Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021
Mary Anna Geyermann was born June 6, 1836, in Waldeck, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Germany, a little village near Coblenz on the Rhine. She came to America when she was 18 years of age in 1854. For a time, she resided at Aurora, Illinois, later moving to St. Paul, Minnesota. On June 27, 1859, in St. Paul, she married Paul Weydert, who was born in Landscheid, Luxembourg on May 1, 1829, son of Gaspard Weydert and Marguerite Thies Weydert. Mary and Paul had eight children: Anna, Peter, Helena Mary, Anna Mary, Susan, Theodore, Augusta Elizabeth, and Albert Nicolas Weydert.
Their first child, Anna, died in infancy. Soon after, Mary and Paul moved to Shakopee. Shortly after the birth of their son Peter in 1864, Mary and Paul joined the Holmes Wagon Train.
Mary was one of 14 women who were on the Holmes Wagon Train of 1864, and the only one with a baby in tow. There were about 113 to 175 wagons, and about 200 to 300 people.
The journey across the plains took four months and was filled with hardship, as were the years following in a country altogether new and undeveloped.
A young Indian man travelled beside the train for several days in June of 1864. The Indian man was very interested in the infant son, Peter from Shakopee, who was with Mary and Paul Weydert. The Indian asked in sign language if he could hold the baby. Mary was a bit scared but decided to hand Peter to the Indian. The Indian gently wrapped two beautifully tanned buffalo robes about the baby and gave it back to his mother.
By mid-September 1864 Thomas A. Holmes’s wagon train from Shakopee arrived. They had planned to go to the gold fields of eastern Idaho Territory, but when Congress created the Territory of Montana on May 26, the train headed to Montana. They were tired after four months of harrowing experiences crossing rough waters and Indian lands.
Only half of their names were recorded. Many hailed from Minnesota, but emigrants also came from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and some were European-born immigrants. The incomplete roster includes several pioneers who stayed and became citizens of Helena.
When they arrived at Last Chance Gulch, later called Helena, Paul tried his hand at mining while Mary took care of the children.
In 1870, Paul, Mary, and their five children were living in Helena, Montana where he ran The California Blacksmith Shop with a partner to keep himself and his family fed on a regular basis.
Eventually Paul wearied of the mining and smithing life in the city and in 1879 Mary and Paul took the young and growing family into the Lewistown area of Fergus County, Montana. They built a ranch to raise sheep.
When not too busy with ranching or smithing work, Paul continued to search for gold in Maiden, Montana.
Paul was a wheelwright, blacksmith and carpenter – all skills that helped him to become a successful rancher.
Paul Weydert died at the age of 72 because of an accident which occurred while unhitching his team of two horses from his wagon.
The horses bolted, possibly the result of the bite of a horsefly or other stinging insect, while he was underneath the “tree” of the hitch.
He was trampled to death.
Mary Anna Geyermann Weydert died on January 7, 1924, in Lewistown, Montana.
At the time of her passing Mary was 87 years and seven months old.
She was buried in Lewistown City Cemetery.