Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022

The usually quiet town of Shakopee was aroused from its lethargy on a Monday evening in January 1886 by the clatter of voices, ringing of sleigh bells, and neighing of horses, according to an article in the Shakopee Courier, Jan. 20, 1886.

Some thought it was a rumbling earthquake, less timid called it a cyclone; but come to find out it was only a party of Shakopee’s women who supported women’s rights! As one of the women remarked that it was to show the boys that “We can have a sleigh ride of our own without their assistance if we take a notion!” said the article.

One of the women’s rights members was Daisy Maria Cogswell. Daisy was born in Eden Prairie on Feb. 21, 1871. Her mother was Euphonia Isora Phy Apgar Cogswell (1849-1922) and her grandparents were Capt. Samuel R. Apgar (1801) and Melinda Perry Apgar (1806-1970), who arrived in Shakopee when this area was called Holmes Landing in 1851. Daisy’s father was Adoniram Addison Judson Cogswell (1844-1920), son of Wilson Cogswell (1810-1871) and Abby Kenyon Cogswell (1819-1893). They arrived in Shakopee by 1860. Euphonia and Adoniram ended up moving to Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, where they both were buried at the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery in Devil’s Lake.

As for Daisy and her women friends? They had fun. They were independent. And they were a bit of risk takers.

According to the women, the young ladies gathered and charted an excursion team for the purpose of taking a sleigh ride to Chaska in 1886. Those who were there included Minnie Busse, Rosie and Dena Kohler, Mary and Anna Ries, Nellie Jackman, Katie Theis, Mary Poetz, Flora Thorn, Mary Reis, and Lizzie Marx, along with Daisy Cogswell.

The ladies went to enjoy themselves and had no intention of offending anyone. But some of the young male scamps, not gentlemen, for the ladies did not consider them such, tried to cast slurs upon the young ladies, according to an article in the Shakopee Courier, on Jan. 27, 1886.

The ladies responded, advising the young men to find better employment, and know that the ladies will defend their honor.

And as for the boys? They will be left behind!

A few years later, Daisy, still a bit of a rebel, finally married Robert Emmett Orr (1858-1937) in 1889, though she still supported women’s rights.

Daisy and Robert had three children: John Judson (1890-1966), Emmett Adelbert (1896-1956) and Daisy L. (1904-1982).

Eventually, the family moved to Covington, Kentucky. Robert became the United Deputy Marshal in Kentucky, according to the Lexington Herald on Aug. 14, 1904.

Daisy died Aug. 9, 1904, of septic fever. Robert died in 1937. Both were buried at the Ghent Consolidated Cemetery, in Ghent, Kentucky.

Why was the cemetery consolidated? It turns out that starting in 1857, there were two cemeteries, both close together. One was for white people, and the other was for African Americans. Eventually, they combined the two cemeteries, the Ghent Scott Cemetery (for white people) and the Colored Oddfellows Cemetery, adjacent and south of the Ghent Cemetery (for African Americans). And in that combined cemetery, Daisy Maria Cogswell Orr and Robert Emmett Orr were buried.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022

In 1968, Dagney Nöste Johannsen, known as Dag, retired after half a century of fixing hair. Thirty of those years were at the Modern Beauty Shop in downtown Shakopee.

In the late 1920s and 1930s Shakopee was introduced to professional hairdressers. “One of the early hairdressers of Scott County was Rosella Dressen Ries….” said Ione Theis, in an article in As I Remember Scott County in 1980. Rosie was well-known in Shakopee as she was chosen “Miss Minnesota” in 1929. Rosella opened the first professional hairdressing at the Modern Beauty Shop, which was located at 117 First Avenue East starting in 1928.

Ione remembered working there in the late 1930s. “As a recent graduate of the Brady and Rogers School of Beauty, I arrived at the Modern Beauty Shop in the late 1930s and trained in the methods of the time. Marcelling the hair was giving way to the more popular spiral wave. The hair was wound on long slender rods, then with a lotion saturated pad was baked on an electrical machine that could be described as a torture device! Somewhat later, and even more popular, was the invention of the Frenchman, Monsieur Crogonle. It gave a tighter curl to the ends of the hair but still used the heating machine that resulted in many scalp casualties. Later, Mr. Willette invented the cold wave, the forerunner of the permanent wave we enjoy today.”

