Yellowstone. All the rage right now, and then, as evidenced by this story having survived for over 115 years. I surely hope that my great aunts will be immortalized for continued generations due to their shenanigans.
Aunt Jo, the eldest sister, and Aunt Nellie, the next of 4 daughters in a family flush with sons, were later the matriarchs of the family in the years after their mother's passing, but in their younger years they were an active pair. Both were known to have participated in the Suffragette movement and had careers of their own. Jo lived for quite some time in Chicago working as a nanny for several well-heeled families, and Jo followed in her father's footsteps, mostly as a schoolteacher while living on the family farm. Nellie even inherited the farm, after saving her family from mortgage default with her wages when her father passed away unexpectedly.
There were a few mentions of the sisters in the society column of the area newspaper, although I'm unsure if there was a mention of the following trip. Additional archival searches needed, although I have a few cousins that have been mighty thorough! Jo and Nellie, sometime around 1907 based on smudged postcard dates, headed to Chicago (or conversely, Nellie met her sister there), and they set out for Yellowstone by train. Both women were single and in their 30's. They had one another, but I don't have any idea where or how long they stayed. I do know from their postcard that they had a very nice time, and that both were quite used to animals large and small, having grown up on an active farm 15 miles from town. This trip took place when animals were still the primary mode of transportation!
Before heading home, Nellie (although I imagine Jo didn't need a great deal of persuading) made the acquaintance of a presumably orphaned coyote pup. So the sisters did what one does with a needy baby animal in 1907. They brought him home! The coyote seems to be a male in the surviving story, I'll call him Jack. I know they put him on a leash, but even though I've heard and told this tale numerous times, as I type this, I'm still mentally reciting: A Coyote. On a Train. For days! Add to that, through Chicago! Not terribly unusual, then. It’s worthy of note that Nellie was also known for her advanced-for-the-time science lessons at the school back home, and passed down to family members her pocket knife known as “Nellie’s toadstabber” used for samples of both flora and fauna. Perhaps she planned to study the animal?
Nevertheless, Jack lived on the farm. On a leash. Did he visit in the house for table scraps?. Did Nellie and her younger sister (about to be married) take him for walks? We'll never know, because as Jack grew, he did what coyotes do, leash or no. Yes, he ate more than his allotment of chickens. Raw.
And so, Jack met his own untimely end. My great grandfather Tom was Jo and Nellie's youngest brother, and he was about 17 and working the farm. He took a shotgun from the house and dispatched poor Jack. On a farm where absolutely nothing ever went to waste, I don't want to think about the rest. He was a pet, so I'll assume that he, along with the other dearly departed, rests in the hills of Richland County, far from his native home.
God rest ye, Jack McCarthy!
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