Bios
 

Thomas "Tommy" Haw 1846-1913

Source: University of Montana, "Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest";
Beaverhead County probate; Census records. 

 

 
Tommy Haw was an orphaned Chinese boy in the goldfields of California who was adopted by the Orr family. He was born about 1850 in China. 

In the 1860's the Orr family came to Dillon, Montana area and set up a large cattle ranch.

 

In the 1880 census Tommy Haw is shown living in Big Hole, a stock raiser, aged 30, born in China, parents born in China.  He had one laborer living within his household.  He was also listed at Beaverhead River with Frank Leanden, age 26 as a stock raiser in the same census.

 

In 1900 census he is shown in Barrets, as Thomas Haw, owner, born in 1850, China, came in 1859 to America, occupation: farmer and sheep man.

 

Tommy started to invest in mining operations and apparently got out of stock raising and farming.  The University of Montana found that one of the mine operations he owned was located on Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest property and had never been recorded. 

 

He died 25 July 1913 (according to estate papers), and  was buried at Poindexter Cemetery. His body was moved to Mountain View Cemetery. Birth year on headstone is shown as 1846.

 

His probate continued on for some time, and was finally settled in 1927.  It was mentioned that he had an interest in mining claims in Beaverhead County, cases going before the Montana Supreme Court, etc.  Estate was left to Mary J Gray (deceased), Milton Hays and Mrs. John Robson.  Milton Hays died and his heirs were Nora H Knoll (widow of Milton Hays), and children: Andrew S Hays, May R Penny and Milton E Hays, a minor.  George Gray was the executor of the will, but is deceased.  Notation on the estate papers that he was born in China, was unmarried and had no children and that he resided in Beaverhead county for about 45 years (1868).  He was not found in the 1870 or 1910 census records.
 

Excerpt from Alma Coffin Kirkpatrick reminiscence, 1910
 

Excerpt from Alma Coffin Kirkpatrick's reminiscence discussing her trip to Montana Territory. Forms part of Alma Coffin Kirkpatrick reminiscence, [ca. 1910]. Alma Kirkpatrick was a Glendale and Dillon, Montana Territory, resident and wife of rancher James Kirkpatrick. Her reminiscence consists of abstracts from her diary, and discusses her trip to Montana Territory by steamboat in 1878, her experiences as a school teacher at Glendale in 1880, and life in Glendale from 1878 to 1884.
 

Joseph P Lossl 1860-

("Progressive Men of Montana", A W Bowen &Co, Chicago Illinois, 
published 1901, pages 276-viewable at www.archive.org)

Joseph P Lossl has contributed largely toward developing the resources of Beaverhead County and thereby conserving the general welfare.  Though a young man he is the pioneer merchant of the town of Wisdom.  He is a man of executive ability and force of character and in all the relations of life his course has been such as to warrant the confidence and esteem of those with whom he has come into contact.  Mr. Lossl was born in the beautiful little city of Racine, Wisconsin, on March 6, 1860.  Being the eldest of five children of Joseph and Louisa (Blessinger) Lossl, the former born in Austria while the latter was born in the famous old German town Baden-Baden.  The father came to American in 1852 and located in Racine where he conducted a successful tanning business for many years, owning his own tannery, moved to Pioneer, Montana in 1885, and died December 9, 1900.  His wife is still living at Pioneer, Montana.

Joseph P Lossl attended the public schools of his native city and there after engaged in tanning in Wisconsin until 1882.  When he came to Montana he located at Pioneer, Deer Lodge County, and engaged in placer mining, which he followed for five years.  In 1885 he supplemented his educational discipline by taking a course in a business college in the city of Helena.  Eventually he opened a general merchandise store in Pioneer, conducting the same until 1895 when he came to Beaverhead County, locating in Wisdom. He bought out a small store and opened the first general merchandise establishment in the Big Hole basin, there being but two buildings in the town at the time of this arrival.  He also owns a good ranch of 160 acres contiguous to the village, also the ground and building where his store is located and has an interest in a general store at Pioneer being associated there with his younger brother George Lossl who has charge of the same. He started the first mercantile house at Jackson, Beaverhead County, but eventually disposed of it.  His business enterprises also extend still farther, for he holds an interest in promising quartz mines on Gold Creek, Grant County.  In politics, Mr. Lossl supports the Democratic party but has never aspired to the honors or emoluments of public office, preferring to devote his entire time and attention to his business interests.

