Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022

Policarpo Sanchez Evangelista was born on January 26, 1969, in in Morelos, Mexico to parents Martin and Isabel. He was the third of seven children.

In his youth, Policarpo enjoyed being outdoors – swimming in the river, climbing trees, and playing with his siblings.

According to Wikipedia, Morelos is one of the 32 states that comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 36 municipalities, and its capital city is Cuernavaca. Morelos is a landlocked state located in south-central Mexico. It is bordered by Mexico City to the north, and by the states of México to the northeast and northwest, Puebla to the east and Guerrero to the southwest. Morelos is the second-smallest state in the nation, just after Tlaxcala.

As it has been since Aztec times, the state has been a favorite retreat for those in Mexico City due to its warm year-round climate. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the major crime problem was kidnapping for ransom. The state broke the kidnapping rings in the early 2000s, mostly by arresting corrupt lawyers, police, and judges who were protecting kidnapping rings. One was run by Daniel Mocha Orejas Arizmendi, who received his nickname by cutting off his victims’ ears and sending them to family members!

So, it was time for Policarpo and his family to move to the United States. In his twenties, Policarpo moved to California where he lived for many years.

In the past few years, Policarpo moved to Shakopee, Minnesota to be closer to his family.

While living in Minnesota, Policarpo worked at My Pillow.

Policarpo was a caring, loving family man! Often, he took his children on outings. They attended movies, visited museums, amusement parks, swap meets, and took nature walks.

He was also an avid soccer fan.

On May 19, 2019, at age 50, Policarpo Sanchez Evangelista passed away.

A funeral service was held on Saturday, May 25, 2019, at Ballard Sunder Funeral Home in Shakopee. Pallbearers were his brothers, Thomas Sanchez, Francisco Sanchez, Ernesto Sanchez, Miguel Sanchez; his brothers-in-law, Zeferino Acosta, Manuel Gonzales; and his nephews, Giovanni Acosta, Eric Acosta, David Acosta, and Israel Pastor.

Policarpo was a joyful, funny man who could strike up a conversation with anyone. He will be missed by his children, Eduardo Sanchez, Cristian Sanchez, Vianca Sanchez; girlfriend, Esperanza Cruz; parents, Martin and Isabel; siblings, Thomas (Veronica) Sanchez, Isabel (Zeferino) Acosta, Francisco Sanchez, Ernesto (Ana) Sanchez, Eriberta (Manuel Gonzales) Sanchez, Miguel (Maribel) Sanchez; many other loving relatives and friends.

Policarpo Sanchez Evangelista was laid to rest in Mexico.

Bibliography

“Morelos.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morelos.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023

Philena Scott was born August 21, 1798, in Bernardston, Massachusetts. Bernardston, initially known as Falls Fight Township, was a settlement created by and for the families of soldiers who had fought in King Philip’s War.

King Philip’s War was an armed conflict in 1675-76 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England settler-colonists and their indigenous allies. The war is named for Wampanoag sachem Metacom, also known as Metacomet or King Philip, the name given to him by the English. Metacom was the Wampanoag leader who adopted the name Philip because of the friendly relations between his father Massasoit and the Mayflower Pilgrims. King Philip’s War was sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom’s War, Metacomet’s War, Pometacomet’s Rebellion, or Metacom’s Rebellion.

The underlying cause of the war was the settler-colonists’ unrelenting desire for more and more land.

“King Philip’s War has been called United States’ most devastating conflict. One in 10 soldiers on both sides was killed, 1,200 colonists’ homes were burned, and vast stores of foodstuffs destroyed. The effects of the carnage and property damage were felt for years by colonists. The war’s ramifications for Native populations of southern New England included not only loss of life and, for some, enslavement but the continued erosion of sovereignty, land rights, and communities as well,” said Mike Messina at CT History.

In the space of little more than a year, 12 of the region’s towns were destroyed and many more were damaged, the economy of Plymouth and Rhode Island Colonies was all but ruined and their population was decimated, losing one-tenth of all men available for military service. More than half of New England’s towns were attacked. Hundreds of Wampanoags and their allies were publicly executed or enslaved, and the Wampanoags were left effectively landless, according to David Silverman in the book, This Land Is Their Land.

Philena’s parents were Elihu Scott (1764-1840) and Hannah Andrus Andrews Scott (1761-1851). Her grandparents were Captain Moses Scott (1713-1799) and Elizabeth Henry Scott (1726-1815); and Nehemiah Andrews (1746-1813) and Hannah Elizabeth Fox Andrews (1754-1842).

