A long heritage shows a piece of the valley's history

The area of Northwest Montana is recently settled compared with other parts of the U.S., but some families in this area have a deeper history.

That’s the story of Donna (Patti) Burrell Asbridge, 83, of Troy, who can trace her great-grandfather to a seemingly unlikely historic era in U.S. history.

Although Libby and Troy celebrate their Nordic history annually with Nordicfest, some other settlers came to Northwest Montana for a more gruesome reason — the American Civil War.

Burrell Asbridge, who now has her own great-grandchildren, has an antique wooden chest in her living room, that dates back to the mid-1800s and originates from New York.

That chest belonged to her great-grandmother Mary (Sharp) Rouse, the wife of Union soldier, Levi Rouse.

While some soldiers fought in the Indian Wars through the west after the Civil War, some just wanted a fresh start in a new place, like Levi.

The Rouse family immigrated in 1710 to New York, 60 years before the U.S. seceded from Great Britain.

Back then, they were known as ‘Rausch’ and a number of the Rausch family supported and fought in the Revolution War. They lived in the Hudson River Valley for a number of generations primarily up to the time that Levi and his wife came west. Levi was one of 11 children and only he and a younger brother, Aaron Rouse, came to Washington State.

After fighting for the Union during the Civil War, Rouse and his wife, Mary Ella Sharp, moved out to Spokane, Wash. where he started a butcher shop.

Not much is known of Rouse’s time spent in the service, but there is one photo of him in his Union Uniform, pictured during their wedding. Levi lived from 1884 to 1924 and his wife, Mary, lived from 1840 to 1909.

Burrell Asbridge’s grandmother, Clara (Rouse) Pattie, was Rouse’s daughter, who homesteaded on Iron Creek with her husband, William. Their son, Donald, was Burell Asbridge’s father.