IKE EUGENE ODELL PACE, Sanders Volume III, Jefferson Co., MT USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Files may be printed or copied for personal use only. "List transcribed and organized by Ellen Rae Thiel, thieljl@aol.com All rights reserved." Copyright, 1998 by Ellen Rae Thiel. This file may be freely copied for non-profit purposes. All other rights reserved. IKE EUGENE ODELL PACE - pg 1672 From Volume III of Sanders History of Montana published in 1913 SURNAMES FOUND IN THIS BIOGRAPHY: ROBERTS; ODELL He is a young Montana attorney of no small ability. As a Democratic politician of the progressive school he is in much demand as a public speaker. His growing practice, however, precludes his giving much personal attention to the political game. He was born in Hamilton, Caldwell County, Missouri in 1873. When two years of age his parents with their four children moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, where the older children, two boys and a girl, immediately entered the public schools. The youngest son, Ike Eugene Odell, after completing his elementary education entered the department of liberal arts in the University of Nebraska. After completing this course the degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him. The following autumn he was admitted to the law school of the same university, from which he was graduated two years later. While in college Mr. Pace was one of Nebraska's star athletes, wearing an "N" through almost his entire university career. He was captain of the university football team in one of its record years. He was at one time also the captain and manager of the base ball nine. It was during his college days that he first became interested in military affairs. Brigadier General Pershing was in command of the military department of the university, and according to Mr. Pace and his comrades, few better soldiers ever honored a country with their services. It was largely through his influence that so many of the young men of the Nebraska University discontinued their studies and sacrificed their ambitions at the first call form Washington in 1898. During the Spanish American war, which followed, he was appointed drill master of the regiment of which Mr. William Jennings Bryan was colonel. At one time during his service, when the adjutant was ill of a fever, Mr. Pace was given charge of the adjutant's headquarters. It was in the evenings of these months when Mr. Bryan spent his leisure in Pace's tent that the warm friendship sprung up between them. This friendship has weathered all of the intervening years, and still remains as genuine as in 1898. Mr. Bryan resigned before the close of the struggle, and the regiment went to Cuba under General Vifquain, Mr. Pace remaining until it was finally mustered out, being at that time a lieutenant. Mr. pace doubtless inherited his taste for military affairs from his father, Lewis Clarke Pace, who was a distinguished colonel during the Civil war. Mr. Pace, Senior, was a West Virginia, having been born in that state in 1837. Following the desires of his parents, he graduated from a theological seminary and served as pastor of several Methodist parishes. In after years he engaged in the wholesale paper business in Lincoln, Nebraska. During the war of the Rebellion he was colonel of the Thirteenth Missouri Cavalry. In the battle of Shiloh he was severely wounded and finally captured. Once, later on in the war, he was captured, but released when an exchange of prisoners was effected. After locating in Lincoln, Nebraska, he became much interested in politics, being an enthusiastic silver Republican. It was Mr. pace who made the speech which seconded the nomination of William J. Bryan for president in the convention of Silver Republicans held at St. Louis in 1900. He is still active in the political affairs of both Nebraska and Montana, being much in demand as a public speaker. Although he has never changed his legal residence from Lincoln, his business interests are largely in Montana. Each summer he spends in the latter state on business connected with the Pace Woods Improvement Company, of which he is one of the originators. He is almost as well known throughout Montana as is Lincoln. His wife, who before her marriage was Vashti Jane Odell, was born in Evansville, Indiana, in 1844. Her parents moved to Carmi, Illinois, when she was yet a child, and it was there that she met her future husband. She is domestic in her tastes and devoted to her Lincoln home. It is perhaps her loyalty that has held Mr. Pace a resident of Nebraska. They are the parents of three sons and one daughter, of whom Ike Eugene Odell is the youngest of the family. After his return from Cuba young Mr. Pace began the practice of his profession. So soon as this was well established he turned his attention to the yet more important affairs of life. On the twenty fourth day of September, 1902, he was joined in marriage to Miss Flora Roberts, a girl prominent in Lincoln, the daughter of Mr. Isabel Roberts. The father died during the infancy of his daughter. Mrs. Roberts, however, being competent and efficient, was able t educate the family through her own efforts. She now resides in Chicago. Ever since their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Pace have been counted among the popular residents of Whitehall, Mr. Pace having practiced here for two years before bringing his bride to the west. Although a good lawyer and, like his father, a ready speaker, he has many outside interests. Since his boyhood he has shown great business acumen, his first money was earned in Lincoln, when at the age of seven he started raising chickens for the local market. At the present time there is not in the entire valley a man so well informed as to the land condition and values. It is perhaps, largely owing to his training in the athletic sports and his soldier life in the open that Mr. Pace still finds ranch development was attractive as the routine work of the law office. Thought known to the one of the most able attorneys of Montana, he also holds the record of having developed more ranches than any other one man in this section of the country, having brought under cultivation some twenty large tracts of land. He has never lost his fondness for out door sports, time and the grind of the law alone preventing his still taking some part in them. His interest in politics is active, but he might almost be called an independent in his views. He, however, affiliates with the Democratic party. He was the prime mover in the organization of the Jefferson County Fair at Whitehall, which held its first exhibition in 1912. He became the first manager of the organization. Although not excessively orthodox, he has never completely severed his relation with the Methodist church, to which his father and his grandfather were so devoted. He is a member of the Ancient Free an Accepted Order of Masons, but aside from this is a member of no other secret order, his extensive law practice consuming many of his evenings as well as his days. Mr. and Mrs. Pace are active in the social as well as the commercial life of Whitehall. They have recently completed one of the most attractive residences of the city, where with their young son, Clarke Roberts Pace, aged eight, they are at home to their friends.