Sherburne History Center Blog

Recent discussions of early settlement presented an individual to consider as a pioneer serving a significant, yet unheralded, role in the settlement of Sherburne County.   We need to look at the life and times of Joseph F. Bean of Livonia Township.   Joseph Bean spent his childhood and early days in New Hampshire.   He made his way to Sherburne County, stopping first in Wisconsin before landing in Elk River.   Finally, in 1856, he and his new bride, Betsy, settled in an area of Livonia Township. The Bean homestead located on the stagecoach road between Elk River and Princeton.   In addition to farming, Bean also provided rest to travelers along the road.   He also served the role of Postmaster, the mail for area farmers being delivered by stage and later by the early morning trains.   In addition, both Bean and his wife Betsy emphasized education.   Both worked as teachers before settling in Livonia Township.   Evidence suggests the Bean...

“Somebody,” the Sherburne County Star News in November 1919 reported, “has discovered a new way of reducing the high cost of living.”  Thieves victimized farmers in Sherburne County for several years by stealing anything they might be able to eat or sell.  A thieving crime wave first appeared in 1919, Jim Brown a Livonia Township farmer reported a two-year-old steer butchered in his field.  The thieves took “everything along except the head the entrails,” the paper reported.  According to the reporter, Brown’s steer was the second Sherburne County theft by butcher that year.  The paper also recalled several sheep had been similarly stolen.  “It may be that an organized band of thieves are operating in this section,” the Star News suggested.  Later in the 1920s, organized gangs of thieves again operated in the county.  For more than three years, 1921 to 1924, butter thieves targeted creameries owned by the Twin Cities Milk Producers Associ...

Campaign button for Edwin W. Chaffin, Prohibition Party  Presidential candidate in 1908 and 1912. From the collections at SHC: 2000.025.061 Prohibition, wet versus dry, has long been an issue in Sherburne County.  In 1895, temperance advocates met in the Elk River Methodist Church to urge prohibition in the county.  Wet advocates countered with assertions regarding the economic benefits of alcohol.  Their position insisted saloons would increase trade and business in local economies.  The Sherburne County Times went so far as to predict annual income from alcohol licensing exceeding $2000 for the county.  As early as 1899 the Times newspaper, reported the organization of a local chapter to the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, the WCTU.  For two decades before national Prohibition took effect, Sherburne County voters regularly debated and voted on the issue.  Passions ran deep with each election held.    National Prohibition...

An interesting collection in the Archives of the Sherburne History Center consists, in part, of letters from Clarence McNeil to his wife Laura Keasling, the third daughter of George Keasling.  Clarence McNeil grew up in Livonia Township in the 1870s and 1880s.  He was born in Lake City, Minnesota.  His family moved to Sherburne County when he was only 15 months.  He was an intelligent young man, after his education in the public schools, he trained to be a civil engineer.  All of this led up to his travel to Alaska in 1898.  McNeil found himself in the midst of the Klondike Gold Rush.  Some of his letters describe the excitement and hard work in Alaska. On March 7, 1898, he wrote to his wife both exciting news and details of struggle and hard work.  “…by the way I am no ordinary Engineer anymore.  I am now Chief Eng. Of the Chilcoot Railway and Transportation Co.  What do you think of that(?) …Herb and Lester are hauling fre...