Egbert S. "Bert" Newbury II

When he was eighteen years old, Egbert Starr Newbury, Jr., known as Bert, began working as a clerk in a dry goods store in Jackson, Michigan. Three years later he was urged by a second cousin, Harry Gordon Selfridge, to come to Chicago to work at Marshall Field & Co. Harry had himself taken a job as a junior bookkeeper at the age of 14; and then at 19 became a clerk at Chicago store Field, Leiter & Co (later Marshall Field). Egbert moved to Chicago to live with his mother's aunt, Lois Selfridge, who was working as a teacher (principal?). Meanwhile Egbert was employed by Marshall Field & Company. While there, he learned of an interesting employment opportunity in Belgrade, Montana. Probably his inherent adventurous spirit prompted him to accept the position in 1898, and after a difficult trip, he arrived in the small town of ten houses, four saloons, and three livery stables.

Bert eventually became manager of the Belgrade Company, one of the leading department stores in southern Montana that supplied farmers with all their needs.

In 1904 he accepted the position of general manager of a mercantile company owned by the Anaconda Mining Company in Cananea, Sonora, Mexico. He returned to Belgrade to be married on March 14, 1907, to Alma Beerstecher, a girl who had been born in California. Their daughter, Frances Newbury Roddy, later donated Alma's wedding dress to the Stagecoach Inn Museum, Newbury Park, California.

After their wedding, Bert took his bride back to Cananea where they lived for a year. They returned to Montana, and Bert resumed working for the Belgrade Company. Bert and Alma moved to Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming, in 1931, where he became manager of the A.K. Pryor Stores situated in various locations in Yellowstone National Park.

Bert and Alma were the parents of three children: Dorothy Newbury, who was born in 1907 and died of appendicitis in 1912, Egbert Starr Newbury III, born in 1910, and Frances Kellogg Newbury (Roddy), born in 1914.

At the age of seventy, Bert retired. He and Alma moved to Concord, Massachusetts, to be near their children. It was said that Bert was a true man of the West who loved fishing, horseback riding, and especially gardening.

At the age of 101, he was asked what advice he had for young people. He smiled and said, "Work and play and make the most of it."

Bert and Alma celebrated sixty-nine happy years together. She died on March 31, 1976 at the age of eighty-six. Egbert Starr Newbury, Jr. died four months later on July 13, 1976, at the age of 102.

Much or all of the above came from "The Newburys of Newbury Park," by Miriam Sprankling with Ruthanne Begun, published in 2006 by the Conejo Valley Historical Society, Newbury Park, California.

What follows is an article about Bert's life and family by Dorothea Holmes, published in 1986 as “Belgrade Company Ltd. et al.,” one in a collection of articles commemorating the Belgrade Centennial, 1886-1986, pp 9-11.

Mr. Egbert S. Newbury had worked for several years at Marshall Fields in Chicago when he heard of a store with great prospects in Belgrade, Montana. Shortly afterwards the manager of the store, Mr. Charles Sparr, contacted Mr. Newbury with the result that a young man about twenty-two years old with a suitcase in one hand and a mandolin under his arm took a train west. He was in a tourist car which had a stove at one end where passengers prepared their own meals. The worst part of the trip came at Glendive, Montana, a small town of only a few houses and very few people. The Yellowstone River, as it frequently did in the spring, threatened to wash out the tracks and the bridge over the river. Only the night before a man and his family, with a wagon and team of horses, had been swept down the river. The railroad bridge had been weakened, and all day long men worked to repair the bridge. Finally, after a 24 hour delay, it was decided to try the train crossing. All passengers and non-essential crewmen dismounted and followed on foot as the train was eased over the rampaging river. Mr. Newbury could well remember many years later how the bridge creaked and swayed as they followed the train across. All in all, it was a long and difficult trip.

When Bert Newbury arrived in Belgrade in 1898 he saw a town of four saloons, two or three livery stables, where they broke horses during the winter, and a total of about ten houses. The Sparrs lived in the best house, or, as Mr. Newbury put it, the only good house in the town at that time. It had been the Quaw house. Bert Newbury roomed with the Sparrs.

