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Biography and Family History of our Father Robert B Montgomery and our Mother Sarah Ann (Powell) Montgomery
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1937
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Robert B Montgomery?s grandfather?s name was William Montgomery, born about 1795 in a small town near Belfast, Ireland. His wife was of Irish extraction. Their family consisted of John, born in 1818; Joseph, born in 1820; Samuel, born in 1822; William, born in 1826; and Eliza, born in 1830. The family were linen weavers. They grew the flax, prepared it by soaking it in water, or retting it. After drying it was combed to remove the tow. The long fibers were then straightened by hand and it was then spun into thread on spinning wheels and then woven into the cloth. They brought their linen products to the linen markets in Belfast by dog cart or donkey cart. If no dog or donkeys were available then the Irish children or the young men and women substituted for these draft animals.
In 1834 the family immigrated to Canada, taking six weeks to make the voyage on a sailing vessel. They landed at Montreal and took another six weeks to make the trip up the St Lawrence River, by river boat, to Prescott in Granville County where they bought land and made their permanent home.
Samuel Montgomery, the third oldest son of William, was Robert B Montgomery?s father. He was married to Jane Frazer on April 9th, 1845. She was of Scottish descent. With her passing that branch of the Frazer family was then extinct. She had two brothers, John and Tom, and one sister named Lily. The Samuel Montgomery family consisted of two boys, James, born April 14, 1848 and Robert Boyd, our father, born November 1, 1852, and one sister, Mary Elizabeth (Aunt Sis) born November 19, 1854. Their home was in Edwardsburgh Township about five miles west of Prescott Ontario and about four miles from the Windmill Battlefield. Father?s father and his brother William both took part in this battle. Prescott Ontario was the scene of a later uprising, the Fenien Rebellion, which was caused by an unsuccessful attempt of the dregs of the American Civil War Veterans to take a part of Canada to establish an independent country of their own.
In 1862 Samuel Montgomery died. His son Robert Boyd was then ten years old. One and one half years after Samuel Montgomery?s death his wife passed away, and Lillian Fraser, Robert B?s maiden aunt, came to make a home for the three orphans. Three years later James Montgomery, Robert?s older brother, went to live with Uncle Tom Montgomery who owned a general merchandise store at Napinee, Ontario. In 1872 Aunt Lilly passed away leaving Robert B and Eliza to take charge of the farm and to care for themselves. At the age of seventeen Robert B secured work as a deckhand on the ?America?, a steam tugboat plying the St Lawrence River. He continued at this work for a period of one and a half years. He left the old farm at midnight with all his earthly belongings packed in a grain sack, walked five miles to take a train at four o?clock in the morning to go to Montreal where he was to start work on a tugboat. He arrived at daylight on the morning of the third day and was put to work at once, without rest. His pay was $13 per month, most of which he had to send home to help keep the farm going. When his year and a half?s work was over he had $7.00 left. He spent $5.00 of this amount for a pea-jacket, leaving him $2.00 to get thru the winter on. The following spring Robert B secured work on a surveying party. This work was for the Dominion government and consisted of mapping all islands and the high and low water levels on either side of the St Lawrence River. This work could be done only when the river was free from ice. This work lasted for over two years. His salary for this work was $40.00 per month, not found.
In 1876 Robert B attended the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia. The same year he went to Western Ontario to visit his Uncle Tom Montgomery, for whom his brother worked in his general store. James later secured a position in The T Eaton Department Store in Toronto. He held this position until his death in 1910.
In the winter of 1876 Robert B went to the George Greer farm near Hoelick, in Huron County, Ontario. He operated this farm on half and half basis until the following Christmas when he was married to Sarah Ann Powell.
The Powell side of Sarah Ann?s family came from Wales. John Powell, the 1st, was born in Wales, coming to Somersetshire when a young man. He married Elizabeth Phelps of Porlock, Somersetshire, England, who came from a wealthy family, and owned considerable land in this vicinity. They continued to make their home in Porlock. They had four children: Thomas, Betsy Mogridge, Mary Nichols, and John Powell the 2nd, who was Sarah Ann?s Grandfather. John Powell the 2nd married Sarah Tidball of Porlock. Her father, Gregory Tidball, was a very well-to-do merchant. John Powell the 2nd and Sarah Tidball had seven children: John the 3rd, Thomas, Ann Howe, Abraham, James, who was Mother?s father, Robert and Priscilla. James Powell, born July 14th 1827, was married to Elizabeth Kingdon, born January 9th 1827, in 1840. James Powell was a blacksmith by trade. They immigrated to Canada in 1852, coming to Exeter, Ontario, where they made their home on a farm in that vicinity. They had five children: George Kingdon, born March 13, 1853, Sarah Ann, born April 2, 1854, Betty Lock, born February 11, 1856, Gregory John, born October 29, 1857, and Ann Mary, born June 17, 1860. John Powell and Thomas Powell came to Canada at the same time their brother James and his wife did.
