adventure. It was in scenes which tried his nerve that he found most pleasure, and these he sought. After a com- mon school education he left home and wander- ing into the west, at the age of fourteen secured employment as a mule driver at a salary of $55 per month. He worked at this for eight months, and then accepted employment as a laborer for the government at the Shoshone Indian reservation, receiving for his work wages at the rate of $65 per month. His services were so satisfactory and he exhibited such promising qualifications for a higher grade of employment, that he was made a scout and followed the hazardous life for a period of some seven or eight months, having many narrow escapes from sudden and violent death at the hands of the Indians and meeting with many thrilling adventures. On one occasion he was three days on the road carrying a mes- sage to Gen. Howard from Canyon creek, at which place many soldiers were killed. When winter came he concluded to take a rest, and spent his time until spring at Carroll. Then he carried the mail between Martindale and White Sulphur Springs for awhile, and later arrived in the vicin- ity of Geyser with a flock of sheep which were sold at good profits. In 1881 he homesteaded a por- tion of his present ranch, located about twenty- three miles east of Belt. He has since added enough to it by a desert claim which he took up and by purchase to make the entire tract 640 acres, 200 of which are under good cultivation and pro- ducing an abundance of pasturage and hay to support the cattle and horses which he is engaged in raising, besides some grain and vegetables. He is annually enlarging the tillable area and add- ing to the value of his property by steady im- provements.

Mr. Braun was married November 19, 1883, to Miss Viola Callen, a native of Saline county, Mo.,

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a daughter of William E. and Fannie Callen, also natives of Missouri. The father was a prosperous farmer, a Republican in politics and a member of the Christian church. The mother died in 1887, leaving seven children, of whom Mrs. Braun was the third. Mr. and Mrs. Braun have had five children. Four of them are living: Dora, Stella, William and Eva. One daughter, Nellie, died in infancy. In public affairs Mr. Braun has always manifested a very lively and intelligent interest. He has served a number of terms as road super- visor and school trustee for his district, and has given due attention to other matters of a public nature. He is a Democrat in politics.

C HARLES H. BRAY .- Holding the responsible position of manager of one of the most import- ant industrial enterprises in the state, recognized as a young man of exceptional talent and as an ex- pert in the industry with which he is identified, Mr. C. H. Bray, manager of the Kessler Brick & Sewer Pipe Works, should be' accorded specific recognition as one of the progressive men of Helena and the state. Mr. Bray was born in Tavistock, Devonshire, England, on August 8, 1864-a town noted as the birthplace of Sir Francis Drake and the poet William Browne, who were contemporaries in the sixteenth century. His father, John Bray, was likewise a native of Tavistock, where he was employed in brick manufacturing all of his active life. He married Elizabeth Tucker, also of Tavis- tock, and they had three children, of whom C. H. Bray is the sole survivor.

Charles H. Bray attended the public schools of Tavistock until 1877, when he became identified with brick manufacturing. After one year he went to the north of England and there made a careful study of the processes employed in the leading brick and clay concerns, thoroughly familiarizing himself with all details of the business, so that he held prestige as an expert workman. He came to America in 1880, locating in Duluth, Minn., where he was with the Duluth Brick & Tile Company until 1882, when he associated himself with S. J. Monroe, as Monroe & Bray, at Mandan, N. D., in taking the contract to manufacture brick for the P. M. Gran- bury Brick Works. The partnership was dissolved in August, 1882, and Mr. Bray then went to Jamestown, N. D., where he manufactured the brick for the courthouse and the First National Bank

building. In the winter of 1882 he went to St. Paul, Minn., and was employed on the survey be- tween Superior and Ashland. In the spring of 1883 he took charge of the brick works operated by a Minneapolis syndicate at Mandan. His arrival in Helena was in the spring of 1884, and his first oc- cupation here was manufacturing brick for C. C. Thurston. During the winter of 1884-85 he was employed in the Drum Luimon mine at Marys- ville, and in the spring of 1885 he entered the employ of Nicholas Kessler. In the spring of 1886 Mr. Kessler purchased the Thurston brick works, and placed Mr. Bray in charge of them. He has since retained the position of manager and through his well-directed efforts the enterprise has expanded to magnificent proportions. When he assumed charge, only common brick was manufactured, and horse-power was utilized. Mr. Bray has introduced successively a plant for manufacturing pressed brick, facilities for the production of. ornamental brick and terra cotta, apparatus for making fire- proof products, a complete equipment for the facile manufacturing of sewer pipe, next for the produc- tion of fire brick and vitrified brick for street pavements and sidewalks, and finally excellent fa- cilities for manufacting flower pots, lawn vases, etc. Thus the plant is now equipped to manufacture all clay products except pottery. Each forward move- ment in this development has shown the progressive spirit of the manager and his capacity for success- fully handling all details of manufacture.

