Flynn Family Papers, 1882-1995

Michael Dennis Flynn Senior immigrated to the United States from County Roscommon, Ireland in 1859. Flynn Sr. and his wife, Catherine Hogan Flynn, landed in the Missoula Valley in western Montana on July 4, 1872 where they eventually purchased land that became the Flynn Ranch. They maintained the ranch with the help of their seven children (listed by age, oldest to youngest): Bridget Ellen "Nellie", Bernard Joseph, Phillip Francis, John Julian, Michael Dennis Junior, James Jacob, and Dennis Francis. On the ranch, the Flynns raised grain, hay, horses, cattle, and sugar beets. Flynn Sr. dug the Hellgate Valley Irrigation Ditch with the help of his friend Con Lowney and a horse-drawn slip scraper. By the time Flynn Sr. died in 1910, the ranch was 1,374 acres, and generations of Flynn family members worked and maintained the ranch into the 21st century. Catherine Hogan Flynn died in 1925, fifteen years after her husband.

Although the Flynn family history begins in Missoula with farming, grandson of Flynn Sr., George Elmer Flynn, pursued a joint career in ranching as well as politics. George Elmer was born in January of 1919 to John Julian Flynn and Mary Helterline Flynn, and married Mary Alice Ahern in 1939. George Elmer Flynn served as a democrat in the Montana House of Representatives from 1963 to 1966, and served in the Montana State Senate from 1967 to 1978. George Elmer Flynn died on December 25, 1995 in Missoula, Montana.