Saturday, July 29, 2017

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 29

July 29, 1921 – Explosion of a dynamite bomb thrown on the rear porch of the home of Paul C. Schoor, St. Paul electrical contractor, early today, badly damaged the rear of the house, shattered windows in adjoining houses, slightly injured Mr. Schoor and his eight-year-old son and rocked distant houses.

Schoor and his son, Edward, were in bed on a sleeping porch in the rear of their home. They were cut by falling glass and badly shaken. A side of the house adjoining was partially caved in.

Windows in the neighboring homes of William Gordnier and Jacob Phelen were broken. A baby sleeping near one of the broken windows in the Phelen home was uninjured.

Schoor is superintendent of the Commonwealth Electric Company, St. Paul. Electrical workers of the company have been on strike for three months, he said this morning.

This is the third time within the past few months that homes have been damaged by bombs in St. Paul.

The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “Bomb Damages St. Paul Home. Dynamite Blast Injures Contractor and Son; Is Third of Series.”; July 29, 1921; p. 1.



               __________________________________________________________

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 available.

                                                         


Discover your roots, and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.


Website:  TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

Contact me at:
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com



Friday, July 28, 2017

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 28

July 28, 1911 – Kah-Deen and Be-Be-Shank, young Minnesota Chippewa girls are in Washington, D. C., to tell how they were induced to sell for almost nothing valuable lands allotted to them by the government. The girls, who can neither read nor write, today testified through an interpreter before the Graham House Interior Department Expenditures Committee that they received only $200 each for tracts of 180-acre allotments. Under the law, only adults can dispose of their allotments.

The girls are two of three brought to Washington as witnesses in the investigation of alleged frauds perpetrated by land agents in gaining possession of large tracts of mineral and timber lands in the White Earth Indian Reservation in Minnesota.


White Earth Reservation
1


Kah-Deen was a “hit.” Although she kept her eyes on her lap and scarcely ever looked up at the congressmen questioning her, the occasional long glances she cast at Margaret Warren, the interpreter through whom she answered, made it evident that many of the questions were to her mind funny in the extreme.

She related how she had spent the $200 received for her allotment for a second-hand sewing machine that cost $4.50 and a bed, and had given part of it to her parents for clothing for themselves. She said a Mr. Walter, who owned a bank at Waubun, had offered her $100 for her land, but that she had refused to sell for so small a figure. But when the “man who owned the bank across the street” offered her twice that amount, she said she sold him the land.

She knew Mr. Walter only as “the red-headed man” and the other she knew only as a “light-haired, smooth-faced man with specs.” When asked to pick out someone in the committee room of about the same age as the man with the “specs,” she struggled for a long while to get her eyes off the floor, but when she did, they fell on a young newspaper reporter and, much to his confusion, she pointed to him.

Kah-Deen said she was only 15 years old when persuaded to sell her land and that she had never been on or seen the property. After concluding her testimony, Chairman Graham asked Miss Warren, the interpreter, to tell Kah-Deen that the committee was very much pleased with her answers and that they were all her friends.

The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “Indian Maids Tell of Sale of Their Lands for Song. White Earth Girls Testify at Probe they Got $200 Each for 180-Acre Allotments. Kah Deen, One of Witnesses Makes Hit With Investigators by Her Manner.”; July 29, 1911; p. 1.

1https://mrclaystopstudents.wikispaces.com/file/view/map.jpg/223293632/299x280/map.jpg




https://gardenwarriorsgoodseeds.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/whiteearthsign_mprnews.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 available.

                                                        


Discover your roots, and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.


Website:  TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

Contact me at:
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com








Thursday, July 27, 2017

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 27

July 27, 1905 – Albert Erickson, 16 years old, was instantly killed while adjusting a belt in the C. A. Smith Sawmill this evening.

The boy was employed at odd jobs about the mill, and at midnight one of the belts slipped the wheel. Erickson climbed up 40 feet to adjust it, and his clothing was caught on the shafting. Before the machinery could be stopped he was whirled round and round the bar and horribly mangled. Both legs and one arm were torn from his body. Andrew Bergstrom, another mill workman, witnessed the accident, and stopped the machinery. He then called the other men to the rescue, and the first to answer the call was the boy’s own father.

The father was struck speechless by the nature of the accident and had to be taken away by friends.

The boy was dead when taken down from the shafting. Coroner Kistler was summoned and ordered the body taken to the family residence.

The Minneapolis Journal; “Boy Whirled to Death in Wheel. Father First to Answer Call of Man Who Witnessed Mill Tragedy.”; July 28, 1905; p. 1.




The C. A. Smith mill at Camden Place was the largest sawmill plant in the city of Minneapolis.

