Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2024

Andrew Baldwin was born in Ireland in March 1813. He arrived on the ship Nimrod to New York on June 16, 1836. He was a laborer, born in Ireland, and arrived from Liverpool at age 18.

Andrew lived in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and he married another person from Ireland, Ann Joyce. Ann and Andrew married on February 18, 1846, in Boston.

Ann and Andrew had six children. In Massachusetts, they had Anne Maria (1848); John (1849); Andrew (1851); and George (1855). Then they headed west, where in 1860 they had another daughter, Susan. And finally, in 1862 in Shakopee Ann and Andrew had their last child, Joseph. George and Joseph died and were buried at Calvary Cemetery – George in 1874, and Joseph in 1882.

On September 30, 1861, Andrew was inducted into the military at Fort Snelling. Private Andrew Baldwin joined the Co. A Fourth Minnesota Infantry in the Civil War.

The Fourth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry was organized in October 1861, according to Civil War Era Infantry Units from Minnesota. The Fourth Minnesota was first deployed on the frontier but were sent south in early 1862. They took part in the siege of Corinth in the summer of that year and in the battles of Luka and Corinth in September and October 1862. As part of the 17th Army Corps, they were part of Grant’s campaign against Vicksburg, Mississippi taking part in the battles of Champion Hill and the assault of Vicksburg in June of 1863. In June of 1864 they were part of Sherman’s campaign to capture Atlanta and took part in the Battle of Allatoona on October 5. The following month the Fourth Minnesota joined Sherman’s March to the Sea and subsequent siege of Savannah, Georgia. In February 1865 they were part of the Union Army’s march through the Carolinas taking part in the Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina March 19-21.

They were present at the surrender of General Joseph Johnston’s army and took part in the Grand Review in Washington, D.C. on May 24. The regiment was discharged at St. Paul on August 7, 1865.

But for Private Andrew Baldwin, on October 30, 1862, just a little more than a year after induction, he was discharged for disability.

The United States Federal Census 1900 showed Andrew Baldwin as living with his son in Staples, Minnesota. He was an 87-year-old person who was born in Ireland. Evidence shows little more, including when he died.

But on September 4, 1935, R.T. Schumacher of Shakopee helped get a tombstone of an unmarked grave of a veteran.

And so, in 1935, a tombstone was placed in Calvary Cemetery for Private Andrew Baldwin, Company A, 4th Minnesota Infantry.

Bibliography

“4^th Regiment.” Civil War Era Infantry Units from Minnesota. https://libguides.mnhs.org/infantryunits/4th.

“United States. Bureau of the Census.” Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900: Minnesota, Todd County, Staples. Population schedule. NARA microfilm publication T623, reel 792.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023

In the early 1900s, hoboes and tramps didn’t get on trains by going to a ticket counter, buying a ticket, boarding a train, and taking their seat assignment. They couldn’t do this because they lacked the money. Tramps traveled or wandered through on foot, trying to find work.

So, the hoboes and tramps would try to sneak aboard trains, and hide themselves in places where they remained undetected until the train departed. They hid on the roof of a train car, or on the platform between two cars, or inside of a freight car. They undertook this difficult feat, accepting its life-threatening nature in return for free travel. Hoboes and tramps would often stop at those homes where people would give them food, often for them helping for a short time.

Merriam Junction was in the northwestern part of Louisville Township, near the present-day site of the Renaissance Festival. From its onset, the community was conceived as a transportation hub. It was located at the crossing of two major railroad lines – the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad and the St. Paul and Sioux City. The crossing was an active transfer point for regional travelers, according to the Scott County Historical Society.

Mack Christensen was one of those tramps.

He was taken from a boxcar at Merriam Junction. At the community’s height, an average of twenty trains went through Merriam Junction each day, according to the Scott County Historical Society. With such a high rate of mobility in the population, Merriam Junction developed a local reputation for being home to transitory communities.

Christensen entered the car in Marshalltown, Iowa a week prior, intending to go as far as Newton, Iowa. During the trip, the train boxcar was locked, and Christensen was unable to escape. He was exposed to the cold and suffered from starvation.

The boxcar was brought as far as Merriam Junction, where the car was shunted onto a sidetrack on Sunday. The man was not discovered until Wednesday morning when a passing trainman heard him groaning and opened the car.

Mack Christensen was taken to the poor house, where Dr. H. P. Fischer attended to him.

