Saturday, November 3, 2018

On This Date in Minnesota History: November 3

*November 3, 1908 - Bronislau "Bronko" Nagurski, Minnesota Gophers’ football All-American and Hall of Fame Chicago Bears’ player, was born on this date in Rainy River, Ontario, Canada, of Ukrainian and Polish descent. He and his family moved to International Falls, Minn., when he was five-years-old.

There have been so many stories told about this man, including how he got his nickname, how he was drafted by the Gophers and his professional football career with the Chicago Bears, among so many others.

Born Bronislau, his nickname was given to him by a schoolteacher who could not pronounce his given name. Pronunciation of Bronislau: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qUJ89tM2Qo


The man who recognized Bronko Nagurski’s potential (other than Nagurski’s high school football coach) was Dr. Clarence W. Spears, head football coach at the University of Minn. from 1925-29. Spears was on his way to visit a potential player in International Falls when he drove past a farm where he saw a muscular boy plowing a field—without the assistance of a horse. When Spears asked for directions, the boy pointed—with his plow.

“What position do you play?” asked Spears.

“Everything,” the boy replied. “When the other team has the ball, they put me where I can make the most tackles. And when we have the ball, I carry it.”^ And a star was born.

In 1929 he became the only player ever selected All-American at two positions in the same year*, playing both tackle on defense and fullback on offense.^



Bronko Nagurski at the University of Minn., 1929*

After college, Bronko played professional football with the Chicago Bears. “Oldtimers tell of the time Nagurski crashed over center against the Redskins, knocking two linebackers in opposite directions. Next, he stomped over the defensive halfback and felled the safety. Then he caroomed off the goal posts and crashed to a halt against a brick wall. Finally, he staggered back onto the field.

‘That last guy hit me awfully hard,’ Bronko said.”^


 **


After the owner of the Bears refused to give him a raise from $5,000 a year to $6,000 a year, Bronko went into professional wrestling, where he made quite a bit more money.


 *


When he retired from wrestling, Bronko bought a gas station in International Falls. Local legend claimed that Nagurski had the best repeat business in town because he would screw customers' gas caps down so tight after filling their tanks that no one else in town could unscrew them.* He retired in 1978, at the age of seventy, and passed away Jan. 7, 1990, at age 81.



^The Minneapolis Star; “The Bronk. Nagurski lives so quietly many townspeople don’t know his legend.”; March 1, 1982; pp. 1C, 6C & 7C.
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronko_Nagurski

**
http://www.bearshistory.com/bearsringofhonor/bronkonagurski.aspx
           __________________________________________________________

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

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Friday, November 2, 2018

On This Date in Minnesota History: November 2

November 2, 1905 – Chas. E. Flitner, principal of the Grant School, St. Paul, was discharged from his position by the action of the board of education at a special meeting called this evening to consider a series of charges against him.

The charges were preferred by a Mrs. Johnson, mother of a 13-year-old boy whom Flitner had recently punished by whipping.

According to the facts that were brought out in the meeting this evening, the schoolmaster took advantage  of the recent  ruling of the St. Paul school board and administered what he regarded as a well-merited whipping upon young Johnson. He made the mistake, however, of neglecting to wait until the boy’s mother could be present as is required by law and the school board’s recent order, and further violated the board’s rules and regulations by calling the janitor to assist him in chastising the boy and then using a carpet beater of the cat-o-nine-tails order on a bared portion of the boy’s anatomy.

In the course of tonight’s meeting Flitner practically admitted the truth of the charges and the board authorized his dismissal, enumerated as the reasons for its action that in whipping the boy he had used what was more suited to be “an instrument of torture than of punishment”; that he had resorted to “an unbecoming and undignified” method of chastisement, that he had called the janitor in to help him administer the same and he had inflicted the punishment without waiting for the victim’s mother to be present.

Mrs. Johnson, far from being satisfied with the discharge of Flitner, will institute civil proceedings to recover damages for the injuries which she claims were inflicted on her son.

The Minneapolis Tribune; “Whipped Boy Severely.  St. Paul Teacher Discharged for Giving Corporal Punishment. Charles E. Flitner, Principal of the Grant School, Used Carpet Beater on Pupil Without Asking Permission of Parent—Must Answer to a Civil Charge.”; Nov. 3, 1905; p. 2.




https://www.historyonthenet.com/the-romans-education/
__________________________________________________________

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 
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Website:  TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

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Thursday, November 1, 2018

On This Date in Minnesota History: November 1

November 1, 1990 – A letter addressed to "friends in the Jewish Community" was mailed on this date, “just days before voters were going to the polls to decide between [U.S. Sen. Rudy Boschwitz] and underdog Paul Wellstone.”1 Printed on Boschwitz campaign stationery and mailed at campaign expense, the letter was written by two of Boschwitz's Jewish supporters and signed by them and 70 others.2 

The gist of the message was “that Wellstone, who was Jewish, had ‘no connection whatsoever with the Jewish community.’ It [also] mentioned that Wellstone was married to a Christian, while Boschwitz was known as ‘the rabbi of the Senate.’”  Instead of pulling the Jewish together for Boschwitz, the letter had the opposite effect. It reportedly “generated angry discussion among Jews in Israel and the United States.”As a result, Boschwitz lost the race for senate.  

