Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2024

Veronica Leigh Giese (called Vern) was born in Carver, Minnesota.

Ever since the Shakopee Fire Department started in 1883, after fires in the 1870s destroyed many homes and businesses, all the firefighters were men. There had never been a woman among their ranks until 2004. And then, Veronica Leigh Giese became the first!

In 2004, Vern Giese was not new to firefighting. She was a member of the Carver Fire Department from 1999 until 2002. While living in Shakopee, she was a full-time paramedic for Ridgeview Medical Center in Waconia. In the Shakopee Valley News on June 24, 2004, Vern Giese and Pam Enrich were not the first who was considered for a position in the Shakopee Fire Department. In fall 1997, Mary Jane Buland was considered, but she relocated shortly after when her husband had a job transfer. Pam Enrich was unable to meet all the requirements to become a firefighter, and so Veronica Giese became the first woman firefighter in Shakopee in 2004.

Vern became the first of many other women to join the department. According to the Shakopee Valley News in August 2004, called “A first for city, she just wants to be a firefighter” by John Mueller, other area communities—Chanhassen, Jordan, New Market, Eden Prairie, Savage, and Prior Lake—have employed or currently have women firefighters among the ranks, according to Marty Glynn. And finally, in 2004, Veronica became the first in Shakopee.

Vern Giese was a native of Carver, a small town across the Minnesota River just outside Chaska. “Working among men is nothing new. She has worked in construction trade as a painter as well as in emergency medical-response situations. Her skills as a paramedic for the Carver Fire Department were more frequently tested than her ability to put out fires.”

According to the Shakopee Valley News in August 2004, Vern’s mother, Monica, was not surprised when her youngest daughter chose firefighting and paramedic work as a career path. Veronica Giese’s great uncle was John Abeln, a Shakopee firefighter who retired after 30 years in the business! “At first, we thought she was just attracted by the action. She’s always enjoyed helping people. Helping people has really become her thing,” said Monica Abeln Giese. Monica remembered that they always encouraged their three children to set their mind on a goal and work for it, regardless of what others may think or say. With that as a foundation, all three of her children have a strong will.

“As a child, Veronica brought home a kitten after her mom said she couldn’t. She also brought home rodents from school after her mom said no.” Monica noted that “she’s just real caring and kindhearted. If she can do something and there’s no reason she can’t, then she’s going to do the best she can at it. We taught all our kids to stand up for themselves. We always told them they could do whatever they wanted to do.”

“Giese sees herself as just another firefighter and she quietly shrugs off the notion that she’s a pioneer of any sort. Giese said that if she is some sort of role model, it’s for women and men interested in service to their community,” said John Mueller in the Shakopee Valley News.

According to Vern, “I’m not here because of the women’s movement. I’m here because I want to be a Shakopee firefighter.”

Female firefighters, like Vern Giese, are treated in the same regard as male counterparts—from taking the entrance exams, to the training in academy, right down to the firehouse. Unlike the military or other city agencies, there is not a different physical exam or academy requirements for women and men.

In the United States, 95.6% of firefighters are men, and 4.43% are women firefighters. Whether you’re a man or a woman — when you’re fighting fire… None of that matters. However, getting the job done is extremely physically taxing.

“It sounded easy, but it was really heavy. I was huffin’ and puffin,” said Veronica.

A group called Twin Cities Female Firefighter Fitness will now be regularly hosting expos and training for women interested in becoming a firefighter. Recruits have under seven minutes to complete a handful of physically demanding tasks, including dragging a 175-pound dummy and climbing five flights of stairs with a heavy hose bundle — and don’t forget the extra 60 to 80 pounds of gear while doing it, according to KSTP’s “Twin Cities Female Firefighter Fitness expo advocates for women firefighters.”

Veronica Vern Leigh Giese’s partner is Jacqueline Maria Paul, and they live in Minneapolis.

After five years of service, Veronica Giese, the first, and in 2009, the only, woman to answer a fire call in the history of the Shakopee Fire Department, who was an on-call firefighter since August 2004, resigned on Sept. 13, 2009, according to the Shakopee Valley News, Oct. 15, 2009. She ended up working as a police officer and paramedic for Woodbury Police Department.

Veronica (Vern) has been in law enforcement since 2008 and currently works as a police officer-paramedic for the City of Woodbury Police Department, which is located east of the state capital of St. Paul, Minnesota.

She is a certified firearms instructor. Vern is also certified in high angle rappelling, confined space rescue, and holds SCUBA certification. Vern has participated on a concept team assembled to research and design concealment holsters and clothing for women for a major law enforcement equipment manufacturer. Prior to becoming a law enforcement officer, she worked as an EMT-Paramedic for a full-time advanced life support ambulance for a west metro ambulance service. Vern has been a nationally registered EMT since 1999. She holds state firefighter I and II and HAZMAT technician certifications as the first female, paid on-call, firefighter for the Shakopee Fire Department.

Vern’s dedication is displayed both in her profession and her personal life. During her time off she enjoys spending time with family, biking, and the outdoors.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2024

Tai Doris Shigaki was born June 10, 1921 in Orange, California, daughter of Zenpoi Shigaki and Tofu Yoshimur (1886-1960) who were born in Japan. When she was six years old, her father died at their home in southern California. Her mother was a dressmaker who worked in the home. Her mother remarried, and the stepfather, a deep-sea fisherman, was often away, fishing in Mexican waters. Her parents, mild Buddhists, didn’t mind when Tai joined the local Gardena Japanese Baptist Church.

“As Japanese military action escalated in 1940, rumors circulated that Japanese Americans would not be permitted to live on the coasts. Shigaki’s parents moved to Utah to avoid conflict, and she transferred to the University of Redlands thinking that was far enough from the coast to be a safe haven. But when 360 Japanese bomber and torpedo planes devastated Pearl Harbor in the early morning of December 7, 1941, Shigaki had a feeling that life for Japanese American would change forever,” in the article, “Matters of Circumstance” (2006) Denison Magazine by Jonathan E. Bridge, Issue 2, Summer 2006.

