More on CH Daily ( Christopher Harris)

TOP > HISTORY > PEOPLE > FAMILY BIOGRAPHIES EAST FORK AND ITS SETTLERS From 'Echoing Footsteps', published 1967, Powder River County Extension Homemakers Council East Fork Creek is a tributary of Otter Creek. It is about ten miles long and five miles wide. It has several side creeks-namely Daley Creek, Coal Creek, and Darling Draw. The soil is very fertile, especially near the heads of draws and near the divides. The deep snow in the winters feed the springs which dot the area. Perhaps that is why so many homesteaders chose it for a home. Since it is located on the Custer National Forest, they were limited to 160 acres of plow land along the creek beds, and had to be fenced with "bob-wire". The Chris Shy place, where Martha Gaskill and her son Ray live, was the first home on East Fork. Chris Shy, a Missourian, built a log house and fenced some pasture land for his stock. He obtained a brand in 1886, so his coming was prior to that time. Chris returned to Missouri, leaving Steve Daley on the place. Now, Steve Daley was a relative of J. T. Hamilton of Stacey, also of Charlie Daly on Little Pumpkin Creek, and Mrs. Griffin (she was Evva Gold's mother). Evva says Steve spelled his name "Daley". I am explaining this as Daley Creek where Hugh Daily, Jack Disbro, and Fred Benbrook filed claims was named by Steve, because it joined East Fork near Steve's home. When Steve left, the OU outfit rented the place, using it for pasture land, and the house was used as a cow camp for its riders. George Shy, brother of Dudley Shy of the Coalwood area, and father of Dud Shy of Otter Creek, was the next Missourian to live on the Chris Shy place during the years of 1903-1904. Later they moved to the Little Pumpkin Creek near the Charlie Simpson ranch. Millard Shy, son of Walter Shy, lived there until Gentrys bought the place. Oral Gentry and his wife Laura moved there some time before 1910. They had been living there some time before Hugh Daily bought the George Daniels place on Daley Creek. Orval Gentry was born in 1912 and Glenn in 1915. Gentrys moved to Otter Creek and Joe Russ from Illinois lived there until 1929. They moved back East and Dan Gaskill bought the place. The next Missourian to settle on East Fork was Walter Shy -- sometimes referred to as Uncle Walter Shy or Grandpa Shy. He and his wife and family of five children (3 boys and 2 girls) bought squatter's rights and improvements of a place near the head of the creek. Tom McAllister and Charlie Coon had previously squatted there, and Coon traded the place to Shy for a team of horses in 1890. While they lived there, Aunt Jennie died, and was buried in the front yard. Hugh Daily says he helped move her body to the Willow Crossing Cemetery after Grandpa Shy passed on. May Shy, the oldest daughter, married Ollie Reed. Her sister Maggie became Mrs. Charlie Simpson, mother of Milton Simpson. Jim Shy became a Ranger on the Custer National Forest. In his late years he operated the James Beattie Store in Ashland. Vest and Millard Shy operated ranches. Vest was a partner of Jim Shy in the Ashland Store for a short time. All of the Shy family have passed on except May Shy Reed. She resides in California and is 90 some years old. The Ben Gentry place was first squatted on by Albert Ferris and Atlee Ferris was born there in 1887. Vest Shy was the next owner, and he sold to Ollie Reed. Ollie Reed built a log house on the place for his father and mother. In 1902 these logs were traded to the C. H. Daily family for a saddle horse when they arrived. Ollie Reed sold the place to Ben Gentry in 1902, and he and his family moved to Miles City. Two more children were added to the school census, namely Oral and Nora Gentry. N. A. Wolfe settled on a claim about 1/2 mile below the Grandpa Shy place. There was a wonderful spring there and the soil was black and fertile. Wolfe's garden was talked about everywhere. Flossie Wolfe, now Flossie Ferris, said he was a good gardener raised most of their living. He also ran a saw mill. Bertha, Fred, Nellie, Flossie, Floyd, and Walter all attended schools which were built some time later. Flossie was one year old when they moved there in 1894. She was born below the present site of Ashland across the road from the post office, known as Old Ashland. They had to leave there as their land was on the area set aside for the Cheyenne Indian Reservation. C. H. Daily, his wife Sallie, and six sons and one daughter, came to East Fork the fall of 1902. They, too, were Missourians who had lived in Raton, New Mexico, before coming to Montana in a covered wagon. The boys rode horseback so as to drive the stock, mostly horses. The Dailys lived here until they moved to Ashland in 1918. The boys -- Percy, Eben, Harry, Hughie, Floyd, and Loren -- all married and settled on the creek or its tributaries. Harry bought the Darling place and the other boys filed on claims. Florence became Mrs. Vest Shy. Frank Thomas and his mother lived at the head of East Fork when the C. H. Dailys arrived, but he later moved to Ashland. The Darlings moved away and sold their place to Harry Daily. Below the Daily ranch, Percy and Floyd took up claims. Loren had a claim on Coal Creek. Hughie filed on Daley Creek and Eben's claim was across the road from the home ranch. Other places that were filed on below the C. H. Daily place were Clyde Noaker, Youngs, Roberts, Kyles Bartrams, Phoole, and Pat Stanton, which was even below the Chris Shy place. There was one more place near the mouth of Daley Creek which was first filed on by Ray Selles. His wife Blanch was the sister of Mrs. Floyd Daily (Nora). Ray was killed while discing on Otter Creek. Blanch married Jimmie Stanton, a forest ranger, and lives in Hardin now. She sold their claim to Antone (Tony) Mosgar. Tony Mosgar was from Texas. There were three sons - Isadore, Charles, and Freddie, besides one daughter, Carrie. Minnie, the mother is in Washington near her son, Charles. I think I have named all the places that were finally filed on. There was no filing in the beginning as none of the claims were surveyed. Perry and Delbert Hanson own the ranches on the upper half of the Creek and Ray Gaskill owns the lower half. I think I counted 28 places filed on. The only place owned by the original owner, besides the Hanson boys, is Bartrams. He is Mrs. Disbro's brother. You will find their history in the chapter on Daley Creek. There are only five families living on East Fork now. Copyright © 1998-2012 MilesCity.com. All Rights Reserved. Do not copy without permission. MilesCity.com :: Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Rules of Conduct :: Donate | Contact Info Copyright © 1998-2012 MilesCity.com. All Rights Reserved. Do not copy without permission. MilesCity.com :: Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Rules of Conduct :: Donate | Contact Info