Sarah Ann?s mother, Elizabeth Kingdon, was born January 9, 1827, in England. George Kingdon, her father, was born in Devonshire in 1804. He was a cattle buyer and immigrated to Canada in 1851, coming to Exeter, Huron County, Ontario. He died in 1877. Betty Lock, his wife, was born in 1801 and came to Canada with James Powell and her daughter, Elizabeth Powell, in 1852 to join her husband George Kingdon who had emigrated to Canada a year earlier. She died in 1874.
Sarah Ann?s mother, Elizabeth Powell, passed away when Sarah Ann was ten years old. Her father, James Powell, kept up the home for three of his children. His oldest son George left the family home to live with his Grandfather Kingdon. His second oldest daughter, Betty Locke, made her home with her Uncle Tom Powell.
When Sarah Ann was about twelve years old she was sent to a neighbors on an errand. While there she was asked to go to a cistern which was partly under the house to get a basin of water. It was necessary for her, in order to reach the water, to lie flat on the ground, and while reaching down for the water she slipped head first into the cistern through the small opening in the top. She managed to keep afloat until her call for help brought nearby neighbors who quickly rescued her. Sarah Ann said she was none the worse for this experience except that she was very wet and badly frightened. This accident, as well it might, made a lasting impression upon her.
Sarah Ann was educated in the public schools of Ontario. At the age of eighteen she secured her first position as a teacher in the Exeter, Ontario, grade schools. Her starting salary was $150.00 per year. Her board and room cost her $50.00 for the same period. She continued this work until December 25th, when she was married to Robert B Montgomery of Prescott Ontario.
On Christmas Day 1877 Robert B and Sarah Ann were married in Gorie Ontario at the home of Mrs Rogers who was a very good friend of Sarah Ann?s. They then rented a farm near Turnbury, Ontario, where they made their home for about two years. On June 5th 1879 their first child, a son, Ernest Robert, was born. In the fall of this year they moved to a farm near Godrich, Ontario, on the east shore of Lake Huron. This land was rented from Mr George Greer, who owned the land Robert B had rented shortly after being married. In the fall of 1880 they sold their farm equipment and moved to the city of Godrich where Robert B had secured employment in a lumber mill.
In the spring of 1880 Robert B and Sarah Ann left Godrich for the Dakota Territory which was later to become the states of North and South Dakota. It took them over a week to make this trip to Fargo on an emigrant train made up of stock cars, box cars and passenger coaches. They were accompanied by Sam, George, Will and Joe Montgomery, sons of William Montgomery. They arrived in Fargo on March 16th, 1881. Robert B and Sarah Ann stayed in Fargo two days. They then went on to the farm of Henry Heath, near Hunter. The Heaths were friends and neighbors from Canada who had previously insisted on their making their home with them until Robert B had located the land he wanted to homestead. They remained at the Heath farm until about the middle of April when Robert B went to Grand Forks where he met a party who were going ?land hunting?. This party was made up of Robert B, George, Sam, Will and Joe Montgomery, John Hancock, Peter Matheson and Orlando Currie. The first day out of Grand Forks thy made just five miles by ox team as none of these hardy pioneers were experienced handlers of oxen. On the second day they made about the same distance and got as far as the present site of Ojata, about ten miles west of Grand Forks. Here thy met another party of land-hunters who were going to about the same part of Grand Forks County. This group consisted of Will Mooney, James Hatt and Abram Taylor. They journeyed in a north-westerly course and took five days to reach the Forest River, a place about two miles north of the present town of Inkster. The prairie had been burned off the previous autumn and was completely black, leaving no landmarks of any kind to guide these pioneers. Robert B and John Hancock left the rest of the original party at the Forest River, near the Mathie Store, and started south again to look at some land they had seen on their way north. A bad snow storm overtook them, and they became hopelessly lost and wandered until darkness overtook them and they had to spend the night along the coulee, about midway between where Inkster and Orr now are located.
