Some notable Madison County People. Taken from The History of
Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894
ALLEN, ZADOCK MONTGOMERY
Submitted by: Donita Allen Hamilton
dahamilton@surfnetnc.com
Zadock Montgomery Allen was born Feb. 7, 1824 in Casey Co.,
Kentucky to James and Frances Jones Allen. He had three
brothers and six
sisters. His father was the county surveyor and owned a
plantation on the Green River.
He married Rachel Mann Oct.28, 1845 at Lincoln, Casey Co.,
Kentucky. She was the daughter of John and Sarah Bryant Mann
of Green Co., Kentucky. She had eight brothers and four
sisters. Zadock and Rachel's first two children, William
(Feb. 4, 1847) and Sarah (Feb. 6, 1849) were born in
Kentucky.
Zadock and Rachel moved to Newton, Jasper Co., Iowa. They
bought land there. He is listed on the 1850 census as a
farmer, he also did
survey work, and was part owner of a store. James was born
Nov. 20, 1851 and John Flowers Aug. 4, 1854. Rachel died
Nov. 20, 1854. After Rachel died Zadock sent the two younger
boys back to his parents in Kentucky.
On Sept. 21, 1857 Zadock married Almira Osborn, daughter oz
Samuel and Hanna Meekens Osbsorn. Their first three
daughters, Inez, Julie
and Francis were born in Iowa. During this time Zadock made
five trips West, taking supplies to the mining camps in
Colorado and Montana.
In 1866 Zadock brought his children back from Kentucky. In
May they loaded the whole family in wagons and headed west,
probably with the Dr. Woodruff train. Zaddock was an advisor
during the entire trip because of his experience as a
freighter on earlier trips. He was referred to as "Dad"
Allen and it was because of his insistence that the train
used oxen to pull the wagons. There were 15 wagons in the
train. Leaving Newton, Iowa they crossed the Missouri River
at Council Bluffs on the ferry, then they followed the
Oregon Trail West. They followed the south bank of the Platt
to Forts Kearney and McPherson then crossed and followed
along the South bank of the North
Platte River to Scotts Bluff. At Fort Laramie they joined
the Army train and headed North on the Boseman Road. They
left the Army train
at the Big Horn River. From there they crossed the Clarks
Fork River then the Yellowstone at Bensons Landing and went
over the Boseman
Pass to Boseman and on to Willow Creek.
They arrived in Jefferson City, Mont. October 9, 1866. That
night their daughter Helen was delivered by a neighbor woman
in the log home of a friend of Zadock's.
The winter of 1866-67 they lost all of their cattle. His
oldest daughter Sarah taught school that year. She was the
first school teacher in Jefferson. The next winter they
moved to Unionville where they kept a boarding house for
about 60 men. After two years they moved back to Jefferson
City. Two sons were born there, Luman in 1868 and Charles
Edward in 1869. Zadock then decided that they should move to
Salt Lake, Utah. When they got to Silver Star the men there
coaxed him to stay and work as a blacksmith. They promised
to build him a house. They never went to Salt Lake.
The next year Zadock was able to get 360 acres for a
homestead. Their last four children were born on the ranch.
He was listed on the 1870 Census: Post Office. Virginia
City, Madison Co., Mont. as a Blacksmith. His wife, Almira
and 10 children are listed. The first home on the homestead
was a four-room log cabin with a slat roof, it burned to the
ground in 1878 and was replaced with a two story log home.
The second structure was still in use in 1980 having been
remodeled.
In 1873 three of his children, Sarah, John and Inez, and a
friend Alfred Meyers went through Yellowstone Park. The
entire trip was made
by saddle horse and took two months. It is possible that the
two sisters were the second white women to visit the park.
Mrs. H. H. Stone was the first in 1872. In 1877 his son John
F. Allen was one of the local civilian volunteers at
Virginia City who served as packers and guides through the
park. They transported horses and supplies that had been
purchased by Gen. O. O. Howard to the Army at Henry Lake.
Zadock maintained his blacksmith business at Pony until the
mines were worked out of placer. In 1879 he sold the
business and moved back to the farm. He died there Aug. 14,
1888.
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BENNETT, ALDEN J.
History of Montana, 1898
US Genweb Montana Archives
Among the prominent early settlers of Virginia City and most
highly reliable businessmen we find the gentleman whose name
heads this sketch. He has long been connected with, and is
now the manager of the Hall and Bennett Bank.
Mr. Bennett is a native of New York, born in Delaware
County, June 25, 1847. His ancestor, Robert Bennett,
emigrated from England to Rhode Island in 1630 and was a
resident of Newport in 1639. On the other side of the family
the ancestry can be traced in a direct to George Soule, who
landed from the Mayflower in 1620 and Anna (Becket) Soule
who landed from the Ann three years later. They became the
parents of one of the influential families of early times.
One representative of the family fought in King Phillip's
war and other distinguished themselves in the Colonial Army
during the Revolution. The Bennett line of ancestry is as
follows: 1st, Robert who died
at Newport, Rhode Island, about 1690, 2nd, Robert who died
at Portsmouth, same State in 1722, 3rd, Robert who died at
Tiverton, that State in 1746, 4th John who died at
Dartmouth, Massachusetts in 1769; 5th Alden who was captain
of a vessel and died at sea in 1798 (vessel, crew and cargo
lost); 6th Isaac who died at Harpersfield, New York in 1812,
7th, Phineas I., who died at York Pennsylvania in 1892 and
8th Alden J.
His great grandfather, Isaac Bennett, was born in Dutchess
County New York, June 22, 1780, married March 6, 1803 to
Anna Losee and both were members of the Society of Friends.
Immediately after their marriage they removed to the
wilderness of Delaware County where they were among the
pioneers. They had five children, of whom Phineas Lounsbury
Bennett was the second. He was born in Harpersfield, New
York, February 15, 1806 and died at York, Pennsylvania
February 5, 1892. He married December 23, 1840, Minerva
Hakes (daughter of Judge Lyman Hakes of Delaware County NY)
who survives. Phineas L. and Minerva had four children: Mrs.
Frances Dennis, widow of Hon. Rodney Dennis at
Hornellsville, NY; Lyman Hakes Bennett, an attorney of
Wilkes Barre, Pa; Isaac Bennett, a merchant of
York Pennsylvania; and Alden Joseph Bennett.
After receiving an education as a civil engineer in his
native State, Alden J. Bennett came to the west and was
employed in the engineering department of the Union Pacific
Railroad until the completion of its line. He then went to
White Pine, Nevada and was engaged in milling and mining
until 1870. That year he came to Virginia City. Here he
became identified with the educational affairs of the
county, teaching school for some years and also serving as
County Superintendent of Schools. In 1876 he accepted the
position of bookkeeper in Henry Elling's Bank. This position
he filled three years. In 1879 the banking firm of Raymond,
Harrington and Company was formed and Mr. Bennett became a
member of the company, serving as manger of the company
until November 1889. At that time the company was
re-organized under the firm name of Hall and Bennett and he
has since continued to serve as the active manager of the
bank. On the 28th of February 1892, Mr. Amos C. Hall, the
senior member of the firm died, and the name of the firm did
not change.
On the first of November 1878 Mr. Bennett was married to
Miss Mary Prout, daughter of Rev. Henry Hedges Prout, an
Episcopal minister. He was a missionary in North Carolina
and she was born there. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett have three
children-Minerva Maria, Henry Phineas and Lyman Hakes.
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BIRD, JESSE J.
History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894
May be copied for non-profit purposes. USGENWEB Montana
Archives
Jesse J. Bird, one of Montana's worthy pioneers, is engaged
in ranching eight miles northwest of Virginia City. Mr. Bird
was born in Patrick County Virginia June 2, 1831, son of
Benjamin and Lucy (Gradey) Bird, both natives of the Old
Dominion. Benjamin Bird was a soldier in the War of 1812. He
died many years ago, leaving a widow and five children. All
the latter are still living The mother reached the advanced
age of ninety-five years and passed away in 1893. Jesse J.
is their oldest child. He remained in his native state until
his nineteenth year. Then he went toIllinois and worked for
wages and remained there until 1864, when he crossed the
plains to Montana, coming direct to Virginia City. Gold had
been discovered there a year before and it was then a busy
mining camp. He at once secured employment, helped to put in
the water works and for this received $100 per month. After
that he engaged in mining and spent five years there. Then
he prospected a year. Next we find him settled on a ranch
half a mile below his present farm. In 1873 after having
worked this place three years he sold out and took up his
abode where he now resides. Here he owns 130 acres of fine
land.
In 1878 Mr. Bird married Mrs. Elizabeth Morgan, a native of
Canada. Their only child died in infancy and in 1885 Mrs.
Bird was called to her last home. Mr. Bird's aged mother
lived with him up to the time of her death, since which his
sister Ann has been his housekeeper.
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BLAKE, JUDGE HENRY N.
History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894
USGENWEB Montana Archives May be copied for non-profit
purposes.
Judge Henry N. Blake was born in Boston Massachusetts, June
5, 1838. The progenitor of the Blake family in America
emigrated from England to Massachusetts in 1630 and became
one of the prominent factors in the early history of
Dorchester. He served as Recorder and Clerk of "ye Writs" of
Suffolk County. Several of his descendants were also
prominently identified with the early history of the
colonies and one of the third generation of the family,
James Blake Jr, wrote a book entitled "Blake Annals," a
history of Dorchester from 1630 to 1753. Jonathan Blake, the
great-grandfather of our subject was an adjutant in the
Revolution and served in five campaigns in that war. His
family consisted of nine children, of whom the oldest, James
Blake, was Judge Blake's grandfather. Down to the third
James Blake, the men of the family had all been Deacons and
Elders. James Howe Blake, our subject's father was born
December 7, 1804. He was engaged in the milling business
most of his life and his death occurred in 1864. November
26, 1829 he married Mary Nichols, with whom his life was
happily blended until the time of his death. She survived
him until 1885. They had five children. One of their sons,
William Edward, lost his life while in the Union ranks
serving in defense of his country. Their daughter, now Mrs.
Frank Farington, resides in Boston. Having briefly sketched
his ancestry, we now turn to the life of Henry N. Blake, who
was the fourth born in his father's family.
Henry N. Blake graduated in the Dorchester high school and
also in the Law School at Harvard, receiving the degree of
LL.B. from the latter institution in 1858. He began the
practice of his profession in Boston. In April 1861 when the
first call was made for volunteers to
put down the rebellion, he enlisted in Company K, Eleventh
Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and rose
successively from the rank of private to that of Sergeant,
First Sergeant, Second Lieutenant, First Lieutenant and
Captain. He continued in the service until June 1864 when he
was mustered out, having during that time participated in
twenty of the battles in which the Army of the Potomac was
engaged. At the first battle of Bull Run he was slightly
wounded and May 12, 1864 at the battle of Spottslvania
Courthouse, he was wounded severely, his serious injuries
resulting in his being mustered out of the service.
In 1866 Mr. Blake moved to Montana. He came up the river to
Fort Benton and from there went to Virginia City where he
took up his abode and entered upon the practice of his
profession and where for twenty-three years he was engaged
in the practice of law, except when he served as
Judge--August 1866 to January 1867, and when he was editor
of the Montana Post. The Judge has decided literary talents.
Soon after the war he wrote "Three Years in the Army" it
being a history of his regiment and a very interesting one.
January 27, 1870 Judge Blake was married in Boston to Clara
J. Clark, a native of Massachusetts and a daughter of
Benjamin F. and Mary (Choate) Clark of that State. They have
two daughters, Bessie M. and Nellie A.
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BOATMAN, ROBERT T.
Madison County
History of Montana, Sanders, 1913
As one of the representative agriculturists and stockmen of
his native county, Mr. Boatman merits special considerations
in this publication and he is one of the well known and
highly esteemed citizens of Madison County as well as a
scion of one of its leading pioneer families. His extensive
ranch is situated in the beautiful Centennial Valley and is
about twenty-two miles distant from Monida, which is his
post office address. Reared under the pioneer conditions of
the great West, Mr. Boatman has had many interesting
experiences in connection with activities in Montana and
other sections and through his well ordered enterprise has
contributed to the civic and material development and
progress of the state in which the major part of his life
has been passed.
On the old homestead ranch of his father, near Laurien,
Madison County, Montana, Robert T. Boatman was born on the
21st of April 1866 and he is a son of George T. and Harriet
L. (Johnson) Boatman, the former of whom was born in
Kentucky, about the year 1831, a representative of one of
the old and honored families of the South and the latter of
whom was born in Ohio about 1835. The marriage of the
parents was solemnized in the state of Missouri and they
continued there until 1865 when they came to Montana, making
the journey across the plains with ox teams and arriving at
Alder Gulch, the site of Virginia City in September of that
year. There they passed the winter and in the spring they
removed to an embryonic ranch situated between Laurien and
Sheridan, Madison County. There the father entered
vigorously upon the work of developing his pioneer ranch and
there he remained until the autumn of 1887 when he sold the
property and removed to the village of Dillon where he and
his wife still maintain their home and where they are
numbered among the sterling pioneers of this favored section
of the state. In addition to reclaiming a valuable farm,
George T. Boatman was at one time owner of the Silver
Springs flour mills, which he operated about seven years. Of
the eight children, Robert T. was the fourth in order of
birth and the first to be born in Montana. Of the other
children, three sons and four daughters are now living.
In his boyhood, Robert T. Boatman learned the lessons of
practical industry in connection with the operations of the
pioneer farm, and he attended the common schools of his
native county until he had attained to the age of fifteen
when he initiated his independent career by going to British
Columbia, where he remained seven years. He assisted in
driving a herd of cattle into northwest Canada and for two
years thereafter he was engaged in freighting operations,
after which he was in the employ of I.G. Baker and Company
about five years, with headquarters at Fort Benton from
which point he freighted supplies into Canada. In the winter
of 1887-8 he returned to Madison County, Montana, and here
he continued to be successfully engaged in the buy8ing and
shipping of horses until 1907. Since that time he has given
his attention to agricultural pursuits and the raising of
live stock. From 1898 until 1907 he had charge of the Home
Park Ranch, in the upper Ruby Valley and in his independent
operations he now has a fine ranch of four thousand acres,
in the Centennial Valley where he conducts a large and
prosperous business in the feeding and sale of cattle and in
the raising of the various crops best suited to the soil and
climate. He is well known in his native county, is alert and
progressive as a businessman and citizen and is one of the
representative farmers, stock growers of Madison County.
From the time of his birth until the present Mr. Boatman has
maintained his home continuously in Montana, save for the
interval of about seven years passed in British Columbia. In
the year 1906 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Boatman to
Miss Elizabeth J. Peterson who was born in the Upper Ruby
Valley of Madison County and who father Ferdinand Peterson
was one of the honored pioneers of that section of the
County, whither he came from Oregon and where both he and
his wife continued to reside until their death. Mr. and Mrs.
Boatman have two children--Thornton T. who was born on
February 10, 1907 and Harriet E. who was born May 10, 1910.
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DAVIS, JOHN H.
History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894
USGENWEB Montana Archives
May be copied for non-profit purposes.
Captain John H. Davis, the oldest and most prominent hotel
man of Virginia City came to Montana in 1866, just after
having served his country faithfully and well in the great
Civil War.Captain Davis is a native of Kentucky, born near
Sterling, August 28, 1829. His father, Job Davis, was born
in Ireland and when a boy came to America and settled in
Kentucky where he married Eliza Rama, a native of Virginia
and a member of one of the old families of that state. They
became the parents of eleven children, all of whom are still
living. He was a Kentucky farmer and Methodist preacher,
spent the whole of his life in that state and died in 1886,
in the eighty-third year of his age.
Captain Davis is the oldest of the family. He was reared and
educated in his native state and remained there until he was
twenty-three years of age, when he emigrated to Illinois,
then a new country, and with a warrant given him by his
father, took claim to a tract of land near Taylorville,
which he improved and on which he resided until the spring
of 1858. In 1858 he sold out, and with a mule team crossed
the plains to Colorado.
Denver was then in its infancy, and this whole western
country was wild and unsettled. Obtaining a mining claim, he
went to work and continued there successfully until the
spring of 1861 when he returned to Kentucky to visit
friends.
It was while he was visiting in Kentucky that Fort Sumter
was fired upon. The whole country was in the highest degree
of excitement. He returned to Illinois and enlisted in
Company A, Eighth Illinois Infantry, for a term of three
months, and after that term had expired he again enlisted,
this time in Company B, Forty-first IllinoisVolunteer
Infantry. Of this company he was elected First Lieutenant
and was with it in all the engagements in which it
participated. At the capture of Fort Donelson he had command
of the company and at the battle of Shiloh he received a
musket ball in his shoulder. This ball he still carries. At
the battle of Vicksburg he was wounded in the thigh by a
shell, from the effects of which he is slightly lame, and
from which he still suffers. For gallant service at
Vicksburg, he was promoted to the captaincy. He was at the
capture of Atlanta and was in command of a pioneer corps
that went in advance of Sherman's forces in the memorable
march to the sea.
The war over, he went to Chicago, from whence, in 1866 he
came with his private conveyance to Montana, and selected
Virginia City as a place of location. For five years he was
engaged in mining, meeting with the usual reverses and
successes of the miner. During his best year in the mines he
took out $6000. The last claim he worked became flooded with
water and after abandoning it he leased some stock and
a ranch on the Upper Ruby. This stock ranch he ran for about
five years, raising a great many cattle but finally selling
them on a declining market. Then he again turned his
attention to mining, and still owns mining interests.