Philena Scott married Charles Davis Newcomb on November 19, 1817, in Bernardston. Charles was born on April 30, 1790. His parents were Hezekiah Newcomb (1747-1821) and Lydia Hunt Newcomb (1750-1834). Charles’s relatives were on the Mayflower, and his great-great-great-great-great-grandparents, Rev. Thomas Hart Hooker V (1553-1635) and Susannah Pym Hooker (1588-1647). The four of their offspring were accused of being a witch during the witch trials of 1692.

Philena and Charles had five children: Charlotte Augusta (1818-1892); Emily Adelisa Newcomb Moore (1820-1884); Charles Goodrich (1823-1876); Henry Clay (1833-1905); and Henrietta Marina Newcomb Waller (1835-1875).

Philena and her family moved from Massachusetts to Wisconsin. In Wisconsin, Charles Davis died, and was buried at the Trenton Cemetery in Barton, Wisconsin on November 3, 1857.

Philena and some of her children moved to Eureka, Dakota County in Minnesota. And then Philena and family moved to Shakopee.

On January 10, 1880, Philena Scott Newcomb died, and she was buried at Valley Cemetery in Shakopee. In 1884, her daughter, Emily Adelisa Newcomb Moore and her husband, Jonathan Moore, were also buried at Valley Cemetery.

Bibliography

Messina, Mike. “America’s Most Devastating Conflict: King Philip’s War.” CT History, 12 Aug. 2014. https://connecticuthistory.org/americas-most-devastating-conflict-king-philips-war/.

Silverman, David. This Land Is Their Land. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019. p. 348-353.

In the second week of August in 1975, St. Mark’s Catholic Church welcomed Shakopee’s newest Vietnamese family. Duong Manh Hung and Pham Thi Hoa and their four children arrived: Duong Thi Hai-Van, eight years old; Duong Trung Duong, age seven; Duong Trung Viet, who was six years old; and Duong Chi Thanh, who was four years old.

Huế is the capital of Thừa Thiên Huế Province in central Vietnam. The city served as the administrative capital for the Nguyễn dynasty. The city’s economy is primarily built around tourism, as it contains one of the few UNESCO-designated sites in Vietnam, the Complex of Huế Monuments being a tourist attraction, alongside its moat and thick stone walls. The complex encompasses the Imperial City, with palaces and shrines; the Forbidden Purple City, once the emperor’s home; and a replica of the Royal Theater.

The city was also the battleground for the Battle of Huế, which was one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War. During the Republic of Vietnam period, Huế, being very near the border between the North and South, was vulnerable in the Vietnam War.

In the Tet Offensive of 1968, during the Battle of Huế, the city suffered considerable damage not only to its physical features but to its reputation as well, due to a combination of American military bombing of historic buildings held by the North Vietnamese, and the massacre at Huế committed by the communist forces.

After the war’s conclusion in 1975, many of the historic features of Huế were neglected because they were seen by the victorious communist regime and some other Vietnamese as relics from the feudal regime; the Communist Party of Vietnam doctrine described the Nguyen Dynasty as feudal and reactionary.

There has since been a change of policy, however, and many historical areas of the city are being restored and the city is being developed as a center for tourism and transportation for central Vietnam.

Duong Manh Hung was born on December 25, 1926, in Hải Ninh. Hải Ninh is a rural commune of Bắc Bình District, Bình Thuận Province in South Central Coast Vietnam.

When the family arrived in Shakopee, they stayed at Third and Scott Street. Beginning in September 1975, the family resided at the Stans house on Second Avenue, according to an article in the Shakopee Valley News called “Vietnamese family welcomed” in August 1975.

In Vietnam, Duong Man Hung was a nurse’s aide with the United States Navy in Saigon. On September 12, 1970, he received an Army Commendation Medal of Valor from the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). Once the communists took over at the Fall of Saigon, also known as the Liberation of Saigon by North Vietnamese People’s Army of Vietnam and the Viet Cong on April 30, 1975, the area marked the end of the Vietnam War. Saigon became Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam, situated in the south.

After the Fall of Saigon, Duong Manh Hung was forced onto an evacuation plane without explanation. Luckily his wife, Pham Thi Hoa, and their four children were together on the plane. They were not told why he was leaving Vietnam or where he was headed, according to the Shakopee Valley News. The family also did not speak English and used interpreters when they arrived. Luckily, they ended up in Shakopee.

A couple of weeks later, Pham Thi Hoa and Duong Man Hung joined a group from St. John’s Lutheran Church and St. Mark’s Catholic Church at the Amtrak station in Minneapolis to meet the next family arriving from Vietnam. Jacob Le Van Sach and Diep Pham Ngoc Sach and family were happy to welcome to Shakopee and were happy to have other Vietnamese families in the area.

