Biographical Sketches

JOHN EDWIN SHATTUCK

JOHN EDWIN SHATTUCK, president of the Shattuck Commercial Company at Boulder, has been in the northwestern states a number of years, beginning his career as a railway telegraph operator, and through his enterprise has developed probably the leading mercantile establishment in Jefferson County.

Mr. Shattuck was born at Boston, Massachusetts, April 29, 1878.  He is of English ancestry, his people having settled in Massachusetts in colonial times, and from Massachusetts moved to New Hampshire.  John Edwin Shattuck spent his early life at Loda, Iroquois County, Illinois, graduating from the high school there in 1895.  For one year he also attended the Onarga Seminary, a Methodist school at Onarga, Illinois.  While a boy at Loda he learned the duties of station agent and telegraphy at the local office of the Illinois Central Railway, and on leaving there went to St. Paul, Minnesota, and was employed by the Soo line as a telegraph operator six months.  For another six months he was night agent for the Minnesota Transfer Company at New Brighton, Minnesota.  Mr. Shattuck came to Montana in 1900, and at White Sulphur Springs established one of the first sheep-shearing plants in the state.  This plant was located at Dorsey.  He managed it through three summer sessions, and during the winter acted as relief agent in railway offices.  Following that he was cashier of the Yellowstone Bank at Mondak until 1907, in which year he engaged in the mercantile business at Elliston, Montana.  He was proprietor of a store there, but sold out in 1911, and removing to Spokane organized the Spokane Feed and Fuel Company.  He was president and manager of this corporation until 1916, when he came to Boulder and established his present business.  This is now the leading general store in Jefferson County, and has prospered through a steady adherence to the ideal of affording a complete and satisfactory service to all the patrons.  The business is incorporated as the Shattuck Commercial Company, with Mr. Shattuck as president, Frank Happ as vice president, and Mrs. D. O. Shattuck, secretary and treasurer.

Mr. Shattuck also owns a ranch in Franklin County, Washington, and a modern home at Boulder.  He is affiliated with Helena Lodge No. 193 of the Elks and in politics is a republican.  In 1903, at Loda, Illinois, he married Miss Della Ogan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Wesley Ogan, now deceased.  Her father was an early mine operator of Idaho.  Mr. and Mrs. Shattuck have five children: Donald, born in July, 1904; Ralph, born in June, 1905; Wanda, born in April, 1907; Ramona, born in August, 1913; and Richard, born in October, 1904.

Source: Excerpts from the book, Montana: It's Story and Biography, volume II, edited by Tom Stout, published in 1921; located on the website, Hathitrust Digital Library (http://www.hathitrust.org), accessed 1 June 2022.

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