Robert B filed on the S/E quarter of section 30. John Hancock filed on the S/W quarter of the same section. These two quarters joined each other so that one shanty could be placed on both homesteads thus saving the construction of two houses. Will, Joe, George and Sam Montgomery all filed on land within a mile of Robert B?s homestead. The lumber for their first pioneer shanty had to be hauled from Ojata, which was as far west as the Great Northern Railroad had been built at that time, which was about forty miles from their homesteads. This lumber had to be hauled by ox team as this was the most common form of transportation at this time. It took them six days to make the round trip. At this time there were no established roads, no culverts or bridges, and when they arrived at the Turtle Rivers with the lumber for their shanties they found both crossings at flood stage. The lumber had to be unloaded and made into a raft and floated across. The wagons were then taken apart, floated across to the other side on an improvised raft and there assembled again and the lumber all reloaded. Tt the first river crossing the raft which was conveying the wagons over the river sank in about six feet of mud and water. It took them nearly two days to make this one crossing. They worked in wet clothes for four days. Their greatest difficulty seemed to be that they knew nothing about the handling of oxen or how to get them to do just one thing that was wanted of them. These animals seemed to realize that these men did not know how to make them work and took every advantage of these inexperienced drivers.
After the shanty was built Robert B returned to the Heath farm where he secured work as a carpenter on a schoolhouse which was being built in that neighbourhood. From this work Robert B received enough money to bring his family on to their homestead and to pay the freight charges on their household goods that were being held in Grand Forks for transportation charges. They then returned to their homestead about June 15, 1881. They hired John Means to break twenty acres of land for them but put in no crop that year as the virgin soil had to be left as summer fallow a full year before being put into crop. No garden was planted that year either.
The household goods they brought from Canada consisted of a small kitchen stove, one large and two small packing boxes containing clothing, bedding, kitchen utensils and dishes. The large packing box was used for some time as a kitchen table, and the smaller boxes as chairs. The shanty had two built-in beds, or bunks, one on each ¼ section of land for each homesteader. After getting things arranged on the homestead Robert B returned to Grand Forks to secure work. His first job was a hod carrier on a brick building on South Third Street. While in Grand Forks Robert B met Frank Drew who offered him employment on his farm three miles east of Ardock. This farm was of considerable size and more improved than the average farm in this territory at this time and was well stocked with cattle and horses. Robert B found it quite a relief to have horses to work with after his somewhat unsatisfactory experience with trying to coax some co-operation out of oxen. He moved his family to the Drew farm in August and remained there until late in November when they moved to Grand Forks where Robert B had charge of a hay and grain store belonging to Mr Drew. While living in Grand Forks they made their home in three rooms over a saloon. They remained there until the spring of 1882. On December 23 1881 their second son, Ure James, was born. In the spring when some of their homesteader neighbors and relatives returned to the Dakota Territory, after spending the winter in Eastern Canada, hotel accommodations could not be found just at that time, so Sarah Ann and Robert B took in all who came to them looking for a place to stay. In all they took in seventeen travellers and all at one time, besides their own family of four along with three roomers and boarders. This was the spirit of hospitality that marked the pioneer. These had to stay nearly two weeks before they could get accommodations or get to their homesteads again. About the 15th of April Sarah Ann and Robert B returned to their homestead to plant their first crop of twenty acres which had been broken the year before. Two years after coming to their homestead they produced their first vegetables which were rhubarb and potatoes. The only garden tool available for this pioneer garden was a short handled fire shovel. Sarah Ann planted the potatoes, cultivated and dug them with the same fire shovel as her only garden tool.
During the summer of this year, 1882, after the crop was planted and some repairs made on the homestead house, Robert B walked to Grand Forks to secure work. He remained there three months, returning to the homestead on foot, bringing his wife Sarah Ann a two pound pail of butter and five pounds of green apples, the first of these luxuries she had enjoyed since leaving Canada.
During the spring of this year George Herd, a cousin of Sarah Ann?s from Canada, came to the Dakota Territory and bought a yoke of oxen intending to do breaking and such other jobs of hauling as might be secured. He stayed until the following fall when he got homesick, sold his team of oxen to Robert B for $250.00, and returned to Canada. This same fall Robert B broke and backset thirty acres of his homestead. He also broke twenty acres for Harry Richards, a neighbour who had bought the John Hancock homestead. This same fall Robert B built a sod barn for his newly acquired yoke of oxen and sodded up the sides of their house. This year their first crop of wheat was very good, and in order to protect it from rain and in order to protect the crop from the elements, he stacked the entire crop. Due to lack of experience, the sheaves were stacked with the heads of each sheave lower than the butts. Consequently, when the rains came the water ran into the center of the stacks, and, as a result, the grain heated and the entire crop was lost. The following winter was the first Robert B and Sarah Ann had spent on their homestead. They secured their winter?s fuel by hauling and cutting wood on shares from the Forest River about five miles north of their homestead. During this winter while Robert B was hauling wood he became hopelessly lost on the prairie and had to spend the night in a haystack, near where the present town of Inkster is now located.
