USA > Wyoming > History of Wyoming, Volume II > Part 32
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For a few months after returning home Mr. Nichols aided in the work of
melina Nichol.
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his father's farm, but soon abandoned the plow to take up study in preparation for the ministry. He devoted about ten years of his life to preaching and then became a law student in the office and under the direction of Jake Koder, of Monroe, Iowa. After thorough preliminary reading he was admitted to the bar in March, 1877, and since that time has devoted his attention largely to the practice of law. He came to Wyoming on the 27th of January, 1887, and for three years thereafter was engaged in law practice in Douglas, when he removed to Sundance on the 9th of August, 1889. Through the intervening period of almost thirty years he has been prominently identified with the profession in Sundance and is regarded as one of the most prominent attorneys of northern Wyoming. His practice has always been large and of an important character. He has been engaged in thirty-seven homicide cases, either as prosecutor or on the defense. The offices which he has filled have largely been in the direct line of his profession. He is now serving for the third term as county and prosecuting attorney, having been first elected in 1890. He was afterward appointed to fill out an unexpired term left vacant by the appointment of J. L. Stotts to the bench. In 1916 he was again elected to the office, in which he is now serving. His political activity has extended to the state legislature. Always an uncom- promising republican, he was nominated on the party ticket in 1896 for repre- sentative to the house and was elected. In 1900 he was chosen to represent his district in the state senate and was there instrumental in securing the passage of the present anti-ganibling law. Wyoming was the first territory to adopt woman's suffrage and the last state to prohibit legalized gambling. At the next election he was again a candidate for the office, but was defeated, largely because of his activity on the side of the anti-gambling bill. He never falters, however, in sup- port of what he believes to be right, and his position upon any vital question is never an equivocal one. He stands fearlessly for plans and measures which he believes will advance the interests of the state along material, political and moral lines, and his standards of citizenship are most high.
On the 7th of October, 1866, Mr. Nichols was united in marriage to Miss Almeda R. Cooper, of Kingston, Illinois, and to them have been born four children : Horace W., living in Boise, Idaho; A. M., who is a bank president and president of the A. M. Nichols Supply Company of Newcastle, widely rec- ognized as one of the prominent business men of northern Wyoming; Eva E., the wife of Hon. A. V. Eichelberger, of Emmett, Idaho; and Bertha Aree, the wife of Joe Lytle, one of the prominent newspaper men of northern Wyoming.
Mr. Nichols is widely known in Masonic circles, holding membership in Sun- dance Lodge, No. 9, A. F. & A. M .; Wyoming Consistory, No. I, A. & A. S. R .; and Kalif Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Sheridan. Gifted by nature with marked powers as an orator and debater, he has again and again been called upon to make public addresses and lectures and to debate on almost every subject of interest to the people among whom he has lived. At any and all times he is ready to handle any subject assigned to him, for his reading is most broad and comprehensive and his memory most retentive. He is recognized as a forceful and convincing speaker. When plans were being made for the national con- vention of the Grand Army of the Republic at Portland, Maine, they advertised for a speaker who could speak on any subject at a moment's notice, and Mr. Nichols was recommended for the occasion. He is one of the most prominent and progressive men of the state, one of its ablest lawyers and capable legislators.
AXEL H. JOHNSON.
The opportunities offered in America to men of foreign birth is well illustrated in the record of Axel H. Johnson, who is manager of the Lincoln Lumber Com- panv at Cokeville. His entire business career has been marked by steady progress and as the architect of his fortunes he has builded wisely and well.
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He was born May 19, 1884. in Linköping, Sweden, a son of John Johnson. who was also a native of that country, where he successfully followed farming. making his home in the province of Linköping. To him and his wife, Mrs. Lovise Johnson, were born eight children.
