P a g e 2 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r Bertie Brown’s Homestead, Courtesy of Great Falls Tribune Agnes “Annie” Morgan was born in Maryland in about 1844 and came west in the 1870s. By 1880, Annie was counted in the U.S. census at Fort Meade, Dakota Territory working as a domestic servant in the home of Myles Moylan, an officer in the Seventh Cavalry and a relative of Custer. This probably explains why Annie’s obituary stated that she had cooked for Custer at one time. It’s not clear whether Annie was divorced or widowed but by 1890, she was without a husband and had made her way to Philipsburg, Montana. Annie was employed by Philipsburg attorney David Durfee to care for his elderly, alcoholic uncle. Durfee set them up in a tworoom cabin in the rock-creek area close to where Annie would make her own homestead claim years later. Annie’s patient would move on but she would gain a new one. In 1894, Annie stumbled upon Joseph “Fisher Jack” Case, a Civil-War veteran who was deathly ill from Typhoid Fever and lying on the bank of the river where he had been fishing. She nursed him back to health and in return, he fenced her property. But even after that job was done, Case stayed around. Together, him and Annie built a new cabin and bunkhouse together, gardened and raised chickens, cows and goats. Were Jack and Annie lovers but fearful of how an interracial marriage would have been received? Were they merely business partners? Good Friends? Annie’s obituary called Case “her old partner in the little ranch at the first hogback.” Annie did file a claim on the homestead but would pass away before it was approved. Jack received a patent to the land in 1919. Bertie “Birdie” Brown arrived in Montana in 1898 from Missouri. She was in her twenties when she settled in the Lewistown area and would later homestead along Brickyard Creek and file her claim in 1907. Homesteaders had to find inventive ways to supplement their income and Birdie was no different. Oh sure, she’d raise a chicken or two, tend to a garden and plant some barley, oats and wheat. But Birdie would find her real niche in the moonshine business. Described by locals as “the best moonshine in the country”, it wasn’t a hard sell. Combine that with Birdie’s sweet hospitality and a shortage on “legal” liquor due to prohibition, and you have a thriving business. That winning combination kept Birdie and her friendly cat content for Morgan-Case Homestead by Jolene Ewert-Hintz
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