‘Tales from Pioneers & Soldiers Cemetery’ Archives
Family Drama Plays Out in the Press
from the series Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery 226th in a Series By SUE HUNTER WEIR Julie Klamm’s Caveat to Stories “Your most cherished family stories are, I hate to break it to you, almost certainly at least somewhat false. I’m not calling anyone a liar, this is simply how it goes---stories degrade (or improve, depending on your perspective), details are lost, tweaked, censored, sensationalized. I don’t mean to disillusion you; I say this in the spirit of encouragement. The story only really gets going once it begins to unravel.” from, The Most Legendary Morris Sisters. FAMILY “LAUNDRY” AIRED IN PUBLICMany, perhaps most, families have secrets—stories that go unspoken. That’s what makes the story of the Westling family so strange. The dispute between Olof Westling and his second wife, Agnethe, over the custody of their children played out in the press for a period of three weeks. Each used the newspapers to plead their case. Olof [...]
Mystery Solved: Young Woman Found and Remembered
An Elusive Tombstone No. 225 in the series Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery By SUE HUNTER WEIR This started as a mystery story. During its research, the mystery was more or less solved. The solution seemed like it would be complicated, but it turned out to be quite simple. Hazel Anderson’s granite marker found in a Powderhorn Park Neighborhood backyardthat was discovered decades later while clearing overgrown greenery.The marker reads: Our Daughter, Hazel K. L. Anderson and includes her birthdate, August 5, 1894, and her death date, March 22, 1915. PHOTO: Courtesy Sue Hunter Weir HAZEL ANDERSON AUGUST 5, 1894 - MARCH 22, 1915The story began when Powderhorn Park Neighborhood residents, Heidi and Renae, found a headstone in their backyard. They’d moved into their house about three years before. Neighbors told them that their house had been unoccupied for about ten years before they moved in. When they were weeding and clearing out scrub trees in the [...]
Small Newspapers Help Tell the Vaders’ Story
from Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery By SUE HUNTER WEIR 223rd in a Series Work on the pillars of the Cemetery’s fence has begun. Built in 1928, the fence has been in need of substantial repairs for at least a decade. Some of the soft limestone blocks and the mortar that held them together for almost 100 years need to be replaced. The restoration will take several months and is expected to be completed by fall. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, an estimated 30% of children did not live to see their fifth birthdays. Of those, the majority did not reach their first birthdays. Cemetery records, census information, and death records tell part of the story, but other sources, especially newspapers, help fill in some of the blanks. Around that time, there were two newspapers, The Appeal and the Twin Cities Star, that served Minneapolis’ early African-American community. Although their stories were often brief, they help bring us closer to [...]
