Byford Postoffice and store was named for Byford Wagstaff and located on the knoll south of where John Turner last lived which was the T. L. Peterson homestead. It was a two room frame house with a pitched roof.
  John Beck's moved this building and added it to their two room homestead house in 1929. He finished the walls with plaster-board and put in carbide lights. Warren Willmore, Jean Hutton and Marie Webb boarded with Beck's and went to Byford school.

  This school was named for the Postoffice. It was in district #207, which was formed in 1926 from District #101 to accommodate the Jakes and Beck children. The school house was set half way between the two families. A one room teacherage was located at the school. The teachers were: Ada Hurd, Roland Schrier, John Boseth, Arthur Reisland, Elmer Kearney, Helen Weinert, Goldie Kilpatrick, Ole Williamson and Leilla Tullis. The first school board was A. J. Anderson, Fred Mabee and L. C. Willmore.
  Byford closed the spring of 1933 and supplies were moved to the Zuley school house. John Mayberry bought the school house and moved it to Roy where he made his home and was located to the north of Joe Murphy's Garage. Fred Wunderlick purchased the teacherage and moved it to Roy on the place that Lillie Burnett now owns. He used it for a brooder house. District #207 was annexed to District #74 in 1968.

  Perhaps this is not a typical homesteading story, but it probably echoes that of many other young people of that time.
  I first came to Montana in the spring of 1914 to spend my vacation with friends who had come the year before to teach in the Montana schools and had taken homesteads in the Winifred area. Those two weeks in Winifred were so eventful they really sold me on Montana. I wasn't, at the time, old enough to home stead, but I was determined to wait until I could. It was three years before I finally found what I wanted. Those three years were spent as bookkeeper at the Fad Shoe and Clothing Co. During this time I made many friends; among them was the Shanklin family who homesteaded east of Roy, Montana near the Missouri River. Mr. Shanklin told me he had found a place for me six miles from them. A young man had entered the services and wanted to relinquish his rights to a 320 acre homestead. "Do you still want a homestead?" Mr. Shanklin asked.
  There was a small house on the place and 20 acres which had been broken into field. It was fenced on two sides. I gave Mr. Shanklin the $350.00 to give to the soldier boy, and I soon had a homestead.
  In September of that year the "Fad" gave me a week to go out to Roy to look over my land and establish residence. A friend, Elmie Kronke, from the law office of Belden and Dekalb took a week off to go with me. This turned out to be a fun trip for Elmie and me. We took the train to Roy, Montana. It was the same train I had taken to Winifred three years before. It seems the same train went one day to Winifred and the next day to Roy, changing tracks at Hilger, so each town had train service every other day. That time there were no "Hot Boxes" though and the trip was uneventful.
  At Roy, we went to the grocery store to stock up on food for our week's stay and then went to the livery stable to hire transportation for the next morning. We wanted to go that afternoon, but was told it would be too much for the team that night. We could, of course, understand that. ^{P. 93}
  Mr. Marshall, an attorney from Lewistown, whom I knew very well, and another man who was a collector from a Lewistown wholesale firm were on their way to Little Crooked where a small grocery store was located. This was about six miles from my place. So when we told them where we were going, they told us to go back to the stable and cancel our team for the next day. They had a Franklin car. They had just finished their lunch, so Elmie and I just had a snack so we could get started. We rode out to Little Crooked Creek and they finished their business with the Scotsman who ran the store and we started for my homestead. It was supposed to be three miles north of Byford. By this time it was dusk and houses along the way were lighted, so we had to look for a shack that had no light. Roads were wagon tracks in those days, but at last there was a house with no light, which was it. I had the key, but I think the door was unlocked. It was my house! There was the name of the soldier boy. As Elmie and I belonged to a hiking club in Lewistown we had our own hiking equipment and sleeping bags with us, so we felt right at home. The two men didn't want to let us stay there. It didn't look good to them, but they left us their bag of water when they couldn't persuade us to go back to Roy with them.
  After the men left us, we found a broom in a corner and swept the dust off the pine bunk and spread out our camping equipment. We then opened our food from the store and had a snack and went to bed. It was great! The next day we cleaned up the house which seemed quite roomy. There was a homemade table and chair in there. We went to Crooked Creek, which was just a short walk, and got water to scrub with. We really scrubbed our house up and felt quite at home. Then the following days we visited our neighbors.