Tai, along with 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry—two-thirds American citizens, were forced to relocate to military internment camps. “That spring, Shigaki was instructed to report to the train station. The news left her numb, but she and all the others who were notified dutifully followed orders. Shigaki packed what few possessions she had and boarded the train for a location unknown to her at the time.”

Tai ended up at the Poston Internment Camp, located in Yuma County (now in La Paz County) in southwestern Arizona. It was the largest of the ten American concentration camps operated by the War Relocation Authority during World War II. The concentration camps were in the desert, three miles west of the Colorado River.

Poston was built on the Colorado River Indian Reservation, over the objections of the Tribal Council, who refused use of their land because they did not want to be involved in inflicting the same injustice they had faced on the Japanese internees. Army commanders and officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, though, overruled the council, and took control of 71,000 acres of tribal land and began construction in early 1942.

Upon completion, the Poston site consisted of hundreds of residential barracks, a hospital, an administrative center, and guard and staff housing. The camp officially opened as the Colorado River Relocation Center on June 1, 1942.

Hurried construction and lack of supplies made living conditions for internees barely suitable. Weather also added to the difficulties of living in the camp because of its location in the desert. Extreme heat during the summer, reaching up to 115°F, and extreme cold in the winter, reaching as low as 35°F, added to the frustrations of internees.

Like many nisei—the term for second-generation Japanese Americans—she thought it was impolite to publicly discuss unpleasant things about herself. But later she wrote about this in the book Reflections, a collection of first-person accounts of camp life. “We suffered the straw mattress, the lack of privacy in the common showers room, bedroom, toilet facility, and the poor food in the mess hall with the knowledge that this was very temporary. As the days went into weeks and months, the lark was no longer very amusing. And each day we watched hundreds of new evacuees coming and heard the tragic stories of how they were uprooted, having to leave behind most of their possessions.”

She received a scholarship from Denison University in order to leave the camp. And Tai spent the rest of her life defending the dignity of others. She later went on to graduate from Andover Newton Theological Seminary. After serving churches in Hawaii and Minnesota, she became the director of the local YWCA, while she got yet another degree, this time in social work.

The University of Minnesota master’s degree in social work included working with prison inmates. Tai faced her ultimate test: affecting those who had reached a low point in their life and in their sense of place. She became assistant director of staff trading for the Minnesota Department of Corrections, and for 25 years she served in top administration, including the superintendent of the Minnesota’s Women’s Reformatory.

In a 1954 article, “Escapee Free for Less Than Hour” (May 7, 1954), Shakopee Valley News, an inmate from the State Reformatory for Women in Shakopee escaped by wiggling out of the basement window. Quanita Schleischer was twenty years old. She was an inmate, and part of her job was to clean the buildings. Quanita had gone to the basement for cleaning supplies. It was 8 a.m., and Quanita noted that the window in the basement was easy to open. So, she escaped through the basement window. When the workers in the prison noted this, they alerted the Scott County authorities at 8:02 a.m. Tai Shigaki, the assistant superintendent, was driving on Highway 169 and the Highway 5 intersection when she saw Quanita Schleischer. And so Tai took Quanita back to prison. At the reformatory, the guards informed the Scott County authorities about the apprehension.

Quanita Schleischer was back in prison after just ten minutes of freedom!

In her retirement, Tai served on the American Baptist Churches, USA General Board, served as chair of the Asian American Baptist Caucus and was a founding board member of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America – Bautistas por la Paz. She travelled the world spreading wisdom, solidarity and peace. When she couldn’t travel, she quietly funded others’ expenses.

When she was 86 years old, Tai Doris Shigaki married Spencer Parsons and lived in Massachusetts until his death a few years later. She then came back to Minnesota before moving to Chicago to be closer to her extended family.

Tai Doris Shigaki Parsons, at age 102, died in Evanston, Illinois May 30, 2024.

A celebration was held at the University Baptist Church in Minneapolis, a liberal church connected to the Alliance of Baptists, Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists; and Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America. Tai Doris Shigaki Parsons was cremated in Schiller Park, Illinois.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2024

Stephen Crooks, age 15, and his family, including his parents, Amos H. Crooks, Sr. (1886-1958) and Jemima Lebelle Crooks LaCroix moved from Prior Lake to Shakopee in 1923.

Stephen Crooks’s grandparents were George Wakanajaja Holy Lighting Crooks (1856-1947) and Alice Tatawaŋ Blue Star Boyd Crooks (1865-1954); and Louis JR Heraka Hekeakea LaBelle, Jr. (1845-1927) and Martha Jojowiŋ Toyowiŋ Shortfood (1856-1935).

Stephen Crooks’s grandfather, George Wakanajaja Holy Lightning Crooks, wrote an account of the journey of the prison camp after the U.S.-Dakota War in the Morton Enterprise, Jan. 29, 1909.

Though the war that ranged across southwestern Minnesota in 1862 between settler-colonists and a faction of Dakota people lasted for six weeks, its causes were decades in the making. Its effects are still felt today, according to MinnPost’s “The U.S.-Dakota war of 1862 lasted just six weeks, but its effects are still felt today.”

George Wakanajaja Holy Lightning Crooks noted, “The excitement of the Indians knew no bounds when they realized they were in the power of the soldiers and the scene was terrifying to behold, fear and despair completely carried them away and the impression gained an everlasting hold on his [my] youthful mind.

“It was repeatedly told us we were all to be executed and the insults of the soldiers who spoke the Indian tongue seemed a convincing fact that all were to be put to death immediately. This cruel order was constantly in our minds until the verdict of our trial was given us through an interpreter, some months later.

“After the surrender the Indians were loaded into old Red River carts and started for the Lower Agency and Manatee. The carts were small, drawn by an ox, and it was with difficulty for any more than four persons to occupy the box. In the cart I was forced to occupy were two Indiana men and my sixteen year old brother.

“We were bound securely and on our journey resembled a load of animals on their way to market. We traveled slow meeting now and then a white person who never failed to give us a look of revenge as we jolted along in our cramped condition.

“As we came near New Ulm my brother told me the driver was … afraid to go through New Ulm, my heart leaped into my mouth and I crouched down beside my brother completely overcome with fear. In a short time we reached the outskirts of the town and the long looked for verdict—death, seemed at hand.