Mr. Edward A. Stiefel went to Helena, Montana in 1895 and was working with the traffic department of the Southern Pacific Railway when he met Mr. T.C. Power. Associating with Mr. Power, Mr. Stiefel went to Belgrade in 1900 as manager and treasurer of the Belgrade Company, Ltd., in which he owned considerable stock. Mr. T.C. Power was President; C.B. Power, Vice-President; and G.J. Joyce, Secretary — all of Helena. Under Mr. Stiefel’s managership the Belgrade Company became one of the leading department stores in southern Montana and the largest enterprise of its kind in Gallatin County.

The store was situated on the corner of Northern Pacific Avenue, now Main Street, and Broadway Street. It had a floor space of 125 x 130 feet and had two stories. The upper story provided a storage area while the remaining area was made into apartments.

Mr. Rufus Grogan, who, like Mr. Newbury, had worked for Charles Sparr, had the hardware department. Bert Newbury was in charge of dry goods and groceries. Mr. Jesse Robinson had the men’s furnishing. Emma Moore was the bookkeeper. After some years had passed, Mr. George Lehman worked in the grocery department for Bert Newbury until the store closed. Bert Newbury also made all of the beautifully lettered signs for the store.

Two very pleasant boys, Bob Maris and Wayne Bernard, handled the stocking of the store and the deliveries. The Belgrade Company delivered within a radius of two miles of Belgrade using a wagon pulled by two mules. Bob Maris was strong and could carry a 100 pound bag of sugar under each arm and at the same time a similar bag over each shoulder — a total of 400 pounds.

When Ed Stiefel took over the store, he and Bert Newbury shared a house on the corner of Northern Pacific Avenue and Weaver Street. In 1901, the husband of Mr. Stiefel’s sister, Sophie Beerstecher, died. The Beerstechers had been living in Northern California. Sophie and her three daughters then moved to Montana to live with Mr. Stiefel. Mr. Stiefel and Bert Newbury lived on one house on Weaver St., while Sophie Beerstecher and the girls lived in an adjoining house — the two houses were connected by a board walk. Shortly afterwards, Ed Stiefel built a new house to accommodate his new family. This house was in the second block off Northern Pacific Avenue on Weaver Street. It too proved to be too small, so Ed Stiefel subsequently built a third and final residence in the next block of Weaver Street. It was a large two story house with full attic. There was a windmill, a large barn for buggy and horses, and a chicken house in back.

Dora was Sophie’s oldest daughter. She was thirteen when the family arrived in Belgrade. Alma was eleven at the time, and Ada was three. In 1906 Alma married Bert Newbury and in 1908 Bert built a two story house in the third, and what was then, the last block of Weaver Street. They had three children: Dorothy who died at the age of four; Egbert Starr Newbury, Jr., who is now a lawyer living in Concord, Massachusetts; and Francis Newbury Roddy, also of Concord. Both Frances and Bert, Jr., were born in the Johnstone Hospital.

In 1916 Dora married a Bozeman banker, Mears Cummings Smiley, who had come to Montana from Battle Creek, Michigan. After their marriage, Mr. Smiley left Bozeman to become cashier of the Farmers Bank of Belgrade. He and Dora lived for several years in a large house near the elevator. Their daughter, Dorothea, was born while they lived there. The Bill Parkins were neighbors. The Parkins had two children, Bill, Jr., and Katherine Louise, who grew up in Belgrade. There was a Chinese laundry across the street in a cement building.

Dora and Mears later moved to a small house on the Northwest corner of Central and Weaver St. The blacksmith shop was at the end of the first block of Weaver Street, Charley MacDonald and his wife Alice, lived across from the Smileys on Weaver Street, and the Knudsen’s were next door in Ed Stiefel’s second house.

In 1921, Mears and Dora had a son, Richard C. Smiley, who was killed during World War II in Germany.

The one piece of furniture which Sophie Beerstecher brought with her from California was a grand piano. After being moved from house to house with the family, it ended up in Hans Knudsen’s saloon where it contributed significantly for many years to the local bar room singing.

There were always bums around during the summer. They stayed just out of town from the depot along the railroad tracks. They would mark a house as a good one for a hand out, and all three families must have had four star ratings as each one had at least one visit a day by a bum requesting food. One humorous family story about the bums had to do with a fire that started of the far rear of the Belgrade Company store. There were some kegs of beer stored there for Hans Knudsen’s saloon which had to be moved in order to fight the fire. Several bums attracted to the scene by the excitement immediately volunteered to assist in removing the beer kegs. In the process of rolling the kegs out and along the street, it so happened that several were cracked open. After the fire was extinguished it was discovered that there were happy bums collapsed along the street and beer still running out of the cracked kegs.