Rosella and Ione sold the Modern Beauty Shop to Dagney Nöste Johannsen and her husband, Ben Johannsen in 1948.

Dagney Nöste was born Dec. 14, 1905, one of six children of Iver Christian Pederson Nöste (1866-1947) and Anna Ellen Eikrem (1873-1958). Dag married Benhart Peter Johannsen, who was born Oct. 15, 1905, in Sweet Township, Pipestone, Minnesota. Ben’s parents were Jacob Gustav Johannsen (1874-1960) and Margaretha Dorothea Tanck (1875-1955). Dag and Ben married on May 31, 1936.

Dagney attended beautician school, according to an interview in the Shakopee Valley News in 1968. She remembered the marcel style was popular at that time. Dag started her beautician career in 1928 in Pipestone, and then worked in Renville and Mankato, followed by 15 years in Alexandria.

In 1948, when Dag and Ben moved to Shakopee to operate the Modern Beauty Shop, styles continued to change. First, it was the cold wave, and then rollers were the thing. “There was an era when women curled their hair close to the head, and another time when the curling was done on the end of the hair,” said Jerry Barney in the article, “Dag Johannsen Retires After Half a Century of Fixing Hair.” Now the crimp style is in, according to Dag. She described one style as leaving the hair looking as if it had been “combed with an eggbeater.” Dag particularly liked the finger waves and the natural curl look.

Ben fixed men’s hair. He was also an avid sportsman and loved baseball and golf. Ben died in 1976.

In April 1967, Dag was hit by a car in downtown Shakopee, which left her with a broken hip. After two operations, she slowly recovered, and so she decided it was time to retire.

Modern Beauty Shop was sold to Betty Markgraf, and after some remodeling was re-opened as the “Klip and Kurl.” Dag believed that Betty would be a good operator for the shop. “She’s well trained and she loves people.”

Dagney continued to live in Shakopee. “It’s a tremendous town with beautiful people!” noted Dag in an article in the Shakopee Valley News.

On March 13, 1985, Dagney Nöste Johannsen died surrounded by the women who remembered the beauty shop in downtown Shakopee, and the beautician career that spanned fifty years, thirty years here in Shakopee.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022

Rosalie Mazasnawin Rattling Iron Woman Frenier was born in 1824 in Red River, Minnesota Territory. Her father was François Šake Frenier (1792-1862). Her mother was Marie-Hélène Wiyaŋtoičewiŋ Blue Moon WomanFrenier (1792–1888).

Rosalie married Pierre Peter Noel Peloquin Felix on March 7, 1851, in Mendota, Minnesota. They had nine children in 15 years. Rosalie died as a young mother on March 14, 1853, in Mendota, Minnesota, at the age of 29.

On Aug. 25, 1844, a baby boy was born in Mendota, Minnesota Territory by Pierre and Rosalie. Pierre was a fur trader, and was employed by Henry Sibley, then a 33-year-old member of a fur company headquartered at Mendota. The baby boy was Dennis Dana Peloquin Felix. He married Elizabeth Nancy Coursolle in 1873. They had 12 children in twenty years. He died March 31, 1928, in Eagle Creek, Minnesota, at the age of 83, and was buried in Credit River, Minnesota.

Pierre remembered growing up in Mendota in the 1840s, according to an interview, “Recollections of a Pioneer Citizen”in a Shakopee Heritage Society book, Recollections of Early Pioneers 1925, edited by Betty A. Dols in 2000. “I can remember when father was working for Sibley and we lived in the little frame house. Mother (Rosalie) died when I was five years old and left six of us children; but father (Pierre) managed to take care of us and continued to work for the fur company for about a year after mother’s death.” Dana remembered the stone building erected by Sibley which was a store, and he recalled the settler-colonists and Indians “…opening their packs of furs with which they paid for their supplies.”

When Dana was six years old, his father settled on a claim of 160 acres one mile south of Mendota. It was given, maybe, by Ruyapa, or Eagle Head. The area was still the property of the Dakota. Dana worked on the farm for several years, cradling grain and performing other farm tasks. When he was 13 years old, Dana remembered that Minnesota became a state. And seven days before his 18th birthday, he enlisted in the Sixth Minnesota Infantry Regiment. It was an infantry regiment that fought in the Union army during the Civil War. The Sixth Minnesota Infantry spent much of the war in the Northwest fighting Dakota rather than participating in the battles with the Confederacy.

