PATRICK FENTON, Our Yesterdays, Jefferson Co., MT USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Files may be printed or copied for personal use only. "List transcribed and organized by Ellen Rae Thiel, thieljl@aol.com All rights reserved." Copyright, 1998 by Ellen Rae Thiel. This file may be freely copied for non-profit purposes. All other rights reserved. PATRICK FENTON "Join The Navy and See The World!" Only an alluring beckoning such as this could entice a Catholic Irishman to join the English Navy! Such an adventurous young lad was Patrick Fenton, born in Ireland in 1839. He took the Navy at its word and "joined up". "The Sun never setting on English soil", at that time the English Navy fulfilled its promise to Pat Fenton, and he traveled around the world three times. Many and exciting were the stories he had to tell of his adventures during this period. Then one day Patrick received a letter from his sister, Bridget Dunn, who had settled with her husband, Richard Dunn in Boulder Valley, Montana. She had wondrous tales to tell of life in this area, and urged her brother to come and visit them. Pat decided to come and see "The New World", and in the late 1860's he left for Montana. Wanting to surprise his sister he didn t tell her of his coming; but on arrival in Boulder asked someone how to get to the Dunn Ranch. He was told "They live about twenty miles down the valley on the bank of the river; just follow the east side of the river and you will find them." Patrick started out on foot for his destination, and when he finally reached the Dunn home his face was so scratched and his clothing so torn, from having pushed through the brush to follow the river that his own sister mistook him for some tramp straggling in for a handout! Surprise her he did, that is for sure! Patrick shared his sister s enthusiasm for Boulder Valley and took up a Homestead claim near the Jack Dawson ranch, now the George Dawson ranch. Here he raised cattle. He sold Frank Carey his first little heard of cows. Mr. Carey eventually became the owner of one of the largest herds of cattle in the Valley. Patrick Fenton enjoyed his life as a bachelor to the fullest. He entertained his friends with his wondrous tales of places he had been at the expense of those scalawags (the English). While the children were delighted to hear these tales, they took a dim view of his other tales, his Tattle Tales , for Pat was a great one to spy on the children and report to their parents when they misbehaved. Patrick had a white horse, named Flummery. No one knew whether the horse s name was an Irish word, an English word, or a curse word! But Flummery it was. Pat often road, with pride, Flummery from his place, ten miles, to attend services at the Boulder Valley Catholic Church. Other times he would ride to church with the Jack Dawsons in their rig. Pat Fenton's relatives, the Dunns, who had originally joined the "Gold Rush" to Alder Gulch, Montana, to find their Pot of Gold, only to be disappointed, finally found this treasure when Patrick died. There in his house they discovered a big coffee can full of twenty dollar gold pieces! In 1913, Patrick Fenton, who three times had traveled around the world as a Sailor in the English Navy, and who had lived out his life as a rancher in Boulder Valley, Montana, U. S. A., died. He is buried in the Richard Dunn plot in the Boulder Valley Cemetery. He lives on with us in the colorful memories of the tales of his experiences in The Old World and The New World. SUBMITTED BY MR. AND MRS. PAUL T. SMITH