Almost immediately after statehood, Minnesota counties began providing “indoor relief” care for the needy in poor houses. “Inmates” (as they were known then) included the very poor, the elderly, the disabled, the mentally ill, epileptics, abandoned children, unwed mothers, and the occasional drunk and petty thief, according to “Look back: A history of ‘Poor farm’” in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

At the time, a poor house was thought to be more economical than giving aid directly to individuals. Poor farms were considered superior to poor houses because a well-run farm could break even or turn a profit. People believed that poor relief was public responsibility, and one that the city was responsible. Anyone who had relatives capable of caring for them could be denied relief, and paupers who were able to work should be forced to work, including children.

States used various methods to provide poor relief, according to Dan Gunderson on Minnesota Public Radio. Some sold poor people to the lowest bidder. The winning bidder was responsible for the care of the person and had total control of the pauper.

As poor relief developed, most states turned to poor houses. In rural states they were called poor farms. In Minnesota, 63 of the 87 counties operated a poor farm at some time between the 1850s and 1950s, including the poor house in Shakopee, which was located in a large two-and-a-half-story limestone building at the corner of Fourth and Atwood Street, south of St. Mark’s Church. It had been St. Gertrude’s Convent and Academy since 1866 until Father Alois Plut, pastor of St. Mark’s and intensely German, decided in 1878 to refused to reemploy the Benedictine Sisters as teachers because he contended that they were unable to teach German properly. It closed in 1880, and then Scott County took over and used it as a poor house.

It was thought poor houses would be a more efficient way of caring for the poor, thus reducing costs for local government. It was also anticipated that by forcing people to go to a less than pleasant place if they wanted public assistance, many poor could be discouraged from seeking help. In some states, including Minnesota, thousands of poor people who were not U.S. citizens were deported when they asked for public assistance, according to Gunderson in his radio interview.

Most of the people on poor farms were unable to work, because of physical or mental disability. Some did help on poor farms, caring for animals, cutting wood, or working in the kitchen. Others picked up odd jobs in local communities. “In general, most of the men were a hard lot with habits characteristic of their type. Occasionally some would indulge in too many spirits and the sheriff would have to take them home, otherwise they walked both ways.”

Poor houses were also designed to change the behavior and character of inmates. This idea was based on the classification of poor as “worthy” and “unworthy.” Unworthy poor were considered to have character flaws, which were often listed as the reason they were in the poor house. Mental illness was common among poor house residents, as was alcoholism. A 1925 report criticized states for allowing “the insane and intelligent poor people to mingle freely.”

By the early 1900s, mostly elderly people lived in poorhouses. The level of care these people received depended largely on the moral and social conscience of the community where the poor house was located.

Mack Christensen was sent to the Shakopee Poor House in 1950. He was nearly famished, and his hands and feet were so badly frozen that they were amputated.

Mack gave his address as Dixie, Illinois, but expressed a wish that relatives there should not be informed of his plight. Dr. Fischer disregarded the request and tried to communicate with his family. No word was received from his relatives.

Three weeks after he had been frozen in a boxcar at Merriam Junction, his feet were amputated, and he suffered greatly at the poor house, Mack Christiansen died.

He was buried at the Valley Cemetery in the pauper field.

Bibliography

Ash, Stephanie Wilbur. “Look back: A history of ‘Poor farm.’” Minneapolis Star Tribune, 24 Aug. 2010.

Gunderson, Dan. “A history of the poorfarm.” Minnesota Public Radio, 29 July 2002.

“The History of Louisville Township Part 3: Merriam Junction.” Scott County Historical Society, 13 Sept. 2021. www.scottcountyhistory.org/blog/the-history-of-louisville-township-part-3-merriam-junction.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023

Khim Khoan was born on February 3, 1943 in Takéo Province, Kingdom of Cambodia, or Khmer ព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា.

Located in the south of Cambodia to the west of Bassac River, Takéo borders the provinces of Kampot to the west, Kampong Speu to the northwest and Kandal to the north and east. Its southern boundary is the international border with Vietnam.

Takéo Province is often referred to as the cradle of Cambodian civilization. Takéo Province has several important pre-Angkorian sites built between the 5th and the 8th century. The provincial capital, Takéo town, is an easygoing place that possesses a fair amount of natural and manmade beauty.

Khim Khoan had four brothers and two sisters. His parents were Gal and Soi. His mother and father were rice farmers. As a kid, he would climb up palm trees to collect palm sugar to support his family and make money. He and his family later moved to Battambang, as rice farming was not a good livelihood where they were living.