When Dana returned to Minnesota from the war, he married Elizabeth. Elizabeth was 16 years old. Her parents were Joseph Kabupi Coursolle, Sr. (1829-1887) and Jane Genevieve Killkool (1833-1915). Elizabeth was born Oct. 18, 1857, in Traverse des Sioux.

During the U.S.-Dakota War, Elizabeth, at age eight, was captured at the Lower Agency, along with Philomena Minnie Coursolle, age four. She was surrendered at Camp Release on Friday, Sept. 26, 1862.

In 1881, Pierre and Elizabeth moved to the Niobrara, Santee Reservation in Nebraska and were there for 12 years. Several children were born, including Clement Clem Felix, Sr., who was born Nov. 23, 1891. Twelve years later, Pierre, Elizabeth, and the family moved to Eagle Creek (now Shakopee), about one and a half miles west of Prior Lake. Clem, who was just a boy, remembered using a horse-drawn wagon to move to their new place.

Clem attended the Pipestone Indian School.

On Sept. 1, 1934, Clement married Florence Genevieve Spooner in Minneapolis. Florence was born June 6, 1912, in Minneapolis, and died Feb. 5, 2001, in Shakopee. Clem and Florence had 12 children. They were farmers in Eagle Creek and raised a large family. Clem loved to connect with the distant plains, the far mountains, and the imagined wild west.

Clem was a hiker and teller of tales. His ancestors were the Santee and the French-Canadian trappers, and he loved to tell people about the people from the past.

While he was a farmer, Clem became disabled, ironically, by a horse. He retired. He was an eminently friendly and modest man. Clem loved exploring the lower Minnesota River Valley and its tributaries.

Clement Clem Felix, Sr., died Dec. 3, 1973, in Shakopee. He was buried at the National Cemetery at Fort Snelling.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

Clara Hirscher was born Aug. 2, 1859, in her parents’ home on Holmes Street in Shakopee. Her father was Frances Xavier Hirscher, and her mother was Philomina Roth Hirscher.

Clara remembered growing up during the Civil War. “The old First Street was a busy place when I was a child,” said Clara. “I remember the large steamboats that stopped at the levee and the bustle and confusion when passengers and freight were loaded and unloaded. The levee was the center of attraction in those days, and everybody went here to see what was going on.”

She also recalled the blue uniforms of soldiers who left to serve in the South. “You know in those days there were no electric or even gas lights, and most of the business places had four candles in their windows by way of illumination that night. Everyone thought it was quite a sight.”

Clara married Alexander Hattenberger on June 21, 1881. They moved to the Hattenberger farm in Glendale Township.

On the property is a natural phenomenon known as Ma-ka Yu-so-ta, which the Dakota Indians have been using for hundreds of years. The Hattenberger family called it Boiling Springs, but the original name is Ma-ka Yu-so-ta, the Mystery Lake of the Great Spirit, which is a ceremonial site for Dakota people.

According to a summary from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, the Dakota have a strong oral tradition detailing the cultural and spiritual significance of the Ma-ka Yu-so-ta and Eagle Creek. The stories tell of the springs being the center of the world, the place of the God of Waters and the Underworld.

One oral tradition says Eagle Creek received its name after an Eagle had flown out of the Ma-ka Yu-so-ta and turned into Buffalo Calf Women. She gave a sacred pipe to guide the Dakota.

The spring foretold of the Battle of Shakopee between the Dakota and the Anishinaabe in 1858 and continues to serve as a place for Dakota people to pray and find guidance.

Other historical records have noted the Dakota using the springs as a source for fish and wild game, a burial site, and the 1830s village near the mouth of the Credit River, known as Huyapa, or Eagle Head.

When the land around Eagle Creek opened to settler-colonists in the 1850s, the Hattenberger family purchased the land to farm. In addition to planting cash crops, the family created a park-like landscape around the springs. It became a countryside tourist picnic location with scenic overviews, ice cream, and other treats. Located in the beautiful Minnesota River Valley, it is 21 miles southwest of the Twins Cities.

The stories of the Dakota use of the springs and early settler stories of cows stuck in the quicksand around the springs added to the allure.