“Women were running about, men waving their arms and shouting at the top of their voices, convinced the driver the citizens of that village were wild for the thirst of blood, so he turned the vehicle in an effort to escape the angry mob but not until too late, they were upon us.

“We were pounded to a jelly, my arms, feet, and head resembled raw beef steak. How I escaped alive has always been a mystery to me. My brother was killed and when I realized he was dead I felt the only person in the world to look after me was gone and I wished at the time they had killed me.

“We reached Mankato late that evening and the trial conviction and sentences are merely a matter of history. I can truthfully say the experienced photographed on my youthful mind can never be defaced by time,” said George Wakanajaja Holy Lightning Crooks in the Morton Enterprise, Jan. 29, 1909.

The Dec. 26, 1862 mass hanging marked the end of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, which took place along the Minnesota River Valley that fall.

After the war, 1,600 Dakota were held at a camp at Fort Snelling and then sent out of state, while virtually all other Dakota fled Minnesota. A memorial to 38 Dakota men who were hanged in the largest mass execution in U.S. history was added in 2012.

“Today, being here to witness a great gathering, we have peace in our hearts — a new beginning of healing,” said Arvol Looking Horse, the leader of the Dakota/Lakota tribe, according to the Free Press of Mankato.

Stephen Crooks always remembered what his grandfather said about the time, and it was always on his mind.

Stephen was a sixteen-year-old teenager who was chopping wood near his home on Third Street in Shakopee. Using an axe, Stephen chopped wood, and suddenly he received a cut on his foot.

In pain, Stephen was taken to Acker hospital in St Paul, where he was diagnosed with tetanus. Tetanus is a serious bacterial infection that causes painful muscle spasms and can lead to death.

The painful muscle contractions, particularly in the jaw and neck, can interfere with the ability to breathe, eventually causing death. And this happened in 1924 in Shakopee.

Stephen, age 16, died.

“The body was brought home Wednesday evening and funeral services were held yesterday afternoon from the home on Third street…,” said the Shakopee Argus on Friday, Feb. 22, 1924.

Stephen’s grandfather, George Wakanajaja Holy Lightning Crooks, a lay reader, officiated.

Interment was in the Valley Cemetery, according to the article, “Grim Reaper Summons Many Across Great Divide: Tetanus Causes Death” (1924). Shakopee Argus, Feb. 24, 1924. 

In 2000, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community established a community cemetery, and with the correct state permits and assistance from the proper authorities, the deceased, Stephen Crooks, the remains were moved to a new plot in SMSC.

It’s traditionally done at dawn to deter gawkers and to avoid offense to funeral-goers. The aim is to rebury the body within a day, so it makes sense to start as early as possible.

For more information about the Dakota from the Shakopee area, please visit Hoċokata Ṫi, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community’s (SMSC) cultural center and gathering space that is used to interpret and encourage traditional Mdewakanton Dakota cultural heritage, language, and history by sustaining this inherent knowledge for SMSC Members through exhibitions, preservation, and education.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2024

Private Francis Frank J. McCoy III was born Oct. 5, 1847, in what later became Newport, Minnesota, son of Francis McCoy, Jr. (1818-1888) from the Red River Settlement in Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan, Canada, and Louis Cadotte McCoy.

Frank’s grandparents were Francois Xavier Makaye McCoy (1782-1860) and Margaret Grant Sagan Lagrue (1794-1872); and Benjamin Cadotte (1792-1858) and Joseph Saulteaux Cardotte (1800-1832).

Private McCoy’s great grandparents were Francois McCoy McQuois (1760-1840) and his wife, Winona, and Peter Cuthbert James Grant, Sr. (1764-1848) and Marguerite Macheyquayzaince Utinawasis Son-Gabo-Ki-Che-Ta (Clear Sky Woman); and Laurent Cardotte Sr. (1766-1874) and Suzanne Unitawasis Maskegonne (1766-1874).

Private McCoy’s great-great grandparents were Peter Cuthbert James Grant, Sr., who was born in Cromdale, Strathspey, Inverness-shire, Scotland, and died in 1848 in Lachine, Québec, Canada. His parents (and Frank’s great-great-great grandparents were Angus Ballaguachaidh Grant (1742-1805) and Mary Ann McKenzie Grant (1743-1817); and Marguerite Macheyquayzaince Utinawasis Son-Gabo-Ki-Che-Ta (Clear Sky Woman), born in 1776 in Ruperts Land Qu’Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan, Canada, and died in 1864 in St. Eustache, Manitoba, Canada. Her parents (Frank’s great-great-great grandparents include Delonais Ojibwaince Songab Okichita Son gabo ki che ta, and Claire Equaywid Ahdik Songab Doodem Nokomis.

Frank’s grandfather, Francois Xavier McCoy, was a Chippewa Métis, born in 1782 in Red River and married in 1818, at Red River to Margaret Sagan a.k.a. Lagrue. McCoy and Lagrue are Chippewa. They moved to Minnesota in 1830-1831 according to Ruth G. Clasrest. The Mayke or Makye are believed to be a distortion of McCoy or possibly a camp or tribe name in or near Red River.

In the Minnesota region during the eighteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries, métis, or mixed-ancestry, people often acted as bridges between white and Native American communities. The Métis cultural community of Pembina formed out of fur trade dynamics and influenced Minnesota during its territorial birth.

The term métis has more than one meaning. One references a person with mixed ancestry (métis means “mixed” in French) and is usually written with a lowercase “m.” For example, in Minnesota before statehood, having one Dakota parent and one Scottish parent made one métis. Another meaning of the term identifies present-day members of the Métis Nation of Canada. This specific mixed-ancestry group practices distinct ways of life. People representative of both groups—the métis and the Métis Nation—were involved in the fur trade era in pre-territorial Minnesota and around the Great Lakes.

