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Homesteading: A Montana Family Album
“His memories flow as naturally as his writing. . . . The reader is transported back to the day when a six-year-old stepped from the train into a new life.”— Smithsonian
As a grown man, Percy Wollaston almost never spoke of the homestead where he grew up—until, in 1972, nearing the age of 70, he wrote this book about his childhood years.
Lured by the government’s promise of land and the promotional literature of the railroads, six-year-old Percy Wollaston’s family left behind their home in North Dakota in 1909, heading West to “take up a claim." They settled near Ismay, Montana, where they attempted to carve a successful homestead out of the harsh plains. In compelling, plainspoken language, Wollaston tells of his pioneer family’s everyday existence—constructing a sod house, digging a well, trapping and hunting, courtships and funerals, an influenza epidemic, and a superstitious Irish neighbor. He also recalls the events of the world beyond Ismay, from the sinking of the Titanic, to Prohibition, to World War I, as well as the first sign of the town’s demise during the Great Depression.
With a foreword by Jonathan Raban, who discovered this memoir while researching his award-winning Bad Land , Homesteading is a rich and vivid look, seen through the eyes of a hopeful young boy, at the forces that shaped the destiny of a family, a town, and the American West.
“Vivid . . . plainly written and satisfyingly detailed.”— The Washington Post
As a grown man, Percy Wollaston almost never spoke of the homestead where he grew up—until, in 1972, nearing the age of 70, he wrote this book about his childhood years.
Lured by the government’s promise of land and the promotional literature of the railroads, six-year-old Percy Wollaston’s family left behind their home in North Dakota in 1909, heading West to “take up a claim." They settled near Ismay, Montana, where they attempted to carve a successful homestead out of the harsh plains. In compelling, plainspoken language, Wollaston tells of his pioneer family’s everyday existence—constructing a sod house, digging a well, trapping and hunting, courtships and funerals, an influenza epidemic, and a superstitious Irish neighbor. He also recalls the events of the world beyond Ismay, from the sinking of the Titanic, to Prohibition, to World War I, as well as the first sign of the town’s demise during the Great Depression.
With a foreword by Jonathan Raban, who discovered this memoir while researching his award-winning Bad Land , Homesteading is a rich and vivid look, seen through the eyes of a hopeful young boy, at the forces that shaped the destiny of a family, a town, and the American West.
“Vivid . . . plainly written and satisfyingly detailed.”— The Washington Post
160 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 16, 2023
Percy Wollaston (1904-1983) came to Eastern Montana as a child with his homesteading family. This family and others were followed in Jonathan Raban’s Bad Land published in 1997, itself an impressive book describing the last of the homesteaders to accept free or cheap land to “dry land” farm.
In researching his book, Raban located Wollaston’s memoir Homesteading: a Montana Family Album. The memoir was written by Wollaston towards the end of his life as information for his family. What a gift. It’s well written and not romanticized. On the other hand, you are watching a child’s life and children only partly see the grief and failure of hard times. It is very matter of fact, no doubt reflecting Wollaston’s natural disposition.
It’s quite detailed with great information on family, house building, ways kids entertained themselves, weather, World War I times, and the great influenza that followed among many other things. Terrific primary source for those interested in early 20th century childhood, life on the Great Plains and life just before the Great Depression.
In researching his book, Raban located Wollaston’s memoir Homesteading: a Montana Family Album. The memoir was written by Wollaston towards the end of his life as information for his family. What a gift. It’s well written and not romanticized. On the other hand, you are watching a child’s life and children only partly see the grief and failure of hard times. It is very matter of fact, no doubt reflecting Wollaston’s natural disposition.
It’s quite detailed with great information on family, house building, ways kids entertained themselves, weather, World War I times, and the great influenza that followed among many other things. Terrific primary source for those interested in early 20th century childhood, life on the Great Plains and life just before the Great Depression.
July 18, 2009
An excellent first person account of homesteading in the early 1900s on the Montana prairie. Wollaston writes in a straightforward and occasionally bone-dry style that captures the difficulties and simple pleasures of frontier life. This is a little gem of a book, published after Wollaston's death, with a foreword by Jonathan Raban that offers additional background on the Wollaston family.
December 20, 2012
This book was surprisingly good! The narrative voice was great; a really enjoyable read that made me think.
February 7, 2008
I read this after I read Bad Land by Jonathan Raban. Bad Land is about the dry land homesteaders of the eastern Montana territory, a country I happen to love. I also picked it up on the advice of the local gossip spreader of Terry, Montana (my favorite town ever), who said that one of the families portrayed in the book was really peeved after it came out.
I had a suspicion it was Percy Wollaston, so I picked up this book. It was a reasonably good telling of homestead life, but it wasn't gripping or emotionally involving.
I had a suspicion it was Percy Wollaston, so I picked up this book. It was a reasonably good telling of homestead life, but it wasn't gripping or emotionally involving.
February 12, 2016
I do love a pioneering memoir! This one really needed an editor, which made it a little painful at times, but I understand why the publisher left it pretty much as the author wrote it. It's amazing to me that Percy Wollaston sat down and wrote this whole thing over a couple years when he was 68-70, having rarely even talked about his childhood experiences during the previous 50 years! What a story!
January 2, 2020
Added to my hit list after reading Jonathan Raban's Bad Land. It offers some inside truths, and as the publisher notes, the chapters are in the order he wrote 'em, a little random and unpolished, but worthy, particularly if like me you're thinking about the Open Sky. It slightly dishevels the romance.
April 28, 2017
Take into account that it is a memoir published posthumously without the help of much editing. That being said ...
Wonderful story told with humor that helped me appreciate the toughness of the pioneer and ubiquitous element of neighborly kindness not as evident in our current time/place.
Wonderful story told with humor that helped me appreciate the toughness of the pioneer and ubiquitous element of neighborly kindness not as evident in our current time/place.
February 16, 2025
Written by a non-writer, I loved the detail he shared about what it was like to grow up as a child of a homesteading family in early 1900s Montana. The stories he shared made me laugh, and painted a very good picture of life in the wild, untamed state of Montana just as people were discovering all it had to offer—and the danger trying to tame it held.
May 8, 2023
Percy Wollaston shares his story of moving to Eastern Montana in early 1900's.
August 28, 2011
There were many good things I liked about this book. The personal description of the era, joys and sorrows of homesteading in eastern Montana in the 1910's. Percy Wollaston was an amazing man, honest, hardworing, resourceful and optimistic.
The book was difficult to read, as it is a collection of miscellaneous thoughts. The collection of memories does not flow. If you are interested in this time period, Jonathan Raban's Bad Land is a much better read.
The book was difficult to read, as it is a collection of miscellaneous thoughts. The collection of memories does not flow. If you are interested in this time period, Jonathan Raban's Bad Land is a much better read.
July 26, 2007
Check this book out if you liked Bad Land by Jonathan Raban.
December 28, 2013
Really interesting piece of social history - the grit that got left out of little house on the prairie.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews