Item: Tomlinson Family Log Books, 1852-1896
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Finding Aid Title: Tomlinson Family Log Books, 1852-1896
Finding Aid Collection Number: 2163
Date Range of Collection: 1852-1896
Creator of Materials: Tomlinson family
Content Description: Historical Note: John J. Tomlinson was born on March 1, 1812 in Fort Cumberland, Maryland. He was a miller who began migrating west in the 1830s, living at various times in Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. On July 2, 1863 he married Margaret Elida House (1834-1917) and the couple moved to Emigrant Gulch in Montana Territory the following year. The Tomlinsons moved again in 1868 to a settlement in Gallatin County that would later become known first as Salesville and later as Gallatin Gateway. Tomlinson built a lath and shingle mill which he operated until July 1874 when he sold it to construct a flouring mill. He operated that business until 1879 when he sold out to Nelson Story. For the remainder of his life he farmed and participated in laying out the town plat for Salesville. The Tomlinsons had four children, Philo House (1865-1951), Harry Comly (1867-1942), John Jay (1869-?), and Amy Annie (1872-?). John J. Tomlinson died on March 26, 1888. Content Description Note: The Tomlinson family log books are a combination of financial and personal records, with diary-like entries, ledger accounts, and even copies of personal and business correspondence occurring sometimes within the same volume. Some material has been laid in the individual numbered volumes, including pages that appear to have been taken from other unidentified volumes the inclusive dates of the eight individual volumes also vary widely and, in some cases, overlap. The information includes weather observations, labor performed by various members of the Tomlinson family and their employees, and money received or distributed by the family or its various business enterprises. Subjects include flour and lumber milling, sales of lumber and other goods, and daily labor tasks performed. The volumes have been identified with the same numbers assigned by Margaret Tomlinson Strickland when she produced her photocopied, edited versions of the Tomlinson family logs. As such, there is no original volume five since it was missing at the time of the donation.
Finding Aid URL: http://nwda.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv48474
Keywords: agriculture, pioneers, montana
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