Mothers of Métis and mixed-ancestry children of the Great Lakes region came from the Dakota and Ojibwe nations as well as the Menominee, Potawatomi, Meskwaki, Sauk, Ho Chunk, Odawa, Cree, and Assiniboine. Scottish, Irish, French, and British fathers lived during the French, British, and American periods of colonization. They were coureurs de bois (French or métis traders), voyageurs, artisans, merchants, soldiers, officers, and government workers. Additionally, some mixed-ancestry children had one Black parent and one Native parent. Historical accounts describe marriages of men with African ancestry with Native women. James Thompson (eventually freed from slavery) married a Dakota woman in 1833. Joseph Godfrey escaped slavery and married a Dakota woman named Takanyeca in 1857. Pierre Bonga, a free man, married an Ojibwe woman, and their son George Bonga married Ashwewin, who was Ojibwe as well. These men lived and died in close association with their wives’ communities.

Marriages with Native women allowed the men to build bonds with their wives’ extended families. These husbands tapped into new economic opportunities, accessed hunting areas, influenced trading, and benefited from the many skills and kinship ties of their Native wives. The women themselves also gained social status, influence, and access to resources. Some of these marriages were á la façon du pays, French for “according to the custom of the country.” 

The métis were able to use different parts of their identity to survive day to day. This made for a variety of life stories. Jane Lamont, the Scottish and Dakota granddaughter of the Dakota leader Mahpiya Wicasta (Cloud Man), lost both her parents before she was 19 years old. She was at first a teacher, then chose homesteading and marriage to the nephew of the missionary Samuel Pond.

In the 1820s, the number of mixed-ancestry families and children in Minnesota soared. This began to change in the mid- to late-1800s, when the need for the métis as go-betweens declined. Pelagie Faribault, a woman of mixed Dakota ancestry, received land through an 1820 treaty with the Dakota. Roughly between 1830 and 1851, the Lake Pepin region contained land set aside by treaty for mixed-ancestry families. Much of it was lost to white colonists or exchanged for land certificates (scrip) in other locations.

Métis intermarried and passed on a culture combining what their parents had brought from their own backgrounds. Certain symbols persist in the present day as markers of Métis life. Brightly colored sashes and the sash dance, floral beadwork, and the infinity symbol flag are symbols of Métis culture. Métis music and dance traditions include jigging, fiddling, and tunes such as the Duck Dance Fiddle Song. Some Métis families celebrate Easter and maple sugar season with specific foods, like crepes with maple syrup. Linguists recognize the French Métis language and Michif as official languages spoken in the United States and Canada.

Francis Frank J. McCoy III volunteered to serve in the Civil War at the age of 17. He was described as 5’5”, with hazel eyes and brown hair. He became a private in Company B, 11th Minnesota Infantry.

In the National Park Service’s Civil War site: Organized at Fort Snelling, Minn., August and September 1864. Moved to Chicago, St. Louis, Mo., and Nashville, Tenn., September 20-October 5, 1864. Attached to railroad guard Louisville & Nashville Railroad, Dept. of the Cumberland, to March 1865. 4th Sub-District, District of Middle Tennessee, Dept. of the Cumberland, to June 1865. Service: Assigned to duty guarding line of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad from Nashville to the Kentucky line. Company “B” at Edgefield Junction October 1864, to June 1865. Moved to St. Paul June 26-July 5. Mustered out June 26, 1865, and discharged at St. Paul July 11, 1865.

Private Francis Frank J. McCoy III married Rose Laramie in 1871. They had four children: Cecelia Nellie; Nellie Rose; John; and Thomas Alexander.

On April 13, 1906, Private McCoy III died in Savage, and he was buried at Valley Cemetery in Shakopee. Rose died in 1925, and was buried near her husband in Shakopee, according to Find a Grave.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2024

Isaac Banks was born to Chester Levi Banks, Sr. (1914-1986) and Daisy Bernice Austin Banks (1912-1952). Isaac was the ninth of ten children, and was born in Belzoni, Mississippi on Nov. 9, 1948.

His grandparents were Isaac Ike Banks, Sr. (1882-1956) and Leola “Pet” Jenkins Banks; and Jerry Davis Austin (1885-1969) and Lily Lillie Mae Howard Austin (1893-1977).

Isaac spent his childhood with his siblings in Belzoni. At age seven, Isaac heard the story of Rev. George Lee, who was shot to death in Belzoni in 1955, after using his pulpit and his printing press to urge other Black Mississippians to vote. He became one of the first African Americans to register to vote in the mostly Black Humphreys County. And when he helped register more than ninety other Black voters, white leaders spoke with concern over growing African American power in the Mississippi Delta. Lee continued his work in the face of threats and electrified crowds of thousands with his speeches, according to Mississippi Today and Jet Magazine.

“Pray not for your mom and pop,” Rev. Lee told the crowd. “They’ve gone to heaven. Pray you can make it through this hell.”

Weeks later, shotgun blasts hit Lee in the face as he was driving home on May 7, 1955, and his Buick smashed into a house. The sheriff claimed the lead pellets found in his shattered jaw were fillings from his teeth. His killers were never found, as the governor of Mississippi, Hugh L. White, refused to investigate the case. Many consider Lee the first martyr of the modern civil rights movement.

It was a hard time for Mississippians, and so when Isaac graduated from McNair High School he headed north to Moorhead, Minnesota where he graduated with a teaching degree in math and history.

Isaac Banks then worked for 33 years of service at the United States Postal Service, starting at the U.S. Post Office in Shakopee. On his route, Isaac often stopped to talk to the people in Shakopee, including Rose Marie Weidner Schleper, who chatted with Isaac about his experience in Mississippi, where Rose’s sister, Sr. Bev Weidner, O.S.B. was working on civil rights. Rose remembered talking to Isaac about the time that her sister was put in jail for chewing gum in the courthouse when they were challenging rights there (and while the judge spit chew into a spittoon, a receptacle made for spitting into, especially by users of chewing and dipping tobacco, while forcing Sr. Bev into jail).

On Nov. 11, 1972, Isaac married Leanne Margaret Shear, daughter of Warren Ivan Shear (1917-1982) and Ethel Mae Tholund Shear (1922-2016). They lived in Shakopee from 1986 until 1997. Isaac and Ethel’s daughter, Corrine Elizabeth Banks, was born May 2, 1990.

