My paternal great grandmother, Mary Gertrude Rumping, was born March 3, 1878 in St. Louis, Missouri – the daughter of Eva Frances Specht and John Henry Rumping.  One year later, in order to join her father who had earlier arrived in Montana Territory, Eva and one-year-old Mary made a 3-month boat trip from St. Louis, Missouri to Fort Benton, Montana Territory – followed by another 160-mile stage trip from Fort Benton to Belmont, near present-day Marysville.

The details of Mary’s life are more completely detailed in her journal entries, personal papers and photographs, but here is a short outline of the major events in her life:

• 1891 (age 12 or 13)  – Mary made her First Holy Communion while visiting her mother’s hometown of North Vernon, Indiana
• 1893 (age 14) – Mary’s mother Eva filed for divorce against her father, John
• 1895 (age 17)  – Mary graduated from high school in May and by the fall, she had obtained a teacher’s certificate
• August 1900 (age 22)  – Mary married George Schenk
• 1901 to 1910 (age 23 to age 32) – Mary and George had four children
• March 1909 (age 31)  – After a long drawn-out legal battle, Mary’s parents were finally divorced
• July 1912 (age 34) – Mary’s mother Eva died
• February 1914 (age 35) – Mary and George had a fifth child, Valentine
• April 1915 (age 37) – Valentine died
• October 1915 (age 37) – George Schenk died at age 38
• November 1916 (age 38) – Mary married Albert Schaffer
• January 1921 (age 42)  – Mary had a son who was either stillborn or died the same day
• December 1921 (age 43) – Mary’s father John died in Bisbee, Arizona
• June 1934 (age 56) – Mary’s 2nd husband Albert died
• February 1945 (age 67) – Mary married Eugene Riordan and moved to Kansas
• July 1945 (age 68) – Eugene died in an auto accident and Mary moved back to Marysville, Montana
• November 1952 (age 74) – Mary died in Helena, Montana