The Inside Story

Unveiling the Truth

Many details of my grandmother Henrietta and my grandfather lives came to light through old letters, news articles, photos, ancestral documentation, and from the memories of my grandmother’s sister, my great aunt “Greta”. After pleading with my great aunt for the truth, she finally told us Henrietta met my grandfather when she was a servant at the abbey where he was ordained a Catholic Priest, and where he taught in the abbey’s college. He was 31. She was 18. Three years later, in 1927, when my grandfather became the pastor of several parishes in rural Montana, he wrote to her and asked her to be his housekeeper. Glad to be out from under her parent’s control, Henrietta traveled by train to a small Montana town where my grandfather waited at the station, and the path of their lives became intertwined.In those days, the Society Columns in local newspaper served as a kind of social media. In early May of 1927, the little town paper where my grandfather had recently become pastor announced my grandmother’s arrival.

In those days, the Society Columns in local newspaper served as a kind of social media. In early May of 1927, the little town paper where my grandfather had recently become pastor reported:

Three months later, Henrietta’s name appeared again in the Social Column.

My mother, Angelica, was born six months later at St. John’s hospital in Helena, Montana. No father is listed on her birth certificate, and she is labeled as “illegitimate.”

In early February 1928, the little town paper made the following announcement: r.