248th in the series Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery
By SUE HUNTER WEIR
become Minnesota. She and her family arrived in the 1850s. PHOTO: Courtesy the family.
On March 31, 1776, as her husband and other members of the Constitutional Congress were drafting a new code of laws for a new, independent nation, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband reminding him to “Remember the Ladies.” Two hundred and fifty years later, that is easier said than done. There are 15 women buried in the cemetery who were born in the 18th century. A few of them, primarily those born in New England, are somewhat well-documented but in other cases there is very little record of them.
What is remarkable about all of them was their longevity. The average life expectancy for a woman born around the time of the American Revolution was 36. All of these women were alive at the time of the War of 1812, and 12 of them were alive during part, if not all of, the Civil War. Their ages at the time of their deaths ranged from 64 to 92. Not surprisingly, the cause of death for seven of them was simply given as “old age.”
Elizabeth Gilmore was eight years old when Abigail Adams wrote what was to be her most famous letter to her husband. Elizabeth was born in Canada on March 11, 1768, and moved to Minnesota with her daughter and son-in-law sometime in the 1850s. On March 24, 1858, she became one of the founding members of Westminster Presbyterian Church. She lived longer than the other 14 women, dying on January 22, 1870, from dropsy (most likely congestive heart failure) at the age of 92. In her obituary she was described as a woman whose “piety was unmistakable,” and whose “faith was simple and unfailing.”
Margaret Fletcher, who was born in Bristol, Maine in 1772, was four years old when the Declaration of Independence was signed. She and her husband Abraham moved to Minnesota in the 1850s with several of their adult children (she had at least 12 children). When she was 81 years old, Margaret became one of the founding members of the First Baptist Church of Minneapolis, one of the leaders in the state’s anti-slavery movement. She died on November 30, 1861. Three years later, Albert, one of her grandsons who is buried near her in the cemetery, enlisted as a private in Company B of Hatch’s Battalion. He died, at age 23, on July 6, 1870.
Betsy Putnam was born in either 1776 or 1777. She was born in Vermont but spent much of her life moving from place to place. During the War of 1812, she and her family moved to Maine where they lived in a small community close to the Canadian border. They lived there for several years during which they came close to starving when crops failed due to cold weather during the area’s already short growing seasons. But she was undaunted and reportedly said: “I am not afraid to go into the woods. I know all about it.” In 1854, when she was 77 years old, she and one of her sons moved West and settled in St. Cloud. She died there on November 21, 1860, aged 83, from “old age.” Her grandson, Julian Putnam, died aged 35, on December 5, 1868, and was buried in the cemetery; he served in Company D of the 1st Minnesota Regiment.
Experience Buck was the first of the 15 women to die in Minnesota. She was born on July 15, 1791, and died from consumption (tuberculosis) in 1854 at the age of 64. At the time of her death the family was living in Minneapolis, but the majority of her ten children settled in Glencoe not long afterward.
There isn’t space to tell the stories of all of these women, and, for some, there isn’t much to tell. Other than birth years and death dates, they left few records behind. But we’ll return to those that we know something about in a future issue of the alley. In the meantime, here they are:
Lucy Boobar (1779-1862); Edith Elliott (1792-1856); Martha Couch (1790-1875); Nanc(1894-1875); Margaret McMillan (1799-1875); Grace Stratton (1796-1876); Maria Merchant (1796-1877); Mary Moore (1792-1878); Mrs. Alstrum (1791-1879); Elizabeth Lost (1790-1879); Mrs. Hillikis (1796-1872).
When you’re watching fireworks this year, don’t forget to “Remember the Ladies.”
SUE HUNTER WEIR is Chair of Friends of the Cemetery, an organization dedicated to preserving and maintaining Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery. She has lived in Phillips for almost 50 years and loves living in such a historic community.