Isaac worked at the U.S. Post Office, Anchor Glass in Shakopee, and part-time he worked as newspaper delivery. Resilient and hardworking, Isaac survived two kidney transplants and gained the adoration of many Minneapolis Star-Tribune customers whom he met on part-time newspaper delivery routes throughout the years.

In 2007, Isaac retired after 33 years of service at the United States Postal Service.

He was a lifelong Bible scholar. Isaac loved his alum associations, family and friends, music, comics, baseball cards, distance running, bowling and serving people.

Isaac dedicated his life to God as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in 2010. The basic design of Kingdom Halls is as places for people to assemble for Bible study and Christian association. Sometimes nearby congregations help financially to erect a Kingdom Hall building. In January 1970 the Shakopee congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses was formed, and meetings were first held in the local bank. To help this new group build a Kingdom Hall, seven congregations in the area contributed funds for the project.

The new Shakopee, Minnesota, Kingdom Hall is rustic in style, matching the homes in that rural area. Since it is built into a slope, it has a walk-in basement that serves as the main entrance. In the basement is a good-size entry area, with washrooms, cloakroom, library, literature area, as well as a small apartment where visiting ministers can stay. Access to the auditorium on the floor above is by the stairway in the entry area.

Isaac Banks passed away at the age of 74 on Friday, March 17, 2023 in Prior Lake. A funeral service happened on April 22, 2023 at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Prior Lake.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2024

Henry Hinds was born in Hebron, New York in 1826, son of Charles Hinds and Jane Qua Hinds. The paternal and maternal sides were of good old Colonial stock, having come to this country about the year 1650. Several members of the family were soldiers in the War of the Revolution, according to “Progressive men of Minnesota” (Shutter, Marion Daniel, 1853-ed.), Minneapolis, The Minneapolis Journal (1897).

Henry Hinds and Mary Fassett Woodworth Hinds were early settler-colonists in Minnesota Territory, coming here in 1854. Minnesota Territory was reduced in size in 1854 when the portion in present-day Nebraska was included in Nebraska Territory. Minnesota was admitted to the Union May 11, 1858, as the 32nd state, with generally the same boundary as the present state. Henry and Mary settled in Sha K’ Pay, Minnesota Territory. (The post office in Scott County was established in Minnesota Territory on Nov. 25, 1853, with the name of Sha K’ Pay. Sha K’ Pay, Minnesota Territory was used in posted letters until 1855, according to C.C. Andrews (1857), Minnesota and Dacotah: In Letters Descriptive of a Tour Through the Northwest, in the Autumn of 1856. Henry and Mary Hinds resided and Henry practiced law.

The city became Shakapee City, Minnesota Territory in the summer of 1855 and the files on Dec. 27, 1855, had the inscription ‘Plat of Shakapee City.’ Posted mail called the area Shakapee, MT, according to Hinds, William (1891), A 1891 Sketch of Shakopee, Minn: Historical and Industrial. Shakopee, MN: Reprinted by the Scott County Historical Society, 1996. On April 13, 1857, the post office in the town was changed to Shakopee, Minnesota, noted Coller, Julius A. II (1960) in The Shakopee Story (Shakopee, MN: North Star Pictures, Inc. Reproduced 2009 by the Shakopee Heritage Society).

Henry graduated from the Albany Normal College in 1850, took up the study of law in the Cincinnati Law School, and graduated from that institution in 1852.

Henry Hinds married Sarah Granell Doolittle in 1850. His second marriage was to Mary Fassett Woodworth Hinds (1825-1906) in 1853. Her parents were Ira Woodworth (1793-1861) and Wealthy Ann Gilberth Woodworth (1797-1846). They had seven children: Alice Hinds Sencerbox (1854-1900); Mary Hinds Lord (1856-1923); Henry Hinds Jr (1858-1883); George Hinds (1860-1888); William Hinds (1862-1932); Dolly Hinds (1863-1863); and Charles Gilbert Hinds (1866-1920).

In Minnesota, Henry held many offices of public trust. He was one of the leading lawyers of the Eighth Judicial District up to the time of his retirement from active practice in 1884. In the early days he acted as the county attorney of Scott County and judge of probate.

In 1867, Henry bought the Shakopee Argus, which he published for fifteen years. He was a member of the lower house of the legislature from Scott County in 1878, and was made a member of the board of managers in the impeachment of Judge Page, making the closing argument for the board before the senate. In 1879 and 1881 he served in the state senate, according to the Albert Lea Enterprise, Oct. 28, 1903.

At age 77, Henry Hinds died in Shakopee on Oct. 11, 1903. He was buried at Valley Cemetery.

Henry Hinds’s wife, Mary Fassett Woodworth Hinds, born on Dec. 28, 1825, died April 15, 1906, and was buried next to her husband at Valley Cemetery in Shakopee, Minnesota.

James M Hinds

Brother of Henry Hinds

James M. Hinds (1833-1868), brother of Henry Hinds, was the first U.S. Congressman assassinated in office. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives for Arkansas from June 24, 1868, until his assassination by the Ku Klux Klan. Hinds, who was white, was an advocate of civil rights for African Americans who were enslaved during the Reconstruction era following the American Civil War.

Born and raised in a small town in upstate New York, James went west at the age of nineteen and graduated in 1856 from the Cincinnati Law School in Cincinnati, Ohio. Hinds initially left home and went west at age 19. After obtaining a law degree in 1856 (at age 23), he moved to Minnesota Territory and settled in St. Peter, 40 miles west of his brother Henry in Shakopee. James opened a law practice and was elected district attorney for the county.

Hinds built a career and started a family in St. Peter during a turbulent time in the region because of conflict between settlers-colonists and the Dakota, culminating in the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. James M. Hinds enlisted as a private in the First Minnesota Cavalry’s Mounted Rangers, Company. Hinds hoped that St. Peter would become the capital of the new State of Minnesota.

By early 1865, however, he realized that the town was destined to remain a small farming village. Seeking a fresh start and more opportunity, in mid-1865 he relocated with his wife and two young daughters to Little Rock, Arkansas, in the throes of Reconstruction. In 1867, he was elected to represent Pulaski County as a Republican at the Arkansas Constitutional Convention. The convention was tasked with rewriting the constitution to allow Arkansas’ readmission to the Union following its secession and the American Civil War. At that convention, Hinds successfully advocated for constitutional provisions establishing the right to vote for adult freedmen, and for public education for both black and white children.