The Minneapolis Journal; “A Model Lumber Manufacturing Plant. C. A. Smith Lumber Company, an Establishment Unique and Complete—History of Its Growth and Description of Its Equipment.”; Nov. 26, 1903; p. 83.
               __________________________________________________________

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 available.



Discover your roots, and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.


Website:  TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

Contact me at:
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com



Wednesday, July 26, 2017

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 26

July 26, 2010 – Gordy’s Hi-Hat drive-in, Cloquet, Minn., was featured on the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” with host Guy Fieri on this date.

http://www.tvfoodmaps.com/place933.html



Photo taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released into the public domain 5-1-2013, 
as long as acknowledgement included.  

               __________________________________________________________

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 available.

                                                         


Discover your roots, and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.


Website:  TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

Contact me at:
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com



Tuesday, July 25, 2017

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 25

July 25, 1904 – Roy Hanson, a Minneapolis boy serving on the USS Scorpion, was sent to the masthead for six hours for accidentally breaking a window. As he was descending, his benumbed fingers refused to hold and he fell 60 feet to the deck, sustaining serious injuries.

Hanson’s parents reside in North Minneapolis. Word of the accident, which happened two weeks ago, reached Minneapolis today.

Young Hanson has been in the Navy long enough to have acquired the reputation of being the best climber aboard the Scorpion. Possibly it was his reputation that suggested the form of punishment he received. The ship was then in West Indian waters, off San Domingo. It was hot day and Hanson ran lightly aloft to do penance, attired in the thinnest clothing issued in the Navy for wear in the tropics.



USS Scorpion1

Less than an hour after he had taken his post, the wind suddenly veered, and black clouds came driving down before a tropical storm. Long, gray combers began to growl past the ship and all on deck was made fast for a big blow. To the men on deck, the high sea was easy compared to what the man hundred feet above experienced; the masthead swept through an arc of 75 feet for every roll the ship made.

With the storm came a sudden drop in temperature and a driving rain. Accustomed to tropical heat, the cold seemed positively wintry to the sailors, who hustled into flannels and pea jackets.


Up aloft, Hanson clung miserably to the reeling mast, waiting for his period of punishment to expire. Whether the superior officer who had ordered him up forgot about his predicament, or whether naval discipline prevented a modification of the order, Hanson remained in his perilous post more than five hours before he decided he must descend or lose his life. He started down, but was so numb with cold that he lost his hold and fell when 60 feet above the deck. He was picked up with one broken rib and suffering from internal injuries from which it is feared he will not recover.

The Minneapolis Journal; “He Stayed Aloft in Raging Storm. Naval Discipline Nearly Killed Minneapolis Boy. He Was Sent Aloft for Breaking a Pane of Glass and Rode Out a Storm at the masthead—Finally Fell, sustaining Possibly Fatal Injuries.”; July 25, 1904; p. 7.

1http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/12130305.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 available.

                                                         


Discover your roots, and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.


Website:  TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

Contact me at:
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com



Monday, July 24, 2017

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 24

July 24, 1786 – Joseph Nicolas Nicollet was born on this date in France. He was a French mathematician, explorer, cartographer with an interest in astronomy. Nicollet left for the U. S. in 1831 after being financially ruined by the 1830 Revolution. “He made a private survey of the Mississippi region (1836-7), the results of which he presented in Washington. In 1838, he led a surveying expedition for the U. S. government party mapping out the lakes and waterways of north central Minnesota. He stressed to map publishers the importance of elevation marks on published maps. His maps were considered among the most accurate and useful until the surveyors for the great logging companies arrived in Minnesota’s vast pine forests.”

https://todayinsci.com/7/7_24.htm



Places in Minnesota named for Joseph Nicollet:


· Nicollet, Minnesota, a small city


· Nicollet County, Minnesota


· Nicollet Township, Nicollet County, Minnesota


· Nicollet Avenue, a major street in Minneapolis


· Nicollet Park, former baseball stadium in Minneapolis


· Nicollet Island, in the Mississippi River north of downtown Minneapolis



· Nicollet Mall, in downtown Minneapolis





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicollet


Photos taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released into the public domain July 24, 2017, 
as long as acknowledgement included.

               __________________________________________________________

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 available.

                                                         


Discover your roots, and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.


Website:  TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

Contact me at:
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com



Sunday, July 23, 2017

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 23

July 23, 1901 – The mining village of Chisholm was incorporated on this date. It was named after Archibald Mark Chisholm, “a principal explorer of the Mesabi range.”

Upham, Warren; Minnesota Geographic Names, Their Origin and Historic Significance; Minnesota Historical Society (St. Paul, Minn., 1969); p. 479.






https://canibringthedog.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/100_2361.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 available.

                                                         


Discover your roots, and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.


Website:  TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

Contact me at:
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com