‘Tales from Pioneers & Soldiers Cemetery’ Archives
Agnes Frier: Unwanted? Or Family Couldn’t be Found?
245th in a series from Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery... By SUE HUTNTER WEIR Agnes Frier’s story has been a challenge to research. She was one of the 250 adults (only eight of them women) buried in the cemetery whose remains were unclaimed by family or friends and became the property of the county coroner. He, in turn, was required by law to turn them over to the University’s Anatomy Department to be studied by medical students. When Agnes died in 1915, very few people, primarily for religious reasons, donated their bodies for research. Agnes died in Anoka State Hospital on September 5, 1915. She was born in Germany around 1860 and emigrated with her husband Joseph in 1887. Their oldest son, Sam, was born in New York in August 1887. They had five more children: Mollie was born in Pennsylvania, Alma was born in Illinois, Daisy in Minnesota, George and Frank were born in Wisconsin. Agnes’ death certificate listed her occupation as “gypsy,” which [...]
Wide Variations of Infant and Child Mortality Rates Over Time and Cures
Abbie Palmer and Jasper Woodward Martha Woodward’s father, Jasper Woodward, and her sister, Nellie. Unfortunately, we do not have a photograph of Martha. Jasper Woodward, a Civil Veteran, is buried in Lakewood Cemetery of Minneapolis; it is 250 acres and opened in 1871. PHOTO: Courtesy the family. from the series Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery... By SUE HUNTER WEIR Abbie Palmer and Jasper Woodward lost their two-year-old daughter Martha on May 28, 1878. She died from measles. Her parents were not the only ones to mourn a child lost to that disease: there are 121 others buried in the Cemetery. Six of them were over ten years old; the other 115 were younger, and the vast majority of those were younger than two years old. Mortality Rates Change While Grief is ConstantThe infant and child mortality rates in the United States in the 19th century were at, or close to, 40% which, in the 20th century, led some people to believe that bereaved parents did [...]
The Hodsdons’ Family Secrets
from the series Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery... 243rd in a Series The Hodsdon-Wardwell marker. It is not known exactly when this marker was placed, but most likely it was some time in the 1970s or 80s. SOURCE: TIM MCCALL By SUE HUNTER WEIR Jane and Ebenezer Hodsdon were among the early New Englanders who settled in what was to become Minneapolis. They moved here with their three young children from Maine in 1852, and a few years later purchased 100 acres of land at what is now the intersection of Bloomington Avenue and Lake Street. Their nearest neighbors were Martin and Elizabeth Layman, the original owners of the Cemetery.Beatrice Morosco, the Hodsdon’s granddaughter, wrote a family history, The Restless Ones, that was published in 1965. It is a charming and lively, though not always accurate, account of the family’s early days in Minneapolis. In 1855, a few years after the Hodsdons arrived, they were joined by Jane’s parents, George and [...]