Campaigning for Republican candidate Ulysses S. Grant in the 1868 presidential election, James was threatened and targeted by the Ku Klux Klan. In October 1868, while traveling to a political meeting with Joseph Brooks in Monroe County, Hinds was shot to death by a Klansman.

James M. Hinds was the first U.S. Congressman assassinated in office. He was murdered on the eve of the 1868 presidential election, which was a contest over civil rights and suffrage for freed slaves. Republicans, led by former Union Army General Ulysses S. Grant, favored those measures, while the Democratic Party opposed them. On October 22, 1868, en route to a campaign event for former Union Army General Ulysses S. Grant near the village of Indian Bay, a man shot Hinds and fellow Republican politician Joseph Brooks in the back with a shotgun. Brooks managed to stay on his horse and ride to the event to bring back assistance. Hinds was knocked off his horse by the shotgun blast to his back, and lay on the road until help arrived. Before he died, Hinds wrote a short message to his wife and identified his killer. He died about two hours after the attack. A Coroner’s Inquest identified the shooter as George Clark, a local Klansman. Clark was never arrested or prosecuted.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2024

Hanora Power O’Connor was born in 1800 in Fairy Hill, County Cork, Ireland. The area of Cork is a maritime county in the province of Munster, and the largest in Ireland, bounded on the east by the counties of Tipperary and Waterford, on the north by that of Limerick, on the west by that of Kerry, and on the southwest, south, and southeast by St. George’s Channel.

There is not much information about her family, but she grew up in Ireland and enjoyed hiking near the mountains near Fairy Hill.

One writer talked about walking across the Shehy Mountains [“shee” means “fairy” or “hill” in Gaelic], which separates County Kerry from County Cork to the east…“Memories of the Mountain and the Fairy” by Larry McGinnity in Roaringwater Journal/Co. Cork. Just like Hanora in the 1800s, McGinnity remembers, “Turn right at the cross (the Irish term for crossroads) and hope for the best.”

“It was a lovely day for a walk. Bright and sunny, little chance of rain, although in Ireland you never know…Birds were singing. Beautiful Spring flowers like rhododendrons, blue bells, and cowslip were in bloom. I thought I even heard a cuckoo. All was right with the world. The first human form I met was an aged, diminutive man with a withered face, wearing a weathered red coat, and an even older looking cocked hat, riding in a cart pulled by a small Irish pony. He appeared to be transporting several large milk containers in the cart. After the usual greetings and conversation about the ‘grand’ morning, I continued on my way.”

“Was there something strange about that little old man and his inexplicable mischievous smile, wearing a weathered red coat, and his old, battered cocked hat? But this was Ireland and you meet the strangest of people….”

“…The flora also changed. Woodlands gave way to a more grasslands countryside, with Kerry cows and sheep grazing. I also felt my North Face pack straps pull against my shoulders under the increased angle of the gravel roadway. I was definitely climbing into the mountains.”

“…Suddenly, the road had become more of a wagon trail….The two trails suddenly became a single pathway. There was now no road; there wasn’t even a wagon trail. I was on a footpath…

“Even worse, the single pathway was becoming more rugged pasture than trail. I could see the top of the ridge line several hundred yards ahead. But as the trail completely disappeared, and the hillside became mountain side I knew I definitely no piece-of-cake ramble going on here. The ramble was becoming rigorously rough, and, hopefully, not ruinous.”

“The gradient was so steep it was pulling me over backwards. The sheep grazing around me didn’t seem to have the anxiety I felt. Finally, I couldn’t walk upright. I was crawling on all fours, dragging my pack on the ground behind me. Alone, except for the curious sheep looking at the bruised and battered intruder, I struggled on until…Triumph! I was there. Feeling more like a mountaineer than a day-hiker I had made it.”

“And it was worth it. Looking to the east was the breathtaking visa of West Cork from a height of several thousand feet. Looking to my rear, back into Kerry and the unexpected climb I had just experienced, the panorama was just as magnificent.”

Also in County Cork, Ireland was John O’Brien, who was born Jan. 1, 1800. Just like Hanora, there is little information about John growing up. But it is true that John O’Brien married Hanora Power O’Connor on Nov. 21, 1838.

At least three children were born in Ireland. Mary Ellen O’Brien, born in 1825, Manis Manus O’Brien, born in 1831, and Mary Jane O’Brien in 1841.

At some point, Hanora and John, along with their children, headed to America, where they were settlers-colonists in Minnesota. Census records note that by June 1, 1865 the family was living in Credit River.

Mary Ellen O’Brien (1825-1916) married Gerhard Wilhelm Gellenbeck (1826-1889); Manis Manus O’Brien (1831-1908) married Hanora Sullivan in St. Louis, Missouri; and Mary Jane O’Brien (1841-1900) married John Kintzie (1830-1884).

Hanora Power O’Connor O’Brien died July 24, 1869, and was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Eagle Creek (Shakopee). 

John O’Brien died on June 5, 1874, and was buried at Calvary Cemetery, near his wife.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2024

Charles Joseph Theis was born Aug. 6, 1898 in Louisville Township near Marystown. His parents were Charles S. Theis (1866-1930) and Mary Caroline Pieper Theis (1870-1943). Charley spent all his life in the community, including attending school at St. Mary’s of the Purification Catholic School in Marystown, along with his three brothers and three sisters. He enjoyed living near Marystown.

On May 19, 1925, Charles Joseph Theis married Mabel Anna Cress (1906-1996), who was born Sept. 5, 1906 in Clear Lake, Wisconsin. They married at St. Mary’s Purification Catholic Church in Marystown. The two of them had five boys: Donald Charles Sr. (1926-2006); Kenneth Anton (1927-1951); Norman Edward (1930-2000); Charles Joseph Jr. (1932-1955); and Leon Martin Theis (1935-2018).

A devoted Catholic, Charley was a member of St. Anthony’s Benevolent Society in Marystown and was a member of the Knights of Columbus in Shakopee. He was a treasurer of Louisville Township and was one of the moving spirits in the organization of the Minnesota Valley Elective Cooperative, an REA project this this section.