In 1880 he engaged in the hotel business at Puller Springs.
In 1888 he returned to Virginia City and took charge of the
Madison House which he conducted successfully five years,
and since 1893 has been proprietor of the Easton House. His
generous and genial nature, especially fit him for this
business. He knows how to run a hotel in a way to gain the
good will and patronage of the traveling public and such has
been his life in Montana that he enjoys the esteem and
confidence of all who know him.
Captain Davis was married in Kentucky in 1850 to Jane
Bolton, a native of his own town. She died in Illinois in
1857, in the twenty-seventh year of her age, leaving two
children, Thomas W. and Viola, both now residents of Kansas,
the latter being the wife of Jesse Cox. In December 1866,
Captain Davis married Minerva Tuller, a native of Indiana.
They had five children, Blanch, wife of James Cowan; Jessie,
wife of Robert Cowan; Olive, wife of Amos Wiles and John
Arthur--all residents of Montana. The mother of this family
died in 1884 and in 1888 Captain Davis married Mrs. Amelia
North, sister of his second wife, and widow of Robert North,
who lost his life in
the Union army.
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HAMILTON, ROBERT STAVELY
History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894
May be copied for non-profit purposes.
USGENWEB Montana Archives
Robert Stavely Hamilton, a respected Montana pioneer of 1864
was born in County Antrim, Ireland in 1839 a descendant of
Scotch ancestry.
Mr. Hamilton came to America in 1852 to make his own way in
the world, at that time being a boy of thirteen years. He
first located in East Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he
served an apprenticeship to the hardware business and where
he resided until 1856. In the spring of that year he came
west as far as Minnesota, first stopping at Minneapolis and
soon afterward going to Little Falls. At the latter place he
engaged in the hardware business on his own account. He was
also Postmaster there during President Lincoln's
administration. He had made some investments in real estate,
but as property declined in value and the town seemed dead,
he closed out his business. From Little
Falls, he went to Henry County Illinois and March 23, 1864
was married to Miss Mary Anges Fergus, daughter of James
Fergus. Her father had come to Montana in 1862 with the Fisk
expedition and settled at Bannack. The rest of the family,
mother, three daughters and a son and
Mr. Hamilton followed him soon afterward. Mr. Hamilton
brought with him a set of tinner's tools and a small stock
of hardware. He had two wagons and eight yoke of oxen and
his mother-in-law also had a great number of ox teams and
wagons. That year of overland emigration was large. Mr.
Hamilton and his party chose the route up the Platte by
Bridger's cut-off to Virginia City. After leaving the Platte
they lost a number of their oxen, their cattle dying from
the effects of poison weed they had eaten along the way. As
the emigrants were in such large number the Indians made no
attempt to molest them.
After his arrival in Virginia City, Mr. Hamilton at once
opened up his stock of goods and engaged in business. Prices
were high and he made money on his hardware. From the first
he became identified with the early history of the country,
taking a hand with the law and order of the state and doing
his part to rid the country of the road agents and murderers
who infested it at that time. He remained at Virginia City
until 1870 when he sold out and came to Helena. Here for a
time he was engaged in loaning money. In 1875 he returned to
Little Falls being
accompanied on this trip by his family and while there
traded his Little Falls property for 225 head of cattle that
were on the Madison. This was the commencement of his large
cattle business in which he has since continued.
Although his operations have at times been attended with
losses, his business has proved a success and has resulted
in an ample fortune to him. Today he is ranked with the
wealthy men of Montana. His sons are with him in business
and so large are the herds that roam over their broad acres
that they scarcely know how many cattle they have.
Mr. Hamilton has also bred a large number of horses and is
now giving special attention to the breeding of
Norman-Percheron stock. For fifteen years Mr. Hamilton has
been on of the directors of the First National Bank of
Helena. While he has a nice home in the city of Helena, his
lands and stock are in Fergus county, where he also has
another fine home.
Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton have the following children, all born
in Montana: Mary A., now the wife of Frank E. Hawksworth and
resides in Helena; Robert Emmet, Thomas Moore and Robert S.
Jr.
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HERMSMEYERS, FREDERICK
History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894
May be copied for non-profit purposes.
USGENWEB Montana Archives
Frederick Hermsmeyer, one of Sheridan's leading citizens, is
a native of Prussia German, Born April 13, 1832, his parents
being natives of that country.
The Hermsmeyers were a family of farmers and
mechanics--industrious and respected people. Frederick
Hermsmeyer's father served in the German army during the war
against Napoleon and his sufferings in that campaign were
such that the result was his death.
At the time of his father's death our subject was seven
years old. He received his education in his native land and
remained there until he was twenty years of age, at which
time he emigrated to the United States, landing in New York
and going from there to Cincinnati, where he had relatives.
For a year and a half he worked at the carpenter's trade in
Cincinnati. In 1854 he went to California, making the
journey by way of the Isthmus of Panama and landing at San
Francisco sick with the Panama fever. After he recovered he
began work at his trade there and continued thus occupied
for five years and a half. Then for some time he was engaged
in mining at Goddy's bar in Sierra county. While he was
successful in the mines and took out considerable gold, he
had the misfortune to lose it in an enterprise that proved a
failure. In 1860 he went to the State of Nevada and turned
his attention to farming, making hay and pasturing stock.
After a residence of four years and a half in Nevada he came
to Montana arriving at Alder Gulch on the 2nd of July 1866.
At Alder Gulch Mr. Hermsmeyer purchased a mining claim and
for eight years he was successfully engaged in mining,
during that time taking out about $80,000 in gold. His
mining operations, however, were expensive. The next
enterprise in which he embarked was sawmilling. Purchasing
the third mill that was build in Montana, he remodeled it
and ran it for ten years. This mill was located on Mill
Creek, six miles from Sheridan, and supplied the whole
valley with lumber during the time he ran it. In 1890 he
sold his mill, retired from the business and came to
Sheridan, where he invested in town property and began to
aid in the upbuilding of the place. He purchased and
improved a pleasant residence and also uilt the Ruby Hotel
and in addition to dealing in real estate he is loaning
money.
Mr. Hermsmeyer was married in the spring of 1870 to Miss
Minnie Willmire, a native of Germany and since 1866 a
resident of Montana. They have two interesting daughters,
Rosie and Annie.
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LAURIN, JOHN B.
History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894
May be copied for non-profit purposes.USGENWEB Montana
Archives
John B. Laurin, the pioneer settler of the Ruby Valley and
the founder of the town of Laurin, the county seat of
Madison County, forms the subject of this article. John
B.Laurin is a native of Canada. He was born in St. Martin,
twelve miles north of Montreal, August 21, 1821 and is of
French descent. His parents, Paul and Margaret (Charthran)
Laurin were both born in Canada. The father was a merchant
and farmer. He died at the age of eighty-nine years and his
wife passed away in her seventy-ninth year. They were devout
Catholics. Their family was composed of thirteen children,
seven of whom, four daughters and three sons,still
survive.John B. was the sixth born in this family. He was
reared at his native place, his boyhood days being spent at
work on the farm and in the store with his father. When he
was sixteen he began learning the tanner's business and
after working at it three years opened a leather and shoe
supply store in the city of Montreal. This store he
conducted two years. His next venture was in the Serefena
Hotel, which establishment he ran five years, with fair
success. In 1849 he crossed the plains to Utah. There he
opened a store and also engaged in the stock business,
raising, buying and selling,and for eleven years had a large
and remunerative trade with the Indians.In 1863 it was that
Mr. Laurin came to his present location in the Ruby Valley,
Montana, his arrival being on the 15th of July. He was among
the first settlers in this beautiful valley. Here he at once
opened a miner's supply store and soon found himself doing a
successful business. Prices were high and goods in demand.
In 1865 he wold flour for $160 per sack of 100 pounds, and
he gave a good horse for a firkin of butter. The pioneers
lived chiefly on beef and bread. When the land was surveyed
he took a homestead and a pre-emption claim, together
amounting to 320 acres and afterward from time to time as he
prospered he added to his landed estate until he became the
owner of 1700 acres in different parts of the valley. He
continued in the mercantile and stock business until 1886.
For forty years he was a successful merchant, a portion of
the time conducting two branch houses in connection with his
main business. As above stated, he founded the town which
bears his name. From 1867 until 1886 he was its Postmaster
and until 1875 he ran a hotel in the town. His stock
business has already been referred to. At one time he had as
high as 7000 head of sheep and he also had large droves of
Shorthorn cattle. He still owns some fine horses of the
Clydesdale breed.Mr. Laurin was married June 9, 1855 to Mrs.
Adaline Boothe, a native of Canada and the daughter of
Antone LaGris. She started to cross the plains with her
husband, Mr. Boothe, in 1854 and while on their journey he
was accidentally shot on the 16th of October and died on the
22nd of the same month. Her only child by her first husband
died at the age of nine months. She and Mr. Laurin have
reared fourteen foster children who are all alive and doing
well.
