Pondera County, Montana Biographies

Pondera County, Montana
Genealogy and History

Biographies

John F. Ferguson
John F. Ferguson is editor of the Conrad Observer and has been identified with local journalism at Conrad, Montana, since 1905. The dissemination of news, the discussion of public questions and the promotion of the general welfare of his community through the columns of his paper constitute life's object with him as a private citizen. In addition to his interests in journalism Mr. Ferguson is the owner of a fine farm of 440 acres in Teton county, the same being in a high state of cultivation.
At Watertown, in Herkimer county, New York, December 19, 1859. occurred the birth of Mr. Ferguson, who is a son of Oliver A. Ferguson. The father was born in the Empire state of the Union in 1819 and during his active career was a millwright by trade. He was summoned to the life eternal in 1873, at the age of fifty-four years. His wife, whose maiden name was Katherine Kincaid, was likewise a native of New York and she died at Belleville, province of Ontario, Canada, at the age of eighty-six years, her demise having occurred June 10, 191 1. Ten children were born tn Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson and of the number six are living, in 1912.
In the early '60s the Ferguson family removed from New York to Ontario, Canada, and there the young John F. received his educational training, which included a course in the high school at Belleville, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1874. After leaving school he entered upon an apprenticeship to learn the printer's trade. During the first year of his apprenticeship he received a salary of five dollars per month and during the last three years his salary amounted to five dollars per week. " After becoming a full-fledged printer, Mr. Ferguson worked as a journeyman for two years in Canada and then went to Chicago. Illinois, where he worked in the offices of a number of the leading newspapers of that metropolis. He was in the employ of the Inter Ocean before that paper had linotype machines. He remained in Chicago for five years, at the end of which he came to Montana. This was in 1894 and he first located at Great Falls, where he entered the employ of the Great Northern Railroad Company as fireman. Three and a half years later he was made engineer on the Great Northern line and he continued as such until the outbreak of the Spanish-American war, in 1898, when he enlisted as a soldier in Company A, First Montana Volunteers. He was in the service of the United States army for eighteen months and was a non-commissioned officer and wagoner of his company in the Philippine Islands until he received his honorable discharge, in November, 1900, at San Francisco. He participated in a number of important engagements marking the progress of the war and acquitted himself with all of honor and distinction as a soldier.
After the close of his military career Mr. Ferguson returned to Great Falls, where he became a member of the city fire department. This position was not to his liking, however, and on April 25. 1901, he accepted a position as editor and publisher of the Shelby Independent. He remained at Shelby until November, 1904, when he came to Conrad, where he has been editor and proprietor of the Conrad Observer since April, 1905. At the time of his advent in this place there were but nine buildings in the entire town. Mr. Ferguson owns the lot and building in which his newspaper offices are located and his plant is equipped with all the latest equipment in the way of printing presses. The Observer is a weekly paper and has a circulation of seven hundred and fifty; it boasts a large list of advertisers. In politics the paper favors the Republican party and Mr. Ferguson himself is a stalwart in the ranks of that organization. While he does not take an active part in local politics he exerts considerable influence for the good of the public welfare through the medium of his paper. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with Conrad Lodge No. 80, Free and Accepted Masons, and he is likewise a member of the Modern Woodmen of America at Conrad.
September 5, 1911, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Ferguson to Miss Gertrude M. Shoemaker, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Adam Shoemaker, a native of Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson have no children. They are popular in connection with the best social affairs of Conrad and are honored and esteemed by all with whom they have come in contact. Their home is the scene of attractive gatherings and is renowned for its generous hospitality.
[Source: "The History of Montana" by Helen Fitzgerald Sanders, Volume 3, 1913 - Sub. by a Friend of Free Genealogy]

