William Murray STOCKTON, Jr

Notes:

In the 1950 census, he was a rancher in Grass Range in Fergus County, Montana.

GRASS RANGE - William Murray Stockton died Oct. 29, 2002, after a 12-month battle with lung cancer.

Bill, born in 1921, was raised in Winnett along with his three sisters, Patience, Mary and Ruth, by his widowed mother, Julia Stockton. In 1935, the family moved to Grass Range, where Bill graduated from Grass Range High School in 1938. In 1942, he enlisted in the army, where he was first assigned to the military police patrolling the troop trains crossing the nation. Later, he was assigned to the 239th General Hospital Unit as a medic and sign painter. In 1944, the 239th was stationed near Paris, France, where he met his future wife, Elvia Angelo Cirefice. They were married in the base chapel on the 30th of June, 1945.

In 1946, the family, now joined by their first son Gilles, lived in Billings, where Bill worked as a sign painter. Taking advantage of the GI Bill, the family moved to Minneapolis, where Bill studied art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. They then returned to France, where Bill continued to study art at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere.

In 1950, the family moved back to Grass Range, where Bill took over operation of the family ranch from his mother. Their second son, Charles, was born in 1951. During this period, Bill continued to explore his passion for art while actively ranching. Along with a small group of friends, he is credited with having introduced the modern movement of art to Montana. For his entire career, he continued to blend the work and life of a rancher with the creative energy he poured into art.

During his life as an artist, he experimented with many different styles and techniques. Over the half a century of his art career, he worked with oil paints, watercolors, cattle markers, line drawings, and concrete, bronze and steel sculptures. His styles ranged from pure abstracts to pure representational works and most everything in between. Bill also wrote and illustrated a book on sheep and the life of a sheep rancher, entitled "Today I Baled Some Hay to Feed the Sheep the Coyotes Eat." This book is still in print. For many years, he gave art classes in Lewistown, seminars at many different locations, and in 1969, he was a visiting professor of art at Montana State University.

For the last 25 years of his life, he devoted his art to depicting the changing landscape of his home on MacDonald Creek west of Grass Range. This series of landscapes concentrated on the patterns of brush, rocks, trees, hills, snow and grass. The focus was most often on small and intimate areas instead of the vast vistas. He continued this line of work into the last year of his life.

His work is represented in hundreds of private and public collections across the nation and Europe. The Yellowstone Art Museum has acquired a collection of more than 75 pieces that cover the entire range of his career as an artist. In 2000, he was awarded the Yellowstone Art Museum's Presidents Award and just before his death, he was presented with the 2003 Governor's Award for the Arts. His fans, friends and family are grateful for the many beautiful examples of his unique vision that he has given to inspire us.

Bill is survived by his wife, Elvia of Grass Range; son, Gilles along with his wife Joan of Grass Range; son, Charles and his wife Sue Ann of Arkansas; and grandchildren, Antoine, Jeremy and Brittany. He is also survived by a sister, Patience Hillius of Hamilton and her daughters, Judy and Mary Ann. He was very close with his French family by marriage including brother-in-law, Lucien Cirefice and family; sisters-in-law, Marie Bagary, Antoinette Bognon, Angel Nardonne and Jeanette Cirefice; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

Bill was preceded in death by his parents, William and Julia; and his sisters, Ruth and Mary.

The family would like to thank the staff of the Central Montana Hospice Program for their wonderful spirit, support and care that helped Bill and his family through these difficult final weeks.

Funeral services for William M. Stockton will be held at the Grass Range United Methodist Church on Saturday, Nov. 2, at 10:30 a.m. Interment will be at the Grass Range Cemetery.

William married Elvia Angelo CIREFICE on 30 Jun 1945 in France. Elvia was born on 22 Jul 1922 in France; died on 25 Jun 2018 in Fergus County, Montana. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He had several children with an earlier wife.

In the 1920 census, he was a farmer in Fergus County, Montana. They had 3 children.

William married Julia ERICKSON in 1913. Julia (daughter of Andrew ERICKSON and Siri Ericksdatter) was born on 23 Dec 1880 in Buffalo County, Wisconsin; died on 25 Dec 1975 in Fergus County, Montana; was buried in Winnett City Cemetery, Petroleum County, Montana. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

In the 1930 census, she and her children lived in Winnett in Petroleum County, Montana. She was a laundress.

