‘Tales from Pioneers & Soldiers Cemetery’ Archives
Three Lives Lost Over $20
Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery 189th in a series By SUE HUNTER WEIR The St. Paul Globe characterized it as a story that began and ended in a graveyard. It was the murder of Thomas Tollefson, a streetcar conductor, on the night of July 26, 1887. Tollefson's murder was, as many crimes are, senseless and poorly planned. When all was said and done, three men died--one man murdered and two men hanged for having killed him. The two murderers netted a total of $20 (worth a little more than $430 in today's currency). 1880-1886. Horse-drawn streetcar, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Tollefson was a 28-year-old Norwegian immigrant who earned his living driving the Cedar Avenue streetcar line. He and Christina Nelson were married on February 10, 1887, a little more than five months before he was murdered. Tollefson was described as "a handsome fellow, and as brave and as generous as a man can be." The night that Tollefson was killed there was a big fire downtown and [...]
Thanks to Vaccines, the Golden Age for Children’s Health is Now
Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery 188th in a series By SUE HUNTER WEIR A grandmother tends the graves of two of her grandchildren. Two year-old Freda Aubele died on December 2, 1915. Her six-year-old sister, Annie, died the following day. Their wooden cross is gone but family members placed a new marker on their grave in 2009.Photo credit: Aubele Family The Washington Post recently ran the following headline: “Coronavirus infections dropping where people are vaccinated and rising where they are not.” The story was news only because it specifically referred to the novel coronavirus. We have known for a long time that the numbers of illnesses and deaths decrease when people, especially children, are vaccinated. There are several diseases that were once among the leading killers of young children, which have been either nearly or entirely eradicated in the United States. Since the arrival of vaccines, we no longer have to worry about [...]
Cemeteries: The Modern Day Urban Park
TALES FROM PIONEERS AND SOLDIERS MEMORIAL CEMETERY 187th IN A SERIES By OLGA ACUNA Photo by Megan Voorhees What began as a class project addressing environmental injustice in the East Phillips neighborhood steadily flourished into an Arbor Day celebration at the notable Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery on the intersection of Cedar Ave and Lake St. On Saturday May 1st, over 60 volunteers from the surrounding community gathered at the cemetery to aid in the planting of over 50 trees throughout the 27 acres of green space. On one of the warmest days of the Spring season, this resilient intergenerational group of volunteers worked through the heat together to nurture the Earth by planting trees with help from arborists from the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation. Volunteers later gathered around for an ethereal blessing of the tree performance which included two deer puppets, bells, and poetry all done by the Semilla Center for Healing and the Arts. The event [...]
