Montana Historical SocietyArchives
MC 61
Stuart, Granville, 1834-1918
Granville Stuart
papers
1863-1918
1.5 linear feet of shelf
space
Granville Stuart (1834-1918) was a
pioneer Montana miner and cattleman. Papers include biographical material; a
diary (1894) of a trip to France; two volumes of outgoing correspondence
(1868-1880, 1890-1892) concerning mining and livestock; general correspondence
(1863-1918); a DHS Ranch account ledger (1881-1882); a financial account book
(1865); an "Historical Sketch of Deer Lodge County" (1876); three weather
journals (1867-1880); scrapbooks; and miscellany. Miscellaneous outgoing correspondence includes a letter
(1894) to Pomp Dennis concerning details of Dennis's escape from the Sioux in
1868.
4:3-7
English
Granville Stuart was born August 27, 1834,
near what is now Clarksburg, West Virginia. In 1837 he moved west with his
family to Iowa. After their father went to California in 1849, Granville and
his brother James Stuart followed west to join him in 1852. The Stuart brothers
remained there prospecting until 1857 when they attempted to return to Iowa.
However, the Mormon War in Utah blocked the trail and caused the brothers to go
north to what later became Montana. They prospected for gold in the Deer Lodge
Valley, making the first strike at Gold Creek in 1858. During the 1860s
Granville and James worked mainly as prospectors and small merchants in various
Montana mining camps. After James' death in 1873, Granville suffered financial
reverses, and by 1876 had become a bookkeeper for Samuel T. Hauser's First
National Bank of Helena. In 1879 he formed, with Hauser, Andrew J. Davis and
Erwin Davis, a cattle-raising enterprise, Davis, Hauser and Company, using the
brand DHS. The partners made Stuart general manager and superintendent of the
company, a position he held until the spring of 1887. From 1894 to 1898, Stuart
served as United States ambassador to Paraguay and Uruguay, a post he obtained
through the assistance of Hauser and Russell Harrison. He returned to Montana
in 1899, and in his final years, served as librarian of the Butte Public
Library. Granville Stuart was the first secretary of the Montana Historical
Society and served as its president from 1890 to 1895. In 1886 to 1887, he was
president of the Society of Montana Pioneers, and for seven years he served as
president of the Board of Stock Commissioners, resigning his post in 1891.
Although he never completed the history of Montana the legislature commissioned
him to write, he did publish Montana As It Is in 1865, and in 1925, a selection
of his and James' journals was published under the title, Forty Years on the
Frontier. Granville Stuart died in Missoula on October 2, 1918.
Papers. 1863-1918. 1.5 linear feet.
The Granville Stuart Papers consist of biographical materials; a diary (1894)
of a trip to France; two outgoing letterpress volumes (1868-1880, 1890-1892)
dealing with mining and livestock matters, which also include short articles on
early Montana life; general correspondence (1863-1918); an account ledger
(1881-1882) for the DHS Ranch; "Historical Sketch of Deer Lodge County" (1876);
scrapbooks; and miscellany. Included in miscellaneous outgoing correspondence
is a letter (1894) to Pomp Dennis re the details of Dennis's escape from the
Sioux in 1868.
Arranged by series. Some material housed in manuscript volumes. See inventory below
for more information.
Collection open for research.
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of the Montana Historical Society.
The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collection. In some cases
permission for use may require additional authorization from the copyright owners. For more
information contact an archivist.
Item description and date. Collection Title. Collection Number. Box and Folder numbers. Montana Historical
Society Research Center, Archives, Helena, Montana.
Acquisition information
available upon request
Portions of collection on
indefinite loan from University of Montana Archives; other portions separated
from Anaconda Copper Mining Company Records (MC 169), and transferred from
Museum and Library.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the Montana
Historical Society Archives catalog. Researchers desiring materials about
related topics, persons, or places should search under these terms.
Stuart, Granville, 1834-1918
DHS Ranch (Fort
Maginnis, Mont.)
Deer Lodge
County (Mont.)
Deer Lodge
(Mont.)
Fergus County
(Mont.)