On May 1, 1889 Mr. Lossl was united in marriage to Miss Anna Hegerman, who was born in Wisconsin, the daughter of John Hegerman, engaged in the boot and shoe business in Racine County in that state.  Mr. and Mrs. Lossl have two daughters, namely: Loretto L who was born 14 Mar 1890 and Gertrude E born 12 Sept 1893.
 

Phillip Lovell 1840-1907

Sources: "History of Montana", 1917; 1870 census Beaverhead Valley;
1880 census Beaverhead River; 1900 census, Barrets; Marriages Beaverhead County

Phillip Lovell had been a rancher in Beaverhead County for many years and was active in business in his younger years.  He was a large land holder and a prominent citizen. Mr. Lovell was born 12 April 1840 in Yorkshire or Dorset, England, the eldest of five children born to Jonathan and Ann Abbey Lovell.  He arrived in America in 1860, and came to Beaverhead County in 1862.  He was first engaged in the butchering business in Bannack which he continued in for a number of years. By 1870 he was located in Beaverhead Valley, a stock raiser, with Mary Lovell who was born in Iowa about 1841. It's believed she was his first wife.  She was deceased by 1875, but a burial for her wasn't found in Beaverhead County.  He had a sister, Mary; her birth place was listed as England.  Mr. Lovell was appointed Postmaster at Watson in Beaverhead County in 1870 and again in 1872.

On 19 July 1875 he married Mrs. Ellen Thompson in Beaverhead County. She was a daughter of John and Susan (Showers) McGowen. Ellen was born 15 Nov 1841; died 29 Dec 1925, and is buried at Mountain View Cemetery  She had a son from the prior marriage, Frank Thompson.  Phillip is shown on 1880 census in Beaverhead River as a ranchman with wife Ellen. In 1880 Mr. Lovell was elected on the Democratic ticket as County Commissioner of Beaverhead County, his term extending a total of six years.  He became very active in ranching, amassing about 3,000 acres at the time of his death. 

In 1893 he served as a World's Fair commissioner to the Columbian Exposition in Chicago.  Mr. Lovell was a member of the Pioneer Society, a leading member of the Masonic order and belonged to the St Elmo Commandery Knights Templar.   He and his wife Ellen were members of the Protestant Episcopal Church.

The 1900 census shows a niece, Selina Lovell (born 1890 in England), living with them as well as employees. In 1902 Phillip retired and moved to Dillon, living quietly there until his death on 18 June 1907 in Beaverhead County.  He is buried at Mountain View Cemetery.

Emily Robinson Meredith 1836-1913

Emily Meredith papers, 1862-1867 and undated
Source: Montana Historical Society-- Library and Archives Dept.

James C Nedrow

("Progressive Men of Montana", A W Bowen &Co, Chicago Illinois, 
published 1901, pages 771-772 viewable at www.archive.org)

"Among the patriotic and loyal young men of Montana who rendered efficient service in the United States Army during the late Spanish-American war is Mr. Nedrow, who was a volunteer soldier and who served with signal efficiency in the Philippines during the time when these oriental possessions of the United States were being wrested from Spanish control and the initial stages of the work of quelling the turbulent and insubordinate natives.  After his military experience Mr. Nedrow returned to Montana and is not numbered among the successful and energetic farmers and stock growers of Beaverhead County.

James C Nedrow is a native of the state of Nebraska, having been born on the parental farmstead in Jefferson County, May 23, 1873; one of the ten children of Simon and Sarah (Riddle) Nedrow, born in Indiana and Illinois respectively, and who located in Nebraska as pioneers of 1861. The father devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits.  The subject of this review received his early education in the public schools of Abilene, Kansas and thereafter was concerned in the cattle business in Colorado and Wyoming for some time.  In 1893 he came to Montana being still identified with this important line of industry.  In 1898 he enlisted in Company E, First Montana Volunteer Infantry, with which he went to the Philippine Islands in the month of July 1898, sailing on a transport from San Francisco, after the regiment had been stationed for a time at Camp Merritt.  They landed in the city of Manila where our subject continued in active service until 23 Aug 1900, when he returned with his regiment to California and was honorably discharged and mustered out at the Presidio on Oct 14, 1900.  He participated in all the battles in which his regiment took part and it is a matter of record that the First Montana earned the highest encomiums for its valiant and efficient service in the field.  From California Mr. Nedrow returned to Montana and in the month of October came to his present location in the Big Hole Valley of Beaverhead County where he now has a good ranch of 640 acres, a considerable portion of which is available for cultivation, yeilding excellent crops of hay and various cereals.  Here Mr. Nedrow has engaged in the raising of cattle and hay and is making definite progress, directing his judgment and indefatigable energy, which augur well for cumulative success coming to him as a farmer and stock-grower.

In politics he gives his support to the Republican party, taking a consistent interest in all public affairs of a local nature.  On Nov 6, 1900 Mr. Nedrow was united in marriage to Miss Jennie J Jackson, who was born in Germany, whence as a child she accompanied her parents to Montana on their emigration to America. Her father is now engaged in cattle ranching in the Big Hole Valley, Beaverhead County."

James C Nedrow is listed on Find-a-Grave.org as having died Aug 1919, buried at Pineview Cemetery, Ashton, Fremont Co,  Idaho.
 

Henry and Electa Plummer

Henry Plummer...the man is certainly an enigma of the Old West. Some historians assert that Henry Plummer was an alias for a man whose real name has been lost in the mists of time. However, Art Pauley wrote a very well-researched book on Henry Plummer that traces his origins to a farm near Houlton, Maine, as the son of Rial and Roseanna Plummer. Rial and family, along with Henry's brother Ed, relocated in Sauk County, Wisconsin.

In 1852, Amos Henry Plummer is traced to Nevada City, California, where he ultimately entered the bakery business and local law enforcement as city marshal. Five years later, he got into a shooting scrape over a woman, and was charged in the death of her husband, John Vedder. The jury rendered a verdict of murder in the second degree. A second trial was granted, with the venue changed to Yuba City, California. Again came a guilty verdict, and Henry was sentenced to 10 years in San Quentin.

Plummer began serving his sentence on February 22, 1859 as inmate number 1573. Among his comrades behind bars was Cyrus Skinner, serving time for grand larceny.

Plummer served time only until August 16, 1859, when he was released because of a supposedly fatal illness. Plummer returned to Nevada City, California, where a friend appointed him city constable. But he was "unappointed" after his friend lost the next election.

Plummer remained out of trouble until February of 1861 when he nearly killed a man in a fight. Then on the following October 27, Plummer got into a shooting match at a local house of ill fame and killed one William Riley. Plummer was incarcerated, but escaped only five days later by literally running out the door. He hid with friends in Carson City, and finally went to Lewiston, Idaho where he and a woman companion registered at the Luna House in January 1862.

In Lewiston Plummer ran into his old cellmate, Cyrus Skinner, and other individuals destined for the gallows in Montana, such as Club Foot George Lane and Bill Bunton. Plummer abandoned his mistress, a woman with three children who had to resort to prostitution to feed herself and family, and finally died an alcoholic and "an inmate in one of the lowest dives  in town." Roaming the area between Elk City, Florence and Lewiston, Plummer became a wanted man again, this time for the death of Patrick Ford.

This time the outlaw ended up at Sun River, Montana in November 1862, where he met his future wife, Electa Bryan, who was staying with her sister and brother-in-law, Martha and James Vail. Also at Sun River, he became reacquainted with Jack Cleveland, a fellow just as unscrupulous as Plummer.