February 9th, 1884, their third child was born, a daughter Blanch Wilmot. She was born in the sod house on the homestead and without the assistance of a doctor. A Mrs Peter Matheson was with Sarah Ann at this time. The following spring Robert B put into crop all the land he had broken at this time to wheat. This grain was saved from the previous year?s stacked grain which had heated, and, of course, would not germinate. None of the wheat sprouted or matured, so their second crop was a total failure also. Those who planted good seed that year had a very good crop.
During the summer Robert B found a stray pig on the prairie while on his way to Larimore. This was their first pig. By this time they had acquired a second yoke of oxen and had an additional twenty five acres of land broken, backset, and ready for a crop in the following spring. Sometime during the fall of this year one yoke of oxen was sold and a team of mules was purchased in their place. The team of mules was secured from John Lyons of the Orr vicinity. The price was $350.00 and M Lyons took a mortgage for this amount. This mortgage was satisfied the following fall. They named the mules Jennie and Carrie, and they remained the property of the Montgomerys for nearly twenty years. Shortly after this they bought their first cow for $50.00 from a Mr Sheets of Larimore and had had the use of her for only about six months when she died without producing a calf.
The year 1885 produced a better than average grain crop, although some localities suffered from early frosts in the fall. The grain in these areas was of an inferior quality and did not demand the best price. Robert B?s nearest grain market was Ardock, about twenty miles north east of the homestead. Their nearest trading points were Larimore, Ardock and Minto. On September 1st of this year, 1885, their fourth child, a daughter Ethel Frazer, was born. This baby came into the world without the assistance of a doctor and again Mrs Peter Matheson attended Sarah Ann during the birth. That fall Sarah Ann and Robert B attended their first dancing party which was held in a grainery on the A L Taylor farm. Their means of transportation to this social event was stonecoat (no idea what this word means and it could be stone goat or stoneboat) and a yoke of oxen. Sarah Ann and John Orr, a homesteader from the Orr vicinity, led the grand march. The music was furnished by Dr O B Lundy playing the fiddle and a Mr Russel chording on a parlor organ. This grainery, where the dance was held, is still standing (1937). Sometime during this same summer a raspberry festival was held in the same grainery as a benefit to raise funds to buy a library for the Sunday school which was being held in Number 52 school district school house. At this time the wild raspberries grew in great profusion along the Forest River and the coulees near the Montgomery homestead.
When the Number 52 School District built their school building in 1883 three miles south and one half mile east of Inkster, Robert B and Mr James Hatt were the school officers and were in charge of the building. Bonds were issued and sold to secure the necessary funds with which to erect the building and to provide the necessary furniture. This money was turned over to Robert B who bought the complete bill of material at Larimore and had hauled it to the building site. A few nights after this a prairie fire started and headed directly for the piled lumber. Robert B was awakened shortly after the fire had started and ran for help to the Hatt farm two miles away but in the direction of the building material. When Robert B first saw the fire it seemed, to him, that there was no possible way to save the building material, but they did arrive there ahead of the fire and succeeded in building a firebreak thus saving the complete bill of material. Robert B worked about three months on the construction of the school building doing carpenter work and all the exterior and interior painting. The school district was bonded for $800.00 which was the cost of the building site, building and furnishings. All eight children of the R B Montgomery family received their common school education in this building.
About this time the Presbyterian Church was organized. The first church services were held in the Charles Gordon general store. Reverend McGregor was the first minister and continued until the present Presbyterian Church building was erected about 1886. Robert B, T W Kernegan and Hugh McTavish were the first officers. Sarah Ann and Robert B were charter members of this church. During the year 1886 Robert B rented thirty acres of land from a neighbour, Joseph Taylor. This additional acreage gave them 130 acres of land in crop at this time. Wheat yielded about thirty bushels per acre, and the price was about 75 cents per bushel, which was about the average price during this period of years. By this time the Great Northern Railroad had built a branch line north from its main line at Larimore as far north as Park River, a distance of about thirty five miles. This branch line passed within one and one half miles west of the Montgomery homestead. When the first train came thru on the new railroad, Robert B took his family of six and their neighbour Mrs Peter Matheson in their wagon and mule team to the coulee bridge west of the homestead to see the first train to officially pass over the new railroad. These early locomotives used wood for fuel and were a constant threat to the early settlers as the locomotives constantly belched out a stream of sparks which started a great many prairie fires.