  The cool September air was so invigorating and the seven mountain ranges hemmed us in and old Black Butte seemed to move into our back yard on clear mornings. Too soon came the day when we picked up our gear to catch the stage at Byford.
  1917 ... In March of the next year it was time for me to go live on my homestead. The friends who had beat me to homesteading by three years gave me such advice as well as many of the things they no longer needed. Daddy Smith gave me a saw, an axe, a hammer and lots of nails. Mother Smith gave me some sheets, pillow cases and two big warm quilts. The girls from my Bridge Club gave me a big mirror. The boys at the drug store got a big rain barrel for me and in it were magazines, Band-Aids, and mosquito dope. Others gave me dishes and pots and pans. I bought for myself a folding cot. My roommates gave me a big box covered with cretonne that really turned out to be a real treasure. My boss also gave me his .22 rifle and his wife gave me a lot of pretty cretonne for a closet in a corner.
  How was I to get all this out to my little house and into it after that? Here goes.
  The rain barrel got the tools, the pots and pans, and some of the bedding. The big fancy box got the dishes and some bedding. A telescope bag got the rest of the bedding and a rug. The mirror went in my trunk. Everything got to the depot, pronto, that morning, including me and my bags. The train for Roy tooted off once more.
  At Roy, I started for the livery stable once more. It was to cost me $20.00 they said to get that stuff out to Byford. O.K. Next day, I went over to see Harry Shanklin and his wife, Vanita, who had opened up a drug store in Roy. They were happy to see me and when I told them I was moving out and had hired a dray to take me out in the morning, they said that was foolish. "Peters, our mail carrier will take you out; he is in town today." I said, "You must know I have a lot of stuff'. "Oh, don't worry," Harry said, "Peters will take care of you. He'll be in here, and I'11 send him over to the depot. You go back there to be with your stuff, and don't worry." Back to the depot to wait! "I'11 take care of that dray", Harry shouted.
  The wait at the depot was short. In walked a little man with a big smile. "I'm Peters", he said, "Where is your stuff?" I had been sitting there with all kinds of qualms about anyone getting my stuff out there. Now, this confident little man comes in and I relaxed. "Here's my stuff', I said. "Do you think you can take it?" "Oh, yes, I'11 get it on", he said, and he did.
  Peters had an ordinary wagon much like wagons we had on the farm at home. He already had much on there but somehow he managed, my rain barrel, fancy big box, trunk, telescope bag, two suitcases, and on top of it all, my cot and my groceries and me in front. We took off. As I have said before, it was early in March and the roads were muddy. Most of the snow was gone and the gumbo stuck to the wheels so it was necessary to have some contraption on the wagon that scraped the wheels off. The horses didn't have that and balls of gumbo built up under their feet. They would shake their feet once in a while and great mud balls would fly. Travel was slow, of course, for we were carrying a big load. As night was falling, Peters told me we would be spending the night at the Edwards. (Clay Edwards) Anything Peters said was O.K. with me. He just seemed to radiate confidence. In a short time, we came to Edwards' hill. At the foot of this rather forbidding hill we stopped. Peters unhitched the horses, and he and I and the horses went up the hill to the Edwards' home. Mr. Edwards came out and took the horses, and Peters took me into the house to Mrs. Edwards and introduced me to her and then left. Mrs. Edwards was such a warm and friendly woman as so many western women were. She had just baked bread, and the kitchen was so fragrant that I was suddenly very hungry. After a while Mr. Edwards and Peters came in and we all had coffee and good new bread along with other food. It had started to rain and soon Peters left. He had to stay with the mail, he said, and must put a tarp on the load too. He said good night to us and disappeared. ^{P. 94}
  Next morning we all had a big breakfast together, and I asked Mrs. Edwards what I owed her. She smiled and said, "Oh, give me 50 cents." I think I was near tears by then, but I slipped two dollars under my plate. Somehow no money could ever pay properly for such warm hospitality. As we left that morning, after the men had unloaded part of the load to get to the top of the hill, it took two trips to get the stuff up, but from the top the rest of the trip was fine. I think it was about 15 miles.