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McCRANOR, DAVID
History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894
USGENWEB Montana Archives,maintained by burns@asu.edu
David McCranor, one of the earliest settlers and best known
citizens of Montana, now of Madison County was born in
Germantown, Ohio, January 8, 1838, son of James and
Elizabeth (Bender) McCranor. His father who was a
cabinetmaker by trade, died when David was seven years old,
and thus deprived of a father's care, young McCranor was
early in life thrown upon his own resources, and ere long
not only provided for himself but also assisted in the
support of the family. Growing up under these circumstances,
his schooling was of a necessity limited. In 1856 while
still in his teens, ambitious and eager to see the world and
made a fortune, Mr. McCranor went to California and began
mining. He mined on Johnston's bar and made some money. He
had been there eighteen months when the Pike's Peak
excitement broke out in Colorado and the news of the gold
discovery at that place spread all over the country. He was
among others who made a rush for that place and IN Russell
Gulch he mined until the following year, 1860. In 1863 the
Salmon River gold find brought him to Montana but he came
only as far as Bannack. He afterward began mining in Alder
gulch where he made money and remained until 1870.
That year he turned his attention to merchandising at Silver
Bow, where he conducted business two years, after which he
again came to Madison County, this time settling at
Sheridan. For ten consecutive years he has successfully
engaged in mercantile pursuits at Sheridan. In 1882 he again
began mining, which he continued successfully until failing
health compelled him to dispose of his property and retire
from active business operations.While he calls Madison
County his home he spends his winters in the genial climate
of sunny California.
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McKAY, ALEXANDER
History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894
USGENWEB Montana Archives May be copied for non-profit
purposes.
Alexander McKay, one of Virginia City's earliest and most
respected pioneer miners and citizens, was born in Glasgow
Scotland, May 15, 1832. His remote ancestors were
Highlanders, but later generations of the family lived in
the lowlands of Scotland. He was reared and educated in his
native town and there learned the trade of plasterer,at
which he worked in that city until 1854.In 1854 Mr. McKay
came to the United States. He landed in New York City and
worked there, in Canada, and in the Southern States and was
in Kansas during the troublous days immediately preceding
the Civil War. In 1860 we find him en route to Colorado,
crossing the plains with oxen. He spent two years at Denver,
then a small town, and also for a while was at California
Gulch. When gold was discovered at Bannack, and the news
spread over the country, he, in company with about 130 men,
started with horse teams and thirty-two wagons for Bannack,
marking out their own road and fording the streams and
rivers. Arriving at Bannack they found the mining camp a
scene of great activity. Mr. McKay mined there until the
discovery of gold at Alder Gulch, to which place he directed
his steps in July 183_, finding that camp also full of
miners bent on securing the precious metal. He paid $500 for
a fourth interest in a claim and worked hard until winter
set in, during that time taking out $3,000. Then on account
of the scarcity of water, he sold out, receiving $750 for
his share. Since that time a deal of gold has been taken
from the claim. In July 1864, he came to Bevin's Gulch and
purchased 200 feet of land for $500 and here he became
permanently located, succeeding well and from time to time
adding to his claim. Now his claim extends for a length of
two miles, and in its operation he employs usually about
fifteen men. He had invested largely in lands, owns a
comfortable home in Virginia City and loans his surplus
funds. Mr. McKay was married in Kansas in 1860 to Caroline
Hanson, a native of Germany. She has been with him in all
his meandering and has proved herself a true and
faithfulhelpmate. They have two daughters: Flora, the elder,
was born on the plains between Denver and California Gulch,
in the spring of 1861 and is now the wife of Dr.
C.A.McNulty.The other daughter, Mary, was born in Virginia
City on the last day of 1863. She is the wife of R.H.
Herhold.
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McLEAN, SAMUEL
THE HONORABLE SAMUEL McLEAN OF MONTANA
This material was compiled and written by Dan Wilson
<dan.wilson@asu.edu>
Copyright, 1997 by Dan Wilson. This file may be freely
copied for non-profit purposes. All other rights reserved.
Dan Wilson has also placed a query on the MTGenWeb Project
pages in both the Madison Co. and the Beaverhead Co. pages.
If you think you might have further information on Hon.
Samuel McLean, please refer to the query.
=============================================================
THE HONORABLE SAMUEL McLEAN OF MONTANA
and Summit Hill, Carbon County, Pa.
Samuel McLean was the prosecuting attorney for Carbon Co.,
PA in the period 1855-1860. He was born at Summit Hill, PA
on August 7, 1826, he attended the select schools of Wyoming
Valley, PA and then Lafayette College in Easton, PA, where
he studied law. In 1849, he was the first Carbon County
native to be admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar after which he
established a practice in Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe), PA.
He read law in the offices of Andrew H. Reeder. In 1852, he
moved briefly to California, then returned to marry Jane
Gray Wilson of Easton on January 23, 1855. They settled in
Mauch Chunk on November 27, 1857. After his term as
prosecuting attorney for Carbon Co., he moved west and in
1860, Samuel McLean was the attorney-general of the
provisional Territory of Jefferson (later Colorado), and it
is believed he resided in Denver [Wolle (1963), pp. 61].
In 1862, he moved to Bannack, Montana where he joined the
Montana Territory gold rush. According to Wolle (1963), it
was the discovery by John J. Healy and George Grigsby in
1861 of the placers on the Salmon River near Florence, Idaho
Territory, that brought men to the area, including Samuel
McLean, who at the time was in Denver, then part of the
Jefferson Territory. He organized a party of men and set off
for Idaho by way of the Overland Trail and Fort Hall.
Another party, organized by Captain Jack Russell, also left
Denver about the same time, and eventually met McLean's
party at Fort Hall. The two parties went together to Fort
Lemhi, Idaho Territory, and while they were still more than
125 miles from Florence they discovered that the Salmon
River was too wild to use to go downstream to the placers.
Thus they joined about a thousand other miners who were also
stranded in the Lemhi Valley. [Wolle, Muriel Sibell (1963),
MONTANA PAY DIRT: Guide to the Mining Camps of the Treasure
State. Denver: Sage Books].
When Montana entered statehood in 1864, Samuel McLean was
elected as a Democrat to the 38th and 39th Congresses of the
U.S. and served from January 6, 1865 to March 3, 1867. He
was not a candidate for re-election in 1866. He was
president of McLean Silver Mining Co. in 1870, and after
expiration of his term in Congress, he returned to Easton,
PA seeking local investors in his McLean Silver Mining
Company. After living in Montana several years, he moved to
Virginia in 1870 and settled on a plantation near
Burkeville, Nottoway, Co. He died in Burkeville, VA on July
16, 1877 at the age of 51 years, and was interred in the
churchyard of the Presbyterian Church there. [U.S.
Government Printing Office, House Document No. 442, (1961),
BIOGRAPHICAL DIRECTORY OF THE AMERICAN CONGRESS, 1774-1961,
pp.1310-1311; Lavelle, John P. (1996) "The Hard Coal
Docket," pp. 203].
A review of the map of Burkeville, VA shows a street named
McLean as well as a street named DIMMICK. There is a Dimmick
Memorial
Library in Jim Thorpe, PA where Samuel McLean practiced law.
While in Montana, Samuel McLean lived in Bannack and in
Virginia City where he was known as "Colonel" McLean. James
Knox Polk Miller, in his diary, edited by Andrew Rolle
(1960), includes an entry for September 1, 1865:
"For five hours last evening I wrote a copy of the Montana
Territorial Laws Regulating Elections, without intermission
finishing at one o'clock this morning, for which I received
from Col. McLane [McLean], the Democratic candidate for
Congress, 7th District, $7.00 in gold dust." [Rolle, Andrew
(1960) THE ROAD TO VIRGINIA CITY: The Diary of James Knox
Polk Miller, pp.80].
Spence (1889) claims that as a member of the 39th Congress,
Samuel McLean was known as Montana's "Talking Delegate," a
hard-drinking, fun-loving, and "gay old boy." He was
reported to weigh 300 pounds. [Spence, Clark C. (1975),
TERRITORIAL POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT IN MONTANA, 1864-1889,
pp. 41-42].
Dimsdale, in Chapter 12, in discussing the settlement of
Virginia City and the discovery of gold at Alder Gulch says:
"Colonel McLean brought the first vehicle to the Gulch." He
doesn't say what kind of vehicle, however.
Samuel McLean may have been connected with the McLeans of
the Dunboe District, Co. Londonderry, Ireland through James
McLean of Summit Hill, PA, who is believed to have been a
brother or a cousin to Alexander McLean, founder of the
First National Bank of Wilkes-Barre.
As a young man, Alexander McLean emigrated from the Dunboe
District of Co. Londonderry, Ireland ca. 1820, and settled
at Summit Hill, PA where he joined the First Presbyterian
Church of Mauch Chunk, then under the leadership of Rev.
