Sadly I do not have any identified pictures of Jennie Spencer, who I have to assume was a very attractive young woman. Born in Wales to Mr. and Mrs. James Spencer, I have been unable to discover her immigration papers, but find reference to her living in Granite county from an early age. She married A. H. Porter prior to 1881.
During my years of research I often ran across references to her from as early as 1881. On March 24, “Mrs. Porter attended a dance” and while dancing with Eugene Garland made a remark about Elisha Reed’s wife. This caused a fight to start that ended up with Reed shooting and killing Garland the next day. I have written about this affair and the escape of Reed from Prison in “Book One and Two of Mettle of Granite County”.
Jennie and A.H. Porter had at least seven children during their married years, Mary Frances , known as “Frankie” was born in 1881; Aleck born in 1882 died 14 months later in 1883; Forrest born in 1886; Gardner born in 1888 died in 1890; an “infant born on December 29, 1889 died Jan 3, 1890. (Their headstones in the Philipsburg Cemetery all state “Children of A.H. and Jennie Porter” ); Spencer known as “Joe” born in 1891 and Nova born in 1896.
The June 30, 1897 Citizen Call described the H.A. Conn (age 34) and A.H. Porter’s (age 42) ongoing war that resulted in Conn shooting Porter dead. The feud started after Porter leased or sold a part of the ranch, located on the south side of East Fork in the slope of the Spud Mountains where the Porter Ridge separates East Fork from Middle Fork. Porter who had resided in the county for over 20 years, was frequently mentioned in the news articles as a braggart prospector and more than once used his horse reins on others, such as Archie McPhail. Conn had arrived in the area prior to acquiring the property. Porter had refused to let him cross his other property and blocked his access to go to town; had whipped him onto the ground with his horse reins and sent surveyors out to push Conn off the property prior to the final incident. When the incident occurred Porter, Jennie and 4 children were living in Philipsburg, where they had moved the previous fall. Conn was found to be innocent and the shooting deemed self defense.
Probably due to finances, Jennie and 4 of the children returned to the East Fork ranch. The ranch was sold at auction on July 17, 1901, but the 1900 Federal Census has Jennie and the 4 children living in Philipsburg on Carter Street. One can only imagine the hardship of being a young woman with a 12 and 8 year old son and a 4 year old daughter trying to run this remote ranch, as Frankie was at St. Mary Academy in Deer Lodge. Forrest left for school at the Tabor, Iowa Academy in 1900.
I found numerous references about Jennie attending parties during these years and a letter she wrote to the editor stating she had not attended the Shilling brother’s bachelor party as rumors had stated. In 1902, Jennie married William Schuh who had become widowed with four children ages 9,7, 6 and 4. William owned the ranch property next to his mother Mary’s homestead on Trout Creek.
Forrest died from Pneumonia at the Schuh Ranch on August 16, 1904, at the age of 18. By this time Frankie had wed P.W. Merrifield, leaving only Joe and Nova at home with Jennie. William died of blood poisoning on September 12, 1906, leaving Jennie with another ranch to run. She married Sidney A. Kelly in October of 1908, who owned a ranch on Fred Burr…to be continued…
