Portrait of the Reverend Jabez Brooks, Hamline University president, 1854-1857 and 1861-1869. Prior to coming to Hamline, he was principal of a seminary in Watertown, Wisconsin, and a professor of Greek and mathematics at Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin. After leaving Hamline, he became a member of the faculty at the newly opened University of Minnesota.
Portrait photograph of J. B. Wakefield. Wakefield was a member of the Minnesota State House of Representatives and Minnesota State Senate. He became the Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota and was a U. S. Congressman.
James George was born in 1819 in New York state. In 1942, he married Rhoda Pierce. He lived for a time in Ohio where he was elected to Register of Deeds for Butler County (Ohio). James George served in the military during the Mexican War. He moved to Minnesota in 1854 and settled in Oronoco township (Olmsted County) on land acquired with a government warrant issued for payment of his services during the Mexican War. In 1858 he moved to Dodge County and help found the village of Wasioja. He later became interested in recruiting soldiers for the Civil War. He served in the Second Minnesota Volunteers and raised many of the recruits for Company C of that unit. At the close of the Civil War, he returned to Oronoco. In 1870, he opened a law office in Rochester and practiced law for many years before he died in 1882.
Rev. William McKinley, 1834-1918. His obituary dated January 13, 1918 [newspaper not identified], reads: "Early Methodist Divine Dies at Home in Winona. Rev. William McKinley, dean of Minnesota Methodism, active as a lecturer, author and divine in various parts of the state since 1854, died late yesterday at his home in Winona, where he has lived since his retirement from active ministry ten years ago. Dr. McKinley was 84 years old and was known prominently throughout the Northwest as an author and preacher. In the Civil War he gained his early experience as a chaplain among the Union soldiers. His first pastorate was at Hastings, where he lived as boy on a farm. Subsequently he was pastor of Hamline Methodist Episcopal church of this city, Central Park church and of First Methodist Episcopal church of Minneapolis, besides serving as district superintendent of the St. Paul district. He was an intimate friend of Edward Eggleston, the famed minister-author, in whose church in New York city he served for a year. A native of Scotland, Rev. Mr. McKinley came to the United Sates in 1841 at the age of 7 years. The veteran Minnesota divine became well known as the able chronicler of Minnesota Methodism. In 1911 he published 'A Story of Minnesota Methodism.' Dr. Eggleston, in commenting on the work at the time of its publication, said: 'Dr. McKinley has succeeded in giving to the public an exceedingly vivid and interesting description of the early days of Minnesota, the social conditions and the leading personages in the settlements of that state.'
The book was the witnessing of one who knew and who saw the panorama of the days gone by in the Northwest.
This is what Dr. McKinley said about his landing in the state:
'When navigation opened on the Mississippi I took the first steamboat up the river and landed in Minnesota, April 13, 1855. The ice was not out of Lake Pepin so we left the boat at Read’s Landing. There was another boat at Red Wing to take the passengers to St. Paul and there were wagons to carry the women to the head of the lake. But with the 700 passengers, mostly men, there were not enough wagons to carry them and they had to walk. Rather than do this another young man and I decided to start overland to Faribault. We tramped all day across the prairie without anything to eat. Neither of us ever had done a day’s walking and before night we were used up, but stern necessity compelled us to trudge on. We saw no house nor signs of human habitation all day.'
In graphic descriptions Rev. Mr. McKinley wrote one of the most authentic accounts of early Minnesota, a book consulted frequently by historians and chroniclers.
The funeral services for the aged clergyman will be held at Winona on Tuesday."
Contributing Institution:
Minnesota Annual Conference United Methodist Church
This photograph shows St. Peter Civil War veteran William B. Stone in his uniform. He served as a sergeant in Company H of the Fourth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Sergeant Stone died in St. Louis in 1862.
This is a photograph of Nicollet County Civil War veteran James Magner. He served as a captain in Company I of the 28th Massachusetts Regiment. On May 18, 1864 Magner was killed during the battle of Spotsylvania.
This is a photograph of Nicollet County Civil War veteran James Magner. He served as a captain in Company I of the 28th Massachusetts Regiment. On May 18, 1864 Magner was killed during the battle of Spotsylvania.
This photograph shows Civil War Capt. Asgrim K. Skaro, who was killed in the battle of Nashville in 1864. Skaro served in the Second and the Ninth Minnesota Infantry Regiments. He was one of the founders of St. Peter in Nicollet County in 1853.
This is a photograph of Nicollet County Civil War veteran Andrew Anderson, who lived in Granby Township, near Swan Lake. Anderson rose to the rank of corporal in Company H of the Fourth Minnesota Regiment, serving for nearly four years.
