Lucretia Marchbanks/Moses Bagley
Lucretia Marchbanks was born a slave in Tennessee in 1832. Her liberty loving father had purchased his freedom with $700 which he had saved by practicing rigid economy. Lucretia, who acquired her father’s frugal industrious habits, grew to womanhood on her master’s plantation where she was carefully trained in housekeeping and culinary arts. Her master gave her to his youngest daughter whom she accompanied to the “enchanted west”, reputed land of gold, fortune, and romance. They traveled and lived for a time in California before returning to the old home – once she was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation Lucretia set out again for the glorious west where she lived out the remainder of her life.
Lured into the Black Hills by reports of gold, she arrived in Deadwood in 1876 where she secured employment as the Kitchen manager in the Grand Central Hotel. In no time, the hotel, which really wasn’t so grand, was better known for the great food served in its restaurant and Lucretia had become better known as “Aunt Lou” in Deadwood Gulch. Two years later she was offered a better position working as a cook for the Golden Gate Mine in nearby Lead. Word of her culinary skills continued to spread and she was soon lured away again as a cook and housekeeper for a boarding house owned by Harry Gregg in Sawpit Gulch, also in Lead. Catering to the DeSmet Mine workers, one story tells that when she was late from a meeting she was able to fix supper for the miners in 25 minutes, plus fixing lunch buckets for those on the night shift.
An article in The Black Hills Daily Times said that “Aunt Lou is an old and respected colored lady who had had charge of the superintendent’s establishment of the DeSmet mine as housekeeper, cook and superintendent of all superintendents who have ever been employed at the mine. Her accomplishments as culinary artist are beyond all praise. She rules the house where she presides with autocratic power by divine right brooking no cavil or presumptuous interference. The superintendent may be a big man in the mines or the mill but the moment he sets foot within her realm he is but a meek and ordinary mortal.”
By 1883 she had earned a reputation as the best cook in the Black Hills and having carefully saved her money, soon opened her own establishment called the Rustic Hotel in Sawpit Gulch. Lou retired from the Rustic Hotel in 1885 and purchased a ranch from A.C. Settle at Rockyford, Wyoming. She moved to the ranch the same year and became actively engaged in raising cattle and horses.
Moses W. “George” Bagley was hired by Lucretia to undertake the heavy labor of stock tending, plowing and planting, fencing, fuel hauling, and so – he stayed on to work for her for over twenty years. He was born in 1845, probably as a slave. He started working for Lucretia during the mid 1880s but may not have taken up residence on the ranch until 1895. In that year she began paying poll taxes for two people. It is unknown if he lived in the main house or had his own bunkhouse on the ranch. Oddly, Lucretia seems not to have paid him. Years later, after she died, he submitted a claim against her estate, stating that he had worked for her without remuneration for 25 years – he received $450 from the estate and the proceeds from the 1912 crop. Why he would work for so many years without compensation is unknown, but there is no evidence to suggest that theirs was anything more than a business relationship.
Lucretia Marchbanks was born a slave in Tennessee in 1832. Her liberty loving father had purchased his freedom with $700 which he had saved by practicing rigid economy. Lucretia, who acquired her father’s frugal industrious habits, grew to womanhood on her master’s plantation where she was carefully trained in housekeeping and culinary arts. Her master gave her to his youngest daughter whom she accompanied to the “enchanted west”, reputed land of gold, fortune, and romance. They traveled and lived for a time in California before returning to the old home – once she was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation Lucretia set out again for the glorious west where she lived out the remainder of her life.
Lured into the Black Hills by reports of gold, she arrived in Deadwood in 1876 where she secured employment as the Kitchen manager in the Grand Central Hotel. In no time, the hotel, which really wasn’t so grand, was better known for the great food served in its restaurant and Lucretia had become better known as “Aunt Lou” in Deadwood Gulch. Two years later she was offered a better position working as a cook for the Golden Gate Mine in nearby Lead. Word of her culinary skills continued to spread and she was soon lured away again as a cook and housekeeper for a boarding house owned by Harry Gregg in Sawpit Gulch, also in Lead. Catering to the DeSmet Mine workers, one story tells that when she was late from a meeting she was able to fix supper for the miners in 25 minutes, plus fixing lunch buckets for those on the night shift.
An article in The Black Hills Daily Times said that “Aunt Lou is an old and respected colored lady who had had charge of the superintendent’s establishment of the DeSmet mine as housekeeper, cook and superintendent of all superintendents who have ever been employed at the mine. Her accomplishments as culinary artist are beyond all praise. She rules the house where she presides with autocratic power by divine right brooking no cavil or presumptuous interference. The superintendent may be a big man in the mines or the mill but the moment he sets foot within her realm he is but a meek and ordinary mortal.”
By 1883 she had earned a reputation as the best cook in the Black Hills and having carefully saved her money, soon opened her own establishment called the Rustic Hotel in Sawpit Gulch. Lou retired from the Rustic Hotel in 1885 and purchased a ranch from A.C. Settle at Rockyford, Wyoming. She moved to the ranch the same year and became actively engaged in raising cattle and horses.
Moses W. “George” Bagley was hired by Lucretia to undertake the heavy labor of stock tending, plowing and planting, fencing, fuel hauling, and so – he stayed on to work for her for over twenty years. He was born in 1845, probably as a slave. He started working for Lucretia during the mid 1880s but may not have taken up residence on the ranch until 1895. In that year she began paying poll taxes for two people. It is unknown if he lived in the main house or had his own bunkhouse on the ranch. Oddly, Lucretia seems not to have paid him. Years later, after she died, he submitted a claim against her estate, stating that he had worked for her without remuneration for 25 years – he received $450 from the estate and the proceeds from the 1912 crop. Why he would work for so many years without compensation is unknown, but there is no evidence to suggest that theirs was anything more than a business relationship.