Gambles...AFTER the Letters

Descendents of the original Gambles that settled St. Vincent have been in touch, and shared this with me about the "story after the story", i.e., what happened after the letters stopped...

I do know a little about what happened to everyone, thanks mainly to my late grandfather, Neill (Bo) Gamble (Willie's son), who sat down one day & went through the entire family tree with me, including the names of almost all of his Gamble cousins.

Mary Ann Neill Gamble was born in Ireland in 1841 and passed away in 1903 (as you know from one of the later letters). (The letter is dated 1902, but the headstone at the cemetery says 1903 -- perhaps a transcription error?). She would have been 61 or 62.

Alexander Gamble was born August 20, 1834, in Coot’s Hill, County Cavan, Ireland, and passed away September 8, 1925, at the home of his daughter, Ellen Gamble Lapp, in St. Vincent at age 91. They are buried in St. Vincent Cemetery; there is a large headstone erected in their memory.

She and Alexander Gamble were married in Dundee, Scotland, on November 5, 1861.

Their children, in order of age:

Elizabeth (Lizzie) was born February 13, 1863, in Dundee, Scotland. She married Hugh Griffith and had five children. Hugh died August 2, 1909 at age 58 -- killed instantly when struck by lightning while atop a haystack. Lizzie died of pneumonia on March 19, 1916 at age 53. They are buried in St. Vincent Cemetery, as is their son, Hugh Jr. & his wife Agnes.

Alexander Jr. (Young Alick) was born May 26, 1865, in Albany, New York. After the death of his first wife, Maggie, he remarried. His second wife's name was Martha, and Barbara Kennedy believed she was the sister of his first wife, from Emerson. He wound up in Idaho, where he worked as a contractor and carpenter. He died in Idaho Falls, Idaho, of complications due to asthma on November 28, 1943, at age 78. I am not sure how many children he had; the letters mention three.

In 1990, I was contacted by a woman with the last name of Gamble from Idaho, who had gotten my name through the Ontario Genealogy Society. She was married to one of young Alex Jr.'s descendants & interested in the family history. I was thrilled to hear from her and sent her a copy of all my research notes to that time, but unfortunately never heard a thing back from her.

Ellen was born in 1868 in Ontario (likely Beaverton), married Richard Lapp and lived in St. Vincent. She died in 1960 and would have been about 92 at the time. They are buried in St. Vincent Cemetery. They had five children, most of whom lived in the St. Vincent area, & some of their descendants are still in the area.

Jane (Jenny) was born in 1870 in Ontario (likely Beaverton). She married John (Jack) Griffith, Jr. on October 19, 1893 (we believe he was a cousin to Lizzie's husband Hugh, not exactly sure of the relationship) and lived in St Vincent until her death in 1950 at around the age 80. They are also buried in St. Vincent Cemetery. They had five children, some of whom lived in the St. Vincent area, & some descendants still live in the vicinity.

William (Willie, also later known as Bill) was born March 17, 1871, in Beaverton, Ontario. He married Lillie Maud Griffith of Winnipeg (another cousin of Hugh's & Jack's, again, not entirely clear on the relationship) in 1901. They had nine children. After her death in 1928 (at the age of 44), he and the younger children lived in Hallock, and he later lived in Crookston, where he passed away in 1952 at the age of 81. He & Lillie are also buried in St. Vincent Cemetery.

Alice was born in the early 1870s in Ontario (Beaverton), married Alec Forrester, and lived in Memphis, Tennessee, where she died sometime in the mid-1960s. She would have been around 90. They had two children.

Samuel (Sammy) was born in 1879 in St. Vincent, and wound up in Golden, Colorado, where he died on May 23, 1964 at age 84. His death certificate listed his occupation as "custodian, Colorado School of Mines," but my grandfather told me he ran a pool hall for awhile and also worked with the police department. He & his wife Thea (who was a schoolteacher at St. Vincent) had no children.

Margaret (Maggie) Neill, to whom all the letters were written, never married and lived by herself after the deaths of her parents. She died in Beaverton, Ontario, on November 29, 1949 at age 89, and is buried in the cemetery of St. Andrew's, also known as "The Old Stone Church," on the outskirts of town.

William & Lillie were my great-grandparents. The only descendants from this part of the family still living in Kittson County (in Hallock) are their grandchildren (my mother's cousins) Dorothy Berard Swan, Kaye Walters Cederholm, and Kenny Walters.

I feel sad to see the letters coming to an end -- even though I've read them before, it's almost been like reading them all over again for the first time. I appreciate your sharing them with the world through the Internet, & especially all the explanatory little links you've added that really add colour & context to the story.

...and thus ends the story of the Gambles, early settlers of St. Vincent, as told through their own words.

Town Reunion Itinerary

For latest information and details, visit the St. Vincent Town Reunion Facebook page...

Saturday, July 28

1pm to 5pm - St Vincent Cemetery Walking Tour and Historical Displays - 8th Street, St Vincent, MN

9am to 6pm - 155th St Vincent Historical Exhibit at Pembina Museum - 805 State Hwy 59, Pembina, ND

6pm to 9pm (or until food is gone) - Pig Roast Dinner at the Pembina Fire Hall - 162 W Rolette St, Pembina, ND (Free Will donation for the Pembina Fire Department)

Open Until 2am - Meet after dinner at Pembina's Corner Bar and Cafe - 113 W Stutsman Street, Pembina, ND

Sunday, July 29

8am to 1pm - Pancake Breakfast at the Pembina Fire Hall - 162 W Rolette St, Pembina, ND (Free Will donation for the Pembina Fire Department)

1pm to 5pm - St Vincent Cemetery Walking Tour and Historical Displays - 8th Street, St Vincent, MN

1pm to 6pm - 155th St Vincent Historical Exhibit at Pembina Museum - 805 State Hwy 59, Pembina, ND

2pm – Saint Vincent Veterans Memorial Service at the St Vincent Cemetery - 8th Street, St Vincent, MN

Want to stay in the area Saturday Night?

Fort Daer Campground and RV Park, Pembina, ND - 701.825.6819

Red Roost Motel, 203 W Stutsman St, Pembina, ND - 701.825.6254

Budget Host Inn Caribou Inn, 203 East Broadway Street, Hallock, MN - 218.843.3702

AmericInn Hotel, 1015 12th St West, Grafton, ND - 701.352.2788

Select Inn Hotel, 948 West 12th Street, Grafton, ND - 701.352.0888

Get with friends and play a round of Golf at Pembina's LaMoure Memorial 9-Hole Golf Course - southwest of Fort Daer Campground and Louis Gooselaw Ball Field. 701.825.6619

St. Vincent Native Responds...

A St. Vincent expatriot contacted me yesterday out of the blue. It was great hearing from someone, and to know that I'm touching people with the town history. That is one of my main goals with this project...

Dear Trish:
I don't know if you remember me. I am from St. Vincent...I just stumbled across your St. Vincent website and it brought up such a well of emotions. I think of St. Vincent a lot...I was a bit of an outcast in school -- the one that everybody picked on -- so when I graduated from high school, I left town and never looked back. But St. Vincent never left my heart and it makes me so incredibly sad to see it disappearing before our very eyes. The...Humboldt School is no more, the Sylvester's store building is gone and there's not even a post office anymore. I always say, only half joking, that today I know more people in the St. Vincent Cemetery than I do in the actual town. It's scary to think that it can all go away, like we never even existed. So to see your web site warmed my heart, to know that someone actually cares enough to keep the memory alive.

I have a St. Vincent de Paul medallion (St. Vincent was named after him) that I wear constantly as a reminder of "home." When I purchased it at a Bible book shop, the clerk asked me If I wanted it blessed. The priest looked at it and said, "St. Vincent dePaul -- he's my patron saint," to which I replied, "Oh yeah? Well he's my home town!" I have to laugh when people here refer to [censored for privacy] as a "small town." They don't know what a small town is!!!!!