Axel H. Johnson, the fourth in order of birth in that family, acquired his edu- cation in the schools of his native country and spent his youth upon the home farm, early becoming familiar with the best methods of tilling the soil and caring for the crops. He worked with his father until sixteen years of age, when he started out to provide for his own support and entered upon a five years' ap- prenticeship to the carpenter's trade, which brought to him a comprehensive knowledge of the business with broad experience in all departments of building. At length he determined to try his fortune in America, believing that he might have better opportunities on this side the Atlantic than in the old world. In 1907. therefore, he sailed for the United States and after landing on American shores made his way direct to Rock Springs, Wyoming, where he was employed by Victor Smith, a well known builder, for five years. On the expiration of that period he removed to Cokeville to take charge of the interests of the Lincoln Lumber Com- pany, of which he is one of the stockholders and the manager. He is thus closely associated with the business interests of this growing town and his ability and enterprise are proving substantial factors in the development of the trade.
Mr. Johnson has voted with the republican party since becoming a naturalized American citizen, having taken out his final papers in Green River in 1913. He belongs to the Loyal Order of Moose and his religious faith is that of the Luther- an church. He certainly deserves much credit for what he has accomplished. It is no easy thing to sever home ties and separate one's self from all those interests and associations with which he has hitherto been connected and then start out in a new country, with the language and customs of which he is unfamiliar. Such a course, however, Mr. Johnson followed, actuated by the laudable purpose of win- ning success in a business way, and he is not only realizing his ambition but has become recognized as one of the valued and substantial citizens of Cokeville. where he has won many friends, who esteem him highly for his genuine personal worth as well as for his business enterprise.
JUDGE WILLIAM C. MENTZER.
Judge William C. Mentzer, who is occupying the bench of the first Wyoming judicial district, to which position he was called in 1913 for a six years' term, was born near Warsaw, Indiana, October 13, 1867, a son of Cyrus and Nancy (Erb) Mentzer. The father was a farmer by occupation but has now passed away. The mother, however, is still living. In their family were three sons and two daughters, of whom William C. was the youngest.
The family removed to Iowa during the early childhood of William C. Ment- zer, who there pursued his education in the public schools of Pleasantville until after he had completed the high school course. He then entered Drake Uni- versity in preparation for the bar and was graduated at Des Moines with the LL. B. degree as a member of the class of 1896. He also won the LL. B. de- gree from the University of Nebraska in 1895. He located for the practice of law in Knoxville, Iowa, in 1896 and there remained an active representative of the profession for twelve years, or until 1908. At the time of the Spanish- American war his spirit of loyalty and patriotism was aroused and he responded to the country's call for troops, becoming a second lieutenant of the Fifty-first. Iowa Volunteer Infantry, in which command he was promoted to the rank of captain and regimental adjutant. He saw active service in the Philippines and thus rendered valuable aid to his country. When his military assistance was no longer needed he returned to the United States.
Mr. Mentzer then again took up his abode in Knoxville, Iowa, where he
WILLIAM C. MENTZER
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remained in active practice until 1908, when he removed westward to Cheyenne, Wyoming, and became a member of the firm of Donzelmann, Kinkead & Mentzer, which firm ranked with the most prominent attorneys of the west. Later he practiced as a member of the firm of Kinkead & Mentzer, enjoying a most lib- eral clientage. He has always been careful to conform his practice to a high standard of professional ethics, never seeking to lead the court astray in a matter of fact or law, nor endeavoring at any time to withhold from it the knowledge of any fact appearing in the records. He has ever treated the court with the studied courtesy that is its due and never has he indulged in malicious criticism of the jury because it arrived at a conclusion in the decision of a case different from that which he hoped to hear. Calm, dignified, self-controlled, he gives to his clients a service of great talent, unwearied industry and rare learning, but he never forgets that there are certain things due to the court, to his own self- respect and, above all, to justice and a righteous administration of the law which neither the zeal of an advocate nor the pleasure of success permit him to disregard.
At times Mr. Mentzer has been called upon for important public service. He acted as clerk of the committee on military affairs in the national house of representatives' at Washington in 1897 and 1898, save for the period of his active service in the Spanish-American war. In 1900 he was county attorney of Marion county, Iowa, and from 1900 until 1902 was city attorney of Knox- ville, Iowa. Following his removal to Cheyenne he concentrated his attention upon the private practice of his profession until 1912, when he was elected judge of the first judicial district of Wyoming and has since sat upon the bench, his term of office extending to 1919.
On the 18th of November, 1902, Mr. Mentzer was united in marriage to Miss Maude Gilson, of Knoxville, Iowa, and to them have been born two chil- dren, Frances and William C., Jr.
