Montana Homesteaders
62Montana 1908-1921
Little cowboys meaning of Christmas
Homesteaders 1908
My father, as a child, was part of the homesteaders that moved west to Montana, Coburg to be exact. The Family moved west after the tragic death of my great grandfather in his grist mill in Chelsea Michigan. My grandfather and his bother, their wives and children. They all moved to one of the most desolate and barren regions of the United States. The state of Montana. The two sons each purchased a section of land 120 acres for $600.00 that was a grant on a five year loan. If they made good on it they got to keep it, otherwise they lost it and moved away. I have some pictures that were taken at that time. They purchased it in 1917, moved back east in 1921. The dust bowl became too much for them, crops failed money was scarce, and some family members died,so they moved on. Life was hard,drought and illness plagued many families. Diptheria and typhoid took heavy tolls on the homesteaders. Lack of wood for the fire was a problem, but they burned dried cattle manure for heat. Snakes and jack rabbits were a main source of food along with prairie birds, chickens and the cattle they raised. Wheat was in demand and they grew what they could, but the prices they got were not enough to cover what went into it. Soon the homesteaders were packing up what they had and moved elsewhere.
If you have a similar story please email me or comment and I will gladly add it to my hub. These folks lived a hard life, loved thier families and had great faith in their futures. Even when all went bad, they new they could pick up the pieces and start again someplace else.
montana ranch
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Thank you, i do belive in this too
When I was young, not yesterday, we lived in State houses, The cheapest that could be built Very small.
Still most of grew up and life improved and I have no complaints.
Great hub
Did you know that patented land cannot be taken away or foreclosed on as a result of Any debt or tax. Of course,you won't find anyone willingto give you a loan seeing as they wouldn't be able to foreclose on your land or home as a result of a land patent.
According to records in family history, my father Donald Everett Banning
was born in Coburg, Montana in 1919.
My grandfather was also one of these intrepid homesteaders. He was a master carpenter who emigrated with his wife and children to Iowa from The Netherlands in 1907. Unable to find enough work to care for his family, he made the decision to take advantage of the land grants and move to Montana, even though he had never been a farmer. Their grant was 156 acres, and everything you state above is absolutely true -- it was a very desolate location, and nearly impossible to make enough to support a family. My Dad was born in Conrad, Montana, in 1916, and always told us stories about how terrible their lives were there. They lived out on the prairie, and their house was built of sod, and was a far cry from my grandmother's well built, cozy Dutch cottage! My Dad always said that he had nothing to play with except for a few buffalo chips rattling around in a tin can. By 1924, they'd apparently had all they could take, and sold the land for a small amount of cash and an old model T touring car with no top! The eight of them (my grandparents and their six kids) almost froze to death on the trip back to Iowa! I don't think my grandmother ever let my grandfather live this "adventure" down!
My grandparents were among the midwestern folks who moved to Montana as homesteaders. They married in Ryegate and lived in the "Painted Robe Coulee" near a community that no longer exists named Belmont. One set of my great grandparents are buried in the Belmont Cemetery. The depression and dust bowl drove my grandparents and their two children, the younger being my father who was born in Ryegate, back to La Crosse, Wisconsin. I'm looking for any info anyone has regarding the years of 1900 to about 1925 in the Ryegate, Lavina (Golden Valley County) area.
My Great Grandfather, Merton G. Brown, was another one of those Coburg homesteaders about 1907..He had 299 acres of rich prairie to share with his wife, and 2 sons. He was a horse rancher from Sandusky, Michigan..They lived in a sod hut, and my grandmother was also a Hartford Insurance person. My grandfather remembers bands of Indians riding through the property, and my great grandmother feeding them. In 1965, we visited Coburg..nothing really left there except a bank vault.
Calgary Stampede
- Montana Homesteaders 1903-1923
You can search families to see if they were one of the Homesteaders
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Zsuzsy Bee 4 years ago
Great HUB!
I always think that if there is such a thing as reincarnation, then this is the era I lived in before. It was a very harsh life but still so amazing.
I love your HUB
regards Zsuzsy