The description of “Boiling Springs” was given by the early white pioneers of the region, not because of the springs are hot, but for the peculiar action of the water and sands in the bed of the steam which resembles the action of boiling water.

The spring pool looks like yellow Italian marble, it is streaked with blue and occasionally with red, and at short intervals the sand at the bottom rises with sudden force. The water churns and foams into all sorts of peculiar shapes and forms, sometimes to the height of four or five feet.

In the early 1990s the Hattenberger farm was sold to a local homebuilder for a new subdivision. Concerned citizens voiced reservation. The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community expressed the concern of the Dakota with a statement that the area, known as Ma-ka Yu-so-ta, should be preserved as a cultural resource.

Because of all the efforts, a corridor was created along the creek and around the springs. A buffer zone between the houses and the corridor protects the environment and provides privacy for ceremonial purposes.

Finally, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community noted: Ma-ka Yu-so-ta and Eagle Creek have been described as mysterious, a freak of nature, treasured trout stream and a tourist location. They are very powerful and their sacredness and beauty need to be protected and preserved.

Alexander Hattenberger died Jan. 26, 1912, at sixty years old, and was buried at the Catholic Cemetery in Shakopee.

Clara Hirscher Hattenberger died 19 years later, at age 72, on Nov. 26, 1931. She was buried next to her husband.

The Sweet Treat Ice Cream Parlor and Restaurant opened on Jan. 3, 1978, in Shakopee. The manager and owner was Cindy Strand, and at age 18, she was the youngest business owner in Shakopee.

Cindy graduated from Shakopee High School. She first thought of the idea of opening a business in her junior sales and marketing class. One of the required projects was to study opening a business. As a senior, Cindy researched the workings of a business and compiled information in a manual. Through market research, Cindy found that it would be feasible to open an ice cream parlor and to make it succeed in Shakopee.

The Sweet Treat Ice Cream Parlor and Restaurant opened in the downtown area of Shakopee, at 226 South Lewis Street.

The place was recently the Strunk Pharmacy, or the Old Drug Store, which closed in June 1977 after 120 years of service. The building is the Huber Building, and at that time, was adjacent to Award Realty.

The Sweet Treat offered many items, ranging from sandwiches to malts to sundaes. It also sold ice cream cones, pints, and ice cream products, which could be eaten at the restaurant or taken out.

Cindy, a former athlete at Shakopee High School, used her business to promote local athletics whenever possible. “I’m pro-athletic, especially for the girls,” said Cindy, who assisted with coaching the high school girls’ tennis team in 1978.

After the first year, Cindy added to the menu. “We’re serving a good variety of sandwiches, including the mini-wich, which has been very popular.”

The mini-wich was a small sandwich on a bun with lettuce, pickles, and tomatoes. It was served with potato chips and a pickle. The sandwiches were made with various types of meat, including turkey, ham, corned beef, roast beef, and barbecue beef.

Each week the Sweet Treat had a new special that usually included a sandwich, salad, or soup, beverage, and an ice cream treat. Hot pretzels and new varieties of ice cream were added, and pinball machines were added to the back of the restaurant for the enjoyment of the customers. “I want to keep the restaurant a fun, pleasant place to come,” said Cindy.

Cindy worked about 60-65 hours a week in the restaurant.

She had an assistant, Joe Schleper, Jr., during the summer months, and Margie Thieschafer and Ann Weinzierl Wing were other great employees during other times.

Today someone could go to grocery store and get special ice cream, but in 1978 the place to go for great ice cream was the Sweet Treat.

The most popular ice cream was blue ice cream, with gum inside. Called bubble gum ice cream, it was the kind of cone most children would get every time they visited!

Michelle Kay noted, “Used to spend many hours in her shop, playing Fleetwood Mac on the jukebox and eating ice cream with my best friend, Bonnie Jo Mans McIsaac. Good memories for sure!”

According to Cindy Strand, “I’m really grateful to all the Shakopee people for supporting me in this business venture. Without them, it would have been impossible.”

After a few years, Cindy decided to close the restaurant. Today, the location of the Sweet Treat is Pablo’s Restaurant, a Mexican place that is still a popular location to eat… and the Mexican ice cream is to die for!

Young people in Shakopee who want to start a business should look to Cindy Strand and her success at a restaurant when she was only 18 years old.