Ed Stiefel bought the first car in town — an open tourist style “Reo” with curtains for its windows. On his first trip in the new car, Ed invited Sophie and her daughters to accompany him. It was an exciting event for all, especially as Mr. Stiefel had only been shown how to start the car and go forward. He had no idea how to go in reverse. The result was a long drive circling all around the valley in order to return home.

On another Sunday drive, Ed with Sophie beside him and Dora and Alma in the back seat, suddenly became aware that they were being followed by a man driving a one horse buggy. The driver urged his horse on until its head was inside the open car seat of the Stiefel car. Needless to say, the two girls were very upset and urged Mr. Stiefel to increase speed. However the faster the car went, with its maximum speed of 30 mph, the faster the buggy would go — much to the glee of the driver.

For the first cars in Belgrade, the Belgrade Company kept a barrel of gas in the rear of the store from which gas was hand pumped into the gas tank.

Hans Knudsen had rooms to rent over his saloon. One day a traveling salesman came to the Belgrade Company and with him was a friend who happened to be a ventriloquist. Bert Newbury arranged for the ventriloquist to have some fun with Hans Knudsen. The three, Bert, the salesman and the ventriloquist went to the saloon. The ventriloquist threw his voice so that it seemed to those in the saloon that it was coming from one of the upstairs rooms.

Oh Hans, I can’t get out of this room,” came a voice, apparently from upstairs. “The door must be locked or jammed.” Hans was standing right by Bert and the ventriloquist. He called up, “There are no locks on the doors. You can’t be locked in.”

“Well I can’t help that. I can’t get out, Hans.” I want to get out!”

“All right,” growled Hans, and he stomped up the stairs.

When Hans came downstairs a few minutes later he said to Bert, “I don’t know — I’ve looked in all of the rooms and there is no one there.” The dumbfounded expression on Hans’s face brought gales of laughter from the assembled onlookers.

On another occasion, Mrs. Collins, a valley resident, came into the store. She always stopped to talk to Bert Newbury, and this time she was very distraught. “You know, I have lost all my teeth — I looked all over for those teeth and couldn’t find them anywhere.”

Bert felt very sorry for her and expressed his sympathy for her plight.

The next week Mrs. Collins returned to the store and said, “You know Mr. Newbury, I found my teeth, and where do you think I found them? Chris was chewing tobacco with them, and I surely gave him a piece of my mind that he won’t forget for a long, long time!”

Chris was her husband. He had lost all of his teeth and had found hers on the window sill so decided to borrow them for awhile.

Bert Newbury bought a great variety of eyeglasses to be sold at the Belgrade Company and kept them stored in a shoe box — not the best of merchandising by today’s standards.

Bert had been at the Belgrade Company but a short while when Mrs. Durham, the wife of a farmer in the valley, came into town shopping. She was taken by a display of hats that had just arrived from Marshall Fields. Bert had set up a little room in the dry goods department to display the hats. Mrs. Durham soon found one to her liking, but was not sure how it was supposed to go on, so she enlisted Bert’s assistance. With a show of complete confidence, to cover his own ignorance on the subject, Bert pushed the hat around on her head until it appeared about right. Mrs. Durham appeared rather dubious, but Bert assured her that this was exactly how they were wearing hats in Chicago when he left there. The next time Mrs. Durham came into the store, Bert realized he had put the back seam in the front. She continued to wear the hat that way for fifteen years.

The Belgrade Company had a very effective way to change money. The amount the purchaser gave the clerk and the sales slip were put in a small metal “car” which worked on a cable running high along the ceiling and up to the office where the money and the sales slip were removed, the customer’s change was placed in the “car” and off it would go back to the clerk and purchaser.

Each year the Belgrade Company had a party for everyone in the valley. Sophie and her daughter served lemonade and cookies. Also, the store sponsored a float in the annual sweet pea parade — the float was the Belgrade Company car which had been completely covered with sweet peas and which carried the Belgrade princess and her attendants.

