Hi,

Don't know if you can be of much help as I have to approach this backwards. My grandmother, Addis Miles, born in Ariel, Cowlitz Co., Washington on 23 October 1914 always claimed that her grandfather or great-grandfather was one of the first Sheriff's of Miles City. Her father was Harold Edward Miles and her mother was Dorothy Marie Wright. That is all the information I have. We are trying to find her ancestors. Have you heard of her family or do you possibly know a history of the sheriffs in the area? Thanks.

According to my research there were three men who served as sheriff during the first four years of Miles City [1877-80]:

Hugh J. Hoppy
Thomas Irvine
William H. Bullard

Deputy Sheriffs:

Edward Creely
Louis King
J.W. Johnson
John Conley

Town Marshals:

? Murray
Paulinas McCormick
Henry (Hank)Wormwood
Tom Irvine

If you need Constables and Night Watchmen, I have them.

Kenneth vail

Just stumbled onto your post. I recently inherited my Great Grandfather's hand gun. Family scuttlebutt has it that he was sheriff in MC probably in the 1920s and that this gun was his service weapon. His name was either William or John Casey. Any info is appreciated.

Howdy, curious as to what info you might have on Tom Irvine.

I am looking for info on Liver eating Johnson--family tales and rumor mostly.....
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Try asking this group, they got a lot of info on just about everything that happpened.
If no one anwers with the exact info, they'll surely tell you where to find it.

Just ask amorette.

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Dorman,
I've managed to gather a few things on Tom Irvine. The first source was the Hoopes book. Although, there are several items about Irvine that appear in the accounts of other people. The book has to be studied thru pretty well to find all the references.

By one account [Teddy Blue autobiography] Irvine might well have been considered the best shot in Montana in the late 1870's and 80's. This was with both pistol or rifle. Career cowboy Teddy Blue Abbott said Ivine was the best pistol shot he had ever seen on the frontier.
Since there was no gun ordinance in M.C. in the early years, alot of indescriminate shooting went on in town. In 1879 signs were posted on the main streets denouncing this frivolous activity, but still there were no laws to be enforced by the city police. Tom himself was known to have performed a dazzling shooting exibition right inside a saloon. However, I have yet to find where he had killed a man by gunshot. What with his shooting reputation he probably never had to. This is not to say Irvine didn't carry out the executions of persons sentenced to death by the rope. In one instance two Indians were in the jail house which was maintained by Irvine and awaiting execution. Defiantly, they would not allow such an indignation upon them at the hands of the white man and hung themselves in the jail cell a day before they were scheduled to swing. According to the Dressler Memoirs, Tom was really tiffed over this because the redskins thereby jipped him out of the extra fee he would have received from carrying out their hanging.

There is a 1880 edition of the Yellowstone Journal reporting on how Tom had received by mail order a new model Colt .45 [double-action]. In the article Irvine told how happy he was with the new weapon after putting it through its paces on the target range.

From several accounts, Miles city was considered a relative safe haven for outlaws from Dakota and Wyoming territories who needed a respite from the strains of robbing and pillaging. Very high profile criminals went to M.C. for such refuge. But if there were warrants out any on them, Irvine would always try to serve them and make an arrest.
There are two extant accounts telling of the time in 1879 when none other than the infamous Frank James came to town, trying to lay low.[Or possibly he may have been casing the joint for a proposed bank job.] Frank was spotted and Sheriff Irvine was notified. Irvine and a deputy, although trying not to arouse any suspicion by Frank James, attempted to set a trap and capture the older James brother. But true to form over the span of sixteen years, Frank was again too wily for local law enforcement and slipped out of their grasp.

After serving several terms in various law enforcement positions in Montana, Irvine eventually ended up in Los Angeles where, if memory serves, he died in 1929.

Kenny

Hello all,

My father and I have doing some family history research on my Great- Great Grandfather Harvey S. Faucett. We have in our possesion a genealogy manuscript he edited. In it, it makes mention numerous times of the friendship between H.S. Faucett and Henry "Texas Hank" Wormwood. My dad and I are wondering if anybody as any more info possible, on either of these two men. We have temporarily hit a brick wall on information. Any help would greatly be appericated.

Thanks,

Mark

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Mark,
I have no definitve info about Hank Wormwood. But while doing other research I have accidently found a few tidbits relative to the late 1870s.

Maybe we could propose a trade. I also have located a photo of Wormwood, taken in his prime, wearing guns, cartridge belt and everything.

Kenny

Hello Kenny,

I would be willing to trade information.

Please email me asap with the info you have and I will in turn email you the info we have. Thank you for the response. Hope to hear from you soon. Also please put in the subj. Miles city forum & Wormwood info.