Khim Khoan first married Mogne. They had three boys together: Sok, Lay, and Neauk.

Monge, Khim’s wife, died from malaria. Not too long after, their child, Neauk, also died, also from malaria. Malaria is an endemic in 100 countries, a factor that places more than forty percent of the world’s population at risk. Sixty percent of Cambodia’s landscape poses a malarial risk. One million Cambodians are infected with malaria each year. Of those infected, between 1.5 percent and ten percent in some remote provinces die. For Khim Khoan, Sok and Lay were the only surviving sons.

Khim Khoan met Leng in 1973. Khim and Lang would spend the rest of their life together. They had a total of six kids: two boys (Sok and Lay), one adopted son (Sarom), and three girls (Soksan, Seap, and Jennifer), according to the Daily American Republic obituary.

In Cambodia, Khim was a rice farmer and Leng was a seamstress.

Starting in the 1970s, a bloody civil war raged between Vietnamese and Khmer communist groups, leading to the Khmer Rouge. In 1978, Leng, Khim, Sok, and Lay fled Cambodia. Soksan and Seap were left behind. Seap died at an early age in Cambodia.

With Khim’s leadership, Khim, Leng, Sok, and Lay escaped the Khmer Rouge and made it to a refugee camp in Thailand. There, they met and adopted Sarom. They were then sponsored by Beverly and Ernie Rogers in 1979 and came to the United States, according to the Daily American Republic.

Once in the United States, Khim and his family planted roots in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. When they first arrived, they lived with Beverly and Ernie Rogers. Khim found a job as a laborer at a lumber yard. Jennifer was born shortly after they arrived in the United States. Soksan was brought to the United States in 1995.

Khim worked at the lumber yard for 24 years. He retired following open heart surgery and a subsequent fractured rib. He moved to Shakopee, Minnesota in 2003.

According to the obituary, in June 2015, Khim suffered from a stroke, impacting his health and independence. He remained strong after his stroke. He celebrated his 80^th birthday with his family.

On July 12, 2023, he died at 2 a.m. in his home surrounded by his wife and family.

Khim loved to show off his strength. He would flex his pec muscles, which would make his kids and wife laugh. He had a sweet tooth and loved soda, especially Mountain Dew. His favorite shows to watch were WWE wrestling and The Three Stooges. He had a hobby of woodworking and would enjoy it after work. But most of all, he loved to spend his time at home with his wife and family.

Khim was a strong, supportive, and lovable man. Khim and Leng built a life full of love with one another and made wonderful memories with friends and family. He was a husband, father, grandfather, and friend. His wife, kids, and grandkids carry on his legacy. He had 15 grandkids and four great-grandchildren.

A monk blessing was held on Saturday, July 22, 2023. A funeral happened on Sunday, July 23, 2023, at the McNearney-Schmidt Funeral and Cremation in Shakopee, according to McNearney-Schmidt Funeral and Cremation.

Bibliography

“Khim Khoan.” Daily American Republic. https://www.darnews.com/obituaries/khim-khoan-3002714/.

“Obituary information for Khim Khoan.” McNearney-Schmidt Funeral and Cremation. https://www.mcnearneyfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Khim-Khoan?obId=28431879.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper

According to the December 5, 1940 Shakopee Argus-Tribune, the inventor of movable type had direct descendants living in Shakopee starting in 1857.

The Minneapolis Tribune published an article about the descendants of Johann Guternberg. In 1439, Johann Gutenberg invented movable type, which changed history.

Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (ca. 1400 – February 3, 1468) was a German blacksmith, goldsmith, printer, and publisher who introduced printing to Europe with the printing press. His introduction of mechanical movable type printing to Europe started the Printing Revolution. It spread learning to the masses.

Gutenberg in 1439 was the first European to use movable type. Among his many contributions to printing are the invention of a process for mass-producing movable type; the use of oil-based ink for printing books; adjustable molds; mechanical movable type; and the use of a wooden printing press.

The use of movable type was a marked improvement to the handwritten manuscript, which was the existing method of book production in Europe, and Gutenberg’s printing technology spread rapidly, throughout Europe and then later the whole world.

The line of Johann Gutenberg, who made today’s newspapers possible through his invention of movable type in 1439, extended to Minnesota.

