Saturday, July 27, 2019

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 27

July 27, 1858 – The land area of Polk County was established when Governor H. H. Sibley signed the bill creating the county on [this date]. The land area for the county was set off from the territorial county of Pembina, which included parts of northwestern Minnesota and northeastern North Dakota. The law set up the southern boundary of Pembina as the northern boundary of Polk County. When the present counties north of Polk were established, the name Pembina was erased from the county map of Minnesota.”1
The county was named in honor of James Knox Polk, the 11th president of the United States. Polk was the president that approved the act of Congress that organized the Minnesota Territory. 2 

1http://www.co.polk.mn.us/index.asp?SEC=35F5E9E4-2454-4EC9-BBB1-320943022099&DE=CA2705B2-B978-4732-917F-03F03A4DABE5&Type=B_BASIC

2Upham, Warren; Minnesota Geographic Names, Their Origin and Historic Significance; Minnesota Historical Society (St. Paul, Minn., 1969); p. 421.




 http://www.mnwebsteps.com/hegland/local/polk%20county.htm
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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 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 26, 2019

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 26


July 26, 1906 – Arndt Reton, a Norwegian, 45 years old, who has made his home in Bemidji for five years and has been in the employ of the Crookston Lumber company up to a year ago, has been pronounced a leper by City Physician Morrison.

The victim has lost two or more of his toes, and his whole feet and several fingers show unmistakable signs of the disease.

Dr. Morrison has placed the man under quarantine and has reported the matter to the state board of health. Reton’s father and brother died of the disease in the old country. 

Minneapolis Journal; “Genuine Case of Leprosy at Bemidji”; July 26, 1906; p. 2.


http://www.panoramio.com/photo/33499468

__________________________________________________________

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 24, 2019

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 24

July 24, 1920 - George Alexander, 432 Payne Ave., St. Paul, nursed a badly swollen optic, a scratched face and a bruised head at city jail this evening as a result of an attack on him by 15 irate women, who beat him with brooms, clubs and stones. He is held on a statutory charge.






According to the police, Alexander is alleged to have enticed a nine-year-old girl into a wooded area at 44th Ave. S. and 34th Ave. S. in Minneapolis on Friday. She went home to her mother and told her what happened, police allege. In anger, the mother called on women of the neighborhood. Hastily they armed themselves and set out in pursuit of Alexander. The feminine posse surrounded him and closed in throwing stones. At close quarters, the women used their nails as well as clubs, which they were carrying. Someone notified the police, who succeeded in rescuing Alexander after he had been badly beaten. It is alleged police actually saved him from probable death at the hands of the women.

Alexander, according to police, is 40 years old and has a family residing in St. Paul. He will be arraigned in municipal court tomorrow on complaint preferred by the child’s mother.

The Minneapolis Sunday Tribune; “Angry Women Use Brooms to Avenge Child; Story of Girl Results in Neighborhood Posse Which Captures man”; July 25, 1920; p. 1.

Photos taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released into the public domain July 21, 2014, 

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 23, 2019

On This Date in Minnesota History: 23


July 23, 1914 – Domonico Popi, resident of Virginia’s Northside, was covered with confusion today when he discovered upon his arrival at the office of Deputy Clerk of the Court U. G. Holloway to take out a marriage license, that he had forgotten the last name of his prospective bride.

“I want to marry Mary,” he told the marriage license clerk.

“We shall be very happy to allow you to do so,” replied the clerk. “What is Mary’s last name?”

Popi shook his head, he suffered hot and cold flashes and his embarrassment was pitiful to behold, but his memory could not recall the answer.

“I will go and ask Mary,” he finally said. Then he returned and the necessary document to legally allow Maria Nocoine and Domonico Popi to enter the state of “connubial bliss,” were issued and Popi was dismissed with the paternal blessings of Clerk of Court Holloway, which, everybody who knows him will agree, will count for a lot.

The Virginia Enterprise; “He Wanted to Marry Mary”; July 24, 1914; p. 1.


Photo taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released into the public domain Nov. 11, 2012, 
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





Monday, July 22, 2019

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 22


July 22, 1901 – While attempting to make a coupling at Nineteenth Ave. and Bluff Street in Minneapolis today, Harry Purchase, a switchman, who had been in the employ of the Great Western Railway for about a year, stumbled and fell and was cut in half by the wheels of an oil tank car.

The trunk of the body was left on one side of the road and the legs on the other for nearly an hour until Coroner Williams could be secured, after which they were removed to the morgue.

Purchase was 28 years old. Witnesses of the tragedy say that no one was to blame but the victim, and that his foot caught in some unexplained manner and he was drawn under the trucks and crushed to death before anything could be done to stop the momentum of the cars.

Purchase was a member of the Switchman’s Union. Coroner Williams has been investigating the facts, and he believes he has sufficient evidence to lay before a jury. It is likely that an inquest will be held tomorrow, such a request having been made.

The Minneapolis Tribune; “His Body Was Cut in Twain; Harry Purchase, a Switchman, While Attempting to Make a Coupling in the Great Northern Yards, Meets Horrible Death.”; July 23, 1901; p. 5.


http://users.frii.com/gbooth/Trains/GreatWestern/Introduction/
Prototype.htm


__________________________________________________________

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 21, 2019

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 21


July 21, 1885 - "Thirty-four survivors from Minnesota Company B of Civil War fame met and formed 'The Last Man Club', the first of its kind in the nation. The survivors gathered annually at the old Sawyer House, where the Lowell Inn now stands. The chairs of the departed were draped in black and the centerpiece was a bottle of wine, donated by Louis Hospes, to be consumed by the last survivor. Each year the number dwindled and the gatherings became less joyful, and in 1928 the three remaining members decided to close or disband the club. Charles Lockwood became the 'last survivor,' and before his passing in 1935 is quoted as saying, 'Don't anyone ever start another club like this.'” 

http://projects.wchsmn.org/reference/events/last-man-club-formed/ 




Charles Lockwood://www.1stminnesota.net/1st.php?ID=0179







Thirty-four surviving veterans of the First Minnesota, Company B, met yearly to remember those who had “crossed the river.” This wine bottle stood at the center of the banquet table at each gathering; only the last survivor was to open it. On July 21, 1930, Charles Lockwood fulfilled the club’s promise. Surrounded by 33 vacant chairs, he stood and toasted his departed comrades and regiment’s memories.

Photo taken by Pamela J. Erickson at Minnesota Historical Society Civil War Exhibit - Minnesota History Center Civil War Exhibit; March 2–Sept. 8, 2013. Released into the public domain Sept. 5, 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