Bright Watts

Cascade County Montana Homesteaders

Ken Robison/Overholser Historical Research Center

Quick Facts

Significance:

Montana Homesteader

Place of Birth:

North Carolina

Date of Birth:

March 30, 1872

Place of Death:

Belt, Cascade County, Montana

Date of Death:

December 30, 1916

Place of Burial:

Belt, Cascade County, Montana

Cemetery Name:

Pleasant View Cemetery

Gilbright "Bright" Watts was a black homesteader in Montana who was cited as a kind, hard-working, respectful man.

Born and raised in Taylorsville, North Carolina, Bright Watts and his uncle Thomas Watts traveled to Belt, Montana in the early 1900s. It is believed that they came to the area because of Mattie Castner, the "Mother of Belt."

Mrs. Castner made several trips to North Carolina to seek out family members separated by slavery. Mattie Castner was able to locate her sister Mary, who had married Allen Watts and was living in Taylorsville, North Carolina.

In 1903, Bright Watts testified against a desert entry claim that was not improved properly. Doing so may have spurred him on to homestead his own land because on October 12, 1904, Bright Watts filed homestead entry #1959 at the Great Falls Land Office. He applied for 154.12 acres, the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter, and the south half of the southeast quarter of Section 18 in Township 19 North of Range 7 East of the Montana Meridian, Montana.

Bright Watts never married nor had children, but he was not without family. His uncle Thomas decided to expand his own holdings with a homestead claim next to Bright. The two would frequently help out on each other’s homesteads.

For the next six years, Bright Watts made great efforts to prove up his land near the Little Belt Creek. He constructed a house, a stable, a granary, and 1½ miles of fencing. Bright Watts also farmed 60 acres of hay, oats, wheat, and vegetables.

Two years after filing his claim, coal was found in the township and any unclaimed land was withdrawn from potential homesteading use. Bright elected to continue his homestead claim on the condition that he would not have rights to any potential coal deposits.

On May 4, 1910, Bright Watts, Thomas Watts, and their neighbor Peter Thompson, testified as witnesses to Bright’s proof at the Great Falls Land Office. His patent, #173165, was issued on January 26, 1911. The following year, Bright Watts went on a trip back to North Carolina to visit family along with Mattie Castner and a Miss Mamie Dutriueille.

Bright Watts died in 1916 at the age of 44 following several weeks of illness caused by liver cancer.

Learn more about Black Homesteading in America.

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Sources:

• Patent Details - BLM GLO Records Homestead claim
• Land Entry File (see below)
• 1880 U.S. Federal Census (Taylorsville, NC)
• 1910 U.S. Federal Census (Belt, MT)
• Testimony will be taken. Great Falls Tribune. 4 July 1903, p. 5.
• Belt Special Correspondence. Great Falls Tribune. 31 Aug 1904, p. 3.
• Travel out East. Belt Valley Times Weekly. 4 Jan 1912, p. 5.
• "Bright Watts is Called." Belt Valley Times. 4 Jan 1917.
•  Montana State Deaths, 1868-2018, State of Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services
• Bright Watts (1872-1916) - Find A Grave Memorial