  At noon Peters stopped to rest the horses. He made a fire and fried bacon and made coffee and sandwiches. It was like a picnic out there among the sage. After lunch Peters left me to tend the fire. He needed to take a walk to stretch his legs. To be candid, so did I. It was about 4:00 o'clock that afternoon when we reached my house and it was not so roomy anymore. Peters had an axe and was out at my wood pile splitting kindling for my cookstove. When I asked what I owed him, he said, "Oh, five bucks is plenty". I handed him the twenty the dray wanted, but he handed it back with a big grin and a warm handshake. He was gone. I'm sorry to say, I never saw Peters again.
  It was hard to imagine, time all my own, no alarm clocks, no regular time for anything.
  The Byford store and post office was 3 miles away, so it was easy to get supplies. During the summer, the stage was motorized, and ran, I believe, three times a week. A young man, named Roseland, had a well of very good water. It was the only well for miles around that had good water and he was a very popular young man as he happily shared it with everyone. Little Crooked had much water in pools someplaces but the water was alkaline and no good for drinking. We all had rain barrels, but mine leaked badly. Mr. Jakes told me to get it down the hill to the big pool in the creek to soak up, so one day I started rolling my barrel down the hill. It thumped and bumped its way over the cactus and the sage, ending up with just the bottom stave on it. I kept busy trying to pick up the hoops or staves as they flew off the barrel. That day was spent trying to make a barrel out of something that looked like a big sunflower. At last it looked like a barrel once more, so into the pool it went. After soaking for a week or so the Jakes boys took the team and rescued my barrel, filled it with water and hauled it up to my house. It was a precious treasure in the alkaline country.
  Those five months of that summer were such wonderful carefree days. The children who came by my place each day, to and from school, were a joy to me. My neighbor, Peter Roseland, and a young Canadian boy, David Bruce, who had a homestead near, were helping to build a new school house to the west of my place. In the mornings, I could hear them emptying water into my rain barrel, so no water carrying for me. How very thoughtfully kind all of them were in those war years.
  We all know about the restrictions on all white flour, and everyone learned of new ways to make bread. This young Canadian boy taught me how to make oatmeal bread. I made it often then.
  One night I was awakened by a roar, and my house was shaking from side to side. I was frightened! "An earth quake", I thought. I went to my window to see a great sea of horses rushing by. There were men on horses driving them. The drive split at my house, so it wasn't run over, but my yard was a trampled mess. The next morning, I heard later that wild horses were being rounded up for shipment overseas.
  In late August or early September we had word from the land office that anyone who would work on a farm would have credit for that time as homestead residence, so I packed my bags, checked out at the Lewistown land office and went back to my home in Minnesota.
  Only my younger brother Adolph was at home with my parents, John and Lena Anderson. My older brother, Fritz, was in France with the engineers, so there was much to do for me at home. The war ended that fall, and my year on the farm ended the fall of 1919. Once again I left for Lewistown and the land office. At the land office Mr. Kelly happily told me they had secured a drought leave for all of us as the fields were dried up. No crops for anyone. My 40 acre field on which I had planted corn had been trampled by wild horses, and the year that I had winter rye dried up, so I was very happy to get a job again.
  There was a need of a bookkeeper at the Sweitzer Department Store, and I was lucky once more to get work. The remaining time of my residence on my homestead was just trips out there for weekends and the kindness of Mr. Sweitzer who gave me time off occasionally. The E. C. Abbott family of the "Three Deuce Ranch" were about the most wonderful friends I had there. They made many trips out to the Little Crooked country, including one that moved me back from my little house. I have many pictures of my house, of the Jakes family and of wild horses which I treasure.
  I don't think many of the folks who shared those early days with me are there now, but I think there are younger people there now who are as wonderful and gracious as the friends I loved and treasure so in my memories. Amen....
(Nena Anderson lives in Minnesota and still owns her land on the prairie in. Montana)

  Herbert and Jane Beck and family came to Montana and arrived at Roy train station 7 April 1923. They were from Trenton, Illinois about seven miles from where Herb, John and Ethel's parents lived.^{P. 95}
  Herbert Bartist Beck was born, 19 September 1889 at Nascoutah, Illinois. He died 20 November 1981 and is buried at Grand Mound Cemetery near Rochester, Washington.
  Mom's maiden name Jane Muir, born 29 November 1894 at Coalville, Illinois, near Streator. She is now 94 years old. Jane and Herbert were married, 20 June 1912, at Lebanon, Illinois. Two children were born to them: Thelma Christena, 25 November 1915 at Summerville, Illinois and John Wesley, 11 October 1919 at Trenton, Illinois.