In politics Mr. Bray renders stanch allegiance to the Republican party, and in 1892 the voters of Lewis and Clarke county elected him a represent- ative in the lower house of the state legislature. He served in the Third general assembly, was made chairman of the committees on immigration and federal relations and also served on the committee 011 railroads and transportation. He proved a dignified, capable and a working representative. Mr. Bray has advanced to high degrees in Masonry, his an- cient-craft membership being maintained in King Solomon Lodge No. 9, A. F. & A. M., while in the Scottish Rite bodies he has attained the thirty- second degree, having been crowned a sublime prince of the royal secret, while he is also a noble of the Mystic Shrine, a member of Capital Lodge No. 2, A. O. U. W .; Helena Lodge No. 193, B. P. O. E .; Montana Lodge No. I, I. O. O. F. He is also a member of Rocky Mountain Encampment of this order, and has served as noble duke of the lodge. In connection with his business he is identified with

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the National Brick Makers' Association, attending its annual meetings in the east to keep in touch with all advances and improvements made in his voca- tion. In religion Mr. Bray holds to the Protest- ant Episcopal faith of his ancestors and attends the service of St. Peter's church. Mr. Bray returned to England in 1887, and there, on the Ist of Febru- ary, was solemnized his marriage with Miss Eliza Fletcher, who was born in the same parish as hin- self. He brought his bride to Helena, where she was accorded a hearty welcome in social circles, and enjoys marked popularity. Their three chil- dren are Archie C., Raymond and Adel.

F "RANK M. BRECHBILL .- Among the many energetic and progressive agriculturists and stockmen of Choteau county, Mont., who have found the source of a steady and constantly increas- ing income among the extensive ranges of that dis- trict, should be prominently mentioned F. M. Brech- bill, who was born in Calloway county, Mo., August 14, 1864, the son of Samuel L. and Martha J. (Freeman) Brechbill. The paternal grandfather, John Brechbill, was an ironworker and resided in Pittsburg, Pa., where the father, Samuel L. Brech- bill, was born. Later the grandfather removed to Ohio, where he died. Following this event the fa- ther of our subject went to Missouri, where he pur- chased an extensive farm and continued to reside until 1899, when he came to Montana and settled in the Bitter Root valley, where he died. His death was a mystery, they never having found his re- mains.

F. M. Brechbill was reared and educated in Mis- souri, coming to Montana at the age of fifteen years and finding his first employment among the ranch- men. In 1887 he settled on his father's property in the Bitter Root valley, conducting the business of the ranch for two years, and in 1899 located on his present range in Choteau county, near Lloyd. He secured homestead and desert claims of 200 acres, and his wife added 320 acres to the ranch, making 520 acres all told. All of this land is fenced and otherwise handsomety improved. General farm- ing and cattle growing are the sources of income.

Mr. Brechbill was married December 3, 1893, to Miss Florence I., daughter of Daniel Griffin, now of Choteau county, a native of New York. To Mr. and Mrs. Brechbill have been born three children : Walter W., Charley C. and Elton E. Mrs. Brech -

bill is a native of New York. The family remove ! to Tennessee when she was nine years old, and re- sided there until 1892.

JOHN THOMAS BRITT .- One of the most popular and successful business men of Helena is John Thomas Britt, who has been engaged in various lines of enterprise and has prospered in all by reason of his skill and capability as a business man, his genial and entertaining manner and his integrity and fair dealing. He was born in Hunt- ingdon county, Pa., on January 25, 1852, the son of John and Mary (Nolan) Britt, who, while he was yet a child, removed to Ohio and were among its early settlers. Here Mr. Britt grew to manhood and received his education. In 1879 he came to Montana and after a month's employment on Smith river he drove stage out of Helena for six months, and then located at Gregory, where he conducted a boarding house for seven years. In August, 1890, he returned to Helena, and in company with the late Anthony Dougherty, opened the livery, feed and sale stable which he is now conducting, and which has been popular and profitable, and has satisfied the requirements of a large and exacting patron- age. In politics Mr. Britt is a Democrat and has rendered valued service to his party for many years. His father was also active and prominent in the ser- vice of the same party. Fraternally he is allied with the Woodmen of the World.

