Jean Baucus

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 of Montana and longtime matriarch of the Baucus family.^[1] Her work as a historian focused primarily on the history of Montana and the American West.^[2][3]

Baucus was born Jean Sheriff on July 7, 1917, in Helena, Montana, the daughter of Frederick B. and Bernice F. Sheriff.^[1] 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.^[1] 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.^[1]

Jean Sheriff was raised in both Helena and the Sieben Ranch.^[1] She attended Hawthorne School and graduated from Helena High School. She received her bachelor's degree in economics in 1939 from Stanford University.^[1][2] 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.^[1] Her oldest son, Max, took his stepfather's last name and, as Max Baucus, entered politics, eventually becoming a U.S. senator from Montana. She was widowed in 1996.^[1][2]

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.^[2][3] Another work, "Helena: An Illustrated History," which she co-authored with editor Vivian Paladin, was first published in 1983 by the Montana Historical Society.^[1][3] Baucus also wrote "Henry Sieben, 1846-1937: Legacy of Livestock and Land", a biography of her grandfather.^[1] Her arts patronages included Holter Museum of Art in Helena.^[1]

Jean Baucus died at her home in Helena, Montana, on December 10, 2011, at the age of 94.^[1][2]