KGVO 1290 Interview with Ed Nesselroad

Radio Interview
Jennie Pak, interpreter and re-enactor for Stories in Stone

Fort Missoula Stories in Stones 2010

A Celebration of Montana Rail

A day long event to draw public attention to return rail travel to Missoula.

Not very well organized or attended, but a fun opportunity for all of us to

dress up and prance around downtown. 

 Sarah Woody and Mary Gleim as they would never have been seen in public.

 Mr. Higgins regales the crowd about the virtues of
the railroad coming to Missoula.

 Waiting for speeches to begin.

Madame Mary Gleim sends a wire

Mr. C.P. Higgins

Daly Days 2009

The year is 1910 and the mansion is open to guests in celebration of

Daly Days. The usual staff of helpers is in attendance and some new 

faces grace the hallways and lawn of the mansion. 

The Law was in the area looking for horse thieves.

Rue Moore and his sidekick were back on the grounds looking for

trouble. Mr. Moore had been let go, but thought Mrs. Daly still

owed him some money.

There was a lovely lawn party in progress and many of the

visiting dignitaries were enjoying the grounds

The household staff found a moment or two to relax and enjoy

each other's company before they hustled off to see to their tasks.

Mrs. Daly and her guests enjoyed many happy hours relaxing on the porch

and visiting about all manner of things.

Mrs Daly caught wind of Mr. Moore's shinanagins

and put him straight to work picking up meadow muffins.

The young men were dapper and dashing as usual.

 We can see that Mr. Moore didn't strain himself with the work that MrsDaly requested.

The Nanny was hard at work in the nursery, as usual.

The Missoula Mafia was well represented in Hamilton.

A fun group of people, if ever there was on.

My Next Gig

Sarah Elizabeth (Countryman) Woody

The First Lady of Missoula, Sarah was married to Frank H. Woody, the first Mayor and one of the founding fathers of Missoula MT . Sarah was born Jan. 6, 1853 and died July 15, 1919. She was one of the first school teachers in Missoula and opened the first Sunday school. She and Frank had one son and four daughters. One daughter died in infancy. A relative claims there were 7 children, though my research has only found 5 births. * I am currently researching Sarah's life and preparing to write her bio. On Oct. 26, I will portray her at the annual Stories and Stones historical tour at the Missoula Cemetery, where she and Frank are buried side by side. More on this event to follow.
* Edited 9-18-08
I found the missing children. In a history of Montana, written in 1885, I found reference to two more girls born to Sarah and Frank.

My Life As A Victorian Nanny

Day dawned early at Riverside. The guests would be arriving at 10:00 am and we had much to do to ready the mansion. The kitchen staff were busy preparing the food for the day and the smell of freshly baked bread wafted up the servants' staircase near the nursery door. Phoebe, the flower maid was busily arranging bouquets of fresh flowers on Mrs. Daly's orders. The house was to be filled with the scent of flowers. A new guest had arrived just the evening prior. Mrs. O'Reily was visiting from New York. She was situated in the Blue Room, just across the hall from the nursery. She's a lovely older lady and was busy stitching a binding on her quilt.

As I readied the children for their outing with Mrs. Sharky, the Daly's resident nanny, I could hear the hustle and bustle of the house coming to life. The victrola was playing in the sitting room, just down the hall and the sound of footsteps up and down the hall echoed through the house.

Constance, the scullery maid and Missy, the upstairs maid, were excitedly examining the new vacuum cleaner that Mrs. Daly had recently purchased. They were ecstatic that with just three servants, they could easily clean one entire floor in just one day's time.

I could hear Stena, the Swedish maid, shouting orders in the kitchen. She runs a tight ship and works her kitchen help to the bone. They had much work to finish in a short time and I think that Stena's fuse was even shorter.

Suddenly two rambunctious boys ran past my door. They were barefoot and had a look of pure mischief in their eye. I raced out of the nursery and down the hall after them. They ducked into Mrs. Daly's bedroom and found themselves trapped in her bathroom with nowhere to hide. I promptly escorted them out and down the hall, past Mr. Marcus Daly II room. He did not look at all amused. I suspect that the two boys are villagers who snuck in to create trouble. I realized that I would have to be on the look out for them all day. As it turned out, they were a constant source of mischief and mayhem and I found myself running helter skelter all over the house and out across the yard on more than one occasion.

The guests began to arrive and as they toured the mansion, they would stop in and visit. I busied myself with some knitting and made small talk with many interesting people throughout the day. I found a quiet moment to take a picnic lunch on the lawn and had some time to stroll about and see some of the interesting activities that were taking place on the grounds and within the house.

The day passed in a whirlwind of excitement and was over all too soon. I have grand hopes to be of service to the Daly family and Riverside, many more times in the future.