L. Q. SKELTON, cashier of the Bank of Boulder and mayor of that city, was born on a farm near the village of Augusta, Carroll county, Ohio, on September 21, 1863, and was the third child in a family of nine sons and daughters of Jason and Mary Skelton, poor but worthy and estimable people of that community, both of whom are now deceased.

L. Q., as he was always familiarly called, was educated in the village school, Damascus Academy, a Quaker institution, the University of Ohio at Athens, and the Northeastern Ohio Normal College, working at whatever he could find to do in vacation seasons to enable him to continue his studies as far as was practicable.  He taught school after leaving college, studying law in the meantime, and married Flora Manfull, of Augusta, Ohio, after which he moved to Montana and located at Boulder in 1890.  There he took charge of the city schools, such as they were at the time, and organized the high school, building up the entire system to a splendid state of efficiency, and continued in charge until he resigned in 1895 to assume a responsible position in the Bank of Boulder.  Since that time Mr. Skelton has held every position in the bank except that of president, and he is now cashier of the institution, a position which he has held for many years.  The Bank of Boulder is known to be one of the soundest and most stable banking institutions in the state of Montana, and does a business of half a million dollars.  It practically represents the life work of Mr. Skelton, of which he may be justly proud.

Mr. Skelton is a staunch Republican, and has always been prominent in the public affairs of his town and county, being mayor of Boulder at the present time.  He affiliates with the Episcopal church, in which he is bringing up his only child -- a daughter, Miss Mary Isabelle -- and is a Free Mason.  Aside from the latter, he has no other fraternal connections.

In his successful career, Mr. Skelton effectively illustrates the possibilities open to an energetic boy, be he ever so poor.  He has demonstrated that such a boy may come to be a scholar of wide learning -- a pleasing speaker -- a large, many-sided public man of high character and ample means.