The Story of Lost Lynn: Part 2

This is the second in a series about Lynn Walker Westaby, my children's paternal great-grandmother's uncle. When their great-grandmother was still alive, she told me about her Uncle Lynn, who had a short and tragic life. Although he never married nor had children, he is worth remembering. Come along with me as I tell the story of Lost Lynn.

The Westaby family, c. 1908 with Will Leland, Izma's future husband, and unknown boy. Probably taken on their farm west of Forsyth. All photos in this post scanned by author in 2014 from the collection of Troy W. Midkiff, Vancouver, Washington.

In Part 1, we learned that little six-year-old Lynn lost his right foot and part of his lower leg due to a terrible railroad yard accident in his hometown of Forsyth, Rosebud County, Montana. It couldn't have been easy to navigate the world as a disabled person in 1911, especially in a small rural town or on the family's farm. Somehow, he and his family figured it out. We don't know if he had a prosthesis at such a young age; he was known to wear one later.¹ But for sure, he was using crutches within a few months of his amputation.²

He certainly didn't let his injury slow him down! He was a bright lad and held nothing in back, in school or in activities. By second grade, he was a top-notch speller in class.³ During Forsyth's Fourth of July celebrations in 1914, when he was nine, he won first place in the greased pole contest,⁴ which involves climbing a vertical greased pole the fastest! His upper body strength must have been pretty good due to compensating for his missing lower limb. In third grade, he was lauded for having perfect attendance and never being tardy during the month of February.⁵

By the time he was 15, he could play either the catcher or the pitcher position on his school's sixth grade baseball team (the Panthers) and was scheduled to play a series of seven games against the seventh grade team (the Giants) for the grand prize of five gallons of ice cream. While the Giants ultimately won, a local reporter stated that the game was well played: "...although the Panthers received a bad defeat they put up a good exhibition of the national past-time and took their defeat like veterans of a couple of world series. Both teams pounded the horsehide hard and often, but the superior playing of the Gaints [sic] was too much for the Panthers."^{6, 7}

It's not clear why he was 15 years old in sixth grade, but schooling in those days was different than today. When students were required to help in the family business or on the farm--and his family had both--they could miss months of school and have to pick up where they left off when they returned. Speaking of the farm, Lynn raised pigeons and was declared a winner for his pair of giant runts in the 1920 Eastern Montana Fair held in Glendive, in neighboring Dawson County.⁸ The following year, he won second prize for the best booklet on an agricultural topic. The choices were poultry, cattle, horses, hogs, wheat, corn, dairying, or potatoes.⁹ While the newspaper article doesn't give more details, it would not have been surprising if the topic was dairying, as Lynn's father Rice had started his Jersey Island Dairy in 1905 on their farm on Westaby Island on the Yellowstone River, about a mile west of town.¹⁰

The Westaby siblings pose c. 1910.
Back row, left to right: Izma, Lynn, George
Front row: Reuben, Guy, Charles

But all was not fair fun and ball games in the Westaby family: by the time of the 1921 fair, Rice had married his second wife, Nora Alice Myers.¹¹ We don't yet know when he and Rebecca divorced, but as early as 1914, she had been living separately from him in a home in Forsyth that may have been owned by her family, working in her son Guy's steam laundry.¹² She was listed as the head of the household in the 1920 census in her Forsyth home, with Lynn living with her.¹³ Rice was enumerated on the farm with their son Reuben.¹⁴ By then the older children were adults and no longer living at home. George and Izma had each married; George and his wife Rena Lerfald lived in Forsyth with their four-year-old daughter Helen (my children's great-grandmother) and George's brother Guy.¹⁵ Izma and her husband Will Leland were living in Glendive with their toddler, Velma, and Will's brother Joe.¹⁶ Charles had moved south to Sheridan, Wyoming to work for the railroad.¹⁷

Will Leland holds Helen Westaby while Lynn stands nearby, c. 1917.

Lynn was now a young man. Like his older brothers and sister, he would soon be off on his own.

