Sidney Edgerton was born at Cazenovia, New York, on August 17, 1818. He moved to Ohio in 1849 and studied law in Akron, Tallmadge, and Cincinnati. An active politician during the 1850s, he was one of the members of the convention which formed the Republican Party in 1856 and was elected to Congress in 1858 and 1860.
In 1863, he received the appointment as chief justice of the newly formed territory of Idaho which then included Montana. He left Akron, Ohio, on June 1, 1863, accompanied by his wife Mary and their children, his nephew, Wilbur F. Sanders, and several others. They traveled the Missouri River by steamboat to Omaha, Nebraska, where they joined a party going to Lewiston, Idaho. The group traveled by ox wagon via the Platte River, Fort Laramie, South Pass, and Red Rock into Bannack where they were forced to stop on September 17, 1863, because of the onset of winter weather. Sidney Edgerton returned to Washington in the fall of 1863, carrying gold in the lining of his coat to display to congressmen, and succeeded in getting a bill passed creating the territory of Montana and defining its present boundaries. On the return trip, he learned of his appointment by Lincoln as the first governor of Montana Territory. He held that position until July 1865, when he took his family back to Ohio. He died in Akron, Ohio, July 19, 1900, at the age of 82.
The members of Edgerton's family and wagon-train party were also to become prominent in Montana. Wilbur F. Sanders became a famous vigilante and politician and was Montana's first U.S. Senator. Martha Edgerton Rolfe Plassmann, the oldest daughter, became a writer of early Montana history, and Lucia Darling, a niece, has often been credited with having been Montana's first school teacher.
This collection contains general correspondence of members of the Sidney Edgerton family including letters (1859-1884) written while crossing the plains, and later while living in Bannack, Montana Territory. Correspondents include Sidney Edgerton, Mary Wright Edgerton, Martha "Mattie" Edgerton Rolfe, (Mary) Pauline Edgerton, Wright Prescott Edgerton, and Lucia Aurora Darling. Also included in Sidney Edgerton's papers is biographical material in the form of clippings maintained originally as a scrapbook; legal documents, including his official appointment as territorial governor; a treaty signed by Chief Victor; and a speech concerning slavery. The collection generally provides information on frontier and pioneer life, crossing the plains by covered wagon, local issues in Bannack, Montana (including information on road-agents and vigilantes), and early political organization in Montana.
Arranged by subgroups and series. Legal series material in Lucia Aurora Darling subgroup housed in oversize box.
Collection is 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]. Sidney Edgerton Family papers. MC 26. [box and folder numbers]. Montana Historical Society Research Center. Archives. Helena, Montana.
Acquisition information available upon request
Martha Edgerton Plassmann's autobiography and other writings are contained in the Martha Edgerton Plassmann papers, MC 78.
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.
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection