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Patrick A. Largey Family papers, 1863-1965

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Largey, Patrick A., 1836-1898
Title
Patrick A. Largey Family papers
Dates
1863-1965 (inclusive)
Quantity
87.5 linear feet of shelf space
Collection Number
MC 289 (collection)
Summary
Patrick Largey (1836-1898) was a Butte, Montana, hardware firm owner, banker, and mining investor. Collection (1867-1935) consists of financial and operational records of several firms owned by Largey and later by his Estate, including the Butte Hardware Company, Largey Lumber Company, P.A. Largey and Company, Missoula Lumber Company, Beaverhead Lumber Company, Coeur d'Alene Lumber Company, Passmore Paper Company, and others. There are also subgroups for several family members. Also included in the collection are descendant charts and family group records for the Charles Wilson Peale, Rachel Brewer, and Largey families, as well as family histories and related clippings. The charts, family group records, and family history material were compiled by Vicky MacDonald Harrison in 1991.
Repository
Montana Historical Society, Library & Archives
Montana Historical Society Research Center Archives
225 North Roberts
PO Box 201201
Helena MT
59620-1201
Telephone: 4064442681
Fax: 4064445297
mhslibrary@mt.gov
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Biographical Note

Patrick A. Largey was born on April 2, 1838, on a farm in Perry County, Ohio, the youngest of eleven children of Patrick and Jane (Cassilly) Largey. As a young man he taught in rural schools to pay for his education at St. Joseph's College at Somerset, Ohio. After graduating, he continued teaching for a time, and then moved to Cincinnati, where he became a bookkeeper. He then traveled by steamboat to Keokuk, Iowa, where he worked for two years as a clerk in a dry goods store. When that store failed, he returned to Ohio, where he saved enough money to open his own store in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1861. He sold the store a year later and went to work as a purchasing agent for the freighting business of his cousin Edward Creighton.

In 1865 he became captain of one of Creighton's wagon trains, which arrived in Virginia City, Montana, in the fall of that year. For the next few years he engaged in a variety of businesses around Montana Territory, including a freighting business, cattle dealing in Jefferson County, a grocery store in Helena, and the construction of a telegraph line from Virginia City to Fort Benton by way of Helena and one from Butte to Deer Lodge. For four years he was a salesman for Creighton and Ohle in Virginia City. He established a hardware store P.A. Largey and Company, which he eventually sold to Elling, Knight and Company. After the sale of this store in 1880 he moved to Butte.

In Butte Largey deeply involved himself in developing the economy of the city. He opened the Butte Hardware Company in March 1881. In 1890 he was one of the incorporators of the State Savings Bank of Butte and served as its president until his death. He was also one of the founders of the Brush Electric and Power Company and the Inter-Mountain Publishing Company.

In 1895 a fire broke out in the Kenyon-Connell Commercial Company warehouse. The fire and resulting explosion spread to Largey's Butte Hardware Company warehouse. The explosion resulted in the death and injury of many people. One of those injured, Thomas J. Riley, bore a grudge against Largey. On January 11, 1898, he walked into the State Savings Bank and shot Patrick A. Largey to death. Largey left his widow Lulu, two sons Morris Sellers Largey and Edward Creighton Largey, and two daughters Mary Montana Largey and Lulu Largey. Two other daughters Grace and Blanche died in early childhood.

Largey's widow Lulu Largey (1854-1918) was born in December 1854 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter of Morris and Amanda Sellers. She married Patrick A. Largey on April 30, 1877, in Chicago, Illinois. Lulu administered the Largey Estate with the assistance of John D. Haines. She married John Catron in January 1907, and continued to be involved in Estate management. She died in 1918.

Morris Sellers Largey (1880-1956) was educated in civil engineering at Georgetown University and the University of Michigan. When he came into his majority, he was increasingly involved in the operation of the Estate's businesses, especially the Largey Lumber Company, the Coeur d'Alene Lumber Company, the Missoula Lumber Company, and the State Savings Bank. In addition, Morris became a theater angel in New York, financially supporting the Will Block Amusement Company, and the Rork Company. He married one of the theater's actresses Alberta Crissey on November 19, 1908. In 1915 he resigned from the Estate's enterprises. He briefly remained in Butte as an engineer. In 1930, he was candy manufacturer in Los Angeles, California, where he died on March 2, 1956.

Edward Creighton Largey (1887-1963) graduated from the University of Michigan in 1909. He was on the board of directors of several of the family businesses. About 1908, he married Ursula Hancock, who was also involved with the New York theater. He served in the 1909 and 1911 Montana legislatures. Like his brother, he resigned from the family enterprises in 1915 and left Butte. In 1930 he was manager of a bowling alley in a Chicago suburb. He died in Long Beach, California, on November 22, 1963.

Lulu Largey (1882-1916) married Frank McGinn in 1902. She died in 1916 in Omaha, Nebraska.

