Creating Fiction From History: 12/28/2022

Joseph and Mary Smith never planned to settle down in the wild, wild west, much less raise a family there. However, as life is what happens between our plans, Joseph's new job required him to travel to Pueblo, Colorado from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania where their oldest son had been born.

Joseph had labored for years in the steel mills of Northern Pennsylvania, but had recently been called out to expand his vision West of the Mississippi, to work in the administration of the fairly new workings in Pueblo called Colorado Fuel & Iron, or CF&I. It was here that little Magdalena's story began.

Magdalena Maria Smith came into the light of day on December 25th, 1881. Because it was Christmas Day, the Smiths, with a growing family already of two boys and a girl, looked at their little Maggie as a pure gift from heaven. When Magdalena was born, however, it being the beginning of winter, the Smiths, still settling into their new surroundings, were somewhat unprepared for the harsh Colorado Winter. Joseph's new administrative position at CF&I enabled him to provide a nice warm and dry house for his family, but, as they had just arrived in the still-opening West, Mary had not really had many opportunities to garner the support she had enjoyed back in Bethlehem.

Although Maggie's parents had never been what you would call religious, Joseph had been raised in the church, so when Maggie was born the family started to attend the newly organized Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. As such, Magdalena was soon baptized into the Church and Mary found the support that she longed for.

Maggie might have followed in the footsteps of Connecticut's Olympia Brown and grown up to be one of the Episcopal Church's first female ministers, but that was not to happen until the mid-70s, almost a century later!

As fate would have it, Joseph was called up north to Whitehall, Montana, where he may have been one of the administrators for the newly opened Mayflower Mine in 1897, when Magdalena was just past 16 years old. As there was no Episcopal Church in Whitehall, though there was over the hill in Butte, the Smith family, though they remained very spiritual, slowly grew away from the church and little Maggie might have been Montana's first female minister, though she had no church. Magdalena Maria Smith might be pictured here, just after her baptism on January 15th, 1882.

If you would like to create fiction from history with one of the museum's photos, please contact the Ledger at (406) 287-5301 or email whledger@gmail.com.