| Summary: | changing hands several times it is presently owned by Ray Thiel, Jr.). The year 1940 was one to be remembered. January 14, 1940 Jean Swigart and Shirley Douglass were married and lived on the Horse Creek ranch; July 20, Grandma McLatchy, Florence's mother, passed away and while the family was in town making arrangements for funeral services, a hail storm hit the area and when the family returned home they found 12"-24" of hail stones washed into huge "drifts" in the barrow pits and low spots, and the crop completely destroyed. That fall Sterling went to Montana State College in Bozeman, June to Eastern College in Billings and Jean started working in the Holly Sugar factory. November 5th, election day, was a blustery, cold and windy day with very poor visibility and as Florence and Shorty were going in to vote they ran into a gas powered local train, killing both instantly. Sterling came home from college; was appointed administrator of the Estate and he and Jean operated the ranch as usual until 1942. On June 14, 1941 Sterling married Margaret Fournier whom he had met in college, and in the summer of 1942 the ranch was divided into three separate tracts; Jean taking the north part and mostly irrigated land; June held the Contract for Deed for Joe Strack and the Horse Creek Ranch, which was later sold to Walter Riedel and sons; the Sterling Swigarts got the south portion of the original Montana ranch consisting of mostly pasture and dry farm land, which he and Margaret still own and operate. In 1943, June married Chester Moran and later they moved to Red Lodge, Montana where they farmed and operated a dairy for several years, then managed a bowling alley in Billings, Montana and later one in Columbus, Montana. Chet now has a "Fix It" Shop at home and is working for Tim- berwell. Jean sold his ranch to Peter Storholm in 1948 and also moved to Red Lodge where he farmed for several years, later moving to Laurel, Montana where he drove oil transport trucks. Later the family moved to Livingston, Montana where Jean bought a fleet of loggings trucks and went into business moving saw logs to the mills in Livingston. In 1956 he was stricken with a heart attack and died, leaving his wife Shirley and one son and three daughters. Shirley later married Gussie Obergfell of Sidney. Sterling and Margaret continued to live on their ranch. July 2, 1943 brought them a daughter, Rose Marie, now married, who has three children (one son and two daughters) and lives in Anchorage, Alaska. April 6, 1945 blessed them with a son, Wayne C. who is married, lives in Sidney, and has two sons. On November 13, 1948, another daughter, Sharon Rae, brightened the household. She is married, has three children (one son, two daughters) and lives in Spokane, Washington. As Margaret graduated with a B.S. degree in Home Economics from Montana State University, it was almost inevitable that some day she would teach Home Ec. and in 1961 she started teaching Home Ec. in the Culbertson and Bainville school systems (one half day in each school). Sharon accompanied her and went to 8th grade and four years of high school in Bainville. They lived with Margaret's parents, C. A. Fournier, in Bainville during the week, and came home Friday evening and shaped up the bachelors Wayne and Sterling during the weekend, returning to Bainville in time for school Monday morning. In 1966 Margaret started teaching Home Ec in the Sidney Junior High School and continues to enjoy the work at the present time. Ranch life has been good to all the Swigarts, a life that has a proud heritage and many fond memories for the family. Margaret and "Ster" raised their three children, gave them what education they wanted — business secretarial for Rose from Minneapolis Business School; Ag short course from North Dakota State University for Wayne and a B.S. degree for Sharon from Montana State University. They continued to operate their ranch and teach school, active in 4-H, church and community affairs and planned to travel more in the years to come and enjoy their eight grandchildren whenever possible. Sterling was called suddenly on April 14, 1974, Easter Sunday morning to join his maker. His wife Margaret is still teaching and lives on the ranch. Mr. and Mrs. Dow Wilbur (Ada). DOW B. AND ADA L. WILBUR Lillian Dobias Dow B. Wilbur, a native of New York, born in Westfield on July 23, 1849 and Ada L. Clifford of Ohio were married at Floyd, Iowa in December of 1878. They came to Dakota Territory in the fall of 1882 where he was a merchant in the Red River Valley. They filed on his homestead along the Yellowstone River near Mule Creek, south of Cartwright, and came to live there in 1910. This land is now a part of the William Lassey farm. Ada was a teacher. They had two children, Ralph and Ruth, who married William Scrivner. Ada died in 1929 and Dow in 1931, with burial in the Fairview cemetery. RALPH WILBUR Ralph Wilbur homesteaded east of Cartwright five years before his parents arrived. He filed in 1905 and his claim joined his sister Ruth's. He was three years older than she. His land is now owned by Raymond Oakland. Ralph died in 1950. Bill and Ruth Scrivner. (144) Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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