Anthony Shovlin
Silver Bow County
History of Montana, Sanders, 1913

At the time of his death, which occurred on the 9th of 
December 1911, Anthony Shovlin was the efficient and 
popular incumbent of the office of treasurer of Silver 
Bow County, and the fact that he was called upon to serve 
in this fiscal office stands in evidence of the confidence 
reposed in him by the people of the county.  He had 
maintained his home in the city of Butte for more than a 
quarter of a century and during the major part of this 
period he was actively identified with mining operations.  
He was a man who won for himself an appreciable success as 
a member of the world's noble army of productive workers 
and his strong personality and admirable traits of character 
gave to him secure vantage ground in the confidence and 
esteem of his fellow men.  His was a staunch heart and 
one that pulsed in sympathy with those upon whom the 
burden of life rested more heavily than in justice due.  
His was an alert mentality and he had fine powers of 
leadership in thought and action.  His was an integrity 
of purpose that never permitted any compromise for the 
sake of personal expediency, and all in all he was a 
true man and one who accounted well to the world in 
service to the fullest measure of his abilities and 
powers.  He has been in somewhat impaired health for 
several years before his life came to an end, and the 
immediate cause of his death was a stroke of paralysis.

A scion of the staunchest of Irish stock, Mr. Shovlin 
was proud to claim the old Emerald Isle as the place 
of his nativity.  He came to America when a young man 
to win for himself such success as lay within his powers 
of achievement and he was one of the honored and 
representative citizens of the Montana metropolis at 
the time of his demise.  He was born in County Donegal, 
Ireland on the 4th of March 1864 and was a son of Edward 
and Ellen (McNelis) Shovlin, both of whom still reside 
in that county.  The father, who is now an octogenarian, 
devoted his active career to agricultural pursuits and 
is now living retired in the enjoyment of the rewards of 
former years of toil and endeavor.  He came to America 
in 1880, his wife remaining in Ireland and here he 
remained for two years, at the expiration of which the 
lure of his native land proved sufficient to attract 
him again to its gracious borders.  Two sons and two 
daughters still reside in Ireland and the other surviving 
children are Mrs. Patrick O'Donnell of New York and Mrs. 
Patrick Craig, who maintains her home in Butte Montana.

Anthony Shovlin was reared to the sturdy discipline of the 
home farm and obtained his early education in the schools 
of his native country.  He remained in Ireland until he 
had attained to his legal majority, when in 1884, severed 
the home ties and came to the United States.  He soon 
made his way to Arizona where he remained about two years, 
and thereafter he was a resident of Nevada for a short 
period.  In 1887 he came to Montana and located in Butte 
which city continued to be his home until his death.