Plummer ended up in Bannack, where he was appointed sheriff. Henry and Electa were married in Sun River on June 20, 1863 by Jesuit priest Fr. Joseph Menetry in St. Peter's Mission. The newlyweds arrived in Bannack four days later to make their home, but in less than three months, Electa  left for Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where her parents lived. Her reason for leaving never will be known. Theories purport that she finally got to know Henry Plummer and left because she disapproved of his violent nature and life of crime, or even that she left Bannack with the expectation that Henry Plummer would join her in the spring.

Electa ultimately moved to Vermillion, South Dakota, where she married James Maxwell, a widower with two daughters. Electa and James had two sons of their own, Vernon and Clarence. Electa lived until May 5, 1912. She was buried at Wakonda, South Dakota.

Vigilantes and Road Agents. Each man brought with him beliefs and ethical values that largely dictated his actions and relations with his fellow man. With the good men inevitably came the bad, who leeched from one gold camp to another, robbing and murdering or otherwise plying their personal skills in a selfish and nonproductive way. Men such as Henry Plummer, Buck Stinson, Ned Ray, Cyrus Skinner, Boone Helm, Long John Franck, Bill Bunton and George Ives were quick to move into a virgin gold camp where their true natures were not known. In Bannack, an organization of toughs quickly developed, known as the Road Agents or Innocents (by their password "I am Innocent"). The Road Agents soon had moles, or snitches, in many businesses in the new gold camps of southwestern Montana. They got word of a gold shipment or a stagecoach passenger carrying large sums of money, and promptly relayed the information to gang leaders.

Such wealth seldom reached its destination. The ringleader of the gang, Henry Plummer, wasted no time in getting himself elected sheriff, in May of 1863. Plummer was even quicker about appointing two of his henchmen, Buck Stinson and Ned Ray, as deputies. Plummer and his group infiltrated every decent group and endeavor in the mining camps--except the Masons. The Road Agents had watched the Masons with suspicious silence ever since the group of 76 brothers met at William Bell's funeral in November of 1862. It has been reported that Plummer once inquired about Masonic membership. If so, he was quickly discouraged because rumors already had spread about his life of dubious distinction prior to coming to Bannack. Plummer soon became not very well trusted, even if he was the sheriff. So far, no Road Agent has been found to have held Masonic membership.  

That the Road Agents had a grip on the area in 1863, few informed persons would have disputed. It was not safe to walk down the main streets of Bannack and Virginia City after dark, and even sometimes in broad daylight. Travel was unsafe because robbery of both stagecoaches and horseback riders was common.

Only three miles north of Bannack on the Bannack-Virginia City Road is a promontory appropriately named Road Agents' Rock. So many robberies took place at that site, that many a stage driver breathed a sigh of relief if he passed the point without getting held up.

The vast majority of people in the camps were hardworking, good people who grew increasingly weary at the growing violence and almost open disdain for law and order. George Ives' robbery and brutal murder of the Dutchman, Nicholas Tiebalt, in December of 1863 near Nevada City appeared to be the straw that broke the camel's back. Ives had killed young Tiebalt for $200 in gold dust and a span of fine mules, and had hidden the mules at a friend's ranch on the Big Hole River. Tiebalt's body soon was discovered, and the trail led to George Ives. The people of Alder Gulch were outraged at the senseless and brutal killing of such a well liked young man and demanded justice. Ives was tried by a miner's court in Nevada City, the prosecutor being Bannack resident Colonel Wilbur Fisk Sanders, who happened to be in Virginia City on business. Adjudged guilty, George Ives was hanged by the neck until dead on December 21,1863. (The spot of this first Vigilante action is marked today in Nevada City.) Quickly the Vigilantes organized--with a president, treasurer and secretary, and companies headed by captains--and wasted no time in furthering the cause of justice in area communities.

After the Ives execution, the Vigilantes began to investigate further the organization of outlaws they knew to exist. A scouting party of 28 men, called the Deer Lodge Scout, left Virginia City for Deer Lodge for the express purpose of apprehending the comrades of George Ives.

The moon was nearing full, which gave them light to travel at night. The leader of the expedition was Captain James Williams. On the way to Deer  Lodge, the party met Red Yeager, unbeknownst to them a member of Plummer's gang. 