T THOMAS BROOKS, M. D., who is an able young representative of the medical fraternity in Montana, and has gained standing as one of the efficient physicians of Choteau, was born near Kansas City, in Clay county, Mo., on September 24, 1871, the son of Samuel J. and Lucinda Jane (Smith) Brooks. His father was born in Bour- bon county, Ky., on April 11, 1822, and as a young man removed to Clay county, Mo., where for many years he was engaged in farming and stock- raising, and is now living retired in Smithville, Mo. The Doctor's mother was born in Clay county, Mo., in 1827. There her marriage was sol- emnized in 1844, and she also died in her native county in 1878. Dr. Brooks after his attend- ance at the public schools of Clay county contin- ued his studies in the college at Plattsburg, Mo.,

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and in the Eastman National Business College at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., where he was graduated with the class of 1889. He then matriculated in the University Medical College of Kansas City, Mo., where, on March 22, 1892, he received his coveted degree of M. D. Thus amply fortified for his profession, the Doctor entered into medical practice in Dearborn, Mo., where he remained until the spring of 1896, when he started for Mon- tana, arriving in Augusta on June Ist and remov- ing in December to Choteau, where he at once opened an office. His professional ability and gen- ial personality soon gained for him an excellent practice and he enjoys distinctive popularity both professionally and socially.

In politics Dr. Brooks gives unwavering al- legiance to the Democratic party, and in Novem- ber. 1900, he was the candidate of his party for representative of Teton county in the state legis- lature, but was defeated with the rest of the local ticket. He is incumbent of the office of deputy state veterinarian under M. E. Knowles, and here has rendered effective service in this position, to which he was appointed in 1897. Dr. Brooks is identified in a prominent way with numerous fraternal organizations. He is master of Choteau Lodge No. 44, A. F. & A. M .; holds member- ship with Fidelity Chapter No. 18, Order of the Eastern Star, of which he is worthy patron ; with Tabernacle Chapter No. 54, R. A. M., of Halleck, Mo .; with Belt Commandery No. 9, K. T., of Platte City, Mo .; with Moila Temple of the Mys- tic Shrine, at St. Joseph, Mo .; while he also be- longs to Cincinnatus Lodge No. 265, I. O. O. F., of Dearborn, Mo .; Queen City Lodge of the Rebekah degree of the same order, and to Chevalier Lodge No. 12, K. of P., in Choteau. In Choteau, on March 26, 1901, Dr. Brooks was united in mar- riage with Miss Margaret Brinegar, who was born in Ashland, Mo., the daughter of John T. Brinegar.

F RANK D. BROWN .- A discontent with the actual is the mainspring of human endeavor. Providence has implanted in the mind and makeup of man a restless energy which will not be satis- fied with existing conditions, and is ever seek- ing something beyond them. It is this impulse which has made the progress of the world, and is still making it when applied to proper uses through proper channels. And it is the same impulse

that has wrought much of the evil which is preva- lent among the children of men. It is seldom that the youth finds under the paternal roof the con- ditions which satisfy his aspiring soul, and he goes forth to seek them.

This is particularly true of the subject under consideration, Frank D. Brown, of Philipsburg, Mont. Born in Nelson county, Va., November 25, 1845, connected by birth with many of the most illustrious families of the Old Dominion, among whom are the Flournoys, Cabells, Harrisons, Scotts, McClellands, Seddons, Reeves and others of notable social and political import in the south, with good prospects before him in his native state, he still felt within him an aspiration for something different in life from what his fathers had experienced, and while a schoolboy in his teens an opportunity for adventure and romance came his way by the breaking out of the Civil war, which was eagerly embraced. On June 25. 1861, he enlisted in Company D, Twenty-fifth Battalion, Virginia Volunteers, the crack city regi- ment of Richmond, the capital city, as adjutant's orderly. In November of that year he was detailed to the quartermaster's department in command of Capt. James B. McClelland, and the following April was transferred to the war department to serve as orderly under his relative, Hon. James A. Seddon, the Confederate secretary of war. Up- on the retirement of his cousin from this position he returned to his company and served until dis- charged in September, 1863. He then re-enlisted, serving as a marine on the steamer Powhatan, commanded by Lieut. Wm. Severe, tender to the ladies ironclad, the Virginia, upon which he served until the fleet was destroyed by the officers upon the surrender of Richmond. The following day he surrendered to a detachment of Pennsylvania cavalry and was taken to Harrison's Landing, where he was paroled and given transportation to St. Louis.