In the fall of 1887 the Montgomerys acquired their first hard coal heating stove from Joe Montgomery who, after ordering it, decided to spend the winter in Canada. At this time a hard-coal heater was considered the very best known means of providing heat during the long severe Dakota winters.
On the 24th of May 1888 their fifth child, a daughter Martha Edna, was born. She was named after Aunt Mattie, Uncle George Powell?s wife.
During these years Robert B continued to break and back-set twelve to fifteen acres of sod every year until by now most of the homestead?s one hundred and sixty acres were under cultivation. They now owned four or five cows, several pigs, and a good sized flock of chickens. About this time their oldest daughter, Blanch, fell and bit her tongue which bled badly for nearly a day. Mrs Gordon, the wife of the storekeeper, sent her a bag of apples which was the only thing she would eat for nearly a week. On January 11th 1890 their sixth child, a son Warren Powell, was born. This same year Robert B bought the Peter Matheson homestead and moved his family to this new farm as it had a larger and better house on it. During this summer he also secured several jobs of painting farm homes and buildings in the Inkster and surrounding farming communities. Up to this time their only means of travel was by horses and wagon, but by now they had acquired a two seated buggy known as a ?Democrat?, just a glorified buckboard but which was considered to be as good as the average means of transportation for these years.
The year 1891 this farming community produced an extra heavy wheat crop. Some of the Montgomery homestead yielded as much as thirty bushels per acre for which they were paid 75 cents per bushel. Up to this year most of the farming had been with a yoke of oxen and a team of mules.
On March 14th 1892 their seventh child, a daughter Ella Elizabeth, was born. Dr Lundy of Inkster attended Sarah Ann during this birth. A neighbour, Mrs Parks, whose land adjoined the Montgomery homestead on the northwest, stayed with Sarah Ann for a few days.
For the next few years or so the activities of our family were pretty much of a routine nature. The farming continued with a reasonable amount of success, average crops and prices prevailing.
On November 19th 1894 their eighth child, Olive Manson, was born. Dr Lundy and Mrs Sparks attended Mother during this birth.
By the year 1896 W J Glass had bought the George Montgomery and Joe Montgomery homesteads and had built an eight room house and large barn on the George Montgomery homestead, on the section line across from the Robert B original homestead. In the late fall of this year Mr Glass?s brother in law, B F Hallenback, came to live on the Glass farm. During part of this winter Robert B was in Grand Forks on jury duty. At this time he also secured his final citizenship papers. During this time Ernest and Ure took care of the livestock and looked after the family while Robert B was away. This was the ?winter of the big snow?. Barns, granaries, and the low houses and farm buildings were completely covered, there being from twelve to fifteen feet of snow on the level prairie. The wood pile on the Montgomery farm was located some one hundred feet south of the house and was covered with about six feet of snow. A tunnel was dug to the wood pile, and a room large enough to saw and split wood in was excavated under the snow. As a result of this excessive snow the runoff water in the following spring proved to be somewhat destructive; road, bridges, culverts and some lands were washed away. A great many low places on the farm land were filled with water and could not be put into crop in time for it to mature. This excessive amount of moisture did nothing to aid in producing an extra heavy crop of grain during the normal growing season of 1897 which was only about average. The summer was excessively hot and the winter very mild with little or no snow.
In the late spring of 1896 father was elected as a delegate from the Pembina Presbytery to the General Presbyterian Assembly held at Saratoga, New York. After this assembly was over he visited Uncle Gregg Powell who was a Congregational minister at Saville, Long Island. On this same trip he also visited his old home in Canada but due to the seasonal farm work at home this visit was of short duration. But in the fall of 1897 he did return to Prescott, Ontario, and spent most of the winter there, returning to North Dakota in the spring of 1898.
1898 was the year of the Spanish American War. The effects of this conflict, however, were not very far reaching as it had little or no influence on the demand for farm products, and prices remained at about the same level as during the previous three years. On July 12th of this year Father and Mother and their youngest daughter, Olive, took their first trip together since leaving Canada. They went by train to Hannah, North Dakota, where they were met by Mr and Mrs John Gemmel of Pilot Mound, Manitoba. Mrs Gemmel was Sarah Ann?s sister Betty. The Gemmels farmed some thirty miles Northwest of Hannah. This visit lasted for about ten days.
In the early summer of 1900 Robert B and Sarah Ann and Olive took their second trip together going to Fargo, North Dakota, where Uncle Gregg Powell and his family were living at this time. Uncle Gregg was Superintendent of Missions for North Dakota for the Congregational Church. In making this trip they drove a team of black driving horses named Victor and Nancy on the old Democrat. The first day they drove to Blanchard, stayed there all night and drove on into Fargo the next day, a total of 125 miles. About this time their oldest son Ernest went to Gilby, North Dakota, to work in a hardware store for Mr Henry Reiton. A year later he left Gilby to go to Westhope, North Dakota, to take up a homestead which he proved up on and later sold.
About this time Ure and Blanch graduated from high school at Inkster. This was the first graduating class from this high school. Professor Cook was the superintendent of schools at this time. The graduating class consisted of six members.
The following summer, 1902, Ure went to Fort Buford, North Dakota, to take land but found none to his liking but did secure work in a general store and worked there nearly a year. He then returned home and secured a position in a general store at Orr for Larson and Engh.
Shortly after this time, 1903, Blanche Montgomery was married to George J. Stoffel who was born January 25th 1878 and was employed as a grain buyer at Orr. They have made their home at Orr ever since. They had five children,
Beth Elizabeth born 1 December, 1904, Othmer George born May 17, 1905, Robert Edwin born March 21, 1910, Helen Marion, born March 25, 1917 Carol Blanche born April 20, 1919.
In June 1904 Ernest was married to Anna Belle Walker born Aug 14, 1879 at Grand Forks. They went to the St Louis Exposition on their honeymoon. They had five children
Ruth Ethlyn 27 Nov 1905
Robert Byron 27 March 1910
Edgar Vaughn 21 Oct 1913
Jean Eleanor 25 Jan 1917
John Walker 27 Dec 1918
In the spring of 1904 the Powell family held a reunion at the Montgomery home. On the farm Sarah Ann, Aunt Betty, Aunt Annie, Uncle George and Uncle Gregg were together for nearly two weeks. The members of the Powell and Montgomery clan greatly enjoyed this reunion.
In the spring of 1905 Robert B sold his homestead and the Matheson quarter to W J Glass. The livestock and farming equipment were sold at public auction. The family then moved to Inkster where Father had bought a fine ten room house. He had secured a position as grain buyer in an Inkster grain elevator. He held this position until 1922 when he resigned. This same year that Father, Mother and family left the farm Robert B went to the Canadian Northwest and bought a half section of land southwest of Calgary and held it for about five years then traded it to George Ruttle for a house in Inkster. The Montgomery family continued to live in the ?big? house until the spring of 1908 when it was sole. They moved to a smaller house owned by Mrs J P Hammond where they lived for about a year.
On November 21, 1907, Ethel was married to Earl A Nelson of Orr who was born at Sheffield, Illinois, 13 March 1878. They made their home in Spokane, Washington for a few years after being married. They had three children
Robert Keith 12 Oct 1908
Ethel Rhea 10 June 1912
Josiah Earl 25 April 1920
In the summer of 1909 Robert B and Sarah Ann attended the Lewis and Clark Exposition in Seattle. They visited Ethel and Earl in Spokane on the trip home. Mrs J P Hammond, in whose house the Montgomery family were living, stayed with the members of the family who were at home during the summer. Father and Mother were gone nearly three months on this trip to the West Coast.
The following spring, 1910, the George Ruttle house was remodelled, enlarged and refinished into a very comfortable clean home. Late in the summer of this year the family moved into this house, and it has been the family home ever since. It was here that Robert B passed away.
From the time Robert B and Sarah Ann first came to Dakota they each took an active interest in every project that was for the upbuilding and good of the community. They helped organize the first township, the first school, the first church, and in 1910 Sarah Ann was instrumental in the organization of the Parent Teacher Association in Inkster. This was the first PTA unit in the state of North Dakota.
We were greatly impressed with something Father and Mother told us while we were discussing their pioneer experiences. They both said that they never once had regretted leaving Canada to come to Dakota Territory to take a homestead and endure the many privations and hardships that they experienced before they could enjoy a feeling of security and plenty. They said they were neither ever homesick nor did they ever have a feeling that they would like to return to their former way of life in Ontario. This was the true spirit of the pioneers but seems to be decreasing in each succeeding generation. We seem to lack the fortitude and courage of the early settlers.
On December 4, 1912, Ure was married to Margaret Lynch who made her home in Larimore. She had two children by a previous marriage. Ure and Margaret had no children.
