Sherburne History Center Blog

Fire is always a frightening threat in Minnesota.   The Hinckley Fire in 1894 and the Cloquet Fire in 1918 devastated land and destroyed lives in North Central Minnesota.  Just these two fires killed nearly 1000 people and caused property losses in the millions of dollars.  Fire also threatened small, isolated farms throughout Minnesota.  The newspaper columns carried numbers of reports on devastating farm fires.  April 1895, Sherburne County newspapers reported a significant fire at the farm of Chris Leider, Livonia Township.  “His house and nearly all of its contents,” were destroyed by fire.  “A granary and about 300 bushels of wheat which was kept over from the crop of three years ago were also destroyed.  The insurance had just run out, and as a consequence the loss is total.”  A few months later fire destroyed a second Livonia farm site.  The newspapers printed the terrible final news “no insurance.” Unfortunately, th...

Commentary on the news coverage in Becker, published in the Sherburne County Star News , 6 August 1896: Miss Grace, looking over our shoulder, remarked, “I know why all your items don’t appear.  The editor can’t read your writing.” An interesting explanation in the columns of the Sherburne County Times 23 March, 1899.  I am not sure if this is the writing of a frustrated editor, or a need to fill space. Newspaper men are blamed for a lot of things they can’t help, such as partiality in mentioning visitors, giving news about some folks and leaving others out, etc.  The newspaper man cannot help this.  He simple prints the news he can find.  Some people inform him about such things and others do not.—Ed.  An interesting perspective to contemplate as we search for news of our ancestors in the newspapers.  Maybe our kin are simply not that informative.

Memoirs and Biographies from Sherburne County provide fascinating reading.  If we all took pen and paper to record our memoirs, imagine the excitement we would generate.   Imagine the information and knowledge we could share with the world.  Two books, a memoir and edited letters provide examples of the great value of written, personal history.  Rod Hunt’s book A Boy’s Guide to Big Lake, Minnesota and Other Stuff and Herb and Corinne Murphy’s They Called Her Maria make the history come alive.  Rod Hunt describes fishing at the confluence of the Elk and St. Francis Rivers, you understand his hopes, desires, and prayers to catch a Northern Pike.  And, you dread reeling in the Rock Bass.  The nasty, gritty taste of a Rock Bass permeates your mouth as Hunt remembers “they are called Rock Bass because they taste like the bottom of a rock.” Straight forward, serious history comes alive in the pages of Herb and Corinne Murphy’s book They Called He...

The sky was black, dark, almost like a coming storm.  But as the clouds moved closer a shrill hum seemed to accompany the storm.  Only when the cloud finally arrived was it apparent: this was no rainfall, no simple burst of water from the sky.  Instead, the heavens dropped an invading horde of grasshoppers, more specifically Rocky Mountain Locusts, upon the farm lands of Minnesota.  Arriving first in 1873, and for the next five years, in a seeming random pattern a plague of locusts returned to devour the crops of farmers throughout the state. Various descriptions of this five year plague contain consistent themes.  The grasshoppers came, devouring everything in their path.  First chewing and destroying the grain crops, then any green plants that might remain.  In an effort to fight the destruction, some farmers tried covering plants with blankets and other cloth.  The grasshoppers ate the fabric.  Other reports describe the grasshoppers ...

As you research the history of Sherburne County, or Minnesota for that matter, a collection of documents you might want to consider viewing are the Public Safety Commission Alien Registration and Declaration of Holdings Forms, from 1918.  The records are held by the Minnesota Historical Society.  Microfilm copies of the Sherburne County records are available at SHC These records, the alien registration forms, contain a wealth of information.  They were collected in the early days of World War I.  The Public Safety Commission set out to identify and document the individuals and the property holdings of every alien living in Minnesota. The Commission was created by the State of Minnesota, a board of seven members: including the Governor, the State Attorney General and five members appointed by the Governor.  Early in 1918, the Commission issued “Proclamation and Order No. 25” designating the week of February 25 to March 1 as Alien Registration Days. ...

What’s In A Name?  Actually, quite a bit.  I want you to meet Andrew A. Dahl, from Danetown, Santiago Township, Sherburne County, Minnesota.  He was born in Denmark, in 1857.  His father was Anders Jorgenson Dahl.  As was the custom in Denmark, Andrew’s last name then became Anderson.  Andrew immigrated to the United States in 1879 and quickly settled in Sherburne County. All of this back story is important because Andrew and his wife Mary settled in Danetown.  There was an abundance of Andersons living in the area.  So much so, that produce checks from the Minneapolis markets to the farmers often got mixed up and delivery became very confused. The story goes: Andrew, in an effort to simplify his life and insure that he received his produce checks, legally changed his name to Dahl.  This name change occurred sometime after 1900.  The court record continues for a generation when at least one of his four surviving children had to agai...

            An article published in the Big Lake Herald and reprinted in the Sherburne County Star News reinforces what we have been documenting for some time: tourism was intended as a major industry in Sherburne County going back to the original settlement of the county.  The article printed in 1907 reports: Henry Ferguson, a resident of Wright county over forty years, at present of Big Lake, Sherburne County, dined at Brown’s Hotel in Big Lake May 7, 1855, and at the same hotel May 7, 1907, 52 years after only.  Mr. Ferguson is in the eighty-second year and enjoying good health for which he is thankful.  Brown’s hotel was located by Joseph Brown in June, 1847, and continued by his son, N. D. Brown, up to the present time, 60 years only.               Advertisement for Brown’s Hotel, as a place for fine fishing and a nice spot to get away from the hustle and bustle...