Mary Montana Largey (1889-1919) married Raymond Joseph MacDonald (1879-1956) in 1908. He became the president and manager of the Largey Estate and later organized the R.J. MacDonald Company to manage many of the Estate's assets. He also was president of the Intermountain Transportation Company. He was active in many civic organizations, including the Butte Community Memorial Hospital, the Crippled Children's Auxiliary, and the Butte Chamber of Commerce.

Their son Raymond Bourke MacDonald (1918-1973) eventually took over many of the family businesses, including the Largey Lumber Company. He also was active on the Silver Bow County Airport Commission. On his death he willed his valuable Wild Horse Island property to the state as a park. He also willed this family collection to the Montana Historical Society.

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Content Description

Collection consists of personal papers of Patrick A. Largey and members of his extended family; plus business records for a variety of businesses owned by Largey, his Estate, and other family members. The collection is divided into five major groups of subgroups: family subgroups, hardware company subgroups, lumber company subgroups, paper and pulp company subgroups, and miscellaneous subgroups.

The Family Subgroups include personal papers of Patrick A. Largey, his widow Lulu Largey Catron, his two sons Edward Creighton Largey and Morris Sellers Largey, his two daughters Lulu Largey McGinn and Mary Montana Largey MacDonald; his son-in-law Raymond J. MacDonald, his grandson Raymond Bourke MacDonald, and the Patrick A. Largey Estate.

The Hardware Company Subgroups include records of P.A. Largey and Company of Virginia City, Montana, consisting of correspondence (1880) and financial records (1873-1881); records of the Butte Hardware Company, consisting of correspondence (1883-1904), court papers (1885-1902) including a transcript (1895) of the inquest on the warehouse explosion, financial records (1881-1905), legal documents (1886-1907), organizational records (1897-1902), and miscellany; and records of J.M. Montgomery and Company, consisting of correspondence (1895-1897), court papers (1894-1896), financial records (1892-1897), legal documents (1892-1897), and miscellany.

The Lumber Company Subgroups include records of the Beaverhead Lumber Company, consisting of correspondence (1914-1915) and financial records (1909-1915); records of the Coeur d'Alene Lumber Company, consisting of correspondence (1902-1916), court papers (undated), financial records (1904-1920), legal documents (1903-1919), organizational records (1900-1918), reports (undated), and miscellany; records of the D.W. Hughes Lumber Company/Hughes Lumber Company, consisting of correspondence (1913-1939), court papers (1936-1939), financial records (1916-1939), legal documents (1918-1939), organizational records (1930), and miscellany; records of the Largey Lumber Company, consisting of correspondence (1902-1965), court papers (1902-1945), employment records (1914-1958), financial records (1902-1962), legal documents (1901-1961), organizational records (1901-1915), subject files (1912-1959), and miscellany; and records of the Bernard Noon Lumber Company, consisting of correspondence (1900-1902), court papers (1898-1902), employment records (1898-1902), financial records (1899-1902), legal documents (1899-1902), production records (1897-1901), and miscellany.

The Paper and Pulp Company Subgroups include records of the King and Largey Paper Mills, consisting of correspondence (1905-1910), financial records (1905-1911), legal documents (1906), and organizational records (1905); records of the Montana Book Company, consisting of correspondence (1901-1903), employment records (1903), financial records (1901-1903), legal documents (1901-1903), and miscellany; and records of the Passmore Paper Company, consisting of correspondence (1900-1911), court papers (1900-1908), financial records (1897-1909), legal documents (1901-1905), organizational records (1897-1910), reports (1905), and miscellany.

The Miscellaneous Subgroups include records of the New York theater companies Will J. Block Amusement Company and The Rork Company, consisting of correspondence (1908), court papers (1907-1909), employment records (1905-1906), financial records (1905-1909), legal documents (1905-1908), organizational records (1905-1908), miscellany, and clippings; records of E. Creighton and Company, consisting of correspondence (1865-1877), court papers (1869-1873), and financial records (1863-1876); papers of John D. Haines, consisting of correspondence (1896-1913), and miscellany; papers of John M. Howard, consisting of a letterpress book of correspondence (1906-1909); papers of Samuel B. Rice, consisting of correspondence (1872-1891); records of the Silver Bow County Airport Commission, consisting of correspondence (1953-1961), financial rerecords (1956-1961), legal documents (1949-1960), reports (1945-1947), and miscellany; records of the State Savings Bank, consisting of correspondence (1910), court papers (1897), and miscellany; and mining company subject files (1889-1913, 1939) concerning mines owned by P.A. Largey, the Largey Estate, and others.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

The Montana Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Research Library before any reproduction use. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.

In addition the genealogical writings have been copyrighted By Vicky MacDonald with the Library of Congress.

Preferred Citation

Item description and date. Collection Title. Collection Number. Box and Folder numbers. Montana Historical Society Research Center, Archives, Helena, Montana.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged by subgroup and series. Some material housed in Archives map case and Manuscript Volumes. See inventory below for more information.

Location of Collection

14:8-3

Location of Collection

149:4-7 (Volumes)

Acquisition Information

Acquisition information available upon request

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Detailed Description of the Collection

Finding aid prepared by Ellie Arguimbau, 2004
2006

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