Mr. Mentzer is a republican, always giving stalwart support to the party because of his firm belief in its principles. He belongs to Phi Delta Theta, a college fraternity, and to Phi Delta Phi, a legal fraternity. He has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite in Masonry, belonging to Wyoming Consistory, No. I, at Cheyenne, and he is also connected with the Woodmen of the World. His religious faith is indicated in his membership in the Presby- terian church. He is fond of various phases of outdoor life, particularly of horseback riding and of golf, but has had few leisure hours in which to indulge his taste along those lines. His vacations are largely spent on his Wyoming ranch, where he engages in raising beef cattle. He has, however, felt that his law duties demand the greater part of his time and attention, and in this con- nection he has achieved high distinction which he well deserves.
HAYES R. GROO.
Business enterprise in Evanston finds a substantial representative in Hayes R. Groo, who is the treasurer and manager of the Evanston Hardware Company and is thus actively connected with the commercial interests of the city. He was born October 9, 1877, in Salt Lake City, Utah, a son of Orson H. and Martha (Richards) Groo. The father was born in the state of New York and was descended from one of the old families of that locality that was founded in America prior to the Revolutionary war. Some of his ancestors took part in the struggle for independence.
Orson H. Groo was reared and educated at Grooville in the Catskill mountains of New York and came to the west about 1860, being among the pioneer settlers of Utah. In 1870 he removed to Uinta county, Wyoming, settling on the Bear river, eight miles from Cokeville, and there he was extensively engaged in the raising of live stock. He is now a resident of Montpelier, Idaho, and is there con-
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nected with the Oregon Short Line Railway. He married Martha Richards, a native of Salt Lake City, Utah, and a daughter of Samuel.W. Richards, who was among the first of the Mormon pioneers that settled in Salt Lake City and was the church historian for many years. He was very prominent not only in church work but in politics in Utah and he went as a missionary from his church to England. In other ways he was a man of marked influence in his community and did much to mold public thought and opinion. His daughter, Mrs. Groo, is still living. By her marriage she became the mother of three sons, of whom Hayes R. is the eldest. The others are: Richard, living in Montpelier, Idaho; and Russell, whose home is also at Montpelier.
Hayes R. Groo was educated in the district schools of Uinta county and in the public schools of Montpelier, Idaho. He spent his early life to the age of fourteen years on his father's farm and then started out to provide for his own support. He was first employed as a stenographer by the Oregon Short Line Rail- road Company at Pocatello, Idaho, and continued in the railroad service for several years. He next entered the law office of John Bagley, of Montpelier, Idaho, and at about that time Mr. Bagley was elected attorney general of the state. Mr. Groo then entered the collection department of the Consolidated Wagon & Machine Company at Montpelier and there received his first experience along mercantile lines. He afterward became connected with the Mountain Trading Company at Diamondville, Lincoln county, Wyoming, and while with that corpor- ation thoroughly learned all branches of merchandising, spending seven years in connection with that business. From Diamondville he went to Cokeville and be- came actively associated with Thomas Sneddon, George E. Pexton and O. H. Brown in purchasing the business of the J. W. Stoner Mercantile Company. Mr. Groo was made manager of the business and so continued for about a year. when owing to illness in the family he was obliged to make a change and accordingly became connected with the operation of the Marcus Daly estate at Hamilton, Mon- tana. He remained in that region for two and a half years in charge of the elec- tric light company and the interests of the water works and the town site com- pany. His well directed activities added very materially to the business and to his commercial training as well. In 1910 he returned to Wyoming as business man- ager for the Gunn-Quealy Coal Company, with headquarters at Gunn, and re- mained with that company until June, 1916, when he became connected with the Evanston Hardware Company as manager and treasurer. He has since been ac- tively and continuously engaged in the business, which was established in 1910 and in point of size is the largest individual hardware enterprise in the western part of the state. Mr. Groo is an alert, energetic man closely studying every ques- tion that bears upon the profitable conduct of the interests under his direction, and his intelligently managed affairs have brought to the company a very substantial measure of success.