  John was stricken with cancer and died 18 March 1984 at Havre, where he was buried in the Veterans section with Military Honors. John went into the Service, 27 June 1942, went overseas in August of 1943 and received his honorable discharge, 27 September 1945. He served in WWII in the South Pacific zone in the Medical Unit as a mechanic sergeant. He helped carry out some of our Missionaries that were held in the Philippines near Luzon.
  John married Lillian A. Akerlund of Malta, Montana and six children were born to them: Connie Rae, 8 October 1943--12 March 1956; Vernon, 11 April 1947; Vicki Lynn, 27 September 1948; Neil Rowland, 9 January 1950; Beverly Ann, 9 February 1951 and Patti Lee, 25 October 1952.
  In 1946, John opened a garage in Havre, Montana. He had the American Motors dealership and was a successful manager of this garage for 38 years. His brother-in-law and son, Neil, were his partners in the Beck & Akerlund Garage. John had a natural knack for working on motors and cars were his great love and making them run gave him pleasure. His wife, son and brother-in-law have continued to operate the garage since his death.
  I, Thelma, was married to William E. Erickson, Sr., 15 December 1934 and we lived on a ranch southeast of Malta for 7 years. In the fall of 1941 we left Larb and moved to Missoula, where Bill worked on the power line. He then went to the west coast to work in defense plants during WWII. I stayed at Ronan until May of 1942 and moved to Bainbridge Island, Washington. In 1954 we moved to a farm near Oakville and in 1969, came into town, where I reside. Bill passed way 20 February 1984, 77 years of age. We have four children: Lillian Marie, born 31 October 1937 at Malta; Herbert Lawrence, 20 July 1939, Malta; Carol Jane, 3 April 1942, Ronan and Bill Junior, born at Seattle.

  John Herman Beck was born, 4 January 1883 at Mascoutah, Illinois. He married Ethel Schaefer, 4 March 1910 in Illinois. They had no children. Ethel Schaefer Beck died at Lebanon, Illinois, 1 December 1952. John Beck remarried, to Stella J. Miller in Illinois and they were both killed when their car was struck by a train at a crossing at Witt, Illinois, 18 June 1958.
  John Beck and his uncle came West and did some prospecting and mining in Idaho before coming to Montana. He worked at Heath when he first came to this locality and took up a homestead 22 miles northeast of Roy in 1918. Ethel joined him shortly after and they made their home at this location until 1939, when they sold to the Government, due to the drought of the 30's. They moved their belongings to St. Ignatius and bought a farm in 1940. After a few years, they sold out and returned to their native location in southern Illinois, where they remained for the rest of their lives.
  The Becks were very industrious people; farmed, raised cattle, milked cows, had hogs and chickens and they kept stoppers, as well as boarding some of the Byford teachers and three pupils from outlying communities. John was handy at carpentering and fixed up a nice set of buildings on their homestead. They enjoyed taking part in social events in the surrounding communities.

  I, Thelma Beck Erickson, remember my trip to Montana, when I arrived at Roy with my parents and brother, Johnie on the train. This was a long train ride. The last 22 miles to my uncle John's homestead, we traveled by pickup and car.
  In Billings, we saw our first Indians. There was a Pow-wow going on and we saw papooses, feathered head dresses, beautiful blankets and real Indians. What a sight for a seven year old!
  It was all green at Trenton, Illinois when we left there and there was snow on the ground at Roy. Uncle John came with his pickup, to haul our trunks and his neighbor, T. L. Peterson came with his car, two seated with side curtains. The back seat held our suitcases, grub box and some groceries and just enough room for me to sit, while Mr. Peterson and Pop were in the front seat.
  Mom and Johnie rode with uncle John. It was late ^{P. 96} that night when we finally arrived, for whenever we came to a steep hill, Mom and Johnie got out and walked and T. L. and Pop would push, as the pickup was weighted down with our possessions. We followed in T. L.'s car.
  The next morning, the snow was so white and pretty, all the winter wheat that had come up was covered. One of those late spring Montana snow storms. That same year, 2 August 1923, there was snow on Black Butte.
