Subject: Madeline Stannard Bedal
Hi
For over a year, I've been collecting the folk stories of Madeline Stannard Bedal (of Fielding, (Stannard Creek is named after her family), and, later, Whitefish. She would like to send her stories to interested folks.
She is at the Westlake retirement center in Fremont, CA and was born in 1914. Her family homesteaded in Fielding. She's an excellent storyteller. I take down her stories verbatim (she's legally blind) and type them up, read them back, and she makes small corrections.
I have been trained in folklore collection at UC Berkeley with Professor Dundes. I have not applied analysis to the stories as they're folk narrative. We've a class called Memoirs with Maureen.
I am a Montana Arts Council artist in residence and was listed with MAC during the 1980s and 1990s. I taught poetry in Laurel, MO.
Maureen Hurley
295 A MacArthur Blvd
Oakland Ca 94610
Hello Maureen Hurley,
Your message, below, was forwarded to me and I find it interesting not the least because my father was born in Kalispell in 1896 and he knew a George Stannard. I also had a Mr. Stannard as a geometry teacher in 1961 at Helena High.
Other than informing us of your research, I wasn't able to understand exactly why you contacted us. Perhaps a part of the message was cut off. See below. It seems to me that copies of her narrative/ your work should certainly be interesting to the Montana State Historical Society, and also to me, because of my family's history in the Flathead.
My grandfather, Andrew Swaney established a trading post on Ashley Creek in what is now Kalispell. My great grandfather Foy built two saw mills on what is now Foy's Lake near Kailspell. Perhaps Mrs. Bedal knew some of my family, though there are now no Swaneys in the town, the Swaneys in the Flathead are now all members of the tribe, and we presume we're related through the Irish side.
I am the director of folklife programs and hence I receive most of the historically interesting email. Please tell me more.
Best regards,
Alexandra Swaney
aswaney@mt.gov
Hi Alexandra,
Madeline was quite excited to know that someone in Montana might be interested in her homestead stories. I will see if I can take a letter from her tomorrow (Friday) to forward to you. She did mention that she'd heard of a George Stannard, but she wasn't sure if they were related. At least not to her immediate family.
It sounds like you have some shared heritage. I especially like her stories of Grandma Armstrong who ran the Fielding station/depot.
Are you associated with the Montana Historical Society as well? You mentioned that you were the director of the folklife programs, I'm not sure exactly what that entails. Is there a web site I can browse?
My interest (and letter) was solely to complete a wish of Madeline's that the stories don't get lost, as she is 94. But that they be shared.
Someone in Reno (Univ of Nevada) collected stories of our ranch, Home Ranch in the Reese River Valley in Austin Nevada, but they neglected to even contact our family, who founded the ranch in the 1860s, and hence missed some of the better stories which are still very much alive in our family.
Your message, below, was forwarded to me and I find it interesting not the least because my father was born in Kalispell in 1896 and he knew a George Stannard. I also had a Mr. Stannard as a geometry teacher in 1961 at Helena High.
Other than informing us of your research, I wasn't able to understand exactly why you contacted us. Perhaps a part of the message was cut off. See below. It seems to me that copies of her narrative/ your work should certainly be interesting to the Montana State Historical Society, and also to me, because of my family's history in the Flathead.
My grandfather, Andrew Swaney established a trading post on Ashley Creek in what is now Kalispell. My great grandfather Foy built two saw mills on what is now Foy's Lake near Kailspell. Perhaps Mrs. Bedal knew some of my family, though there are now no Swaneys in the town, the Swaneys in the Flathead are now all members of the tribe, and we presume we're related through the Irish side.
I am the director of folklife programs and hence I receive most of the historically interesting email. Please tell me more.
Best regards,
Alexandra Swaney
aswaney@mt.gov
Hi Alexandra,
Madeline was quite excited to know that someone in Montana might be interested in her homestead stories. I will see if I can take a letter from her tomorrow (Friday) to forward to you. She did mention that she'd heard of a George Stannard, but she wasn't sure if they were related. At least not to her immediate family.
It sounds like you have some shared heritage. I especially like her stories of Grandma Armstrong who ran the Fielding station/depot.
Are you associated with the Montana Historical Society as well? You mentioned that you were the director of the folklife programs, I'm not sure exactly what that entails. Is there a web site I can browse?
My interest (and letter) was solely to complete a wish of Madeline's that the stories don't get lost, as she is 94. But that they be shared.
Someone in Reno (Univ of Nevada) collected stories of our ranch, Home Ranch in the Reese River Valley in Austin Nevada, but they neglected to even contact our family, who founded the ranch in the 1860s, and hence missed some of the better stories which are still very much alive in our family.
I found the chapbook in a bookstore and it was very disappointing in that my family were the first to settle the valley and grow grain to feed the Comstock miners who found that man cannot live by meat alone. It was said the grain was more valuable than the gold.
(Madeline writes) It was my brother who was the math teacher you mentioned in Helena. We would like very much to know about this George, the ancestry. Who was who?
I have so little information about my father Delbert--there were two brothers, Delbert & Fred. My grandfather was Edward, his father came form Ireland with his brother to settle in Montana and that's where we don't have the information.
When my father and Fred were small children, ther mother (Della?) died after being thrown by a horse and the ir father left them to be raised by cowboys in Colorado and later, in Sheridan, Wyoming. The family history was lost in that era.