In Montpelier, Idaho, on the 11th of February, 1900, Mr. Groo was married to Miss Annie Blanche Chapman, a native of Logan, Utah, and a daughter of the late William W. Chapman, who was a railroad engineer on the Oregon Short Line, traveling from Green River to Montpelier. His service card with the road dated from 1881. To Mr. and Mrs. Groo have been born four children: Helen Louise, who was born in Montpelier, Idaho, July 16, 1902; Maxine, born in Mont- pelier, August 15, 1904; Hayes R., born in Diamondville, Wyoming, June 6, 1908; and Ruth Margaret born May 18, 1917.
Mr. Groo has always given his political endorsement to the republican party and is thoroughly informed concerning the leading questions and issues of the day but does not seek nor desire office. He is not remiss in the duties of citizen- ship, however, but cooperates heartily in the plans and purposes to advance the welfare and promote the progress of city and state. He was made a Mason in Hamilton, Montana, and is still affiliated with Ionic Lodge, No. 38, F. & A. M. He likewise has membership in the Royal Arch chapter and in the Knights Tem- plar commandery at Rock Springs and is a Noble of the Mystic Shrine at Rawlins.
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He is also identified with the Knights of Pythias at Montpelier, Idaho, and his religious faith is that of the Episcopal church.
His career has been marked by steady progress since he started out in the busi- ness world a poor boy. He is truly a self-made man and deserves all the credit which that term implies, for it has been through his strength of character and his persistency of purpose that he has worked upward. At the same time his course has been characterized by high and honorable principles and worthy motives. He has never deviated from what his judgment has sanctioned as right between hin- self and his fellowmen and the integrity of his actions and the uprightness of his motives have never been seriously questioned.
FRANK HAWKINS VAUGHAN.
Frank Hawkins Vaughan is prominently known as the president of the Cheyenne Creamery and as the president of the State Dry Farm Board. He is now practically living retired from business, leaving the management and con- trol of the creamery to his sons, but his work in this connection has been of farreaching benefit and importance to the community, for he was the pioneer in the establishment of the creamery and dairy business in this section of the state, a work that has been of the utmost worth to the farmer, as the creamery now pays about two hundred thousand dollars annually to agriculturists of this locality.
Mr. Vaughan is a native son of New England. He was born in South Pom- fret, Windsor county, Vermont, July 23, 1852, his parents being Chauncey and Luvia (Perrin) Vaughan. The father devoted his life to farming, to dairying and to blacksmithing and was a well known agriculturist of the Green Moun- tain state, but both he and his wife have now passed away.
Frank H. Vaughan, after mastering the branches of learning taught in the public schools, continued his education in a normal school in Vermont and in young manhood he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits and dairying, thus gaining the initial experience which has prepared him for his success in later life. He continued in the east in that connection until 1887, when he resolved to try his fortune in the west and made his way to Fremont, Nebraska, where he purchased a dairy. In 1902 he sold his interests there and came to Cheyenne for the purpose of engaging in the dairy business. He met with dis- couragement at the hands of the grocers and all of the residents of the commu- nity except E. W. Stowe. While there were many cattle raisers, they did not raise cows and there had been no attempt to use dairy products. In 1902, how- ever, Mr. Vaughan located in the Taylor block and established his creamery interests, first churning about three hundred pounds. From the outset the busi- ness proved a success and the first year he sold fifty thousand pounds of butter. In 1903 because of the increase of his business he had to remove to a new location and rented the Tilden block at a cost of five thousand dollars. Orig- inally he conducted his business under the name of the Excelsior Creamery and on the Ist of January, 1904, incorporated it under the name of the Cheyenne Creamery with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars. At that time he was using an investment of one hundred thousand dollars in the business and selling his products to the amount of over a quarter of a million dollars annually. In 1904 he also engaged in a small way in handling milk and now uses five wagons in the delivery of dairy products, selling five hundred gallons of milk and eighty gallons of cream each day. In 1908 he further extended the scope of his business by beginning the manufacture of ice cream and this branch has also proven a source of gratifying profit. The gross business will now run about four hundred thousand dollars and he employs forty people in the manufacture of butter. in the handling of dairy products and in the manufacture of ice cream. His work has not only been a source of individual profit but has con-
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stituted one of the important commercial interests of Cheyenne. It has been even more than that, however, for with the coming of Mr. Vaughan to Cheyenne he began to educate the ranchers and show them the possibilities of dairying. He sold them separators and although it was hard, uphill work at first, even the grocers being difficult to convince, he persevered and notwithstanding the fact that they at first hesitated about handling the butter of his creamery he soon demonstrated that his products were of such excellent quality that a great demand would be created. The creamery is now paying to the farmers two hundred thousand dollars a year and the growth of the business is further shown by the fact that they now make over five hundred thousand pounds of butter per year. All their cream is received from Wyoming ranches and only a small part from other sources within the state. When they began their creamery business its opening was quite extensively advertised and they naturally expected the farmers to bring a liberal supply of cream, but their surprise and disap- pointment was great when only one can was brought in by Martin Willardsen, of Granite Canyon. From this beginning their enormous dairy and creamery business of today has developed.