Thank you very much and we await your response,

Mark

email [email protected]

[This message has been edited by Mark M. (edited 8/9/2005).]

C. N. Strevell wrote this about Hank:

"...Hank Wormwood who posed as being a real tough, with long curls tied at the back of neck with a wide blue ribbon such as girls wore. Hank's principal act was parading up and down the street and loafing in the saloons. I never heard of him being involved in any real trouble -- just posing as a bad man."

Greetings Mark,
My name is Bernard Brown and Henry R. Wormwood is my great grand uncle. I have his Texas Rangers silver star badge and a P&M Kill Deer rifle presented to him by L(?) Chaffee for Services 1877. This info is engraved on the right breach plate. It is in poor condition due to many years of storage in a wet summer kitchen on a farm in northern Missouri.
I would appreciate sharing your info with mine if possible. I have a few family pictures of that era but none of him. I'm excited that you may have one in your possession.
Thank you in advance.
Bernie

There were/are at least two Miles families here in MC over the years. The only one I knew of was a Mildred Miles, but cannot provide any other info except she lived here in the 1950s.

Addis Miles was daughter of Harold, granddaughter of Frank, greatgranddaughter of Robert.

I did not find one listed as sheriff in Miles City.

Robert J Miles born Virginia about 1823 and his second wife Margaret E Moore born in Ohio about 1835, married 1858 Muskingum Co, Ohio.
Robert & his first wife Rebecca had Joseph, James, John, Emma, Sarah...and with second wife Delila, Anna,Frank, Henry(Frederick), Fred.
Robert & sons were coal miners living in Muskingum, Zanesville, from 1850 through 1880 censuses.
In 1900 Butte, Montana census Frank & brother Henry are custodians of reservoir. Frank &Cora, children Robert G, Harold.
1910 Butte, Frank, Cora, Harold, MaryB, RuthA.
1920 Cowlitz co, WA, Frank, Cora, MaryB, Ruth
1930 Cowlitz, Reno, WA, Frank H 65, Cora 62, Ruth 23
Frank Huston Miles death cert, 28July1940, CowlitzcCo, Washington, fa Robert J Miles, mo Margaret Moore.

My Grandmother Anne Casey was a Reed, possibly Reid? She was not born into that family. Her siblings were Cassie, Ray and Hector that I know of. I visited her mother, possibly Catherine, when I was a child in 1974 or 1975 and she suffered pretty significant Alzheimer's at that time.
According to my father, Ray Wilson was Anne's half-brother. Cassie may have also been a Wilson. I do not know what Hector's last name was. When he was about 19, Ray Wilson enlisted in the military. The recruiting examiner knew the family and told Ray he was not a Wilson but was a Reed and put that name on the paperwork. Possibly to avoid difficulty with his enlistment, Ray changed his name to Reed (Reid?).
Anne married Curtis Casey, who's grandfather was William John Casey, born 1854 in England according to this site. William John was married to Bertha, born in Germany. One of his sons was also William John who lived at 519 Washington St in Miles City, again according to this site. William John Casey Sr.'s oldest son was Charles E. Casey, born in 1883 to Bertha, before she married William. Charles was my great grandfather.
I also would like to know about William John SR. I am a deputy Sheriff myself and would love to know for sure whether I am the first or second deputy in my direct lineage.

I read some obits, death indexes, grave markers, marriage certificates, a ship's manifest, and some census records to determine the family identity of Curtis Casey's wife Annie. She was daughter of John W (Jack) Reid and Elizabeth Marshall Brown. Both parents are buried in the Miles City Custer County Cemetery.

First her mother-
Elizabeth Marshall Brown was born in 1880 in Struthers, St Andrews, FifeshireCo, Scotland. Parents were William Brown and Marjory Rolland. On 26 Dec 1900 she had a daughter named Marjory, according to ship manifest born in Scotland. I do not know father's name.
1906 Aug 13 Elizabeth (called Lizzie M Brown) age 26 married Roderick McLeod of Miles City, age 30 born Scotland (Alexander McLeod & Margaret McKenzie).

1910 MT Jordan- McLeod, Roderick 34, Elizabeth 30, Hector W 2.
1910 MT Jordan- same ranch- Reid brothers John & Joseph born England

1912 Sept 21 Elizabeth McLeod traveled back (SSCalifornia from Glasgow to NY) from father Wm Brown Srathtyrun, Scotland to Miles City with her two children Marjoria 11 born Scot, son Hector W 4 born in USA....note daughter goes by McLeod but born years previous to marriage.