Arthur D. Johnson.
As president of the Johnson Lumber Company at Conrad, Montana, Arthur D. Johnson is a prominent and influential factor in business circles in this section of the state. He is likewise an energetic and public-spirited citizen and has been incumbent of a number of local offices of important trust and responsibility.
In the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, December 14, 1878, occurred the birth of Arthur D. Johnson, whose parents, Lars and Martha (Johansen) Johnson, were both born and reared in Norway. Lars Johnson immigrated to the United States in the year 1872 and for a period of twenty years he was engaged in the contracting business at Minneapolis, Minnesota. He came to Montana in 1891 and is now a resident of Flathead valley, where he is engaged in fruit farming. His cherished and devoted wife was called to eternal rest in Minneapolis in 1893, at the early age of thirty-three years. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson became the parents of four sons, of whom Arthur D. was the first born.
Arthur D. Johnson was educated in the public and high schools of Minneapolis and he also pursued a commercial course in the Minneapolis Business College in that city. In 1895 he came to Montana and located in Kalispell, where he secured a position as bookkeeper for the North Western Lumber Company, for which concern he worked at various periods—in all five years. For two years he was in the employ of the O'Neil Lumber Company at Kalispell and for three years he was with the John O'Brien Lumber Company. For two years he was manager of the O'Brien Lumber Company at Havre and from 1905 to 1907 was superintendent of the North Western Mills at Kalispell. In the latter year he came to Conrad and in company with B. J. Boorman, of Kalispell, purchased the plant, yards and stock of the Somers Lumber Company, which was incorporated with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars and known as the Johnson Lumber Company. In June, 191 1, Mr. Johnson purchased Mr. Boorman's share, the same being now incorporated with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. It is known as the largest retail lumber business in Teton county and the company also deals in coal, hay and grain. A. D. Johnson is president of the company; Charles W. Johnson, vice-president; and Mrs. F. M. Johnson, secretary and treasurer. Yards are operated at Brady, Montana, under the management of Charles W. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson is an Independent Progressive in his political attitude and he has served his home community in various important official capacities. In April, 1911, he was elected a member of the Conrad board of aldermen and is incumbent of that position in 1912. He is president of the Merchants Association at Conrad. He was a poor boy and his success in life is the outcome of his own well-directed endeavors. In addition to his lumber business he is the owner of six hundred and forty acres of ranch land in Montana, two hundred acres of that tract being under cultivation. In a fraternal way Mr. Johnson is a Mason, being connected with Black Eagle Commandery No. 8 at Great Falls and with the blue lodge at Conrad, being elected as master for 1913, Helena Consistory No. 3 and Algera Temple, A. A. N. M. S. at Helena. He is likewise affiliated with the Woodmen of the World and with the Royal Highlanders.
January 15, 1902, at Kalispell, Montana, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Johnson to Miss Florence May Disbrow, a daughter of E. S. Disbrow, of Nebraska. Three children have been born to this union, namely—Helen Lucille, Charles Arthur and Robert Eugene. In their religious faith the family are devout members of the Presbyterian church. [Source: "The History of Montana" by Helen Fitzgerald Sanders, Volume 3, 1913 - Submitted by Friends of Free Genealogy]

Charles R. Lusher
Charles R. Lusher has had an unusually eventful career during his lifetime thus far, having resided in various states of the Union in the middle west, south and far west. He arrived at Conrad, Montana, in 1911, and is now the owner of one of the largest and finest department stores in the city. He is a man of splendid initiative and remarkable energy and his success in life is on a parity with his well directed efforts.
A native of the fine old Hoosier state, Charles R. Lusher was born at Laporte, Indiana, March 9, 1870, and he is a son of John and Cynthia (Garland) Lusher, the former of whom was born in Switzerland and the latter in the state of Ohio. The father was reared to maturity in his native land and came to America in the early '50s, settling in Indiana, where he was a pioneer among the Indians and where he began business as a merchant. For the past ten years he has lived virtually retired from active participation in business affairs and he is now a resident of Chicago, where he is passing the closing years of his life. His cherished and devoted wife was called to eternal rest in 1888.
The youngest in order of birth in a family of five children, Mr. Lusher, of this notice, was educated in the public schools of Indiana and he was graduated in the high school at Elkhart at the age of seventeen years. His first employment was with the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad Company as fireman, which position he held for four and a half years, at the expiration of which he was made engineer on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad. He was engineer for two and a half years and his 'run was from Denison, Texas, to Galveston, Texas. In 1896 he decided to go west and in that year settled at Colfax, Washington, where he was clerk in a general merchandise store for a number of years. He subsequently secured a position as clerk in a store at Wardner, Idaho. His capital when he struck Washington consisted of a Canadian half dollar, his clothes were practically worn out, and he had no friends—in short, he was a stranger in a strange land. With the passage of time, however, he managed to save his earnings and on his arrival in Conrad, Montana. April 1, 191 1, he was able to purchase the mercantile business of J. J. Van Bergen, who had established a store here in 1909. Lusher's Cash Store is now one of the best establishments of its kind in Conrad and a very satisfactory business is controlled. Everything is kept in stock—groceries, hardware, harness, dry goods and furniture. Although Mr. Lusher does not figure actively in local politics, preferring to give his undivided time and attention to his constantly increasing business, he is an unswerving Republican in affairs of national import. In matters affecting the welfare of Conrad he maintains an independent attitude. He is a valued and appreciative member of the State Merchants' Association and in religious matters is a Christian Scientist.
November 5, 1898, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Lusher to Miss Bessie Woodward, the ceremony having been performed at Colfax, Washington. Mrs. Lusher is a daughter of Edward Woodward, of Jacksonville, Alabama. Mr. and Mrs. Lusher have no children. [Source: "The History of Montana" by Helen Fitzgerald Sanders, Volume 3, 1913 - Submitted by Friends of Free Genealogy]

