Individual Details

In 1861 living in single storey brick house in Tecumseth Township, Simcoe County, Ontario with family.
In 1881 he is living with his parents in Ontario.
In 1885 he is living with his wife and daughter in Bismarck, Burleigh County, North Dakota.
In the 1900 Census he is in the District 197 in Yellowstone County, Montana. It indicates he is married and at the time of the census he was a roomer.
In the 1910, he and Sarah are living in Hysham School District, Rosebud County, Montana.
In the 1920 and 1930 census, he and Sarah are living in Hysham, Treasure County, Montana.
The following is taken, in part, from Montana, It's Story and Biography, Volume 3, Pages 1395-1396, History of Montana (1921):
"Neil B. FLATT, who first took an interest in the Hysham community when he homesteaded land near there in 1907, is well known in several localities of Montana, particularly in the City of Billings, where he had an active business career for a number of years. He has been in Montana for over thirty-five years, has become successful here, and at the same time has contributed substantial advantages in every community where he has lived.
Mr. Flatt was born in County Simcoe, Ontario, Canada, July 12, 1856. His father, James Flatt, was born and married in England, his wife being Mary Fenn. About 1836, the family came to America [sic] and settled in Ontario. Their home was so far from civilization that when coffee or sugar or other groceries were required James Flatt had to follow a blazed trail for twenty-five miles to the nearest market. He carried his wheat for flour sixteen miles on his back, a bushel at a time, and after having it ground returned home the same way. He made sugar from the maple trees, cut "bee trees" for his honey, and in other ways lived the real life of the pioneer. The capital city of Toronto was then called Little York and was a mere village. James Flatt died at the age of seventy-four as the result of being thrown from a load of hay. His widow survived him at the old Canadian home to the advanced age of ninety-one. Of their eleven children eight survive.
Neil B. Flatt lived on his father's farm to the age of sixteen. He graduated from public schools and secured a teacher's certificate, but his only service in that vocation was as a supply teacher for a brief time. At the age of sixteen he began learning the painter's trade, and altogether served an apprenticeship at four trades, painting, decorating, plastering and lathing.
As a mechanic he entered the Government service in North Dakota at Fort Stevenson on the Missouri River, where he helped remodel the old adobe fort into a schoolhouse. At Fort Yates in the same state a new frame school building was erected, and from there he and other members of the crew came to Poplar, Montana, and thence to Crow Agency, where they built a frame schoolhouse which the Indians burned in 1887. It was succeeded by the brick building on the same site. He was a mechanic in the service of the Government about three years, and during that time visited as far west as Custer, Montana.
Mr. Flatt first came to the territory of Montana as early as 1883. When he left the Government employ he engaged in painting and decorating at Glendive, and continued his work in and around that place for several months. He then came further west, and for three years was engaged in farming in Lewis and Clark counties. That was his first experience in the West at farming, and it was not sufficiently encouraging to hold him. Selling his farm improvements, he then located at Billings and engaged in house painting and decorating, opening a paint and wall paper store, and did contracting in those lines. He shipped the first car of wall paper into the city, and as a contractor carried from ten to twenty men on his pay roll. He was one of the substantial business men of Billings for about eleven years, after which he moved to Hysham, his present place of residence.
During his residence of about thirteen years in and around Hysham Mr. Flatt has contributed to the development of the town, including his own modest residence and a business house on Main Street. He crossed the line from Canada into the United States in March, 1879, arriving at Fargo, North Dakota, on Tuesday morning. Three days later he took out his first citizen papers. His final papers were issued at Helena. Politically he has always been a republican, and has served as a member of the Republican Central Committee. He has been a member of the school board in Rosebud County and at present is chairman of the Board of County Commissioners."
The following obituary was posted in the Helena Indepent Record on 7 March 1952: "SERVICES ARE CONDUCTED
IN HYSHAM TODAY
FOR NEIL B. FLATT.
Funeral services were conducted in Hysham this afternoon for Neil B. Flatt, 95, who had lived in Montana since 1882 and was the husband of the late Sarah Fletcher Flatt of Helena.
Born in Ontario, July 12, 1856, Mr. Flatt spent his youth in Canada. He came to Montana nearly 70 years ago. Until 1886 he was employed at Fort Belknap, moving to Billings in 1899 and to his homestead near Hysham in 1907. He retired from ranching 10 years later and was in the painting and decorating business in Hysham, until he retired in 1942.
He was married here in 1892 [Note: 1880/1] to the former Sarah Fletcher, who died in 1950."
He was known by townspeople as "Dad Flatt."
His naturalization records in North Dakota indicate he immigrated from Canada April 12, 1881 to Cass County, North Dakota.

Birth	12 Jul 1856	Midhurst, Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada
Marriage	1883	Caroline B. Carolan
Marriage	3 Aug 1891	Helena, Lewis and Clark, Montana - Sarah Ann FLETCHER
Death	1 Mar 1952	Hysham, Treasure County, Montana
Burial	1952	Memorial Vale Cemtery, Hysham, Treasure County, Montana

Spouse

Sarah Ann FLETCHER (1861 - 1950)

Spouse	Caroline B. Carolan (1862 - 1890)
Child	Lillian Mae FLATT (1884 - 1923)
Child	Clare William FLATT (1887 - 1944)
Child	Herbert S. FLATT (1888 - 1967)

Father	James Flatt (1810 - 1884)
Mother	Mary Ann FINN (FENN) (1810 - 1900)
Sibling	James (Jessie) Flatt (1833 - 1920)
Sibling	David Flatt (1835 - 1892)
Sibling	Jonathan E. Flatt (1840 - 1931)
Sibling	Mary Esther Flatt (1841 - 1931)
Sibling	Esther (Aster) Jane Flatt (1847 - 1906)
Sibling	Nathanial Flatt (1848 - 1929)
Sibling	Elizabeth Flatt (1850 - 1911)
Sibling	Matilda Ann Flatt (1852 - 1924)
Sibling	Caroline Flatt (1853 - 1928)
Sibling	Zephaniah Flatt (1857 - 1946)