Duong Manh Hung was employed by Midland Glass Company of Shakopee. Eventually, the family moved to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, where Duong Manh Hung died on July 14, 2002.

Pham Thi Hoa took care of their four children, who started school in Shakopee. In 1975, Pham Thi Hoa was reportedly looking forward to some snow! She was not worried about the amount. “My husband will lift it from the sidewalk!”

Bibliography

“Vietnamese family welcomed.” Shakopee Valley News, 13 Aug. 1975.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

Edward James Herrgott, known as Jim, was born June 9, 1983, in Shakopee, Minnesota, the son of Edward Alvin and Marcia Kae Kewatt Herrgott. Jim was fun loving, adventurous, respectful, but not always someone who followed all the rules, according to Bob von Sternberg from the Minnesota Star Tribune. He enjoyed NASCAR racing and hanging out with friends.

Jim graduated from Shakopee High School in 2001. He was a quiet man. The following January, Jim joined the Army. He thought it would bring some discipline to what had occasionally been a wild life. He wanted to use the service as a financial springboard to college, where Jim wanted to study to become a police officer.

Army Pfc. Herrgott was assigned to the 1-36th Infantry Regiment, First Armored Division in Wiesbaden, Germany. Jim was outside the National Museum in Baghdad, Iraq, in his Bradley tank doing his watch as a guard duty on July 3, 2003. He had taken the place of a soldier who had been wounded.

Jim had slid up into the gunner’s seat – the gunner’s hatch – and a sniper shot him in the neck. He was rushed to the hospital, but they were unable to keep him alive.

Rev. Gerold Sevig of St. John’s Lutheran Church noted that Jim was “willing to put his life on the line for the well-being of others. He was killed while sharing his life, seeking peace for a troubled people.”

Jim knew the dangers. “Twenty-four hours before Jim was killed, we knew that the area he was going to was extremely bad,” said Mary Kewatt in an article by Mark Zdechlik from the Minnesota Public Radio. “They needed him, and he was going, and that’s what he told his mom. ‘They need me over there, there’s 12 other guys that got wounded, so this is what I am doing.’ And the last thing that was said just keep your head down and keep it in that tank so you’re safe,” said Jim’s aunt, Mary.

“We have some issues with the fact that President Bush declared combat over on May 1. Combat is not over. We don’t even know who’s firing at us right now and all of our soldiers’ great risk of being picked off as Jim was. And that’s a shame. And then President Bush made a comment a week ago and said, ‘bring it on.’ Well, they brought it on and now my nephew is dead,” said Mary Kewatt.

Jim was the first Minnesotan to die in Iraq. He was honored with full honors at Valley Cemetery, in the family plot, near the headstone belonging to his paternal grandparents. He posthumously was awarded a Bronze Star for “meritorious service in Iraq from 19 March to 2 July,” and a Purple Heart for his fatal wound. Herrgott was buried among the pine and ash trees twelve days after he was killed.

In May 2013 during a Memorial Day ceremony, Scott County Road 21 was renamed “Herrgott Memorial Drive” after PFC Edward James “Jim” Herrgott, the first Minnesota to die in the Iraq War. According to Mayor Brad Tabke, “I am very pleased that we are recognizing … all those who have given their lives to a cause much larger than themselves. When we honor one soldier, we honor them all.”

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

Peter Rudolph Geyermann was born December 13, 1825, in Waldesh, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, son of Henrich and Christine Nell Geyermann. He and his mother arrived in the United States in early 1851, and in Shakopee in 1857. He married Emilia Berreau, daughter of Frederick and Antonette Hacke Berreau, in Shakopee. They had six children.

Peter and Emilia operated Geyermann’s General Store between First and Second Avenue and Lewis Street in downtown Shakopee, which included groceries, dry goods, boots and shoes, hats and caps, dress goods, clothing, and crockery. The store opened in 1857.

A board of trade was organized in March 1878, with Peter Geyermann as president, William Willson as vice-president, Eli Southworth as secretary, and H.H. Strunk as treasurer. An editorial in the Shakopee Argus noted that:

“Shakopee is now a metropolitan city. It has twelve street lamps, each with the illuminating power of ten lightning bugs. On a dark night the flickering rays of light are cast fully twenty feet around and on a clear night with a full moon, the city is brilliantly lighted up.”

Another editorial noted that, “There is not a licensed saloon in Shakopee; but we have one mayor, one chief, one city attorney, two justices and twenty-seven saloons selling liquor without a license and three hundred unlicensed dogs on our dogs.”

