This collection is open for research.
Donated by Sherry Mercia in 1974.
Julia A. Bembrick was born on May 27, 1880, in Radersburg, Montana to Benjamin and Lulu Bembrick. She attended schools in Radersburg and Toston. Bembrick married Anson Bennet in 1904. Together, they had a son, Donald, and a daughter, Marjorie. They eventually divorced in 1918.
In 1920, Bennet was hired to work at the Nine Quarter Circle Ranch in the Gallatin Canyon. Here she was encouraged to purchase and run her own dude ranch. In 1930, she began building the Diamond J Dude Ranch near Ennis, Montana. In 1937, Bennett started another ranch, the Diamond W, near Tucson, Arizona. Bennet operated these ranches until 1957 and 1950 respectively.
Julia Bennett died on October 25, 1971, at the Bozeman Deaconess Hospital.
[Creator Name], [Date of Creation], [Brief Description of Object], Folder [#], Box [#], [Collection Name], [Collection #], Montana State University (MSU) Library, Bozeman, MT
Collection was processed in February 2026.
This collection contains photocopied manuscripts written by Julia Bennett, along with a newspaper clipping containing her obituary. The manuscripts include draft memoirs detailing the lives of Bennett's parents, Benjamin and Lulu Bembrick, her early life, and her later dude ranch business ventures. Additional manuscripts document the people she worked for and alongside during her time from 1920 to 1929 at the Nine Quarter Circle Ranch in Gallatin Canyon, where she was employed as a cook by two families, the Butlers and the Kilbournes. Although Bennett interacted with many other employees there, a man she referred to as "English Tom" appears most prominently throughout her memoirs. She also writes about building and designing her own ranches, including the Diamond J Ranch near Ennis, Montana, in 1929, and the creation of a second property, the Diamond W Ranch near Tucson, Arizona, in 1936, as well as the financial difficulties she faced during the early years of these ventures.
The collection also includes a narrative manuscript about a group known as the Cowan Party visiting Yellowstone National Park and being ambushed by Native Americans. An additional manuscript focuses specifically on "English Tom."