  The folks lived in cramped quarters in the three room shack with uncle John and aunt Ethel. He had moved another shack in prior to our coming and so, when warmer weather came, my family slept there and we continued to cook and eat with Johns', Mom helped with housework, cooking and canning and Pop helped uncle John, while he was filing on our homestead. At this time, the land was not in one piece. One 40 A. was right on Crooked Creek with the creek running the full way across, then an 80 A. with another 80 A. on the hill. The 320 A. had been homesteaded and let go back, so it was again open. This place had a shack with a gabled roof and small dam, plus some old machinery had been left. This was four miles down Crooked Creek and just above Hennemans. Pop made a road across those four miles and finally got some culverts for crossings. He fenced all the land, but this part, being out of sight from where we lived, there was often trouble with wires being cut, which allowed range cattle, horses and sheep to get in, eat and trample the crop which was so hard to grow.
  Also, range horses were gathered and shoved across the Missouri River and shipped out on the Great Northern Railroad from such points in Phillips, Hill and Valley counties.
  In the fall of 1923, the folks got a shack moved onto the 40 A. where we were to live. It was roofed with heavy metal roofing and a slate covered, heavy tar paper was put on the outside. The inside was covered with a heavy pale blue building paper, put up with lath to secure it. Mom made curtains to put around beds and in one corner. We had a cookstove with two doors in the oven, hearth in front and a water reservoir in back, tin stove pipes and a metal roof-jack, so that no wood would be near the pipes as they would get hot. We had a brick chimney later. As time went on, another building was added, giving us two rooms. We had one bed and 2 cots and at one time three beds in the new room. The kitchen was used as the dining room and a place for the cream separator. Cream was our cash product from milking cows. When we had company, there was a sanitary cot, with both sides that folded down and would open into a full bed. Space was necessary to move about, as one room was 12' x 16' and the bedroom, 12' x 12'. Later, we bought the Garwood house, as this family had moved away, and it was added to our home. It gave us three bedrooms and it had a brick chimney, also a little room that was intended for a bathroom (this was never accomplished) and it was used for a clothes closet. The north room was my special den, when I was home. Mom and I did a lot of sewing and made many quilts and rugs.
  I started school at Little Crooked and boarded away from home with the Bakers, for two terms. They lived at the Little Crooked Postoffice and store and was on the north side of the Rocky Point Trail, across from the log school building, which was used as a dance hall, meeting place, voting and political gatherings. Yes, there were politics then!
  The Byford school district, #207 was formed and had the first school in 1925-26 term, with Hazel Van Heining and Roland Schrier, teachers. Johnie and I and the younger Jakes children attended.
  I remember when I was at Little Crooked school and Bridgie Hickey was our teacher, she also was helping Egnatius Krafden to learn our language and how to read and write and American history, so that he could get his naturalization papers. He was in our reading class.
  My Mom attended the births of the Jakes twins, Earl and Pearl, with the help of Mr. Jakes. She was with Mabel Cottrell and Murray when Guilbert, Edwin and tiny little Eleanor were born. I used to stay with Mabel and would ride their saddle horse, "Mistake", home in the morning and go back in the evening and pick up the milk cows and do the milking for Mabel and help with the dishes. I stayed with them quite often as Murray was camp tender for Swend Holland, Sr. and was away from home all week. Mabel needed help with all her small children and couldn't do the milking.
  With the money I earned, I bought my first pair of patent leather dress shoes with a strap. I cleaned them with Vaseline and put them in the shoe box and wore them for Sunday and special occasions.
  I will also mention that the Phillips', Abe, Jen and Len, who was Abe's brother, stayed at uncle Johns' when they drove their new Chevie car to Illinois in 1929 to take part in my grandparents golden wedding celebration. Abe was never without his chew of tobacco and every other word was a cuss word, but he was very kind ^{P. 97} and had a heart of gold. He showed my dad how to lay brick and make mortar. Dad put up both of our brick chimneys. Phillips' were to do the milking and chores, however I wrangled the cows and did most of the milking as they really weren't able.
  My folks got our first car in 1934, and it was second hand. This was shortly before I was married. My brother, John went right to work on that car and that started him in fixing autos and the car business which was the love of his life.
  As I write this, many old friends and neighbors have gone over the Great Divide. and we who are left aren't getting any younger. 

  Vivian Dickamore, Eudora Bontrager, Ivy and Virginia Davis were sisters. They were the daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Noble Davis. They came from Iowa. They had two brothers, James Davis of Bridgewater, Iowa and Lewis Davis of Fontanelle, Iowa. All four women taught school in the area.
