Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022

Haliestone Anna Josephine Makahdegawiŋ was born in 1830 in the territorial era of Minnesota.

The territorial era of Minnesota lasted from the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 to Minnesota achieving statehood in 1858, according to Wikipedia. The Minnesota Territory itself was formed only in 1849 but the area had a rich history well before this.

The area was called the Northwest Territory (1787), Indiana Territory (1801), Territory of Louisiana (1807), Michigan Territory (1818), Wisconsin Territory (1836) and Iowa Territory (1841) until it changed to Minnesota Territory in 1849.

The first half of the 19th century was characterized by sparsely populated communities, harsh living conditions, and to some degree, lawlessness.

This era was a period of economic transition. The dominant enterprise in the area since the 17th century had been the fur trade. The Dakota, and later the Ojibwe, tribes hunted and gathered pelts trading with French, British, and later American traders at Grand Portage, Mendota, and other sites. This trade gradually declined during the early 19th century as demand for furs in Europe diminished.

This era was also as a period of cultural transition. At the time the U.S. took possession of the region, Native Americans were by far the largest ethnic groups. Their role in the fur trade gave them a steady stream of income and significant political influence even as the French, British, and Americans asserted territorial claims on the area.

French and British traders had mixed with native society in the area for many decades peacefully contributing to the society and creating new ethnic groups consisting of mixed-race peoples. The Métis and other mixed-race groups were often regarded as French Canadian whites, though they were partly Ojibwa or Dakota Indians.

As the Americans established outposts in the area and the fur trade declined, the dynamics changed dramatically. The economic influence of the Native Americans diminished and American territorial ideology increasingly sought to limit their influence.

Large waves of immigration in the 1850s very suddenly changed the demographics so that within a few years the population shifted from predominantly native to people of European descent. The European Americans became settler-colonists in the land of the Dakota. The native and mixed-race populations continued to influence the territory’s culture and politics, even at the end of the territorial era, though by the time statehood was achieved that influence was in steep decline. Heavy immigration from New England and New York led to Minnesota’s being labeled the “New England of the West.”

Haliestone married Richard Washuidheya Allen in Flandreau, South Dakota. When Richard was born in 1834 in the territorial era of Minnesota, his father, Huntkaduta, was 44 and his mother, Wambdisunwiŋ, was 44. Richard and Anna had three children in 17 years, including Samuel Chahhdeskinyake Bluestone, Adam Puhameza Elk Bluestone, and Eli Bluestone.

Richard died in 1881 in Flandreau, South Dakota, at the age of 47.

Haliestone then married John Tudantoiciya Bluestone, and they had several children. Anna and John moved to Eagle Creek area (now part of Shakopee) in 1856. The Federal Census and the Minnesota Census show that they lived here in Eagle Creek, and the Scott County Plat Map of 1898 show that they were farming in Eagle Creek area.

John spent a lot of hunting, trapping, and fishing, often with a neighbor, Ed Gilkey. They both enjoyed the fun, and both enjoyed telling stories.

By 1900, John and Haliestone moved to Paxton, in Redwood County, Minnesota, where John died in 1904. He was 69 years old.

Haliestone ended up in Flandreau, South Dakota, where she enjoyed being around friends and family.

Haliestone Anna Josephine Makahdegawiŋ Allen Bluestone died April 24, 1910, in Flandreau, South Dakota, having lived a long life of eighty years.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022

Guillermo Billy Martín Lopez, age 11, was an exchange student to Shakopee in 1967, and then returned the following year and stayed again with Joseph and Rose Weidner Schleper and their seven children.

The seventh-grade student was from Puebla, Mexico. Puebla is the capital and largest city of the state of Puebla, and the fourth largest city in Mexico, after Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara. A colonial era planned city, it is located in the southern part of Central Mexico on the main route between Mexico City and Mexico’s main Atlantic port, Veracruz, according to Wikipedia. The city was founded in 1531 in an area called Cuetlaxcoapan, which means “where serpents change their skin,” between two of the main indigenous settlements at the time, Tlaxcala and Cholula. The city is also famous for mole poblano, chiles en nogada and Talavera pottery. However, most of its economy is based on industry. Being both the fourth largest city in Mexico and the fourth largest metropolitan area in Mexico, it has a current population of 3,250,000 people, and the city serves as one of the main hubs for eastern Central Mexico.

Guillermo, called Big Bill by the Schleper family as they already have a Little Billy, who was six years old. Big Bill was in Shakopee for two months as part of the International Cultural Exchange Program, according to an article, “Local Families Host Foreign Exchange Boys” in the Shakopee Valley News, Oct. 19, 1967. Big Bill lived with the Schleper family, while the Doherty family hosted Hector Barcenas Barreto, age 12.

The exchange program originated in Mexico and operated under the approval of all Catholic Diocese in Mexico and participating Catholic Diocese in the United States. The program was not limited to Catholic participating, but rather the exchange students are placed in homes where their parents’ religion is practiced. The students used their school vacation period to visit a host family in another country. Guillermo and Hector lived with their host family and attended school with the families’ other children.

The main purpose of the exchange, according to the article, was to acquaint the youth in Mexico, Central America, and the United States with actual values and truths of each other’s cultures by means of living experiences in them as guest members of host family.