Sources:

1. Westaby Family Notes, MS (No place: no date); privately held by Helen Mary (Westaby) Midkiff Tucker, Sunnyside, Washington, c. 1980s. A handwritten copy was made by her grandson, Michael J. Midkiff [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Spokane, Washington, c. 1980s. Whereabouts of the original manuscript is unknown after 8 November 1997, the date of Helen Tucker’s death.

2. “Is Improving Rapidly,” Forsyth Times-Journal, (Forsyth, Montana) 4 May 1911, p. 1, col. 7, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 18 February 2025).

3. "Spelling Report: Marcyes School," Forsyth Times-Journal, 5 February 1914, p. 3, col. 5-7, Newspapers.com (accessed 18 February 2025).

4. "Forsyth Has Big Celebration," Forsyth Times-Journal, 9 July 1914, p. 4, col. 3, Newspapers.com (accessed 18 February 2025.)

5. "Have a Good Record," Forsyth Times-Journal, 11 March 1915, p. 3, col. 6, Newspapers.com (accessed 18 February 2025).

6. "Hammond School Plays 1st Ball Game of Season," Forsyth Times-Journal, 1 April 1920, p. 1, col. 3, Newspapers.com (accessed 18 February 2025).

7. "Giants Take First of Series of Five," Forsyth Democrat (Forsyth, Montana), 22 April 1920, p. 10, col. 2, Newspapers.com (accessed 18 February 2025).

8. "Success Crowns Eastern Montana Fair in All Departments," Yellowstone Monitor, (Glendive, Montana), 23 September 1920, p. 1, col. 23 and p. 4, col. 3, Newspapers.com (accessed 18 February 2025).

9. "List of Winners at Fair Given Below," Yellowstone Monitor, 20 October 1921, p. 2, col. 4, Newspapers.com (accessed 18 February 2025).

10. "Local and Otherwise," The Forsyth Times, (Forsyth, Montana), 16 March 1905, p. 8, col. 2, Newspapers.com (accessed 16 March 2025).

11. Custer County (Montana) Clerk of the District Court, marriage license and certificate no. 3902 (1921), Rice Westaby and Nora Alice Myers; digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org : accessed 1 March 2012), "Montana, County Marriages, 1865-1950."

12. Miles City, Glendive, Forsyth and Ekalaka City Directory and Custer, Dawson, Rosebud and Fallon Counties Directory 1914 (R. L. Polk Co. of Montana, 1914), entry for Mrs Rebecca C Westaby, p. 397; Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/ : accessed 25 June 2025), image 213 of 284, "U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995."

13. 1920 U.S. Census, Rosebud County, Montana, population schedule, Forsyth City, p. 19B, dwelling 386, family 459, Rebecca A [sic] Westaby household; Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6061 : accessed 27 May 2025), image 37 of 38; citing NARA microfilm publication T625, roll 975.

14. 1920 U.S. Census, Rosebud County, Montana, population schedule, School District No. 4, p. 2B, dwelling 42, family 42, George R. Westaby household; Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6061 : accessed 27 May 2025), image 4 of 9; citing NARA microfilm publication T625, roll 975

15. 1920 U.S. Census, Rosebud County, Montana, population schedule, Forsyth City, p. 11A, dwelling 206, family 251, George R. Westerby [sic] household; Ancestry.com;(https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6061 : accessed 9 June 2025), image 21 of 38; citing NARA microfilm publication T625, roll 975.

16. 1920 U.S. Census, Dawson County, Montana, population schedule, Glendive City, p. 5A, dwelling 85, family 101, William Leland household; Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6061 : accessed 4 July 2025), image 9 of 42; citing NARA microfilm publication T625, roll 968.

17. 1920 U.S. Census, Sheridan County, Wyoming, population schedule, Sheridan City, p. 26B [corrected], dwelling 187, family 266, lodger in the James Dawson household; Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6061 : accessed 4 July 2025), image 49 of 51; citing NARA microfilm publication T625, roll 2029.

The Story of Lost Lynn: Part 1

This is the first of a series about Lynn Walker Westaby, my children's paternal great-grandmother's uncle. When their great-grandmother was still alive, she told me about her Uncle Lynn, who had a short and tragic life. Although he never married nor had children, he is worth remembering. Come along with me as I tell the story of Lost Lynn.