Richard Webster. Alexander McLean was an early contractor of
the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company (LC&N) and before the
advent of the Switchback Railroad, Alexander McLean hauled
coal by mule team from the mines at Summit Hill to the
Lehigh River at Mauch Chunk (Jim Thorpe) where the coal was
floated downstream to markets south. He eventually became a
mine operator under contract with the LC&N and became
wealthy as a result. He retired to Wilkes-Barre where he and
his sons founded the First National Bank of Wilkes-Barre.
One of his sons, James McLean, was elected the first
president of the bank, but he served only a short time
before being killed in a railroad accident between Summit
Hill and Wilkes-Barre in January of 1864. He was succeeded
by Alexander Gray of Wilkes-Barre, who also had coal
interests [Harvey, (1930)].
Jane Gray Wilson, wife of Samuel McLean, may have been
related to Alexander Gray, second president of the First
National Bank of Wilkes-Barre, and to Rev. John Gray pastor
of the First Presbyterian Church of Easton 1822-1866, and of
long time elder of the Church, James Wilson of Easton
[Records of the First Presbyterian Church of Easton, PA].
She may also have been related to Rev. Thomas McKeen Gray,
pastor of the Bridge-Hampton Church. She is listed in the
records of the Brainerd Presbyterian Church, Easton, PA, and
those records indicate that she transfered to the
Presbyterian Church of Burkeville, VA. in 1874, so
that'sprobably when Col. Sam also moved to Burkeville.
Obituary
--------
The following obituary on Samuel McLean appeared in the
HELENA WEEKLY HERALD, May 29, 1879.
"Col. Samuel McLean, our Delegate in Congress from 1864-68,
died in Nodaway county,Virginia, August 16, 1878. It is a
strange comment on the mutability of human affairs and a
striking example of the tireless whirl and restless activity
of the American People, that the First Delegate from
Montana, who represented it for three years in the Congress
of the United States, should have passed so utterly out of
the sight of our people in four or five years, and whose
death ten or eleven years later should remain unknown to our
_____[illegible] for months after that event occured.
Col. McLean was a native of Pennsylvania, whence he came to
Colorado, and in 1862 to what is now Montana. He was widely
known among the early settlers of the mountains, was engaged
in various mining enterprises, and by a fortunate turn in
affairs was elected in 1864 and again in 1865 to Congress.
Without great mental activity, he was nevertheless a genial,
kindly man with a noble impulse(?) and his death will come
to the knowledge of his old friends with sincere regret. He
had become the owner of a considerable tract of land about
thorty miles west of Richmond, where in recent years he
resided, and where his estimable wife and children now are."
-----
REFERENCES
Davies, Edward J.(1985). THE ANTHRACITE ARISTOCRACY:
leadership and social change in the hard coal regions of
northeastern
Pennsylvania, 1800-1930. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois Univ.
Press, pp.56.
Dimsdale, VIGILANTES OF MONTANA, pp.59, 63.
Harvey, Oscar Jewell and Smith, Ernest Gray (1930). A
HISTORY OF WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA,
Volume VI.
Mark, Rev. James, B.A. (1936). THE FIRST DUNBOE: AN
HISTORICAL SKETCH. Coleraine: Chronicle Office, Abbey
Street.
McCaughan, Alison A. (1988). HEATH, HEARTH AND HEART: THE
STORY OF DUNBOE AND THE MEETINGHOUSE AT ARTICLAVE. Castle
Rock, Co. Londonderry, Northern Ireland: Dunceithern
Publishing.
Hayes-McCoy, G. A. (1969) IRISH BATTLES: A MILITARY HISTORY
OF IRELAND, Belfast: Appletree Press.
Hayes-McCoy, G. A. (1937) SCOTS MERCENARY FORCES IN IRELAND.
Helena Montana Herald, obituaries, May 29, 1879.
Rolle, Andrew (1960) THE ROAD TO VIRGINIA CITY: The Diary of
James Knox Polk Miller, pp.80. Norman, Oklahoma: The
University of Oklahoma Press.
Spence, Clark C. (1975), TERRITORIAL POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT
IN MONTANA, 1864-1889. Chicago: University of Illinois
Press.
Stout, Tom (ed.)(1921), MONTANA ITS STORY AND BIOGRAPHY 3
vols., Chicago: vol I pp. 207, 218-19, 281-82, 286;
U.S. House of Representatives (1961), BIOGRAPHICAL DIRECTORY
OF THE AMERICAN CONGRESS, 1774-1961, House Document No. 442,
(1961), pp.1310-1311. Washington, DC: U.S. Government
Printing Office.
Wolle, Muriel Sibell (1963), MONTANA PAY DIRT: A Guide to
the Mining Camps of the TReasure State. Denver: Sage Books.
|
METZEL, ALEXANDER
History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894
May be copied for non-profit purposes.
USGENWEB Montana Archives
Alexander Metzel, a pioneer of 1863 to Montana, and now
owning one of the finest stock ranches in the state at
Puller Springs, Madison County, is a native of York
Pennsylvania; born on the 14th of January, 1835 of German
ancestry on his father's side and of English on his
mother's. His father, Thomas A. Metzel also a native of
Pennsylvania married Miss Hannah Mathews and they continued
to reside in York until their death. They owned andconducted
the Metzel House there for many years. He died in 1858, in
the sixty-second year of his age and she lived to be eighty
ears old, department this life in 1893. Mr. Metzel was
married twice; by his first wife hehad six children and by
the second, eight. Only five of the family now
survive.Alexander, a member of the second family, was reared
in York until 1857, attending the common school and
afterward learning the butchers trade. In 1857 the year
before his father died, he went to Iowa City Iowa and was
employed there at $15 per month until 1860; and then crossed
the plains to Pike's Peak. He carried on the butchers
business at Denver for several months, returned to Iowa City
and proceeded on to Rock Island, where he obtained work
astrimmer in a packing house. Returning
to Iowa City again, he purchased teams and took the family
of his employer, who was then at Denver, across the plains
to that city in the spring of 1861 and was employed there
until thefollowing winter. Then he returned to Iowa and at
Indianola married Miss Anna Spicer, a native of
Pennsylvania. Soon afterward he started with his bride
across the plains to Denver, where he was re-employed by the
same man he had been workingfor during the preceding
season.In 1863 he came to Montana and engaged in the
butchering business at Nevada City near Alder Gulch. July
15, 1864 having seen much of the good work done by the
"vigilantes" and having participated with them to some
extent, he returned to Denver for his wife, whom he had left
there and on arriving there he concluded to remain awhile.
He had a stock of 200 head of cows, which, by the cold of
the preceding winter, had been reduced to four head. As a
reminiscence of his work in Montana there he states that he
bought and dressed the first hog that was killed there,
which cost 75 cents a pound when dressed and it weighed 300
pounds. He sold it at a dollar a pound. He made considerable
proportion of it into sausage which was mixed with beef and
sold at $1 a pound.Next Mr. Metzel returned to Nevada City
and engaged in his trade there until 1872 and then moved to
his present location at Puller
Springs, fifteen miles southeast of Virginia City, where he
now has 6,000 acres of land, withlarge and capacious
buildings and everything necessary for conducting a
first-class stock farm. On this property he raises large
quantities of oats and cuts from 600 to 800 tons of hay
annually. He has six children: Frank S, born in Colorado and
now in the sawmill business and a member of the stock
company which his
father organized by giving each of his sons a thousand head
of calves, each head being considered a share of the stock.
The next son, Charles Montana, was one of the first white
boys born in the Territory; he is now at Livingston engaged
in the butchering business. Thomas A. is a stock broker
having offices in Chicago and New York. The younger sons
William O and Lewis Albert are at home with their father in
the stock business and one daughter Clara May, died January
26, 1880.Mrs. Metzel, the beloved wife and kind and
indulgent mother, died on the 9th of May 1878 and her
husband speaks of her as the noblest of women. Since her
death Mr. Metzel has remained single.
USGenWeb Project NOTICE:
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the internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities,
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MILLS, JAMES H.
History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894
Montana GenWeb Archives
May be copied for non-profit purposes.
