‘Tales from Pioneers & Soldiers Cemetery’ Archives
What”™s Old is New Again Quarantine and Vaccination
By SUE HUNTER WEIRÂ In January 1900, health authorities were at odds over whether a young girl was suffering from chickenpox or smallpox. Four doctors determined that she had smallpox which would have required her to be quarantined, but Dr. Norton, Health Commissioner, insisted that she had chickenpox and accused Dr. Henry Bracken, Secretary of the State Board of Health, one of those who disagreed with him, of “creating an injurious panic without warrant just to belittle me.” Bracken argued in favor of aggressive steps to contain the spread of the disease, arguing that containing the outbreak was critical for the economy: “An epidemic of this kind stagnates business.” Editors of the Minneapolis Tribune chastised both men in an editorial on January 25, 1900: “It would seem as if two men occupying the important positions which they do would cooperate in matters looking to the spread of disease and the preservation of the health of the [...]
A Book of Sorrows
Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery By SUE HUNTER WEIR 180th in a Series A Book of Sorrows The title seems fitting for a book of poetry or maybe a novel, but its purpose was as far from those uses as possible. It was a ledger measuring 18” by 12” with a black cloth binding, trimmed with red Moroccan leather. It was the property of the County Morgue and contained the names of the people whose bodies were stored in “Death”™s Lodging House” as one reporter put it, for some brief period of time. The first entry in this particular book, (although there were undoubtedly records of earlier deaths kept elsewhere,) was made on August 5, 1893, the same day that the new morgue opened for business. John F. Walsh, the city”™s morgue keeper, most likely purchased a new ledger in honor of the occasion. Over the next 22 years almost 4,000 names- only one line allotted for each person- were recorded in [...]
Tales From Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery
179th in a Series By SUE HUNTER WEIR Emeline Baker Balch 1830-1867 The Cemetery is listed in the National Register of Historic Places in part because of its ties to the anti-slavery movement. Its original owners, Martin and Elizabeth Layman, were members of the First Baptist Church of Minneapolis which was closely associated with that movement; and there are several others buried in the cemetery, including a number of women, who had ties to both the anti-slavery and temperance movements. It is hard to gauge the exact nature of their involvement since very few of the women who died during the cemetery”™s early years left first-hand accounts of their lives, but there can be little doubt about what they believed. Emeline Baker Balch was born in Onondaga, New York on 20 March 1830. When she was 14 years old, Emeline and her family moved to Aurora, Kane County, Illinois. The town of Aurora was settled by New Englanders who tended to migrate [...]
