Too Poor to Move but Always Rich: A Century on Montana Land

by Jim Sargent

"Experience the unfolding of the twentieth century as lived by Jim Sargent's parents, the Norwegian and the Honyocker, who struggle through decades of phenomenal change on a dry-land Montana ranch. Raising sheep, farming with horse-drawn machinery, facing sickness and death, dealing with cantankerous animals, braving blizzards, coping with dust and drought, then bogging down in the gumbo, they endure all of the pathos and rejoice in the profound satisfaction that reward their steadfast efforts to survive."--Cover.

268 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

One may say this is an obscure book, and appears to be self-published. I ended up getting a copy of this book for free, back when the library I was working for closed it’s bookstore. I got several other books, many of which I ended up donating elsewhere, but this one stayed in my collection. Thought it looked interesting. But it wasn’t very much.

The book has a feel of writing for the author’s family, and maybe friends as well. There is an attempt to place his family’s homestead in the larger context of the world, but for the most part is it a focus on his parents and family. They were both from immigrant families, Dad from England and Mom from Norway. They met out on the farming plains and became homesteaders in Montana in the early twentieth century, raising their kids until they became too old to farm and moved into the small town nearby.

There are details for most aspects of life, written in a straightforward way. Perhaps if one wants to know what it’s like living on a ranch before electricity and most modern conveniences this book will give you the details, along with other personal family details. One of the later chapters is written by his sister, the only female sibling, all the rest of them were males. Another chapter is written by the author’s niece mostly discussing the final days of the author’s mother.

It wasn’t a bad book, but it would be way more interesting if I knew these people to begin with. Don’t think this book is geared for the wider world outside of that sphere.

[Alexis K · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the granddaughter of Darwin Titeca, the son of Sam Titeca who homesteaded not far from the Sargents, and the great-great niece of Ida Knight, and having grown up on the Berg homestead, I found this book to be interesting but a little far-fetched, to say the least. While it did end on a good note of the kindness of my great-great aunt and uncle, there were quite a few speculations throughout the book that my family would have disagreed on. However, this is Jim's perspective, so I will leave it at that.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always rate autobiographies 5 stars. This was an interesting slice of life story based in Montana. Very interesting and I enjoyed!

[Lisa of Hopewell]

found it here: http://guides.lib.montana.edu/summerr...