In the spring of 1914 Warren went to Ballantine Montana to take up land. Uncle Gregg Powell was living at Billings, Montana, at this time and owned some irrigated and dry land near Ballantine. The following summer Martha went to Ballantine where she operated a millinery store and a dressmaking shop. It was while she was here at Ballantine that she met Arthur R McGinniss of Fort Collins, Colorado, who was employed as a civil engineer. Arthur was born 23 March 1884 at Harlan, Iowa. Martha and Arthur were married at Inkster 12 April 1916 and returned to Ballantine where they made their home until the fall of 1926 when they moved to California. They have made their home on the west coast since that time (Sacramento, California). They have three children
Dorothy Margaret born 23 February 1917
Olive Lea born 6 April 1918
Bryce Arthur born 4 July 1926.
On November 19, 1914, Ella was married to Harold Ferris of Orr. They have made their home in the Orr vicinity ever since they were married. They have two children
Garth Hammond born 22 January 1915
Jane Elizabeth born 28 July 1917
The year 1917 brought the United States into the World War. Warren enlisted in the US Navy 31 May 1917 and served for a period of three and one half years. During the summer of 1918 Sarah Ann came to California to visit Ethel and Earl who were making their home at Williams. Warren visited at Ethel?s while Sarah Ann was there. Williams, California, is situated in the North Sacramento Valley. During the time of year while Sarah Ann was there the weather was unbearably hot, and during the very hottest days she was taken with an attack of quinsy and was in bed for nearly two weeks. After she recovered from this sickness she and Ethel and Ethel?s two children, Keith and Rhea, came to live in Berkeley, California for about a month of six weeks. Warren was stationed at Mare Island Navy Yards and could come home every evening and on weekends.
On 9 March 1920 Olive Manson was married to McLain Cooper. They had three children
Marjorie Stevens born 12 December 1920
James Douglas born 26 January 1924
Olive Marion born 31 December 1926
In October of 1922 Robert B resigned his position as grain buyer in the Inkster Elevator. He and Sarah Ann went to Alhambra, California, where Ethel and Earl Nelson were making their home. Warren was also making his home with them at this time. Robert B and Sarah Ann remained in Alhambra from November 1922 until July of 1923 when they returned to Inkster. Robert B then took over the operation of the Cities Service Station at Inkster and continued to operate this business until he passed away.
About 1923 Ure?s health began to fail. He consulted with several physicians about his condition, but they could do nothing to help him. Finally he went to Rochester Minnesota where he went through the Mayo Brothers Clinic only to find there was nothing that could be done for him. He came home to Inkster and spent about six weeks with his parents and then returned to his home at Orr where he passed away in August 1925. The following October Warren returned from California to spend a month with his parents and family. During this visit Sarah Ann, Ella, Blanch and Warren drove to Pilot Mound to visit Aunt Betty Gemmil who still lived there. Shortly before this time Sarah Ann had gone to Mandan to visit Olive, and while there she had her hair ?bobbed?. This was considered quite a rash step for a matron of her standing and years, but the haircut suited Sarah Ann and she wore here hair cut this way from then on, and it was very becoming to her.
In June of 1928 Robert B and Sarah Ann celebrated their Golden Wedding. The exact date should have been Christmas Day the previous year but was postponed due to the fact that their three children who were making their home in California could not make the trip home by car at that time of year. This Golden Wedding celebration was held in the Orr Hall at Orr. Over a hundred of their old friends and relatives gathered to pay their respects in honor of their fifty years of happy and useful married life. Martha, her son Bryce, Ethel and Warren came by car from California to be present. Lucy B Church of Toronto and many friends of the family came for the celebration. Robert B and Sarah Ann had asked that no gifts be given them, but in spite of this request they received many very fine gifts.
Robert B continued his work at the oil station. During the summers it was necessary for him to put in rather long days, but the work was not hard or heavy, and he could feel that he was doing something useful as well as providing a very good living for him and Sarah Ann. He had always enjoyed reading, and his work gave him some time for this, his favourite pastime. We have often thought that Father?s great desire to read in his later years was due largely to his lack of time and opportunity for reading in his younger days.
In the summer of 1931 Ethel, Martha and Warren returned from California to visit for a month or so with their parents. This was considered quite a distance to drive for so short a visit, but to those who made the trip they were well repaid for their effort by being with their parents for even this short time.