John Gutenberg was born April 7, 1828, in Prussia. On February 20, 1851, John married Dora Vichman. In 1853, the family emigrated to America. They lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for a short time.

In 1855, John and Dora and their children moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, and in the spring of 1857, they moved to Shakopee. He was a musician.

John Gutenberg, in company with H. Fanakuch, built a hotel. He also did masonry and dealt in livestock. John then worked in the butcher business, and in 1869 he established what became the City Meat Market on Holmes Street.

Dora Vichman Gutenberg died in Shakopee on January 6, 1875, and is buried at Valley Cemetery.

The Great Fire of 1879 happened on Thursday, October 2, 1879. According to The Shakopee Story, it was a clear, warm, lazy fall day. The trees had lost most of their leaves, and Shakopee people were on downtown streets, busy after lunch. At the Argus building, Editor William Hinds was finishing the paper that was ready to go to press.

He could smell burning leaves wafting through the open windows. Suddenly, someone below yelled out, “Fire!” When he looked out the window, Hinds saw the National Hotel on the corner of Holmes and First Street was on fire. And next to the National Hotel was the City Meat Market of John Gutenburg.

It was a two-story building. The first floor was the City Meat Market, while an apartment was on the second floor. The National Hotel was located where Valley Sports at 102 First Ave West is now, on the corner of First Avenue and Holmes Street.

Hinds, always a newspaper man, scribbled a few lines on the fire for the paper, and then, after looking out and seeing the black clouds of smoke coming toward his building, hurried outside.

A bucket brigade and willing hands of the citizens of Shakopee helped, but the wind fanned the flames, and it continued to spread. The mayor, recorder, and city attorney rushed to the train depot and telegraphed St. Paul for help. The St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad offered a special train, and St. Paul responded with a hose and fire company with all equipment. A clear track was allowed to let the train hurry to the stricken city.

Meanwhile, the increasing wind continued to blow out of the north. The fire moved beyond the National Hotel to Mrs. Schutz’s residence and storehouse. Next, it continued to the two-story frame building of John Gutenberg. Gutenberg’s stock of meat and the contents of the apartment upstairs were in flames. The building, including the City Meat Market, burned to the ground.

By 3 p.m., the National Hotel was a smoldering ruin, with the north and east walls collapsed into the fire. One of the dignified citizens of Shakopee, looking at the mess, said to his companion, “Looks like she’s all going up in smoke. Let’s have a drink!”

Finally, just before 4 p.m., the strike of the locomotive whistle announced the arrival of aid from St. Paul.

As the firemen from St. Paul had a steam pumper pumping water from the river, people in Shakopee were worried that the flames would leap across to the east side of Holmes Street. The swirling smoke made it hard to see, but some people thought all of Shakopee would be lost. Luckily, the fire was confined to the west side of Holmes Street.

That evening, Shakopee citizens entertained the St. Paul firemen at the United States Hotel. By 11 p.m., the special train, filled with the fire engines and many of the firemen, headed back to St. Paul. A few firemen stayed overnight and waited until the next day to head back. They needed the extra day to recover from their exertion and the celebration.

The next morning, Shakopee citizens looked discouraged as they saw the whole block of blackened walls and twisted, smoking wreckage. A day before, it was a block of prosperous business establishments and happy homes. But they took a breath, smiled at each other and knew that they were still alive, and began to build new buildings that rose from the smoke of the fire.

John Gutenberg rebuilt the City Meat Market and carried on a successful trade until his death on June 23, 1880. He was buried at Valley Cemetery in Shakopee.

After John died, his sons, Henry and John Jr., conducted the business. The family consists of these two young men and their sisters, Lizzie and Christina.

In the November 17, 1892 Scott County Argus, a note mentioned that John Gutenberg, Jr. was in St. Paul on Monday and brought home with him some choice venison for his meat market.

John Gutenburg, Jr. died in 1910. His wife then moved to Seattle.

According to the Minneapolis Tribune, in 1940, the widow of John Gutenberg, Jr., born in Shakopee, walked into a display of printing craftsmanship at Seattle, where she had lived for some years, and disclosed her relationship to the man whose memory was being honored.

Bibliography

Coller, Julius A., II. The Shakopee Story. North Star Pictures, Inc. 1960, reprinted 2009, Shakopee Heritage Society.

Minneapolis Tribune.

Scott County Argus, 17 Nov. 1892.

