Tag: pioneer

West Valley Pioneer: Myron Miles Nicholson

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by Jeanine Buettner
nammy@montanasky.com

Myron Miles Nicholson
Emma Osborn Nicholson

Myron Nicholson was born in Port Byron, Illinois on July 29, 1873. Mr. Nicholson spent his early years farming in Illinois. On November 25, 1900 he married Miss Emma Osborn. That same year he moved to Chicago and engaged in the manufacture of brooms.  He then entered the Moody Bible Institute and became a Baptist minister. He served the church at Hubbard, Minnesota in 1903 and at Sherburn, Minnesota from 1904 until 1909 when he moved to Belt, Montana. A year later he moved to the Flathead and bought a farm five miles northwest of Kalispell. He retired from farming in 1937 and moved to Kalispell. He was a deacon of the local Baptist church and substituted as minister on many occasions.  

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West Valley Pioneer: James O’Boyle

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by Jeanine Buettner
nammy@montanasky.com

James O’Boyle was born to Charles and Margaret O’Boyle on March 15, 1848. His father was employed by the Earl of Antrim, Hugh Seymour McDonnell (1812-1844) at the Earl’s estate in Deerpark Glenarm, County Antrim, Ireland. In 1868, at the age of 21, James set sail for New York and finding his way to Missouri for a few years. A forty-two day trip up the Missouri River brought him to Fort Benton, Montana Territory.

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West Valley Pioneer: Edmond Levi Kelley

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by Jeanine Buettner
nammy@montanasky.com

Edmond Kelley was born in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, on April 18, 1860 and was educated and lived in Pennsylvania until coming to Montana in 1885, first locating in Butte and then moving to the Flathead Valley in 1887. He spent his first night in Somers. He was told that the valley farther up had some value as a range for cattle but of no value for farming. The next day he walked to the site that would later become Demersville.

Edmond Levi Kelley
Mary King Kelley
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West Valley Pioneers: Frank and Ida Stiles

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by Jeanine Buettner
nammy@montanasky.com

My great grandparents Frank and Ida Stiles moved to Kalispell in 1901, from Corona, South Dakota where Frank was a farmer, school teacher and a member of the House of Representatives. They packed everything they owned including farm machinery into a boxcar and made their way to the Flathead Valley, bringing with them their four children, my grandfather T. Milton being the youngest.  

Frank and Ida Stiles
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West Valley Pioneer: Walter Jaquette

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by Jeanine Buettner
nammy@montanasky.com

Walter Parke Jaquette was one of the Flathead’s early pioneers. He was born October 16, 1863 in Oxford, Pennsylvania to Peter and Eleanor Jaquette.

Walter was from a very prominent Pennsylvania family. His great great grandfather Maj. Peter Jaquette served under Washington during the Revolutionary war. His great grandfather Capt. Peter Jaquette organized and furnished a great extent of company horses for the military. His father Peter L. Jaquette was a veteran of the Civil War and was at the White House when President Lincoln was assassinated.

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The Kuhns Homestead

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by Skip Via, with Jeanine Buettner
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org

General Information

The Kuhns homestead consists of farmland and several original buildings erected along a small creek across Farm To Market Road from the Pig Farm state land area. It is managed by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks for the purpose of wildlife protection. The homestead is an important winter wildlife area because old growth Douglas fir provides food as well as tree wells for browsing on Oregon grape for deer and other wildlife.  It is also at the perfect elevation–not too high and not in the creek bed, which is where the cold gathers in winter.

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