Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023

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

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

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

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

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

Ann missed her family in Marystown, so in 1986, the family moved back to Shakopee and the family opened Pablo’s Mexican Restaurantat 230 Lewis Street South. Located in the Huber building, across from the Shakopee Library. It was the last location for the Strunk Pharmacy, or the Old Drug Store, which was located there after moving from the north side of First Avenue, and was closed in June 1977 after 120 years of service. The place became The Sweet Treat Ice Cream Parlour and Restaurant, which opened Jan. 3, 1978. Manager and owner Cindy Strand, at age 18, was the youngest business owner in Shakopee. In 1986, the place became Pablo’s Mexican Restaurant, and it has been in business for more than 39 years and counting!

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

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

Ann Marie Menden Schwaesdall died April 19, 2011 in Shakopee, and was buried at the St. Mary of the Purification Cemetery in Marystown. Paul “Pablo” Schwaesdall decided to retire in 2015, and his two sons, Ed and Ron, took over the business, according to the Shakopee Valley Newson Oct. 2, 2015 by Cristeta Boarini.

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

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

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

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

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2020

Ida Gertrude May Gjerdrum was born Jan. 16, 1883, in Kennebec, Frontenac, Ontario, Canada. Her father was Eiling Odd Gjerdrum, and her mother was Mary Keefer.

As she grew up, Ida’s boyfriend was Frederick Buck. Ida was a registered nurse who took her training in a New York City hospital.

In 1912, Ida learned from her boyfriend, Frederick, that he wanted to get married. Dr. Buck returned to Canada, married Ida, and returned to Shakopee with his blushing bride.

In Shakopee, there was no public library, and the school library was inadequate. In October 1903 Ona Peck got together with a few other women in Shakopee and decided to organize the Shakopee Book Lover’s Club. Each woman contributed $1.00 to buy books. Ida loved to read.

The Book Lover’s Club met promptly at 3 p.m. Many of the mothers brought their babies along. It was inexcusable to arrive later. According to Ellen Boppel in a booklet called As I Remember Scott County, published in 1980, it was considered unacceptable to arrive even five minutes late!

According to Ellen, Mr. Dean had a bob sled and big bay horses, “Whenever the weather was inclement, he would hitch the big horses to the bob sled that always had a little hay in it, covered over with blankets, and he’d go to every home to pluck up the members. Later, he would call for them to take them home.” Once in a while, the Shakopee Book Lover’s Club attended a play, opera, or special musicals in St. Paul. With the help of Mr. Dean, everyone would join in the bob sled to go to the depot, as there was only one train a day.

“It left in the morning and returned in the evening, He’d be at the station again in the evening, to call for the ladies and deliver them to their respective homes, wind howling and snow knee deep,” said Ellen.

When Ida and Frederick moved to Shakopee in 1912, Ida joined the Book Lover’s Club. On Dec. 5, 1914, Ida and Frederick had a child, Marion Bell Betty Buck (1914-2007) in Shakopee. When Ida went to the book club, her baby went along.

A few years after Marion was born, Ida became blind.

Ida went to Faribault School for the Blind to learn Braille. She got a reading machine to read the books for the Shakopee Book Lover’s Club. And Ida received a seeing-eye dog to roam around downtown Shakopee.

Over the years, Ida had three different seeing-eye dogs. The dogs would lead her all around town. Ellen noted that “When she went to the doctor’s office, she would count the steps when she stepped up on the curb, at the corner to the door that led to his office. She would then stop, and the dog would turn to the door, and she would go up the stairs.”

According to Ellen, Ida never spoke of herself in a tone of self-pity.

“My life has been rich blessed from the deep friendship that existed between us,” said Ellen. “Never did I have a sense of pity for her. She was so humorous and witty.”

Ida Gertrude May Gjerdrum Buck died Oct. 9, 1957. She is buried at Valley Cemetery in Shakopee.

At age 95, Dr. Frederick Buck, Ida’s husband, died. He had served the people in and around Shakopee for many, many years. He was buried in Valley Cemetery next to his wife.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2020

Ruth Gardner (1933)

Ruth Gardner. Or Laura Jensen. Or Ruth Redtke, or Ruth Warner.