Cattle
Ranches--Montana
Mines and
Mineral Resources--Montana
Ranches
Montana
Pioneers
Diaries
Agriculture
Detailed Description of the Collection
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in
the collection
Biographical Material
1 / 1
"Origin of the Stuart
Family," "Granville Stuart"; miscellany
1873, 1902,
undated
Incoming Correspondence
1 / 2
A-W (correspondents include
Thomas Adams, John F. Athey, Mary Crosby [Montana Industrial School for
Indians], Fountain M. Dennis, James Fergus, John N. Hall, Julia A. Hall,
Meagher County Clerk, David A. Phelps, Nancy Lawrence Stuart [mother], Samuel
Stuart [brother], P. Tofft)
1863-1894
Outgoing Correspondence
1 / 3-4
Letterpress books
1868-1880,
1890-1892
1 / 5
Miscellaneous [some are
photocopies from other repositories]
1873-1903
General Correspondence
1 / 6
A-G (correspondents include
Mrs. A.E. Allison, M.D. Baldwin, Mrs. W.E. Bass, Horace Brewster, A. Bessett,
J.C. Brummer, Frank D. Brown, Amos Buck, Henry Cannon, William A. Clark Jr.,
Charles K. Cole, Byron E. Cooney, John M. Evans, George Bird Grinnell; many are
related to Stuart's compilation of information for book on history of Montana)
1916-1918
1 / 7
H-K (correspondents include
Frank W. Haskins, Samuel T. Hauser, Thomas Hauser, George H. Hill, S. S.
Hobson, A.M. Holter, N.B. Holter, Elizabeth Thornton Hough, Thomas H. Irvine,
Charles N. Kessler, James Kirkpatrick, George W. Korte; many are related to
Stuart's compilation of information for book on history of Montana)
1911-1918
1 / 8
L-R (correspondents include
E.B. Largent, J.P. Lippincott Company, W.J. McConnell, Robert L. McCulloh, E.P.
Mathewson, Charles Mattison, Mary E. Mitchell, W.Y. Pemberton, Henry L. Myers,
National Historical Society, A.J. Noyes, J.M. Pope, T.C. Power, Adolphus Ragan,
John E. Rees, S.J. Ritchey, John D. Ryan; many are related to Stuart's
compilation of information for book on history of Montana)
1916-1918
1 / 9
S-W (correspondents include
James U. Sanders, J.F. Saville, William Scallon, A.J. Seligman, South Dakota
Dept. of History, S.V. Stewart, Nelson Story, Tom Stout, William B. Thompson,
Lucille Thornton, W. D. Thornton, Thomas J. Walsh, Charles S. Warren; many are
related to Stuart's compilation of information for book on history of Montana)
1911-1918
Diaries
1 / 10
Diary (re visit to London
and Paris on way to Uruguay)
1894
Financial Records
2 / 1
Bank statement from Helena
National Bank
1881-1882
1
Ledger: DHS Ranch
1881-1882
2 / 2
Notebooks: account of mining
transaction, Idaho accounts
1896-1897,
1902-1903
2 / 3
Personal financial account
book
1865
Legal Documents
2 / 4
Mineral certificate for
Little Etta claim; copy of mining deed for Hope Mining Company; contract for
half interest in property on McDonald Creek
1879-1901
Writings
2 / 5
"Historical Sketch of Deer
Lodge County"
1876
Clippings
2 / 6
Scrapbook (re poetry,
literature, philosophy, etc.)
1870-1892
2-3
Scrapbooks (miscellaneous)
1874-1901,
1902-1905
2 / 7
Scrapbook (re 13th
Territorial Legislature; 1900 election)
1883, 1900
Miscellany
3 / 1
Certificates and resolutions
1894, 1918
3 / 2
Notebook: Spanish and French
dictionary
1895, 1897
3 / 3
Weather and meteorological
journal (includes comment on 1905 fire in Butte)
1867-1872
3 / 4
Weather and meteorological
journal (includes comment on death of James Stuart)
1872-1879
3 / 5
Weather and meteorological
journal
Jan.-June
1880
3 / 6
Miscellaneous (includes
resolution of support by members of 13th Territorial Legislature; notes on gun
entrusted to Teddy Blue Abbott; list of sketches by Granville Stuart; list,
possibly of members of Bates Expedition)
undated