Archives West Finding Aid

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.