The boys arrived at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport on Sept. 19, 1967, along with fifty other 12- to 18-year-old students. According to the paper, the arrangements for their visit and transportation costs are taken care of by the International Cultural Exchange Program, while other expenses are covered by their family and the host families. Guillermo’s brother, who was 14, lived with another family in Kansas City, Missouri, also under the same program.

Both the Schleper and Doherty families were members of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Shakopee, and both Big Bill and Hector went to school at St. Mary’s seventh grade where Joe Schleper, Jr. and Timothy Doherty also attended. Hector wanted to come to the United States to learn English. Though he learned some English in Mexico, Hector wanted to learn English “like the ‘natives’ speak it.”

Big Bill lived with the Schleper family on Seventh and Main, across from Hiawatha Park. Beside his “brother” Joe, Jr., Big Bill also had fun with the rest of the family, including Linda, Jeanne, David, Little Bill, Gary, and Tommy. (One more child, Jen, was born in 1972.) The family enjoyed camping and traveling around the area with their blue station wagon.

At one point, during a friendly scuffle, Big Bill gave Hector a black eye! Rose Schleper, when she saw it, said, “This program has taught us that boys are boys, no matter which country they came from!” She added, “The whole family loves Billy. We will be sorry when it is time for him to go back to his home in Puebla, Mexico.”

In fact, when Big Bill left, the family asked his family in Mexico to return to Shakopee the next year, and sure enough, Big Bill again lived with the family in 1968.

Over the next several years, the Schleper family had several exchange students, both boys and girls, from Mexico and other Central American areas. But they all remember their first exchange student, Big Bill.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2020

Grace Elizabeth Lehmann was born Nov. 29, 1894, in West St. Paul, Minnesota, the daughter of August and Catherine Ryan Lehmann.

Grace remembered “With teaching more or less a family occupation, as long as I can remember. I have always wanted to be a teacher.” Her mother, Kathryn Ryan Lehmann, and eight of her aunts and uncles were teachers!

Grace married Edward Joseph Sweeney (1875-1936), son of Michael and Mary Catherine Mahar Sweeney. Grace and Edward had four children, Robert, John, Edward Jr., and Cathleen.

After graduating from the University of Minnesota, Grace taught English, social studies, and chemistry in Rushford, Graceville, and Melrose before arriving in Shakopee in 1924.

Starting in 1927 until 1931, Grace taught biology and Latin at Shakopee’s high school. Then, after Edward died on March 4, 1936, Grace again went back to the Shakopee faculty at the high school. In 1950, she became the principal and continued until 1961. She then worked part-time as an English and Latin teacher until her retirement in 1965. She retired after 33 years working with the Shakopee schools.

Grace loved her students and teaching but was known to be a disciplinarian. One time, she caught a student making and sailing paper airplanes during class. For his punishment, Grace made him make and sail out the window 100 paper airplanes and then go down to pick them up. “However, about mid-way through the project, the school superintendent, Al Wurst, came up to the classroom with most of the airplanes: He had spent the last several minutes picking them up and was wondering what was going on.”

While she was the high school principal, Grace introduced counseling in the school system, joined the National Merit Scholarship program, and the school participated in the World Affairs competition.

In 1965, the Scott County Teacher of the Year program recognized Grace for her outstanding achievement in education award.

Grace had a long-lasting support of the progress of Shakopee. She served on the City Charter Commission, was active in the Scott County Red Cross, active in the Democratic Party, involved in the Progress Valley Business and Professional Women’s Club, and active in the Shakopee Book Lovers’ Club. Grace had a keen interest in current events and closely followed politics. She saw every U.S. President in person, from Teddy Roosevelt to John F. Kennedy.

To get a fuller understanding about teaching her students, she served as a housemother at the Shakopee Reformatory for Women during the time she was instructing students in the social sciences.

Grace was a member of the National Education Association, the Minnesota Education Association, the Retired Teachers Association, and the Alpha Omicron Pi national sorority. She was also affiliated with the National Association of Social Science Teachers.

She was also very interested in poetry and literature. She read as many as five or six books a week at the age of 88!

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my work with the children of our community,” said Grace, “And I have always considered it a great honor and a privilege to have been entrusted with the direction of their education.”

In 1967, Grace and Edward were honored to have a new elementary school named after them, Edward J. and Grace Sweeney Elementary School. The dedication was Sunday, Oct. 1, 1967. Grace used to attend Grandparents’ Day at Sweeney School, where she delighted some of the grandparents who had Mrs. Sweeney for a principal or teacher during their own school days.

Grace Lehmann Sweeney died April 11, 1987. She was 92 years old. Her funeral was held on April 14 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church with Fr. James Schoenberger as the celebrant. Interment was at the Catholic Cemetery in Shakopee.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

Glynn Allyn Crooks was born Dec. 2, 1950, in Fort Hood, Texas to Amos Crooks and Rosemma Coursolle Crooks.

Glynn attended Shakopee High School, where he graduated in 1969.

After graduating, Crooks enlisted in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, serving as an administrative clerk aboard five U.S. Navy ships during his six years of service.