The closing of the Belgrade Company was a tragic event for Ed Stiefel, his sister, the Newbury and Smiley families. Mr. Stiefel did not own the controlling shares of stock of the company and the store assets, he found, had been transferred.

During Ed Stiefel’s years in Belgrade he had given freely for the betterment of the community, as, aside from his family, Belgrade had been the heart of his being. Not only had he been manager of the Belgrade Company, but he was President of the Farmers Bank of Belgrade, and a member of the City Council as was also Mears Smiley. Both men served many years on the School Board. Ed was a director of the Montana Life Insurance Co., which became Western Life. At one time he served as a member of the Montana legislature. He and Mears Smiley were members of the Belgrade Masonic Lodge.

Alma and Bert Newbury moved from Belgrade to Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone Park where Bert was manager of the A.K. Pryor stores at Mammoth and the Canyon until 1943 when he retired. They moved to Concord, Massachusetts, where their son Egbert S. Newbury, jr., and their daughter, Mrs. Gilbert M. Roddy and their families lived. Bert Newbury died in 1977 at the age of 102.

Bert, Jr., is a lawyer in Boston, and he and his wife have a daughter, Nancy Andresen, and three sons, David, Sam, and Bill. Frances Roddy, now a widow, is an artist. She recently won the New England Artist Association award for sculpturing. Her son, Gilbert M. Roddy, Jr., is a successful businessman in Boston and an ardent fisherman who visits Montana at every opportunity with his mother, Frances. Bert, Jr. has accompanied them frequently and joined Horace and Dick Morgan on cattle drives.

During the Depression the Farmers Bank of Belgrade closed, and Mears Smiley became an agent for the Mutual Life of New York Insurance Co. He, Dora and their two children then moved to Bozeman, where they resided until Mears’ death in 1963.

Ed Stiefel and Sophie also moved to Bozeman where Ed became secretary and at times President of the Bozeman Chamber of Commerce. The Bozeman Chronicle had a fitting article on Ed at the time of his passing:

“With the passing of Edward A. Stiefel the city and state lose another of those men who had a part in shaping the destinies of those who were to follow. Perhaps in this instance the contribution was not of sufficient magnitude to attract state-wide attention, but in his particular sphere Mr. Stiefel wielded a constructive influence, and was an important factor for good in the communities in which he resided.

“Those who enjoyed the pleasure of his acquaintance, and they were many, recognized in him the characteristics of a true gentleman of the old school; mild mannered, soft spoken and courteous at all times, and honest and generous to a fault, both in his appraisal of his fellow men and in his contributions to worthy charities.

“In the communities of Belgrade and Bozeman, where he labored so long and acquired such a host of close friends, his passing will be felt with more than ordinary concern and his memory will be cherished for many years to come. To the surviving relatives, the Chronicle extends condolences and deep sympathy in the loss of a splendid citizen.”

Ada Beerstecher graduated with honors from Montana State. She had a Masters Degree from Columbia University and graduated from Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. it was during her time at Johns Hopkins that Dr. McGill of the 420 Ranch was at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and Ada was her nurse. Ada went into Social Service and had a fairly senior position in the Hull House of New York City when her other Sophie developed diabetes. Ada gave up her position and took care of her mother for years until Sophie’s death in 1935. She then returned to social service work. During World War II, she served with the United Nations Relief organization, first in Italy, and then in interior China. She left this service with the rank of Major and then became a cancer consultant for the State of New York until she retired. Ada died in 1982 in Boca Raton, Florida, where she had moved after retirement.

Dora and Mears Smiley’s daughter, Dorothea, married Jack A. Holmes from Grass Range, Montana. He graduated from the naval Academy in 1940 and became a fighter pilot during World War II. After Mears’ death, Dora went to the Netherlands to live with Dorothea and jack, then stationed in The Hague. She lived with them until her death in 1972.

Jack and Dorothea, after 30 years in the Navy, are now living winters in Memphis, Tennessee, and summers in their cabin in the Gallatin Canyon, Mt. They have two daughters, Jeanne Holmes Hyatt, who resides with her doctor husband, Hugh, and three children in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Jacqueline H. Brotcher and husband, Richard, who works for the Federal Express Company as an Industrial Engineer at their headquarters in Memphis. They live near Dorothea and Jack in Memphis.

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