Shakopee Argus-Tribune, 5 Dec. 1940.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

Jennette Clarissa Pond, called Janet, was born May 6, 1842. Her parents were Rev. Samuel Pond and Cordelia Eggleston Pond.

The Ponds were living at Maḣpiya Wic̣aṡṭa, or Cloud Man’s village, on the east side of what is now known as Bde Maka Ska in the city limits of Minneapolis. Maḣpiya Wic̣aṡṭa founded the agricultural community Ḣeyate Otuŋwe on the shores of Bde Maka Ska in 1829, and Samuel and Cordelia had a mission there.

In 1842, when Janet was about three weeks old, Samuel, Cordelia, and Janet had to take a boat to Lac qui Parle.

Engaging a flatboat, Cordelia and Samuel, along with their three-week-old baby, headed to Lac qui Parle Mission, even though the doctor at the fort warned Samuel that the baby would not survive the journey.

“Always prepared, Samuel put a little box on the boat which he could use for a coffin should baby Jennette die and need to be buried along their 130-mile journey.”

According to Samuel Pond, Jr., “That journey was one of peculiar anxiety to the young mother, whose little babe faded day by day before her eyes. Only those who have passed through a like experience which rested upon her in her inexperience and extremity. She could do little for the child but pray.”

Luckily, Jennette was just alive when they reached Lac qui Parle, but speedily recovered and became a healthy, active child and great comfort to her mother.

In the summer of 1843, Cordelia, Samuel, and Janet joined Samuel’s brother, Gideon, and his wife, Sarah, in their new cabin at Oak Grove in what is now Bloomington, Minnesota. Janet enjoyed fitting in with his cousins who lived there. During that time, Cordelia and Samuel welcome their second child. She was named Cordelia Rebecca Pond and was born on October 10, 1844. She was called Rebecca. Three years later, Cordelia and Samuel welcomed their first son, Elnathan Judson Pond. He arrived on October 17, 1847. By that time, Gideon and Sarah had two more daughters and although their oldest, Ruth, was living with relatives in Connecticut, it still meant that the four adults were sharing the small cabin with eight children under the age of seven.

In 1846, Dakota leader Ṡakpe II began discussion of establishing a Dakota mission near Tínṫa Otuŋwe. He invited Samuel and Cordelia to set up a mission and school at his village, with the promise of Dakota sending their children to the school and assistance in any way possible.

In November 1847, after working on the mission house during the spring and summer, Samuel and Cordelia Pond, Jane Lamont Titus and their three children moved into their new home. Jennette was five, Rebecca was three, and baby Elnathan was scarcely a month old when they moved in (Samuel, Jr. was born a few years later).

In 1925, Elnathan remembered, “There were no white children excepting my brother, my two sisters, and myself…I recall that white men were a rare site, and our childish eyes grew round with wonder when we saw one!”

Samuel, Jr., also remembered that Janet, along with Rebecca, became fluent in the Dakota language, although the two boys never became fluent in the language. It was clear that Janet and Rebecca interacted with the Dakota people in Prairieville, which later became part of Shakopee.

Janet wrote in diaries, probably part of her schooling. She started when she was eight years old and continued writing until she was 14 years old. The diaries are available at the Minnesota Historical Society. Here are a few examples:

August 22,1850

Mrs. Ferribault came here and made a long visit She brought all her children with her and we had a fine play with them. Mrs. Ferribault’s oldest girl stayed here a while after the rest were gone.

August 23, 1850

I hemed the whole end of a sheet. Mother made some bread. An Indian brought us some plums but we did not take them because they would make us sick. The Indians brought some hard nuts but we did not take them too for the same purpose.

May 18, 1853

Monday a German man that lived out in the woods came here and said his wife was very sick. He brought a horse and took father’s wagon and father went with him. She was very sick she had a little baby.

May 20, 1853

The Indian boys brought us a few straw berries and we bought them with potatoes. And Indian woman brought us some gooseberries.

Jennette ”Janet” Clarissa Pond died on April 2, 1862 at age 19 of lung fever (pneumonia).

She was buried at Valley Cemetery in Shakopee.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023

Ellen Bridget Rohen was born on July 25, 1832, in Kerry, Ireland.

County Kerry is in the southern region and the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. A popular tourist destination, Kerry’s geography is defined by the McGillicuddy’s Reeks mountains, the Dingle, Iveragh and Beara peninsulas, and the Blasket and Skellig islands. It is bordered by County Limerick to the northeast and County Cork to the south and southeast.