Frank H. Pings
Frank H. Pings has been a resident of the state of Montana since 1886, and in all the years that have elapsed he has been actively identified with the contracting and building industry, and has in that way added his full quota to the material growth and advancement of those places with which he has been variously connected. He is a native of the state of Wisconsin, born in Roxbury, Dane county, that state, on December 15,-1864. He is the son of Cornelius and Theresa (Brandstatter) Pings. Both were natives of Germany. The father came to America at the age of sixteen, in the year 1848, and settled in Wisconsin, where he worked in the copper mines at first, but the greater part of his life was spent in farming in the fertile Wisconsin agricultural district. The mother came to America a young girl in company with friends of the family, and they settled in Michigan. There she met Cornelius Pings and married him in 1861. She was born in 1831 and is still living. They became the parents of eleven children, Frank being the third born of that number.
Frank Pings was educated in the country schools of Dane county in Wisconsin to the age of sixteen years. Following his sixteenth year he was employed in the carpentering business, and in a few years of constant application to the details of the work, he had mastered the trade, and from that time until 1898 he gave his full time and attention to the building and contracting business. In 1886 Mr. Pings removed to Montana and settled in Helena, where he followed his regular business, remaining there until 1893. In that year he located in Marysville, continuing for three years, after which he spent another year in Helena in the same business. In 1898 Mr. Pings went to Teton county where he homesteaded a tract of government land, located within four miles of Black Leaf post office, which he has since proved up on. He and his brother. Anton Pings, own thirteen hundred acres of ranch land in this section of the country and are engaged in the tattle business, which is proving a most fortunate venture for them both. Frank Pings located in Conrad before that place boasted a single building. They pitched a tent and lived in it for a time, until building activities were commenced, and it was they who built the first buildings in the town. They built the first bank building and the first store building the latter for F. D. Kingsbury & Company, merchants, and they continued in contracting there until 1910, in which year Air. Pings engaged in the lumber business, and he is the sole proprietor of the Pondera Lumber Company. He also deals in all kinds of farming machinery and conducts the largest business of its kind in the town of Conrad.
Mr. Pings has the distinction of being the first mayor of Conrad and has just completed his second term, being succeeded to the office on May 1, 1912, by Mr. R. Ferguson. He has also served three years as a trustee of the schools, and much of the credit is due to him for the present modern building which houses the school children of the town. Mr. Pings is a Democrat and has always been active in affairs of a political nature wherever he has been located. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World, Conrad lodge, and is a member of the Catholic church.
On May 30, 1889, Mr. Pings was united in marriage with Miss Anna Schwab, of Helena, Montana, the daughter of Joseph and Katherine Schwab, who are natives of Michigan. Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Pings, of which number six are living. They are : Genievieve, Hilda, Cornelius, Joseph, Vincent, and Francis.
[Source: the History of Montana by Helen Fitzgerald Sanders, Volume 3, 1913 - Sub. by a Friend of Free Genealogy]