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Celebrating History: Funerals, marriages and anniversaries

By Emily Mayer

Regular readers of this column will remember that late last year, R.X. Lewis, former owner of The Havre Plaindealer and Havre Promoter, passed away. The Promoter lost another owner, this time it was L. W. Pierson. The following article was found on the front page of The Havre Plaindealer’s Jan. 27, 1917, issue:

LOU PIERSON DIES AT LOS ANGELES

Prominent Havre Man Succumbed Monday Last

With the suddenness that becomes the faculties beyond the point of realization came the announcement by wire on Monday morning last that L. W. Pierson, owner and publisher of the Havre Daily Promoter, had died at 3:30 that morning at Los Angeles, California, where Mr. Pierson, with his wife, was enjoying a vacation visit. The telegram announcing his death carried no information as to the cause, but a subsequent letter from Mrs. Pierson to relatives in Havre stated that Mr. Pierson had been stricken suddenly with a stomach malady. From this it is surmised that death was perhaps due to acute appendicitis, but the details will not be known definitely until today, when the stricken widow arrives in Havre with the body. Accompanying Mrs. Pierson upon her sad return journey are Miss Bertha Ling, her sister, and E. T. Pierson of Chinook, a brother of the dead man.

“Adding to the sorrow of the relatives is the news that Mr. Pierson’s mother, who has been in failing health for a number of months, had died at her home in Granville, N. D., just two days after her devoted boy had passed into the realms of eternity. It is understood to be the intention of relatives that both mother and son will be buried in Havre tomorrow afternoon. Mr. Pierson’s funeral will be in charge of the Masonic bodies of Havre, of which the deceased was a valued member.

“It is expected that the funeral parties from Los Angeles and Granville will arrive in Havre this morning and that today final arrangements for funeral and burial will be made.

Readers may also recall the death of Mrs. J. F. Daoust, wife of the Hill County surveyor. They had not been married long before she passed away. The following announcement was made in the Plaindealer’s Society column:

Daoust-Herbert.

John F. Daoust sprung a pleasant surprise on his many Havre friends Wednesday when he was married to Miss Florence Herbert. The wedding occurred at the Catholic church early in the morning, Rev. Father Sansone officiating. The happy couple left the same day on a short wedding tour to Great Falls, Helena and other southern state points, after which they will return to Havre to reside. Mr. Daoust is county surveyor for Hill county, and the bride is one of Havre’s popular nurses.

The wedding is a culmination of a romance which had its origin at the time when the groom was a patient in Sacred Heart hospital and Miss Herbert was assigned as his nurse.

If you were looking to have a good time, the Eastern Star, Machinists Auxilary, Social Sixty and local residents of Scottish heritage were hosting dances. Here is the latter’s announcement in the Plaindealer:

SCOTCH CELEBRATE BURNS ANNIVERSARY

The clans gathered in numbers Thursday evening to celebrate the Bobby Burns anniversary and it was an early hour Friday morning ‘ere the strains of “Annie Laurie” and kindred songs had ceased to echo from Chestnut hall, where the gathering took place. From the meeting of Thursday evening, at which fifty or more loyal Americans of Scotch descent gathered, it is probable that a permanent organization to be known as the North Montana Scotch or similar appellation will be formed, and that the gathering will be made an annual event, first at one and then another city throughout this section of the state.

Some entries from the “Of Local Interest” column in the Plaindealer are:

Mrs. Anna Tryon, a former clerk in the office of the Great Northern, has accepted a position as stenographer in the county treasurer’s office.

Mrs. F. A. Buttrey left the first of the week for New York, where she will remain for several weeks, combining business with pleasure.

C. W. Young and wife, who have been in Honolulu for the past few weeks, returned to Havre Wednesday evening. They report a very pleasant time.

Ex-Sheriff H. E. Loranger left yesterday morning for an extended trip that will carry him as far south as Cuba. En route he will transact business for the automobile house that he will conduct in Havre with Tom Gray, formerly of Chinook, as a partner, and Hank expects to return to Havre about the first of April. In the interim the genial Tom will distribute the world’s best cars among the autocrats of northern Montana.

 

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