Yeager had just carried a letter from George Brown, corresponding secretary of Plummer's band, to the Road Agents in Deer Lodge, warning them of the Vigilantes' work by the message, "Get up and dust, and lie low for black ducks." When the Scout arrived at Deer Lodge, they found that the Road Agents had just been warned and had fled. Williams and his weary party decided that they must capture the messenger. They captured Red  Yeager in a wickiup a few hundred yards up Rattlesnake Creek from the Rattlesnake Stage Station, and returned to Dempsey's Stage Station, where he was questioned along with George Brown. Finally the Road Agent pair was taken to Lorraine's Ranch at present-day Laurin. The Vigilantes decided not to take Brown and Yeager to Virginia City, since there was the possibility that the two would be liberated by their friends. At 10 P.M. On

January 4, 1864, the two Road Agents were awakened and told they were to be hanged. Brown begged for his life, but Yeager was much more composed, as if resigned to his fate all along.  

Red Yeager proceeded to name Henry Plummer as chief of the band, Bill Bunton as a stool pigeon and second in command, Cyrus Skinner as fence,  spy and roadster. Among others listed were George Ives and two of Plummer's deputies: Ned Ray as council-room keeper at Bannack, and Buck Stinson, roadster. Red Yeager and George Brown were escorted to the banks of the Passamari (now Ruby) River, where they were hanged from two cottonwood trees. Brown's last recorded words were, "God Almighty, save my soul. Yeager was a little more poetic; after he shook hands with his executioners he stated, "Good-bye boys; God bless you. You are on a good undertaking." (Incidentally, Passamari is a Shoshone word for "stinking water.") 

Stories circulated at Bannack about the hangings of Ives, Brown and Yeager. Plummer and his men became nervous, wondering what the Vigilantes knew and what they were going to do about it. Things were "getting hot" for the Road Agents, and many made plans to leave the country. The Vigilantes anticipated such plans, and decided to act quickly. The Alder Gulch Vigilante leaders had met and decided to enlist the aid of the Bannack Vigilantes and hang Plummer, Stinson and Ray. Late in the evening of January 9, 1864, John S. Lott, Harry King and two other Vigilantes from Alder Gulch arrived at Bannack with news from the Virginia City company and their request for cooperation. Undoubtedly, Wilbur Fisk Sanders was one of  the first they contacted. The execution of Henry Plummer, Ned Ray and Buck Stinson was ordered for the next day. During the afternoon of the 10th of January, Road Agents brought three horses into Bannack. The Vigilantes believed Plummer and his deputies planned an escape, so they finalized execution plans. 

Immediately before dark, Plummer was making his rounds through town and was returning to Yankee Flat, where he lived with his in-laws, James and Martha Vail, in a cabin next door to the Sanders family. To cross Grasshopper Creek from Bannack to Yankee Flat, one had to cross a footbridge. As Plummer approached the bridge, he met Mrs. Sanders crossing into town. Plummer, the account states, tipped his hat and politely spoke, neither party realizing that at that very moment, Mrs. Sander's husband was planning Plummer's capture and execution for within the hour. 

The evening was crisp and clear, with no moon to illuminate a landscape well below zero. The Vigilantes organized into three small companies, each going about its deliberate task of capturing one man before meeting the others near the gallows. The gallows was located about a hundred yards up Hangman's Gulch on Bannack's north side, and had been constructed by Sheriff Plummer himself not a year before, to hang a horse thief named Horan.

One company of Vigilantes, led by William Roe, arrested Buck Stinson at Toland's cabin on Yankee Flat, where he was spending the evening. Ned Ray was captured by Frank Sears and Harry King as he lay passed out on a gambling table at a Yankee Flat saloon. 

