Creating Fiction from History: Week of 1/18/2023

As babies go, she certainly wasn't remarkable. Of course, every baby, no matter how ugly they are, is cute. Barley certainly wasn't an ugly baby, although one might have noted that they'd seen cuter (not to the mother, of course.)

Barbara Leigh Jones, Barley to those who knew and loved her, was born on the 19th of April, in the year of our Lord, 1899, to John and Margaret Jones of Isabella, a small town in Polk County, Tennessee.

At the time of her introduction to this world, though the economy had recovered from the ravages of war, Barley's parents were struggling as John, fighting for the Confederacy of course, had lost his right leg in the War. He had previously earned a decent living mining copper ore over in Ducktown at the Burra Burra mine.

After the War, John returned to his old job, but when his fifth girl-child was born, both John and Margaret were ready for a change of scenery, so they packed up their growing family and headed for the copper mines of Butte, Montana.

To make a long story short, the Joneses never made it to Butte! As they had hitched a ride on the Enterprise, a steamboat serving the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers out of Nashville, Tennessee, the Joneses made it as far as Three Forks, Montana, where they took the stage over the hill to Whitehall. John wanted to push on to Butte, but the trip had taken its toll and Margaret didn't have to work very hard to convince her ailing husband to settle them in the Jefferson River Valley.

Barley may have been born in Tennessee, but our valley would always be her home. She thrived here for years until she may have been instrumental in establishing one of the Valley's finest watering holes!

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.