Captain James H. Mills, one of Montana's representative
citizens, who has been identified with this part of the
county from its earliest settlement, is a native of New
Lisbon, Ohio, born December 21, 1837. Captain Mills escended
from English and Holland ancestors, seven
generations of the family having been born on American
soil--in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Both his
maternal and paternal ancestors participated in the
Revolutionary War. As far back as can be traced the Mills
family have been members of the Presbyterian Church and they
were for the most part artisans. Captain Mills' father,
George S. Mills, was born in Pennsylvania in 1815. His
mother, Susan Davis, also a native of Pennsylvania, was a
daughter of John Davis of that state, who removed to Ohio
about 1814. The father died in his 64th year, the mother's
untimely death occurring when she was 28, their only child
being James H. After the death of his mother, the subject of
our sketch went to live with a relative, by whom he was
reared and educated, his schooling being received in Eastern
Ohio and Pittsburgh, Pa. In early life he was inured to farm
work, later engaged in mercantile and mechanical pursuits,
and finally engaged in the timber business and was thus
employed in Jefferson County, Pa when the Civil War broke
out. April 27, 1861, in response to President Lincoln's
first call for volunteers, he enlisted in Company G,
Eleventh Pennsylvania Reserves, Fortieth Infantry. He
entered the service as a private, participated in
twenty-seven general engagements, his regiment being a part
of the Army of the Potomac. He was successively promoted as
Corporal, First Sergeant, First Lieutenant and Captain and
for "gallant conduct" in the battles of the Wilderness and
Bethesda Church (the latter occurring the last day of his
term of service) was commissioned Brevet Major and Brevet
Lieutenant Colonel. The regiment remained on duty nearly two
months after his three years term of service had expired,
and he was mustered out with it at Pittsburgh, June 13,
1864. During the entire service he passed through unscathed,
notwithstanding many "close calls," seeming almost to
possess a charmed life. This is the more remarkable,
considering that of the more than two thousand regiments in
the Union armies during the war the Eleventh Pennsylvania
Reserves sustained the eighth heaviest loss. After the war
Captain Mills engaged in the wholesale leather business at
Pittsburgh, where he remained until thespring of 1866. At
that time he came to Montana and first turned his attention
to mining, operating on the Yellowstone river. In company
with several others, he was interested in the opening of a
hydraulic claim at Emigrant Gulch. Provisions were high and
very difficult to obtain at any price. He and his party gave
their money to a packer to buy provisions at Bozeman and
bring them to the mines, and after some weeks of anxious
waiting for his return they learned that he had gambled away
the money and left for parts uknown. They were thus obliged
to abandon their claim. Captain Mills had sunk his money in
the venture,
and when he arrived in Virginia City, in November 1866 had
just 10 cents in postal currency. He at once, however,
secured employment there as a bookeeper for a party who had
frieght trains, a "corral" and a little hotel. An aritcle
which he had written for an Eastern journal soon afterward
accidently came to the notice of Mr. D. W. Tilton, and
through it Captani Mills was offered the editorship of the
Montana Post, which he accepted, and thus became the editor
of the first paper published in the Territory of Montana,
succeeding Professor Dinsdale and Judge Blake. He entered on
these duties in December, 1866. The Post was removed to
Helena in 1868 and Captain Mills continued with it until
1869. In July of that year he founded the New Northwest in
Deer Lodge of which he was editor and publisher until
November 1891, a period of twenty two years during which
time he as a prominent factor in all that pertained to the
welfare of Montana, and has been as thoroughly acquainted
with her history, development and progress as perhaps any of
her citizens. Captain Mills has been a life-long Republican
and as such has served the party and the state in various
positions. He was a member of the First Constitutional
Convention of Montana. Upon the election of General Hayes to
the Presidency, he appointed Captain Mills Secretary of the
Territory, in which capacity he served five years, at the
end of which time he declined a reappointment. In 1889 he
was again nominated for a member of the convention to
formulate the State Constitution. This nomination he
resigned to accept an appointment as Collector of Internal
Revenue for the district, including Montana, Idaho, and
Utah, in which position he served until February 28,
1893,when he resigned and accepted the appointment of State
Commissioner of the bureau of Agriculture, Labor and
Industry. This bureau had just been established by an act of
the Legislature. His appointment is for a period of four
years, and such have been his opportunities for information
on these subjects that he is eminently fitted for the
position to which he is now devoting his whole time. In 1875
Captain Mills married Ella M. Hammond, a native of Wisconsin
and a daughter of Martin Hammond of that state. She came to
Montana in 1865. They have three children--Mary E., Nellie
G., and James H. Jr,--all natives of Montana. Captain Mills
is a Companion of the Loyal Legion, Past Senior Vice
Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic,Past Grand
Master Workman of the A.O.U. W. and in 1894 Senior Grand
Warden of the A.F. & A.M. of Montana. In his religious views
he partakes largely of that liberality which characterizes
the people of the west. Mrs. Mills became a member of the
Presbyterian Church in 1876. both are favorably known
throughout the state where they have so long resided.
USGenWeb Project NOTICE:
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O'BRIEN, WILLIAM
History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894
MONTANA GENWEB ARCHIVES
May be copied for non-profit purposes.
William O'Brien, one of the enterprising businessmen of
Sheridan, Montana, was born in Washington County, New York,
January 20, 1856. He is of old Irish ancestry, his father
being Michael O'Brien, a native of the Emerald Isle, who
emigrated to the United States when a very young man, as
early as 1830. Michael O'Brien settled in Washington County
New York where he was subsequently married to Ellen Ryan,
also a native iof Ireland. They purchased land in Washington
County, where they were successfully engaged in farming and
where they reared a family of three children. Mrs. O'Brien
still resides at the old homestead, her husband having died
in 1859. William O'Brien is now the only one left of the
three. In 1877, on attaining his majority, he decided to
seek his fortune in the far West and accordingly came
overland to Montana, making the journey in company with two
other young men. This was just after the Custer massacre.
Many of the Indians were on the war path, and traveling
through their country at that time was extremely hazardous,
especially for small parties. They traveled in a wagon until
they reached the Red Cloud Agency, when they purchased
ponies which they rode the rest of the way. After several
encounterswith the Indians and numerous hairbreadth escapes,
they resched their destination safely. For two years Mr.
O'Brien was
employed at farm work, receiving his board and $40.00 per
month. In 1881 he established himself in business in
Sheridan, the little building he at first occupied being
only 16 x 20 feet, but he met with prosperity from the start
and in 1883 purchased his present property which he has
since greatly improved, now having a good business place and
enjoying the good will and patronage of the best people in
the valley. He has built a good residence in Sheridan and in
the course of his business career has invested in mines and
mining. Mr. O'Brien returned to New York in 1879, and was
married to Mary Dooley, one of his old schoolmates. They
have three children: Anna M., born in New York, Mary E. and
Leah Rosalie. Politically, Mr. O'Brien is a democrat. He was
elected one of the first Aldermen of Sheridan and is now
serving as one of its School Trustees. He is a member of the
A.O.U. W. and is Past Master of the lodge at Sheridan.
During the whole of his residence at this place he has taken
a lively interest in all the affairs of the town, and has
everbeen ready to aid in its growth and improvement.
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PARMETER, ORVILLE F.
History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894
USGENWEB Montana Archives,maintained by burns@asu.edu
Orville F. Parmeter, another one of Sheridan's successful
merchants, has been a resident of Montana since 1867. Mr.
Parmeter was born in China, Kennebec County, Maine, May 31,
1840, a descendant of English ancestry, who were among the
early settlers of Massuchusetts. Both his paternal and
maternal grandfathers fought in the Revolution.Grandfather
Caleb Parmeter was born in Massachusetts. After his service
in the Revolution he settled in the state of Maine, where he
spent the residue of his life on a farm and where he died at
the age of eighty years. His wife was seventy-six at the
time of her death. They left a family of five children, one
of whom, Draper Parmeter, the father of Orville, was born in
Massachusetts in 1803. He married Eliza Soule, a native of
Maine, born in 1806, and a daughter of Peleg Soule, who
served as an officer in the Continental army during the
Revolution. This Peleg Soule was a descendant of John Soule
who landed from the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock. Draper
Parmeter and his wife had a family of five children, all of
whom are living. In 1856 they removed to Wisconsin, where
soon after the father's death occurred, and from whence in
1858 the rest of the family removed to Woodford County,
Illinois. The mother survived unti 1892, when she died at
the age of eighty-six.Orville F. Parmeter, the youngest in
the
family, was sixteen years of age when they left Maine and
went to Wisconsin. He was in Illinois when the Civil War
broke upon the country in all its fury, and inspired by the
same spirit that actuated his Revolutionary grandsires, he
responded to Mr. Lincoln's call for volunteers to put down
the rebellion, and in July 1861, he became a member of
Company I, Forty-seventh Illinois Volumteer Infantry. He
served with his regiment in the Western Department,
participating in the battle of Shiloh, the engagement at
Island No. 10, the Vicksburg
campaign and the Red River expedition. Twice he was slightly
wounded and he had many close calls, but he escaped all
serious injury and was mustered out of the service at
Springfield, Illinois, in November, 1864.After his return
from the army, Mr. Parmeter was in the grocery and hotel
business until 1867, at which time he decided to try his
fortune in Montana. His journey hither from the Missouri
River was made
on foot. Upon his arrival in Montana, he located in Boulder
Valley and for nearly three years was engaged in placer
mining. In 1869 he came to Ruby Valley and located a ranch
which he afterward sold and with the proceeds purchased
another farm a mile and a half northeast of Sheridan. There
he was for a number of years successfully engaged in raising
cattle and horses. In 1886 he sold his stock and ranch and
embarked in the mercantile business at Sheridan, being in
partnership with Henry Elling and others up to 1893, at
which time he severed his connection with the firm and
organized the Sheridan Mercantile Company, with Mr. T.