The county town is Tralee although the Catholic diocesan seat is Killarney, which is one of Ireland’s most famous tourist destinations. The Lakes of Killarney, an area of outstanding natural beauty, are in Killarney National Park. The Reeks District is home to Carrauntoohil, Ireland’s highest mountain. The tip of the Dingle Peninsula is the westernmost point of Ireland.

Ellen immigrated to the United States around 1855. She moved to Ashtabula, Ohio. There, Ellen married Thomas Galvin (1828-1912). Thomas’ parents were John Galvin (1800-1851) and Cathryn Kea Galvin. Thomas was born in Duagh, County Kerry, Ireland.

By May of 1857, a daughter, Catherine Kate Galvin (1857-1917) was born in Ashtabula, Ohio.

Ellen and Thomas, and Catherine headed west as colonist-settlers on Dakota land by 1858. On November 7, 1859, in Iowa a second child, John Martin Galvin (1858-1938) was born.

The family moved north to Minnesota by 1860, where they lived in St. Paul. Ellen and Thomas continued to have children. Their child, Julia, was born in Minnesota in 1862. As they moved to Eagle Creek, their children Michael (1864-1915), Dennis (1867-1938), Helen Nellie (1869-1916), Mary Anne (1871), and Anne Mary (1875) were born.

Ellen Bridget Rohen Galvin died on April 4, 1896. She was buried at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Eagle Creek.

Thomas Galvin died on December 14, 1912, in Shakopee, and was buried at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Eagle Creek.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2025

“When we were quite small, my father (John Herman Henry Abeln) ran the St. Paul House, which was on the corner of Second Street and Fuller Street.”

In March of 1921, Jordan had four arrests, and 100 gallons of liquor was seized, 25 coming from one house alone. Belle Plaine had three arrests, including ten gallons from a single restaurant. In New Market, a drunk man bragged that he was arrested after he had made $16,000 (around $300,000 today) from the sale of illicit liquor.

In Shakopee, there was just one arrest.

This was not because Shakopee was low in crime, but rather because complicit police were tipping people off to the raids.

According to Betty, “…I was a booze peddler! Surprise! I was just a little girl (during Prohibition) when my mother sent me down a few times, with a little grape basket with a bottle in it, covered with a napkin,” said Elizabeth “Betty” Mary Abeln Schultz in the book, As I Remember Scott County, by the Scott County Historical Society, 1980.

“During this era most of the places bootlegged, as there was no such thing as a three percent or six percent.

“You took a chance.

“Well, a stool pigeon turned my father in. The Feds came. He threw the glass on the floor, but there remained enough evidence in the glass to take him in.

“He (John Abeln) was sent away (I think LeSueur) on December 27, my mother’s birthday.

“He was only gone a couple of months.”

Elizabeth “Betty” Mary Abeln Schultz was born August 27, 1915 in Shakopee, daughter of John Herman Abeln (1887-1939) and Minnie Catherine Thiede Ablen (1884-1955). Her grandparents were Henry Abeln (1862-1922) and Mary Braun Abeln (1868-1916). Her great-grandfather worked at Ries Bottling Works for many years.

Her maternal parents were Herman Julius Thiede (1845-1922) and Elizabeth Reinisch Kopp Thiede (1839-1932). Her grandmother married Leonard Kopp on the boat to America. After Leonard died, Elizabeth married a second time to Henry Julius Thiede, who was Betty’s second maternal grandfather. Herman J. Thiede was a prominent blacksmith and owner of Thief’s Wagon Factory and Blacksmith Shop. The story goes that Jesse James had him shoe his horses with two forward and two backwards to fool the lawman. According to Betty, “True or not, I do not know.”

Betty’s parents married on October 12, 1914. Betty was baptized by Monsignor Alois Plut at St. Mark’s Church.

The family lived on the corner of Sixth and Scott Street, and on May 28, 1918, her mother birthed three triplets. Then the family moved to a house across from highway from Wampach’s Cafe. Betty remembered, “I was wheeling around one of the little doll buggies that had a top and then sort of went down by the foot part…I went to my mother and said there was a big bug in the buggy. Well, it was a snake curled up in the bottom end. Math Annen killed it.” After that, they looked for another place and ended up at the red brick house across from St. Mark’s Church. Betty’s father died there at age 51.