Henry Plummer was at the Vails' cabin. Martha Vail, his sister-in-law, answered the knock at the door, greeting several Vigilantes led by John S. Lott. Plummer was asked to accompany them, which he did amidst Mrs. Vail's questions. Plummer told her that they just wanted to talk to him about Dutch John Wagner, and left with the group of determined men. The three companies met at the gallows. The night was extremely cold, and the men had a very unsavory job to do, so they did not waste any time. Ned Ray was the first hanged, followed by Buck Stinson--both men spewing epithets every step of the way. Plummer was not the big tough leader he pretended to be. He begged for his life, then changed his tactics and stated that he was too wicked to die. Finally he resigned himself to the fate of joining his cohorts on the gallows in death. After tossing the kerchief from around his neck to a young friend, he requested the Vigilantes to give him a good drop. His request was granted, and he was lifted as high as several men could, and dropped into eternity. The 27-year old outlaw sheriff's dark career and life were over. 

A guard was placed to keep people away from the swinging corpses. After about an hour, the guard left, satisfied that the last breath of life had left the three outlaws. Their bodies were taken down the next day. However, burial in Boot Hill, located just above the gallows at the top of the hill, would be unheard of since the townspeople did not want such vile men lying in perpetual slumber with their loved ones. Shallow graves were dug not far from where the men had spent the last moments of their lives. 

The Vigilantes went on to hang the rest of the Road Agents that they could locate, in such locations as Hellgate (Missoula), Cottonwood (Deer Lodge), Fort Owen and Virginia City. The accounts state that all told, 32 men were either hanged or banished, with only three receiving that second chance. One hundred and two documented murders by the Road Agents had taken place, along with an unknown number of robberies.

Reports abound about the fabulous loot that Plummer and his gang amassed, giving rise to the legend of Henry Plummer's treasure. The other side  of the story, probably more realistic, is that the Road Agents spent the loot as fast as they could get it on whisky, gambling and women of dubious character.

The Vigilantes were spurred on by their success and general public approval. They decided to seek other law breakers and deal with them as they saw fit until a competent judiciary should be established.

The exact locations of the gallows and grave of Henry Plummer are mysteries, as well as what happened exactly to his skeleton.
 

After the outlaw sheriff was hanged with two of his cohorts on January 10, 1864, the bodies were taken to an unfinished building on Main Street across from the Goodrich Hotel (adjacent to and just east of Skinner's Saloon), where they lay for a day. One account states that Madame Hall, Ned Ray's mistress, took his body to her cabin and arranged for the burial herself. Plummet and Stinson were laid out on a bench and the floor, respectively. On the next evening, in the same unfinished building, Dutch John Wagner was hanged by Vigilantes from a crossbeam, and his body placed with those of the other Road Agents.

On the 13th of January, the four bodies Coy that time Madame Hall had returned the body of Ned Ray, if she ever had claimed it) were taken and buried in a common grave just to the right of where the gallows replica stands up Hangman's Gulch. Only Plummer had the luxury of being buried in a coffin. (One account states that Stinson and Ray were buried in Boot Hill on the hill east of the gallows.) 

The grave of the four Road Agents had not been very deep, for the ground was frozen hard, and no one wanted to work very hard to bury the outlaws. Hangman's Gulch, where the burial took place, is often disturbed by flash floods that rearrange the landscape and its contents. Undoubtedly some of what was buried in the Road Agents' grave washed away in the numerous floods that have rampaged down the gulch.

Local legend tells two tales about the fate of Henry Plummer's skull. The first, and most probable, says that two drunks, about the turn of the century, dug up Plummer's skull and deposited it on the backbar of Bannack's Bank Exchange Saloon. There the curious relic reposed until the saloon burned and, with it, all its contents. The second story is undoubtedly just that, a story, but is nevertheless fascinating. This account relates that the same old drunks dug up the skull, which finally found its way into the hands of a Bannack doctor. The unnamed doctor sent the specimen "back east to a scientific institution for study to try to figure out why Plummer was so evil."

The Vigilantes' work was swift and sure, and ended as quickly as it began. They were men who were honest and hardworking, and who realized that in order for the Territory to be a safe place in which to live and to raise a family, law and order had to be instilled in the gold camps. Needless to say, the calming effect of the Vigilantes on southwestern Montana was felt for many years to come.