By the way -- I have a set of very old salt and pepper shakers that belonged to your Grandmother Fitzpatrick. I bought them at a rummage sale at her house...They are small, in the shape of an elongated square that flares out at the bottom. The bottom half is painted a sort of periwinkle and the tops are a rose pink with delicate flowers and leaves.

Anyway, I've bent your ear enough for one evening. Keep up the good work on the web site. I haven't had a chance to look over every aspect of it, but certainly plan to...

I responded with this...

You're the first person (besides Mike Rustad, but he's been writing to me for a long time now about home stuff, before I started the website...he's a law professor back east now!) to write and let me truly know what you think. I LOVED IT! *smile*

Yeah, I know just what you mean about the town slowly disappearing before our eyes. My Mom said that very same thing when I was a little girl 40 years ago, and I didn't understand, but I do now. St. Vincent was a much busier place than what we remember, when she was young back in the 1920's and 1930'. My Grandma Fitzpatrick, of course, remembered the 'boom time' in the 1880's and 1890's when everything seemed possible.

While St. Vincent per se is a ghost of what it once was, the spirit is still there, and I'd like to let people know, it was there, it's still there, and there is a legacy not only about St. Vincent but the whole area up there that made a difference in many people's lives. Not only that, but those people went on to make a difference in other people's lives.

I will be periodically updating the St. Vincent website, at LEAST once a week, if not more so be sure and continue stopping by. By the way, I have comments enabled on the St. Vincent site for each entry, and you can even comment annonymously if you want, so feel free to comment...

Trish

Daniel Franklin Brawley's Sad End

The last time we saw Daniel F. Brawley, he was conducting some rather underhanded business tactics against another resident named Nathan Myrick, over the Pembina/St. Vincent Ferry.

Below is a sort of time-line of Brawley's history in Minnesota.  It was created by Vince Godon on his fascinating website, Historical Minnesota Bricks. Vince is the son of Maurice Godon, a former resident of St. Vincent, who was featured in St. Vincent Memories in 2009.

Below, you'll read how he lived during changing times in Minnesota, as businessman, legislator, etc.  In the end, he died by his own hand, in St. Vincent, and is buried in the St. Vincent Cemetery...

First Cemetery

Marcy Johnson also sent along this bit of info on that other - and first - cemetery in St. Vincent. Very few know where it is. I hope someone who does shows the next generation...

Additional Burials in St. Vincent Township

Christ Episcopal Church in St. Vincent was the first church in Kittson County. The first service was held on Christmas Day in 1880 and the church was duly organized on 10 June, 1881. According to information from the Ryan family, Bob Cameron and the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota, there was a cemetery located north of the church which was used until the present St. Vincent Cemetery was established in 1887. Copies of the baptism records and parish burials from 1881 to 1933 are on file at the Kittson County Historical Society. The original records are in the archives of the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Two of the parish burials refer to the place of burial as the Church Yard of Christ Church. They are: Ray Mena who died 26 Oct 1884 at 25 years of age and Robert William Johnson who died 16 Jan 1885 in St. Vincent at 8 months.

The Works Progress Administration Report from March 1937 listed the following [additional] three burial sites:

"In St. Vincent Township, section 1, owner Great Northern Railway Company. No marker to show exact location of grave. Member of construction gang who was laying a new track to the Canadian border and he was killed between two handcars and buried in the same spot that the accident happened. Name unknown, Italian section hand.

"In St. Vincent Township, section 12, along Red River, on John Griffith farm. At least three burials. Hans Maxwell, 8 Oct 1881; Matilda Ann Balderson, 1882. When the railroad was torn up, this piece of land was purchased by the father of the present owner; these graves are about 200 feet south and east of the owner's home.

"Block 91, St. Vincent, along the Red River in the former William Powner lots. Baby boy Powner, 1886; Baby girl Powner, 1886. Main St. runs by the front of these lots and the burial was made in the back of the house next to the alley. Main St. is now known as Highway 59. Since these twins were buried there, the land has changed hands several times and their home was torn down a number of years ago; the lots used as a burial ground have been used as a garden the last 12 years and a house stands on the adjoining lot to the east. The property is owned by a party living in Emerson, Manitoba."

Gamble Reunion Report

I had an wonderful time at the Gamble Family Reunion.

Bill and I spent most of Friday on our own around the area, exploring and taking photos. On the way there, we stopped at Northcote, then went on to St. Vincent.

Photo by Bill Reynolds

In between I visited an old classmate and friend, and her husband in Hallock, who put me in touch with a member of St. John's Church there. St. John's was always linked with Christ Church in St. Vincent, both being Episcopal churches who often shared ministers among other things. I learned from a woman associated with the church - which is now down to just a literal handful of congregants - that St. John's has many of the items that used to be in Christ Church. All the pews in St. John's sanctuary are from Christ Church, for instance. Also two ornately carved large wooden chairs on the rise by the altar are from St. Vincent. A cabinet with a glass front containing several silver offertory and communion articles were also from St. Vincent. Downstairs in the basement kitchen was a memorial china plate with a hand-painted image of Christ Church commemorating its 50th Anniversary in the 1930s. The member then showed us a few of Christ Church's books they had possession of. I looked through them and found some fascinating bits of church and town history in them. For example, Rev. Smiythe once made a note about the attendance one Sunday that it was "deer season" - that made me smile!

Photo by Bill Reynolds

In another part of a book, I found my Dad's name listed as one of the 'vestry men' in 1953. Sometime between then and 1959 they began attending Valley Community Church, which eventually became the Evangelical Free Church (now in Pembina). I recently found out that the building that housed that church (my childhood church) in St. Vincent - which was moved to Hallock and is still there not far from St. John's - was once Green's Store in St. Vincent. What a tangled web do buildings and towns have when you dig into their histories!

On Friday, my parents' home was still open, but by Saturday it was not; some time Friday afternoon or Saturday morning, HUD had been there boarding up the two-car garage door (which was open for some reason, no door on it) as well as put padlocks on all the house doors. A good thing, really, because sooner or later someone would be more tempted to vandalize it otherwise. Lucky for me, I was able to get photos and visit one last time, in the nick of time. As Bill and I walked up the sidewalk towards the front door Friday, I said to Bill, it's like it was yesterday I was here on a visit and Mom and Dad should be coming to the door, and I broke down and cried hard for a few moments. My stomach twisted and my heart was breaking...it was very hard deep inside me to continue but I did it.

Photo by Bill Reynolds

When touring St. Vincent, I finally had the opportunity to visit inside the jail building. It was always a mystery to me and I had often wanted to see inside of it when I was growing up. It has amazing bars of iron on the window of a sort I have never seen before, while the door has the classic old-fashioned flat iron bars. The door is also hung with impressive handmade iron hardware - long, large hinges and a two-piece locking mechanism, part in the door frame and part in the door itself. Bill was very impressed with the workmanship. I'm guessing they very well could have been made by a local blacksmith. The original tin panel ceiling tiles in the two interior rooms of the jail were still in-place. I'd love to get one of them someday when the building comes down.

We also visited the St. Vincent cemetery, and located my parents' graves. I finally saw both their tombstones, side-by-side, Dad's on the north, Mom's on the south - "You are my Sunshine" (Dad), "My Only Sunshine" (Mom)

Friday evening was a meet-and-greet. I had met only Alice before - the cousin who discovered her family through this blog - but never met in person anyone other Gamble member. That all changed quickly!

Saturday, we toured the old Alexander Gamble farm house and homestead, which when I was growing up we knew as the Rodney Webster farm, never knowing it's true origins at the time! Gary Webster, Rodney's son, saw all of us visiting en masse and came out to see what it was all about. We reassured him it was harmless, and we ended up having a good visit with him and he with us. We learned a lot about the land and who owned what and when.

