Saturday, November 12, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: November 12

November 12, 1910 – William E. Satterlee, according to official returns, defeated by 34 votes for Minneapolis mayor as the Republican candidate, today filed an application for the opening of the voting machines and a recount with the clerk of the district court. He asks that three persons be appointed by the court to take charge of the recount.


William E. Satterlee1


 Many grounds are alleged in the application; most of them pertaining to alleged errors in the returns. Satterlee claims that in a great many instances the figures on the official returns as opened by the canvassing board differ from the total number of votes registered on the machines. Most of them differ by one or two votes, but there are many of them.


He further charges that owing to the size, color, location of the machines and poor lighting of the polling places, there was every chance of irregularity, fraud and mistakes. He also charges that some of the judges were illiterate, incompetent, unaccustomed to dealing with figures, poor penmanship and that some of them were too old for the work, one being more than 80-years-old.

Some of the judges, he says, were drunk all or part of the day and they were bitterly partisan and talked of their views of the merits of the candidates in so loud tones that the voters were influenced to vote against Satterlee. He cites that there were fully 30 errors found by the canvassing board in comparing the preliminary and official returns, and says that he is sure he was entitled to at least a thousand more votes.

Satterlee’s most serious charge is made in connection with the judges and voting in the Fifteenth Precinct of the Fourth Ward. This is the precinct that always before had its polling place in the old city hall, but this time was moved to 38 Seventh Street South. He alleges that Democratic Judge Scallon was intoxicated when he arrived at the polling place in the morning and had a supply of whiskey with him that he offered to the Republican and Prohibition judges.


At times, Satterlee alleges, Scallon would go into booths with voters and work the machines for them himself. Again, upon voters’ arrival, Scallon would advise them to vote for Mr. Haynes, shouting to them “Haynes was all right.” Satterlee received 77 votes, and feels sure he was defrauded out of at least 35 votes there.

The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “Defeated Candidate Asks for a Recount. Mr. Satterlee Makes Sensational Charges in His application. He Accuses Several Election Judges of Illiteracy and Drunkenness. He Declares His Plurality for Mayor Should Reach 1,000.”; November 13, 1910; p. 1.

1http://realghosttours.com.blogpreview.iphouse.com/images/gp_satterlee_big.jpg
               __________________________________________________________

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, November 11, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: November 11

November 11, 1918 – Exactly at 1:47 this morning, slumbering Minneapolis grew restless, turned over a few times and then perked up its ears to hear the noise.

Whistles at mills, shops and on railroad engines, shrilled in dissonant cadence, gongs were pounded to the bursting limit and within a few minutes the pandemonium rose to a nerve-wrecking intensity.

Celebrating Downtown Minneapolis1

Minneapolis grumbled and stretched, then dressed hurriedly, speeding to the downtown street to make more noise, participating in the dizzy revelry. The celebration continued for 24 hours.

The war was over!


The Daily News headline2


The Minneapolis Morning Tribune
; “Bedlam Day, Year Ago”; Nov. 11, 1919; p. 1.

1https://www.minnpost.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/article_detail/images/articles/ArmisticeDayMinneapolis640.jpg

2http://contentdm.baylor.edu/cdm/ref/collection/el-histnsp/id/294

               __________________________________________________________

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 

 

Thursday, November 10, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: November 10

November 10, 1914 – William Sauntry, millionaire lumberman, shot himself in a room in the Ryan Hotel, St. Paul, this evening and died a few minutes later; he had discharged a pistol into his mouth.



William Sauntry1

Sauntry was 61 years old and for more than 40 years had been identified with the lumber industry of Minnesota. Mrs. Sauntry, at her apartments at the Angus Flats, Western and Selby Avenues, St. Paul, said after the shooting that she could not think of a reason for her husband’s suicide. She said he left home early in the afternoon and registered at the Ryan Hotel at 4 p.m., giving his address as Stillwater. Shortly afterwards, he was found dying in a chair in his room.

Sauntry came to Stillwater when he was 20 years. He entered the lumber industry as a river driver and for a time drove oxen in the lumber and logging camps, which then were the most prominent industry. His business ability brought him rapidly to the front. After being employed by lumber firms for five years, he formed a partnership with Albert Tozer, and their company grew rapidly. Later he bought out his partner and for a time was the sole owner of the company. He was later identified with the Frederick Weyerhaeuser industry, and became one of the most prominent figures in the Minnesota lumber industry.


Sauntry was one of the moving spirits in the Anna River Logging Company, and his capital was behind the construction of the Nevers Dam, a short distance above Taylor’s Falls, where serious log jams hindered the movement of logs down the river. This dam overcame that objectionable feature.

1915 view of Nevers Dam2


When the lumber industry began to wane, Sauntry invested his money in coal mines and became particularly interested in the iron fields of the northern part of the state. In this industry he made the bulk of his money and at one time was rated at nearly two million dollars.

During the past ten years, he met some business reverses in bad investments. According to the statement of his son, these reverses have been overcome and there was nothing of a business nature that would indicate a condition serious enough to have caused his act.