Copyright by F. Lee Graves
Author of Bannack, Cradle of Montana
All Rights Reserved
 

Herbert B Selway

Source: A History of Montana

Herbert B Selway, of Dillon, Montana has a closer interest in the welfare and prosperity of his home state than have most of the residents of Montana, for his is a native son of the commonwealth.  He is well known as one of the most successful ranchmen and stock raisers of this section of the state.  A man of the type for which the west has come to stand, broad minded, big hearted and sincere, "Herb" Selway, as he is familiarly known is one of the most popular men in Dillon.

Herbert B Selway was born near Dillon on the 22nd of August 1875, a son of James and Eunice A (Noble) Selway.  James Selway was born in England in 1839 and when he was seven years of age his parents immigrated to the United States, locating in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  In 1863 he crossed the Great Plains to Montana.  During the following winter he was engaged in mining operations in connection with W. A. Clark, who afterwards became a US senator from Montana.  After a time he went into the stock raising business and from that time until the close of his life he was engaged in the livestock industry.  He was a pioneer in every sense of the word, a leading man in his community who did his full share in helping to make possible the great state of Montana.  In politics he was a Republican, though he never cared to take a very active part.  A man of great kindliness and genuine sympathy, people were invariably attracted by him and he made in consequence a host of friends.  His death occurred in 1898.  He married in the fall of 1874 to Eunice F Noble, a native of Yankee Settlement, Delaware County, Iowa where she was born Mar 8, 1848.  She was the eldest of seven children of her father and mother.  She was well educated, completing her education at Iowa College, at Grinnell, Iowa,  then teaching there for a number of years in her native state.  She came to Montana in the fall of 1873 and taught the first term of school in what is known as the Old Poindexter school house.  She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was a very active worker in this congregation being a teacher in the Sunday school for over thirty years.  Four children were born to James Selway and his wife; Herbert B Selway and Hawley J Selway, both of Dillon Montana; Mrs. Eliza Selway Carlson of Tendoy, Idaho; and Luther Selway who died in infancy.  Mrs. Selway died on the 26th of August 1910.

Herbert B Selway received his first instruction in the Dillon public schools, graduating from the high school in Dillon.  He then attended the Montana State Normal School at Twin Bridges and later the Wesleyan University at Helena Montana.  He was then sent east, and entered his mothers alma mater, Iowa College at Grinnel Iowa.  Finally he took a course at the Highland Business College at Des Moines, Iowa from which he was graduated in 1899.  With this thorough preparation he returned home and took charge of his father's business interests.  In 1899 he went into the stock and general farming business on his own account and has made a splendid success of it.  He owns about fourteen hundred acres on Horse Prairie which

is divided into two ranches, on both of which he carries on general farming as well as stock raising.  As an example on the size of his stock operations since January 1912 he has bought and sold between fifty and sixty thousand dollars worth of cattle.  Aside from his real business he has diverted himself with dealings in real estate, though most men would scarcely call it a diversion.  In 1908 he bought a ranch of one hundred and sixty acres just north of Dillon, at what was considered a most exorbitant price, one hundred dollars per acre.  He, however, believed that there ought to be a rise in land values in Beaverhead county, and the result proved him correct, for he sold the property in April 1912 for one hundred sixty five dollars an acre.  This was the first real advance in county property made in this county.

Mr. Selway was married April 1899 to Miss Mary Monahan, who is a native of Illinois but has spent all of her life in the west.  Her father is a native of Ireland where he was born in 1845 and her mother was born in Kentucky in 1848.  Of the nine children of her parents, who are still living in Utah, Mrs. Selway is the next to the eldest.  Mr. and Mrs. Selway have one son Elmer James, who was born on the 1st of September 1903.

Mr. Selway is a member and past chancellor of Occidental Lodge, No 8, of Dillon, Knights of Pythias.  He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.  In politics he is a Republican, and has taken a prominent part in furthering the interests of his party in that section of the state wherein he lives.  He is a member of the Beaverhead Club and the walls of this club are adorned with a number of find trophies of the hunt which Mr. Selway has presented to the club, results of his skill with the gun.  Mrs. Selway is a member of the Presbyterian church and is one of the leaders in the social life of Dillon.  In 1912, Mr. Selway built an attractive home in Dillon, where the family now resides.