According to a 1941 article “Charles J. Theis Killed in Ditch Cave-In Tuesday,” Charley, who was 43 years old, was digging a trench across the road to lay a culvert with his neighbors, Henry Heibel and Joseph Grommesch. They had almost completed the ditch when the fatal accident occurred.

They were laying the culvert to drain a field on the Theis farm. Charles Joseph Theis was in the center of the nine-foot-deep trench when the sidewalls caved in and buried the Marystown man beneath tons of dirt.

Joseph, who was working near the end of the ditch, was also caught in the cave-in, and suffered a broken shoulder as a result.

The accident occurred on July 1, 1941 at about five o’clock in the afternoon. Henry frantically worked to release the men, and after a doctor arrived, he said that Charley died of a fractured skull.

The doctor also set the fractured shoulder of Joseph.

The grief-stricken wife, Mabel, and the five children, the oldest who was 13 years old, were saddened by the untimely passing of a kind, loving, and devoted father.

According to “Chas. Theis Funeral Largely Attended,” over half of the people attending were unable to get into the church, which was July 4, 1941 at St. Mary’s Purification Catholic Church in Marystown. The requiem high mass was presided over Charles Joseph Theis’s remains by Rev. Father Ziskovsky, assisted by Fr. Savs and Fr. Klein. Charles was buried at St. Mary’s Purification Catholic Cemetery.

Mabel Anna Cress Theis later married Joseph Henry Grommesch (1908-1980), son of John B. Grommesch (1865-1936) and Mary Ann Geis Grommesch (1874-1947).

Mabel Anna Cress Theis Grommesch died Nov. 10, 1996, and was buried at St. Mary’s Purification Catholic Cemetery.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2024

CayCee Moyee “Boogie” Jarvis Purham was born on May 1, 1969, the first and only child of George Morgan Purham (1931-2002) and Carolyn Cole Purham, who was born in 1935.

Grandparents of CayCee include Charles D. Purham (1902-1944) and Mary Harland Purham (1902-1993) from Tennessee; and Robert Edward Cole (1907-1957) and Caroline Carrie Green Cole (1906-1974) who were born in Alabama.

CayCee’s great-grandparents were Peter Purham Tyus (1848-1921) who was born in slavery, and Ella May Bates Purham (1874-1914). They were born in Tennessee; Tom Harland, born in 1884, and Emma, who was born in 1884 and died in 1966, who both lived in Tennessee; Edmond Cole (1868-1953) and Lucy Ann Williams Cole (1880-1862) who were born in Alabama; and Dock Green who was born in 1894, and Luella Carlisle Green (1880-1968) who were born in Alabama.

CayCee spent her childhood in Chicago, Illinois.

After graduating from high school, CayCee achieved a master’s degree in Hospitality Management. Though her career, CayCee worked for various establishments.

CayCee married Keith Lamont Johnson on Sept. 11, 1999 at the Chapel of Love in Bloomington, Minnesota. A shopping mall might not seem like the most obvious choice for a wedding venue, but for thousands of couples, the Mall of America has acted as the perfect backdrop for their vows. It was located on the third floor of the Mall of America, and performed more than 8,300 weddings and vow renewals over the past 28 years. After nearly three decades of “I dos,” the chapel closed its doors in August 2022.

Recently, CayCee worked as the Food Service Manager at Aspen Academy at 14825 Zinran Avenue in Savage. Aspen Academy is a tuition-free, public charter school located in Savage, Minnesota, and open to all families in Savage, Prior Lake, Shakopee, Burnsville, and the surrounding communities. The award-winning academic program focused on the Core Knowledge curriculum for kindergarten, primary school, and middle school classes. Aspen Academy offers limited class sizes that provide a sense of community, uses a literature-rich, Core Knowledge curriculum, and Singapore Math, and an elementary Spanish program.

Once CayCee knew that her cancer was destroying her life, CayCee called Ken Pass, who was the sexton at Valley Cemetery in Shakopee. Ken is often referred to as the caretaker of the cemetery, and he takes care of the Catholic Cemetery on Tenth Avenue, along with Valley Cemetery on Fourth Avenue in Shakopee.

CayCee had an experience which others had where cemeteries do not allow African Americans to be buried there, and so she called Ken, who let her know that she could be buried at Valley Cemetery. And so CayCee and her husband, Keith, stopped by, had a wonderful and positive experience, and bought the plot for the tombstones for CayCee (and sometime later, for Keith).

On July 14, 2019, CayCee Moyee “Boogie” Jarvis Purham Johnson died at age 50, surrounded by the people she loved the most, at the family’s home in Savage.

CayCee was a loving and dedicated wife, mother, and grandma. Her circle of family and friends was most important to CayCee. She was an amazing cook and when time allowed, CayCee loved to travel. She had a wonderful personality and a smile that would take your breath away. 

CayCee was always helping others and wanted to make sure everything was all right. She had this contagious laugh and always made people smile. CayCee was a fighter and never backed down from a challenge, including her diagnosis of cancer.

A Celebration of Life Service was held July 20, 2019 at River Valley Church in Shakopee. River Valley Church is an exciting and thriving church whose mission is to lead people into an authentic, life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ where people worship God, connect with one another and are launched into God-given purpose.

CayCee will be forever loved by husband, Keith Lamont Johnson; stepchildren, DuJuan Bell, Asya La’triece Johnson; children, Alexandria LaMoy Johnson, Adrienna Lynn Johnson, Aryahana Lauren Johnson, Keith Daveon Johnson; grandson, Cayden Jackson; other relatives and devoted friends.

Diane Hummel noted, “I have had the honor and privilege of working with CayCee for many years. I will always cherish our conversations, our gut-wrenching laughs, her famous one-liners, and the light that she brought to the school. She always took care of everyone else before herself and had the best attitude towards life. Amazing woman. The world seems a little dimmer without her.”

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2024

Jerry Carl Regan was born Dec. 18, 1917, in Akeley, Minnesota, son of William Alvin Regan (1881-1947) and Augusta Louise Winkelman Collins Regan (1882-1968). His grandparents were Jeremiah H. Regan (1842-1922) and Bridget Agnes Buckley Regan (1843-1924).