Photo by Bill Reynolds

Later, we tried getting into Christ Church in St. Vincent, having been told the current owner would leave it open, but it was padlocked. After visiting the cemetery, the Gamble family went in caravan to Lancaster and we all ate a late lunch at Dean's Diner. From there we went on to the Kittson County Museum in Lake Bronson. The Museum was having a big fund-raising event, an auction which proceeds all go to benefits the museum. It was just ending when we arrived, and the Gambles asked to see the Gamble Family letters which are now housed there. Cindy Adams, the director, has done an amazing job encapsulating them in Mylar plastic (the tried and true method of preservation where you leave openings on side for air to get in and out) and then presenting them in a binder in plastic archival sleeves. It was amazing to see in-person the original letters. We even saw the one where Alex shares about a baby that was recently lost, a very sad time in the family.

While at the library, Bill and I toured it and saw many fascinating exhibits - it was especially illuminating to see the interior of a trapper's cabin, very small indeed, but logically it made sense that no more room was needed for a single working man under those conditions. We found out the Gamble letters have not been scanned yet, but the family expressed their hope they would be. Cindy said it was a good idea, but it was only a matter of finding the time - I'm sure she is a very busy person! I wish I lived closer - I'd be happy to volunteer. At least I am happy to say, I finally joined the Kittson County Historical Society on Saturday!

"Portrait of a Blacksmith as a Young Man"

This is Philip Ahles.

You may remember earlier posts about the Ahles family posted here.

Well, it happened again. Out of the blue, I got a call, this time at work. It turned out to be a rather industrious young man who took the time to track me down. He wanted to share some St. Vincent history he had come across in his family history research. His name is Mike Schlenker, a descendent of the Ahles family who settled in 19th century St. Vincent around the same time as my own families.

We decided to meet for lunch, which we did earlier this week. He brought several copies of photographs, as well as other written information such as a photocopy of a title page and entry page of an 1884 regional business directory. I always wondered if there was a way for smaller communities to get listed when they didn't publish a local city directory, and there was as it turns out!

From the 1884-5 Gazetteer, came this business listing for St. Vincent.  Note that at this time, the town's population was around 1200...

You will notice in the listing above, under St. Vincent, several businesses listed of many sorts. One of them was "Ahles, John - brewer". According to Mike, John and his wife Louisa came up to St. Vincent from Fairbault, MN. John was a German immigrant who, according to Ahles family history, came over as a very young man with fellow German - and brewer - Jacob Schmidt.

The man in the center was identified by an Ahles family descendant as Philip Ahles.  However, to me he looks like photos I've seen of Wallace Cameron, who was the Constable of St. Vincent at around this time...

Here we see front and center, Philip Ahles. Mike swears Philip was never known to the family as being a law man, despite the star on his chest, and speculates it was there as a joke. Who knows what the reason may have been - a joke, a temporary deputization - it's one of those family mysteries we will never know. Suffice it to say, there is enough intrigue in the picture as is. For instance, it shows a winter scene with little snow but a sled in use for cutting firewood by the looks of it. We can see an engine of some sort, probably steam, mounted on the bed, with rather fancy advertising painted on it stating "P. Ahles Blacksmith St. Vincent". A large saw with a guard can be seen at the back. The photo was taken somewhere in St. Vincent, but there's not enough clues in the photograph to estimate where exactly. It's possible it was around back of the Ahles blacksmith shop. No matter. I love a taste of the everyday of the old town, and here it is! Speaking of which, continue on below for more...

P. Ahles (far left) and friends, circa 1905...

Here is the fabled (I say fabled, because I was told of it often enough growing up by first my Grandmother, and then my Mom...!) blacksmith shop owned by Philip Ahles. That's Philip on the left, by the way. Philip was born January 31, 1882 in St. Vincent. AP lifelong resident, he opened his blacksmith shop when he was 22 years old. Over the years, he did other jobs in the area, working as a carpenter, tool sharpnener, as well as a lineman for the local rural telephone company.

Notice the wooden sidewalk out front. I came across a mention of those wooden sidewalks recently in some other research I've been doing but can't remember what the context is at the moment. I remember that they were considered quite an addition to modernizing the town, and residents were quite proud of their installation.

Here we see the interior of the smithy. Philip is at the anvil in the picture. You may or may not be able to make out, on the left-hand side of the picture, part of a sign. Even on the original from which this came, it was partially cut off, but enough was visible at the bottom of it to make out "...Please Don't Ask!" - we speculate it may have been a sign about asking for credit!

Eventually, Philip did what many in his position did due to changing technology - he adapted. He made over his blacksmith shop into an auto repair shop.

Mike said that older relatives had fond memories of Philip. He was a bachelor uncle (my Dad had one or two of those that he greatly admired!) and nephews and nieces envied what they perceived as his freedom to do what he wanted, when he wanted. He in turn enjoyed them. Teasingly, it was said of him that he had, however, an allergy to soap and water. Well, when you live alone, and work with machines, it is not to be unexpected. I can tell you about many people years ago that smelled of their work mixed with a little sweat, whether it was grain chaff or from cutting onions in the kitchen, digging dirt in the garden, or whatever. Good hard work and the results thereof was (and is) nothing to be ashamed of...

Philip passed on, on October 19, 1967. I was 8 years old then, and faintly remember his name being mentioned. I can't say I remember the man, unfortunately. Today, Philip hangs out where many older residents ended up, the St. Vincent Cemetery. There his body lies, as the old phrase goes, with many other loved ones, including my father, my grandparents, my great grandparents, and many cousins and an uncle. But that, THAT is another story...

Mrs. Rasche & the St. Vincent March

Example of another March
written by Mrs. Rasche
[Source:  Library of Congress]

I put to you, dear Reader, a St. Vincent MYSTERY to solve!

Published in the St. Vincent New Era in 1890, is the following news:

Mrs. Rasche, the celebrated Musical composer done St. Vincent the honor of composing a march, entitled "The St. Vincent March" as a souvenir of the Fair of 1890¹, and done the editor of the ERA the honor of dedicating it to him for which favors St. Vincent and us are enthusiastically grateful.

As you can imagine, to read that an actual musical composition was written for and about St. Vincent is an exciting and unexpected discovery in my ongoing research about my hometown.  Who was this Mrs. Rasche?  Why did she feel compelled to write the piece for this event?  Was the 'Fair of 1890' a special fair moreso than other years?  It is possible that she was just helping the town by being so civic-minded.  It was still trying to grow.  All we have is speculation - I would like to find out the story behind the story!²








What we have found out so far:

Swan Anderson

When you're growing up, you take a lot of things for granted. You don't think about how the place you live and the people you come to know may be quite different from what other people know. You don't realize that the people you pass every day, talk to now and then, all have stories and lives that you only touch on, but go much deeper. Time passes, and unless someone writes memories down, they leave us and it's like they were never here.

Swan Anderson was one of those people. He lived, and died, and I passed him by without realizing who he really was, but now I'm beginning to.

When I was growing up, my Dad would mention Mr. Anderson once and awhile. It was in a casual way, about ordinary events of our lives that involved him in some way. The particular way Mr. Anderson intersected our lives though was because he had a skill my Dad both admired and needed, that of being an inventive man with mechanical skill.

My parents grew up in a time and place where self-sufficiency was necessary. If you couldn't do it yourself, then someone else in the community could.

An example: We had a septic tank system for our sewer needs, and Dad relied on Swan's ability to create a small pump engine that he could hook up to hoses on both ends, one going into an access pipe into the ground, the other leading across the pasture to an old, unused dugout where the excess waste would be stored.

