Source: Sister Mary Rose Krupp, Ursuline Convent Offices, 4045 Indian Rd., Toledo, OH 43606. Used with permission.
CHARACTER NAME: Mary Fields
BIRTH DATE: 1832
BIRTH PLACE: Tennessee
EDUCATION: No formal education
FAMILY BACKGROUND: Born a
slave, grew up an orphan, never married, had no children. The nuns were
her family; Mother Amadeus was her mother. She loved the children of
Cascade County and supported the local baseball team as their number
one fan.
DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Mary Fields lived by her wits and her strength. She traveled north to
Ohio, settled in Toledo and worked for the Catholic convent. She formed
a strong bond with Mother Amadeus. When the nuns moved to Montana and
Mary learned of Mother Amadeus' failing health, she went west to help
out. Having nursed Mother Amadeus back to health, she decided to stay
and help build the St. Peter's mission school. She protected the nuns.
Mary was a pistol-packing, hard-drinking woman, who needed nobody to
fight her battles for her. When turned away from the mission because
of her behavior, the nuns financed her in her own business. She opened
a cafe. Mary's big heart drove her business into the ground several
times because she would feed the hungry. In 1895 she found a job that
suited her, as a U.S. mail coach driver for the Cascade County region
of central Montana. She and her mule Moses, never missed a day, and
it was in this capacity that she earned her nickname of "Stagecoach",
for her unfailing reliability.
DATE OF DEATH: 1914
PLACE OF DEATH: Cascade, Montana.
Her grave is marked with a simple cross.
PORTRAYED BY Vernice
Jackson
WEBSITES:
-
Brief Lives: Mary
Fields
The Ursuline Sisters
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
-
Robert Miller. The Story of Stagecoach Mary Fields (Silver
Burdett Press, 1995)
Article in Ebony 32 (October 1977), pp.96-98.
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