Studio portrait of Union Soldier, who was killed one year later in action (probably Civil War). He is wearing complete uniform with hat, rifle and sword. Studio background has a scene depicting a field and Union soldiers conversing near their camp.
This is a photograph of Col. William Crooks in his army uniform. Crooks was the commander of Minnesota's Sixth Regiment of Volunteer Infantry until October 28, 1864.
This photograph shows St. Peter Civil War veteran Benjamin Rogers in his uniform. He served in Company D of the Ninth Regiment of Minnesota Volunteer Infantry.
This is a photograph of Po-Go-Nay-Ke-Shick, also known as Hole in the Day, an Ojibway Native American. The photograph was taken in the studio of St. Paul photographer Joel E. Whitney. The photograph was purchased in 1862 by a woman from Indiana.
This photograph shows Civil War veteran William C. Durkee in his uniform. The photograph was taken in Mankato, Minnesota. A note on the reverse states that he fought in the last battle of the Civil War at Palmetto Ranch, Texas. Durkee was a captain in the 62nd U. S. Colored Infantry Regiment, but had prior service as an enlisted man in other units.
This photograph shows St. Peter Civil War veteran Frank Y. Hoffstatt in his uniform. He rose to the rank of first lieutenant in Company E of the Second Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
Civil War musician Maximilian Hoefer, who was a member of the 19th United States Infantry Band, served as a Musician Second Class from October 13, 1864 until October 13, 1867. He was born in Luxembourg in 1847, and became a prominent businessman in St. Peter, MN.
This photograph, taken in St. Paul, Minnesota, shows Nicollet County Civil War veteran B. F. Sylvester in his uniform. He served as a first lieutenant in Company E of the Second Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment. A note on the reverse indicates that he was wounded at the battle of Chickamauga.
Portrait photograph of J. A. Kiester. Kiester was an early settler-lawyer, member of the Minnesota House of Representatives and Minnesota State Senate. He was also an Episcopalian, Freemason and Faribault County historian.
This is a photograph of the Church of the Holy Communion in St. Peter. The church is located on the west side of Minnesota Avenue between Broadway and Chestnut street.
This is a photograph of Rev. Aaron H. Kerr, 1819-1890. He was a Presbyterian minister in St. Peter from 1856 until 1878, except for service as chaplain of Minnesota's Ninth Infantry Regiment from 1862 until 1865. In 1878 he moved to Rochester to serve as steward of the State Hospital until 1890.
This photograph shows the first high school in St. Peter, which was located on the northwest corner of the intersection of Fifth and Grace streets. The front of the school faced Fifth street. It was constructed in the early 1870s.
Early years in St. Joseph, Minnesota (1863-1880). Soon after Mother Antonia (Margarethe) Hermann was born in Baden, Germany, her family immigrated to America. In 1857, Margarethe joined the Benedictine Convent in Erie, Pennsylvania. Four years later, 1861, she was sent to found a new convent in Chicago and was appointed prioress there in 1862. In 1868 Abbot Rupert Seidenbusch, without consulting the sisters in St. Joseph, brought Mother Antonia to St. Benedict's Convent and appointed her as prioress of that community. However, after the completion of her first term as prioress, she was elected by the community in St. Joseph for a second term. Mother Antonia, an able leader, helped the community face the challenges of the early years in St. Joseph. She introduced record and bookkeeping practices which are included in the community's archival collection. Mother Antonia lost the favor of Abbot Alexius Edelbrock when she negotiated to have the sisters discontinue doing the laundry and sewing for the monks at St. John's Abbey. She chose to resign as prioress and returned to her former community in Chicago. Later, she transferred to the Benedictine community in Yankton, SD, where she volunteered her services in the Dakota missions (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, pages 65-73).
Studio portrait of Reverend Peter S. Reque (July 15, 1842-October 4, 1879). Reque served in the Civil War. He graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri in 1869. He was called to "Vor Frelsers Menighet" and was the first resident Lutheran pastor in Pope and Stevens counties.
This is a photograph of Rev. and Mrs. Michael Sandell. Rev. Sandell was the minister at the First Lutheran Church in St. Peter from 1871 to 1874 and from 1892 until 1902.
This is a photo of William Carey Brown, who was born at Traverse des Sioux in 1854. Brown was graduated from West Point, becoming a Brigadier General by the time he retired.
This is a photo of William Carey Brown, who was born at Traverse des Sioux in 1854. Brown was graduated from West Point, becoming a Brigadier General by the time he retired. This photo was taken when he was a Cadet 4th Class.