Peter also became mayor of Shakopee. He was mayor from 1873-1876, and again in 1878.

While he was mayor in 1878, Peter was involved in controversy. The town needed a bridge over the Minnesota River. After lots of discussion over several years, the legislature voted in favor of building a bridge in Shakopee. According to Shakopee Scrapbook by Michael, Patricia, and Joseph Huber, the controversy was over the location of the crossing. Two locations were proposed. One was on Fuller Street, and the other one was on Lewis Street. The surveyor, hired by the city, felt the Fuller Street site would be less expensive. It would only require one center pier. The bridge was to be built on Fuller Street.

The mayor, Peter Geyermann, owned a store on Lewis Street, so he vetoed the resolution for building the bridge on Fuller Street.

He wanted it on Lewis Street, so that people arriving over the bridge would go directly to his store.

Another resolution, putting the bridge on Holmes Street, was also vetoed by the mayor. They tried other sites, including one near Murphy’s Landing, and later the Shakopee Argus editor looked out from the third floor of his building, and saw a huge cottonwood tree across the river. He suggested that they could lasso the tree and build the river crossing at that part. Obviously, that did not win, either.

After many more meetings, the mayor won out, and the bridge was built on Lewis Street in 1880.

Many people were upset, though, and Geyermann’s General Store was boycotted by many of the residents, especially the people in the First Ward, who wanted the Fuller Street site.

So effective was the action that Peter and Emilia were forced out of business, and after 24 years in business, they left Shakopee.

Peter and Emelia moved to the little town of Hersey (now called Brewster) where they started a new general merchandise store.

After several years, the family established stores in Pipestone, Worthington, and Storm Lake, Iowa. In the 1920s, Peter and Emelia’s sons opened stores in Huron, Mitchell, Madison, and Brookings, South Dakota. In the 1940s they added stores in Sioux Falls and Rapid City, as well as Beatrice and Hastings, Nebraska.

Record books of the old Brewster, Minnesota store noted that a man’s suit cost $9.50, a boy’s boots cost $2.13, eight yards of printed goods cost 66 cents, a gallon of oil was $0.25, butter was just 20 cents a pound, and Rock and Rye was $1.00 a bottle.

Emilia Berreau Geyermann died on January 25, 1907, in Brewster, Minnesota.

Peter Rudolph Geyermann died at his home in Brewster from pneumonia on November 25, 1911. He arrived in America on July 7, 1851, and located in Milwaukee, where he stayed only a few weeks. For a short time, he worked for the Michigan Central Railway, in Indiana, and there secured a position chopping wood near Aurora, Illinois. He saved enough money to buy a tract of timber land in 1853, and during the next two years was in the mercantile business in Aurora.

His mother died in 1854, and Peter came to Minnesota Territory and took preemption claim in Carver County, which allowed squatters to purchase up to 160 acres. He became a settler-colonist, according to the November 30, 1911 Worthington Globe. Two years later he sold out and moved to Shakopee, where for twenty-five years he was in the mercantile business, before moving to Brewster.

Meanwhile, the Lewis Street Swing Bridge in Shakopee opened for river boat traffic heading further west in 1880.

On July 15, 1896, the boat the Daisy was heading up the Minnesota River when it hit the bridge and knocked over the smokestacks. It seems that the boat didn’t wait until the Lewis Street Swing Bridge was open before it crashed.

When the Holmes Street Bridge was built in 1927, the Lewis Street Swing Bridge was open for foot traffic.

In 1942, with the war effort, the scrap metal was requisitioned by the government, and the Lewis Street Swing Bridge supplied the metal.

It was estimated that it contained 100 tons of needed metal for bombs, jeeps, and ships.

Bibliography

Huber, Michael, Patricia, and Joseph. Shakopee Scrapbook.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

Peter Pettee Clark Atwood was born May 12, 1796, in Weare, New Hampshire. His parents were Elijah Atwood and Polly Dustin.

Peter married Harriet Walter in Burke, Vermont, who was born October 25, 1798, daughter of Thomas Norris Walter and Elizabeth White. The couple had one child, Norris Walter Atwood.

Peter was a private in Captain Joseph Morrill’s Company of 31st U.S. Infantry. He enlisted at Barton, Vermont on April 26, 1813, and was discharged at Plattsburg, New York on April 27, 1814. His pension is filed in the National Archives.

He moved to Ashtabula County, Ohio. Peter and Harriet were related to the Holmes’s family. Catherine Ann Holmes was the sister of Thomas A. Holmes. She married Voney Atwood. The Atwoods and Holmes lived in Marion, Ohio before eventually moving west. Peter and his family arrived in Shakopee in 1852.