A few articles that were used for this article include “Sweet Treat,” Shakopee Valley News, Vol. 117, No. 26, March 29, 1978; “Sweet Treat to Hold Grand Opening May 1-7,” Shakopee Valley News, Vol. 117, No. 31; “Sweet Treat to Observe Six Month Anniversary,” Shakopee Valley News, Vol 117, No. 41, July 5, 1978; “Sweet Treat Plans First Anniversary,” Shakopee Valley News; “Sweet Treat’s Young Owner Enlarges Menu,” Shakopee Valley News, March 28, 1979.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

Charles (Chuck) Weldon was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1874. He was part Dakota Indian. He was adopted by David Crocker Weldon and Marie-Rose Moran from New Prague. David was born in August 1837 in Michigan. He died April 3, 1903, in Hastings, Minnesota. His mother was born Aug. 14, 1851, in Minnesota, and died Sept. 11, 1924, in Minnesota.

On Oct. 15, 1918, in Hennepin County, Chuck married Minnie Josephine Otherday. Minnie was born in a tioti July 24, 1877, on the north side of the Minnesota River in Tínṫa Otuŋwe. Her parents were Oyatekokepa Jacob Otherday, and Hapstiŋna Makaakaŋiwaŋkewiŋ Black Flute Lucy Otherday. Minnie was a direct descendant of Dakota that once reigned supreme in the Minnesota Valley and are still here today. Her grandmother was the sister of Dakota leader Ṡakpe II, whom the city of Shakopee was named.

Chuck and Minnie lived with other Dakota on 18 acres in 1871, directly across the Minnesota River. On this land, the Mdewakaŋtoŋwaŋ, the Spirit Lake People, lived, not far from what used to be Tínṫa Otuŋwe. They caught fish and turtles with spears and hooks, caught the mink, muskrats, and beavers along the shore, the cranberries grown in profusion in the lowlands, and the wild rice which was plentiful on the lakes on the valley floor.

Charles and Minnie lived on the bottomland of the Minnesota River. Chuck and his family moved to Shakopee and lived on the north side of the Minnesota River. He was a clam fisherman who plied the Minnesota River and made fishing his chief pursuit.

They had four sons and a daughter, all born in the east part of Shakopee. The daughter was Elizabeth Rose Lizzie, who married Bernard Howard Vig, and their son, Charles Richard Vig spent eight years as the chairperson of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community.

Chuck was married four times. One wife died, two were divorced from him, and his surviving spouse was Juanita Sue, a Wisconsin Chippewa. Chuck Weldon’s household included children from the several marriages.

According to the Belle Plaine Herald, in the beginning of January 1936, Charlie died of heart failure down by the Minnesota River.

Charles Chuck Weldon had gone down onto the river ice that morning and was suddenly stricken with a heart attack.

His family carried him up the riverbank, and he died in a few minutes.

Chuck was buried Jan. 5, 1936, in Belle Plaine, Minnesota.

For more information about Charles Chuck Weldon and Tínṫa Otuŋwe, visit Hoċokata Ti [ho-cho-kah-tah-tee] the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community’s (SMSC) cultural center and gathering space. The public exhibit, “Mdewakanton: Dwellers of the Spirit Lake,” enhance the knowledge and understanding of the Mdewakanton Dakota people and their history. Hoċokata Ti is at 2300 Tiwahe Circle, Shakopee, MN 55379. (952) 233-9151.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

On the corner of Lewis and Second Street, a building was built in 1893. The building was the post office in Shakopee. In 1920, it opened as The People’s Bank. One of the directors was C.A. Lindbergh, the father of Charles A. Lindbergh.

Charles Augustus Lindbergh, nicknamed “Lucky Lindy,” was an American aviator, inventor, explorer, and social activist. As a 25-year-old U.S. Air Mail pilot, Lindbergh emerged suddenly from virtual obscurity to instantaneous world fame because of his solo non-stop flight from New York to Paris, France in the single-seat, single-engine Spirit of St. Louis.

Charles borrowed $900 from the People’s National Bank of Shakopee to buy his first large airplane. He used it to get started for himself, according to Julius A. Coller, II in the book The Shakopee Story, p. 302.