She escaped from the State Reformatory for Women in Shakopee on Feb. 20, 1933.

Ruth was 22 years old, 5’6 5/8” and 109 pounds. She has light brown hair, hazel eyes, and a sallow complexion.

Ruth was a clever forger. She operated in Ohio, Michigan, and Minnesota.

She always presented her victims with a fraudulent letter from an insurance company. The forged check was usually for about $70.

If you find Ruth, apprehend and deliver her to an officer of the Minnesota State Reformatory for Women in Shakopee. You will get a $25 reward!

Thumbing a Ride (1948)

On Aug. 21, 1948, at 8 p.m., a woman escaped from the reformatory in Shakopee.

She was working in the fields, made her way to the Holmes Street Bridge, and crossed to the north end.

She started to thumb a ride.

John P. Wermerkirschen pulled up, and the woman got into the car. As he drove, Wermerskirchen asked her name.

“None of your business!” she responded. “What is YOUR name?”

The driver answered, short and sweet, “You’ll be surprised. I am the sheriff.”

Her ride ended shortly after…back to the reformatory!

Lucille Keppen Released from Prison at Age 93 (2007)

“Does it hurt?” Lucille said. “I really want it to hurt because you hurt me so deeply, and I was so good to you.”

Lucille Keppen, age 88, shot Stephen Flesche in 2002.

The inmates nicknamed her “Grandma.”

When she got out at age 93, the first thing she wanted to do was go to Perkins!

Lucille was the oldest prisoner of the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Shakopee.

Teen Murderer Flees Jail to See the Smashing Pumpkins (1998)

Seventeen-year-old Pamela D. Keary really wanted to see the Smashing Pumpkins.

She was serving a 12-year sentence for second-degree murder.

She joined 100,000 fans to see the show at the Hennepin Avenue Block Party.

She was arrested at midnight and removed to the segregated unit.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2020

Isabel Davis was born in Warren, Vermont April 24, 1849. She became a teacher at age 14. Isabel moved to Minneapolis in 1870 and taught there. She married Chester Gross Higbee in January 1876.

Isabel spoke out for the needs of women and children, the poor, and the downtrodden. “There was a time when individual effort was sufficient to meet social needs, but life was grown so complex that organization is absolutely necessary.”

In 1908, with the help of Isabel, the State of Minnesota constructed a separate school for delinquent girls (the Minnesota Home School for Girls) in Sauk Centre.

But for twenty years, Isabel and others tried to provide humane treatment for women convicted of crimes, but lawmakers did not support it.

On March 4, 1915, Isabel and fifty other women went to the capitol, and Isabel decided to testify at the meeting.

That same day, a bill to allow women to vote was turned down. Again. It would be another five years before women got the right to vote (and only if you were white).

Isabel was not happy. But Isabel had a plan.

She stood and faced the men (who were the only ones allowed to vote) and told them they should have a women’s reformatory. There was no place in Minnesota for women in trouble. She faced the men in the committee room, across the gulf that custom, law, and privilege had created.

And she spoke.

She said women should not be housed in Stillwater Prison. Women needed to have a place, a place to provide a humane and healthy environment that would help them return to society as contributing members.

Isabel pled for establishment of a reformatory for women. She argued in favor of a new institution where female offenders would neither be incarcerated with male inmates nor with teenage girls. At the time, most women lawbreakers were found guilty of prostitution and were usually fined and sent home or committed to the workhouse for a short term. Others were sent to the state prison, the state reformatory, or the girls’ school. The superintendent at the reformatory took female inmates into his home or placed them in the local jail.

“We must give the women fresh air, God’s glorious sunshine, and as much freedom as is consistent with discipline…I shall trust your judgement to accord us a women’s reformatory,” said Isabel Davis Higbee.

When she sat down at the capitol, Isabel coughed.

Then Isabel fell over…dead!

People were shocked, and they started thinking about what she had to say. One woman said, “…no man can refuse us the reformatory when it is realized that women are willing to give up their lives for it.”

The legislature finally responded.