After returning from the Navy, Glynn took an active role in the leadership and growth of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, which achieved federal recognition as a sovereign tribe in 1969. Elected to four consecutive terms as vice-chairman, Glynn spent 16 years serving on the SMSC Business Council, proudly representing the tribe and its culture, history, and interests on both a local and a national level. A dedicated servant to his community and his Native heritage, Glynn was passionate about helping the SMSC and other tribes, never taking a single vacation during his 16 years of service.

As a longtime tribal leader, Glynn had the opportunity to meet with countless local, state and national leaders and often attended official ceremonies in Scott County and Washington, D.C., wearing traditional Dakota regalia.

In an article by Lynn Underwood in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Feb. 25, 2017, Crooks noted “I presented a peace pipe to Vice President Nelson Rockefeller,” pointing to a photo on the wall of that exchange in 1976 to commemorate the American Bicentennial. That was the start of a vast presidential memorabilia collection spanning the walls and displayed in rows of glass cases inside Crooks’s museum-style home at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community in Prior Lake and Shakopee.

Each grouping reflects his presidential encounters at White House events, along with photos, documents and artifacts that span the past four decades.

A large Presidential Seal decorating a wall catches the eye around every corner.

Crooks has met Ford, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton. He’s attended several inaugurations, including those of Bush, Obama and, most recently, Donald Trump. He paid his respects at the funerals of Ronald Reagan and Ford.

“Glynn has friends in lofty places,” said longtime friend Bernie Mahowald. “He was a great representative of his tribe.” While at the White House to attend Obama’s first Governors’ Ball, “someone came up from behind me and patted me on the back,” said Crooks. “It was the president. He looked so fit and trim.”

Crooks, a Navy Vietnam veteran, paid patriotic tribute to all the military branches, including a life-size mannequin dressed in an Army uniform and ready for action. Crooks organized, arranged, and decorated each space himself. “I dust every one of the cases,” he said.

The reproduction Oval Office was part of a 2,000- square-foot, two-story addition on the Crooks home, according to the article in Minneapolis Star Tribune on February 25, 2017

The main floor was what Crooks refers to as the “West Wing,” with two hallways packed with presidential memorabilia guiding you to the main event – the commander-in-chief’s light-filled workspace.

To get it right, Crooks did extensive research, using historical books with photos and other resources.

He’d hung reproductions of historic Oval Office paintings, such as the Abraham Lincoln portrait by George Henry Story. Then Crooks mingled his own pieces, including American bald eagle sculptures, which “stand for strength and wisdom,” he said.

Crooks was proud of his participation at many White House official events, his memorabilia collection, and his authentic facsimile of the Oval Office.

He often hosted open houses, fundraisers, holiday parties, and even invited local school groups to tour his “West Wing.”

“This is the closest some kids will get to the White House,” said Crooks, who was single and has an adult son.

Glynn also served as chairman of the SMSC Wacipi Committee for more than 25 years, helping the annual gathering grow into one of the largest Pow Wows in the Midwest. For the profound impact that he had upon the SMSC and for his devoted leadership throughout the years, he will truly be missed by those who had the privilege of knowing him.

Glynn Allyn Crooks, at age 67, passed away on Oct. 10, 2018, at home, surrounded by his loving family and friends. After the traditional All-Night Wake, Glynn was buried at the Tiowakan Spiritual Center at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community on Monday, Oct. 15, 2018.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

Gina Morales was born in Mexico City, Mexico. Her mother was Paula Morales, born in Coyoacán, Mexico on June 29, 1940. Paula’s parents, and Gina’s grandparents, were Luis and Emilia (Munguia) Morales. Paula married Duane Alan Johnson, son Lawrence and Myrtle (Hansen) Johnson, on Feb. 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-in-law to the three children.

Gina, along with her two brothers, Burt and Carlos, along with their mother and stepfather, moved from Mexico City to Shakopee in the early fall of 1971. The three Mexican Americans were one of the first group of people from south of the boarder to move and stay in Shakopee.

More than half of Minnesota’s 125 thousand immigrants from Latin America are Mexican. Over ninety percent of Mexican immigrants are employed, frequently with two jobs, and a strong emphasis is placed on family, church, and community. Employment opportunities and family connections are increasingly drawing newcomers to Minnesota.

Since the early 1900s, Latinos have been a productive and essential part of Minnesota. Most of the earliest were migrant farm workers from Mexico who faced obstacles to first-class citizenship that are still being addressed. Latinos faced, and still face, discrimination—both racial and the kinds common to all immigrants and migrants.

The sugar beet industry drove the initial Latino migration to Minnesota. During the early twentieth century, beet growers recruited Mexicans to migrate north. Once in the United States, they helped with cultivation and harvest. With little paid work in the winter and facing considerable discrimination, most of them returned south every year. It was hard work in the beet fields. It required working on one’s hands and knees when thinning the plants; bending over with a short-handled hoe when weeding; and stooping to harvest beets by hand. All of this labor took place in the unpredictable Minnesota weather and in the company of mosquitoes.

Older people in Shakopee and Scott County occasionally hired families for harvest. The whole family would be out of school, working, and staying in sheds until the harvest was over, and then they moved south during the winter. The Mexican Americans also worked picking pickles and working plants such as the Gedney Pickle Factory in Chaska, which started in 1881.