Photograph of woodcut of the Reverend David Clarke John, Hamline University president 1880-1883. A Methodist minister, he earlier served churches in the East Baltimore conference, was a professor of natural sciences at the state normal school in Bloomsburg, a principal of a high school in Milton, Pennsylvania, and the pastor of Emory Chapel at Carlisle. He also was principal of the Mankato State Normal school. After leaving Hamline, he become pastor of the first Methodist Episcopal Church of Winona.
This is a photograph of Jeremiah C. Donahower, a St. Peter resident who served as the captain of Company E of Minnesota's Second Regiment of Volunteer Infantry from 1862 until 1864.
This is a photograph of Rev. Moses Newton Adams, a Presbyterian minister and missionary at Traverse des Sioux. Adams became the Indian Agent at the Sisseton Agency in 1871.
This is a photograph of Dr. John Sander, who was the head of the German department at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter until his resignation in 1903. Dr. Sander was also a co-founder of the First Evangelical Lutheran Church, also known as Trinity Lutheran Church, in 1892. He served as pastor until 1902.
This is a photograph of Mrs. Moses N. Adams, the wife of Rev. Adams. The couple served as missionaries at Traverse des Sioux from 1848 until Rev. Adams became Agent at the Sisseton Agency in 1871.
The title of this little card is Grangers versus Grasshoppers. Its parody illustrates the invasion of Minnesota by the locusts in the nineteenth century, especially during the 1870s.
Studio portrait of Reverend Magnus Koefod. He was born in Norway on March 9, 1848. He was pastor of Indherred Lutheran Church in Starbuck, Minnesota from 1875 until 1892.
This is a photograph of Rev. J. G. Lagerstrom, who served as a minister to Swedish Lutheran congregations at Mooers Prairie in Wright County and at Norseland in Nicollet County.
An 1878 photograph of Sister Scholastica Kerst in the St. Benedict's convent habit. Catherine (Sister, later Mother Scholastica) Kerst (1847-1911) was born in Meuringen, Prussia, and came to St. Paul, MN, in 1852 with her parents. She entered the Benedictine community of St. Gertrude in Shakopee, MN, in 1862 and in 1877 transferred to St. Benedict's Convent in St. Joseph, MN. She was prioress there from 1880-1889. In 1892, she led the foundation of what is now St. Scholastica Monastery and was prioress there until her death in 1911.
Martha Muir (Dieter) was born in Glasgow, Scotland on August 16, 1824. When she was about eighteen years old, she immigrated to the United States with her sister's family and settled in Ormo, Wisconsin. She married Jacob Dieter on July 21, 1859 in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. She lost her husband during the Civil War and she died on January 17, 1904.
Frances Armstrong, 1878 graduate of Winona Normal School. Frances Armstrong was one of the educators sent to Argentina in 1883 to establish that country's school system.
Contributing Institution:
Winona State University, Darrell W. Krueger Library
Downtown Shakopee is in background and; foreground is a banner suspended by wire or string that reads "Gen. G. W. Hancock for President," other writing is illegible. A gas(?) light post is in left corner across street is line of buildings with horses and wagons hitched our front. A clock hangs in front of one building and is almost legible--maybe two o'clock.
Black and white photograph of downtown Shakopee in 1880. Bulletin regarding upcoming presedential election (Gen W.S. Hancock) hanging across street, buildings visible in background. Sepia toned
A cabinet photograph of two young men wearing fur coats. O. S. Myhre worked as a photographer in Sacred Heart from 1880-1882, before moving to Laverne, Minnesota.
Opened in 1882 by the Minnesota Mining Company, Breitung pit was part of the first iron ore mine on the Vermillion Range. Ore from this pit made up the first commercial shipment of Minnesota Iron Ore out of the Agate Bay ore docks, Two Harbors, Minnesota July 31, 1884.
This photograph shows a very young John Hegfors and his wife, Kaisa Palkki, and their first child. In 1885, John designed a new water wheel and made repairs to the Palkki gristmill, which was built in 1878 by 18 of the first settlers in Thomson Township.
Portrait of Charles Y. Lacy, former Secretary of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society and second Professor of the Theory and Practice of Agrifculture at the University of Minnesota, 1874-1880.
Studio portrait of the five children of Gustavus Adolphus College President Matthias Wahlstrom. The children are posed for a portrait on a wicker divan.
This is a photograph of Dr. John Sander, a Gustavus Adolphus College professor who helped found the First English Lutheran Church in St. Peter in 1892. The church is now known as Trinity Lutheran Church.
This photo shows May, Nellie, and Jessie McOuat in a horse-drawn wagon going north on Minnesota Avenue in St. Peter from a location in front of the Courthouse.