The Cromley family makes a return visit to Blaine County

By Steve Edwards

BCJ News

Reporter's note: Through the various Homestead Acts, some 1.6 million homesteaders settled nearly 10% of the total area of the U.S., mostly in the western states. The families of many of those homesteaders still live on parts of the original tracts settled by their forbearers. Others, for a variety of reasons, left the land. Of the latter group, it's not unusual their families still have an interest in the places where their relatives first settled and current generations make trips to learn about the lives of their ancestors.

David and Alice Cromley homesteaded, in 1892, on Peoples Creek. Recently about 20 of their family members came back to visit the original homestead site and subsequent locations where the family lived over the years. Kathy Cromley, the wife of a grandson of David and Alice Cromley, wrote a letter to Gordon Haugen asking if he would help guide the visitors to some of the places the Cromleys first settled. Kathy and Dave live in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Gordon asked me to tag along knowing it was the kind of story I enjoy learning and writing about.

In a March letter to Gordon Haugen, Kathy wrote, "Thirty years ago we had a family reunion and we visited the area (Blaine County). Since we are now grandparents, we would like to show our grandkids where our ancestors lived."

Here's some of what I learned about the Cromley history from the third through fifth generations.

The Cromley family visits Blaine County

There were about 20 family members who came for the tour. Dave, Kay and Brent, grandchildren of the original homesteaders, brought along their adult children, who in turn brought their children. It was a collection of the original settlers' grandchildren, great grandchildren (now young adults) and a group Kathy described as the "kiddos," the great, great grandchildren ranging in ages from five to 17.

Per Kathy, it was the great grandchildren that promoted the idea of a return visit and tour. She said, "They told us (the three grandchildren of the homesteaders) they wanted to come back to see and hear about their great grandparents' history before all the stories and details were forgotten." Brenda Cromley, one of the great grandchildren, said, "I came here in 2013 for a visit. After learning we would be coming back this year I got really interested in my family's history." Fortunately for her, the family has an unusually large amount of history written and preserved by the older generations.

After some introductions to Gordon who would be guiding them to where they wanted to visit and some looking at maps of the area, the group set off in about five or six vehicles to see what they could learn about their ancestors.

Visiting the "Cromley places"

Kathy Cromley said, "There's nothing left of the original homestead on Peoples Creek. One sad event was the death of a baby boy while the family lived there." She said the gravesite had been identified with markers and fenced for several years but "that's all gone. We know about where the grave is, but not a definite location."

A sister of homesteader David Cromley wrote a poem about the death of the child. Kathy, who had gathered a lot of the historical information, said, "For the first time we read the poem to the family that was gathered. It was very sad and very moving."

The family later moved to what they called the Milk River House-on River Road. Mitch Henderson now owns the house and gave a bit of history that he knew about the house. The family was invited to look through the house and they spent a long time getting an idea of what life might have been like there. Kay (in photo with story), the oldest of the grandchildren, had lived there as a young child.

During the visit to the Milk River House, excerpts from a diary, kept by one of the homesteaders' daughters, told about life at the house by the river (circa 1906). Daughter Alice, in her diary, told of an unfortunate incident that affected the well-being of the family. The father contracted typhoid fever from drinking contaminated water. The illness affected him physically but also his ability to operate the farm.

The family then went to the Bean Creek house, on property now owned by Bruce Hofeldt. It was on this property that the early family carved their brand, D-C, into a stone on a hill. Kathy said, "We all walked up to the stone and each of us, using a screwdriver, made our own additional marks to the old carving." She later added, "The younger family members were most interested in the Milk River House and the carving on the rock. Those locations were tangible, there was something to see and touch." She laughed when she told, "One of the 20-somethings said 'we should record the coordinates of the carving using the GPS on our phones. Then we would never have to trek up to it again, just bring it up on our phones.'"

Future visits for future generations?

Kathy Cromley, who has helped preserve a lot of the family's history, said she was pleased with the response from the younger generation after visiting the family sites. She felt there would be a renewed interest in preserving the family history already gathered and, hopefully, adding more documentation to what is known.

It was interesting to me, as a writer, that two of the daughters of the original homesteaders had kept diaries and/or written down incidents about their lives on the homestead and other locales in the area. Perhaps one of those 'kiddos' on the most recent visit will be motivated to do some of their own recording about their family history as it develops. And from the reaction of the young adults in the group, it seems pretty likely that they, at some point, will be making a pilgrimage back to Blaine County with their grandkids to learn more about the Cromley family.