In 1865 Mr. Brown turned his attention to ad- venture in a different line. He took passage on a steamer of the Northwest Fur Company for old Fort Benton in Montana, arriving there in August of the same year. His early days in Montana were full of variety and exciting experiences. His summers were spent in mining and prospecting and the winters in "wolfing." Eight summers in suc- cession he mined in the gulches of Lewis and Clarke county and near Radersburg, in what is now Jefferson county. In the fall of 1867 Mr.

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Brown started, in company with fifty others, for Salt Lake, Utah, with the intention of prospect- ing in Cottonwood canyon, where great silver mines were afterward found. Owing to the great severity of the weather they stopped that winter at Salt Lake City. There, in partnership with one John Wickle, Mr. Brown kept what was called the Elephant Corral, opposite the Emigrant square, until spring, and was just about to start on his pros- pecting tour when he and many other Gentiles were ordered to leave the city. He started for Montana, returning by what is now known as Evanston, Wyo., on Bear river, where he and his associates located some coal mines which the fol- lowing year they sold to the railroad. The win- ters of 1870-1-2 he spent in the Yellowstone coun- try as a "wolfer." In the fall of 1873 he entered the employ of A. J. Davis, in which he remained until 1877. While thus employed he located a number of valuable mines for Mr. Davis in the state, among them being the Lexington in Butte. Since the spring of 1878 Mr. Brown has been iden- tified with Philipsburg, where he entered the ser- vice of the Northwestern Mining Company, con- tinuing with that corporation until it suspended operations in the fall of that year. Since that time he has been largely engaged in mining, real estate and insurance business on his own account. Since 1894 he has had charge of the gold properties owned by Charles D. McLure, one of the mag- nates of Granite mines and a prominent resident and business man of St. Louis, Mo. He is also the superintendent of the Basin Gulch placers, a large and exceedingly valuable property of St. Louis capitalists, the present officers and directors of the Granite-Bimetallic Mining Company, of Granite county.

Mr. Brown is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and the major-general com- manding the northwest division of United Con- federate Veterans. This organization is the coun- terpart of the Grand Army of the Republic, and at this writing consists of 1,300 camps of the vet- eran soldiery of the south who participated in the Civil war of forty years ago. His jurisdiction covers the states of Montana, the two Dakotas, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington.

In December, 1873, Mr. Brown married Miss Anna Lentz, a native of Hesse-Darmstadt, Ger- many. They have as a result of their union five children : Edward, Amy, Tina, Minnie and James, all advanced in years, the two former being mar-

ried. Mr. Brown has during life affiliated with the Democratic party. While he has never held public office, yet in thirty-five years he has missed no state convention of that party held in Montana. His duty to it was in the selection of good men to serve the people, who were content to do so for a salary-something his restless disposition pre- vented him from attempting.

W C. WILSON .- "Slick" Wilson, as he has been called by all who know him from the days of the early pioneers in Montana, is one of the heroic figures of the past as well as one of the best known men in his section of the state. He was among the men who tracked mules and oxen and fought Indians and wolves in the ante- railroad days of the northwest, and blazed the way for the future greatness of the state it has given to the Union. It was in those days of trial and peril, when it was necessary to match cun- ning with cunning to preserve life and property which were in danger every hour, that he got his cognomen of "Slick," a correct indication of his rank among his resolute comrades.

Mr. Wilson was born on a farm in Morgan county, Ill., January 22, 1847. His father, Jacob Wilson, was a native of Virginia who migrated to Illinois in his early manhood, and there mar- ried Miss Margaret Coons, who was born near Lexington, Ky. They spent their lives on the farm, and both are now sleeping beneath the sod of the great Prairie state, the father having died in 1852, when Mr. Wilson was only five years old, and the mother in 1900.

