away, and it was also here his two children, who have since died, have been buried. He continued upon his journey, and reached home, where he remained some months with his family. While considering what he should next do, word came to him, in June, 1868, from Hon. Wm. H. Clagett that he would be appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Montana, and asking him to exert his influence to secure confirmation. His friends readily determined the question of confirmation. He and Judge Warren, the latter appointed Chief Justice for Montana, only resided some forty miles apart, and were confirmed the same day. Although they had never before met, their families had been intimate, and after being appointed they met and came to Montana together. Judge Knowles remained on the Supreme Bench eleven years and one month. In the spring of 1879, he sent in his resignation to take effect whenever his successor should be appointed and qualified, but it was August before his successor, Hon. Wm. J. Galbraith, relieved him and his official functions ceased. It is unnecessary, except as a matter of record, to say that in his position he fulfilled the highest requirements of a capable and honest judge.

His opinions and interpretation of the law, were of the soundest character, and were seldom, if ever overruled on appeal to the courts of last resort. As a jurist, Judge Knowles deserves, and is universally accorded a high place. As a citizen, he is regarded one of the most useful and public spirited of the men who have built up a new community in the wilderness. As a man

men.

he commands the respect and affection of all-popular throughout the State, companionable, the soul of honesty and honor, telling and appreciating a good story, and approachable by all In many ways has he worked for the upbuilding of the community. He is now building a residence at Missaula, where he owns considerable property, and where he hopes to reside the remainder of his days. He is now the president of the First National Bank of Butte City.

Judge Knowles was married April 12, 1871, at Athens, Mo., where her father then resided, to Miss Mary L. Curtis, a native of Ohio. They moved at once to Deer Lodge, and made their home here until 1882. Six children, four of whom are living, have been born to them.

W. H. MAGUIRE.

HENRY M. PARCHEN was born in Prussia June 13th, 1839. He came to America in 1848, receiving a common school education at Town Line, Erie County, New York, and afterwards finishing his education by a thorough course in Bryant & Stratton's Business College. At the age of fourteen he took a position as clerk in a general merchandise store in Buffalo, New York. He removed to Marshal County, Indiana, in 1857, and accepted a position as book-keeper for a mercantile and manufacturing company. In the spring of 1862 Mr. Parchen went to Colorado and filled a position as book-keeper at the Planters' House in Denver. In the spring of 1863 he became the lessee of the Massasoit House at Central City, Colorado. health about this time failing, he sold out his business, and in the spring of 1864, desiring to enter the mercantile business once more, he accepted a position as book-keeper for Erfurt, Busch & Co., at Virginia City, Montana, where he remained until the spring of 1865, when in company with Dr. Wernigk and Louis Keysser, he opened a drug and grocery store in Helena, Montana. In the fall of that year he bought out his partners and took in W. S. Paynter as a partner in the business with him. They sold out the grocery business in 1868. The

His

firm of Parchen & Paynter continued for nine years, doing a growing and profitable business, but suffering a heavy loss by two fires in Helena in the years 1869 and 1874, and the destruction of their Deer Lodge City branch house from the same cause in 1872. After the fire in 1874 Mr. Parchen bought out his partner, and since then has conducted the business alone under the style of H. M. Parchen & Co., doing by far the leading wholesale and retail drug business in the State.

From this cursory review of Mr. Parchen's life, it will be seen that since the age of fourteen he has, through his own efforts alone, achieved steady and progressive success from that time to the present. He has occupied many important positions of trust and responsibility, both public and private. He served for three years as County Commissioner of Lewis & Clarke County, of which Helena is the county seat. He was a member of the lower house of the Montana Territorial Legislature at its twelfth session. He was the first president of the Helena Board of Trade, which position, after many years he has been again called upon to fill, and is the present presiding officer of that body.

Mr. Parchen is a member of all the

Masonic bodies of Helena, York and Scottish rite. He has been Grand Treasurer of the Grand Lodge of Masons of Montana since 1871.

As a successful man of business and affairs, Mr. Parchen stands in the front rank of those who have been most instrumental in the development of his adopted State, and no enterprise of any importance that has had for its object the material advancement of the growth and prosperity of the city of Helena or the State of Montana for the past two decades has failed to enlist his hearty co-operation and substantial support. He was interested in the construction of three of the Northern Pacific branch roads from Helena. He is a large stockholder and a director in the Helena Gas Company, the Helena Electric Company, and the Helena Electric Railway Company. He has also large and extensive interests in mining and smelting.

Mr. Parchen is a man of quiet force of character, of dignified and courteous address, and a recognized leader in the commercial and financial centers of Montana. He possesses sound judgment, excellent tact, and natural ability. His views on any question to which he has given thought are always

sensible and perspicuous, expressed in a clear, terse and logical way.

Mr. Parchen has made a large fortune by constant and unceasing attention to his varied business interests, and is still actively engaged in controlling and superintending in detail. his varied mercantile affairs. No man in Helena, however, devotes more time and valued attention to questions of importance which affect the growth and prosperity of the State and the City of Helena than Mr. Parchen. He has done yeoman service in every department of the intellectual and physical development of the great State with which he has indissolubly allied himself, and in a biographical sketch. in which it is attempted, although imperfectly, to record achievements and do justice to the character of the subject, no sketch of Mr. Parchen would be complete without saying of him that no man deserves higher merit or esteem for the quiet and unassuming, but important, part he has played in the development and magnificent material progress of this great section of country.

In his social life, Mr. Parchen is surrounded by a delightful and interesting family.

C. P. CONNOLLY.