Jean Baucus (July 7, 1917 – December 10, 2011) was an American historian and rancher. She was also the mother of U.S. Senator

Max Baucus Maxwell Sieben Baucus ( Enke; born December 11, 1941) is an American politician who served as a United States senator from Montana from 1978 to 2014. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a U.S. senator for over 35 years, making him the long ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

and longtime

matriarch Matriarchy is a social system in which women hold the primary power positions in roles of authority. In a broader sense it can also extend to moral authority, social privilege and control of property. While those definitions apply in general En ...

of the Baucus family. Her work as a historian focused primarily on the

history of Montana This is a broad outline history of the state of Montana in the United States. Indigenous peoples Archeological evidence has shown indigenous peoples lived in the area for more than 12,000 years. The oldest dated human burial site in North Ameri ...

and the American West.

Life and work

Baucus was born Jean Sheriff on July 7, 1917, in Helena, Montana, the daughter of Frederick B. and Bernice F. Sheriff. Her paternal grandparents were Court and Mary (Hooper) Sheriff and her maternal grandparents were Henry and Alberta (Gordon) Sieben. In 1896, her maternal grandfather, Henry, purchased a ranch approximately twenty miles north of Helena, which stretches from Missouri River to Little Prickly Pear Creek. The land, which became known as the Sieben Ranch, remains a property of the Baucus family, owned by her son and daughter-in-law, John and Nina Baucus. Jean Sheriff was raised in both Helena and the Sieben Ranch. She attended Hawthorne School and graduated from

Helena High School Helena High School is a public high school for grades 9 through 12 located in Helena, Montana, United States. It is part of the Helena Public School District. Founded in September 1876, it is the oldest high school in the state of Montana.

. She received her

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

in 1939 from Stanford University. In 1941 she gave birth to Max Sieben Enke, and later, her second child, Karen, with her first husband, Stephen Enke, Ph.D., a demographer and economist. When Max was two years old, Jean Sheriff left California and returned to Montana. Baucus married her second husband, John J. Baucus, in 1946 and had a child with him, John. Her oldest son, Max, took his stepfather's last name and, as

, entered politics, eventually becoming a U.S. senator from Montana. She was widowed in 1996. Baucus authored four nonfiction books focusing on the history of Helena and Montana including "''Helena: Her Historic Homes, Vols. 1 and 2''", which were released during the late 1970s, and "''Gold in the Gulch''," published in 1981. Another work, "''Helena: An Illustrated History''," which she co-authored with editor Vivian Paladin, was first published in 1983 by the

Montana Historical Society The Montana Historical Society (MHS) is a historical society located in the U.S. state of Montana that acts to preserve historical resources important to the understanding of Montana history. The society provides services through six operational ...

. Baucus also wrote "''Henry Sieben, 1846-1937: Legacy of Livestock and Land''", a biography of her grandfather. Her arts patronages included Holter Museum of Art in Helena. Jean Baucus died at her home in Helena, Montana, on December 10, 2011, at the age of 94.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baucus, Jean 1917 births 2011 deaths Historians of Montana Historians of the American West Stanford University alumni People from Helena, Montana Writers from Montana American women historians American historians 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American women 21st-century American women