Granville Stuart correspondence, 1863-1917

Series — Multiple Containers

Identifier: MSS 1534 Series 2

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Contains correspondence to or from Granville Stuart, spanning the years 1863-1917. Stuart copied most of his incoming and outgoing in letterpress copybooks. The others were placed in files alphabetically. The letters mostly pertain to his life and activities while he was living in Montana.

Dates

1863-1917

Creator

Stuart, Granville, 1834-1918 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Open for public research.

Conditions Governing Use

It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.

Permission to publish material from Granville Stuart papers must be obtained from the Supervisor of Reference Services and/or the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Board of Curators.

Biographical History

From the Collection:

Granville Stuart (1834-1918) was a prominent rancher and historian in Montana.

Granville Stuart was born August 27, 1834, near Clarksburg, Harrison County, West Virginia, to Robert Stuart and Nancy Currence Hall. He was the second of five children. Stuart left Iowa in 1852 with his brother James to seek a fortune in the gold fields of California. They traveled with their father, Robert Stuart, from the American Valley (Quincy) to Bidwell Bar, then on through Morris Ravine near Cherokee, finally arriving at Sam Neal's ranch near present-day Durham. He and his brother moved up the mountain to Dogtown trying their luck in several different mining ventures. After prospecting all over northern California, Stuart eventually ended up in Montana, becoming the state's largest cattle owner in the 1880s. A horrible freezing winter later killed his entire herd. In 1862, Stuart married Awbonnie Tookanka, and had eight children with her before her death in 1888. On June 8, 1890, he married Allis Isabelle Brown. Stuart became the state librarian for Montana and wrote several books describing his Western experiences before he died on October 2, 1918, in Butte, Montana.