Recently I once again stumbled onto new and unexpected information about St. Vincent when searching the Internet. A post about a booklet by Ethel Thorlacius caught my eye because it mentioned Swan Anderson. I contacted Ethel and obtained a copy of that booklet, entitled Old Days, Old Ways...In Northwestern Minnesota. In the 1980's while working as the Activities Director for the nursing home in Hallock, Swan reached out to her for help to record his memories of area history. Thanks heavens that between the two of them they were able to do it! Oral history, while prone to errors of memory that we all have, is reliable to a large degree. It is a starting point, and a crucial piece of building the past.

Below are some examples of Swan's memories; I will be posting more of them as time allows...

The St. Vincent Cemetery is not the first cemetery in St. Vincent...It was a cemetery that was started in 1897 as the (original) cemetery in St. Vincent was completely underwater during the flood of that year. So they buried them out in the front lawn of the Griffin home and this is where they are yet. The first death was a young girl of the Maxill family...

The bridge across the Red River (at Pembina/St. VIncent), as I remember it, was a floating type and held in the river by a cable stretched across the banks. There was also a pulley that ran along the cable. They would turn the units so that the water would push it across the river; something like sails on a boat. When we got to the other side, they would tie it up to the bank, anchor it, and you would drive off on the bank and go on up. They would wait there until others came to cross the river and bring a load over, or go and get the parties from the other side. Later on the pontoon was built solid across the river so that it was all a continuous bridge, but it was actually still a floating type of bridge. To go across, if you happened to go too fast, you could see the sections buckle in front of you, so that they could level off with your vehicle as you crossed.

Local Veterans of World War I - Part I

We are in the midst of the Centennial years of WWI. Many men from Kittson County fought in the "Great War", or the "War to End All Wars". As we know all too well, sadly it didn't end all wars. If you want to find out more about who fought from Kittson County, you can view online the book that was written all about that - The History of Kittson County in the World War.

A few examples of local WWI veterans; I will be sharing more in the near future...



When I was growing up, I knew Eli Gooselaw as a tall, quiet old man who lived across the pasture from our house, north of the St. Vincent Cemetery.  His house was a 2-storey wood clapboard, the paint long ago weathered off.

Outside nearby, he had a tall wood pile, stacked up in the form of a tipi. From what I could tell, he never used the wood,  nor burned it.  It just stood like a sentinel over the years.

The house had old-fashioned tall, sashed windows, that reflected full-moon moonlight so brightly that you swore Eli  (who never used electric lights) had lights on - especially his upstairs' north bedroom.

But back in 1917, Eli "...enlisted in the Army at East Grand Forks ... because they were drafting men. This was the time of World War I, and most of his two years of service were spent in China. Eli was one of the few people who could say he'd been to the big cities of China - Tientsen, Shanghai, and Chin-huang-taoo, along with Tokyo, Japan, the Philippine Islands and Hawaiian Islands."



Fred Gooselaw was born and raised in St. Vincent.  He was the son of Zeb and Joset (Parenteau) Gooselaw.

He became a barber and ran his own barbershop in St. Vincent, then Humboldt prior to WWI. In October 1918 he was shipped off to France as an Engineer Sapper, as part of the October Automatic Replacement Draft.¹

After the war, he carried on being a barber, and eventually moved to Montana, continuing his profession there.

He named his firstborn son, Pershing, born in August 1918, in honor of General Pershing.







James Lang was born in rural Kittson County, Minnesota.  He was the second son of Joseph and Margaret Lang, and farmed with his father.

He then went to fight in the First World War. After returning, he resumed farming until 1955; then he retired. He moved to Humboldt and never married.
























Born in Ontario, Canada of German immigrant parents, Christopher A. Thedorf, Jr. came to St. Vincent as a small child.  The Thedorf family lived in the middle of the town, by the house that would eventually be my grandparents' second home after they moved out, when my parents took over the homestead. Chris' father, Mr. Thedorf, was the proprietor of the Thedore Hotel in St. Vincent.

According to the 1910 U.S. Census, Chris was working then as a bartender in a St.Vincent saloon.  As the article to the left states, in July 1917 he volunteered into the military, choosing the Marine Corps.  The United States had declared war in April 1917 but didn't send forces (under General Pershing) until 1918, so Chris was an early participant in the war.

After the war, he married, moved to St. Paul, MN, and began working for the railroad as both a locomotive engineer, and fireman...










Hugh Lucas was a compositor and printer for the Emerson International newspaper in the late 1800s and worked there with J.E. Bouvette. He was also a carpenter and built his first home in St. Vincent with his own hands, or so the story goes.

Why Hugh felt it was important to volunteer in WWI when he was beyond the normal age is not known, but as you can read at left, he was well thought of by his fellow soldiers. He was a veteran when he went into the service again, having been in the cavalry in the late 1800s.

The article to the left states that he went into the Remount Corps upon enlistment, which was part of the Quartermasters Corps.













______________

¹ - October Automatic Replacement Draft: It means that a man was scheduled to be a replacement for a battle casualty right from the start. Usually the army waited to see what a man could do or where he was actually needed before assigning him a specific job. By October of 1918 the casualty rate was climbing and they were sending men over at an incredible rate. New draftees were barely receiving any training at all before shipping out. To fill the gaps caused by casualties, they started assigning men to be rifle men just as soon as a block of them were called up (or in this case, an engineer sapper...) The program was initiated in October. Had the war gone on longer, as many thought it would, there would have been many more 'replacement drafts'.

PROFILE: Dr. Alexander B. Campbell

Dr. Campbell was a versatile man, with credentials as a Dentist as 
well as a Physician, from the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati
[Source:  Google Books]

Alexander B. Campbell, Surgeon was a local physician living in St. Vincent from approximately 1880 onward.  

Memories: Alan E. Wilwand

As a youngster growing up in Pembina, I had a second town - St. Vincent.

Wallace & Matilda Cameron's
Home during 1950 flood
[Photo:  Turner Family Collection]

My grandparents, Wallace and Matilda Cameron lived there.  I was crossing that old Red River bridge whenever I got the chance.  I loved my grandparents.  Grandma made the greatest date-filled cookies!  The house where they lived was north of Short's Cafe.  The house is gone now, but the memories linger on.  My grandmother was a seamstress and speculator.  She gave me the deeds to about half of the places that she had bought in St. Vincent.  Who knows?  I may own half of the town!

After WW II, my Uncle Ralph (Ike) Cameron worked at Short's Cafe.  He would give me those double ice cream cones, one side vanilla and the other cohcolate or strawberry, heaping the helpings.  Ma Short was taking a big loss on ice cream with those!

If walls could talk:  the
St. Vincent jail today...

I remember so many things about St. Vincent.  My Grandfather was the town constable.  I believe the old jail is still standing.  He gave me the big lock and key for it.  He also gave me the pair of handcuffs that he used.  I donated his daily log that he carried in his breast pocket, to the Kittson County Museum in Lake Bronson.  That diary saved his life the time that he was shot.  I believe the museum also has one of my paintings that I did of the old fire hall.  I remember the fire hall well.  This is where he set up his office once in awhile.  The depot that was established in 1878 was close by.  My grandparents' big barn floated down the Red River in the flood of 1948.

In Memorium: Marjorie Defrance

I was sad to hear recently that the last link to an old St. Vincent family had passed away.  I'm very thankful that I was able to get to know her a little bit a few years ago.  Marjorie DeFrance and I had some telephone conversations, and we met a couple of times in person.  She was very generous, opening her home and her memories to me...

Obituary:

St. Vincent, Minn. - Marjorie Oakes Baker, 102, St. Vincent, Minn. died at Kittson Memorial Healthcare Center in Hallock, March 29, 2012.

Marjorie DeFrance was born at St. Vincent, Minn. to Roy and Eva (Sheldon) DeFrance May 31, 1909.

She graduated from St. Vincent High School in 1926 and went on to attend St. Cloud Teachers College, graduating in 1928. Marjorie taught at McArthur School her first year and then taught in several Kittson County country schools.