However, flying hadn’t proved very profitable, and Charles had only paid back $50 on the note at the time when he made the record-breaking flight! A few years later, Joseph J. Moriarty went to St. Louis and got the money back from the bankers on this transatlantic flight, according to an article in the Shakopee Argus Tribune called “Lindy Pays Back Borrowed Money.”

Four years before his transatlantic journey, Charles Lindbergh took his first solo flight. Charles, like Speed Holman, was a barnstormer. He thrilled fairgoers by landing on farms, giving many people their first up-close look at an airplane, and a chance for an airplane ride.

In the summer of 1923, Charles flew to southeast Minnesota to visit his father in Shakopee. As the 21-year-old Lindbergh approached his landing site, he encountered a thunderstorm so severe he was unable to descend. As he flew around, his engine suddenly gave out causing him to land in a swampy area near the Minnesota River, not too far from Shakopee, according to Nancy Huddleston in Images of America Series: Savage, MN, 2012. As his plane touched the ground, the nose dipped into the dirt causing the propeller to crack. Bruce L. Larson, in an article in Minnesota History called “Barnstorming with Lindbergh,” Charles hung upside-down by his safety belt. By the time Charles had climbed out of the ruined airplane while people gathered to witness the wreckage. For three days Lindbergh stayed at the Savage Depot while he waited for his broken propeller to arrive and repairs to be made, according to an online article called “Lucky Lindy Charles Lindbergh crashes in Savage.” On Feb. 22, 2020, the old People’s Bank on the corner of Lewis and Second Street became the Historic Custom Shoppe, next door to Bill’s Toggery. The bank’s vault, which still exists, was converted into a dressing room. A mural, depicting Charles Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight from New York to Paris in the Spirit of St. Louis was painted in the bank vault! The mural reminds Shakopee of The People’s Bank, and the time that Charles Lindbergh borrowed $900 to buy his first airplane!

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023

Catherine Stevens was born Aug. 7, 1792, in Chester, New York. Her parents were Elisha Stevens (1759-1814) and Rachel DeMott Stevens (1772-1847). Catherine’s grandparents were Jonathan Stevens (1721-1795) and Jemima Blackman Stevens (1718-1800); and James DeMott (1745-1791) and Catherine Westlake DeMott (1752-1810). And Catherine’s great-grandparents were Ephraim Stevens (1680-1729) and Hannah Clark Stevens (1686-1729); John Blackman (1677-1732) and Jemima Harlbut Blacksmith (1680-1757); Michael DeMott III (1715-1790) and Sarah Collier DeMott (1719-1766); and George Westlake (1725-1803) and Elizabeth Wiggins Westlake (1727-1810).

When Catherine was 16 years old, she married Jacob Frederick, Jr., on Jan. 11, 1809, in Chester, New York. Jacob was 18. Within a year, they had their first of eleven children, about one every two years. Their children included Sarah (1809), Albert (1812), Rachel (1814), Sally (1816), William (1817), Polly Ann (1820), Benjamin (1922), Francis (1824), a baby who died at three months in 1827, Jacob (1829) and Harriet (1831), who was born when Catherine was 39 years old.

Catherine’s husband, Jacob Frederick, Jr., was born in Orange County, New York on Jan. 3, 1791, son of Jacob Frederick, Sr. (1758-1844) and Marytje Polly Tours Frederick (1759-1810). Jacob Frederick, Jr., was a private in the New York Militia for three months during the War of 1812. He was a cook and stationed on Staten Island. This entitled him to Bounty Land under the law of 1850. Jacob legally disposed of the warrant of forty acres granted, so in other words, he sold the scrip.

When Catherine was 67 years old, she moved, along with her husband and five of her children to Scott County, Minnesota around 1856, according to Arlene Gable, probably by covered wagon. Arlene sent the information to the Shakopee Heritage Society.

Why would Catherine and Jacob, in their later lives, set out on such a rigorous adventure? Probably because of the availability of Bounty Land. Or maybe because five of their grown children and their families left New York to the wilds of Minnesota. Probably the hype praising the Eden of the West, though the Dakota and other Indigenous people had been here for years. Or maybe they didn’t realize that the pioneer conditions in the wilderness weren’t as bad as the settler-colonists thought. And maybe they were hale and hearty enough to handle whatever lay ahead. And so, in the mid-1850s, they headed to Scott County where, in September 1858 Jacob received 144.65 acres of land.