Because of her work, the bill to create a women’s prison in Shakopee finally happened. They purchased 167 acres of land what was then at the edge of Shakopee.

The women’s reformatory began in Shakopee, Minnesota in 1920.

Isabel Davis Higbee had died March 4, 1915. She is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Maplewood, Minnesota.

Even though she never lived in Shakopee, her memory is here, in the hall and plaque that notes the grateful appreciation for Isabel for the good of the women in Shakopee and the state of Minnesota!

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

Elizabeth Koeper was born in a little log cabin in St. Paul, Minnesota Territory on Sept. 14, 1854. Her father, Johan John Theodor Koeper (1818-1901), owned a claim of 160 acres in the present business area of St. Paul. In fact, the cabin is now a department store on Wabasha Street between Sixth and Seventh streets, according to the Aug. 9, 1925 St. Paul Pioneer Press. Her mother was Maria Elizabeth Hermes (1832-1895).

According to Elizabeth, “Father didn’t think much of St. Paul then. There were only a few buildings in the settlement, and I guess the prospect didn’t look very good to him.” So, in the summer of 1855, Johan, Maria, and Elizabeth packed up and took the Antelope, one of the few steamers on the Minnesota River, to Shakopee.

The family lived in a log cabin beside the meadow where the cattle grazed. It was north of the Milwaukee Railroad right-of-way, joining the city limits on the west part of Shakopee.

Elizabeth’s mother had eight children.

Because they knew that people in the area could be sold to the growing settlement, Elizabeth’s father went to Detroit and brought back a drowse of cattle, mostly rich cows. In Shakopee there were several hotels, crowded with land seekers, immigrants, freighters, and others, and the dairy prospered from the start, according to an article in the St. Paul Dispatch.

Elizabeth knew that many Dakota Indians lived nearby. “We were afraid of them, but although they gave us many ‘frights,’ none of them harmed us. I remember mother sending me to the well one day—I was six years old—to get a dipper of water. I wore two long braids, and an Indian, passing by, seized one of the braids….” Elizabeth ran into the house and cried. “The Indians also wore braids, and I thought they wanted to take me because we had that style of coiffure in common!”

During the U.S.-Dakota War, Elizabeth’s father was transporting supplies near New Ulm. He escaped, but his Dakota got his supplies. For a while that summer, some people in Shakopee felt scared, and many fled to St. Paul. But Elizabeth’s mother remained in the little cabin with her brood. Her mother adopted the ruse of placing a pair of her husband’s boots and his axe before the cabin door to convey the impression that her protector was at home.

At age 17, Elizabeth and her family moved to a farm that consisted of 265 acres just west of the city limits of Shakopee and it became the Koeper Dairy Farm. Forty acres later were sold to the state for the Minnesota Reformatory for Women.

Elizabeth remembered her first school, which was on the block west of St. Mary’s church. The frame building was later the later covered in brick. Her first teacher was Matthew Mayer. In 1864 she attended St. Gertrude’s Convent and Academy. Elizabeth also attended a German school conducted by John Kerker, according to an article in the St. Paul Dispatch.

In the 1870s, Elizabeth took an active part in the gayeties of the growing village. “A building in which Mrs. Husman danced as a girl was known as Ben Andres’ hall and is now the Pelham hotel.” Elizabeth “attended dances and balls and had many partners for the schottische, fireman’s dance, a Virginia real and other dances of the periods.” Mrs. Elizabeth Koeper Husman in Recollections of Early Pioneers, 1925, noted among her partners was John Bernard Husman, Jr.

Elizabeth married John B. Husman, Jr. July 27, 1875, at St. Mark’s Catholic Church. They settled on the Koeper farm. John died in 1886, but Elizabeth continued to live at the farm. At first the milk was supplied to Shakopee patrons, but later was shipped to the Twin Cities. They had three children.

A week before she died, Elizabeth had a comparatively fair state of health, according to the Argus-Tribune in December 1943. She was overtaken with the flu and was immediately taken to St. Francis Hospital where a double pneumonia developed. Elizabeth became weak, and on Saturday night at midnight on Dec. 11, 1943, she passed away, as she had lived quietly, peacefully and happily.