Lynn Walker Westaby was the youngest child of George "Rice" Westaby, II and Rebecca Catherine Snook's family of seven children, six of whom survived infancy. He was born 27 November 1904 in Montana, probably in or near Forsyth, Rosebud County.¹ He was a handsome boy with a mischievous smile, and surely he was the darling of his four older brothers--George III, Guy, Charles, and Reuben--and his older sister, Izma.^{2, 3} (His parents' first child, a little girl named Clarice Orvilla who was born 22 August 1889, died in infancy.)⁴ Keeping with the tradition of giving their children family names, Rice and Rebecca gave Lynn the middle name Walker in honor of his maternal grandmother's surname.⁵

Lynn Walker Westaby, c. 1906, Forsyth, Rosebud County, Montana
Original photo scanned in by author in 2014 from the collection of Troy W. Midkiff, Vancouver, Washington.

When Lynn was only 6 1/2 years old, a terrible accident left him injured for life. One Saturday around noon on the first day of April, he and a number of friends attempted to jump on the swiftly moving freight train at the elevator crossing and ride to the schoolhouse as it headed east. A work train had just unloaded several piles of cinders beside the tracks. Being little, Lynn could only grasp the bottom rung of the ladder attached to the freight car. As he hung there swinging, he was knocked under the train by one of the piles as they rode by. The train crushed his foot just above the ankle as it rolled over him.

He was taken to the doctor. His foot was so badly crushed there was no repairing it. The only way to save his leg and his life was to have the injured foot amputated.^6,7 This must have been a horrible experience; both the traumatizing accident and the resulting amputation. However, there was a great deal of spunk in the little boy. Only a month later the local paper reported "Lynn Westaby, the little fellow who lost a foot by falling under the cars last month, is able to be out again with the aid of crutches."⁸

And just a few days before Christmas, this intelligent child who celebrated his seventh birthday only a month earlier, would stand in front the congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church one evening and recite Clement Clarke Moore's poem, "The Night Before Christmas" as part of the Sunday School program!⁹

Sources:

1. Westaby Family Notes, MS (No place: no date); privately held by Helen Mary (Westaby) Midkiff Tucker, Sunnyside, Washington, c. 1980s. A handwritten copy was made by her grandson, Michael J. Midkiff [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Spokane, Washington, c. 1980s. Whereabouts of the original manuscript is unknown after 8 November 1997, the date of Helen Tucker’s death.

2. 1910 U.S. Census, Rosebud County, Montana, population schedule, School District No. 4 Forsyth, p. 26B, dwelling 314, family 341, R. Westaby household; Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 27 February 2025), image 47 of 56; citing NARA microfilm publication T624, roll 835.

3. Westaby Family Notes.

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

6. “Child Loses Foot Jumping on Trains,” The Billings Gazette (Billings, Montana), 2 April 1911, p. 3 col. 6; Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 18 February 2025). Note this article incorrectly states Lynn’s age as seven years old.

7. “Westaby Boy Hurt,” Forsyth Times-Journal, (Forsyth, Montana), 6 April 1911, p. 8, col. 3; Newspapers.com (accessed 18 February 2025).

8. “Is Improving Rapidly,” Forsyth Times-Journal, 4 May 1911, p. 1, col. 7, Newspapers.com (accessed 18 February 2025).

9. “Program of Exercises: Methodist Episcopal Sunday School Will Have Entertainment Dec. 23,” Forsyth Times-Journal, 21 December 1911, p. 6, col. 4, Newspapers.com (accessed 18 February 2025).

Read Part 2

Tuesday's Tip: Exploring Ancestry's "U.S., Northern Pacific Railway Company Personnel Files, 1890-1960" Database

Last April, I wrote a Tuesday's Tip on using the Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association website. Imagine then my delight when I realized that Ancestry.com had recently updated a new-to-me database called "U.S., Northern Pacific Railway Company Personnel Files, 1890-1960."