Family History - Chris Daily & Sally Gentry

Christopher Harris Daily is William Dean Daily's Grandfather. Sarah Gentry, his wife went by "Sallie" Here is a little bit about how they met, and ended up in Montana.
If you find any information about our ancestors, I would love for you to post a link here!
Thanks,
Michelle

http://milescity.com/History/people/biographies/view.asp?id=93

Above is the link to the actual website, Milescity.com/history/people/biographies
There are a few other Dailys' on here that we are related to, and the Shy's and Gentry's too!

CHRIS AND SALLIE (GENTRY) DAILY
From 'Fanning the Embers', published 1971, Range Rider Reps, Miles City, Montana

Chris Daily, a farmer from Missouri left St. Joseph, Mo., while the North and South were fighting over the slave question. Since Missouri was located between the two sides and some Missourians were divided by the question, Chris decided to join a wagon train and build a new home in the west. Many other Missourians felt the same way as they had seen their neighbors lose their stock and crops by raiders from both the North and South. Even farm houses had been destroyed by fire if they resisted.

The Gentry brothers, John, Tom and Ben, also the three Shy boys were among Missourians who left Flat Creek near Sedalia, Mo., and headed west reaching Northern New Mexico. In due time Chris Daily met these men and learned that the Gentry brothers had a sister, Sarah, with them. You can guess what happened; Chris and Sarah (Sallie) got married.

The Gentry brothers and the Shy boys did not remain long in New Mexico but headed north for Montana where the Homestead Act of 1862, made it possible for settlers to become ranchers and make cattle raising their new project. Descendents of Gentrys and Shys still live in Montana. Sam and Ike Shy were ranchers who ranched on Foster Creek not far from Garland, Mont.. on the Tongue River. They are retired now and reside in Miles City. Oral and Laura Gentry reside in Billings. They have children who have moved elsewhere.