In 1935, she married Harvey Oakes and moved into a log cabin six miles south of Pembina. They later purchased a home in Pembina and moved there in 1944. Harvey died in 1972.

Marjorie was very active in the Methodist Church, Ladies Aid and the WSCS. She served as District and Conference officer through the years and was a former Dean of Methodist School Missions. She was also county president of the Homemakers, a Past Worthy Matron of the Eastern Star and a member of the American Legion Auxiliary.

In 1975, she married Frank Baker at Pembina. Frank died in 1996. Marjorie spent six months in Florida each year for over 35 years.

Family survivors include a son, Lawrence Oakes, Hemit, Calif.; a daughter, Linda Oakes, Albuquerque, N.M.; grandchildren, Jon, Lance and Brad Oakes, Patricia Ristvedt; six great grandchildren, and a sister-in-law, Amy Oakes, Drayton.

She was preceded in death by her parents; sisters, Gladys and Ione; and brothers, Melvin, Ralph, Ray, Norton and Delbert.

Funeral services were held April 2, 2012 at Pioneer United Methodist Church at Pembina, N.D. Interment was in St. Vincent Cemetery. Rev. Gary Johnson, presided...

Cemetery Lists

Marcy Johnson has been in touch again, and has kindly shared all her cemetery projects with us. This time, she shared the entire St. Vincent Cemetery, Joe River Cemetery, and Humboldt Clow Cemetery listings, through 2007. Listings like this can be invaluable in tracking down individuals for family history or town history purposes.

Take a look, and let us know of any corrections/additions you are aware of...

St. Vincent Cemetery Listing

Joe River Cemetery Listing

Humboldt Clow Cemetery Listing

Cemetery

The St. Vincent cemetery has always been a community cemetery. Not affiliated with any particular church or family, anyone could, was, and are still buried there. For most of its existence, it had a caretaker from the community, informally passed from person to person via the St. Vincent Cemetery Association. For many years it was my grandfather, Albert Fitzpatrick. After him, my father Gordon Short took over. Duties included maintaining the books (recording deaths), plotting graves, arranging gravediggers for funerals, and mowing the cemetery lawn. My sisters and I all took our turns with my Dad helping mow the cemetery. I have a vivid memory of having an old tilted gravestone fall over on my foot and howling like mad (I seem to have had a history of 'foot' accidents - another one involved a potatoe fork in our garden...!) I could see the cemetery from my bedroom window, across our open pasture.

Now, I'm told by one of the town's leaders, the cemetery's care was formally taken over a few years ago by the town itself, "...when there were no longer any of the oldtimers that were able to continue the [Association]".

Cemetery Project

I received a most welcome - and exciting - email two days ago, but was only able to post about it now since I've been out-of-town (yes, even I do get away from the computer once and awhile...) The email came from Marcy Johnson, and she had this to tell me...

I have been meaning to contact you ever since I found your web site. I am Marcy Dahl Johnson from Hallock and have been working with Perm Diamond on the Humboldt book. She asked me to do cemetery indexes for St. Vincent, Joe River and Humboldt/Clow Cemeteries. I have visited your web site several times and LOVE it! My interest is always the history.

I grew up in Marshall County (Eagle Point Township) and I enjoy genealogy. I have a data base with 45,600 names and information for Kittson and Marshall counties. I have been entering information in the data base for 6 years and it is from old newspapers, Kittson County atlas, maps, and history books from the area. This data base will be at the museum in Lake Bronson soon. They are in the process of setting up a new computer with Family Tree Maker software.

I also volunteered with the Minnesota Genealogical Society a few years ago and helped them create a data base of all cemeteries and private burials in Kittson and Marshall Counties. I visited all the cemeteries in both counties and gathered the following info which is now online:

Name; Alternate names; Cemetery Type (church, community, private); Oldest Burial; Active or Inactive; Location (City, Township, Street Address, County, State, Zip); Latitude; Longitude (I used a hand held GSP to determine latitude and longitude); Township Number; Range; Section Number; Sexton – Name, e-mail, Street Address, State, Zip, Phone; Driving Directions; Cemetery Notes; Location of any transcriptions of the cemeteries.

It would be great to put the cemetery indexes online after the Humboldt reunion so people can contact me with corrections or additions.

Someday I hope to complete cemetery indexes for all the cemeteries in Kittson County. I like to think big! I am now working on Teien Covenant, Saron Lutheran, Skjeberg Lutheran, and Eidsvold in Halma. I just finished Red River Lutheran for their 125th Anniversary last summer.

I could go on and on! I will send you a sample of St. Vincent. It is too huge (16 pages) to send it all as I just have dial-up at home. I also sent the page I did on the additional burials in St. Vincent Township. Since I finished the information on the cemeteries that went in the book, I have received copies of the early records covering the years 1881 to 1915 for Christ Episcopal Church from the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota. I wish I would have had them before all the information went in the book. There is several additions to the Joe River and St. Vincent Cemeteries that we never had and the additions were not in the early cemetery record books. I am giving copies of the early records to the museum. They would be a neat thing to put on your web site as it also lists all the baptisms for the area for those years.

When completing this research I found out that there was a cemetery north of the Christ Episcopal Church in St. Vincent. I will have to contact the MN Genealogical Society and add that info to what is already online. When I received the early records from the Episcopal Diocese there is two burials listed as being in the church yard. We did mention this early cemetery in the Humboldt book but the names of the two burials in the church yard are not in the Humboldt book.

St. Vincent Cemetery
A list of burials with family information

The St. Vincent cemetery is located in St. Vincent Township, NE1/4 SW1/4 of section 2, Kittson County, MN. It was established in 1887. To locate the cemetery on the north side of St. Vincent (from the intersection of State Hwy 171 and Cty 35) - go south on Cty 35 for .2 miles - cemetery is on your left.

Information was obtained from Kittson County Historical Society, township and cemetery records, Kittson County history books, Red River Valley Web Site by Dennis L. Matthews, the online MN and ND birth and death index, Social Security death index, census records, obituaries and family members. On occasion the dates in the courthouse records are different then the dates on the gravestones. We have used the dates from the birth and death records at the Kittson County courthouse if available. Many of the French, English, Swedish, Norwegian, etc. names were spelled or pronounced differently in the US. If there is more then one spelling of a name, the old spelling was used first, followed by a / and the current spelling.

This cemetery list will be available at the Kittson County Museum and will be updated yearly. Contact the Kittson County Museum at history@wiktel.com or contact Marcy Johnson at marneil@wiktel.com to add your additions or corrections. No responsibility is taken for the accuracy of the information.

baby Ahles 7 Oct 1949 - 7 Oct 1949; dau. of Allen and Alice Swenson Ahles; Lot 35-A

Christie McDonald Ahles 25 May 1894 - 13 April 1967; wife of William 'Bill' George Ahles; dau. of John and Katherine McDonald; mother of Katherine (Fred) Harper, Allen (Alice Swenson); Lot 5-E

Phillip 'Phil' Christoph Ahles 31 Jan 1882 - 19 Oct 1967; 1^st hus. of Marie A. Seed; son of John and Louisa Younker Ahles; brother of William; Lot 69-A

Andrew E. Anderson Feb 1848 - 1901; hus. of Annie Donnelly; son of ?; father of John Harris, Mabel M.; Lot 65-D

Annie Donnelly Anderson Oct 1857 - 9 Jan 1937; wife of Andrew E. Anderson; dau. of ? Donnelly; mother of John Harris, Mabel M.; Lot 65-D

John Harris Anderson 8 July 1878 - 9 Sept 1949; son of Andrew E. and Annie Donnelly Anderson; Lot 65-D

Ruth Russel Cowan Armstrong 13 Aug 1913 - 25 Oct 1929; dau. of Fred and Margaret 'Maggie' Cowan Armstrong; Lot 46-D

Sarah Sophia Russell Armstrong 29 Aug 1861 - 19 June 1939; wife of William J. Armstrong; dau. of ? and Rebecca Russell; mother of Ann, Margaret (Joseph) Lang, Lillian, Albert, Edna, Stella, Fred (Margaret 'Maggie' Cowan), James, Olive (John Samuel) Easter; Lot 56-D

William J. Armstrong 31 Aug 1858 - 17 Nov 1900; hus. of Sarah Sophia Russell; son of James and Ann Armstrong; father of Ann, Margaret (Joseph) Lang, Lillian, Albert, Edna, Stella, Fred (Margaret 'Maggie' Cowan), James, Olive (John Samuel) Easter; Lot 56-D

Barbara Ash 2 Jan 1882 - 17 Feb 1970; dau.of George and Solomey Ash; Lot 33-A

Carrie Amanda Cederholm Ash 15 Dec 1872 - 24 Aug 1941; wife of William Ash; dau. of Samuel J. and Bengta 'Betsy' L. Cederholm ; mother of William S. (Vera Easter), Carl (Marjorie Sylvester), Laurence Edward, Marguerite (Alexander) Shaw, Robert (Dorothy Gardiner), Ida (Edwin 'George') Sylvester; Lot 32 A

Esther Alida Johnson Ash 5 Jan 1879 - 27 Aug 1946; wife of Thomas Ash; dau. of Adolph Fredrick and Anna Mary 'Marie' Miller Johnson; mother of Russell (Florence Johnson), Muriel (Clifford) Clow, Nora (Albert) Clow, Marjorie (David) Irvine, Roy (Marion Peto); Lot 44-A

George Ash Jr. 11 Aug 1870 - 28 Dec 1923; hus. of Nellie Sugden; son of George and Salomey Dunneral Ash; father of George J., Florence, David, Woodrow; Lot 11-A

George Ash Sr. 17 Nov 1843 - 5 Jan 1914; hus. of Salomey Dunneral; son of George and Barbara Ash/Esch; father of William (Carrie Cederholm), George Jr. (Nellie Sudgen), John (Mabel Horne), Thomas (Esther Johnson), Marguerite 'Mattie' (John) Horgan, Catherine (Thomas) Seed, Barbara, Lena (John 'Jack') Webster, Josepine (George) Webster; Lot 33-A

Joan Ash 12 Dec 1946 - 12 Dec 1946; dau. of Roy Frederick and Marion Alice Peto Ash; Lot 23-A

Jean Ash 12 Dec 1946 - 12 Dec 1946; dau. of Roy Frederick and Marion Alice Peto Ash; Lot 23-A

Laurence Edward Ash 18 Aug 1904 - 8 Oct 1921; son of William and Carrie Amanda Cederholm Ash; Lot 22-A

Salomey Donneral Ash 31 May 1849 - 5 Feb 1920; wife of George Ash Sr.; dau. of Nicholas and Margaret Donneral; mother of William (Carrie Cederholm), George Jr. (Nellie Sudgen), John (Mabel Horne), Thomas (Esther Johnson), Marguerite 'Mattie' (John) Horgan, Catherine (Thomas) Seed, Barbara, Lena (John 'Jack') Webster, Josephine (George) Webster; Lot 33-A

Thomas Ash 5 Jan 1874 - 2 Nov 1929; hus. of Esther Alida Johnson; son of George and Salomey Dunneral Ash; father of Russell (Florence Johnson), Muriel (Clifford) Clow, Nora (Albert) Clow, Marjorie (David) Irvine, Roy (Marion Peto); Lot 44-A

Vera Blanche Easter Ash 18 June 1900 - 25 Jan 1988; wife of William Samuel Ash; dau. of William H. and Hilda Monroe Easter; mother of William Herman (Audrey Joyner), Leo (Ann Botko), Harold (Barbara Saburn); Lot 32-B

William Ash 15 Jan 1869 - 24 Jan 1950; hus. of Carrie Amanda Cederholm; son of George and Salomey Dunneral Ash; father of William Samuel (Vera Easter), Carl (Marjorie Sylvester), Laurence Edward, Marguerite (Alexander) Shaw, Robert (Dorothy Gardiner), Ida (Edwin 'George') Sylvester; Lot 32-A

William Herman Ash 4 Jan 1930 - 6 Dec 1998; US ARMY; hus. of Audrey Marilyn Joyner; son of William S. and Vera Blanche Easter Ash; father of William G., Steven (Joy Johnson), Darryl (Candy Quarve), Mark (Kim Hatton); Lot 21-E

William Samuel Ash 12 Dec 1897 - 19 May 1981; hus. of Vera Blanche Easter; son of William and Carrie Amanda Cederholm Ash; father of William Herman (Audrey Joyner), Leo (Ann Botko), Harold (Barbara Saburn); Lot 32-A

Francis 'Bud' B. Bakken 13 June 1929 - 01 October 1982; US ARMY KOREA; hus. of Violet 'Vi' Johnson; son of Otto and Helen Juberg Bakken; father of Rodney (Shannon Seng Stenmark), Richard (Becky Gregorie Thorlacius), Rock (Deloros 'Dee Dee' Giffen), Robin (Chris) Brown, Randy, Lori (Tim) Gustafson; Lot 17-F

Blanche Marie Balderston 12 July 1909 - 29 Aug 1919; dau. of William 'Ernest' and Florence Marie Fitzgerald Balderston; Lot 59 D

Jane Balderston June 1864 - 19 Jan 1941; 2^nd wife of William Charles Balderston- dau. of ?; Lot 59-D

Mable Jane Balderston 23 April 1900 - 22 Aug 1900; dau. of William 'Ernest' and Florence Marie Fitzgerald Balderston; 4 months old; Lot 59-D

William Charles Balderston 14 June 1849 - 3 Jan 1919; hus. of Matilda Ann Hinton and Jane ?; parents unknown; father of Artemas Sandford (Mary Hannah Sylvester), William Ernest (Florance Fitzgerald), Benjamin Foster (Lillie Fitzpatrick); Lot 59 D

Annie Rose Ross Ball Sept 1874 - 6 July 1901; wife of Guy H. Ball; dau. of Wellington and Mary Graham Ross; mother of Orma, Almira; Lot 59-D

Guy H. Ball 9 July 1873 - 5 Nov 1931; hus. of Annie Rose Ross; son of John and Eliza Orr Ball; father of Orma, Almira; Lot 57-D

Marie/Mary Berthelet/Bartlette 1861 - June 1939; dau. of Pierre and Louise Bracer/Brayeau
Berthelet/Bartlette; Lot 37-C

Arlo Orsen Bergh 6 June 1918 - 21 Sept 2002; hus. of Dorothy Hazel Goldstrand; son of John O. and Olga Hoven Bergh; father of Arlene (Ronald) Curtis, baby girl, John (Deborah Gatheridge and Sharon ?), Orlin (Sherry ?), Loann (Pat) Misson; Lot 21-B

Dorothy Hazel Goldstrand Bergh 24 Oct 1921 - 7 Aug 2002; wife of Arlo Orsen Bergh; dau. of Ambrose and Mary Coffield Goldstrand; mother of Arlene (Ronald) Curtis, baby girl, John (Deborah Gatheridge and Sharon ?), Orlin (Sherry ?), Loann (Pat) Misson; Lot 21-B

Catherine Donneral Bernath 24 June 1842 - 16 July 1914; wife of George Bernath Sr.; dau. of Nicholas and Margaret Catherine Donneral; mother of John (Sarah Nolte and Jessie A. Doig), Salome (John 'Jack') Adams, Margaret (James A.) Thompson, George Jr. (Ellen Raynard), Julie Ann (Charles Henry) Hart, Albertina (Charles) Oakes, Daniel T., Barbara Ellen (James) Brown, Mary (Arthur) Hart, Jacob 'J.J.' (Nellie Elizabeth Brown); Lot 31-A

NOTE from author: deleted about 12 pages here for example purposes

Florence Ryan Sherman 31 Dec 1889 - 13 Sept 1970; wife of Carl Sherman; dau. of Joseph 'Joe' Richard and Sarah Jenkins Ryan; mother of Florence Sarah; Lot ?

Florence Sarah Charlotte Sherman 19 Nov 1911 - 20 Nov 1911; dau. of Carl and Florence Ryan Sherman; Lot 18-D

Gail S. Short 1 Aug 1895 - 23 March 1958; 1^st hus. of Liza A. Stranger; son of James William and
Caroline Foster Springer Short; father of Jeanne; Lot 50-C

Gordon Leo Short 14 March 1919 - 8 Aug 2001; hus. of Harriet Fitzpatrick; son of Homer Lyle and Bertha 'Bergit' Vera Sannes Short; father of Sharon (Bill) Hannaford, Betty (Bill) Thorsvig, Patricia 'Trish' (Thomas) Lewis; Lot 16-F

baby boy Skjold 30 Dec 1943 - 30 Dec 1943; son of John and Hazel Bernice Gradwell Skjold; Lot 37-A

baby girl Smidt June 1898 - 11 Aug 1898; dau. of Henry Smidt

Margaret Sorem 1872 - Sept 1943; wife of ? Sorem; Lot ?

Eva Sorgenfay 1905 - 23 July 1941; wife of Fred Sorgenfay; Lot 67-A

Evelyn 'Ellen' Mary Cridland Stacy 7 Dec 1875 - 9 April 1904; wife of James. W. Stacey; d. of ? Cridland; Lot 36-D

Percival 'Percy' Bernard Stacy 16 Sept 1901 - 29 June 1917; son of James W. and Evelyn Mary Cridland Stacey; Lot 36-D

Stanley Edward Stacy 22 July 1903 - 23 June 1904; son of James W. and Evelin Mary Cridland Stacey; Lot 36-D

Lottie May Matthew Stoltz 1875 - May 1938; wife of Ralph Henry Stoltz; dau. of Lousiea Matthew; mother of Wilfred Ralph; Lot 65 A

Ralph Henry Stoltz 1885 - Nov 1962; hus. of Lottie M. Matthew; son of ?; father of Wilfred Ralph; Lot 65-A

baby boy Stranger 29 Dec 1906 - 31 Dec 1906; son of Joseph and Della LaRoque Stranger; Lot 2-C

Charles Clarence Stranger 1908 - 14 Nov 1941; son of Joseph 'Joe' and Delma 'Della' LaRoque Stranger; Lot 49-C

Delma 'Della' LaRoque Stranger 10 Dec 1884 - 20 July 1979; wife of Joseph 'Joe' Stranger; dau. of Charles Alexander and Julia LaDouceur LaRoque; mother of Eliza 'Liza' (Gail) Short and (Fred) Kupcho, Christine (?) Schaefer, Charles Clarence, Fred J.; Lot 49-C

Eliza B. Stranger ? - 20 Jan 1901; is she the dau. of Joseph 'Joe' and Delma 'Della' LaRoque Stranger?; Lot ?

Frank Stranger 24 March 1913 - 25 March 1913; son of Joseph and Della LaRoque Stranger; Lot 1-C

James Stranger 1840 - 30 Nov 1921; is he the hus. of Rose and the father of Joseph, Peter Stranger?; Lot 1-C

Joseph 'Joe' Stranger 17 May 1877 - 20 Dec 1950; hus. of Delma 'Della' LaRoque; son of ?; father of Eliza 'Liza' (Gail) Short and (Fred) Kupcho, Christine (?) Schaefer, Charles Clarence, Fred J.; Lot 2-C

Peter Stranger 1877 - 8 March 1902; Lot 2-C

Rose Stranger 1857 - 28 Feb 1931; Lot 2-C

Dorothy E. Easter Surface 1 Oct 1925 - 7 Oct 2004; wife of Wilmer E. Surface; dau. of William Garfield and Florence Muriel Clinton Easter; mother of Charles (Danna Gayer), Peggy (Willis) Roberts, Pamela (Duane) Giffen; Lot 6-B

Wilmer E. Surface 6 May 1920 - 30 Jan 1998; TEC 5 US ARMY WW II; hus. of Dorothy Easter; son of ?; father of Charles (Danna Gayer), Peggy (Willis) Roberts, Pamela (Duane) Giffen; Lot 6-B

Edwin 'George' Sylvester 3 Jan 1909 - 24 March 1994; hus. of Ida Dorothy Ash; son of Richard T. and Hannah E. Thomson Sylvester; father of Jean, James, Jeffrey; Lot 11-F

Ida Dorothy Ash Sylvester 16 Feb 1915 - 9 May 1968; wife of Edwin 'Geroge' Sylvester; dau. of William and Carrie Amanda Cederholm Ash; mother of Jean, James, Jeffrey; Lot 11-F

baby Symington 1966 - 1966; child of William and Betty Symington; Lot 6-F

baby boy Symington 21 Oct 1967 - 21 Oct 1967; son of William and Betty Symington; Lot 6-F

Donna Belle Jensen Symington 27 May 1924 - 12 Feb 1960; 1st wife of Garth Hughes Symington; dau. of Carl H. Jensen; mother of Garth Jr., Joan Lee, Linda, Tom, Edward; Lot 3-F

Garth Hughes Symington 2 Sept 1919 - 6 Jan 1978; hus. of Donna Belle Jensen and Hazel Isabel Langrell; son of Lyle and Ida Hughes Symington; father of Garth Jr., Joan Lee, Linda, Tom, Edward, Elaine, Mark, Ruth Ann, Esther; Lot 3-F

Joan Lee Symington 3 June 1947 - 12 Dec 1949; dau. of Garth Hughes and Donna Belle Jensen Symington; Lot 3-F

Herb Synder May 1887 - Aug 1900; Lot 62-D

baby girl Thedorf 23 Oct 1904 - 23 Oct 1904; dau. of William and Dorothy Matilda Cridland Thedorf; Lot 63-D

Christopher 'Chris' Thedorf 1843 - 9 Feb 1934; hus. of Sophia Kinse; son of ?; father of William (Dorothy Cridland), Mary, Mathilda, Christopher; Lot 63-D

Dorothy Matilda Cridland Thedorf 1883 - Sept 1965; wife of William Thedorf; dau. of William and Elizabeth Ann Cridland; mother of Doris May, baby girl, Blanch, baby boy, Howard Ross, Marjorie Ann, Flodie Sophia; Lot 63-D

Mathilda Thedorf Sept 1880 - 10 May 1897; dau. of Christopher and Sophie Kinse Thedorf; Lot 63-D

Sophie Kinse Thedorf 1846 - 9 Sept 1931; wife of Christopher 'Christ' Theodorf; dau. of ? Kinse; mother of William (Dorothy Cridland), Mary E., Mathilda, Christopher; Lot 63/64-D

William Thedorf 1873 - 25 Oct 1922; hus. of Dorothy Matilda Cridland; son of ?; father of Doris May, baby girl, Blanch, baby boy, Howard Ross, Marjorie Ann, Flodie Sophia; Lot 63-D

James 'Jimmy' Erick Towner 23 April 1944 - 11 July 1947; son of William and Cecelia Gosselin/Gooselaw Towner; Lot ?

Gordon Charles Turner 14 July 1922 - 3 June 1998; US NAVY WW II; hus. of Elva Ruth Fraley; son of Robert 'Jack' J. and Anne Kothe Turner; father of Jerry, John, Linda; Lot 5-B

Leslie James Turner 25 Nov 1943 - 9 Jan 1944 ; son of Lester John and Marie Anne Parenteau Turner; Lot 62-A

Lester John Turner 24 Aug 1914 - 13 April 1966; hus. of Marie Anne Parenteau - son of Robert 'Jack' J. and Anne Kothe Turner - father of Vaughn, Larry, Robert, Leslie James, Richard, Faye Ann, Judith, Diane Marie, twin girls who died at birth; Lot 62-A

Robert 'Dale' Turner 8 June 1927 - 25 July 1987; PFC US ARMY KOREA; son of Robert 'Jack' J. and Anne Kothe Turner; Lot 5-B

Robert Stanley Turner Aug 1899 - 8 Oct 1899; son of ?

Franklin 'Frank' Thomas Twamley 3 March 1888 - 26 Aug 1957; hus. of Mary Ellen Munro; son of Peter and Mary E. Gillas Twamley; father of Eileen (Harold) Rolsch, Doreen (Howard) Hughes, Mary Ellen (Elmer) Umland, Ivan Peter (Avis Hennisson); Lot 33-D

Ivan Peter Twamley 16 March 1920 - 15 Oct 1958; MN TECH US ARMY WW II; hus. of Avis Marie Hennisson; son of Franklin 'Frank' Thomas and Mary Ellen Munro Twamley; father of David; Lot 2-E

Mary Ellen Munro Twamley 28 Feb 1887 - 31 July 1958; wife of Franklin 'Frank' Thomas Twamley; dau. of Peter and Lucetta Clow Munro; mother of Eileen (Harold) Rolsch, Doreen (Howard) Hughes, Mary Ellen (Elmer) Umland, Ivan Peter (Avis Hennisson); Lot 33 D

Faith Peterson Waldrop 17 Oct 1939 - 18 Nov 1996; wife of Garnet Waldrop; dau. of Carl B. II and Geneva Howe Peterson; mother of Jennifer (Brian) Hanson, Daniel, Gabrielle (Rico) Boursaw; Lot 32 C

Garnet Waldrop 20 May 1929 - 1 March 1993; hus. of Faith Pederson; son of Ernest and Melissa Woods Waldrop; father of Jennifer (Brian) Hanson, Daniel, Gabrielle (Rico) Boursaw; Lot 32 C

Henrietta Franks Walker 21 April 1863 - 21 Jan 1938; wife of James Walker; d. of unknown Franks; mother of Milton, Elva, Beatrice, Vivian; Lot 27-A

James Walker June 1857 - 11 Oct 1933; hus. of Henrietta Franks; son of ?; father of Milton, Elva, Beatrice, Vivian; Lot 27-A

unknown Walker 1862 - Jan 1938; wife of Kenneth Frank Walker; Lot 27-A

Vivian M. Walker 31 March 1887 - 14 July 1969; son of James and Henrietta Franks Walker; Lot 27-A

Calvin John Webster 6 March 1919 - 25 Dec 1962; MN PVT CO K 4 INFANTRY WW II; son of John 'Jack' and Lena Ash Webster; Lot 32-A

Catherine Webster 13 Jan 1874 - 29 Feb 1960; wife of James Webster; dau. of Gilbert McDougall; Lot 54-A

Lena Ash Webster 7 Dec 1887 - 8 May 1974; wife of John 'Jack' Webster; dau. of George and Salomey Dunneral Ash; mother of Iona (Alfred) Schultz, Vernon 'Roy' (?), Calvin John; Lot 21-A

James Webster 7 Oct 1855 - 13 March 1918; hus. of Catherine; son of ?; Lot 54-A

Jean Yvonne Anderson Webster 11 July 1933 - 2 Feb 2002; wife of Rodney Walter Webster; dau. of Harry and Viola Allen Anderson; mother of Gary, Julie, Lori (Mark) Ellison; Lot 20-E

John 'Jack' Webster 15 June 1882 - 20 Dec 1946; hus. of Lena Ash; son of ?; father of Iona (Alfred) Schultz, Vernon 'Roy' (?), Calvin John; Lot 21-A

Peter Young Webster 15 Dec1885 - June 1966; hus. of Mabel ?; Lot 43-A

Vernon 'Roy' Webster 2 July 1928 - 19 Feb 2001; hus. of Vera Greer; son of John 'Jack' and Lena Ash Webster; father of Rob (Carolyn) Webster Guyot, Scott Webster Guyot; Lot 21-A

Bessie Jane McIlraith Wilkie 1 Jan 1923 - 3 May 1993; wife of William H. Wilkie; dau. of Fredrick 'Fred' and Lillian Christina Hokanson/Hawkins McIlraith; father of William 'Bill' Fredrick, James Scott, John Thomas (Susan Christensen), Gary Alan (Kathy Easter); Lot 19-E

William Henry Wilkie 13 Oct 1921 - 18 June 1989; PFC US ARMY WW II; hus. of Bessie Jane McIlraith; son of William and Hattie White Wilkie; father of William 'Bill' Fredrick, James Scott, John Thomas (Susan Christensen), Gary Alan (Kathy Easter); Lot 19-E

baby Wold 30 Sept 1943 - 30 Sept 1943; child of Lester Kermit and Eva Elizabeth Parenteau Wold; Lot 38-C

baby boy Wold 1 May 1937 - 1 May 1937; son of Lester Kermit and Eva Elizabeth Parenteau Wold; Lot 38-C

Eva Elizabeth Parenteau Wold 17 Sept 1907 - 16 May 1985; wife of Lester Kermit Wold; dau. of Moser and Angeline Jerome Parenteau; mother of Patricia 'Patsy' Ann, Rita (George) Arin, baby boy, Lester James, Angela, baby Wold, Henry Mark (Diane Applin), Elizabeth (Darrel) Dahlberg, Michael, Robert 'Bob' (Heidi Kruger); Lot 38-C

Henry Mark Wold 26 July 1942 - 14 Nov 1997; hus. of Diane Joyce Applin; son of Lester Kermit and Eva Elizabeth Parenteau Wold; father of Michelle (?) Walton; Lot ?

Lester Kermit Wold 13 June 1910 - 18 July 1970; hus. of Eva Elizabeth Parenteau; son of Olaf and Mary Iverson Wold; father of Patricia 'Patsy' Ann, Rita (George) Arin, baby boy, Lester James, Angela, baby Wold, Henry Mark (Diane Applin), Elizabeth (Darrel) Dahlberg, Michael, Robert 'Bob' (Heidi Kruger); Lot 38-C

Patricia 'Patsy' Ann Wold 15 June 1935 - 19 Oct 1936; dau. of Lester Kermit and Eva Elizabeth Parenteau Wold; Lot 38-C

The Cowan Family

A descendent of the Cowan family, who lived in the St. Vincent area during its early years, recently contacted me with what they knew of their family. So far, I haven't found much beyond what they already know. If anyone reading this knows more, please let me know...

Names: Capt. Mathew Cowan, born Brock Ontario, Canada, buried St Vincent October 23, 1907
Mary Caroline Cowan nee Gibbs, born Brock Ontario, Canada, born April 10, 1836. died April 6, 1901, buried St. Vincent

Immigrated in 1870 from Brock or Cannington, Ontario, Canada to St. Vincent.
They settled on a quarter section of land now owned by Lloyd Symington just north of the Seed farm.

They had the following childern: (most are buried in St. Vincent Cemetery)

1. John Charles Cowan
2. Robert Thomas Cowan
3. Willam Gibbs Cowan
4. George Richard Cowan
5. Elizabeth Ann Cowan
6. Ellen Nellie Cowan
7. James Francis Nicholas Cowan
8. Frederick Nicholas Cowan
9. Arthur Glover Cowan
10. Margaret Caroline Cowan

"My grandfather was Arthur Glover Cowan and I was wondering if he or my great grandparents were American citizens. I really don't know where my grandfather was born, all I know his he was born October 30,1878 and died in Winnipeg Man. November 4, 1953."