Genealogy and History
Biographies
Sweet Grass County, Montana
Genealogy and History
Biographies
Hon. John F. Asbury
Holding an admitted precedence in financial affairs, having a highly creditable public record, and one who has wielded a wide and distinct influence in matters of a business nature, the services of the Hon. John F. Asbury, mayor of Big Timber and president of the Big Timber National Bank, have been of an exalted character. He is a native of Lewis county, Missouri, where he was born April 24, 1864, and is a son of Isham and Sarah J. (Fowler) Asbury, natives of Kentucky. Isham Asbury was born in 1830, and as a youth left the Blue Grass State for Missouri, securing his medical training in the old Gerard Medical College, St. Louis. He spent the remainder of his life in Lewis county, and attained an enviable position among the practitioners of the state, being also known as a prominent Mason and active Democrat. His death occurred in 1872. His wife, who was born in 1827, died in 1887, having been the mother of five children : Thomas, John F., David R. and Isham, who are living, and a daughter who died in infancy.
John F. Asbury received a common school education in Lewis county, subsequently attending Monticello high school and Monticello Seminary, and for two years taught school. He was then made president of the schools of Monticello, Missouri, but in 1889 gave up the profession of educator and came to Montana to accept a position in the Gallatin Valley National Bank, of Bozeman, Montana, with which he was connected until 1893. In that year he was appointed rereceiver of the United States lands office at Bozeman, acting in that capacity until 1898, when he removed to Big Timber and became cashier of the Big Timber National Bank. He subsequently became president of this bank, which is known, as one of the soundest and most substantial financial institutions in this part of the state, and in addition has large interests in the Martinsdale Live Stock Company and the A. F. & K. Elevator Company. Since the incorporation of Big Timber he has acted in the capacity of mayor, and the same shrewd, far-sighted characteristics that have made his own ventures so successful have been applied to the business of the city with very satisfactory results. During his fifteen years of residence in Big Timber he has made a wide acquaintance, and in business, public and social life has many warm friends and admirers.
On October 24, 1894, Mr. Asbury was united in marriage with Mrs. Nellie Blair Vivion, who was born in Lancaster, Ohio, daughter of George and Eliza (Brennan) Blair, the former a native of Lancaster, who died in his sixty-fifth year, and the latter born in Dublin, Ireland, and still living at the age of seventy-seven. Mrs. Asbury's sister, Mrs. Jennie McKean, resides in Mason City, Iowa. Mr. Blair was a contractor and builder in Lancaster, Ohio, at the time of the outbreak of the Civil war, and he became captain of Company A, Seventeenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. After participating in numerous engagements, he was captured by the Confederates, and incarcerated in Libby Prison, where he experienced all the hardships that fell to the lot of the Union soldiers held in that terrible southern prison. After being held for about a year he was liberated by the soldiers of Sherman, at that time on his famous march to the sea. On securing his honorable discharge. Mr. Blair returned to Lancaster, where he became a prominent contractor and builder and was so engaged up to the time of his death. Mayor and Mrs. Asbury have two beautiful daughters : Elizabeth and Dorothy. [Source: "the History of Montana" by Helen Fitzgerald Sanders, Volume 3, 1913 - Sub. by a Friend of Free Genealogy]
Wesley P. Franklin.
Possessed, as a general rule, of great industry, energy and enterprise, the average Montana ranchman is usually loath to retire from active participation in the industrial affairs of his community, even when he has earned well-merited rest through long years of continuous labor, but when he finally turns over the management of his operations to younger hands and moves to the nearby city. he. invariably becomes one of its most valued citizens and is welcomed as a recognized addition to his new community's population. Wesley P. Franklin, a highly esteemed retired citizen of Big Timber, was for many years engaged in the sheep and cattle business in Sweet Grass county, and throughout his career was known as a man of the most upright principles and highest integrity. He was born in Owen county, Indiana. March 18, 1837, and is a son of John and Marv (Puett) Franklin. John Franklin was a native of North Carolina and as a young man removed to Owen county, Indiana, where he settled as a pioneer farmer. During the spring of 1850 he went to McLean county, Illinois, and there the remainder of his life was spent in farming and stock raising, his death occurring when he was fifty-seven years of age. He belonged to the Christian church all his life, and in political matters was a stalwart Whig. His wife, who was a native of Tennessee, survived him for a long period, attaining the remarkable age of ninety-nine years, and they had nine children, of whom four are living: Elizabeth, the widow of Seldon M. Paine : Noah : Nelson, and W. P. Franklin.
The education of Wesley P. Franklin was secured in the public schools of McLean county, Illinois, and as a youth assisted his father in the work of the home farm. When his father died he began farming and stock raising on his own account, and in 1886 came by way of the Northern Pacific to Montana, and located near Big Timber, where he first took up a squatter's claim on Fish creek, about thirty miles from the town. There he engaged in the sheep business with his son, Herschel P., who had come to the state before him and had managed the business since 1881. They remained on Fish creek until the fall of 1886, then removing to what was known as the Puett ranch, a tract of 480 acres which they purchased in 1889. To this they added by purchase, homestead, pre-emption and desert claims until they had 9,330 acres, and carried on the sheep business until 1898, when all the sheep were sold and they turned their attention to raising cattle. They also did an extensive business in buying and selling cattle until 1900, when Mr. Franklin retired from the business and moved to Big Timber. He now has large interests in the A. F. & K. Elevator Company, in addition to owning 4,000 acres of fine ranch land situated about fifteen miles from Big Timber, and is known as one of his city's most substantial business citizens.
On March 21, 1858, Mr. Franklin was married to Miss Hannah Puett, who was born in Georgetown, Illinois, and is deceased, having been the mother of four children : Mrs. Estella Mowdy, a widow : Herschel P., now living in Melville, Montana, married Miss Lee of Indiana ; Lillian, the widow of Dr. J. C. Graham and Daisy, who married Charles Scrogin, of Lexington, Illinois. On January 13, 1909, Mr. Franklin was married (second) to Miss Bessie Bryan, a native of Philadelphia. Pennsylvania. Mr. Franklin is a Democrat in his political views, but his business interests have demanded all of his attention, and he has never found time to enter the public arena. He is a consistent member of the Christian church, and is esteemed and respected by all who know him, as a man whose career has been an upright and honorable one, and who has had at all times the welfare of his community at heart. [Source: the History of Montana by Helen Fitzgerald Sanders, Volume 3, 1913 - Sub. by a Friend of Free Genealogy]
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