My father and his brother Fred came to Fielding from Sheridan. Fred was born there in 1912. We know there were some relations, Stannards who moved to Michigan, but we don't know what happened to them.
Madeline Bedal
And there's the story of my 2nd cousin Julia Walsh, whose ghost is said to still inhabit the International Hotel in Austin. Her presence is noted by the odor of fresh-brewed coffee... Julia, who was "special," sat at the fire sewing imaginary clothing with imaginary thread while her sister, Mary Walsh, a math wizard, computed numbers in Los Alamos.
We later found out it was the Manhattan Project... Alas, the writer didn't look very hard as she collected the stories, as Walshes are very much in the Austin graveyard, and a descendent still lived in Austin. Not to mention Jim Champie, the current owner of Home Ranch, has regular visits from our family (Walsh), and so he knows our stories too.
Of Wild Bill wo drove to Ione and sold his wagon for a bottle of whisky and a good game of cards. Jim has photos of my family and he even knows the names of our horses, now long since dead. So maybe it's a need to add to our own stories that motivates me.
What particular format would you like Madeline's stories in, what all would you like me to do in order to make them available to people?
Maureen Hurley
Dear Alexandra,
Madeline Stannard Bedal writes:
I think George Stannard was teaching in Helena. He has a doctorate of math and lives in Billings, he’s retired. His real name is William Henry Stannard (we called him Prince Albert, or PA for short). He was living in Kalispell, which is next door to Whitefish.
It seems to me that I’ve heard of the Swaneys before. I’d like to know more about them, the connection. We moved to town from Fielding, where my stories are written, to go to school in Whitefish. It seems strange that our paths haven’t crossed before. If you could send me some stories about the Swayneys or of George Stannard. It might prompt me to tell more stories.
Madeline Stannard Bedal
Dear Madeline,
It could be that my teacher's first name was William. We always called him Mr. Stannard. He was brilliant and he had blue eyes and I have to transfer out of the class because it was advanced geometry, too advanced for me! But I liked him anyway!
My father used to mention someone he knew in Kalispell named george Stannard, so maybe that's where I got the name.
Andrew Swaney established a trading post on Ashley Creek in what is now Kalispell in the 1870's. He married Mary Ann Foy, whose father built a sawmill on Foy's Lake about that time. Andrew was in the Spanish American War and later was a deputy sheriff and county commissioner in Kalispell and adjutant of the old soldier's home in Columbia Falls. His brother James worked in a bank, another brother, Grant, was a lawyer. One of his sisters married Alexander MacDonald. Another sister married George Fisher, who founded the Presbyterian church in Kalispell. My father wrote an autobiography in which he mentions all this, and I hope to have it transcribed one of these days.
It is nice to hear from you. Let's keep in touch!
Alexandra Swaney
Dear Alexandra, 11/2/05
What particular format would you like Madeline's stories in, what all would you like me to do in order to make them available to people?
Maureen Hurley
Dear Alexandra,
Madeline Stannard Bedal writes:
I think George Stannard was teaching in Helena. He has a doctorate of math and lives in Billings, he’s retired. His real name is William Henry Stannard (we called him Prince Albert, or PA for short). He was living in Kalispell, which is next door to Whitefish.
It seems to me that I’ve heard of the Swaneys before. I’d like to know more about them, the connection. We moved to town from Fielding, where my stories are written, to go to school in Whitefish. It seems strange that our paths haven’t crossed before. If you could send me some stories about the Swayneys or of George Stannard. It might prompt me to tell more stories.
Madeline Stannard Bedal
Dear Madeline,
It could be that my teacher's first name was William. We always called him Mr. Stannard. He was brilliant and he had blue eyes and I have to transfer out of the class because it was advanced geometry, too advanced for me! But I liked him anyway!
My father used to mention someone he knew in Kalispell named george Stannard, so maybe that's where I got the name.
Andrew Swaney established a trading post on Ashley Creek in what is now Kalispell in the 1870's. He married Mary Ann Foy, whose father built a sawmill on Foy's Lake about that time. Andrew was in the Spanish American War and later was a deputy sheriff and county commissioner in Kalispell and adjutant of the old soldier's home in Columbia Falls. His brother James worked in a bank, another brother, Grant, was a lawyer. One of his sisters married Alexander MacDonald. Another sister married George Fisher, who founded the Presbyterian church in Kalispell. My father wrote an autobiography in which he mentions all this, and I hope to have it transcribed one of these days.
It is nice to hear from you. Let's keep in touch!
Alexandra Swaney
Dear Alexandra, 11/2/05
(Madeline writes) It was my brother who was the math teacher you mentioned in Helena. We would like very much to know about this George, the ancestry. Who was who?
I have so little information about my father Delbert--there were two brothers, Delbert & Fred. My grandfather was Edward, his father came form Ireland with his brother to settle in Montana and that's where we don't have the information.
When my father and Fred were small children, ther mother (Della?) died after being thrown by a horse and the ir father left them to be raised by cowboys in Colorado and later, in Sheridan, Wyoming. The family history was lost in that era.
My father and his brother Fred came to Fielding from Sheridan. Fred was born there in 1912. We know there were some relations, Stannards who moved to Michigan, but we don't know what happened to them.
Madeline Bedal
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