Mr. and Mrs. David Blacker visit Chicago in March 1885

I came across an interesting newspaper article at genealogybank.com dated 19 March 1885, which includes a reference to a visit to Chicago by my great grandparents, Ada and David Blacker.

–D. W. Fisk and wife, and Mrs. O. J. Salisbury, were registered at the Grand Pacific, Chicago, on the 13th. Among other Montanians booked at the same hotel were A. J. Davidson, Mrs. and Mrs. T. C. Power, Jno. W. Power, and Mrs. and Mrs. David Blacker.

Helena Weekly Herald
Thursday, Mar 19, 1885 
Helena, MT
Page: 7
By Unknown – Host, William R. and Brooke Ahne Portmann, “Early Chicago Hotels,” Arcadia Publishing, 2006, p. 46., ISBN 0-7385-4041-2., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10552426

The Grand Pacific Hotel was one of the first prominent hotels built in Chicago after the Great Chicago Fire in October 1871. The Hotel was known for its “Great Game Dinners” featuring exotic menus, a Chicago social institution for more than 50 years.

Notable celebrities who stayed at the Hotel included James A. Garfield in 1880 and Oscar Wilde in 1882. And one more interesting bit of information is that Standard Time was adopted at this Hotel on October 11, 1883.

As always, I became curious about the other “Montanians” referenced in the news article. Here’s what I learned.

On p. 1210 of the book entitled “History of Montana, 1739-1885: A History of Its Discovery and Settlement . . .”, Daniel W. Fisk (aka “D. W. Fisk”) is stated to be one of the owners of the Helena Herald, along with two of his brothers. He was “one of the early settlers, having come to the [Montana] territory in 1867.” He married Julia F. Walker, daughter of Major Robert C. Walker, at Helena in 1878.

I wasn’t able to learn much about “Mrs. O. J. Salisbury” but according to Geyser Bob’s Yellowstone Park History Service, Mr. Salisbury, his brother Monroe, and a gentleman named J. T. Gilmer purchased the assets of the Utah, Idaho and Montana branches of Wells Fargo & Co. in the early 1870s. By 1879, they were running stagecoaches into Yellowstone Park, and eventually became one of the most powerful corporations in the Northwest.

According to an article I located at grandlodgemontana.org, A. J. Davidson arrived in Alder Gulch in 1863 and moved to Helena in 1865 where he opened a wagon and saddlery business in 1876. His interests eventually included stock raising, real estate, and banking. And among his many other accomplishments, he was the first president of the Montana Club.

T. C. Power is listed on p. 502 of the book “History of Montana, 1739-1885: A History of Its Discovery and Settlement . . .” (see link above) as follows: “T.C. Power & Bro., freighters, contractors, agricultural implements, and proprietors of the Benton Line of steamers.”

My great-grandfather is mentioned twice in “History of Montana, 1739-1885: A History of Its Discovery and Settlement . . .” (see link above). The first time on p. 595 as follows:

The Muscleshell Range is one of the great stock raising districts of the Northwest. The principal stock men 1882-3 were: — The Montana Cattle Co., Northwestern Cattle Co., A. Lincoln, James Schmall, McGaric & Johnston, D. Blacker, W. Corkill, Andrew Cooper, R. C. Quaintance, R. W. Quaile, M. J. Settle, Hill & Hightower, Balch & Bacon, William Gordon, Collins & Klein.

History of Montana, 1739-1885: A History of Its Discovery and Settlement . . .
Michael A. Leeson
Warner, Beers & Company, 1885
p. 595

And on p. 650, as part of a discussion on the mining town of Radersburg . . .

Radersburg, forty-eight miles southeast of Helena, where the old Bozeman stage-road crosses Crow Creek, may be classed among the early settlements of the county in 1866 . . . The quartz lodes known as the Congress, Ohio, Keating, Leviathan, and Iron Clad, were yielding freely in 1879. The Blacker Mill of 15 stamps, and the Ten-stamp Keating mill, were most important conributors to the welfare of the district . . .

History of Montana, 1739-1885: A History of Its Discovery and Settlement . . .
Michael A. Leeson
Warner, Beers & Company, 1885
p. 650

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Source for information on The Grand Pacific Hotel can be found here.

a little bit of serendipity

Last week while going through some old Montana newspapers, I just happened upon this news article that mentions my great grandfather David Lyman Blacker. I’ve searched his name on many occasions – but this is an article I’ve never come across. So it was a great find!