Jacob was entitled to 160 acres under the Bounty Land Act of 1855, according to Arlene Gable, a descendant of Jacob. She intensely researched the family. So, Jacob applied for the 120 acres. On the Scott County, Minnesota Deeds, Book M, pp. 411-412, Warrant #19552, “Whereas, in pursuance of the Act of Congress approved March 3, 1855 entitled “An Act on addition to certain Acts granting Bounty Land to certain Officers and Soldiers who have been engaged in the Military Service of the United States” there has been deposited in the General Land Office Warrant N. 19552 for 120 acres in favor of “Jacob Frederick, Private, Captain Horton’s Company, New York Militia, War of 1812, with evidence that the same has been duly located upon the East half of the South West quarter and to Number Three of Section Three in Township One hundred and fifteen North of Range Twenty two West in the District of Lands formerly subject to sale at Red Wing now Henderson, Minnesota containing One hundred and forty four acres and Sixty five hundredth of an acre….”

The 144 plus acres was because the Minnesota River cut into the north end of the claim. The location of the land is now where Valleyfair is located.

In 1866, their son and son-in-law, Josiah Cooper and Jacob S. Frederick, picked out homestead sites in Stearns County. Later called Ashley Township, the two families plus Jacob and Catherine sold their land and moved again. Catherine and Jacob, Jr. homesteaded on land in Pope County, just west of the claims of Josiah and Jacob.

Jacob Frederick, Jr., died in January 1870 of palsy, which the family called a stroke. He was 79 years old. He was buried in Lake Amelia Cemetery, near Villard, in Pope County.

Catherine received a Widow Pension from the War of 1812. According to Stearns County on Nov. 22, 1875, “she is the widow of Jacob Frederick, who served the full period of 60 days in the military service in the United States in the War of 1812…who was the identical Jacob Frederick who enlisted in Captain Benjamin Horten’s Company, New York Militia…that was stationed on Staten Island, New York and time in Frederick’s was cook of his company… (Catherine) claim and obtain the pension certificate…..” Her mark was documenting, showing that she did not write her name.

Catherine became blind, and she lived with various children in her very old age. She died at age 91 in Sauk Centre, Minnesota on Aug. 9, 1883. Catherine was buried at Lake Amelia Cemetery.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2020

Catherine Neafsey (or Nefsey) was born in Ireland around 1834. She immigrated to the United States, and married John O’Connor in LaSalle, Illinois, near Chicago, in 1858.

The family came to Minnesota in 1859 or 1860. In 1861, the family lived in Glendale Township, Scott County, Minnesota, which is near present day Savage.

The O’Connor family in 1865 consisted of John and Catherine, along with their children: Edwin, age eight, Mary, age seven, Julie, age five, Catharina, age two, and John, Jr., age one.

While Catherine took care of the family, John O’Connor volunteered and joined the Ninth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, Company I.

John returned to his family in Glendale and shortly after, bought a house in downtown Shakopee. This is the neighborhood where Catherine and their neighbor, Anna Hilgers, resided. Henry and Mary F. Hinds sold their house on Second and Market Street to the O’Connors for $200. It was near the train tracks.

Catherine didn’t have much money. She couldn’t read or write, and signed her name with an “X.”

Catherine and her family spent regular time at the Church of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Shakopee.

The church was often called the Irish Church. The Church of the Immaculate Conception, which was just a few blocks from St. Mark’s, was erected by 1866. It was not until 1876 that the church became St. Mary’s Catholic Church.

John worked at the Schroeder Brick and Lime Manufacturing Company. It was one of the leading and most prosperous business enterprises of the city and was well known in the northwest. The brickyard was located north of Bluff Avenue between Market and Minnesota Street. The bricks were from near the Minnesota River, near Huber Park. Many of the early buildings in Shakopee were made from these bricks. John only worked eight months of the year. The rest of the year, he was out of work.

To make it worse, John and Catherine’s son, Johnnie, died suddenly.

Catherine’s husband, John, had a long and lingering illness due to an eye injury he suffered in the war. The injury turned cancerous. He died in June 1878.

Catherine was upset. Really upset. And she had enough. She grabbed a frying pan and headed outside and went next door to Anna Hilgers.

