Francis Lyman Worden was born in Vermont in 1830 and attended school in Troy, New York. He began clerking in a store when he was fourteen. In 1852, he went to San Francisco, California, and clerked in another store there. He then went to Oregon, mined for a year, and settled in The Dalles, where he participated in the Indian wars of 1855. He worked as clerk in the Indian Department under Isaac J. Stephens. He moved to Walla Walla, Washington Territory and opened a store there. He was also postmaster of Walla Walla for two years.
In 1860 he formed a partnership with Christopher P. Higgins and they located in Hell Gate, Washington Territory. Soon afterward, they moved their business to Missoula, Washington Territory, and started the first store in that town, Worden and Company.
In 1862, prospectors discovered gold on Gold Creek east of Missoula, and Worden and Higgins went to that area to supply the mining camps until 1863. They then moved to Deer Lodge and opened the first store in that town. In 1864, they built a sawmill and gristmill, and in 1866 completed a milling operation. In 1868, they sold their interests in Deer Lodge and, with Washington J. McCormick, laid out 100 acres of the townsite of Missoula, Montana Territory.
Worden and Company prospered and by 1865 the company’s holdings also included a saw and gristmill on the present site of Missoula. Worden and Higgins laid out the townsite, built bridges, established a water works and bank, and generally fostered the town’s growth. Both men were active in territorial politics and had diverse side interests. Worden and Company were clearly the dominant mercantile establishment in Western Montana until the late 1870s when Eddy, Hammond and Company entered into serious competition. In July, 1886, in attempt to gain more capital, Worden and Company merged with Murphy, Hart and Company, a general merchandise company, to form Murphy-Worden and Company. In 1902, the Murphy-Worden Company was replaced by Murphy-Greenough and Company, which continued exclusively as a grocery store in the same location.
Worden married Lucretia Miller at Frenchtown, Montana Territory, in 1866. They had seven children: Lucina L., Henry O., Carrie M., Louise M., Frank L., Horace B., and Ruth M. Worden died on 5 February 1887; Mrs. Worden died in 1913 at the age of sixty-one.
This collection includes personal, biographical, correspondence, financial, and legal records generated or collected by Francis L. Worden, Worden family and friends, employees of Worden and Company, and associates of Worden family businesses prior to 1900. Collection materials provide insights into Worden family assets and relations, Worden and Company daily operational practices, the long-term financial developments of Missoula's first general merchandiser, and Montana's early political processes and cultural history. Included are some of the earliest records of commercial activity in the Clark Fork River valley and documents providing details on the founding and early history of Missoula.
The collection is divided into three subgroups, then fifteen series:
Subgroup 1: Francis L. Worden, 1852-1940, 0.5 linear feet
Series I: Family Papers, 1848-1940, 7 folders
Series II: Correspondence, 1852-1885, 9 folders
Series III: Financial and Legal, 1852-1898, 6 folders
Series IV: Subject Files and Printed Materials, 1854-1898, 8 folders
Subgroup 2: Worden and Company, 1860-1892, 3.75 linear feet and 79 volumes
Series V: Correspondence, 1871-1886, 0.5 linear feet
Series VI: Legal, 1866-1891, 3 folders
Series VII: Financial, 1859-1892, 3.0 linear feet and 79 volumes
Subgroup 3: Other Businesses, 1864-1915, 0.75 linear feet and 6 volumes
Series VIII: Alex Dow, 1901-1904, 2 folders and 2 volumes
Series IX: Arthur H. Ross, 1870-1874, 0.25 linear feet
Series X: G. A. Baker, 1875, 1 folder
Series XI: William G. Cooke and Company, 1864-1865, 1 folder
Series XII: Murphy-Greenough Company, 1903, 1 folder
Series XIII: Dilassus and Rice, 1875-1876, 1 volume
Series XIV: Unidentified Store, 1878-1885, 1 folder
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of Archives and Special Collections, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, and The University of Montana-Missoula.
Researchers are responsible for using in accordance with 17 U.S.C. and any other applicable statutes. Copyright not transferred to The University of Montana.
[Name of document or photograph number], Francis L. Worden Papers, Archives and Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, The University of Montana-Missoula.
Most of the materials in the collection remained in possession of the Worden family until donation to the Archives.
The main portion of the collection (former LC 21) was received from the Joseph Dixon family in 1953. Two ledgers were purchased from Stan Cohen in 1985. Three volumes (former SC 277) were transferred from the Missoula Public Library in 1985. Additional materials (former LC 211) were received from Jane Worden Muchmore McAlear in 1987; only one ledger was included in this collection, with the remainder processed as Mss 382, the papers of Worden's son, Frank.