Elizabeth Koeper Husman was buried at the Catholic Cemetery in Shakopee.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

Beulah Brunelle was a 21-year-old Ojibwe woman. She was serving time at the Women’s Reformatory in Shakopee in April 1946 for grand larceny (in her case, stealing clothes, shoes, and a ring).

Beulah was one of several American Indians who were at the Minnesota State Reformatory for Women in Shakopee. Today, 22 percent of the inmates are American Indian or Alaskan Native people.

Beulah grew up at the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota. A population of 5,815 reside on the main reservation and another 2,516 reside on off-reservation trust land (as of the 2000 census). The Ojibwe people spoke Mikinaakwajiw-ininiwag. The people there were a tribe of Ojibwa and Métis peoples.

On April 29, 1946, Beulah met Edna Larrabee in prison. She had been there serving time for committing grand larceny in the second degree (writing bad checks). Edna was 25 years old. It was not her first time in prison. She had a separate larceny charge between 1940 and 1942. Edna had attracted scrutiny for her “boyish mannerisms” and sexual relationships with other prisoners.

The two became a couple. They escaped together three times over the next two years.

After the failure of the third escape on Nov. 22, 1948, Edna attempted suicide but survived.

The next morning, she tried again. She then turned her frustration on the institution that was confining her, flooding her cell with water from the toilet and using a mattress spring to break a window.

Staff responded swiftly by transferring Edna to St. Peter State Hospital. She had electroconvulsive therapy (ECT, also known as shock therapy).

Edna’s time at St. Peter led her and Beulah to escape again.

The two of them worked on the farm at the reformatory. They decided to disguise themselves with overalls and farm jackets. They snuck into the basement of Sanford Cottage on Feb. 2, 1949, broke open a nailed-shut window, and fled. They hitchhiked west looking for jobs, introducing themselves as a married couple named Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Farrell.

Shakopee superintendent Clara Thune wrote to four California sheriffs and police chiefs, asking them to look out for the fugitives.

She stated that Edna was “acquainted with the colony of homo sexuals [sic] in Los Angeles” and likely to show up in that city, according to an article by Lizzie Ehrenhalt called “Escape from Shakopee State Reformatory for Women, 1949” from the MNopediain the Minnesota Historical Society.

Instead, the two went to Sacramento, where Edna’s sister Vida took them in.

After three months they hitchhiked to Seattle, Washington, and visited Edna’s parents; William Larrabee gave his daughter a black 1936 Plymouth coupe.

The women then made moves to settle down, renting an apartment and opening a bank account together.

To pay their rent, Larrabee ran a gas station and Brunelle sewed for a dress shop.

By the late summer they were traveling again to a friend in Minneapolis.

Afterward, Beulah brought Edna to meet her mother on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation.

The Minneapolis friend, meanwhile, tipped off police, telling them to look for a black Plymouth coupe with a missing hubcap.

Police recognized the car in Sioux City, Iowa. On Oct. 3, 1949, they seized the two women and returned them to Shakopee. Their eight months of freedom were over.

Edna and Beulah escaped together one final time late in 1949 but were found and returned to prison within days.

They made no further attempts.

By 1952 they were both paroled and starting new lives apart—Larrabee in Washington, Brunelle in Minnesota as the wife of a man named George Venne.

Shakopee case files contain one final record of their relationship: A note stated that in 1953, Beulah left her husband in St. Paul and drove for more than 1,600 miles to Seattle, where she and Edna reunited!

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with a certified listener, call 1-800-273-8255. You can also contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HELLO to 741741. Trans Lifeline (1-877-565-8860) and the Trevor Project (1-866-488-7386) offer hotlines specifically for queer and trans people.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022

The Women’s Reformatory began in Shakopee in 1920. The State purchased 167 acres of land at the edge of Shakopee.

More than twenty firms bid to build a barn at the State Reformatory for Women. P.J. Gallagher would build the barn for $414, according to the Shakopee Tribune, Oct. 6, 1921.

Nobody wants to be forgotten.

Four tombstones are at the Catholic Cemetery.

Prison staff helped to identify who was buried there — two inmates and two infant children of offenders from the old State Reformatory for Women in Shakopee.

Three of the deceased died in the 1920s and the fourth died in 1954.

The old gravestones were only marked by prison inmate numbers.

In 2014, inmates committed to raising funds to purchase four proper headstones for the cemetery.

Through freewill offerings, the inmates raised enough money to the markers, and offenders in the Challenge Incarceration Program, an intense boot-camp program to rehabilitate non-violent offenders, placed each headstone at an event on Nov. 18, 2014.

Bert Schumacher was born by an inmate on Aug. 12, 1922. A little over one month later, he died. Now, Bert has a tombstone at the Catholic Cemetery.

“Today we acknowledge four almost-forgotten souls. Their lives clearly were not lived to their greatest potential, their dreams and aspirations probably unfulfilled,” said Department of Correction Commissioner Tom Roy.

The prison is now called the Minnesota Correctional Facility – Shakopee.

And as they added the tombstones, Tom Roy noted, “But they did walk the face of this earth, breathe this air as we do now, so many years later.”

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2020

Elizabeth K. Ries was born Aug. 26, 1874 in Shakopee. Her parents were Jacob Franz Ries (1830-1911) and Josephine Mamer Ries (1835-1916) who were born in Septfontaines, Canton de Capellen, Luxembourg, and arrived in Minnesota in 1857, where Jacob founded the Jacob Ries Bottling Works in 1872. The company bottled water and other beverages under the name Rock Spring Beverages. Jacob also served as Shakopee’s mayor from 1895-1899.

Elizabeth became a nurse so she could take care of her mother, who needed help. In 1918, during the Flu Pandemic, there were not enough nurses, and Elizabeth gave her services night and day.

In 1925, just five years after the passage of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote, the city of Shakopee elected its first female mayor. The election was a nail-biter. Elizabeth beat incumbent John P. Ring 319 to 290 votes, according to Jon Lyksett. She also was elected again in 1927.

Ries embraced her newfound stardom. In 1926, she appeared on WCCO radio in Minneapolis as a sort of mistress of ceremonies, bringing with her a group of musicians known as the Shakopee Serenaders and a group of male singers which she deemed The Lady Mayor’s Trio, according to Jon Lyksett.

During her time as mayor, Shakopee approved a critical connection to Chaska over the Minnesota River with the Holmes Street Bridge, which remains today as a pedestrian bridge.

Elizabeth was also the owner of the Rock Spring Café, one of the most popular establishments in town in the 1920s and 1930s. “Shakopee was really a community by itself, cut off by the Minnesota River and the river bottoms,” said Joe Jenn. “Back in the 1930s, the town was a little Las Vegas. We had 33 beer joints at one time and notorious nightclubs like Rock Springs and the Riviera. People, including gangsters, came here for booze, women, and gambling; the mayor, sheriff, and city councilmen went along with it all.”

In Shakopee, the people had Fords and Chevrolets, but the cars in front of Rock Spring were too fancy. If you looked inside, almost no one was there. A local guard was at the basement door where the machines and other equipment were kept. Only secret clientele were allowed in, usually from the Twin Cities.

The Rock Spring Café and other places had runners to inform them when raids were coming. They had safe houses, including one on Spencer Street across from St. Mary’s School. There were 30 or 40 safe houses, where the slot machines were stored there for hours or a day until it was safe to return them.

Elizabeth was elected a second time in 1927. But in 1928, she resigned to become postmaster.

Elizabeth K. Ries died May 6, 1949, at 74 years age. She was buried at the Shakopee Catholic Cemetery.

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Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

Jack Abeln and Philomena Minnie Theide Abeln were living upstairs in a little house on the corner of Sixth and Scott Street, when triplets arrived May 28, 1918.

All three of the babies lived and grew up in Shakopee. The triplets were named John, Philomena, and Marie.

According to Philomena Abeln Hennen, “I guess things weren’t so complicated then. We had simple medical attention, but we all survived, although I understand we were named in hurry because they didn’t know if we would all make it.”