Here is a screenshot of the description of the database:

(click image to enlarge)

Please note that although the description says the company was in Minnesota, that is where its headquarters were. The line stretched for 6,800 miles across the northern tier of the United States from Wisconsin to Washington State, so if your ancestors lived in any of those states, and perhaps even in adjoining ones, they well could have been employed by the NPR. Additionally, even if you have found your ancestor's occupation to be a farmer or some such other trade, don't hesitate to check this database. According to the description, "some farmers took railroad jobs during the winter and requested leaves of absence during the summers to work their family farms." Such seems to have been the case of my children's great-great-grandfather, George Rice WESTABY, III.

I did a simple surname search for "westaby" in the database and it came up with the following three results:

(click image to enlarge)

Besides George, the second result, I recognized the names of two of his four younger brothers, Guy Steven WESTABY and Charles Wilson WESTABY.

When I clicked on the View Images icon to the far right of George Westaby's entry, I was brought to the following screen:

(click image to enlarge)

This appears to be his application to the Northern Pacific Railway in Glendive, Dawson County, Montana, dated 30 September 1913. Note it gives the names and address of his parents, as well as a physical description of himself.

A few images later, I found the following document, a resignation which was dated a year earlier (12 October 1912), and had his personnel file number (79761) written on it:

(click image to enlarge)

Apparently, like the database description states, George took occasional leaves of absence to work other jobs or help his family. The following document "How and Where Previously Occupied" shows George's work history. You can see he was helping his father, George "Rice" WESTABY, II on his farm from 2 August 1910 to 28 May 1911. This was one of several such cards in his file:

(click on image to enlarge)

The card also contained his signature at the bottom:

I decided to see how many images of documents I could find in George's file. The filmstrip feature made it easy to scroll back and forth. First I clicked on the filmstrip icon near the image number:

The filmstrip option then showed up at the bottom of my screen, giving me thumbnail views of the preceding and succeeding images:

(click image to enlarge)

I could also scroll to the left and the right quickly, using the arrows on each side of the screen. By using this feature, I was able to find the first and last images of George's personnel file to determine he had twenty images of documents in this database. This is important, because when you do a search on a name and then click on the "View Image" icon, you don't necessarily go to the first image in that individual's personnel file. Check backward and forward through the images, and use the personnel file number to help you. It may not appear on all documents.

Even though I knew quite a bit about George's life with the railroad from other family documents and stories, this added quite a bit more information and generated much interest on my part to this period of his life. I'm looking forward to checking out his brothers' files as well. I also searched for two other railroad ancestors of my children, John Franklin MARTIN, and John Franklin MIDKIFF, II. I was unsuccessful, but I believe "Frank" MARTIN actually worked in Idaho for a different railroad, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, a.k.a. the Milwaukee Road. John MIDKIFF was an NPR station master in Mabton, Washington, but I can't find his file. Nor can I find my own NPR ancestors, father and son Martin and John Martin HOEKSTRA, who worked as railroad carpenters and painters in Tacoma, Washington. However, the database description does state "this database does not yet include the entire collection of personnel files." More will be added at a later date.

Did you have ancestors who worked for the Northern Pacific Railway? Check out this useful database!

Disclosure: I am an affiliate for Ancestry.com, and as such, receive compensation for products advertised on and linked from this blog.

Tuesday's Tip: Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association

Do you have ancestors who worked for the Northern Pacific Railway? This line was completed in 1883 and stretched for 6,800 miles across the northern tier of the United States from Wisconsin to Washington State. It opened up transportation between the Great Lakes and the Puget Sound, and became known as the "Route of the Great Big Baked Potato." Its stormy financial history ended when it merged with Burlington Northern in 1970. [1]

On my children's father's side, several ancestors worked for railroads around the Pacific Northwest, including the Northern Pacific Railway. My own great-grandfather worked as a box car painter for the NPR in Tacoma, Washington from 1919 to 1922. A couple of blog posts I've written describing the interesting history and stories of those railroad ancestors can be read here: "Every Eleven Miles" and "The Martin Family and the Great Fire of 1910."

