Munsell

Mr. Russell Kelly (R.K) and Mrs. Tressa Munsell are originally from Minnesota. Back in Minnesota, before they homesteaded, they had two sons, J.K.and Wesley. R.K. worked on his ranch while running a butcher shop. J.K was fourteen years old and Wesley was sixteen years old when the family decided to come to the Baker Community.When the Munsell’s homesteaded near Baker it was during the middle of the depression. R.K. says “it was so dry that even the jack rabbits carried their own lunches. Times were real tuff. There were times I only had a t-shirt and overalls to wear.” Tressa and R.K. were fond of social gatherings. A whist tournament was held in January 1946, Mr. and Mrs. Munsell won the tournament. Tressa had a great passion for entertainment, such as sewing groups and help card game parties that many of her friends attended. J.K. graduated and finished high school in Baker. Wes and Agnes, his wife, owned a farm six miles southwest of Baker. In 1946 they moved to Miles City and ran the Miles City Packing Company, while running ranch operations. Wes and Agnes had ten children, Russell, Susanne, Judith, John, Mary, Sally, Janice, Joseph, Deborah, and Richard. In 1944 J.K. married Rebecca Woolsey in Billings, MT. Rebecca came to Baker as a teacher, she attended school in Big Timer, MT. Rebecca and J.K. had five children together, Graham, Kelly, Max, Launa, and Neil.

R.K. Munsell is my great-great-grandfather. My great- grandpa is J.K. Munsell, which is my grandma’s father. My grandma is Launa Quenzer, previously Munsell, my father’s mother. R.K. is buried in Miles City, MT. My grandma still lives in Baker today. My family has not always been in Fallon County, but has been here ever since my great-great-grandfather homesteaded here from Minnesota.

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