Shortly after his first business on the St. Croix River, he married Eunice La Feugy. Until the last four years, they made their home in Stillwater where they had the most ornate residence in the city.


William Sauntry’s house in Stillwater, now a beautiful bed and breakfast.3





For the past four years, Mr. and Mrs. Sauntry have lived in St. Paul and have traveled. His health began to fail during the summer.

Did You Know?

Sauntry was a first cousin once removed of crooner Bing Crosby. They shared common ancestors Dennis Harrigan (1781-1869) and wife Catherine Driscoll (1791-1864) of Ireland. Sauntry’s mother, Ellen Harrigan and Crosby’s grandfather, Dennis Harrigan, Jr., were siblings.1


Bing Crosby4


The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “Millionaire Lumberman Kills Himself in St. Paul. William Sauntry, for Forty Years in Minnesota Timber Industry, Takes His Life. He Began Career as River Driver and Became One of Foremost Lumbermen.”; November 11, 1914; p. 1.

1http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=133376496&PIpi=137174226

2http://riverroadrambler.blogspot.com/2012/02/nevers-dam.html

3Photos taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released into the public domain Nov. 10, 2016, as long as acknowledgement included.

4https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5vjbSxlo7BLHqoBSDRB9OK4uNhcWODdxQwRZ80GUGWt7eqAoHS1LB-cO6iFLgc7pMcZw190Hsjsc_6VH3qwCuxhey5tFNW2AGmwX7Ugk6zu3vFYM6TrTbxu52RQKY8XQzpwWxnT9ROLY/s1600/bing37.jpg
               __________________________________________________________

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 

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: November 9

November 9, 1911 – Capt. H. H. Thompson, submarine diver, reported to Unites States engineers this afternoon that after a thorough examination he had found a hole 10 by 15 feet in size in the north pier head of the Duluth ship canal. The canal piers are built of concrete and have been in place about 12 years.

1North pier is at top of photo.

It is believed the hole was caused when the ill-fated Mataafa struck the pier on Nov. 28, 1905.

The SS Mataafa2



The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “Duluth Canal Pier Broken. Diver Reports Finding Large Hole in North Wall.”; Nov. 10, 1911; p. 1.

The Duluth Evening Herald; “Break in Pier Head”; Nov. 10, 1911; p. 30.

1http://www.lighthousefriends.com/DuluthPiers_cg.jpg

2http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/WI/data/images/GreatLakes/Superior/Batch03/large/mf4g011l.jpg

               __________________________________________________________

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 

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: November 8

November 8, 1922 – Minnesota's first four woman legislators were elected on this date, two years after the passage of the 19th Amendment that gave women the vote:

Mabeth Hurd Paige represented the 30th District, which covered part of downtown Minneapolis to the North Side up to about Lowry Avenue. She was returned to the House in every election year until she retired in 1945.1
Paige’s primary concerns were education, the environment, and social welfare.2



Mabeth Hurd Paige1


A Republican,
Sue Metzger Dickey Hough represented the 34th District, Hennepin County from 1923-25. “She lost her reelection attempt, however, and continued to lose races as late as 1934, when Minnesota and the nation voted overwhelmingly Democratic.  She remained active in Republican politics, sold real estate, and later worked for the Minnesota Department of Public Welfare.”2


Sue Metzger Dickey Hough2


Hannah Jensen Kempfer was elected Representative for the
50th Legislative District of the State of Minnesota (Otter Tail County).  She was the first woman to serve as the honorary speaker in the Minnesota House of Representatives after being so appointed on January 28, 1925.3


Hannah Jensen Kempfer3


Representing District 28 in Hennepin County, Myrtle Cain was known as the “flapper legislator” because of her modern attitude and dress.  She was a professional union organizer and led the first strike of the Minnesota Telephone Operators Union in 1918; almost all of the strikers were women. Cain’s most notable legislation aimed to combat the Ku Klux Klan by making it illegal to appear in public with a masked face.  It drew national attention, and fifteen states soon followed with similar anti-terrorism laws.
2 


Myrtle Cain2

https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/legislators/Minnesota.html


1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mabeth_Hurd_Paige    
2http://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/legislators/Minnesota.html  
3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Kempfer  

               __________________________________________________________

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  



Monday, November 7, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: November 7

November 7, 1913 – After the jury had deliberated the case for nearly two hours, Mrs. Ida Michaud Leckwold was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the arsenic poisoning death of her daughter Viola.

Under terms of the statute governing such cases, Mrs. Leckwold was remanded to jail pending the sentence of the court sending her to the state hospital at Rochester.


Rochester State Hospital1

During the trial, the jury listened to Mrs. Leckwold’s defense attorney, M. C. Brady; two defense psychologists; her two remaining children, Willie, 11, and Myrtle, 9; her family and neighbors testify about her health and difficult home life:

- Her mother, Mrs. Serena (Peter) Michaud, admitted that she and her husband, Mrs. Leckwold’s father, were first cousins (his mother and her mother were sisters), and that several family members had similar epilepsy attacks. 

