Jeffers family

Myron D. Jeffers was born in Hadley, New York in 1833. When he was 21 he headed west and after several endeavors in 1864 he began freighting merchandise from Corrine, Utah to Virginia City, MT. In 1869 he purchased cattle in Texas and drove the herd to Virginia City for sale. On a third trip in 1871, instead of selling the herd, he kept it and established a ranch near Ennis, MT. where the community of Jeffers was later established. In 1872 his younger brother Joshua Burton "Burt" Jeffers joined him and they formed a partnership which lasted until 1880. Later, they were major members of a cattle pool which grazed its herd near Park City, Montana on the Yellowstone River. The winter of 1886-87 caused major loses and by 1893 the pool was dissolved and the herd was sold. Myron married Florence Switzer in 1878 and Burt married her sister Suzie Switzer in 1880. The girls had crossed from Iowa to the Madison Valley with their parents as children. Myron and Florence had 5 sons including Paul born in 1882 and Fayette "Fay" born in 1885. Burt and Suzie had a son Lawrence in 1889. "Fay" Jeffers and Winifred Chowning were married in 1918. Winifred was the daughter of Charles W. Chowning and Jennie Winifred Ennis Chowning of Ennis and the granddaughter of William Ennis the founder of Ennis, MT. William Ennis had a general store in Ennis until his death in 1898. With his death, C.W. Chowning and Jennie returned to Ennis to run the general store she inherited from her father. Paul Love was one of the clerks at the store and his memories of Ennis and musical events are in the collection. Mrs. Fay (Winifred Chowning) Jeffers was the principle collector of family and neighborhood history. Her mother Jennie and she were both Post Mistresses in Ennis and involved in the Trinity Churchand its women's Guild, Madison Valley Woman's Club and the Fairweather Pioneer Society.

From the guide to the Jeffers Family Collection, 1868-1975, (Montana State University-Bozeman Library, Merrill G Burlingame Special Collections)