Bentolighter as his partner, Mr. Parmeter, however, being
the active member of the firm. They kept a large stock of
general merchandise, much of which they wholesale through
the various mining camps. Mr. Parmeter is also quite largely
interested in mines and mining. Since coming to Sheridan he
has taken an active interest in the growth and improvement
of the incorporation of it as a city, which occurred in
October 1893. To him belongs the distinction of being its
first Mayor. Mr. Parmeter was married December 7, 1864 to
Sarah Taylor, a native of Illiinois and a daughter of Sidney
Taylor. They have three children: Herbert, who is employed
in his father's store; Emma, wife of Alexander Nesbit, of
Sheridan; and Helen, who is at home with her parents. Mr.
Parmeter built their present home in Sheridan.Ever since the
organization of the Republican party he has given it his
support. In 1886 he was elected Assessor of Madison County
and served one term. He has passed all the chairs
on both branches of Oddfellowship, is Past Master of the
A.O.U.W. and is Commander of Custer Post, No. 5, G.A.R.
Thoroughly informed upon all general topics, genial and
courteous in his manner, and a businessman of the highest
integrity, Mr. Parmeter is justly ranked with the leading
citizens of Sheridan.
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PEMBERTON, WILLIAM YOUNG
History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894
USGENWEB Montana Archives
May be copied for non-profit purposes.
William Young Pemberton, Chief Justice of Montana, is a
native of Tennessee, born at Nashville, in the year 1843. He
comes from English and Scotch ancestors who were early
settlers in the colony of Virginia. His parents were
Williamand Martha (Brooks) Pemberton and he is one of their
four sons, two of whom died in childhood. He is their
youngest child and is now the only survivor of the family.
Judge Pemberton was reared in Missouri by his aunt, Mrs.
Rebecca E. Williamson, with whom he remained until his
twenty-first year. He was educated at Masonic College,
Lexington, Missouri, and graduated at the Cumberland Law
School, Lebanon, Tennessee, with the class of 1861. In 1863
he came west and located in Virginia City Montana and
engaged in the practice of his profession, his practice at
that early
day extending to all parts of the Territory. In 1865 he took
up his abode in Helena, becoming one of its early settlers.
He did not, however, remain in the town long, for in 1868 he
returned to Missouri and in that state and in Texas he
resided until 1880. In 1880 he came back to Montana and has
since made his home in Butte City. In 1882 he was elected
District Attorney of the West Side District, being
re-elected to succeed himself n 1884. In March 1891 he
received the appointment of District Judge of the district,
including Butte, in which capacity he served until January
1, 1893 when he entered upon the duties of his present
office, that of Chief Justice of Montana, to which he had
been elected the previous fall. Judge Pemberton was married
in 1865 to Clara M. Hutchison, a native of Missouri and a
daughter of John C. Hutchison. The Judge and Mrs. Pemberton
have three sons and two daughters: Warren T., John W., Alice
M., Early P., and Lulu.
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RAYMOND, WINTHROP
History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894
May be copied for non-profit purposes.USGENWEB Montana
Archives
Winthrop Raymond landed in Montana in 1865 and has since
been identified with its interests. As one of the
representative stockmen of the Ruby Valley and as the
founder of the town of Sheridan, he is entitled to more than
a passing notice of his work. Winthrop Raymond was born in
Cincinnati Ohio October 22, 1848. Of his ancestors be it
recorded that some of them camefrom England to America in
1632 and settled in Connecticut on a grant of land they had
received from the Crown. They were prominent in the early
history of the country, among
them being successful farmers and eminent lawyers and
doctors. Grandfather Christopher Raymond married Rachel
Hillhouse, she too being a descendant of a Connecticut
family. She died in the sixty-sixth year of her age and he
lived to be seventy-three. There were thirteen children in
the family.Their son Daniel Fitch Raymond was born September
12, 1786. By his first wife, nee Sara Amos, he had two
children and by his second wife whose maiden name was Deliah
Mattock, he had six children. Four of the latter are still
living and three of them are prominent citizens of Montana.
Daniel Fitch Raymond died in Cincinnati Ohio June 1849
leaving a widowwho at this writing is in her eighty-first
year. Daniel was a lawyer and gained eminence at the
bar.Winthrop Raymond is the youngest in the family. His
early life was spent in Missouri, then in 1865 in his
sixteenth year he crossed the plains with his mother,
brother William H and sister making the journey at the same
time. They hadtwo yoke of oxen, a yoke of cows and a span of
horses. The oxen pulled the wagon on which they brought
their provisions and the horses were attached to a light
wagon which the mother and sister rode. They were nine
months making the journey. Some of the trip was very
enjoyable and at other times it was attended with great
danger and often troublesome. On part of the journey they
traveled ninety miles without water and during this time
some of the members of the train as well as some of their
cattle died. It on was the 7th of September 1865 that they
landed safely in Virginia City. There, the brothers opened a
wholesale grocery house and conducted it successfully for a
number of years. Later they engaged in banking under the
first nameof Raymond, Harrington and Company and they had
the honor of being the first bankers of the town. The
banking businessthey sold to Mr. Hall and it is now known as
the Hall-Bennett Bank. They also owned Bellmont Park, were
engaged in importing and breeding blooded horses and were
thus prominent factors in this line and to them is due the
credit of having been the importers and owners of several of
the finest trotters in Montana. After being engaged in this
business for a number of years, the subject of our sketch
sold his interest in it to his brother, who still carries it
on successfully. In 1889 Mr. Raymond came to his present
place in the Ruby Valley. Here he became the owner of 1,080
acres of choice land. The party who had formerly owned it
had in 1885 platted a part of the town of Sheridan and since
then Mr. Raymond has platted, improved and sold lots. He
still owns a large portion of the town and rents a number of
buildings which he has erected. On his ranch he raises hay
and stock horses and cattle. He also loans considerablemoney
in a private way.February 28, 1876 Mr. Raymond married Miss
Hannah E. Bateman who was born near Detroit Michigan. Mr.
and Mrs. Raymond have three children, all natives of
Virginia City, their names being Carrie Bell, Daniel Walcott
and Deliah Ellen.
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SHULTZ, FREDERICK J.
History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894
USGENWEB Montana Archives,maintained by burns@asu.edu
Frederick J. Shultz, propietor of the Sheridan Hotel and an
early settler of Montana, is a native of the province of
Pummar, Prussia, born October 13, 1840, of Prussian
ancestry. His parents were William and Mary Koupp Schulz.
Early in life he was deprived of a father's aid and
protection and when he was fifteen he accompanied his uncle
to the United States, landing in New York city and going
thence to Winconsin. In Wisconsin he worked at farming, his
first wages being $3.00 per month and his board. He
continued at farm work in Wisconsin until 1866 at which time
he crossed the plains to Montana. He drove a team of oxen
for his passage and walked nearly twice the distance. On
this journey they saw plenty of game, deer and buffalo and
were at times in danger of being run over by the latter as
they came over the plains in great droves. Mr. Schulz shot a
buffalo on one of these occasions. The Indians too, often
menaced the party, but, the emigrants being provided with a
Government escort, the Indians were kept at bay. After a
journey of over five months, they arrived safe at Bozeman,
Montana. Mr. Schulz remained there during the winter, he
having secured a contract to dig a mill race. In the spring
of 1867 he came to Alder Gulch and at firstworked in the
mines for $5.00 per day. Later he got an interest in a claim
and took out considerable gold. In this way he got his
start. In 1869 he prospected without success at Gold Creek,
worked for wages there for a time, then went to German Gulch
in Deer Lodge County and secured a claim. This claim,
however, did not prove a very profitable one, and his next
move was to Ruby Valley, where he purchased a squatter's
right to 160 acres of land twenty miles below Sheridan.
After working it a year he sold out at a small advance over
the price and in 1876 came to Sheridan. Here he formed the
acquantance of Mrs. Julia McCoy, widow of Jesse McCoy, who
had built the first hotel in Sheridan.She was the daughter
of Mr. Philpat, a native of Southampton, England and when a
little
girl crossed the plains withher parents in the "hand-cart"
emigration. This was in 1857. On the journey they got out of
provisions and endured untold sufferings. Both her parents
died of cold and hunger. Through the kindness of other
members of the party she was taken to Utah, where she
subsequently became the wife of Oliver Thomas, with whom she
came to Montana in 1865. They had five children, namely,
William; John, Katie, now Mrs. J. Moore; Ellis, wife of
George Copp, County Commissionerof Madison County, Montana;
and Rita, wife of Alexander Scott. Soon after the death of
Mr. Thomas she became the wifeof Mr. McCoy, by whom she had
two children, Gilbert and Charles, both at home with her.