Mineral Land Convention

Also listed in the article are John Keating, my great grandfather’s business partner, and Moses Morris, a close friend who was at my great grandfather’s bedside when he died years later in 1911.

The source for this newspaper article is:
“Mineral Land Convention,” The Helena independent. (Helena, Mont.), 28 Nov. 1889, p. 1, col. 3; image copy, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress (www.chroniclingamerica.loc.gov : accessed 28 November 2016), Digitized Newspapers.

A transcription of the article follows here:

MINERAL LAND CONVENTION.

Delegates Who Will Represent This
County at Encore Hall Tuesday.
      —————o————–
The delegates from this county to the last
meeting of the Mineral Land convention
met last evening and added several gentle-
men to their number. The convention
meets on Tuesday at Encore Hall, at 2 p.
m. The following is a full list of the Lewis
and Clarke Delegation:

J. S. Harrris, Thomas Cruse,
H. M. Parchen, Moses Emanuel,
Moses Morris, C. B. Vaughn,
E. R. Tandy, Geo. B. Foote,
J. B. Wilson, John Keating,
James W. Carpenter,  R. C. Wallace,
Chas. Runley, Henry Klein,
E. D. Weed, Chas. Rinda,
James Gourley, Wm. Hickey,
John Shober, C. K. Wells,
Wm. Coyne, Clarence Kinna,
Ed Zimmerman, P. H. Constans,
Henry Jurgens, Niel Vawter,
John Steinmetz, Joseph Davis,
A. M. Thornburgh, Samuel Word,
John T. Murphy, J. B. Sanford,
John Steinbrenner, Albert Kleinschmidt,
Jacob Sweitzer, James Sullivan,
L. H. Hershfield, Mike Burns,
R. P. Barden, A. K. Prescott,
Ben Price, M. M. Holter,
David Blacker,  W. E. Cox,
B. P. Carpenter, Thomas G. Merrill
And all the members of the house and
state senate from Lewis and Clarke county.
—————o————–

” . . . 4,000 tons of fine ore on the dump . . .”

A newspaper account of the March 1872 mining activities of David Lyman Blacker and his partner John Keating in Radersburg, Montana.

 

1871-03-14-news-article_fr-helena-weekly-herald
Helena weekly herald. (Helena, Mont.), 14 March 1872. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84036143/1872-03-14/ed-1/seq-7/>

——

Transcription:

——~——

Quartz Mining at Radersburg.

Keating & Blacker are vigorously at work taking out quartz from the Keating and Ohio lodes.  They have nearly 4,000 tons of fine ore on the dump, which will average about $16 per ton.  Their mill has been idle since last fall, but it has been thoroughly repaired and will commence crushing in about two weeks.

——~——

Great finds on eBay!!

Recently, I’ve been hearing and reading that it’s possible to find family-related items on eBay just by searching either on a surname or location. So I thought I’d give it a try. I didn’t have much luck searching on surnames but I did have some luck searching on place names.

The first item I located was a postcard of Hudiksvall, Sweden – where my Swedish great grandparents Andrew and Brita Dalin lived before they came to the U.S., and where Andrew was most likely born.

Undated postcard of Hudiksvall, Sweden

I asked my husband, who has some knowledge of vehicles, if he could date the postcard based on the car coming down the road. He thought the earliest date could be about 1935. Although my great grandfather was born much earlier in 1859, it was still fun to find this image of a street scene – possibly a street my ancestors may have walked down.

I also found a great magazine article about the mining town in Montana where my great grandfather David Lyman Blacker and his partner John Keating had their first mining success in 1866 – and where my great grandparents David and Ada lived until they moved to Helena in late 1882, early 1883.

1969 05 00 magazine article_The True West Frontier Times_coverThe real bonus came when I actually located several references to my great grandfather and his partner Keating in the article, although my great grandfather’s name is misspelled as “Blackner” – which explains why the surname search was unsuccessful.

1969 05 00 magazine article_Radersburg-Mining Town That You Can Reach_interior shot

And here I’d like to give a special “thank you” to Tom Russell who dedicated his retirement to searching for and acquiring items related to “Old Western History and Memorabilia”. Then he spent hours indexing articles like this one and posting them on eBay for some lucky family historian like me to discover. Sadly, Tom passed away in 2014 but his daughter Debbie continues to post and sell his items on eBay. Thanks, Tom and Debbie!

Everybody should try searching eBay. You never know what you might find!