John Abeln ran the St. Paul House. “I can still remember just what it looked like in the inside. My mom would clean the upstairs hotel rooms every so often, and we kids could roll the balls on the pool table. Also, I also remember, too, the candy case to the left as you came in the back door. We would get a penny or two once in a while. We would run to the case and say we wanted a penny’s worth of this and a penny’s worth of that!”

Across the alley from the St. Paul House was used for many years as a place on fair days by farmers to sell their livestock on the first Monday of each month.

Later, her father ran Clair’s Bar for a short time. Next door was the confectionery store. “I remember my mother telling me that my father would bring her ice cream from there almost every night.” Clair’s Bar (now Babe’s Bar) had beautiful artwork painted directly on the walls. It was torn down a few years ago.

“I also remember my father having a team of horses and getting rides in the sleigh, sitting on straw and covering with a pretty horse high with a green felt pool table backing. We also had chicken and a cow. All this was in the barn and chicken coop with a French around it, behind the big red house, just across from St. Mark’s Church. Our chicken produced big brown eggs which were my mother’s pride. She’d enter win the county fair each year for many years and always got a blue ribbon.”

Betty remembered that her father then ran the Minneapolis House, called Abeln’s Bar until he died in 1939.

Betty married Donald Emerson Schultz (1918-1985), and they had five girls and three boys.

Donald and Betty worked at the Minnesota Correctional Institute for Women. Don retired on January 1, 1976, after 27 ½ years, and Betty retired July 1, 1979, after 3 ½ years.

Elizabeth “Betty” Mary Abeln Schultz, at age 89 died on March 30, 2005. She is survived by children, Donald, Mary Kathleen, Anita, Monica, Elise, Peter, Joseph; 19 grandchildren; ten great-grandchildren. Funeral was at St. Mark’s Catholic Church in Shakopee, and she was interred at Shakopee Catholic Cemetery.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023

Donna Mae Ojala of Eagan was in the Scott County Courthouse in Shakopee.

She had two speeding charges. Donna was given minimum fines on both counts.

Judge F.J. Connolly thought all was fine, but the trouble came when Donna went to the clerk to pay the fine.

Donna wrote the check, and the clerk made out the receipts.

Then Donna took the receipts, tore up the check, and fled the courthouse.

A Scott County sheriff deputy sent out a radio call to stop the woman and the chase was on.

Donna left Shakopee on Highway 101.

Soon the Savage police and the Burnsville police added as she continued down Highway 13.

Robert O’Brien of the Eagan Police Department was waiting for the speeding woman at the intersection of 13 and Cedar Avenue.

His lights were flashing and siren on, but she just went around him.

“She was just flying down the middle of 13 like she was in a trance. Other cars were going off the road and into the ditch,” said Robert O’Brien in an article, “Five squads chase woman driver,” by the Shakopee Valley News, October 24, 1973.

By this time, no less than five squad cars were in pursuit of the woman.

Donna finally stopped just east of Blackhawk Road.

A police officer approached the car, and the woman flashed a gun at him. He ducked.

“I thought if she was crazy enough to drive like that, she was crazy enough to shoot.”

Officers, including one from Shakopee, attempted to break the woman’s car windows with a tire iron and jack.

Donna continued to make threatening gestures inside her locked car.

Finally, Donna rolled down the car window, and the officers subdued her.

She was led to a squad car in handcuffs and was later charged with aggravated assault.

Clearly Donna Mae Ojala was having a very bad day.

Donna Mae Ojala was born on May 17, 1939, in Minot, North Dakota, and was raised in Minneapolis. She moved to Eagan, where she had three children: John, Bryan, and Sonya Ojala. She died on December 30, 2016, at age 77. Donna’s funeral service was at the St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Eagan.

Bibliography

“Five squads chase woman driver.” Shakopee Valley News, 24 Oct. 1973.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022

Jannette Elizabeth Sykes was born near Lockport, New York, July 29, 1833. Her parents were Harry Nathaniel Sykes (1793-1872) and Elizabeth Seeber (1794-1862). Her family later migrated to Van Wert County, Ohio, where she married Joseph Warren DeCamp on May 30, 1852.

Joseph was born on October 13, 1826, son of John DeCamp (ca. 1790-1851) and Hannah Springer (1788-1842).

The couple moved to Shakopee, Minnesota in 1855, and in 1861 to the Red Wood (Lower Sioux) Indian Agency. Joseph operated the sawmill.