They were neighbors living on Second and Market Street in downtown Shakopee around 1873, and the two ladies started an argument. The two ladies escalated to the point of Catherine hitting Anna over the head with a frying pan!

Catherine was found guilty of assaulting her neighbor, and was fined $38, which was a lot of money in those days. But somehow, Catherine paid it.

Catherine Neafsey O’Connor died April 13, 1897, and was buried at Calvary Cemetery in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023

Catharina Lyons was born in 1818, daughter of Phillippi Lyons and Maria Hanser Lyons in Ireland. She was baptized on Feb. 26, 1818, in Limerick, Ireland.

Limerick (Luimneach) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is in the Midwest, which comprises part of the southern region. It was founded by Scandinavian settlers in 812, during the Viking Age. The city straddles the River Shannon, with the historic core of the city located on King’s Island, which is bounded by the Shannon and Abbey Rivers. Limerick is at the head of the Shannon Estuary, where the river widens before it flows into the Atlantic Ocean, according to Wikipedia.

The Great Famine, also known within Ireland as the Great Hunger or simply the Famine and outside Ireland as the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852, according to Wikipedia.

No statistics exist on how many people in the Limerick area died during the famine. Nationally, the population declined by an average of twenty percent, half of whom died and half emigrated. While the Great Famine reduced the population of County Limerick by seventy thousand, the population of the city rose slightly, as people fled to the workhouses.

Francis Spaight, a Limerick merchant, farmer, British magistrate and ship owner, noted “I found so great an advantage of getting rid of the pauper population upon my own property that I made every possible exertion to remove them … I consider the failure of the potato crop to be the greatest possible value in one respect in enabling us to carry out the emigration system.”

The quaysides were the departure point for many emigrant ships sailing over the Atlantic to America. This is the time that Catharina Lyons headed to the United States, probably in 1845-1846.

In New York, Catharina met and married Thomas Mullen, Jr. (1843-1930).

Catharina and Thomas had eight children: Mary (1847-1901) in Wisconsin; Bridget (Sr. Mary Carmel) (1850-1941); Thomas (1852-1872), all born in Indiana, and Catharina (1853-1933) in St. Paul; and Ellen (1855-1865); Ann (1856-1941); Margaret Maggie (1858-1888); and Julia (1861-1929) all born in Eagle Creek in Minnesota.

Like many Catholics, Catharina and Thomas’s second child was Bridget, who became Sr. Mary Carmel of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (1852-2021). Having one of their children in the faith was thrilling for Catharina and Thomas, and something that many parents wanted with at least one of their children.

Bridget (Sr. Mary Carmel) worked in Los Angeles, according to the Immaculate Heart Community. In 1848, Canon Joaquin Masmitja de Puig, in response to the spiritual, educational, and social needs of young women challenged by living in wartime Spain, founded the Daughters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary in Olot, Catalonia. By 1868, their reputation as skilled educators prompted Bishop Amat of California to invite them to found an educational apostolate in Los Angeles.

In 1871, ten pioneer sisters arrived in California and were assigned to several locations before ultimately arriving to work in Los Angeles itself.

When St. Vibiana Cathedral School opened in 1886 in the center of Los Angeles, the sisters staffed the school, including Sr. Mary Carmel. In 1906, the sisters opened the Immaculate Heart Convent and Immaculate Heart High School on Franklin Avenue in Los Angeles. In 1916, they chartered and opened Immaculate Heart College on the same property. In 1924 they became independent of Spain and formed a Pontifical Institute aligned with American customs and sensibilities.

The decades following their independence from Spain were self-defining for the Immaculate Heart Sisters. They opened a Novitiate and Retreat Center in Montecito, began hospital ministries, and staffed many Catholic elementary schools and Catholic high schools. Gradually, over the next few decades their service extended beyond California to include schools in Texas, Arizona, and Canada. Innovation, creativity, and hospitality were hallmarks that characterized the broad scope of their ministries and their service to communities.

Catharina and Thomas loved all their children. Unfortunately, Catharina got sick and died on June 13, 1865. She was 42 years old. She was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Eagle Creek.

Thomas Mullen and his children ended up moving to Walnut Lake, near Faribault, Minnesota. On June 22, 1869, Thomas married Ellen Helen Fullman, and they had several more children.

Thomas died July 20, 1930, and was buried at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cemetery in Easton, Minnesota.