Joseph James Packer (bef. 1833 - 1900)

Born before 2 Jun 1833 in London, England, United Kingdom

Husband of Ellen Elizabeth (Potter) Packer — married 20 Jul 1862 in Wimbledon, Surrey, England

Descendants

Died 1900 after age 66 in Miles City, Custer, Montana, United States [uncertain]

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Jon Couts [send private message]

Biography

JOSEPH JAMES PACKER

Information of Arthur Packer,

Among the earliest of the sons of Britain who resolved to find a new home and opportunities in the former “Colonies” was J J Packer, who in 1881 caught the movement and from Malden, in Surrey County, with his wife, Elizabeth Ellen, temporarily left behind them in good hands a flock of children from their native shores and located at a point along the line of the Northern Pacific railroad. The road was new and had just extended through that country and Mr. Packer found employment with the company as a watchman of the bluffs at Horton, which rose steeply from the south bank of the Yellowstone River at a spot called Horton, which was a post office and station named after a couple of brothers who had settled there. Rock and land slides were not rare and their danger needs no description.

But across the river there lay a long and fertile valley which the enterprising newcomer was not long in deciding was a good place for a permanent home and by purchase and settlement he acquired ownership of a desirable tract build them a house, and soon had his family on their way to make use of it. Their children consisted of nine boys and two girls. They came over in 1883. There names were Arthur, Alfred, Harry, Will, Joe and Ed. The daughters were Henrietta Alice and Nellie. It wasn't long before the attractive Nellie had been discovered and appropriated by a nearby ranch man named Henry Davis, and the equally desirable Henrietta Alice had so appealed to another, a hunter as well as a ranchman, named Ben Johnson. Davis owned what is now known as the Lockie ranch on the Yellowstone about where Calabar station on the Milwaukee railroad now is. The Ben Johnson place and the old Robinson place occupied what later became the popular locality of “Sheffield”. Sheffield himself was a big grain operator in the Twin Cities who sometime in the 1900s, about the time the Milwaukee was building through (1907), acquired possession of what is now one of the best known farming tracts in this region.

The Packer place was bought, in time, by a Miles City man named Hultgren. West of the Packer place is the Olaf Nelson farm and across the road the former Nels Lindeberg layout. Portions of these and the Chas. Austin tract became incorporated in the Sheffield domain. Opposite, on the south side, lived Nils Kildahl who married a sister of Mrs Nelson. It was at one time the Nevitt place. Nils died in '49.

Mr. Packer assisted by his boys did considerable truck farming, which they easily and profitably disposed of at Fort Keogh, about 12 miles east, and Miles City, two miles beyond. About every ordinary truck product could be grown and with farm crops were raised on Mr. Packer's place. After 1893 he had for irrigation purposes, to raise water from a slough arm of the Yellowstone which bordered his tract, a Chinese pump. It consisted of a string of wooden blocks running in a trough with which ample water was raised. This was made by a former patternmaker from the East, who was stopping and working at the ranch over the summer while visiting his brother, W.K. Boucher, who was the schoolteacher that year. Mr. Packer also had some cattle and horses but was not extensively engaged in livestock. He died in 1900 and was buried on the ranch. The mother died in 1918 and was buried in Miles City cemetery. Mr. Joseph Packer was something of a prophet in his optimistic estimates and their realization. He is said by his boys to have foretold that a railroad, would, in not many years, pierce the valley, and there would be one or more bridges build to span the Yellowstone. In his day crossing was negotiated only by a ferry slung on shieve wheels which crossed on a wire cable, operated by the force of the current. The Milwaukee R.R. Came through in 1907-08. In 1903 there was a bridge, built by Custer County to the north side of the Yellowstone, just north of Fort Keogh which answered every purpose for travel and communication, while the Milwaukee bridged the river for its purposes and the old ferry was no longer needed.

Harry Packer died early, Alfred was accidentally shot in Washington, by a son-in-law, Ed operated a store at Ashland and also became a housepainter, Joe was killed by a horse falling on him, Arthur is conducting an enterprising business in Miles City, Mrs Ben Johnson is still alive at 84 (in '48) at Seattle, Ben Johnson died about 1907. Henry Davis became the father of two children, Nellie and Arthur, who when developed departed elsewhere.

Sources

• Boucher, Charles. "Miles City area ranchers and cowboys: P". Dola Wilson and Charles M. Boucher Papers. Ed. Dola Wilson. Montana Historical Society Archives, Box 1/Folder 26, 1948, Print.

• "Montana, County Marriages, 1865-1950," index and images, FamilySearch : accessed 24 Jan 2014, J. J. Packer in entry for Alfred J. Packer and Helen F. Casey and <Unknown>, 1902.

• "United States Census, 1900," index and images, FamilySearch [1] : accessed 24 Jan 2014), Joseph J Packer, Enumeration district 203, Custer, Montana, United States; citing sheet , family 9, NARA microfilm publication T623, FHL microfilm 1240910.

• "England Marriages, 1538–1973 ," index, FamilySearch [2] : accessed 24 Jan 2014), Joseph James Packer and Ellen Potter, 20 Jul 1862.

• "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch [3] : 11 February 2018, Joseph Packer, 02 Jun 1833); citing SAINT MARK,KENNINGTON,LONDON,ENGLAND, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 0375289-0375291.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Jon Couts for creating WikiTree profile Packer-524 through the import of Couts.ged on Dec 4, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Jon and others.