He was a carpenter by trade, and at once began the erection of a house behind the Philipps furniture store and nearly on a line with the alley. The frame house was on the north end of Lots 3 and 4 of Block Five. The middle place faced east, and was 16 x 24 feet, and 12 feet high. It also included one-story wings on each side, 14 x 16 feet, and one on the north and south side.

The building was completed in November 1852, and two or three months later became the first hotel in town. It was advertised as the “only first-class hotel in the city.” Robert Kennedy was the landlord, and it was known as the Shakopee House. It continued to be the only first-class hotel in the city until next summer. In 1853, the larger and conveniently located Wasson House (later called the American House) succeeded as the principal hotel.

It served a long time as a useful kitchen, and by 1891, the building became the home of a flock of domestic chickens.

The brick house was later the Orestus S. Brown and Eveyln Bortle Brown residence, and during the 1880s, they lived at this house (and the kitchen/coop) with their indentured servant, Alice Briggs, who was 15 years old and African American.

The limestone house (the left side of the current home) was built in 1856 by A.B. and Martha Jones, who sold it to J.J. Peck in 1879, and David and Julia Brown in 1880.

In 1905, Henry Schroeder, former mayor of Shakopee and president of the American Range Company, bought the home. By this time, the section that used to be the kitchen built by Peter Atwood was probably a chicken coop.

In 1949, Ralph Schroeder inherited the property. It then was sold to Harry and Gladys Lane. Don Wagner bought it in 1966. By this time, Peter Atwood’s kitchen and/or chicken coop was no longer there.

Peter and Harriet rented the house in Shakopee by 1853, and Peter and family moved to Sand Creek Township. Peter became a useful and esteemed citizen of Jordan. Harriet Walker Atwood died March 9, 1871, and was buried at Spring Hill Cemetery in Jordan.

Private Peter Percy Atwood died in Jordan on Saturday, August 10, 1872. He was 76 years old. He was suffering from gangrene, which is a potentially life-threatening condition that arises when a considerable mass of body tissue dies (necrosis).

Peter died from senile gangrene in the foot. Known as Pott gangrene, it is tissue death that usually occurs in the extremities of elderly people because of arterial blockages. The toes are most commonly affected, as happened to Peter.

All that remained in Shakopee is the name of the street, Atwood Street, in remembrance of Private Peter Pettee Clark Atwood and Harriet Walker Atwood.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023

Paul Edward Schwaesdall was born April 24, 1949, in San Diego, California. So how does a name like Schwaesdall run a Mexican restaurant? It was easy. Paul’s father was German American Edward Schwaesdall (1929-2014). But his mother was Brigida Vicky Florez Peréz Schwaesdall (1927-2001), a Mexican American who was born in Newton, Kansas, and grew up cooking Tex-Mex food.

Paul’s grandparents were Ambrose Schwaesdall (1888-1968) and Verna Mell Johnson Schwaesdall (1901-1981); and Jesús V. Peréz (1885-1967) and Amalia M. Florez (1894-1981). Paul’s great-grandparents were John N. Schwaesdall, Jr. (1853-1931) and Malissa C. Bryant Schwaesdall (1862-1918); Barney M. Johnson (1864-1942) and Alice Cordelia Carnie Satterfield Johnson (1875-1938); and Manuel Peréz (1837-1907) and Pascuala Venegas Peréz (1850-1908); and Cristobal Florez and Natividad Marquez Florez (1864-1904).

In San Diego, Paul married Ann Marie Menden on October 21, 1972. Ann was born July 25, 1947, in Marystown. Ann married Flavian Ronald Geis on December 30, 1967, but was divorced in December 1967. Ann’s parents were Ralph Mathew Menden (1924-1992) and Delores J. Geis Menden (1926-2006). Her grandparents were Jakob Menden (1901-1988) and Theresa Cecelia Klehr Menden (1902-1987); and Herbert Ambrose Geis (1891-1956) and Mary Mamie Kerber Geis (1897-1955).

Paul and Ann had three children: Edward, Therese, and Ron. Paul worked as a firefighter.

Paul, Ann, and children often visited Minnesota and spent their time in Marystown and Shakopee. Paul noted that there was no Mexican restaurant in Shakopee in the 1980s. So, when they returned to San Diego, Paul retired from firefighting and worked with other Mexican cooks to learn about the restaurant business. According to the Shakopee Valley News on October 1, 1986, in an article called “Pablo’s has real Mexican food,” Paul noted, “I feel Shakopee’s ready for a Mexican restaurant. The town’s grown so fast … I’m surprised that so many people like Mexican food in this area.”

Ann missed her family in Marystown, so in 1986, the family moved back to Shakopee and the family opened Pablo’s Mexican Restaurantat 230 Lewis Street South, located in the Huber building, across from the Shakopee Library. It was the last location for the Strunk Pharmacy, or the Old Drug Store, which was located there after moving from the north side of First Avenue, and was closed in June 1977 after 120 years of service. The place became the Sweet Treat Ice Cream Parlor and Restaurant, which opened January 3, 1978. Manager and owner Cindy Strand, at age 18, was the youngest business owner in Shakopee. In 1986, the place became Pablo’s Mexican Restaurant, and it has been in business for more than forty years and counting!

Two authentic Mexican chefs, Tony Ortiz and Ernesto Gutierrez, were Paul’s right-hand persons in the kitchen when Pablo’s Mexican Restaurant opened. Everything in the restaurant has authentic Mexican ambiance. “The pots were made in Mexico, the paintings on the walls were painted especially for Pablo’s by a man in Mexico,” said Beth Forkner Moe. “The draperies in the window are also real. They are made from sarapes which were brought here from Mexico.”

Pablo’s Mexican Restaurant serves over 700 patrons on any given night.

Ann Marie Menden Schwaesdall died April 19, 2011, in Shakopee, and was buried at St. Mary’s of Marystown Cemetery. Paul “Pablo” Schwaesdall retired in 2015, and his two sons, Ed and Ron, took over the business, according to a October 2, 2015 Shakopee Valley News article by Cristeta Boarini.

Ed, who was 12 when he started working in the restaurant, noted that “All the great recipes that our customers come for, those will stay the same.” His father’s Hispanic roots are where all the family recipes have come from.

“Family is a key component to the Schwaesdalls and their business,” said Boarini. “Not only do Ed and Ron work in the restaurant, but their wives and children participate as well. Ed and Ron’s sister, Therese Schwaesdall Ahlberecht, also works part time at Pablo’s.

“It’s nice to see. The kids, they serve the food, our wives take an active role. We really are family orientated,” Ed said. Ron, who has worked at Pablo’s since he was 18, added “It’s how we grew up!”

Today in Shakopee, many Mexican and Tex-Mex places have added to the restaurant scene, including El Toro, Don Ramon Street Tacos, El Huarache, Bravis Modern Street Food, as well as fast-food places like Taco Bell, Taco John’s, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Qdoba Mexican Eats. But Pablo’s Mexican Restaurant was the first Mexican restaurant in Shakopee and continues to be a popular place since 1986.

Bibliography

Forkner Moe, Beth. “Pablo’s has real Mexican food.” Shakopee Valley News, 1 Oct. 1986.

Boarini, Cristeta. Shakopee Valley News, 2 Oct. 2015.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023

Paul Lyle Oyăte Nawičhakičižin (Protects the People) Enyart was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1968, and grew up in the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. His parents were Clarence Wilbur Enyart (1943-2013) and Barbara Jean Benson Enyart (1932-1972).

Paul’s grandparents were Donald Lyle Enyart (1915-1977) and Rosella Jessie “Tootie” Paulie Wahca Waste Wiŋ Larsen (1919-2006); and Paul Godfrey Benson (1891-1977) and Doris Lundberg Larsen (1919-2006). Paul’s great-grandparents were Ralph Raymond Enyart (1893-1953) and Coral Fay Squires Enyart (1893-1917); Henry David Larsen (1892-1970) and Jessie Margaret Coursolle Larsen (1892-1967); Andrew Benson (1852-1926) and Caroline Mathilda Ruud Benson (1862-1933); and John Nels Lundberg (1867-1911) and Bettie, who was born in 1866.

When Paul was a senior at Shakopee High School in 1986, he exhibited some of his artwork at the Cultural Center at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. In fact, one painting was blown up and put on five billboards around the area, according to an article in the Shakopee Valley News in 1986 called “Student Indian Art Exhibit Opens.” In fact, the billboards were located near the State Capitol in St. Paul.

When he was growing up, Paul loved drawing. In his sophomore year, he started painting. And in his senior year, Paul had been working at the pottery center at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. He worked there as part of a work-study program that allowed him to get credit for working at the center and studying pottery.

The painting in the art show was one of many exhibitors from students from kindergarten to 12th grade from Minnesota and surrounding states. Paul’s art reflected his cultural heritage. His work centered on Native American themes, mostly themes used in the Dakota Sioux nation.

Paul’s painting featured some Native American symbols. According to the newspaper article, Paul explained that the buffalo was the main staff of life for the Plains people. It provided them with everything they needed. The six colors used in the painting were the six colors used for ceremonies. Red means health, black means illness, yellow means good times, white means suffering, blue means healing, and green means goodwill. According to Paul, “…the colors can mean different things, depending on where they are. For example, if blue is in the east it means something different than if it is in the west.”

The seven eagle feathers symbolized the seven political divisions of the Dakota nation, said Paul. Eagle feathers are used because the eagle is an important animal to Native Americans.

“Enyart said he often signs his name pictorially. The symbols he has chosen are a broken circle, with two hands pulling it together. This symbolized bringing back the old traditions. His pictorial name also features seven lines, again standing for the seven political divisions.”

In the article from the Shakopee Valley News, Paul noted “I guess I’ll keep painting on a small scale.”

Over the next several years, Paul was very knowledgeable and a driven entrepreneur, owning multiple businesses.

He was kind-hearted and loved by all. He was a very humble and truthful man. He enjoyed hunting, visiting family and friends, and traveling. He was always ready to help someone in need.

Paul married Barbara Renay Swartz, daughter of Frank Sauncoci and Mildred Carol Swartz (1939-2016).

When Paul was fifty years old, he passed away at Grand Itasca Clinic and Hospital on August 1, 2018.

Preceding him in death were his parents, Clarence and Barbara, sister, Tracy, and infant brother, Shawn.

Paul was survived by his wife of twenty years, Brenda; sons, Seth (Shauna) Butterfield, Cody (Paige) Butterfield; sister, Wanda; and grandsons, Easton, Bentley, Alexzander.

The traditional service was held on August 4, 2018, at the Tiowakan Spiritual Center at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community in Prior Lake.

Denise Jones noted, “One of the very good things that always struck me about Paul was, being a professed Christian, I never saw where he preached at people but taught by example. So he walked the walk. I think he left a great deal behind that are in people that knew him, so he does live on in all of us. Paul….it’s been a great pleasure.”

Julie Richards of Wadena remembered Paul. “We have good memories of Paul from when he was growing up and came out to the farm with his mom, dad, and Tracy. He had many obstacles thrown at him in his life and overcame them all. What a man, what a soul, and what a presence. He can’t be replaced!”

For more information about Tínṫa Otuŋwe and the Dakota people, Hoċokata Ti [ho-cho-kah-tah-tee] the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community’s (SMSC) cultural center and gathering space, is worth visiting. 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.

Bibliography

Forkner Moe, Beth. “Student Indian Art Exhibit Opens.” Shakopee Valley News, 1986.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022

Paul Joseph Fischer was born in Bamberg, Bavaria on August 20, 1842. Paul’s parents were Mathias Burkard Fischer (1801-1861) and Margaretha Schmidt (1800-1860).

Paul moved to Ontario, Canada in 1850 at age eight. When he was 18 years old, Paul’s mother died, and a month later his father died, both in Ontario, Canada.

When he was 24 years old, Paul married Julianna Boppre on February 22, 1867. They married at St. Agatha, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Three years later, Paul and Julianna came to Minnesota. According to an article “Pioneer Arrived for July Fourth” in the August 19, 1926 Shakopee Argus-Tribune,Paul arrived July 3, 1870.

Paul mentioned that he and relatives came from Germany in 1850 and settled in eastern Canada. “But father didn’t like it there. Land was high and it was hard for a poor farmer to get started. So we came out to St. Paul. We stayed there a while, but I decided to come to Shakopee as I heard there was work to be had on farms here. I had been married three years before.

“We had three children when I left St. Paul to seek work here, and my wife remained in St. Paul with them,” said Paul in the article. “I hired out to Math Everling on July 5, 1870, and went to work on his farm near Prior Lake. I received $26 a month and stayed there three months. Then I sent for my family and went to Peter Stemmer’s place, seven miles east of Shakopee. Later my brother Adam and I rented the Ries place, 2 ½ miles east of town.”

The following ten years were spent in farming. But Paul was tired of farming, so the family moved to the town of Shakopee, where Paul worked at the Omaha shops.

Fifteen children were born to Paul and Julianna. One child, Nicholas, at age six, was run over by the local freight train, according to an article on August 14, 1891. Nicholas was hanging on the side of the passing cars. He lost his right foot. The amputation was made by doctors Dunn and Smith.

In 1883, Paul became a janitor at a school in Shakopee. District 1 was organized in 1854. The first school was taught in 1855 by John H. Brown. It was on the second story of the old post office building. It later was a stone building. For 17 years, Paul was employed as a janitor for School District 1. It burned down in 1880.