Soon, colonies of Mexican migrants established themselves in St. Paul and Minneapolis. There, they found substandard housing, limited work, and unfriendly locals. Some men found work at meat-packing plants in South St. Paul or on the railroad lines in Inver Grove Heights and Minneapolis. Most women could only find jobs as domestic help. In the 2010s, Minnesota featured large clusters of Latino families near meat- and poultry-packing facilities. More recent migrants are entrepreneurial and have started businesses all over the state, including in Shakopee.

In the fall of 1971, when Gina, Burt, and Carlos Morales were having a challenging time learning English, an after-school program connected three Spanish high school students with the three Morales children to help them learn English.

Today, with more people from other countries moving to the area, the Shakopee Public Schools has a curriculum designed for students who are not native speakers of English. Language is learned in a content-based instructional program. Services are also intended to familiarize students with American culture and the expectations for students in an American public school. Ultimately, the goal of the program is to transition students successfully into English-only instruction.

Besides speaking English, the students at home in Shakopee speak Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese, Chinese (Mandarin), Taiwanese, Cantonese, Lao, Cambodian, Thai, Bengali, Khmer, Tamil, Telugu, Bangla, Gujar, Malayalam, Arabic, Swahili, Somali, Tigrinya, Afrikaans, and Cameroonian Pidgin English!

Like most family, and like those who spoke German or other languages at first, by the second generation, the children speak both languages, and by the third generation, they almost all speak English.

Learning English is influenced by many factors, but studies show that it takes a minimum of five to seven years of high-quality instruction for students to become proficient in reading, writing, speaking, and understanding English. I am sure that Gina and her brothers were up to the challenge. According to the Shakopee Valley Newson Oct. 20, 1977, the three Mexican Americans showed remarkable improvement in comprehension. “They are all very bright and catch on quickly once they are able to understand what is being said,” said Ron Kolb. Gina’s mother, Paula Morales Johnson, died Nov. 28, 2016, in Shakopee. Gina’s father-in-law, Duane Alan Johnson, died April 22, 2020. But Gina, along with her family, including grandchildren, continue to be proud Mexican Americans who learned English in Shakopee.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2020

Geraldine Theresa Mingo, who was born in Shakopee on July 24, 1931, was the daughter of Andrew and Katherine Mingo. Her father died in 1944, and in 1948, Geraldine was looking for an adventure. While looking for an interesting summer job, she heard about a job as au pair in St. Paul.

The word “au pair” is a French term, which means “on par” or “equal to,” denoting living on an equal, caring relationship between the host family and the children. An au pair typically will be a young woman who chooses to help look after the children of a host family and provide light housekeeping. The au pair is given room and board and is typically paid a weekly “pocket-money” salary.

Geraldine secured a position as an au pair with the Alfred S. Butwinick family in the Highland Park area of St Paul. She took care of the children during the days and stayed at their place each night. On weekends, Geraldine went home to Shakopee to visit her mother

On Monday, Aug. 9, 1948, Geraldine, age 17, left the Butwinick residence early Monday evening to attend a show. Later, she met with her fiancé, Lawrence Ludeen, age 22, and spent the evening in company of another friend. Lawrence brought Geraldine to the Randolph Hazel Park streetcar at 12:30 a.m. According to a report, motorman Glenn Anderson reported that Geraldine and one other passenger were on the streetcar when it reached the Highland Park neighborhood. She alighted the streetcar alone.

And that was all that was seen of Geraldine Mingo.

At 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 10, Saul L. Selle, age 45, let his dog, Tippy, out to do its business. After returning to the bedroom, Saul looked out a rear window and saw what appeared to be a bare leg. Saul asked his wife, and they both looked from the window, and then called the police.

The police arrived and looked at the young adult, who had been slashed and stabbed on both sides of her neck, the back of her head, and both wrists. From a slip of paper in a billfold in her sweater pocket, the police identified the victim of a most sadistic slaying.

Sheriff J.P. Wermerskirchen was also called, and he took George Mingo to St. Paul to confirm the identity. It was believed that Geraldine was attacked and slain at some other spot and deposited near the Selle’s backyard. It was about twenty blocks from the Butwinick home.

The St. Paul Dispatch-Pioneer Press posted a reward of $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the murderer, but no critical information was received.

Services for Geraldine were held on Saturday, Aug. 14, 1948, at the home and St. Mary’s Church. Rev. Michael McRaith led the requiem mass, and the burial was at St. Mark’s Cemetery (now the Shakopee Catholic Cemetery).

Pallbearers were James Anderson, Eugene Brown, Louis Engel, Steven DeMers, Thomas Huth, and George Rutherford. Honorary pallbearers include Lelia Dellwo, Valerie Dellwo, Carol Dellwo, Jean Dellwo, Delores DeMers, Della DeMers, Bonnie Meuwissen, and Lucille Koll.

Preceding her in death were her father in 1944, brother Henry and sister Catherine. She was survived by her mother, three brothers, George, John, and Bernard, and sisters Mary Thorbus and Betty Christensen.

The outpouring of sympathy for the bereaved family was boundless. Flowers, mass cards, and other tokens of condolences gave mute testimony to the sorrow felt by the entire community.

More than one thousand people attended the funeral of Geraldine Mingo.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2020

Gertrude Siebenaler was born in Vermillion, Minnesota on Aug. 8, 1919, one of sixteen children of Leo and Magdalena Girgen Siebenaler.