1912 Nov 14 Miles City, marriage, Presbyterian ceremony, Elizabeth Marshall McLeod, 32, divorced,
to John Reid 41 single, born Ryton, England, he was son of Daniel Reid and Ann Wheeler.
Elizabeth born Struthers, Scotland, parents Wm Brown and Marjory Rolland.

1916 Aug 15 grave marker Custer County Cemetery. Baby Reid
1916 Aug 16 grave marker Custer Co Cemetery. Elizabeth Reid born 1880.
1920 MT Ambruster, Garfield County- John Reid 48 widowed foreman stock ranch, Hector W 12 stepson, Anne W 6 daug, John W 4 son, Eddie L Mellott 19 laborer.
....
John Reid married widow Kathryn Wilson mother of 4 children...their combined household included his first wife Elizabeth's son Hector McLeod who went by Hector Reid. Hector ended up marrying Kathryn's daughter Cassie Kathryn Wilson.
Kathryn was widow of Fred Wilson.

1920 ND Grand Forks- Wilson, Catherine widow 32, children: Frances J 9, Catherine 8, Evelyn M 6, Fred Ray 1.

1920 July 17 marriage, Catholic priest JJ O'Carroll.
John Reid 48 widower born England, residence Jordan..son of Daniel Reid & Anna Wheeler
Catherine (also spelled Katherine) Wilson 32 widow born North Dakota, residence Jordan...daug of Philip McLaughlin & Josephine Mulchina. Witnesses Joseph Reid & Mrs JC Matters.

1927 Sept 22 death of Jack W Reid (born 1870)

1930 MT Custer Co, Miles City
Reed-Kathryn 39 widowed ND, parents Ireland
Hector 22 lodger foster son, MT, Scot, Scot
Frances 17 daug WA, Illinois, ND
Kathryn 17 daug ND, Illinois, ND
Annie 16 step daug MT, Eng, Scot
Louise 16 daug Ind, Illinois, ND
John 15, step son MT, Eng, Scot
Raymond son MT, Illinois, ND

Also Hector was enumerated next door to Joseph Reid (born 31 March 1881 England) in Custer County, they were camp tenders for a sheep ranch.
1940 MT Custer- Hector Reid 33 foreman sheep ranch, single.
1943 Hector William McLeod changed to Reid married at St Patrick's in San Francisco to Cassie Catherine Wilson. From Cassie's 2008 Sept 27 obit; age 96, Miles City.

...
Joe Reid (1881-1937) buried by brother Jack W Reid in Custer County Cemetery...
...
Ray Reid was WWII Bronze star recipient. (1918-2010)
...
1940 (same residence 1935) MT Custer Miles City
400 Tatro Street
Casey, Curtis, 29, WPA laborer, 2nd yr high school education
Annie, 26
Raymond 3
Keith 9/12
Kathleen 9/12
...
Note**Marriage for Elizabeth Marshall Brown's daughter that was born in 1900 in Scotland named Marjorie.
1929 Jan 17
Terry, Montana
Marjorie McLeod born 26 Dec 1900, Scotland
she listed father as Roderick McLeod
mother Elizabeth Brown
Spouse Harold L Jones

David,

Thanks for responding to my query after so long since I posted it.

I'm visiting Miles city now and after speaking with local sources, I've learned that all the historical city police records from that period were destroyed and the county sheriff reviewed his records with no indication of William John Casey having ever being employed there. I guess my family figured that if he had a gun, he must be in law enforcement.

Last year my wife & I visited Newport News, VA where I had heard William John Casey Sr. was buried. We located the burial site and discovered he had no grave marker. I've spent the past year or so soliciting the remaining family members to assist in getting a marker in place, I'm very pleased to report that in Mar. of this year the marker was placed and a photo can be found at: FindaGrave.com Reference number 57838434.

I'd like to hear from you about other family info you may have. I'm pleased to share my info with you.

Doug Skramstad

My Mom is a Faucett. Her family was mostly from Minnesota area. I have looked to see if a connection with Harvey S and have not been able to find it. There are a couple of pictures of him in my Mom's family albums. She is 95 and still sharp. Does not know who he was. I have tried on my Ancestry.com site but still clueless. Any information appreciated. I have found the artiles on Google about him but no family ino.

Hello,
My Grandma was Lola Reed (Reid?) from Lewistown, MT. I spell the last names different because her birth certificate says Reed but her obituary says Reid. I'm trying to trace her ancestry back (my mom is deceased) and the discussion about the Reid Brothers intrigued me. Were these the same brothers that had the Montana Ranch Company and raised hereford cattle in the early 1900s? In my research, I came across a brand book listing Reid Brothers as the breeders of these cattle, but I can't find where they were from.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Mary Heller