Chris Daily and Sallie remained in New Mexico living on ranches in the Vermajo Park but working for the Southern Pacific Railroad. They too finally decided to go north since they had received many glowing letters about the New Sky Country, open to settlers. Before they left New Mexico their family had increased; it consisted of six boys and one girl. The women folks rode in the wagons while the boys rode horseback and drove their horses and cattle to the new ranch home.

It took them three months to make the trip and it was late summer before they reached the Tom Gentry ranch not far from Sheridan, Wyo. They camped, looked the country over and decided to continue north down the Tongue River country. They camped again at the head of Otter Creek. This was the scene of the great sheep carnage, when cattlemen of that area beat sheep to death. The sheep belonged to Selway and Daut and were being grazed on grasslands claimed by cattlemen.

Dailys traveled north down Otter Creek until they reached the Ben Gentry ranch at the head of East Fork Creek on Oct. 22, 1902. They soon discovered that Walter Shy had a spread near by. They looked the country over and decided this would be their new home. They lived that winter in a log house on the Gentry ranch. The boys worked for ranchers through the winter and Chris traded a saddle horse for the log house and the boys helped their Dad move it about two miles down East Fork Creek. In time this became the home ranch as the boys filed on claims above and below it and on both sides, Harvey filed to the north, Percy and Floyd to the south, Eben to the east and Loren to the west. Florence, the only daughter, married Vest Shy, the youngest son of Walter Shy. Since Walter's wife, Jennie, had passed on, Florence and Vest took over the ranch and Walter lived with them. Aunt Jennie was buried in the front yard and Hugh Daily helped move her body to the Willow Crossing Cemetery.


Copyright © 1998-2012 MilesCity.com. All Rights Reserved. Do not copy without permission.
MilesCity.com :: Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Rules of Conduct :: Donate | Contact Info

Trip to Montana

I asked Mom (Drinda) to tell about this incident, this is when I was a newborn.

A little bit of family history. I think we should be gathering all the info we can from our parents! I love each of you and hope you will be inquisitive as well!

Love,

Michelle-

My mother wanted us to bring you home to Idaho Falls for a visit right after you were born.  The safest way we could do that was to ride the train.  We had a private sleeping compartment so we could be away from all the strangers and their germs.  I think they (my mom and dad) just decided that we should take you to Montana to see Grandma Ann before the weather got too bad.  So they drove us over there. The Interstate 15 was not there then so we followed Hwy 93 through Salmon. The Lost Trail Pass is at about 7000 ft and that is where we had an accident.  Your dad says that my mom was driving as we went over the pass into the Missoula area. We hit some ice and the car slid to the edge of a very steep cllift. The car hit the guard rail and the large pole that holds the rail stopped the car.  The car was stuck on that pole and the pole was holding us up from falling over the edge.  It was too cold outside for the baby so I stayed in the car with you to keep you warm.  It wasn't long until a man came by in a pickup truck.  He was following his kids home over the pass to make sure they didn't have trouble. So he hooked up a rope to the car and pulled us back off the pole and onto the road.  We were almost out of gas so the next emergency was to look for gas. We saw a home off to the side of the road with the lights still on.  It was after midnight.  We stopped and knocked.  They were very nice.  The parents were up with a daughter who had just arrived home to tell them she was getting married.  They had a gas pump for farm equipment so we were in luck.  The rest of the trip was uneventful as I recall.

I did not remember the name of the pass or the highway.  I figured out the shortest way to Missoula and that goes through Salmon. This is the only option.

Lost Trail Pass
Elevation	7,014 ft (2,138 m)
Traversed by	US-93
Location	Lemhi County, Idaho / Ravalli County, Montana,  United States
Range	Bitterroot Mountains,Bitterroot Range,Rocky Mountains
Coordinates	45°41.6′N 113°56.9′W45.6933°N 113.9483°W

Lost Trail Pass is a mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains of the United States, on the border of Idaho and Montana.

Just thought you would like to know as many facts as possible.