1http://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2010/04/seifert-emmer-flap-prompts-familiar-minnesota-memories-and-question-will-it-

2
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/10/us/ousted-senator-apologizes-for-letter-to-jews.html





U.S. Sen. Rudy Boschwitz

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RudyBoschwitz.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.




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Wednesday, October 31, 2018

On This Date in Minnesota History: October 31

October 31, 1912 – The Soo-Brooten passenger train crashed into a switch engine in the railroad yards in Duluth at 9:18 this evening. As a result, E.W. McFarland, engineer of the passenger train, was taken to St. Mary’s hospital with both legs badly mangled. He was expected to live only a few hours. When the collision took place he refused to jump and was pinned beneath the engine until 11 p.m., when he was rescued.

J. E. Estep, switchman, was injured in jumping from the moving train, but his injuries were not serious.

The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “Collison in Duluth Yards. Engineer of Passenger Train Believed Fatally Hurt in Accident.”; Nov. 1, 1912; p. 1.




St. Mary's Hospital, Duluth

https://reflections.mndigital.org/catalog/p15160coll12:45#/image/0

__________________________________________________________

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 
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Website:  TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

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Tuesday, October 30, 2018

On This Date in Minnesota History: October 30


October 30, 1914 – Today Fred Johnson chose imprisonment at Stillwater with his pals in preference to freedom without them.

Johnson, with Thomas Burns and Oscar Wallace, was indicted for robbery in the first degree. It was alleged that they had stolen a watch and money from George Baxter on Oct. 17.

Johnson was placed on trial first. He was found guilty of robbery in the second degree, but Judge Hale announced he would grant a retrial on the request on account of the misconduct at the trial of Johnson’s attorney.

Burns and Wallace were found guilty today. Johnson had testified in their behalf and he was in the Minneapolis courtroom when they were sentenced to the penitentiary.

As they were led from the courtroom by a deputy sheriff one of them turned and held out his hands. “Goodbye, Fred,” he said. Johnson started to extend his hand, then suddenly withdrew it. “I can’t see you guys go up alone,” he stammered in a husky voice.

Then to the court he said: “Your Honor, I don’t want another trial. I would rather go with the boys.”

Accordingly Judge Hale imposed a prison sentence.

The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “Highwayman Chooses Prison With Pals Rather than New Trial”; Oct. 31, 1914; p. 14.



Mpls. City Hall and Courthouse

A view of the City Hall and Courthouse from the northwest. As seen in the photograph, the magnificent structure dwarfed surrounding buildings, such as the row houses to the west and across the block. It remained the tallest building in Minneapolis until the construction of the Foshay Tower in the 1920s.

http://www.municipalbuildingcommission.org/Historic_Photos.html?gallery=b04c89e5-2667-4c98-b030-dee56f4f8ee7&image=CHCC06_4.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 
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Monday, October 29, 2018

On This Date in Minnesota History: October 29

October 29, 1919 – Clarence Norby was quite seriously hurt while sliding down a hill in Shevlin, Minn., this afternoon. In some miraculous manner he fell from his sled. A stick lying in the snow flew up and punctured his stomach.

Dr. Campbell of Bagley was called immediately. He dressed the wound and ordered the boy sent to the hospital.

Nick Hanson of Shevlin motored to Bemidji the same evening with Clarence, where the doctors operated immediately.

Clarence is the son of Mr. and Mrs. C. O. Norby of Mallard, Minn.

The Bemidji Daily Pioneer; “Small Boy Injured Sliding Down Incline”; October 31, 1919; p. 1.



http://www.makingoodtime.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/IMG_1345.jpgq2
                      __________________________________________________________

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 
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Website:  TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

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Sunday, October 28, 2018

On This Date in Minnesota History: October 28

October 28, 1949 – President Harry S. Truman appoints Eugenie Moore Anderson of Red Wing as ambassador to Denmark, making her the United States' first woman ambassador.”

http://www.mnopedia.org/thisday




Eugenie Moore Anderson
http://www.mnopedia.org/person/anderson-helen-eugenie-moore-1909-1997
                      __________________________________________________________

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