  Vivian was married to Henry Dickamore. Their homestead lay on the ridge between Crooked Creek and Antelope Creek. T19 R24 Sec. 14, 23. She taught at the Joslin school September 1922 to December 1922. The couple had a son, Donald.
  Eudora was married to Frank W. Bontrager. They lived in the Joslin area. T19 R24  Sec. 2. She taught at the Joslin school, 1921 to 1922. There were 14 pupils.
  Mrs. Bontrager raised her sister, Virginia, and probably Ivy, too. Their mother passed away when Virginia was only 3 and their father died when she was 10 years old.
 Ivy also had a homestead; T19 R24 Sec. 2, and taught at the Joslin school 1919 to 1920. Flora Sandstrom also taught that year at Joslin. There were 22 pupils in school.
  Virginia taught school in South Dakota before she came to Roy, in 1915. She was teaching a school near the town of Roy when she met and married Joe Reeble, proprietor of the Roy Hotel. The couple was married on March 13, 1916.
  Just five days after the wedding, on March 18th, Virginia died of injuries sustained in a fall, on a fishing excursion, while on their honeymoon. She was buried in the Roy Cemetery.
  Virginia was born in Broadwater, Iowa and was 20 years old at the time of her death. She was described as being a "young woman of unusually bright disposition, a high school graduate and a public school teacher. To know her was to love her for her sterling character, her sweet sunny disposition and her spirit of helpfulness and optimism."

  Bridget (Bridgie) Hickey was born in Camargo, Montgomery County, Kentucky on January 15, 1875. At the age of three, her family moved to Sharpsburg, Bath County, Kentucky where Johanna (Josie) was born on November 13, 1879 and Michael Angelo was born on July 30, 1890. They were 3 of the 10 children born to James J. and Johanna Crowe Hickey.
  Bridgie attended Sharpsburg School; at that time parents paid tuition for each child who attended school. She attended Sharpsburg Academy and graduated from there in June 1895 with the completion of three years college credit. Subsequently, she attended college for one year in Carlisle, Kentucky for her teaching degree. She was a teacher in Kentucky schools for 12 years and for several years operated a millinery shop in Carlisle, Kentucky.
  In February 1911, Bridgie, Josie and Miss Dula Ashley, also from Carlisle, went to Altus, Oklahoma. They had a good start in the millinery business in Altus, but when it was learned that Bridgie and Josie were teachers, they were called upon to return to educating children and Miss Ashley was left to run the business. While in Altus, their two brothers, Michael and Augustus, came to Altus and entered Business School in Oklahoma City. Upon graduation, Augustus entered the U.S. Navy and Michael obtained a teaching position in Idaho. Josie received her Idaho Teacher's Certificate in Boise County and taught there from August
^{P. 98} 1913 to August 1914. Bridgie taught three years in Oklahoma.
  In Oklahoma they met Miss Anna Good (later Anna Mussellman) and she informed them of the homestead opportunities in Montana. In 1914, Bridgie, Josie and Michael, who had again joined them, and Miss Good went to Montana where they filed homestead claims. Each of them filed 320-acre claims, located thirty miles northeast of Roy, Montana, in Fergus County.
  Their only shelter in the beginning upon this acreage was tents. Later, with their own hands they built a wooden frame abode, more suitable for Montana living. Later, they built corrals, acquired cattle and horses, cultivated wheat crops and began their many years of gardening. Their brand was the "Lazy E Bar L". Michael entered the Military service in 1915.
  Bridgie taught her first school in Montana in Roy, District 74, in the spring of 1916. Subsequent Montana schools in which she taught include: The Woods School, the Joslin School, the Clear View School, Prairie View, the Byford School, the Little Crooked School, Suffolk School, Forest Grove School, Danvers School, Stubbins Hall, Zuley School, Hidden Hollow, Gibbons School, Sirucek School.
  She received her "Certificate of Retirement" from the Teacher's Retirement Board in September 1937 for 23 years of teaching in Montana. However, following retirement she taught one more year in Roy Grade School. During this term, she had her retirement checks canceled.
  Josie also taught schools in Dawson County and Fergus County during these years.