Jerry graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in pharmacy in 1941, the year he married June Kahler. June Dorothy Kehler was born April 25, 1917, in Minneapolis. They married in Excelsior on Aug. 25, 1941.

Jerry started his career as a pharmacist in Bemidji at Johnson Corner Drug Store. While in Bemidji, Jerry was a member of the Jaycees and was chairman of the Water Carnival. He was also a member of the Elks Lodge in Bemidji.

Jerry and June had three children: Emily Louise in 1942, Jerry William in 1944, and David Frank Regan in 1949.

In 1949, Jerry purchased the Scott County Drug Store in Shakopee and the family moved here. According to an article in the Shakopee Valley News on Jan. 23, 1997, Jerry owned and operated that store, which had the distinction of being the longest continuously operated drugstore in the state, until 1975.

The drugstore started on the northwest corner of First and Holmes Street in 1860. It was started by Charles Bahnerd. The drugstore moved to 120 East First Avenue and sold to Charlie Lord in 1873. In 1883, the drugstore moved once more, this time to 109 South Lewis Street. It was sold to Ben Kohler.

In July 1893, Math A. Deutsch, a registered pharmacist, and Herbert Zettel, purchased the drug store and a lucrative insurance business from Ben A. Kohler. Six years later, Mr. Deutsch bought Mr. Zettel’s interests in the business, thus becoming the sole owner. In 1898, Math was joined by his brother, Frank, in the operation of the business. The called the store Deutsch Drug Store.

Built upon the practice of the golden rule, a trait so frequently lacking in the highly competitive commerce of the modern day, the Deutsch Drug Store enjoyed a large patronage and an enviable reputation, noted the Shakopee Argus-Tribune on July 10, 1952.

“Many thousands of painstakingly compounded prescriptions, which restored health and helped to preserve life had passed through the cautious hands of the two brothers. In 1952, Math was 81 years old, and Frank was 75. Both of them welcomed the opportunity to give up their daily grind that has been theirs for so many years, though they must have missed the long business association that was soon drawing to a close.”

Paul Nevin and Bill Krawnblaud purchased the drugstore in 1946, and then kept it until December 1947. At that time, it was moved to 102 West First Avenue and called the Scott County Drug Store. It included new fixtures and a new fountain featuring Bridgeman’s ice cream, according to the Shakopee Valley News, Jan. 23, 1985.

The drug store was purchased again on March 4, 1949, this time by Jerry C. Regan from Bemidji. He moved with his family to Shakopee.

In an article in the Shakopee Heritage Society Newsletter, “Memories of the Scott County Drug Store,” Lois Marschall Wendt remembers Lalapaloozas and Lalapalooza Juniors. “It was a very large sundae with many kinds of ice cream and toppings,” Lois said. “I had to make egg salad, tuna salad, and ham salad sandwiches. The ham salad was made from the left over ham we had baked at the Shakopee Bakery…People loved the fresh baked ham sandwiches.”

“Every day we would have special jobs. I can’t remember each day, but I do remember Thursdays. We had to climb up on the window ledge above the whole length of the soda fountain and wash the windows. The neon light signs were really scary. And balancing on the window ledge in our white uniforms wasn’t very appealing to us at all. We would love to have Thursday off!”

“Sometimes Jerry would be very particular about how many ounces went into each cone, but not very often. Bridgeman’s would come out every once in a while for a soda fountain school. I remember Mabel Huth and Adeline Schneider. Mabel worked the fountain and Adeline worked the drug store,” noted Lois. “Jerome (Squint) Jaspers would always try to trip me up when making change. He would pay for his coffee and cigarettes. I would ring it up, and then he would add something else, so I would have to add the two together. He couldn’t understand why this was so hard. Of course, cash registers then were not like today!”

Another thing that Lois remembered was when the younger soda fountain workers would help in the drug store if needed. “They would ask me what they should do if someone asked for something and they didn’t know what it was. One guy came in and asked this poor innocent woman for condoms, and of course, she asked what it was used for (as per my instructions)! He quickly asked for the pharmacist as most guys did in the first place!”

In an article in the Shakopee Valley News in 1994, Carol Ann Johnson Schneider, Class of 1956, remembered, “We traded comic books and learned the words of all of the popular songs from a book we bought at Regan’s Drug Store.”

At the Women’s Reformatory (now known as the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Shakopee) the Shaw Cottage was the Shakopee Home for Children from Sept.19, 1951 to June 30, 1969. At that time, 30 girls from ages 4 to 12 lived in the cottage, with ten staff members and ten inmates who assisted, providing a program of rehabilitation with a humanitarian aspect. Jerry Regan and family from the Scott County Drug Store showed up every Sunday morning with two buckets of Bridgeman’s Ice cream for the children. In 1960, the fountain was taken out and the store was remodeled.

Jerry lived the Rotary motto of “service above self” as a civic leader in Shakopee, according to the Shakopee Valley News on Jan. 23, 1997. “Besides being a founding member of the Shakopee Rotary in 1955, and its second president, he was a founding member of the Shakopee Parks and Recreation District. He was committed to politics as a committee chairman, caucus leader and fund-raiser for the Independent-Republican Party for more than 40 years and as a Shakopee school board member from 1952-1967.”

“His love of the outdoors made him active in the Boy Scouts and his faith in God made him active in St. John’s Lutheran Church in Shakopee as chairman of the building committee from 1952-1957. Rev. Skip Reeves said Regan was ‘extremely well thought of’ adding that he ‘went out of his way for many people.’”

On June 4, 1976, the Deutsch/Scott County Drug Store closed after 114 years of business. After a long illness, Jerry Carl Regan died on Jan. 14, 1997, in Shakopee. His wife, June Kahler Regan, at age 94, died at Shakopee Friendship Manor Nursing Home on Feb. 4, 2012. She was an active volunteer with the St. Francis Hospital Auxiliary, community blood drives, a life-long Sunday school teacher and church worker, Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts at which all benefited from her twinkling eyes and radiant smile.

Jerry and June were buried at Valley Cemetery in Shakopee.