Submitted by: Lorene Frigaard Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm George P. Wellcome Montana, Its Story and Biography; A History of Aboriginal and Territorial Montana and Three Decades of Statehood. Tom Stout, Editor. Vols. I-III. Chicago and New York: The American Historical Society, 1921. Volume II, Pages 379-380. GEORGE P. WELLCOME. The great importance to a community attaching to such lines of business as real estate and insurance is not always relative to its volume, but rather to the integrity of those engaged in the public's behalf. With land as the real basis of wealth, its ownership should be encouraged with titles clear of any entanglements, while insurance protection must be inviolate and above all possibility of lack of good faith. A trust-worthy business man of Anaconda, dealing in real estate, loans, insurance and also handling coal, is George P. Wellcome, who is president and manager of the Wellcome-Durston Company. George P. Wellcome was born at Hoboken, New Jersey, August 18, 1860. His parents were Jacob and Sarah J. (Hagadorn) Wellcome, the latter of whom was born in the State of New York in 1842, and now resides at Long Beach, California. The father of Mr. Wellcome, a descendant of an old English family of the name, was born in Maine, in 1820, and died at Baltimore, Maryland, in 1901. He grew to man's estate in Maine and after his marriage in New York engaged in business in New York City but maintained his home in Hoboken, New Jersey, until he removed to Newark in 1862. He continued in the cotton and wool brokerage business in New York until 1872, after which he traveled for some years, then retired and settled at Baltimore. Of his three children, George P. is the only survivor. The eldest, John B., settled at Butte, Montana, in 1889, where he was engaged in the practice of law for some time, when he retired to his valuable property known as the Creeklyn ranch, hear White Hall, Montana, where his death occurred. The youngest of the family, Blanche E., died at Los Angeles, California, at the age of thirty years. George P. Wellcome attended the public schools of Newark, New Jersey, and afterward of Newport, New Hampshire, and in 1878 was graduated from the Newport High School. His first business association was a clerical position in the great Boston house of Jordan, Marsh & Company, where he remained three years, gaining first hand experience in the dry goods line, which served him well after locating at Fargo, Dakota Territory. After three years of dry goods experience there he embarked in the business for himself at St. Cloud, Minnesota. In 1889 he sold his interests there and came to Butte, Montana, in July of same year coming to Anaconda. Here for two years he was in the employ of the firm of Mahan & Lindsley in the real estate and insurance business, then was an employee of the First National Bank of Anaconda, which later became the banking house of Hoge, Daley & Company. He remained with this institution in various capacities for nine years, when he embarked in the real estate and insurance line on his own account at Anaconda. During his entire previous business career Mr. Wellcome had been associated with business houses of the highest possible standing and his standards of business integrity are firmly grounded. Upon the same sound foundation he has built up his own business, which has expanded into one of the largest enterprises of its kind in this section of the state. In 1914 he incorporated as the Wellcome-Durston Company, of which Mr. Wellcome is president and manager and H.H. Durston is vice president, secretary and treasurer. The company occupies a suite in the Daley Bank annex, No. 110 East Park Avenue. The company handles city real estate and farm loans in Deer Lodge and surrounding counties. A general insurance business is done, and this feature of the business is one of great importance. The firm at one time owned much ranch property but has disposed of it to a large extent, but has heavy investments in city realty. At Anaconda, in 1895, Mr. Wellcome was united in marriage to Miss Katherine Evans, a daughter of Morgan and Ann Evans, both of whom are decease. Mr. Evans came to this neighborhood as a pioneer in 1862, driving from Logan Utah, his team of a horse and cow hitched to a wagon. He homesteaded 160 acres in Deer Lodge Valley, which he subsequently increased to 640 acres. Both he and his wife were born in Wales. Mrs. Wellcome is a graduate of Deer Lodge College, Deer Lodge, Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Wellcome have one son, George P., who was born October 21, 1910. Mr. Wellcome owns his beautiful modern residence, No. 700 Hickory Street, Anaconda. In addition to business interests already noted, Mr. Wellcome is president of the Anaconda Coal Company, of which H.H. Durston is vice president, and this firm does the largest coal business in Anaconda. As a staunch republican Mr. Wellcome has been somewhat active in party councils, believing good citizenship demands expression in the assumption of political responsibility. He has served four terms on the City Council and has also been school trustee and on many advisory committees. During the great war he was deeply and patriotically interested and was appointed by Governor Stewart a member of the Council of Defense. He was unremitting in his efforts to make the various war measures successful, and was careful and judicious as one of the trustees of the War Chest Fund. Fraternally he is identified with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, belonging to Anaconda Lodge No. 239, and is a member also of the Anaconda, the Anaconda Country and Rotary Clubs.