Paul remembered, “I spent lots of time in that school building,” he chuckled, “but somehow I never seemed to be on hand when the classes were held, so I didn’t learn much from the teachers.”

After resigning as janitor of the school, Paul became associated with his son Joseph in cement work, but after the death of his wife, Julianna Boppre Fischer in 1910, he went to St. Paul, where he obtained employment in the city park department. At age 83, he resigned after putting in 15 years.

Paul was closely identified with life in Shakopee from 1870 until he left here in 1910 – a period of forty years, according to the article in the Shakopee Argus-Tribune.

When Paul first came to Shakopee in 1870, Huntsman and Geyermann were prominent storekeepers and he also knew David L. How, the veteran banker, Theodore Weiland, and other civic leaders. “This city has grown remarkably in my time,” he observed. “It certainly didn’t look much like it does now back in 1870.”

“But I always liked it here,” he explained, “and I believe that is why I got so I preferred living in town. Farming was discouraging work when I started in here and I decided that I could do better in town. I might have made more money on a farm, but I have done fairly well and now at 84 I have nothing to complain about. Except, of course,” he added, “the many little thing with which we all find fault. This hot weather we’ve had, for instance, mosquitoes, rheumatism and a few things like that.”

Paul believed that when a man has held down a job until he is 83 years old, he is entitled to a regular daily schedule here, although he did quite a bit of “puttering” just for exercise. He had a right to be proud of his record and he was appreciated by his friends here as a man who always was “on the job” which, when one stops to ponder on the matter, is a strong recommendation for any man.

When Paul was 95, the former resident of Shakopee died at St. Joseph’s home in St. Cloud on March 21, 1938, according to the March 24, 1938 Shakopee Argus-Tribune. Death was attributed to the infirmities of age.

Funeral services were conducted by Father Savs at St. Mark’s Church and burial was in the Catholic Cemetery.

During his 43 years of residence in Shakopee, Mr. Fischer made many friends. Despite his advanced years he continued to have an active interest in all that went on about him. Relatives frequently visited him and he always found great pleasure in their calls.

He never lost interest in the community and those he knew here. Until years before his death, he made regular visits to Shakopee renewing old acquaintances and recalling old times.

Bibliography

“Pioneer Arrived for July Fourth.” Shakopee Argus-Tribune, 19 Aug. 1926.

Shakopee Argus-Tribune, 24 March 1938.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022

Paula Morales was born in Coyoacán, Mexico, June 29, 1940. Her parents were Luis Morales and Emilia Munguia Morales.

Coyoacán is a borough in Mexico City. The name comes from Nahuatl and most likely means place of coyotes, when the Aztecs named a pre-Hispanic village on the southern shore of Lake Texcoco dominated by the Tepanec people. Against Aztec domination, these people welcomed Hernán Cortés and the Spanish, who used the area as a headquarters during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire and made it the first capital of New Spain between 1521 and 1523.

The village and later municipality of Coyoacán remained completely independent of Mexico City through the colonial period into the 19th century. In 1857, the area was incorporated into the then Federal District when this district was expanded. Farms, former lakes, and forests were developed, but many of the former villages have kept their original layouts, plazas, and narrow streets and have conserved structures built from the 16th to the early 20th centuries.

Paula married Duane Alan Johnson, son of Lawrence and Myrtle (Hansen) Johnson, on February 12, 1969, in Mexico City.

Paula had three children: Gina, Norberto, and Carlos. Duane, who proudly served in the United States Army and was a Vietnam War veteran, adored Paula and was a proud father to the three children.

Paula, Duane, and the three children, Gina, Burt, and Carlos, moved from Mexico City to Shakopee in the early fall of 1971. The Mexican Americans were one of the first groups of people from south of the boarder to move and stay in Shakopee.

Paula Morales Johnson, age 76, of Shakopee, entered eternal life on Monday, November 28, 2016, at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park.

Paula is survived by her husband, Duane; son and daughter, Norberto Munguia and Gina Morales; grandchildren, Tina, Tony, Sara, Jose, Enrique, Rafael, Migeal, and Benito Morales; great-grandchildren, Mason, Jalen and Zoey. She was preceded in death by her son, Carlos Morales.

Funeral was on Sunday, December 4, 2016, at McNearney-Schmidt Funeral and Cremation, 1220 3rd Avenue East in Shakopee with Father Erik Lundgren conducting the service. Paula was buried at the Catholic Cemetery, 830 10th Avenue West, in Shakopee.