Joseph and Jannette were mostly friends with the Indians. The Dakota visited daily. They traded for what they needed. The Dakota, with few exceptions, were kind and peaceable, and after a few months she grew accustomed to them and did not fear them. They came almost daily with their bags of corn to be ground, and would linger about the house, asking questions about everything.

During winter 1861-62, the Dakota were suffering. Their crops had been bad and there was much sickness due to starvation. The deep snow made the roads almost impassable and government supplies became scanty. The weekly government issues of food failed to meet the wants of many hungry people.

The DeCamps opened their cellar and distributed many bushels of vegetables to those who were suffering. “I cannot doubt that our friendly attitude toward them became the means of our preservation after being taken captive.”

On August 18, an Indian man told her that all the white people had been killed at the agency, “and you had better be getting out of this.” Wacouta’s mother came running past. She cried, “Puck-a-chee! Puck-a-chee!” “Fly! Fly!”

Jannette and her children were taken captive in August 1862. Some of those she aided returned the favor. One was Towanetaton, or Face of the Village, also known as Lawrence Lorenzo. Towanetaton was the son of Left Hand and Tatidutawin or Her Scarlet House, most known by her Christian name of Catherine Tatidutawin.

Catherine was born into the Wahpeton Dakota community at Lac qui Parle in west central Minnesota in 1801, daughter of Dawamanyici and Kagiwin, according to Dakota Soul Sisters.

Catherine gave food and shelter to Jannette and family. Then Catherine’s son, Towanetaton, helped Jannette and family escape to Fort Ridgely. He guided them to a marsh where they hid, and then they escaped along the river. As they travelled, they faced many tribulations from hunger, thirst, severe weather, exhaustion, and fear. After five days, they made it safely to Fort Ridgely along with Mrs. Robideaux and her five children who had been discovered along the way.

When she reached the fort, she learned her husband had been mortally wounded in the Battle of Birch Coulee.

Jannette married Rev. Joshua Sweet, an Episcopal chaplain at Fort Ridgely.

Joshua died in 1874, and Jannette eventually made her home in California, where she died at Alameda on June 25, 1920.

Bibliography

“Totidutawin: A True Dakota Soul Sister.” Dakota Soul Sisters. https://dakotasoulsisters.com/2013/02/21/totidutawin-a-true-dakota-soul-sister/.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022

Brenda Faith Welch was born in Lake Delton, Wisconsin on July 15, 1942, the daughter of Clarence Lester Welch (1918-1983) and Violet Delores Blue Welch (1923-1980). Brenda’s grandparents were LeRoy Alphonso Welch Sr. (1872-1961) and Mathilda Millie Mettie DeGroat (1880-1955), and Terry Arthur Blue (1903-1973) and Gertrude Elizabeth Jones (1902-1973).

Brenda grew up in Redwood Falls, Minnesota, and from a young age it was shown that she had a beautiful voice and was very talented at playing drums.

Brenda’s family owned several bars in Minnesota and South Dakota, and she met her future husband, Gregory Joseph Wilt, while watching his band play in Morton, Minnesota. George was born on January 14, 1937, in Tracey, Minnesota, son of Everett V. Wilt and Ruth Irene Archer.

Brenda and George Joseph Wilt (1937-1998) were married on September 3, 1960, in Hopkins. They had four children, including Stephen Paul, Joseph Martin, Thomas Wayne, and Violet.

Brenda enjoyed cooking, family dinners, all holiday seasons, and chickens. She also loved to dance and was very sad when cancer took dancing away from her.

Brenda also loved traveling, and one of her best trips was a vacation to London with her family to watch the Minnesota Vikings play.

In October 2017, Brenda was inducted in to the Legends of Dakota Country Music Hall of Fame in Rapid City, South Dakota.

When she was 76 years old, Brenda Faith Welch Wilt, a member of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, journeyed to the spirit world on Sunday, February 10, 2019, at her home near Prior Lake, Minnesota.

Brenda’s journey to the spirit world included a funeral at the Tiowakan Spiritual Center in Prior Lake on February 10, 2019. Pallbearers included Paul Saice, Brian Welch, Alan Welch, Caitlin Welch, Cody Welch, and Sam Welch.

Brenda was preceded in death by her husband, Gregory; parents, Clarence and Violet Welch; infant brother, Steve; granddaughter, René. Her children, grandchildren, siblings, and great-grandchildren will remember Brenda Faith Welch Wilt.