I came across a great website the other day, looking online for images of antique postcards of Spokane: the Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association. The Research Library option at the top of the page has some amazing resources: databases, photos, history, and links to other railroad archives. While there is definitely a preference toward model railroaders and railroad historians, there is plenty of information to help out the genealogist as well. Some of the databases that I found useful were the subdivision maps, depot photos and histories, and links to museums. Finally, there is a downloadable article, "Genealogy and the Northern Pacific," printed in the Fall 2009 issue of The Mainstreeter, the NPRHA's quarterly journal.

Check it out!

1. Wikipedia contributors, "Northern Pacific Railway," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Pacific_Railway (accessed 21 April 2014).

Every Eleven Miles

On New Year's Day, Terry Thornton of Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi wrote a post entitled "Walksheds in the Hill Country." It's a fascinating look at the past when, in the old days before we became a country of automobile owners, general stores and/or grist mills were situated about three miles apart, so that everyone could live within a comfortable walking distance to and from a place where they could do their business and trade. At once I was reminded of a conversation I had had with my father-in-law some time back where he was telling me how railroad stations, and particularly manned water towers, were located eleven miles apart. I couldn't remember the details, so I asked to talk to him after my husband called to wish his parents a Happy New Year. What I received what a great little history lesson about days gone by and an enjoyable conversation as well.

My father-in-law, Troy MIDKIFF, was the son of John Franklin MIDKIFF, Jr., who was a Northern Pacific Railroad station master in Mabton, Yakima Co., Washington. Troy's maternal grandfather, George Rice WESTABY, III, worked for years for the Great Northern Railroad in both Montana and in Washington State. My father-in-law himself worked for the NP railroad as a telegraph boy. His father would receive the telegraph messages as part of his duties as a station master, and Troy would deliver them. During World War II, the death notices for soldier's families would always have a black mark on the envelopes, and my father-in-law delivered his share of them. He knew enough to ask for payment before he handed over the envelope, knowing the shock would drive out all other thoughts from the recipient's mind. As you can imagine, often being the bearer of bad news, he was not always the most welcome visitor to people's homes, since for many of them, the only telegrams they ever received were unhappy ones.

From left to right, Norman (the elder) and Troy Midkiff,
with their father, John F. Midkiff, Jr.
at the Northern Pacific Railroad station in Mabton, Washington, c. 1942.

Troy told me that steam engines needed good clean water for their steam; otherwise, the minerals and impurities in the water would corrode the interior of the engine. Despite what you might see in old western movies, they couldn't just stop and draw water out of a river or creek unless the steam engine was fitted with a specialized filtering system, which was very unusual. A steam engine could go about eleven miles on level land before it would run out of water to produce steam. So railroad stations or manned water towers would be situated about every eleven miles along a railroad route, and even closer on steep grades.

Troy told me how there were stations at Toppenish and Mabton (where he and his parents and siblings lived just 100 yards off of the Yakima Indian Reservation), located 22 miles apart, with a manned water tower at Satus halfway in between. There was another station at Prosser, 11 miles east of Mabton, and then a station at Whitstran, another 11 miles east and somewhat north of Prosser. You can look at online maps of Washington State for Highway 22 and the Old Inland Empire Highway, which follow the Yakima River, to find these locations.

Along the Columbia River, on both the Washington and Oregon sides, as one traveled east from Vancouver or Portland, the situation was the same: railroad stations or manned water towers every eleven miles. However, as one approached the Columbia River Gorge, where the railroad tracks had to climb along the steep sides of the river, the stations were situated closer together, since the steam engines used more steam to power their climbs up the steep grades. For example, somewhere west of Biggs Junction, Oregon on the Columbia River, there was a station, possibly near Celilo, where the railroad traveled southeast along the steep rocky hills along the DeChutes River. From that station to Wasco, the line was less than eleven miles long. Looking at current online maps, it appears that the railroad no longer comes this way, but was probably along what is now either Highway 206 or Interstate 97.

I found this bit of history simply fascinating, and it made me stop and think about how travel was for my ancestors who rode trains cross country, either to migrate to a new location or to travel to visit relatives. Those trips sure must have been long when you had to make a stop every eleven miles! It has also made me more interested in researching the background of my husband's and my own ancestors who worked for various railroads around the country. Searching for "northern pacific railroad" maps on Google gave me some fascinating results as well. Thank you, Terry, for the great reminder!