On the 14th of March, 1885, Mr. Vaughan was married in Woodstock, Windsor county, Vermont, to Miss Lilla Pratt, and to them have been born two sons: Harold, of whom more extended mention is made on another page of this work; and Stanley. The latter was born in April. 1893, in Fremont, Nebraska, and in the pursuit of his education attended the common schools and the University of Colorado. He came with his parents to Wyoming and has since been connected with the creamery business, being thoroughly familiar with its details and of invaluable assistance to his father in directing its executive in connection with his brother Harold. He was married on October 14, 1916, at Glenrock, to Miss Edna Smith, a daughter of Edward and Eleanor Smith, of Glenrock.
Frank H. Vaughan is a Congregationalist in religious faith. In politics he is a republican and has served as a member of the city council. He is much interested in all that has to do with the welfare and progress of the municipality and of the state. He is now practically living retired from business but con- tinues to advise his sons concerning the management and conduct of the cream- ery. For the past three years he has not been in the best of health. In April, 1915, he suffered from a shock of paralysis but recovered partially. Soon there- after a second shock came, it affecting his throat, interfering with his power of speech. His interest in matters of public concern has not abated, however. and he has studied the possibilities of the state for agricultural development and has become thoroughly informed concerning conditions, with a knowledge that has led to his election to the presidency of the State Dry Farm Board. Those who know him, and he has a wide acquaintance, speak of him highly as a business man, as a citizen and as a friend. He is loval in every relation of life, faithful to every cause which he espouses and throughout his entire career has been actuated by a spirit of enterprise and progress.
ROY MONTGOMERY.
Roy Montgomery is one of the foremost cattle and horse raisers of Campbell county and is also proprietor of the Gillette Hotel in the city of Gillette. In fact he has been one of the dominant factors in the upbuilding of the city and of his further success, viewed in the light of his past performances, there can be no reasonable doubt.
He was born in Schuyler county, Illinois, on the 14th of September, 1875, and after mastering the lessons taught in the graded and high schools of Daviess county, Missouri, he took up the study of law and was admitted to practice at the state bar of Kansas. He never entered upon the active work of the profession, Vol. II-16
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however, but his knowledge of law has been of immense value to him in the con- duct of his business affairs in subsequent years. He then came to Wyoming, establishing his home at Sundance, and for ten years he rode the range. During this time he was getting together a small bunch of cattle of his own and then he took up his abode in Gillette and has since been closely and prominently identified with the business interests and with the upbuilding of this section of the state. During the period of his residence in Gillette he has conducted a hotel and has also continued in active connection with cattle raising. For some time he con- ducted the Montgomery Hotel, one of the best furnished hotels in the state, having charge thereof for five years. He sold out that business in 1915 and for two years was not associated with hotel management but in 1917 opened the Gillette Hotel, which he is now successfully conducting. He is one of the prominent cattle men of Campbell county, running from twenty-five hundred to three thousand head, his interests in this connection being perhaps surpassed by only one other in the county. He also has extensive investments in oil lands and from his oil properties is deriving a gratifying income. He likewise gives attention to horses and has six or seven hundred head upon his range. His business interests are wisely and carefully managed, his investments judiciously made and his enterprise and determination have brought to him a measure of success that is most substantial.
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