‘Tales from Pioneers & Soldiers Cemetery’ Archives
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 [...]
“Bring a shawl and get a baby” from a 1908-09 Baby Farm 3341 Nicollet Avenue
By Sue Hunter Weir Between June 24, 1908 and September 6, 1909, 27 infants died at the same address--3341 Nicollet Avenue South. These babies (13 girls, 13 boys, and one whose gender was not recorded) were under the care of “Doctor” Hans Oftedal. As the quote marks suggest, Hans Oftedal was not a licensed physician; he was the proprietor of one of several “baby farms” operating in Minneapolis at the time. Baby farms were essentially unlicensed boarding houses for infants whose parents were too poor to care for them. The parents surrendered their children to baby farm operators and paid a fee for the care that they believed their children would receive. In some cases, the parents intended to come back and reclaim their children, but in other cases they expected their children to be adopted by families who could provide for them. Adoption was unregulated at that time, and Minneapolis had the dubious distinction of being the baby-trafficking capitol of the [...]