The triplets were born at home, with Dr. P.M. Fischer of Shakopee as the doctor. They joined their older sister, Elizabeth.

Marie was named after her grandmother, and her brother and sister were named after their father and mother.

According to Philomena Abeln Hennen, her mother was expecting twins, but not triplets. “She said she got so big when she was pregnant with us that she wouldn’t go anywhere but the back yard.” The triplets each weighed approximately five pounds at birth. The three babies were baptized promptly by Rev. Dean Mathias Savs, as they thought they might not survive. But they did!

It immediately became evident that their living quarters were too small, according to Elizabeth. And the task of caring for so many diapers, as they were not the disposable diapers of today, was an insurmountable hurdle. They had to walk up and down the stairs, with no washer or dryer.

The family moved to a house situated across the highway from Wampach’s. “We had just moved in – boxes around, dishes in a barrel, and a man by the name of Math Annen, who had a little shop on Second Street, just west of the Shakopee House, was fixing our pump” noted Elizabeth. She was wheeling around one of the little doll buggies.

“I went to my mother and said there was a big bug in the buggy. Well, it was a snake curled up in the bottom end! Math Annen killed it. But after that, they put their shoes on the bed at night, and almost immediately started looking for another place, which was hard to find,” said Elizabeth in an article in 1980.

The family moved to a big red house directly across from the front of St. Mark’s Church. “One night I gave my parents a scare,” said Elizabeth. “I got nightmares. We kids slept in the west bedroom, and my folks in the next room, which was supposed to be the living room. They heard the window opening. They thought someone was after the babies! Well, they determined that it was I who got up, opened the window, shut it, and got back into bed!”

Though many of the neighbors were worried as they never had children in the neighborhood before, their fears were short-lived. The triplets and their older sister were good kids, and they stayed in their own yard. Marie and Philomena were dressed alike for many years, though Johnny never had to wear anything to match. The two girls, along with their oldest sister, Elizabeth, were in the St. Mark’s girls’ choir, and Johnny was a Mass server, always on call.

The triplets and Elizabeth went to school at St. Mark’s School. They went home to eat at lunchtime. The time they didn’t like going home was when their mother made homemade soup. “We knew she’d have it ready to strain at noon. She’d put a ripped open gunny sack over a wooden tub on the floor. We each held a corner of the sack and turned our heads away.” In later years, stirred soup was made, which was much simpler.

“But then there were the days when we just loved to come home at noon,” noted Elizabeth. “My mother made the best homemade bread. It was made with potato water and everlasting yeast, set above the stove warmer in a fruit jar. She set it the night before and always had a loaf baked when we came home (and usually a big kettle of homemade soup). I loved crusts on homemade bread…I would cut the crust off a couple more slices, then turn it on the side, and voila! Another crust! I’d cut up the rest and get the last crust, too. My mother really didn’t appreciate that!”

The family had a team of horses, and often gave rides in the sleigh, sitting on straw covered with a pretty horsehide with green felt backing. According to Elizabeth, “We also had chickens and a cow. All this was in the barn and chicken coop, with a fence around it, behind the big red house, just across from St. Mark’s Church! Our chickens produced big, brown eggs which were my mother’s pride.

“She’d enter them in the County Fair each year for many years and always got a blue ribbon.” The Poor House was on the northeast corner of the block, just kitty-corner from the big red house. Joe Rice, one of the residents of the Poor House, would get the family cow every morning and stake it out to graze behind the building.

The family had a little butter churn, and Elizabeth remembered churning butter. She also loved the delicious buttermilk, also. So good and so cold. Elizabeth also remembered putting milk in the crockery, and then the family would eat the cold cream off the top.

She also remembered when she was a teenager, and the home remedy for acne. “My father decided cake yeast with a little molasses was the thing! Ugh! I had to take a spoonful every day. After some time, I guess he figured it didn’t do any good, so I didn’t have to take it anymore,” said Elizabeth.

Elizabeth, the oldest in the family, was often living in the shadow of the limelight of the famous triplets. “It seemed someone was always saying, ‘These are the triplets!’ Guess I was just jealous,” said Elizabeth, “even though it wasn’t their fault!”

