Perley Clifton Waite was born on 12 August 1868 in Chester, Vermont to Henry O. and Sarah (Kinsman) Waite. Waite lived in various towns in Vermont during his early childhood until his family moved to Massachusetts when he was thirteen. In October of 1886, Waite moved to the Gallatin Valley in Montana to live with his uncle and aunt, Ned and Helen Hodgman. He worked on their farm for two and a half years. He left the farm in 1889 and moved to Bozeman. Over the next three years, Waite worked at several different stores in Bozeman. He was a clerk at the Willson Company, a dry goods and men's department store, until 1890 when he left to work at Levy and Elias Clothing Store. He quit in 1891 and then worked for Albert A. Spaulding for four months then at C. C. Fuller Cold Storage Warehouse. In 1892, he became the Assistant Postmaster for Bozeman, a job he kept until 1896. During this time, he was also a local reporter for several Montana newspapers. After his job as Assistant Postmaster, Waite became interested in gold mining. He attended chemistry classes at Montana State College in order to find employment in the mining industry. Waite moved to Silver Star, Montana, where he became involved in gold mining. Over the next eight years, Waite continued with the mining business, staying mainly in Silver Star, but also traveling around Montana and other Western states.
From the guide to the P.C. Waite Papers, 1887-1959, (Montana State University-Bozeman Library, Merrill G Burlingame Special Collections)