One daughter, she said, had suffered constantly for 28 years and that her youngest son was an imbecile. She said he was unable to learn at school and that she took him out of school when he was 17 years old because he could not learn to read or write. She said he had to be watched all the time and was cared for like a small child.


- Her psychologists testified that Mrs. Leckwold was the victim of epileptic dementia to such a degree as to seriously affect her mental powers and make her irresponsible for her acts.

They also testified that she had suffered long periods of post-partem depression throughout her married life; cruel treatment and abuse by her husband and overworked conditions, and a lack of proper nourishment along with a continued state of nervousness increased by her numerous pregnancies.


-
Myrtle, the 11-year-old daughter, testified that many times the family went without food, except that brought in by friends. She said that she and her mother were forced to gather wood from the lumber yard during the last two winters because her father refused to provide fuel and that she had seen her father strike her mother sometimes with his open hand and sometimes with his fist, knocking her down.

Myrtle also said that she had been kept from school most of her life to take care of the smaller children while her mother went to work as a washerwoman at other people’s homes.

Mrs. Michaud, Myrtle’s grandmother and Mrs. Leckwold’s mother, declared her daughter often went out to work within two weeks after the birth of a child.

- Willie, her 11-year-old son, also told of his father’s violence toward his mother and declared he had seen him strike her so often he could not count. In addition, he admitted he was afraid of his mother since she had tried to poison him and his father at the same time she had poisoned his younger sister Viola.



Mrs. Ida Leckwold2

Mrs. Leckwold’s insanity commitment was the first of its kind in Hennepin County in years and there was no record or form of commitment in the criminal court records; therefore, she continued to be held in the county jail until the court and the criminal division of the district clerk’s office prepared the proper commitment form.

James Robertson, county attorney; M. C. Brady, Mrs. Leckwold’s attorney, and the court agreed to a form of commitment that would allow the woman’s release from Rochester Hospital upon a certified statement of hospital authorities that she has recovered.

The next move, according to Mr. Brady, was to have a guardian appointed for Willie and Myrtle, the defendant’s remaining two children. For some time the children had been in the custody of their father’s family. An effort will be made to have the court place the children in the care of their mother’s relatives. Mr. Michaud declared he would be glad to take them to his Wisconsin farm.
_________________________

Ida Leckwold was admitted to the Rochester State Hospital Nov. 10, 1913.


Minneapolis Morning Tribune
; “Woman Poisoner Not Responsible Declare Experts. Mrs. Leckwold suffered From Epileptic Dementia, Alienists Testify. Heredity and Consanguinal Marriages Contributed to Her Condition. State Will Not Offer Expert Testimony—Case to End Tonight.”; Nov. 7, 1913; p. 1.

The Minneapolis Morning Tribune
; “Mrs. Leckwold Found Not Guilty; Insane. Woman Who Poisoned Child Will Be Sent to the Rochester Asylum. Jury Finds She Was Irresponsible When Crime Was Committed. Husband’s Story Is Barred—Defense Blocks His Attempt to Testify.”; Nov. 8, 1913; pp. 1 & 4.

The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “Mrs. Leckwold Kept Here Until Papers Are Drawn. Form of Commitment Presents Problem to County Attorney and Assistants. Judge Orders Woman Taken to Rochester Asylum for Treatment.”; Nov. 9, 1913; p. 1.

1https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/libraries/miner/historical_services/archives/recordgroups/images/RPCHistory035_001.JPG

2The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; Oct. 3, 1913; p.1.


Ida Leckwold is arrested for and confesses to murdering her 9-year-old daughter Viola; see Sept. 30, 2016 blog.


Ida Leckwold claims husband beats her; says she was mentally affected by abuse and constant motherhood; see Oct. 5, 2016 blog.

Mrs. Ida Leckwold was indicted today on the charge of murder in the first degree for the murder of her daughter, Viola; see Oct. 7, 2016 blog.
               __________________________________________________________

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 

 


Sunday, November 6, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: November 6

November 6, 1916 – The U. S. Supreme Court today granted permission to the attorney general of Minnesota to file an original complaint on behalf of the state against Secretary of Interior Lane to prevent the issuance of land patents in the Itasca State Park region to the Immigration Land Co.

The attorney general’s office said $75,000 worth of land was involved.

The case arose over the issuance of land patents by Secretary Lane to the Immigration Land Co. Minnesota claims the right to these lands for state park purposes.

The Supreme Court’s action restrains the land company temporarily from disposing of the property.

Itasca became Minnesota’s first state park, created at the headquarters of the Mississippi River in 1891.

The Immigration Land Co., Little Falls, Minn., includes some of the Weyerhaeuser interests.


The Bemidji Daily Pioneer; “Prevent Land Patents in Itasca Park”; November 07, 1916, p. 1.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itasca_State_Park#/media/File:Itasca_State_Park_Sign.JPG

               __________________________________________________________

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