Mary J. Buzzell Correspondence and Photographs

Mary J. Buzzell Correspondence and Photographs, 1910-1913

Overview of the Collection

Creator: Buzzell, Mary J. (Mary Johnson), 1866-1954
Title: Mary J. Buzzell Correspondence and Photographs
Dates: 1910-1913
19101913
Quantity: 6 items
Collection Number: Collection 0150, MtBC, us (collection)
Summary: The Mary J. Buzzell Correspondence and Photographs detail the difficulties the Buzzell family had recently faced and detailed some of the operations on their farm and asks for a renewal on a debt from Cowan and Son mercantile. William Cowan copied and sent Buzzell's letter to some of his creditors to illustrate the economic conditions in Montana that had stymied his own efforts in balancing the firm's books. Janney, Semple, Hill and Company, wholesale hardware dealers in Minneapolis, Minnesota, were impressed with the letter and sent Mary Buzzell some magazine subscriptions. These letters, along with two photographs showing the Buzell farm and one of the first apple trees planted in Pondera County, complete this collection.
Repository: Montana State University Library, Merrill G. Burlingame Special Collections
Montana State University-Bozeman Library
Merrill G Burlingame Special Collections
P.O. Box 173320
Bozeman, MT
59717-3320
Telephone: 4069944242
Fax: 4069942851
Access Restrictions: This collection is open for research.
Languages: English
Sponsor: Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

Frank L. Buzzell was born in 1865 in New Hampshire, but he went to the Pacific Northwest later in the nineteenth century where he pursued a career as a clergyman. In 1892 he was listed in the Columbia River Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church as having been elected and ordained as an elder at The Dalles, Oregon. Buzell married Mary Johnson (1866-1954) and the couple had four daughters; Mary, Esther, Ruth, and Katherine. Sometime prior to 1907, Frank Buzzell retired from preaching and moved his family to the Kalispell, Montana area. In that year he purchased from William S. Conrad some farmland about a mile south of the town of Conrad, Montana and began building a home for his family. They took up residence in the spring of 1908. The farm entered a difficult financial period by 1913 but the family remained on the land, practicing a combination of irrigation and dryland farming techniques to raise both fruit and cereal crops. Frank Buzzell died on January 9, 1939.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

In the winter of 1913, Mary J. Buzzell wrote to the Cowan and Son mercantile operation of Box Elder, Montana to ask for a renewal on a $300 debt. In her letter, she described the difficulties the Buzzell family had recently faced and detailed some of the operations on their farm. William Cowan was so taken with the letter that he had it copied and sent to some of his creditors to illustrate the economic conditions in Montana that had stymied his own efforts in balancing the firm's books. Janney, Semple, Hill and Company, wholesale hardware dealers in Minneapolis, Minnesota, were impressed with the letter and sent Mary Buzzell some magazine subscriptions. These letters, along with two photographs showing the Buzell farm and one of the first apple trees planted in Pondera County, complete this collection.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Acquisition Information

Original letters and photographs collected or created by Mary Johnson Buzzell were donated to Montana State University by her daughter, Esther Buzzell Turner, of Ontario, California on August 24, 1964.

Processing Note

This collection was processed 2010 March 24

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

Subordinate Component # 1Return to Top

Container(s): Folder 1

Container(s)	Description	Dates
	1: Mary J. Buzzell, letter to Cowan and Son	December 2, 1913
	2: Janney, Semple, Hill and Co. letter to Cowan and Son	December 6, 1913
	3: Janney, Semple, Hill and Co. letter to Cowan and Son	December 16, 1913
	4: William T. Cowan, letter to Mary J. Buzzell	December 20, 1913
	5: Photograph, The Buzzell Home, South Conrad, Montana	June 1910
	6: Photograph, First Apple Tree in the vicinity of Conrad, Montana

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

Apples-Montana-Pondera County-Photographs
Farm life-Montana-Pondera County
Farmers' spouses-Montana-Pondera County-Correspondence
Farmers-Montana-Pondera County-Economic conditions
Farmhouses-Montana-Pondera County-Photographs
Merchants-Montana-Box Elder-Correspondence
Women-Montana-Pondera County-Correspondence

Personal Names

Buzzell, Frank L.,-1865-1939

Corporate Names

Cowan and Son (Box Elder, Mont.)
Janney, Semple, Hill and Co. (Minneapolis, Minn.)

Family Names

Buzzell family
Buzzell family-Homes and haunts-Montana-Pondera County-Photographs

Geographical Names

Pondera County (Mont.)-Economic conditions-20th century

Form or Genre Terms

Photographs-Montana-Pondera County

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