St. Peters Mission

Location: 16 miles west of Cascade, MT on the Mullan Road mid-way between the Dearborn and Sun Rivers.

St. Peters Mission was established in 1884. On November 10, 1884, Mother Amadeau opened the Girls Boarding School. The first children were: Martha and Anna Brown, Mary Lewis. The Girls Indian School opened on March 7, 1885. The first children were: Kaminiki, Rose Couquette, Jospehine Langlois, Mona Tokomiski, Susie Russell.

Other Indian Girls who attended St. Peters Mission (this list is no where complete): Lizzie Big Eyes, Ursula Cut Bank, Josephine Weatherwax, Mary Jane Hazlett, Anne Howard, Anne Brown, Mary Lahiche, Nancy Burd, Emmia Croft, Isabel Bear Chief. Francina Sleeping Bear, Susie Lard, Maggie Rose, Cecile Russell, and Hannah Annie Evans (my great-grandmother).

White Girls who attended St. Peters Mission: Mollie Lewis, Martha & Annie Brown, Julie Wiegand, Louise and Millie Ford, Alice, Rose and Laura Aubrey, Agnes and Babe Moran, Clara Davis, Louisa Miller, Katie Hines, Mary Reed, Katie Pambrun, Mamie Furman, Sadie Smith, Marguerite Connelly, Anna Quigley, Lily Conrad, Alice Burd, Miss Curran, R. Ferris, Katie Tully, Mary and Rose Furman, Anna and Susan Kennelly, Flora Bergeron, Mary Lenihan, Etta and Clara Shanks, Edith and Adele Moore, Lizzie Tully, Mary Juneau, Jeannie Price, Katie Mahoney, Gracie Chene, Lida Ousley, Dora Keiley, Nellie Rand, Katie and Agnes Finnegan, Miss Clark, Alice Rand, Frankie Porter, R. and F. Schaeffer and Maud Allis, Lorena Young, Elizabeth Rowles.

My Great Grand Mother Hannah "Annie" Evans was placed in the St. Peters Mission at a very young age, along with her brother Joe Evans. She was a half-breed Blackfeet, her mother was Strikes By Mistake or Annie Badoldman (in later years) and her father was Hiram Evans. Hannah stayed at St. Peters Mission until 1895 when she left with two of her friends and their parents Polite and Jessie Whiteman Pepion. The Pepion Family and Hannah returned to the Blackfeet Reservation, the first time Hannah had been away from the Mission.

St. Peters Mission closed on November 12, 1918 due to fire destoying the buildings.

Many Indian children from most of the reservations went to school here from 1884-1918.

Primary Source:

McBride, Sister Genevieve O.S.U., The Bird Tail, 1974 The Bird Tail, author Sister Genevieve McBride, O.S.U.

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Glacier GenWeb Source:  Rhonda Michaels "reservation page"

İRhonda Michael 2009

Created and Online 3 Oct 2009