‘Tales from Pioneers & Soldiers Cemetery’ Archives
Presidential Politics in the Black Community of Mpls. in 1872
253st from Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery… By SUE HUNTER WEIR On August 24, 1872, the Minneapolis Tribune printed an announcement signed by 74 members of Minneapolis’ African American Community endorsing Ulysses S. Grant’s bid for a second term as President. Black men in Minnesota had won the right to vote on November 3, 1868, two years before the 15th Amendment which granted suffrage to all men regardless of race was passed. But the 1872 election was their first opportunity to vote for a president. The group said that they had sent a letter to the Republican State Central Committee repudiating candidate Charles Sumner, who challenged Grant for the Republican nomination and declared their intent to follow up the letter “by ballots at the polls in November.” Black men in Minnesota had won the right to vote on November 3, 1868, two years before the 15th Amendment which granted suffrage to all men regardless of race was passed. Women of any race [...]
Willam Anthony Hazelquist: 140 Day Soldier Died Two Days Before WWI Armistice
By SUE HUNTER WEIR 251st from Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery… Historians are fond of saying that they “fell down arabbit hole” when they start out researching one topic andwind up somewhere unexpected. This is one of thosestories. There is a small connection to the cemetery but alarger story about a man who lived in what was to becomethe Phillips neighborhood.. In fact, he lived three doorsdown from my house. Private William Anthony HazelquistCompany B 353 rd U.S. InfantryBorn in Minneapolis on March 29, 1890Died on November 9, 1918, from wounds received at the Battle of Meuse-Argonne. William Anthony Hazelquist was a homebody. He was28 years old but had never spent more than a few daysaway from home. He was inducted in the U.S. Army onJune 22, 1918, and after completing his training, he wasshipped out to France. He died there on November 9,1918. William was born in Minneapolis on March 29, 1890,the fifth youngest of Swedish immigrants, John andSophia [...]
Dr. Martha Ripley: A Life Dedicated to Women and Their Babies
250th from Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery... By SUE HUNTER WEIR Dr. Martha G. Ripley, pioneering doctor in women’s and infant’s healthcare. Founder ofMinneapolis’ Maternity Hospital in 1887. In 1887, Dr. Martha G. Ripley opened the city’s first hospital whose mission was to servepregnant women and their infants. This was at a time when 95% of women had their babies athome. The infant mortality rate in 1885 is only an estimate, and ranges from 250-300 infantdeaths per 1,000 live births. Dr. Ripley dedicated the next 25 years of her life to changing that. Infant mortality rate in 1885:250-300 deaths per 1,000 live births. She wasn’t always successful. Seventy of the people (two adults and 26 infants) who areburied in the cemetery died in the Maternity Hospital. The first burial was 22-year-old AgnesClayton, one of the two adults. She died on April 15, 1887, from puerperal fever, a postpartumbacterial infection. Agnes, like a majority of the women who [...]
