My great grandmother Ada Cordelia Buchenau Blacker was born February 7, 1853 in St. Joseph, Missouri. Her parents were John Buchenau, born in Germany, and Catherine B. Tyler Buchenau, born in Pennsylvania.
At the age of 18, she married David Lyman Blacker in Wathena, Kansas on February 27, 1871. Shortly afterwards, she moved with her new husband to the Montana Territory.
In March 1879, when Mary was only a one-year-old, she came to Montana from St. Louis, Missouri with her mother Eva (Specht) Rumping aboard the steamboat Rosebud. The boat trip lasted three months and was followed by a stage trip from Ft. Benton to “old Silver City”. They ultimately arrived at their destination of Belmont on July 7, 1879.
Mary grew up in a mining town in Montana known as Marysville. Her father, John H. Rumping, was an engineer in the 5-stamp mill built by Thomas Cruse. She graduated from high school in 1895 and hoped to become a school teacher. Sadly, that dream was never realized. Continue reading
This is my paternal great grandfather, Andrew Dalin. He was born October 21, 1859, in Hudiksvall, Sweden. At this time, I have no information about his parents. I do know that he had at least one sibling, a brother Erik.
In 1979, my father told me the story – as he knew it – of how his grandfather came to be in Montana:
Andrew and his wife Brita met and married in Sweden. Several years later, Andrew – being a sailor – left Sweden to travel, leaving Brita and their small son, John, behind. At some point in time, Andrew’s brother Erick learned that Andrew was in the United States and set out to locate him. When the two brothers were re-united, it was decided that Erick would go back to Sweden and bring Andrew’s family back to the United States. Sadly, Erick returned to Sweden only to find out the son had died, but he did bring Brita back with him. When Erick and Brita finally caught up with Andrew, he was in Minnesota where he had acquired 800 acres located in the Mesabi Iron Range. Andrew sold the land and the three set off by covered wagon for St. Joseph, Missouri. From there they traveled by steam boat on the Missouri River to Ft. Benton, Montana, and then continued by covered wagon to Hassel, Montana. Andrew timbered the mines in Hassel until 1907 when they moved to Helena. Continue reading
My great grandfather, David Lyman Blacker, was born August 29, 1829, in Pennsylvania. Between that time and 1864, we don’t know much about his whereabouts. But we do know that in 1864 he ended up in Virginia City, Montana – and from then on, we have a great deal of information due to his success as both a miner and stock raiser.
The main evidence we have as to the specifics of his arrival in Montana is a letter he received from the Society of Montana Pioneers in January 1899 (see below). The letter asked for specific biographical information which was to be published in an upcoming “Register”. I think it’s very likely he filled in the blanks himself – or if not, he probably directed someone on how to fill them out.