‘Tales from Pioneers & Soldiers Cemetery’ Archives
A Correction of Great Importance
By the alley The alley has been deeply honored to feature Sue Hunter Weir’s “Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery” column for 231 issues. Her extensive research into those buried in Minneapolis’ oldest Cemetery has revealed to readers hundreds of early residents who lived in and shaped our city.Among those folks buried are an unknown number of early African Americans who lived in Minneapolis, most unnamed and in unmarked graves. They include those who escaped slavery or who helped the freedom seekers escape, and those who served in the Civil War. Sue has been working with Elyse Hill of Hill Research to tell the stories of all the African Americans buried in the Cemetery. The January issue of the alley highlighted one such person: Hester Patterson, a freedom seeker, whose story is at once both inspiring and horrifying. And the correction? Hester’s last name was misspelled in print. The correct spelling of someone’s name is vital in historical records, [...]
Woodford Anderson, Civil War Veteran and Freedom Seeker
from the series Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery... 231st in a Series By SUE HUNTER WEIR Woodford Anderson’s old marker, left, and his new repaired marker, right. PHOTOS: Tim McCall Woodford Anderson was not a young man when he ran towards freedom. He was enslaved when he was born near Burlington, Kentucky, on March 10, 1820. When he was 20 years old, he was sold to George Curtley. Curtley, a captain in the Confederate Army, took Anderson to Waverly, Missouri, where Anderson served as a cook. In the fall of 1862, when he was 42 years old, Anderson left Curtley and met up with Union Army soldiers. In a deposition that is included in his 60-page pension file, he said, “I was just following the Union Army as a contraband.” In May of 1863, Anderson was sent to Fort Snelling in Minnesota. Although he had not formally enlisted at that point, he was sent on Sibley’s expedition to the West where he served as a cook for the 1st Minnesota Mounted [...]
Hester Patterson: Freedom Seeker
from the series Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery... By SUE HUNTER WEIR 230th in a Series Hester Patterson was a remarkable woman with a remarkable story. 150 years after she died, her story, and those of a handful of others, earned the Minneapolis Pioneers & Soldiers Memorial Cemetery a place on the National Park Service’s Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. The cemetery is one of two listings in the State of Minnesota. There are many gaps in her story, but in some ways, it’s amazing that we know as much about her as we do. There is little formal documentation about her—no birth certificate or census information, the types of documentation that are commonly used in genealogical research. But there is something even better: a memoir written by Dr. William E. Leonard, who was eight years old when Hester joined his household.Hester was born in Mississippi in the early 1800s and was enslaved on a cotton plantation until she was about 60 [...]