The year 1929 was the beginning of the so called business depression. Many banks were forced to close; prices dropped to never before heard of levels. Number 1 hard wheat sold for as low as thirty cents per bushel; pork and beef sold for as low as three cents per pound ? live weight. The year 1933 brought one of the most severe droughts in the history of North Dakota. A great many farmers could not secure enough feed to keep their horses and cattle thru the winter, and it became necessary for the Federal Government to take this stock from the farmers at a price of from five to twenty dollars per head, depending on the condition of the animals. Water became scarce and for a period of five or six years the water level dropped so low that very few wells were left with any water in them. Through all these failures and reverses our parents never lost faith in North Dakota and very seldom complained of the weather, business conditions, sickness or hardships. They were always ready to start out a new day with high hope and new courage that tomorrow would be a better day than the day that had just passed. They could go to sleep each night with the assurance that they had given of their best for that day and would continue to do the same for the next day. They were well repaid for their sound day to day philosophy. While they never attempted to accumulate any great wealth, they were always well provided for and able to have all they needed. They had a wealth of friends and the respect and best wishes of everyone. We are sure thy preferred their friends and honor in preference to wealth and position.
In the spring of 1932 Warren returned from California to make his home with his parents. Robert B continued to spend most of his time at the oil station, and he and Sarah Ann continued to enjoy good health and contentment, and both were still quite active.
In the fall of 1935 Ethel returned from California for a visit at home with Robert B and Sarah Ann. Ethel?s visit meant a great deal to them. The winter of 1935-36 was the most severe winter since weather reports were kept in the state. For seventy one days in succession five below zero was as warm as it got. Most of this period the thermometer stood at around twenty five below zero, and at several times it dropped to as low as forty five below zero. The highways were blocked from January 1st to April 1st. About two feet of snow covered the level ground, and the high winds that seemed to be blowing most of the seventy one days added to the disagreeableness of the weather.
During the latter part of this winter r (?35-?36) Robert B?s eyesight began to fail, and he felt that he was quite a care for Sarah Ann. Many times he remarked to her that he wished he could go and that his earthly days might soon end. Sometime about the twentieth of March, on a Sunday afternoon that was somewhat warmer than most of the winter days had been, he asked Sarah Ann if she would go with him to help him walk around the house, said he wanted to see it from the outside. As they walked around they came to the old wooden pump. He stopped and said he wanted to touch the pump handle ?just once more?. On the morning of 2 April 1936 Robert B was taken sick and felt poorly all day. That evening about seven thirty PM the State Highway Department succeeded in getting the highway open to Inkster. Dr Haugen of Larimore had been called, and he followed the snowplow to Inkster to attend Robert B. He advised that a nurse be secured to care for him. Ann Sauvie, who had lived next door to Robert B and Sarah Ann for several years, came that evening. Robert B spent a very comfortable night, but by the next noon we realized that he was sinking, and by two thirty pm Robert B had gotten his wish, his earthly days had come to an end. He passed into the great beyond just as he had lived ?with high courage and fortitude? so typical of the pioneers. (He was 83 years old.)
In June 1936 Martha returned from California to spend six weeks with our mother. While Martha was visiting at home and during the early days of July the hottest two weeks on record had to be endured. This extreme heat was almost unbearable. What grain had survived earlier dry weather and extreme heat was now completely ruined, climaxing the sixth successive general crop failure. Martha?s visit meant so much to Sarah Ann, and it meant just as much to Martha.
After Robert B?s passing away Sarah Ann carried on just as he would have wanted her to. Sarah Ann has, for several years, kept a diary. The closing entries of the years 1925 and 1926 very clearly show the philosophy by which Robert B and Sarah Ann both found the secret of their happiness and contentment. These entries are in Sarah Ann?s own words just as they were written by her.
?December 31st, 1925. This finishes my diary for this year. Some days and even weeks are incompletes, but I will try to do better next year. The year 1925 brot us some sorrow and much happiness, and I am glad that we pass this way but once. Tomorrow?s sunrise gives us a new day and a new year and we have to live only one day at a time. Am glad that we do not know what is beyond the tomorrow?s horizon in our life?s journey. We have been wonderfully cared for during the past year and are trusting God for the few years to come.?
?December 31st 1926. This year has been a very pleasant one, so much to be thankful for, Warren?s visit to us in October and our visit to Aunt Bettie?s. Many of our friends have gone over the horizon into the great beyond, the land of immortality. Many changes have come to our family during 1926. Martha and Arthur are in California now; Olive has another little girlie in her home, making our twenty first grandchild, ten boys and eleven girls. No serious sickness has come to us or ours this year, and we thank God for us all.?
This brings Mother?s and Father?s biography up to April 1st 1937.
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1884 - 1965 (80 years)