Minnesota Family History Research: 7/3/16

Saturday, July 9, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 9

July 9, 1912 – Lightning struck the Cloquet Lumber Company’s drying shed around 2 o’clock this morning at Cloquet, Minn., setting fire to it and destroying everything. The estimated loss is about $40,000. The shed was used for storing the better grades of dry lumber.

The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “$40,000 Fire at Cloquet, Minn.”; July 10, 1912; p. 1.

http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genImage.php?locId=20940&imgId=mn_cloquet02.jpg&cardNum=

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If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including: census records, birth records, death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records. I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records. Both short searches and family history reports.

Website: TheMemoryQuilt.com ® click on Family History

Contact me at: pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com

Friday, July 8, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 8

July 8, 1997 - The Lion King: The Broadway Musical celebrated its world premiere at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis on this date.

http://www.lionking.org/musical/

http://www.capaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/the-lion-king-poster.jpg

Thursday, July 7, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 7

July 7, 1938 – Three people were murdered in Osseo, Minn., early this morning as they slept: Kenneth Oswald, 24; his wife of just 10 months, Paula, 24; and their farm hand, John Kujawa, 25. All three were bludgeoned with a hammer and shot through the head.

Authorities believed the suspect to be Robert McLeod, the Oswald’s former farm hand, who had been let go by the Oswalds on June 20 after “serving a 20-day [sentence] for forgery.” McLeod was suspected because he brought two cows into the Farmers Union Livestock Commission Co. in South St. Paul, and sold them for $143. The two cows had been stolen from the Oswalds' farm; McLeod was identified as the seller, arrested and confessed to the murders.

August Robert Yaeger AKA Robert McLeod^*

The hammer was found in the barn, where McLeod had thrown it; the gun was found in his St. Paul hotel room. Oh, and McLeod also confessed that his name wasn’t Robert McLeod, it was August Robert Yaeger. He had killed the Oswalds and Kujawa because he was afraid they had heard him stealing their cows.

Yaeger was indicted on July 13, 1938 and pled guilty. On July 14, one week after the murders, he was in Stillwater State Prison under a life sentence.

New Ulm Daily Journal; “Newly married Couple, Hired Man Shot while They Slept”; July 8, 1938; p. 1

New Ulm Daily Journal; “Officials Not Satisfied With Killers Story”; July 9, 1938; p. 1.

New Ulm Daily Journal; “Quiz McLeod on Old Killing near Preston. Admits Being Employed as Printer in Preston in Summer of ‘36”; July 11, 1938; p. 1.

New Ulm Daily Journal; “Twenty Witnesses Called in Osseo Case. County Attorney Goff Questions Yaeger on 3 Other Slayings.”; July 12, 1938; p. 1.

^*New Ulm Daily Journal; “Yaeger Indicted on three First Degree Murder charges”; July 13, 1938; p. 1.

New Ulm Daily Journal; “Yaeger Begins Life Sentence”; July 14, 1938; p. 1.

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 6

July 6, 1974 – “Garrison Keillor made his 1st live [radio] broadcast of 'A Prairie Home Companion' from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn. In 2003 the show drew some 3.9 million listeners weekly. The show ended in 1987 and resumed in New York in 1989. It returned to Minnesota in 1993.”

Keillor’s last radio show was taped July 1, 2016, in Los Angeles and broadcast on NPR July 2, 2016.

http://timelines.ws/states/MINNESOTA.HTML

http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/tickets/prairie-home-companion-garrison-keillor/2016-07-01

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 5

July 5, 1938 – Around 8 a.m., Bill Groteke, custodian of the Freeborn County Courthouse, climbed the stairs to the top of the tower to fix the striking apparatus of the clock. When he poked his head through “the small trap door to the clock area,”¹ to his horror, he was looking into the decomposing face of a man, his mouth and eyes wide open, hanging “from a half inch rope some five feet in length”².

Groteke quickly climbed back down the ladder and notified Sheriff Helmer Myre, who then notified the coroner, Dr. D. S. Branham.

Freeborn County Courthouse, Albert Lea, Minn.⁶

According to the sheriff, the rope around his neck was a perfect hangman’s noose. “A small ladder had been placed besides the body. It was quite evident that the man had climbed onto the ladder, placed the noose about his neck and then stepped off into space.”²

“It took nearly two hours to get the body from where it was hanging to the ground. During the process, hundreds of people gathered in cars along South Broadway and on the lawn to watch the gruesome operations.”²

Sheriff Myre took fingerprints, and with the man’s description—approximately 35 years of age and five feet, seven inches tall; brown hair with a reddish tinge and quite long; wearing a fine grey double breasted suit with a light pin stripes and a practically new black rain coat—sent them to Washington by airmail.

Identification was made even more difficult by the fact that the man was badly decomposed to the point where his skin had turned entirely black. Also, “the man had taken great care to keep his identity secret, having cut all the labels and laundry marks from his clothes before killing himself. Even the name of the company that manufactured his glasses was cut from his glasses case in his coat pocket.”¹

However, at least six people identified the body as that of George “Red” Russell, a saxophone player with the Ray Keyes traveling orchestra, only two day later to find that Russell was in Waterloo, Ia., with Jimmie Smith’s orchestra.^{3, 4}

The body was also potentially thought to be that of William Webber of Fairmont, Minn., but fingerprints taken did not match those of Webber’s prints on file at the State Bureau of Criminal Identification.⁵

To this day, the identity of the Freeborn County Courthouse "hangman" remains a mystery.¹

http://www.lakesnwoods.com/images/Albert197.jpg

¹http://genealogytrails.com/minn/freeborn/courthousehistory.html
²The Evening Tribune; “Body of Strange Man Found Hanging in Court House Clock Tower”: Albert Lea, Minn.; July 5, 1938; p. 2.
³New Ulm Daily Journal; “Dead Man At Albert Lea Is Musician”; July 6, 1938; p. 1.
⁴New Ulm Daily Journal; “Claim Albert Lea Suicide Still Alive”; July 8, 1938; p. 1
⁵New Ulm Daily Journal; “Body In Albert Lea Tower Still Unidentified Today”; July 11, 1938; p. 1.

⁶http://courthousehistory.com/images/gallery/Minnesota/Freeborn/Albert%20Lea%20-%20Old%20%20B_large.jpg

Monday, July 4, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 4

July 4, 1912 – Martin Jenson from Stephens, who was celebrating the “Fourth” after a quarrel with his pal Vic Wickstrom in Howard Worlis’ saloon in Crookston, Minn., was found dead in the toilet room with a bullet in his right temple this afternoon around 4 o’clock. It was believed he took his own life, but Wickstrom was arrested.

Officer Godbourn was in the saloon when the shot was fired, but everyone assumed the noise was made by a loud firecracker. Dr. H. E. Nelson, deputy coroner is investigating. The victim was 20 years of age, and his home is said to be in Hendrum, Minn.

Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “’Fourth’ Celebrator Killed. Body of man Found in Crookston Grogshop With Bullet in Brain.”; July 5, 1912; p. 1.

http://www.lakesnwoods.com/images/Crooks37.jpg

Sunday, July 3, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 3

July 3, 1861- The 1st Minnesota sets foot in Confederate territory, crossing the Potomac into Virginia.

http://www.minnesotanationalguard.org/history/this_month.php

http://gilbertlodge.com/2011/images/07-09-11-mn-flag.jpg