Bozeman History

by Brynn

Hi I’m Walter Teslow I was born on July 18, 1819 in Alberta Minn. I climbed aboard a great northern train. I got married in San Antonio Texas, on April 6,1918. I went to MSU for college as a director in 1918. I bought my first elevator from F&M. I renamed the business calling it “Swift Feed and Grain Co.”. In 1939 the swift elevator burned down. $2.50 for 100 lb. sack of egg mash, 70 cents a 100 for wheat one bale of hay, $7.00 for a ton of coal, $1.35 a 100 for corn, and 63 cents for 100 oats. I built an elevator at the Holland siding of the Milwaukee Railroad south of Manhattan. I had three children Marge, Dick and Fran. I died in 1975, two years prior to Dick’s death. My mother Rose died shortly after Dick, in 1978.

                                           By:Helen

           W.H.Babcock was born in N.Y in 1887.  When he was 12 his father punished him and he ran away with his older brother.  They homesteaded in Wala Wala Washington.  When Babcock got older he became an architect and took over the construction supervision of the opera house due to the death of Byron Vreeland.  The opera house was a success and it also housed the police and fire departments a library and county jail.  W.H.Babcock was a good architect and a good guy.     

                              by Isabelle

The Bealls are an amazing family. The two Bealls that did the most to help the community is Rose Beall and William Beall. William Beall helped find Bozeman with John Bozeman and Daniel Rouse. John Bozeman, Daniel Rouse and William Beall were close friends they all went on the same adventure together. Rose used to be married to A.H. Van Vlieden but they divorced, and she married William Beall. Before Rose married William Beall she had two girls. When Rose was married to A.H. Van Vlierden he left their home, Rose and her two girls were in the house, then a pack of wolves surrounded their house so Rose had to fight them with her two girls behind her. Rose was the oldest original pioneer. I think the Bealls was really fun to study and learn about.

“The Bozeman Barber”

By Norah

Hello, my name is Sam Lewis. What kind of trim do you want today? Oh, right your here for the interview. Well, I was born on the islands of Haiti on May19, 1832. As a boy I moved to New Jersey with my family. Soon after, my mother died in 1844 there. And three years later my father passed away also. At age 20 I moved to San Francisco, where I opened the first of many barbershops. Two years later I relocated to Sierra, Colorado and managed a new barbershop. Here I also mined in a local gold mine. I spent the money I earned to finance a two year trip to Europe and the West Indies. Finally, in 1864 I went back to San Francisco, then to Portland, Oregon, next to Idaho City, then finally settled with Montana.  Here I opened my third barbershop in Helena and owned a few others across the state. Then in 1868 I moved yet again to Bozeman. Here I founded my final barbershop on Main Street in 1870. I lived on 308 South Bozeman. I married a widow, Mrs. Melisa Bruce, who had five children from her previous marriage. I had one son, Sam Jr., who was born in 1880. With my prophet from cutting hair I paid for my sister’s education at Oberlin College and sponsored her trip to Florence, Italy. She became a famous sculptress. At age 64, I passed away. It was March 28, 1896. Mrs. Lewis died 31 years later, April 10, 1927.

By: Amelia

       On July 30^th 1926, I was born. My name is Ignatius Rex Moore. My mother was a full blood Sioux Indian from Devils Lake, North Dakota, and my father was of an Irish-American background. I had three sisters: Helen, Grace and Irene, and one brother Edward. From the time I was little I liked to illustrate stories from history and Philosophy.

As I got older I realized there was no career for a young artist, so when I was 16 (claiming to be 17) I enlisted in the navy in Devils Lake, North Dakota. One year later I transferred to the Marine Corps .In 1946 I was discharged as a sergeant First Class. After that I became a military policeman, until I was discharged from Army service in 1963.

Now I could finally pursue my true artistic desires. In 1965 I married Fay Marble and adopted a baby boy a year later. Meanwhile I started exhibiting my paintings in store windows and galleries. My subjects varied from Native American Portraits to Rodeo Scenes. My talents as an artist were beginning to be known in the Livingston area. My works have been used on note cards, brochures and mugs across the country. I died on April 11^th 1989 in the Billings Deaconess Hospital.

By: Daniel

            My name is Nelson Story. I was born in 1838 in Ohio. I left Ohio in 1863 and married Ellen Trent. I had four kids, one girl and three boys. I used to have four girls but three of them died young. I mined for gold but never found any. Except one day I found $30,000 in gold dust near Virginia City! I knew gold wouldn’t last forever, so I went to Texas to buy 3,000 longhorn steers. I went to Bozeman to make a new industry. This was one of the first cattle drives across 1,000 miles. I hired twenty-five men and bought them each a rifle. We went to Montana riding 1,000 mustang horses. Once I got to Bozeman I bought hundreds of acres of land and farmed cattle and grew wheat. In 1883 I started a successful mill. I died in 1926. This was my life.

By: Mekayla

Johnny ” Tex ” Moore was a Texas born cowboy. He was a Indian scout, trail rider, Texas ranger, and an author. He preferred to be called ”Tex” but his real name was John Marcellus ”Tex” Moore. Johnny lived in Livingstone on East park street and in his room was a large display of his paintings and visited for the first time in September 1924. Lots of people think that Johnny is a scenic western painter and tries to get every detail of western sections. He also drew portraits of presidents but don’t leave with out asking about the chest in the corner his wife will pull out canvas after canvas.

Johnny was a cattle puncher in Texas, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Montana. Being a cattle puncher can leave marks. Just like being a cattle puncher Johnny had marks all over his body and an ugly wound from a Mexican knife fighter. Johnny ”Rex” Moore was also an artist like ”Tex”. Mr. and Mrs. Moore came to Livingstone in the 1920s and Mrs. Moore’s death was a big profound effect on Mr. Moore. In the end you can see he was an amazing artist.

By: Claire

            Mary McDonald, a freed African American, was born in 1841 and was taken from her parents when she was only a child. Mary had a picture of her mother for remembrance. In 1863, she and her husband, Richard McDonald, headed west after the Civil War had ended. The McDonalds had a four ox-team wagon and with their six- month old son, Robert, the trip began. Soon after he died. They buried him along the trail. It took most of a year to arrive in Virginia City, MT. There, a second son, Eddy, was born. The family didn’t stay, but moved on to Bozeman, Montana. They arrived in the Gallatin Valley where they built a one-room cabin. In 1873, they had a daughter, Mollie, who was the first African American child to be born in Gallatin County. Then, the McDonalds built the first two-story home in Bozeman. They had children Lewis, Aurther, Belle, and Melissa. Unfortunately, both sons died as young boys.

Richard McDonald operated a freight-line between Bozeman and Virginia City. Soon, Richard began working odd jobs to spend more time with his family. One of the jobs was to lay clean straw under carpets as padding. Clothes were scarce but always clean. Sometimes, food, too, was short, but Mary always made sure that the children had enough before she ate. As you can see, this family played a huge role in Bozeman History.