‘Tales from Pioneers & Soldiers Cemetery’ Archives
Tale of the Tales: Q&A with Sue Hunter Weir
Caption: Anna ClarkCredit: Courtesy of Bob Clark By LAURA HULSCHER and SUE HUNTER WEIR This is your 200th column. How long have you been writing Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery? What inspired you to start? I wrote my first story about the cemetery in September 2003. At the time I was concerned (irritated) about the Phillips Neighborhood being characterized as "crime-ridden" and wanted to remind people that Phillips is a community with a long and very rich history. Ours is a community shaped by migration, immigration, the need for public housing and for livable-wage jobs. Our boundaries were, and are, shaped by transportation routes. Much has changed but much remains the same. We have a great deal to be proud of. What motivates you to continue the series after so many years? I remember reading that no one is truly dead who is remembered. I believe that and these stories are my way of remembering people who I never knew but who deserve to be remembered. They are [...]
Tales from the Cemetery #200: A Peaceable Fourth?
Caption: Jan Hamorrik's marker is typical of markers placed on the graves of Slovak immigrants at the turn of the 20th century.Credit: Tim McCall by Sue Hunter Weir Reporters who covered Fourth of July festivities in 1906 had a peculiar notion of what a “peaceable” Fourth looked like. The Minneapolis Tribune described it as the “most peaceable Fourth that the city has seen.” They then went on to list 29 injuries and accidents, including two children blinded, three people who lost fingers, and numerous people, mostly children, with burned faces, hands and arms. The Journal’s headline described the day’s events in its headline: “Man Murdered, Boy Blinded, Many Patriots Injured.” The man who was murdered was 24-year Jan Hamorrik, a Slovak immigrant. Little, other than the fact that he was employed as a laborer, is known about him but he appears not to have lived in Minneapolis more than a year or so. His wife, Anna, gave birth to their daughter, also named Anna, [...]
A Sister Remembered #199
By Sue Hunter Weir Carolyne's grave. Her name was most often spelled Carolyne but is spelled Caroline on her marker. Photo credit Sue Hunter Weir Captain Nudd / Minnesota Historical Society Maude Wiggin is the forgotten sister in the Wiggin family tree even though she isn’t really all that hard to find. She was named in the 1870 census and when she died on December 12, 1877, her obituary appeared in the Minneapolis Tribune and it is easily accessed online. Maude died from something called “spinal disease,” most likely spinal meningitis. She was 13 years and nine months old. Her sister, Carolyne, was 12. There were also two other younger sisters, Nancy and Mae. Carolyne, Nancy and Mae appear on several family trees on ancestry.com but there is no mention of Maude. It’s almost as though she never existed, yet she is buried in the Wiggin-Nudd family plot near her grandmother, Nancy Wiggin Nudd. Her cousin, Captain Charles Nudd, a Civil War veteran, is buried there, as [...]
