"Beaumont" Property history
Beaumont Homestead
The name comes from Samuel Beaumont, born on February 11th, 1846, in Huddersfield, England. Like many early settlers in the West, he came from an educated family that produced wool fabrics for the English military but, being a younger sibling, he did not inherit the family business. So, in 1869 at the age of 23, he moved on to America and landed in Ellis Island, NY.
The following year he made the trip to the Deer Lodge Valley where he established his homestead ranch, which eventually encompassed approximately 1,200 acres (about twice the area of Central Park in New York City). All but 100 of these acres were sold off to neighboring ranchers, including the Grant Kohrs Ranch in the early 1900’s.
Foundation of the Beaumont Family
Deer Lodge is where Samuel met his wife, Emma (Anderson). Emma was a part of the Danish people that were recruited by the Mormon Church to come to the U.S. However, they soon became disillusioned with their original mission and changed their course to places such as Omaha and Soda Springs, then finally to Deer Lodge when there was land to be had for farming. She eventually became a nursemaid to the children of W.A. Clark’s sister and travelled to many places with them – this is presumed to be how she and Samuel came to know each other. They were married in December of 1885 and had their first son George Samuel Beaumont. Within the following years, they had two more sons - William Turner, and Edward Thomas.
Deer Lodge Legacy
Samuel and his cousin, Joseph Lodge, held many real estate properties in Deer Lodge. The most prominent being the 201 Main St. Beaumont Building in which they ran a meat market and grocery business that served the valley and neighboring gold and silver mines – something of which Samuel had also owned. He had one of the top ten production silver mines in the district during the era, patenting it as the ‘Emma Darling Mine,’ after his beloved wife. His business interest thrived.
In 1890, Samuel and Joseph had a dispute with a tenant on a commercial property involved in a divorce action. The tenant claimed the divorce released them from the money that was owed to Beaumont and Lodge. The dispute went through the territorial court system, and both Beaumont and Lodge were unhappy with the ruling, so they appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. On April 28th of the same year, the Supreme Court ruled in their favor, establishing a precedent that still stands as settled law today.
Within a couple of years, his brother William Beaumont and his family came from England to join him here in the Deer Lodge Valley. However, in 1892, William unexpectedly died in a dentist’s chair at the age of 34, leaving behind a young wife, Margaret Kerush, and five daughters. Samuel took on the responsibility of supporting his brother’s widow for her lifetime and educating his five nieces with his own three sons.
Having his own mine and being heavily invested in the Larabie Bank, it is believed that Samuel’s health started declining in 1893 after suffering a stroke during the “Silver Panic” - the year of the fall of silver mining, not only in the Deer Lodge Valley, but across the entire state. However, as a man that seemed rather determined, he survived another 15 years. Samuel Beaumont passed away on his ranch property in Deer Lodge at the age of 62 years old and is buried in Hillcrest Cemetery alongside his wife, Emma.
Arriving at the Beaumont Subdivision
George had gotten married young and left to be a part of the Milwaukee Railroad in Louisiana. Edward went east to attend college but ended up working for the railroad, as well. William, however, stayed on the property and lived in the house with his mother. He ended up finding a nice Deer Lodge girl by the name of Olive. He was the county accessor for many years until he got a government job in Washington D.C. in 1943.
Emma had fallen ill in 1946 while William and his family were away, and soon passed. It was decided then to rent the property until 1955 when William and Olive moved back to Montana.
After William had passed away in 1975, his wife gave their two children the property. The two of them came to the agreement that if anyone ever approached them and ask to buy it, they would sell it because they always knew that Deer Lodge would at one point need the land and that it should have houses on it. Little did they know that 2023 would be the year that that would come.