Died:
Lewistown

Other Events and Attributes:

• Minnesota Death Certificate: 1912-MN-016169?

Notes:

He may be the Anders, parents Erick Anderson Houg and Kari Gulbrandsd, Hedalen, 11 Mar 1827.

He was age 32 in his marriage record, suggesting he was born in 1826.

Kirst Burgess calls him Andrew K Erickson, born May 1827 in Valdres.

In the 1865 Norwegian census, he is a “forpagter” (i.e., a tenant) on the Rustebakkene farm in Bruflat in Søndre Aurdal.

In the 1870 census, he is probably the Andrew Ericson living with his family in Adams in Green County. The household is Andrew, 42, Sarah, 30, Alexander 10, Edward, 7, and Gilbert, 3. All were of foreign birth.

In the 1880 census, he is probably the Andrew Erickson, 53, living in Gilmanton in Buffalo County, Wisconsin, with his wife Sarah, 40, Erick, 20, Edward, 18, Christina, 10, Clara, 6, and Elmer, 3. The sons Erick and Edward were born in Norway. The three younger children were born in Wisconsin.

In the 1900 census, he and his family live in Minneapolis. Andrew, 73, b. May 1827, is a teamster. The rest of the family is Sarah, b. Nov 1839, Edward, b. Aug 1852, Elmer, b. Feb 1877, and Julia, b. Dec 1880. The younger two children were born in Wisconsin. Andrew and Sarah have been married for 41 years and Sarah has had 9 children, 5 still living. Andrew and Sarah and Edward had come to the U.S. in 1866.

In the 1910 census, he and his family lived in Minneapolis. He was Andrew Erickson, 83, married 51 years to Sarah Erickson, age 70, who has had 9 children, 5 still living. Four of those children were living with them: Elmer, 33, Julia, 29, Mattie, 33, and Nellie, 35, all born in Wisconsin.

Andrew married Siri Ericksdatter on 28 Dec 1858 in Bagn, Sør-Aurdal i Valdres, Oppland, Norway. Siri (daughter of Erik Narveson DAHLEN and Siri Arnesdatter KVÅLSHAGEN) was born on 10 Nov 1839 in Bagn, Sør-Aurdal i Valdres, Oppland, Norway; died on 1 Feb 1923 in Fergus County, Montana; was buried in Hillside Cemetery, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptism: 1 Dec 1839, Bagn, Sør-Aurdal i Valdres, Oppland, Norway

Notes:

In the 1920 census, she is probably the 80 year-old widow living with the 59 year-old widow, both named Sarah Erickson, in Minneapolis. The younger Sarah was born in Wisconsin.

Her death certificate gave her cause of death as apoplexy and senility. Julia Stockton was the informant for her mother’s death certificate. Julia did not know the name of her maternal grandmother.

Rose said that it was Julia’s aunt who had the hotel in the Dakotas near Aberdeen. That aunt must have been Siri because Rose said that the aunt had two sons, Erick and Edward. It was on a train trip to see her aunt that Julia met Erick Thompson.

By 1903 that aunt had moved to Minneapolis. Julia went to a convention in Minneapolis at that time.

Died:
“4 mile south of Winnett” as Sarah Erickson

Notes:

In the 1865 Norwegian census, he was Erik Navessen, 67, føderaadsmand, living with his wife, children, and grandchildren on a Sørfladdahl farm in Bagn, Søndre Aurdal. The gaardbruker of the farm was Erik’s son, Narve, 41. Others of the senior Erik’s children living in the farm were Erik Erikssen, 14, and Tora Eriksdatter, 23.

Erik married Siri Arnesdatter KVÅLSHAGEN on 12 Jul 1825 in Sør-Aurdal i Valdres, Oppland, Norway. Siri (daughter of Arne Olson NAVRUD and Guri Halsteinsdatter FRAMGARDEN) was born in 1803 in Sør-Aurdal i Valdres, Oppland, Norway; died in 1874 in Sør-Aurdal i Valdres, Oppland, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]