And that is a bit about the triplets, the first triplets born in Shakopee (and their oldest sister).

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2024

Seymour Pope was born March 24, 1845 in Amherst, Ohio, son of Edmund Pope (1802-1858) and Jerusha Taylor Pope (1804-1851).

Seymour’s great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Thomas Pope, who was born in England in 1608 and died in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, was on the Mayflower, and came to Plymouth Colony as a settler-colonist, as well as several members of his relatives. Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 to 1691 and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony, according to Wikipedia.

Great-great-great-great-grandparents of Seymour were Ensign Jacob Mitchell (1645-1675) and Susannah Pope Mitchell (1649-1675). Jacob and Susannah were involved in the King Philip’s War, sometimes called the First Indian War, Pometacomet’s Rebellion, or Metacom’s Rebellion. It was an armed conflict in in 1675-1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England settler-colonists and their indigenous allies. The war is named for Metacom, the Wampanoag chief who adopted the name Philip because of the friendly relations between his father Massasoit and the Mayflower Pilgrims, according to Wikipedia.

Ensign Mitchell and Susannah were slain by Phillip’s warriors “early in the morning as they were going to the garrison, wither they had sent their children the afternoon before,” according to The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Boston at the New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2009).

In Manilus, Illinois, when Seymour was six years old, his mother, Jerusha Taylor Pope died Sept. 22, 1851. Seven years later, when Seymour was 13 years old, his father, Edmund Pope, died Aug. 11, 1858.

Seymour joined the Michigan Volunteers Battery E, 1st Regiment Light Artillery, which was organized on Dec. 6, 1861 as a Private Union soldier, and ended his service as a Corporal.

Michigan Volunteers Battery E, 1st Regiment Light Artillery focused on the following: Advance on Nashville, Tenn., Feb. 10-March 3, 1862. March to Savannah, Tenn., March 17-April 7. Advance on and siege of Corinth, Miss., April 29-May 30. Occupation of Corinth and pursuit to Booneville May 30-June 12. Buell’s Campaign in Northern Alabama and Middle Tennessee June to August. Garrison duty at Nashville, Tenn., until June 1863. Siege of Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 12-Nov. 7, 1862. Moved to Murfreesboro, Tenn., June 1, 1863, and duty there until October. Return to Nashville, Tenn., and garrison duty there until December 1864. Rousseau’s Raid into Alabama and Georgia July 10-22, 1864 (1 Section). Ten Islands, Coosa River, July 14. Stone’s Ferry, Tallapoosa River, July 15. Nontasulga July 18. Chewa Station July 18. Opelika July 18. McCook’s Raid on Atlanta & West Point Railroad and Macon & Western Railroad July 27-31 (1 Section), Lovejoy’s Station July 29. Newnan’s July 30. Battle of Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 15-16, 1864. Pursuit of Hood to the Tennessee River Dec. 17-28. Duty at Nashville till February 1865. Ordered to Decatur, Ala., and garrison duty there till July. Mustered out July 30, 1865.

When Seymour was 22, he married Mary Florence Williams on July 4, 1867 in LaSalle, Illinois. They had six children: Clara Mabel (1869-1872); Marietta Etta (1871-1873); Marianna (1873-1877); Annabelle (1878-1957); Edmund Josiah (1886-1968); and Milo Abram (1888-1961).

Seymour and Mary’s child, Anna Annabelle Pope ended up, along with Ida Dorothea Busse, becoming the first graduates of Union School in Shakopee, in 1898. Students before then had graduated in Shakopee, but this was the first time that a state sign of approval based on the good rank among schools of the state in the matter of examinations, according to the Scott County Argus, May 23, 1898.

The 1890 Veterans Schedules in the U.S. Federal Census showed Corporal Seymour Pope, 45, living in Shakopee.

Corporal Pope died March 21, 1907, in Shakopee, and was buried at Valley Cemetery. His wife, Mary Florence William Pope, died on August 21, 1931 in Newhall, California, according to The Signal, Thursday, Aug. 27, 1931. She was buried at the Grand View Cemetery in Burbank, California.