She and Mr. Schulz were married September 15, 1878 and they
have four children, Harry, Burtie, Minnie and Frankie. Mr.
Schulz has enlarged and improved the hotel and is managing
it successfully, sparing no pains to make his guests
comfortable and at home. In connection with the hotel, he
also owns and runs a livery stable.Politically, Mr. Shulz is
a Republican. He was elected on of the first Alderman of the
city and is also a schooltrustee. He is a Past Master of the
A.O.U.W. and has been the Finacier of his lodge during the
past six years.
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STEMPLE, JOHN A.
History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894
May be copied for non-profit purposes.USGENWEB Montana
Archives
John A. Stemple, a successful miner and an early settler of
Montana, was born in Preston County West Virginia,
March 16, 1834. His ancestors were early settlers of
Virginia and were soldiers in the Revolutionary War.
His father Martin Stemple, was born in Virginia July 27,
1796. The latter married Miss Caroline Bishop, a native
also of thatState, and they had eleven children, six of
whom still survive. The mother died when our subject was
a small boy and the father departed this life November
25,1888. They were members of the Presbyterian Church.
John A. Stmeple, the fourth child in order of birth,
remained with his father until twenty-two years of age.
In 1856 he went to Iowa, in the spring of 1860 he
crossed the plains by way of Ogden to Oregon, and
then to California. During the journey they had
much trouble with the Sioux Indians, and on the
Sweetwater River were attacked by 100 Indians. The
emigrants corralled their wagons and succeeded in
driving off the Indians. One emigrant was killed,
but as the Indians carried off their dead and wounded
it was never known how many were killed. After
traveling through California, Mr. Stemple returned
to Baker County, Oregon and engaged in mining near
the Snake River. He afterward went to Portland, next
to Victoria, thence to San Francisco, returned to
New York via the isthmus, wentto Iowa in the winter
of 1866 and the following spring came up the Missouri
River to Montana. After following placer-mining at
Trinity for a time, Mr. Stemple prospected in the
Virginia Creek country and was elected to the office
of Recorder, serving in that capacity until 1871.
Later, while hunting at the head of Silver Creek, in
the Gloster and Empire mills, he discovered quartz,
located several valuable mines, built a ten stamp
mill at the Whippoorwill Mine but in 1877 sold his
interest there for $12,000. He next went to the head
of Virginia Creek, where he erected what is now
called the Stemple Mill, and that district was also
named in his honor. In the fall of 1882 Mr. Stemple
again sold his interest for $12,000. He is now
connected with the Pigeon Company. He discovered the
mine in 1876 and it is now considered one of the best
in the mining district.Mr. Stemple was married January
4, 1876 to Miss Amanda Ann Miller, a native of
Pennsylvania, but was reared from childhood in Iowa.
She is a daughter of Peter Miller. They had four
children, all born in Montana--Harry, Oscar, Eddie
Roy and Mabel Alice. The eldest child, Carrie,
died when seventeen months old.
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WORD, SAMUEL
History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894
USGENWEB Montana Archives,maintained by burns@asu.edu
Samuel Word, Helena, Montana, is one of the most prominent
pioneers of the State. He is a native of Kentukcy, born in
Barboursville, Knox County, January 19, 1837. His ancestors
came to this country from Scotland and were among the early
settlers of South Carolina, previous to the American
Revolution. From two brothers who came from Scotland and
settled in South Carolina, sprang the stock of Words
scattered through Virginia and most of the other Southern
States. His more immediate ancestors settled in Virginia and
Tennessee. William Word,Samuel's father, was born in
Powell's valley, Tennessee, in 1808. He went with his father
and family to Knox County,Kentucky where he was reared and
where he married Susan Boyd Banton, and where their son
Samuel was born. William Word afterward resided for a number
of years in Somerset, Pulaski County, Kentucky and in 1856
removed from thereto Kansas thence to St. Joseph Missouri
where his death occurred, in the seventy-third year of his
age. His wife survived him a few years, when she passed
away, also at about the age of seventy-three. Both were
devout christians and firm believers in the teachings of
Alexander Campbell. By occupation Mr. Word was a farmer, and
at one time alsoowned and operated a tannery.Their son
Samuel early developed a taste for the study of law, and
read in the office of Andrew J. James, afterward
Attorney-General of the state of Kentukcy. While reading law
young Word began to feel the need of a higher education. In
order to obtain the funds with which to secure a college
education he engaged in school teaching, meanwhile keeping
up his law studies. After this he entered Bethany College,
Virgniia, where he remained until his health failedand he
returned home. After recuperating for a while, he entered
the office of Silas Woodson, of Missouri, afterward Governor
of that State and under his instructions
continued the study until August 1858. At that time he
obtained a license to practice law and enetered upon his
professional career at Oregon Holt County,Missouri where he
became a partner of Colonel James Foster of that place.
While he was successfully engaged in the practice of law
there he became acquainted with the daughter of his partner,
Sarah Margaret Foster, to whom he was married. She was born
in Clay County, Missouri, a descendant of Irish and Scotch
ancestry, her father being a native of Ireland and her
mother,nee Hannah J.
Thompson, of Scotch descent.Soon after his marriage Mr. Word
set out for Idaho Territory and landed at Alder Gulch in the
summer of 1863, and there engaged in placer mining. Alder
Gulch at that time was the Mecca of everyone who had heard
of its golden wealth. Hundreds of miners were working day
and night in this gulch. Mr. Word, however, did not continue
his mining operations long, but turned his attention to the
practice of his profession in Virginia City as Alder Gulch
was afterward called. A year later he returned to Missouri,
settled up his affiars there, and again made the trip to
Virginia City, this time being accompanied by his wife.
Since that date, he has been a resident of Montana and his
professional career here has been one of eminent success. He
has become especially noted as a criminal lawyer. It has
been said of him by another that he detested the quibbles
and technicalities of the law, but hadhigh and profound
respect for justice. He has been known to enter upon the
prosecution of an alleged criminal with the proviso that
should he through the course of the trial become convinced
of the innocence of the prisonerhe would be allowed to
withdraw from the case. As an orator, Mr. Word has great
power and appears at his best before a large audience, where
his eloquence rises with the occasion and holds his hearers
spellbound. In 1865 Governor Edgerton appointed Mr. Word
Prosecuting Attorney for an unexpired term for the First
Judicial District of Montana. After serving his time he was
elected for the suceeding term of two years. For nine years
he was the counsel for the Union Pacific Railroad Company.
It was Mr. Word who conceived the project of putting the
famous Drum Lummon Mine on the market. He secured its saleto
an English syndicate. To the judgement and ability of Mr.
Word, Mr. Jefferson Lowrey and Mr. Mallory is due thecredit
of giving an impetus
to the mining industry of the Territory in 1884-5 their
efforts gaining for it a world-wide reputation and bringing
to the Territory a vast amount of wealth to be utilized in
the develoment of her mines, thus affording employment to
thousands.To Mr. Word also largely belongs the development
of the coal industry in Montana. The people of the Territory
had for years relied upon the forests for their fuel and no
effort had been made to prospect the country for coal,
goldand islver mining being the all absorbing industry. Mr.
Word and Hon. Walter Cooper came into possession of the
Rocky Fork coal fields and immediately set to work to
utilize them. They succeeded in securing the co-operation of
the following gentlemen: Samuel T. Hayser, Henry Villard,
Thomas F. Oakes, James L. Platt and James B. Hubbell. They
secured the building of a railroad fifty miles in length
from Laurel on the Northern Pacific road to Red Lodge, where
the coal fields are located. Thus a new industry was opened
up and there sprung into existence large energies directed
in a channel hitherto undeveloped in
Montana. Since then other coal fields have been opened up
and are being occupied. Mr. Word has all his life been
identified with the Democratic party, has been an active
worker in its ranks and through his earnestness and
eloquence has done much to bring victory to his party in
Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Word have four children: William, born
in 1862, married Alice Cowan of St. Joseph Missouri; Robert
Lee, born in 1866, is a graduate of the Law Department of
the Columbia College, New York, Charles F., born in 1871 is
a graduate of Yale
College, and May, the only daughter was born in 1875. Their
home, which Mr. Word had built in accordance with his own
ideas, is the embodiment of elegance and luxury, the
grounds, the edifice and the furnishings all combinbing to
make an ideal home. Mr. Word is one of Montana's best
citizens, one of her ablest lawyers and one of her most
genial and social gentlemen. He has not only accumulated a
fine fortune, but what is best he is also liberal with it
and with it makes others happy and knows how to enjoy it
himself. This brave pioneer has well earned and richly
deserves his prosperity and it is pleasant to know that
while hehas done so much to develop the resources of the
great state in which he has so long resided that she has
returnedto him such ample reward.
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