Mr. Wilson was educated in the old Berlin school, in Sangamon county, Ill., once the resort of the whole countryside because of its excellence, and still locally renowned. After leaving school, from 1862 to 1873 he worked for Clark & Flynn, stockraisers and extensive dealers in cattle. May 10, 1875, he removed to Fort Benton, working there for T. C. Power, with whom he remained until 1877, helping to build, during the first year they were together, the post trader's stores at Cypress and Fort Walsh across the Canadian line. In the spring of 1877 he entered the employ of the Diamond R Freighting Company as a wagon boss, and as such hauled the first load of freight to Fort Custer in 1877. He remained with this company thirteen years, during nine of which

Wade Wilson

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he was stationed at Fort Assinniboine. In the fall of 1889 he took up a ranch in Clear creek basin, in the Bear Paw mountain region, and has since lived upon it, engaged in raising stock and farm- ing, and in conducting a profitable mercantile en- terprise at Chinook in partnership with Edwin Price. In both ventures he has been successful, but his ranching has not been without difficulty. Well settled as the country would seem to be, he and his neighbors have still to contend with wolves at times. These wild and ravenous beasts have killed more than 200 head of cattle for him since he settled on his ranch, and still harass and vex him on occasions.

In politics Mr. Wilson is a consistent Democrat, ardent in feeling for the welfare of his party, but not active in party work, having plenty to occupy his mind and energies in his business of various kinds. He is well esteemed in the community both for his past services and his present worth.

JAMES A. J. BROWN .- Few of the pioneers of Montana have had more varied or interesting experiences than Mr. Brown, and frontier scenes and incidents have been familiar to him from his youth, while he has played a leading role in many an interesting adventure and exciting border drama. James Andrew Jackson Brown was born near Louisville, Ky., on September 4, 1844, the son of William Brown, likewise a native of Ken- tucky, where he was born in 1801, of Irish parent- age. He devoted his life to agricultural pursuits, residing in turn in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri, and he died near St. Joseph, Buchanan county, Mo., in 1865. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Sparks, was born in Kentucky in 1790, and died in Missouri in 1861. Their son "Jack" attended school at Rushville, Mo., until the age of fifteen, and in 1860 he started for the far west, making two trips from Atchison, Kan., to Laramie, Wyo., with bull teams. In the fall of 1861 he went from Leav- enworth to Fort Union, N. M., the next spring en- gaging in herding cattle near Denver for five months. In 1862 he drove a freighting outfit from Denver to Nebraska City, Ingham and other points, passing the winter of 1863-4 at his old home in Missouri. In March he started from Atchison, Kan., with a bull team, which he drove to Denver and across the plains to Virginia City, Mont., where he arrived in July, 1864.

He worked that summer for Nelson Story, and in September joined in the stampede to Last Chance gulch. In the following month he bought à yoke of oxen and took a load of provisions to Butte, sold them at a good profit and returned to Virginia City. That winter he passed in McClel- land's and Washington gulches, and in 1865 he drove a bull team from Helena to Fort Benton and thence to Fort Copeland on the Missouri river, from which point he hauled goods to Fort Benton. He thereafter was variously employed, during the winter of 1866-7 hunting and trapping on the Milk river, and then freighting to various points until the fall of 1868, when he joined the company which was preparing to establish Fort Browning on the Milk river, where he remained through the winter as interpreter for Charles Price, who has a store four miles below the fort. In the winter of 1870 Mr. Brown's services were in requisition at Fort Belknap, as interpreter and trader for the Gros Ventre Indians. In the fall of 1871 he went to Baker's trading post, at the mouth of Clear creek, and was in the employ of Charles Price until the winter of 1872, when he acted as guide for one Putnam, a glove manufacturer, taking him to the mouth of the Judith river. In 1873 Mr. Brown formed a partnership with Charles Young and they devoted their time to hunting and trapping until fall, when they established a trader's store at the mouth of the Teton river, conducting it until the summer of 1876, when they sold out and Mr. Brown established a wood yard at the mouth of the Marias river, in partnership with Jacob Ump- stock and George Chandler, and they conducted a successful business until 1879.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 98

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