The records were originally processed as four separate collections: LC 21, LC 211, SC 244, and SC 277 and labeled as Worden and Company Records. In 2004, the collections were combined, fully described, and re-titled the Francis L. Worden Papers.
During 2004 reprocessing five volumes from LC 211 (directly related to the business enterprises of Frank L. Worden, second son of Francis L. Worden) were seperated from Mss 21, assigned a distinct manuscript number (Mss 382), and fully described.
Records of the Worden and Company successor company, Murphy-Worden and Company, are located in collection Mss 568 at the K. Ross Toole Archives.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
This subgroup contains personal, biographical, correspondence, financial, and legal documents from Francis L. Worden and his descendents.
This series contains typescripts of a letter from Francis L. Worden to an uncle and other documents presenting biographical information on the Worden family in Missoula. Among these documents are Francis L. Worden's commission as Missoula Post Master, an 1878 stage coach ticket, an invitation to Cina Worden's wedding, documents from Francis L. Worden's involvement with the Universalist congregation of Troy N.Y., newspaper clippings, a Missoula City Historical office report on the house Francis L. Worden built on Pine Street, and short biographical descriptions of the Worden family and descendents. This last sequence includes correspondence from Horace B. Worden encouraging his nieces and nephews to participate in documenting the contemporary generations of Worden family descendents as a contribution to Missoula's 75th anniversary celebrations.
volume 126
This series contains correspondence records collected and generated by members of the Worden family, particularly Francis L. Worden. Correspondents include some of the most prominent political figures and business operations in the Pacific Northwest.
This series contains financial and legal documents generated by the Worden and Company. Materials include family insurance records, a limited sequence of business records from Francis L. Worden's activities prior to arriving in western Montana, location notices and personal contracts for financial investments outside of Worden and Company operations, and estate records for both C.P. Higgins and Francis L. Worden--including court records resulting from a challenge to Worden's will. These records provide insights into Worden family assets and relations.
This series contains a mix of professionally printed materials and handwritten documents. Materials detail some of the Worden family's social and business associates as well as reflecting their personal interests in Montana's political process and cultural history.
This subgroup contains correspondence, legal, and financial records generated by Worden and Company leaders and employees. These records provide significant insights into the operational practices and economic developments of Missoula's first general merchandiser.
This series contains five volumes of outgoing correspondence from Worden and Company personnel to clients, suppliers, other mercantile operators, and political leaders. These materials provide insights into Worden and Company business practices, organizational structures, and operational adjustments in response to changing economic conditions, particularly the opening of Eddy, Hammond and Company's Front Street (Missoula, Montana) store in 1877.
This series contains legal documents generated by Worden and Company and related business ventures of Francis L. Worden and C.P. Higgins. Materials include the Missoula Load mining claim submitted by C.P. Higgins and other seminal Missoula businessmen, an extensive file of property indentures and real estate claims acquired by Worden and Company, and a sequence of stock representation proxy statements and power of attorney declarations--including several transferring business decision authority from Worden family members to Francis L. Worden's son, Frank L. Worden.
This series contains financial records generated by Worden and Company, Missoula, Montana, and direct subsidiaries of this business. The series includes 16 subseries of bound volumes ranging from general ledgers to daily transaction registers, from store inventories to federal requisition registers. The series also includes business insurance records, receipts issued by both Montana Territorial and State officials for supply requisitions, notes from store clients authorizing representatives to charge supplies on account, and Worden family stock certificates issued by the Murphy-Worden Mercantile Company--the direct successor to the Francis L. Worden and C.P. Higgins partnership. Subseries 2 includes a day book (volume 6A) that contains the first entries for the Worden and Company store at Hell Gate, Montana. These records detail the daily operational practices and long-term financial developments of Missoula's first general merchandiser.
Also archived on microfilm; researchers are encouraged to view these materials on microfilm before requesting the original bound volume.
This subgroup contains financial records from businesses owned by or affiliated with the Worden family. Except where noted in the series descriptions, insufficient records exist in this collection to define the exact relationship between these businesses and the Worden family.
This series contains financial records generated by Alex Dow, a businessman affiliated with the Worden family.
This series contains financial records generated by Arthur H. Ross, a businessman affiliated with the Worden family.
This series contains an account ledger generated by G.A. Baker, a general merchandiser who sold his business to the Worden family in 1876.
This series contains a general ledger generated by William G. Cooke and Company, a business affiliated with the Worden family.
This series contains an inventory record generated by Murphy-Greenough and Company, a grocery store successor to Worden and Company at the mercantile's original location.
This series contains an account ledger generated by Dilassus and Rice, a general store affiliated with the Worden family.
This series contains one bound volume of financial records from an unidentified business affiliated with the Worden Family. The business was a general merchandising operation and was likely located within an American Indian reservation in the Pacific Northwest.