Gertrude married John A. Roepke on March 13, 1947, in Shakopee.

Gertrude was a secretary for four superintendents of the Shakopee Public Schools and was also a historian. She documented the WPA mural which was at Fifth and Holmes Street in Shakopee.

The Federal Art Project was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. It was created not as a cultural activity but as a relief measure to employ artists and artisans. One of the WPA murals was painted in Shakopee nearly ninety years ago.

The project created more than two hundred thousand separate works, some of them remaining among the most significant pieces of public art in the country.

Artists were paid $23.60 a week; tax-supported institutions such as schools, hospitals and public buildings paid only for materials. In 1938, John Metcalf, Superintendent of the Shakopee Public Schools, asked the Federal Art Project of the WPA to create a mural. The mural was to be at the school library, and to show the history of Shakopee from 1842 until 1940.

Muralist Harmon Arndt, a graduate of the Minneapolis School of Art, was employed to do the work.

Harmon met with several of the town’s leading citizens, the school board, high school students and John Metcalf. After many meetings, the work began. Three other artists assisted Arndt who supervised the work. Classes of 1938, 1939 and 1940 donated funds to pay for the mural project.

The first panel depicts Rev. Samuel W. Pond teaching a group of Dakota Indians the Christian word for God and the arts of white culture and civilization. He and his brother, Gideon, came to Minnesota as missionaries from Connecticut in 1834, and in the fall of 1847, Samuel, his wife, Cordelia Eggleston Pond, and their first three children came to the village of Tínṫa Otuŋwe, or prairie village. Samuel called it Prairieville and it later was called Shakopee. On left is John Metcalf, who was superintendent of Shakopee Public Schools who asked for the mural. On right is also part of the first mural, showing the first steamboat to churn the muddy waters of the Minnesota River in 1842 bearing a party of pleasure seekers to Prairieville.

The second panel represents the laying out of the town site (even though a village of Tínṫa Otuŋwe and 600 Dakota Indians were already there for more than 150 years!). In the background is the tamarack log cabin/trading post of Oliver Faribault, who was one-quarter Dakota Indian. One important missing piece is that Oliver’s wife, Wakan Yaŋke WiŋWaken, was also there (though not in the mural). She was Dakota and was born in the Minnesota Valley among her Dakota relatives, including Ṡakpe II. Another missing person was Joseph Godfrey, who was enslaved. Joseph helped build the cabin, and around 1847 he escaped, walking forty miles along the St. Peter’s river to freedom. Two other early settler-colonizers included Thomas A. Holmes holding a scroll which is a plan of the future town; and David L. Fuller who looks through his surveyor’s transit. One person not in the picture was William Louis Bill Quinn, who met with Thomas A. Holmes at Fort Snelling in fall of 1851. Thomas discussed looking for a possible place for townsites. Holmes engaged Quinn as a guide and companion on an investigating tour. Bill, who was part Cree, knew several languages, including Dakota, English, French, and Ojibwe.

The third panel shows the coming of the settler-colonizers in their covered wagons. In the background are the tipi of the Dakota, the original settlers of this territory (though since it was a summer planting village, they lived in tipi tanka, or big lodges, along with a few tipi). The Dakota were forced off the land by land speculators and traders who made treaties, in which they often took advantage of the Dakota. The white population in 1852 consisted of about twenty families; the Indians numbered about six hundred. There were many Métis people here, and people spoke Dakota, French, and English.

The fourth panel pictures the buildings of early Shakopee. The grey building to the left is the Methodist Episcopal Church, erected in 1867. In the background the red building is the City Hall and Fire Department, erected in 1883. The brown building is the Union School located between Holmes and Lewis Streets on the south side of Fifth Avenue, which opened on Jan. 4, 1882. Farther along the panel is a 1908 dock scene of the wharf on the Minnesota River. The boats would dock at the shore or the levee and throw out a gang plank. A swing bridge was built and the bridge swung around on its center pier.

The fifth panel shows a Shakopee soldier leaving for the Civil War. This panel also shows the first railroad train puffing into Shakopee on Nov. 11, 1865. Shortly after, a combination engine and passenger car named The Shakopee made regular trips between Shakopee and Mendota.

The firefighters in this panel are shown fighting Shakopee’s first great fire which occurred in 1872, destroying the frame railroad shops of the St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad along with all the equipment and five locomotives.

H. H. Strunk and Sons Drug Store and John Berens’s grocery store are represented in the sixth panel.

The seventh panel represents the 1909 Street Fair at which James J. Hill delivered an address to one of the largest gatherings Shakopee had ever entertained.

The eighth panel represents modern Shakopee in 1938-39. In the background are the water tower, Rock Spring Bottling Works, St. Mark’s Church, the foundry, and Rahr Malting Plant. The new baseball stadium is also shown.

Gertrude Siebenaler Roepke, age 96, died on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016, and is buried at the Catholic Cemetery. Thanks to her, the information about the mural was written down for all of us. Photographs of the mural were by Jackie Colby, and more information was from Marion Heinen Caron.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023

In earlier days, the richest in romance, tradition, and pure excitement were the steamboats. Stories of the old steamboat days are always replete with action and interest. While the captain and the mate were important, the old river pilot stands out as the most interesting person in early American history.

