Most people who know the West would recognize Granville Stuart's name and might link him with famed cowboy Teddy Blue Abbott. Few, though, could state details about what importance Stuart played in American history. In this new biography, Clyde A. Milner II and Carol O'Connor correct that problem by offering a highly detailed account of this astonishing figure. In many ways, Granville Stuart's story is the story of the American West. Leaving his Midwestern home in the early 1850s, he and his brother followed their father and thousands of other Argonauts to the California gold fields. On a return trip to visit their home, they were sidetracked in Montana. From then on, Granville Stuart steadily developed into one of the most significant figures of that state's history. Ultimately, as a politician and diplomat, he would make a larger mark on the whole nation. Stuart's experience was nothing short of remarkable. Growing from pioneer miner to small-time stockman to mercantile entrepreneur then major rancher, land speculator and political dilettante, he built on his successes and suffered his defeats with equanimity, always showing strength in the face of adversity and audacity in the face of challenge. At the same time, the individual behind the public and historic image was a mass of contradictions. He promoted law and order in the frontier but he also led vigilante parties and participated in the lynching of miscreants and thieves. He had antipathy for Native Americans, but he was for more than 20 years married to a Shoshone woman, with whom he produced 10 children....
Monday, December 15, 2008
'As Big as the West' by Clyde A. Milner II and Carol O'Connor: The larger-than-life life of Granville Stuart
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Most people who know the West would recognize Granville Stuart's name and might link him with famed cowboy Teddy Blue Abbott. Few, though, could state details about what importance Stuart played in American history. In this new biography, Clyde A. Milner II and Carol O'Connor correct that problem by offering a highly detailed account of this astonishing figure. In many ways, Granville Stuart's story is the story of the American West. Leaving his Midwestern home in the early 1850s, he and his brother followed their father and thousands of other Argonauts to the California gold fields. On a return trip to visit their home, they were sidetracked in Montana. From then on, Granville Stuart steadily developed into one of the most significant figures of that state's history. Ultimately, as a politician and diplomat, he would make a larger mark on the whole nation. Stuart's experience was nothing short of remarkable. Growing from pioneer miner to small-time stockman to mercantile entrepreneur then major rancher, land speculator and political dilettante, he built on his successes and suffered his defeats with equanimity, always showing strength in the face of adversity and audacity in the face of challenge. At the same time, the individual behind the public and historic image was a mass of contradictions. He promoted law and order in the frontier but he also led vigilante parties and participated in the lynching of miscreants and thieves. He had antipathy for Native Americans, but he was for more than 20 years married to a Shoshone woman, with whom he produced 10 children....
Most people who know the West would recognize Granville Stuart's name and might link him with famed cowboy Teddy Blue Abbott. Few, though, could state details about what importance Stuart played in American history. In this new biography, Clyde A. Milner II and Carol O'Connor correct that problem by offering a highly detailed account of this astonishing figure. In many ways, Granville Stuart's story is the story of the American West. Leaving his Midwestern home in the early 1850s, he and his brother followed their father and thousands of other Argonauts to the California gold fields. On a return trip to visit their home, they were sidetracked in Montana. From then on, Granville Stuart steadily developed into one of the most significant figures of that state's history. Ultimately, as a politician and diplomat, he would make a larger mark on the whole nation. Stuart's experience was nothing short of remarkable. Growing from pioneer miner to small-time stockman to mercantile entrepreneur then major rancher, land speculator and political dilettante, he built on his successes and suffered his defeats with equanimity, always showing strength in the face of adversity and audacity in the face of challenge. At the same time, the individual behind the public and historic image was a mass of contradictions. He promoted law and order in the frontier but he also led vigilante parties and participated in the lynching of miscreants and thieves. He had antipathy for Native Americans, but he was for more than 20 years married to a Shoshone woman, with whom he produced 10 children....
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