  Life on the homestead in the early years presented many challenges, as well as many hardships. Bridgie talked of the spring wagons they used for traveling, and how "one of the horses wouldn't let a man work her", so she and Josie were the only ones who could hitch up this lady-loving horse. She also recalled preparing holiday dinner for bachelor homesteaders who otherwise would have celebrated the holidays alone. She told of riding horseback to many of her schools and living in teacherages in others. Her hobbies, while alone in these teacherages, included writing poetry and expertly painting in oils. Several of the family are in possession of these paintings and display them prominently. She not only taught, but encouraged those students showing talent along artistic lines. Some of the children would stay after school and she would help them to learn to draw and paint. Because of the lack of materials with which to work, one young girl painted a detailed scene of a covered wagon going west with black stove polish. Bridgie treasured this drawing and displayed it in her home in Mt. Sterling.
  Before leaving the homestead, the Hickey family had accumulated 1580 acres of grazing and improved land. Josie had married William Edward Jones in 1929 and had moved to Roy. Bridgie and Michael purchased a ranch approximately a mile from Roy on the road to Hilger in 1937, having sold the homestead. The new ranch was ideally situated and very productive. They ranched there until they sold this property in 1944.
  Bridgie then purchased the St. James property at 414 Montana Street in September of 1944. She enjoyed Lewistown and attended many church and social organizations. When the Kentucky relatives visited Lewistown, Bridgie's was the focal point of those visits. A niece, Mrs. Gertrude Drennon, and her daughter, Margie, lived with Bridgie for five years. Margie was only two years old when they came to live with Bridgie. She was very instrumental in teaching her to read, write and the social graces. Margie is now an excellent teacher in the Cincinnati, Ohio school system.
  Michael worked as a security guard in Washington State for a year, returning to Lewistown in 1946 where he met and married Emily P. Bowers who was visiting friends. They lived in Lewistown until 1962 when they moved to Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. Michael passed away February 10, 1970. Emily returned to her home state of  Pennsylvania to be nearer to her daughters and she passed away there a few years later.
  After the death of Josie's husband, W.E. Jones, in 1956, she and Bridgie decided to return home to Kentucky to be near the other family members. They purchased several homes in Mt. Sterling and accomplished extensive remodeling. Their permanent residence on Sycamore Street in Mt. Sterling is now owned by their nieces, Florience and Anne Christine Hickey. Josie passed away on March 6, 1968.
  After Bridgie's return to Kentucky, her last teaching assignment was at St. Patrick's School in Mt. Sterling where, at the age of 82, she finished the last six months of the school year for one of the Sisters who had sustained a fractured hip, We have a photo of her riding a horse at her brother John's farm when she was 92 years of age.
  She enjoyed her return to Mt. Sterling and as usual, was very active in church and social activities. However, she never forgot her friends and experiences in Montana. On her 100th birthday she received letters from President Ford; Julian M. Carroll, Governor of Kentucky, as well as a Kentucky Colonel Commission and letter and greetings from her many friends in Roy, Montana. ^{P. 99}
  She died on September 21, 1981 after a short illness of two weeks, at the age of 106 years and seven months. She was a member of St. Patrick's Catholic Church and had attended services regularly until two weeks before her death. She was buried in St. Thomas Cemetery, in Mt. Sterling, near her mother and father and all but one brother and sister.
  Bridget Hickey was truly a remarkable lady. She traveled extensively and did more things then most people do in three lifetimes. She was around for 22 presidents. She was here for five wars involving America. She saw the advent of the automobile, radio, telephone, airplane, television and watched a man walk on the moon. She maintained her interest in national and local affairs; her love of people and her keen intelligence. She had a positive influence on everyone; students, friends and relatives alike. Her pioneer spirit never died.

[Note: Another brother of the Hickeys, John Andrew, also settled in Central Montana, in the Suffolk- Winifred area and many of his descendents still live there.]

  Albert and Barbara Jakes resided by Alenia, Minnesota in the early years of their marriage. They lived on a farm and six of their children were born there. They were all born at the farm house without any doctors assistance. Grandma Jakes delivered all of them. (Brave soul.)
  In 1915 Albert wanted to go west, which he did. He filed on 320 acres, 26 miles northeast of Roy, in the spring of 1915. On November 10, 1915 the family came by train to Lewistown. There he rented a house and bought some furniture. We stayed in Lewistown for a month, while he went out to the homestead to build our "shack", consisting of one room. 14x20. There six kids, Mom and Dad all piled in. Imagine the tight quarters! Later a kitchen and several bedrooms were added. That really took the pressure off.
  Lillie was born there. Dad delivered her. That's when Barbara found out where babies came from, she had to wrap her in a blanket and hold her by the stove. (She thought for sure mother was dying.)