George R. DeMers of Shakopee was a veteran river man and pilot of the Mississippi and Minnesota River. Starting as deck sweeper on a boat, he plied the waters of the Minnesota River until he retired to become part of the land a quarter of a century later. From the time he went on the river at ten years of age, his career was as colorful and thrilling as any fiction writer could desire according to “Recollections of a Pioneer Citizens: George R. DeMers Relates Colorful Incidents of His Career as a River Pilot,” Shakopee Tribune, Aug. 27, 1925, and in Recollections of Early Pioneers, 1925 by Betty A. Dols, Jan. 10, 2000, Shakopee Heritage Society.

Threading his way cautiously past sand bars, rocks, and rapids, sometimes through inky blackness, as others were hampered rather than aided by lightning flashes as the boat nosed its way through a storm at night, George R. DeMers relied on his training, his knowledge of the Minnesota River, and that uncanny sixth sense possessed by the old-time river men. In all those years, he never lost a boat or experienced a serious mishap.

George was inclined to attribute his splendid record to good luck. “I just didn’t happen to have any trouble, that’s all,” he said in conversation in 1925, when he was 74 years old. But a more logical explanation was that he possessed a good measure the skill, coolness, and judgment indispensable in a good river pilot. Even in those days of low wages, pilots received $125 or more a month.

George was born in Morris, Illinois on Oct. 22, 1851. His father was Joseph Emile DeMers (1820-1893) and his mother was Marie Anne Antailla dit Pelletier DeMers (1823-1888). Her grandparents were Étienne DeMers (1775-1843) and Therese Chretien DeMers (1779-1853); and Charles Pelletier (1792-1841) and Catherine Forcier dit Nadeau dit Gaucher Pelletier, who were born in Quebec, Canada.

The family moved to Merriam Junction. His father’s farm was near the Minnesota River, and naturally, George became interested in the great boats that swept so majestically up and down the river, and in the boisterous and carefree men that formed the crew. So, George was taken on as a deck hand in 1861, the first year of the Civil War. He served as a deck sweeper for four years and then became a watchman. Two years later, he was granted his papers as a pilot and was assigned to his first boat.

In years following, George served on many crafts that are prominent in river annals. Among them were the Minnesota, Diamond Jo, Otter, Mankato, Mollie O, and International.

Some of these were passenger boats, often with as many as three hundred souls aboard, all in the keeping of the pilot. “It was pretty serious business,” said George, “steering through the night with 300 people asleep behind you, and realizing that you alone were responsible for their safety.” Certain responsibilities were attached to the office of captain and mate, he explained, “but the pilot was held accountable for his boat when he was at the wheel, as he was not subject to the captain’s orders, except in certain minor matters of routine.”

George Robert DeMers married Catherine Kate Galvin (1857-1917) on Aug. 19, 1878, in Shakopee.

When asked to recount his most trying experience, George removed his hat and rubbed his head as a gesture of reflection. “Well,” he said, “I remember one time coming down the Minnesota with the Diamond Jo, the biggest boat I ever took out.”

“I had a valuable cargo and a lot of passengers aboard. We left the levee at St. Paul just before dark. It was cloudy, and I felt sure that we were going to have a storm. As it was early summer and the river was low, I thought I might have a little trouble in a storm at the rapids about Merriam, as that was then the most dangerous place on the river. Sure enough, just before we reached the rapids, the storm struck. Lightning flashed almost continuously, and the rain came down in sheets. I was pretty badly worried for a while, but we made the rapids without mishap.”

At another time, George narrowly escaped drowning. He was a watchman then. “It was on the old Mankato,” he said. “I was sound asleep when the engineer whistled for the landing at St. Peter. I jumped up and miscalculating the distance from shore, dropped into thirty feet of water. They fished me out, and after that I was more careful!”

The boats on the Minnesota River in those days were stern wheelers and carried crews of ten to twelve men, besides the officers and pilots. Each boat carried two pilots. The river men were a rough and ready lot, who settled all disputes with their first. But the veteran pilots called that they were a good-natured, kindly lot, for all that.

According to The Diary of Daniel M. Storer from 1849 to 1905: A Pioneer Builder and Merchant in Shakopee, Minnesota, steamboats were a regular appearance on the Minnesota River. Over time, the steamboats included Tiger, Humboldt, Soleo, Greek Slave, Nominee, Minnesota Belle, Lola, Globe, Black Hawk, Navigator, Monticello, and Reviler. Others included Equator, Frank Steele, Henrietta, Yankee Robinson, Ariel Jones, Albany, Stella Whipple, Antelope, Jeanette Roberts, Northern Light, Chippewa Falls, City of St. Paul, Lorna Doone, Daisy, and Flora Clark.

George’s brother, Charles, was also a pilot. One day the two brothers raced their boats from Mankato to St. Paul. George was on the Mankato, and Charles was on the Carver. The latter won by two hours. The brothers also spent several years on the Red River of the North, traveling between the headwaters of the river and Winnipeg. A prominent thoroughfare in Grand Forks, North Dakota bears the name DeMers Avenue.

With the advent of railroads, steamboat traffic declined, and after a few years, the Minnesota River ceased to be an important avenue of transportation. George gave up his post as a pilot and worked in the Shakopee mills, owned by G.F. Strait. He served as head miller ten years, retiring several years later. He married Katherine Galvin, and they had two boys and two girls.

Modest and unassuming, the Shakopee veteran holds lightly his service as a river pilot, but George DeMers’s record speaks for itself.

George’s wife, Kate Galvin DeMers, died in 1917, and was buried at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Shakopee. George died at age 78 in Minneapolis in December 1929, according to The Minneapolis Journal, Dec. 9, 1929.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023

George Henry Vierling was born Jan. 28, 1821, in Großwallstadt, Miltenberg, Bayern, Germany. His parents were Heinrich Henry Vierling and Johanna Ulrich Vierling (1791-1847). George Henry’s grandparents were Gottfreid Vierling (1746-1819) and Maria Gerthrudis Zahn Vierling (1759-1814); and Andreaus and Magdalene Ulrich.

When George was 29 years old, he emigrated to America, and settled in Boston, Massachusetts in 1851. According to Joan Schaefer, he came here with his brothers, Michael and Frank, and sister Barbara. George Henry Vierling (called Henry) married Anna Mary Frieze in Boston on Nov. 9, 1852. Anna was born Nov. 5, 1835, in Hofstetten, Eichstatt, Bayern, Germany.

In fact, over several years, starting at the arrival in Baltimore on Aug. 15, 1833, people from Großwallstadt moved to America, becoming settler-colonists, to Boston and later to Eagle Creek and Shakopee, Minnesota. Among those on the passenger lists include Fleickensteain, Geis, Gigerich, Rein, Rippberger, Spielman, and Vierling, according to Großwallstadt (Grosswallstadt) Immigration by William C. Scherer in 2022.

Henry and Anna soon had their first daughter, Mary, in Boston. George, who was a musician, moved to Annapolis, Maryland seven months after the wedding, where he enlisted in the Navy as a musician, according to an article by Lucille B. Hummell. He played the violin and several brass instruments, according to Joan Schaefer at ancestry.com on May 18, 2001. Though the normal term of enlistment was three years, Henry was discharged after one year due to his poor health.

In 1854, Henry, Anna, and Mary moved to Eagle Creek Township, now part of Shakopee. After nine years, they moved to Shakopee in 1862. They built a home in on Third Street, just east of St. Mark’s school. They had 12 children.

According to Lucille B. Hummell, “Henry was a natural born musician and had an intense love for music, placing it next to his love for his church (Catholic) and his wife. He was a skillful player of the violin (since he was 12 years old) as well as several brass instruments. The well-known Vierling Band played its own compositions for arrangements of other compositions. For nearly a half century, Henry entertained with his violin.”

Several years later, Henry added the Vierling Cigar Shop in the rear of the home. It was also a shoe shop for a short time. Louis Winters, a cigar maker, helped set up the cigar business with Henry.

One of the most famous brands was the “Diamond-S” cigars. The cigars were advertised by a bit of home scenery, christened after a famous home brand of flour, and appreciated in Shakopee. The Vierling cigars were of such a uniformly good quality that they advertised themselves, and the factory had a flourishing trade not only in Shakopee, but in neighboring towns and in the Twin Cities.

Henry used the best fillers in the different grades, and returned to the factory all trimmings and other waste rather than use them to his profit and to the deterioration of his goods. According to an article in the Scott County Argus, careful buying of stock, having workmen who were experts in the goods, and skilled management of the business brought a fair measure of reward.

Henry Scherer, who was recovering from a near fatal knee injury, worked at Henry’s cigar store in 1879.

John Velz and Joseph Coller served as apprentices at the cigar making trade, though they did not follow the business. Henry’s two sons, John and George, continued manufacturing the C.O.F. and White Lily cigars, according to Scott County Argus, Oct. 7, 1897.

When John Vierling died, the old shop was abandoned as a cigar factory, but the house portion continued to be used as a residence. In February 1935, the house and business were torn down, destroying the landmark, according to the Shakopee Argus Tribune, Feb. 21, 1935.

Anna Mary Frieze Vierling died March 1, 1896, in Eagle Creek Township, and was buried at St. Mark’s Cemetery, now the Catholic Cemetery on Tenth Avenue.

George Henry Vierling died Jan. 21, 1901, at the age of 79 years, just short of his 80th birthday. His funeral took place at St. Mark’s Church, and he was buried in the Catholic Cemetery.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022

Genevieve Perreault was born Sept. 3, 1850, at Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon, Berthier, Quebec, Canada, one of nine children of Pierre and Louisa Perreault.

Genevieve’s father was Pierre Peter Perreault, who was born May 13, 1818, in Lavaltrie, Quebec, Canada, the son of Pierre Perreault and Marguerite Latour-DuFour. Pierre was the third great grandson of Nicholas Perrot, famed fur trader, French explorer and interpreter of Natives in the Great Lakes Region. Nicholas had migrated from France to New France (Quebec) in the company of Jesuit priests at age 16 in 1660. Nicholas eventually returned to Quebec where many generations of the Perrot/Perreault family lived until his third great grandson Pierre migrated to Minnesota with his family.

Genevieve’s mother was Louisa Elise Marguerite Tellier-LaFortune, also known as Marie Elizabeth. She was born Sept. 9, 1815, in St. Sulpice Assumption, Quebec, Canada, daughter of Joseph Tellier-LaFortune and Marie-Louise Valliant. Her parents married on Nov. 25, 1839.

Pierre and Marie left for Minnesota with six of their children, including Genevieve, in 1857. These children, besides Genevieve, were Elisabeth, Marguerite, Melina, Joseph, and George. Three children had passed away prior – daughters Felonise, age 1, in April 1845; Eloise, age 1, in July 1849, and a son Pierre, Jr., who died at age 8 in April 1854.

In the 1857 census Pierre is listed as Peter Paro with his wife Lisette, township 11, range 26 in Nicollet County, north of St. Peter, Minnesota. He is listed as a stone mason. After the 1858 Treaty of Traverse des Sioux, they moved as settler-colonists to Native land. It is believed the three families, Pierre Perreault, Clement Cardinal, and Eusibi Picard (husband of Pierre’s daughter Elisabeth) bought the property as a whole then chose their plot of land. According to historical descriptions, Pierre chose to build his cabin half mile up the coolie from what would later become known as the Birch Coolie Battlefield. Nearby were their neighbors, the two Clausen families and the Witts. The cabin site was on the Birch Coolie Creek then known as the LaCroix which flows into the Minnesota River. The LaCroix was and still is lined on both sides by trees as it flows through the ravine (coolie). It was a beautiful peaceful area just below the vast open prairie.

The side Pierre had chosen to build, though flat and even, had a gentle slope down to the creek. An ideal place sheltered from the harsh winds of the open prairie just beyond the trees, yet close enough to the creek to access water and at the top away from any spring flooding. The area was cleared, and in 1859 the last child was born to Pierre and Marie-Elizabeth, Philomene, according to an account written by Colleen Harson-Harvey.

Their farms were just across the Minnesota River from the Lower Sioux Agency which was an administrative center established by the federal government to distribute annuities to pay the Dakota for the land they were forced to relinquish for the new white settlements. The Dakota no longer were allowed on their lands to hunt on. The Dakota were reliant on these funds to buy supplies to feed their families. Payments were late. The Natives grew hungry and the food languished in the warehouses of the traders.

On Aug. 16 a keg with $17 thousand worth of gold coins reached St. Paul. The next day the keg was sent on its way to Fort Ridgely for distribution to the Dakota natives. Fort Ridgley was 13 miles from the family farms. It arrived a few hours too late to prevent an unprecedented outbreak of violence.

Genevieve was about 12 years old when the Picard and Perreault homesteads at Birch Coulee were attacked during the U.S.- Dakota War of 1862. On the morning of Aug. 18, 1862, a bright sunny day after several days of rain, Pierre had just brought in a cartload of hay pulled by the oxen. According to daughter Genevieve, the Dakota advanced wearing war paint. They attacked Pierre. After a struggle he lay dead at the base of a haystack with an arrow through his chest and run through with his own pitchfork. They then set the haystack on fire and killed the oxen. Pierre is likely buried in an unmarked grave on the homestead by the soldiers who were sent two weeks later to bury the dead.

Besides Genevieve’s father, Pierre, her brother-in-law, Eusebi Picard, was killed.

Marie-Elizabeth and her younger children, Genevieve 12, Melina 10, Joseph 8, George 6 and Philomene, age 3, likely fled by foot. They probably followed LaCroix Creek through the safety of the trees to the Minnesota River and on to Fort Ridgley. The terrain along the Minnesota is very difficult to traverse with gullies, ridges, and fallen trees. With small children, travel would be slow and difficult at best. They would have likely spent the night with the massive oaks blocking out any moon light. It was terrifying in the least, with the night sounds around them. Many refugees arrived at the fort the next day.

The surviving members of the Perreault, Picard, and Cardinal families lived at the fort for two months. After their stay at the fort the families sailed to St. Paul Landing, then went on to stay the winter in Shakopee. After the spring thaw, the family, except for Genevieve, age 12, moved to Centerville where there was a large French-Canadian population. Being the oldest of Pierre and Marie-Elizabeth’s unmarried daughters, she may have stayed behind to work for a family. After two years being separated from her family she married Theolon Luce on April 19, 1865, in St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Shakopee. Geneivieve was 14 years old.

Theolon Luce was born Jan. 7, 1844, in Paris, Paris, Île-de-France, France. His parents were Constantine Luce (1812-1870) and Mary Constant (1815-1879). An only child, Theolon and his parents came to America in 1852 and were settler-colonists in Jackson Township near Sha K Pay, Minnesota Territory.

Genevieve and Theolon had 13 children they raised on the original farm outside Shakopee.

Theolon died May 1, 1922 from carcinoma of the liver. According to an article in the Shakopee-Argus Tribune on May 22, 1922, Theolon had been ill all winter but was able to be up and around the house and had been confined to his bed only one week before death claimed him.

Genevieve passed away Nov. 12, 1939. The headline of Genevieve’s obituary in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on Nov. 13, 1939, was “Genevieve Luce, 92, Indian Fight Survivor Dies.” Geneivieve was buried near her husband at Calvary Cemetery in St. Paul.