P a g e 4 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 You see, he had loved his aunt dearly, and he had regularly asked Jesse if he could have her book after she died. Because she always responded that she would leave it to the person, who loved the ranch as much as she, he assumed it would eventually fall into his hands, but it never did. Following her death, he looked for it, but he was never able to find it. He confessed that he had looked for it for years before finally giving up and accepting that it must have been lost. After relaying the story of Jesse’s book and of her promise, he looked up from the pages he had been quietly reviewing, and he said with tears in his eyes, “Barbara, Jesse picked you. You loved the ranch as much as she did.” It makes sense after all. Mom and Jesse were both immigrants to this country, both independent, strong women, who found their home and themselves in Montana. Mom, whose story is linked below (to be linked below), traveled from Germany to America with dad a year or so after they were married. As they have told me many times over the years, she had no idea what a ranch was or what to expect from life there, but as soon as she and dad drove over Bannack pass on what used to be part of the old Red Rock Stage Coach road and she took her first look at the ranch, she knew she belonged. She belonged to the land and knew at once that she belonged in a life of agriculture. Mom now thinks of Jesse every time she wears her diamond dinner ring, because Jesse used to wear it every day, even when she went fishing. And as for Jesse’s ghost, that was also her last night in the brick house. Her ghost has moved on, but her pen and ink portrait will always be with us, with family. –Susan Margret Morse Note: I’ll be posting more historical family vignettes at a new site (in case you are interested): morsestories.wordpress.com Thank you so much to Dr. Morse for sharing this wonderful story with us! If you’d like to check out some great videos of Susan’s grandfather as a teenager on the ranch she also included a link for those. They are a rare treat showcasing cool artifacts of working with draft horses in the early 20th century: https:// morsestories.wordpress.com/portfolio/vignettes/ Fig. 3 Mom’s first view of the Donovan Ranch Would you like to receive our digital quarterly magazine for free? Just send an email with MAGAZINE in the subject to ghosttownsofmontana@gmail.com “Genius is the gold in the mine, talent is the miner who works and brings it out.”-Marguerite Gardiner Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz
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