Interviewer
Gladys Peterson
Files
Description
Bessie Hannon discusses her experience growing up and later raising a family in Darby, Montana, in the Bitterroot Valley. Hannon describes how her father and mother traveled by rail to Montana from Kansas in the 1890s, settled near Chaffin Creek, and later opened Twin Springs Dairy. She remembers working on the farm and attending a one-room school in the Bitterroot Valley then Mount Ellis Academy in Bozeman, before becoming ill and returning home. She recalls her experiences working in Missoula, Bozeman, and Darby during the Great Depression. Bessie describes her marriage and her husband’s work for the U.S. Forest Service and his time working for the Army Engineers Corps in Alaska during World War Two. Hannon concludes by highlighting some of the changes she’s noticed in the Bitterroot Valley since 1901, such as the increasing number of roads, vehicles, and homes.
Although this interview is included in the Montana Educators Oral History Project, the interviewee was not a school teacher, and she only briefly mentions her husband’s short stint as an elementary school teacher.
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Document Type
Oral History
Subjects
Homesteading; Farming; Montana; Bitterroot Valley; Darby, Montana; Chaffin Creek, Montana; Twentieth-Century; Railroad, Montana; Spanish Influenza; U.S. Forest Service; West Fork Ranger Station; Depression, 1929-1939; World War, 1939-1945; Teaching; Community service
Original Date
6-27-1988
Time Period
Twentieth century
Geographic Coverage
Montana
Language
eng
Original Collection
Montana Educators Oral History Project, OH 211, Archives and Special Collections, Mansfield Library, University of Montana-Missoula
Digital Publisher
University of Montana--Missoula. Mansfield Library
Rights
Copyright to this collection is held by the interview participants and by the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, University of Montana-Missoula. Permission may be required for use. For further information please contact Archives and Special Collections: (406) 243-2053 / library.archives@umontana.edu
Oral History Number
OH 211-007
Media Type
Sound; Text
Original Format
1 sound cassette (01:00:00 min.) analog + 1 transcript (17 p.: 28 cm.)]
Digital Format
audio/mp3; application/pdf
Run Time
00:37:44 minutes
Local Filename
OH_211_007.mp3; OH_211_007.pdf
Citation
Hannon, Bessie Marie, "Bessie Marie Hannon Interview, June 27, 1988" (1988). Montana Educators Oral History Project. 5.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/educatorsmontana_interviews/5