  Six years later along came the twins, Earl and Pearl, who were also born on the homestead. Thank heaven's a neighbor lady came and took care of them.
  We stayed on the place till 1936 when it was sold to the government. By that time all the older children were gone. We moved to Roy. Mother died in 1945, Dad in 1971. Both are resting in the Lewistown Cemetery.
  People who lived around us during the homestead days were: Ed and Henry Bushman, Gus Roseland, Ed and Mrs. Campbell, Mr. and Mrs. Schuller, Mae and Murray Cottrell, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Fryman, Carl and Floria Sandstrom, Josie, Bridgit and Mike Hickey, Herb Becks, John Becks, Clarence Baker, Tom Copes, the Sinclair's, the Phillips, John Turner, the Anderson's, the Mather's and the Norbeck's.
  The Jakes had 9 children in all: Barbara, Albert, Frank, Edward, George, Helen, Lillie and twins Earl and Pearl.
 Frank and his sisters, Lillie (Burnett) and Pearl (Smith) still live in Roy.
 Frank worked for many years for Joe and Laura Mauland until they retired and moved to Lewistown; then he retired and moved into Roy.
  Lillie, a widow, was a tailor for several years. She lives just outside of Roy and runs a small band of sheep.
 Pearl married Clay Smith in 1945. For several years she operated a small variety-drug store in Roy. After selling it, she has assisted their son, Gary, in his business, the G & S Oil Company, as bookkeeper.

  This is a list of the people from Indiana that took up homesteads that I knew: The Frank Miller's, Mr. and Mrs. Will Isaccs, Mr. and Mrs. Orville Isaccs, Walter and Mabel Ritz, Herbert and Cora Barchardine, Herbert's parents Mr. and Mrs. Henry Barchardine, John and Ethel Beck, Martha McElwee and my mother's sister, who also took up a homestead. She married Ben McCloud and they gave up their homestead. ^{P. 100}
  Dad moved her tar paper shack and added it on to his. Gatch and Sera Lucas came from Brownstone, Indiana along with three of the children: Richard, Andrew and Annalee.
  The folks gave up the homestead in 1920 or 1921 and moved back to the Lewistown area to stay. 

The following story was written by Gatch Lucas, about his Roy homestead before he passed away.

  Land was high priced in Indiana in 1915 -- around $200 an acre and up, and with produce prices low, you could barely pay interest on the money and not reduce the principal.
  Then by word of mouth I heard about free land in Montana. I could get 320 acres just by living on it 3 years plus a filing fee of $25 and making $400 worth of improvements, so I came out with my cousin, Will Isaccs. We went out to Roy on the train, then walked 25 miles to where another cousin had a homestead. That is -- we marked out a place and "squatted" on it. It wasn't open for homesteading for thirty days. "Squatted" means putting up a $25 shack and staying there. I had a farm crop in Indiana so had to go back, but returned in 30 days and finished filing. This place was 25 miles northeast of Roy.
  In the fall I went back for my family; my wife, Sarah, and Andrew, Richard and Annalee, all small children.
  I rented a box car and filled it with a team, cows and household furniture and tools.
  That winter the thermometer went to 46 degrees below zero and that old tar paper shack was pretty cold. That winter and the following ones I did a lot of freighting from Lewistown to Roy. I hauled lumber for other homesteader shacks and also supplies for the stores at Roy. Many times I walked most of the way to keep warm. I figured I had walked close to 2000 miles that winter.
  By the spring following, there was a shack on every 320 acres from Roy to the Missouri. Now it is nearly all in a grazing district with very few farms. It is good country but doesn't get enough rain to make a crop.
  In the required three years I proved up on the place and received a deed. Later I delivered coal with a team all over Lewistown. At other times I hauled hay for livery barns, farmed, etc.
  Those homestead days were lots of fun. There were nine of us from the same locality in Indiana, and nearly every Sunday we would get together and have a picnic or something.
 We had 10 children and four: Andrew, Richard, Annalee and Harry settled in Montana. Martha, Margaret, Walter and Robert in Washington and Alice and Mary in California.

• John and Ethel Beck 
• Herb and Jane Beck and son Johnie.
• Thelma Beck Erickson and daughter Lillian March 1938
• Mike Hickey
• Josie Hickey Jones - 1913
• Bridget Hickey - 1913