DECEMBER 2024 Ghost Towns and History of Montana Newsletter From The Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Dec. 24, 1920 Bannack– Part 2 Accessed via: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ In mid-September 1863, after traveling for more than three months by wagon from Omaha, Nebraska, a small party of weary travelers reach Bannack. They were newly appointed Idaho Chief Justice Sidney Edgerton (future Montana Territorial Governor); his wife, Mary; their four children; Harriet and Wilbur Sanders (Edgerton’s nephew) and their two children; Lucia Darling (Edgerton’s niece); and Henry Tilden (another Edgerton nephew). For the most part, the streets and shops of Bannack were considered unsafe or unfit for genteel women. Not many families dared to live in such an environment, but those who did were determined to see their children educated. In the summer of 1863, Mrs. Henry Zoller set up a “subscription school” in her home, charging parents $2 a week to teach their children. Unfortunately, Mrs. Zoller’s tutelage lasted only two months. Of the fall of 1864, Lucia Darling wrote, “Bannack was tumultuous and rough, the headquarters of a band of highwaymen, and lawlessness and misrule seemed to be the prevailing spirit of the place. But into this little town had drifted many worthy people who unbendingly held firmly to their principles of right. There were few families there, and the parents were anxious to have their children in school.” So she improvised a school in her unSunlight illuminates the Bannack Church. (Photo by Rick and Susie Graetz)
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