‘Tales from Pioneers & Soldiers Cemetery’ Archives
James Womack and Frances Collier Womack “Happy Trails to You, Until We Meet Again”
By Sue Hunter Weir Those of us who grew in the late 1940s and 1950s, in the age of black and white movies and television, are all familiar with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, King and Queen of the West. At the end of their weekly television show, they signed off by singing “Happy Trails to You,” a song written by Dale. Even now, most of us can still sing the song by heart. Believe it or not, that song has an interesting connection (albeit a somewhat remote one) to Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery. James Tignal Womack was born in Louisa, Lawrence County, Kentucky in 1835. During the Civil War, on October 15, 1861, he enlisted in the 14th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry. He was forced to resign his commission as a 1st Lieutenant a year later due to poor health. In a letter written to his colonel, Womack wrote that he had “been labouring under a disease of the Breast for the last six months, and which has been so severe of late as to Render Me totally unfit for [...]
There are no ”˜Good Old Days”' Childhood Health Stories
By Sue Hunter Weir Two Year Old Frida Aubele died Dec. 2, 1915 from diphtheria. Six Year Old Annie Aubele died Dec. 3, 1915 from diphtheria. Graves were remarked and girls remembered and honored Oct. 16th 2009. It pretty much goes without saying that kids hate to have shots. And, many parents are reluctant to have their children vaccinated because of possible unintended consequences. This year, because of all the media attention about the H1N1 virus, there are a lot of people weighing the potential benefits against the possibility of adverse side effects. Cemetery records paint a picture of what life was like for children and their families before vaccinations were a routine part of medical care. Of the 21,000 burials in the cemetery over half are children under the age of ten. Many of those children died in infancy, the result of premature or stillbirths. Others died of bacterial infections related to contaminated drinking water. But others died of diseases, like measles, [...]
Sigstad Sisters and Frank Brant Die in River Road Accident Street Conditions not on Par with Coming of Motorized Vehicles ”“ Changes Were Needed
by Sue Hunter Weir On November 3, 1916, Ida and Mabel Sigstad were on their way home from a party in St. Paul in a car driven by E. C. Nelson. When Mr. Nelson turned onto the River Road and River Parkway, one of the car”'s rear tires slid over a ten-foot embankment and the car flipped, trapping the driver and its three passengers underneath it. Mr. Nelson lost consciousness; he woke on and off during the next four hours and called out to his passengers but got no response. John Kelly, the night watchman at Lock and Dam #1 was on his way home from work at 7 o”'clock in the morning when he discovered the accident. He called several of his fellow workmen, and they were able to right the car and pull it off of the passengers. By that time, it was too late for Ida and Mabel and for Frank Brant, the other passenger in the car. They had smothered under the weight of the car. Ida and Mabel were two of Ole Sigstad”'s four daughters. Ida worked as a clerk in a [...]
